632 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



them, in vain. This vexation would never occur 

 if a little foresight were exercised; and we will 

 now endeavor to initiate our readers into the art 

 and mystery of making a mould-heap. Humble 

 though such a possession may be thought, it will 

 save much trouble to have one, and tend, more 

 than any one thing besides, to ensure a stock of 

 healthy plants. 



Two things are necessary to the soil of all pot- 

 ted plants, with very few exceptions ; it must be 

 fibrous and porous. Turn out the plant purchased 

 in a respectable nursery from its pot, and you will 

 find the mould is light and spongy, admitting a 

 free passage to the roots, each one of which may 

 be separated without difficulty and injury from the 

 surrounding mass. Perform the same operation 

 on a plant potted by an unskilful hand, and how 

 great a difTerence will present itself? The soil is 

 heavy, like a mass of kneaded clay; the roots are 

 heavily embedded in it, so that they will break 

 rather than be separated ; and water will with 

 difficulty pass through it. Prepare your heap at 

 once, that all your pots may in future be furnished 

 like the first mentioned, for your own satisfaction 

 and the comfort of the plants. First get a quan- 

 tity of turf from a loamy meadow ; let it be cut 

 rather thick, and then laid in a heap, or, as I have 

 seen done in large gardens, let it be stacked up, 

 and a thatch put on it, to ward off wet. If this be 

 allowed to stand six or twelve months, all insects 

 will be dead, the grass will be decayed, and the 

 whole will be a fibrous mass adapted for almost 



anything. Add to this an equal quantity of leaf- 

 mould, or leaves thoroughly decayed, and about &n 

 eighth part of coarse sand, and you will have a 

 compost to your hand in which any plants will 

 flourish. If you prefer it, you need not mix more 

 than you want at once, and can accommodate 

 your proportions to the various productions you 

 pot. But whichever plan you adopt, the fibre of 

 the turf and the sand will secure yoa lightness of 

 texture and sufficient drainage, to that when yaur 

 plants are watered, the liquid wiM quickly ran 

 through. 



But what is to be done befors this compost heap 

 is made, for a whole season will have passed be- 

 fore turf now stowed away is fit for use ? The 

 only advice we have you is, to get materials as 

 nearly like those recommended as possible, and 

 make shift until you are better provided^ If your 

 flower beds have had a layer of rotten leaves pu6 

 on this autumn, the frosts and rains will by this 

 time have brought it to a nice state for use. Beg 

 a little of that, mixed with the lightest sc41 you 

 can find. Mix up small stones, bits of r&ttCR 

 wood, &c., all together, for those things will se- 

 cure a drainage, and it is a fatal mistake to pot 

 plants in^«e or sifted soil, as some igaoiaatiy do. 

 Experience will be the best teacher in this mat- 

 ter, and a pi-aetical gardener will know as well 

 what soil will do for a plant as a careful niurs^ 

 knows what kind of bed and clothing will promotei 

 the health and comfart of hsr iufjaat. Gardenevs,^' 

 Chronicle. 



DOMESTIC NOTICES, 



Tka in the United States. — Mr. Jttnius 

 Smith, of South Carolina, has undertaken, with a 

 great deal of enterprise, the introduction of the tea 

 plant into that slate, with a view to the culture 

 and production of tea as a staple crop. He has, 

 we understand, a,lready received several hundred 

 plants from China, and also several pounds of seed,, 

 with which to commence operations. 



That the Tea plant (which belongs to the same 

 group as the Camellia) may be perfectly acclima- 

 tive as far north as Virginia, there cannot be a 

 doubt; and we can see no obstacle, if the proper site 

 and soil be selected, to its profitable cultivation. 



But Mr. Smith must not be disappointed if he 

 fails in acclimating the identical Tea plants im- 

 ported from China. The experience of scientific 

 cultivators has well established a fact that foreign 

 trees or plants, which are originally somewhat 

 tender in a climate new to them, never become 

 more hardy by a course of cultivation in that cli- 

 mate, however long continued ; or by any propa- 

 gation by cuttings or grafts of those original 

 plants. It is only by reproducing new plants 

 from seed grown, (or at least sown) in the adopt- 



ed climate that, the tender speeies becomes m&ro 

 hardy and adapts itself to the greater vigor of the- 

 new Climate. 



A most complete illustration of this fact, an(S 

 one directly bearing on this plast in question, has. 

 been laid before our readers lately in the account) 

 given by Mr. Feast, of the experiments at Balti- 

 more in acclimating the Camellia. He has showns 

 by Dr. Edmundson's experiaients that while the- 

 ori-ginal species and varieties of the CajaelHa suf- 

 fered greatly when planted out in the climate of 

 Maryland, the seedlings raised fiom those species, 

 and varieties have proved perfectly hardy. 



We commend this instructing fact to all those- 

 iaterested in acclimating the tea, the olive, or any- 

 other half hardy and valuable plants. 



Gebman Greens. — This is a species of cole- 

 wort or dwarf kale, which we find a great acqui- 

 sition to our list of hardy and popular spring veg- 

 etables. We received a large package of seedi 

 last summer from Messrs. Thorbuun &, Co., of 

 New-York, with directions for sowing it ia Au- 

 gust and covering it slightly ia winter. War 



