EXTRACTS FEOil 'SLT XOTE BOOK. 



Compose. — Thare oagfat to be in 

 every gardea three separate receptaclea 

 fi>r mamrrsa : one Sar green rubbiah. to 

 •which the house aewage and other 

 putr^ctive matters maj be added : 

 another for sraaa mowings and leaves ; 

 and another for dnng. The nratahould 

 be waterproof, and the simplest metiiod 

 of making it is to dig a hoie and. piaster 

 it with Portland cement. Bv keeping 

 each kind of manure separate, the 

 necessary portiona of each can the 

 ■lore eafflly be obtained for making 

 eompcats, or for mannring the borders. 

 The old school of gardeners had 

 almost as many kinds of composts as 

 the tribes of plants they cultivated : 

 in the present day we have very few. 

 and the cnlture of dowers is thereby 

 very much simplified. The best gene- 

 ral mixture — and it is the one on 

 which I chiefly depend — is fibry peat 

 one part, leaf-mould two parts, weil- 

 rotted dung one part, light hazelly 

 loam four parts, and one part silver 

 sand. To this a little more sand. dnng. 

 or leaf-mould, may be chopped up. as 

 may be required. Fuchsias and pelar- 

 goniums lj!ke leaf-mould and a mode- 

 rate amount of manure: calceolarias 

 Tt>p a little more peat ; and geraniums 

 of the horse-shoe breed like a clean 

 loam, and sand. with, little or no 

 manure. Composts should be kept 

 under cover, so as to be lit for use in 

 ■ay weather ; and the best plan is to 

 fit up a few bins in the pottiag-shed. 

 sod. have them regularly replenished. 

 90 as to be able to pot off a tew plants 

 at a moment's notice. 



Potting-shed. — ^A good, potting-shed 

 obviates many of the discomforts of 

 wet weather. It shotild be roomy. 

 and be fitted with bins for composts, 

 crocks. &c., and with shelves for pots 

 of each size. The bench should be as 

 long as possible, so as to allow room 

 for standing the pots as they are 

 finJAed off. without having to run 

 away with every half-dozen. The 

 following materials sliould be kept 

 separate, and ready for immediate use 

 — crocks of three sizes, oyster -shells. 

 pure leaf-mould, peat, silver sand, old 

 dry powdery dung. A little sheit" for 

 taUiea, pen. and ink, and a note-book. 



and a gardei list, is rasennaL as it 

 saves journeys to the house to ha:ve 

 such things always at hand, in clean 

 and tidy order. Above ail things, rake 

 care of old pots : some people are reck- 

 less in their deatrucrion of pots, and 

 waSE in that way the money they 

 might better spend in inereaans and 

 improving their stock. Old pots should 

 be scalded and scmabed with a brash, 

 and sorted in sizes ready for use. as 

 soon as they accumulate in sufficient 

 number to make a batch. Before new 

 pots are used, it is best to soak them 

 for a few hours in water to drive the 

 air out of the day. 



Artijicial Peat. — Peat ]s an expei- 

 sive article iu districts not poffleseang it 

 naturailV. Though I use a good rt^al^ 

 I seldom purciiasc any. because of a 

 systematic method I adoot of manu- 

 &cturing it. la the cotirse of a year 

 we get a good deal of moss and fern aa 

 packing. When we unDack plants 

 sent up from cotmtry aurseries. we 

 take care to keep the moss together, 

 and lay it in. a trench under a hedge- 

 la. the course of last year, we received 

 as much, in this way as now makp^ 

 nearly a cubic yard of rotted mould. 

 This forms the basis of an artificial 

 peat. To it we add leaf-mould, rotteu 

 wood, old blocks of turf tiiat consist 

 almost entirely of fibre, aad plenty of 

 silver sand. ^ hen thoroughly ciiopped 

 down and frozen two or three times. 

 this is a first-rate compost for everv 

 kind of peat plant ; and leaf- mould, 

 dung, loam, &e., can easily be added 

 when necessary. One precaution is 

 most essential, and that is» to saturate 

 the compost with, ioilinsr water before 

 using it. It soon gets iry, and is thai 

 sweet, firee trom vermin, and is not 

 likely to breed ftmgi. If any white 

 threads appear amongst it. remove 

 them and the substances to which thev 

 are attached, and let all such, fungoid 

 products be thrown on the hean. when 

 you are charring rubbish. The verv 

 best of peat may otten be obtained, 

 from old hedge-rows, in ^^andy dis- 

 tricts, formed of rotted leaves -and 

 mosses, ilany who send miles for 

 peat might find abundance a tew yards 

 ^om their own. door, by a little 



