As I have frequently mentioned _repotting_, I may as well tell you here the best mode of performing the operation. The pot to which the plant is to be removed should always have been previously washed quite clean, and be perfectly dry. Some bits of broken pots, called potsherds, should then be put at the bottom of the pot, the quantity varying from three or four pieces (so as just to cover the hole) to a mass an inch in depth, depending upon the nature of the plant. If the plant has not been in a pot before, the roots are then placed just above the potsherds, and the earth is filled in, the plant being occasionally shaken so as to allow the earth to get amongst its roots. The soil is next consolidated by shaking the pot, and then lifting it up and setting it down again with a jerk; and is rendered firm and neat round the rim by means of a broad smooth piece of stick shaped somewhat like a table-knife, and called a potting-stick. When a plant has been in a pot before, and is repotted or shifted, as it is called, into a pot a size larger, the plant is turned out of its old pot by putting the hand upon the earth and turning the pot upside down; or, if the ball of earth does not come out readily, striking the rim of the pot against the edge of the potting-table or shelf. The ball containing the plant will thus drop out into the left hand; and the potsherds that adhere to the bottom of the ball having been picked off, and any part of the root that appears decayed having been removed, a little mould is put on the drainage in the new pot; and the ball of earth, containing the plant having been placed in the centre, the space between it and the pot is filled in with light rich mould, and made firm with the potting-stick. The operation is concluded by shaking the pot, and then taking hold of the rim with both hands, and striking the bottom of the pot two or three times with a jerk against the potting-bench. The plant is then watered, and set in the shade for the remainder of the day.