800 ANNFTAI- REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



thorouglilj again a few times to mix the bone and upper surface of 

 the soil well together. That done, then apply about the same weight 

 of good, dry, unleached wood ashes in the same way. These should 

 also be well mixed by harrowing. The plot is kept continually 

 stirred by harrowing, especially wheti sufficiently dry after rain, and 

 the harrowing answers another purpose, that of keeping down the 

 weeds. This soil is frequently taken into the greecihouses in from 

 three weeks to a month after plowing, but never before three weeks, 

 because serious damage ensues when taken in sooner. 



Crimson clover is being used to furnish humus and nitrogen in 

 some establishments with satisfactory results. Cow peas also are 

 being used to plow under for soil for greenhouse purposes. It is a 

 safe rule to go by, that a soil on a farm that will grow first-class 

 crops is a safe soil to use in greenhouses. Sometimes it is 

 deemed wise when the soil is of a heavy clay nature to add road or 

 bank sand to make the soil more porous. Coal ashes, when the rough 

 cinders have been screened out, are frequently used for the same 

 purpose, and with no bad effects. 



For Ferns, soil from the woods, known among gardeners as leaf- 

 mold, is often used with excellent results. Muck from a low lying 

 meadow, after it has been piled up on higher ground where the 

 frost, sun and wind have a chance at it for several months to sweeten 

 same, is often used mixed with equal parts of clayey loam to ad- 

 vantage, though muck is not recommended for roses. Air-slacked 

 lime is also mixed with good results with this class of soil to correct 

 possible acidity before it is used for greenhouse plants. 



PROPAGATING. 



The most natural way to increase most plants is by seeds, and 

 numerous occupants of the greenhouse are increased in that way; 

 but there are other ways of multiplying the number of a given variety, 

 one of the commonest is by "cuttings" or "slips,'' and this perhaps is 

 the most fascinating part of a fascinating occupation. To take a 

 sprig of a plant and insert it io soil or sand and in three or four 

 weeks' time have tiny roots emitted from the base indicates suc- 

 cess and means an awakening of the senses to both young and 



