Fobruaiy 25, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND C0TTAG3 GARDENER. 



155 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



FEB. 25— MAEOH 3, 1875. 



Royal Society at 8.30 P.M. 

 Royal Institution at 8 p.m. 

 Royal Botanic Society, 3.45 p.m. 

 3 Sunday in Lent. 

 Entomological Society afc 7 p.m. 

 Zoological Society at 4 P.M. 



Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Com- 

 [ mittees at 11 a.m. 



Average i^ 



Temperature near Risea. 



Day. 



47.7 

 47.2 

 47.7 

 49.1 

 47.4 

 48.7 

 49.9 



m. h. 

 .'■.6 af 6 



54 6 



51 6 



49 6 



47 6 



45 6 



43 6 



Son 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



m. h. m. h ' 

 Slate i 42afU I 



morn. | 41 

 65 



9 2 

 19 8 



Day 



o( 



Year. 



56 

 57 

 68 

 59 

 60 

 61 

 62 



83.7'. 



From observations taken near London daring forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 48.7^; and its night temperature 



THE PKEPARATION OF SOIL FOR POTTING 

 PURPOSES. 



m Vir^'^ FAIR amount of success, in a quiet way, in 

 cultivating plants usually found in a gentle- 

 man's garden enables me to speak pvacti- 

 cally on the matter of soil-preparation. Too 

 often — in fact it is the case generally — the 

 practice is to bring to the bench the different 

 soils required and mix them at the time of 

 potting. I do not submit that by this plan 

 good plants have not been grown, for the best 

 of all reasons — that I have so grown them ; 

 but this very fact enables me to speak more forcibly of 

 the advantages of mixing the soil some months previous 

 to the busy potting season. By this practice I have 

 always found the saving of labour considerable, and that 

 a great amount of potting could be done much more 

 satisfactorily and expeditiously than when I had to add 

 to it at the time the trouble of mixing the soil. 



At that busy period every moment is precious, and 

 plants, mayhap, are suffering injury for the want of 

 potting when an opportunity can scarcely be found for 

 the work. That is every year the case with hundreds of 

 gardeners, who have more duties to perform than time 

 and means to perform them. All such will find the 

 previous mixing in a large heap of the soil for the season 

 an aid and assistance throughout the year. The present 

 is a very good time to accomplish this work. My own 

 practice for some years has been to find a day or days 

 for soil-mixing as soon as the work of winter digging has 

 been completed. This has generally happened in February, 

 when dry sunny days have come which enable the work 

 to be better performed. 



But it is not only as a saving of time that the work of 

 previous soil-mixing is recommended, but it is because, 

 as a rule, the plants themselves will flourish more satis- 

 factorily. I cannot exactly say why that should be so, 

 but many years of experience have proved the fact to 

 my own satisfaction. I have mentioned fine weather as 

 a desirable concomitant for doing this work. This is very 

 essential, in fact it is absolutely necessary. In damp 

 muggy days the boU goes together wet and clammy, and 

 when such is the case it can never turn out for use in 

 a free, clean, healthy state. If possible it should be put 

 together in a state somewhat drier than would be desirable 

 for immediate use, as in that case it embodies an infinitely 

 greater amount of air which is so essential to its sweet- 

 ness, and it is certain, as the washerwomen say, to " give 

 again," and turn out several degrees more moist than 

 when it was put together. That is a very important 

 point to be attended to in doing the work well. Then 

 there is the other side of the question — when mixed it 

 must be sheltered from excessive wet. 



In all places where a great amount of potting must be 

 carried out a soil .shed is a very necessary convenience. 

 This generally-forgotten structm-e should never be over- 

 looked in planning the arrangement for the satisfactory 

 performance of this primary branch of a gardener's duties. 



No. 720.— Vol. XXVni., New Seeies. 



"Where this permanent roof for soil-shelter is not afforded, 

 an artificial covering must be provided. I have found 

 nothing better for this purpose than newly pared turves. 

 These, if taken from the roadside or pasture ground, and 

 cut 2 inches in thickness and a foot or more square, as is 

 most convenient, form an effectual covering for mixed 

 soil, protecting it alike from extreme wet and the drying 

 effects of excessive heat. In a word, if put together in 

 the right condition it will always be in good order for 

 immediate use by this plain turf covering. My plan is 

 to place the turf grass downwards, beginning at the 

 bottom of the heap, and let each surrounding layer over- 

 lap the layer below, after the manner of slating a build- 

 ing. The turf, too, after it has served its purpose as a 

 protector, is then ready for another purpose. By ex- 

 posure to the sun of summer and the frost of winter it is 

 thoroughly ai-rated and perfectly sweet, and on being 

 knocked into pieces forms the base of a future heap of 

 soil to be again covered by a further supply of fresh 

 turves. 



But all have not turf for covering, and the next best 

 material is straw. Give the heaps a vei-y sharp angle, 

 and thatch the same as a corn stack, and the soil is as 

 safe beneath the covering as the corn. It is, moreover, 

 quite neat in appearance when carefully done. The pro- 

 tection of soil for potting purposes is of more importance 

 than is by some imagined, and hence it is adverted to as 

 a point of practice which should not be neglected. 



Now, it may be surmised that a heap of soil cannot be 

 mixed which will be adaptable to all plants. That would 

 be a very natural supposition, but is destitute of force 

 sufficient to detract from the real usefulness of the work 

 in question. Most people have at some time or other 

 noticed the routine of a public dispensary, or the surgery 

 of some eminent surgeon, and have no doubt seen the 

 one huge bottle from which nine-tenths of the applicants 

 are supplied as the bulk and basis of their several mixtures. 

 Precisely on this principle the ready-mixed soil store is 

 recommended : it is provided as the foundation of what 

 is required for everyday use. 



Now the prevailing nature of this want is loam. Add 

 to that, if it is not rich, one-third of old pulverised ma- 

 nure, one-sixth of lumpy charcoal if it can be had, one- 

 fourth of sharp sand, more or less as the strong or light 

 nature of the loam will suggest, and one-tweKth of soot. 

 Mix that thoroughly, and in a few months, and until the 

 store is exhausted, there is no lack of boU for all the ordi- 

 nary softwooded plant-growing purposes of the garden. A 

 boy can be sent with a basket or a man with a bairow, 

 and there is no uncertainty as to what either may bring. 

 If the mixture is too heavy, as for Primulas, it is easy to 

 make it lighter ; and if not sufficiently rich, as for Chrys- 

 anthemums, it is easy to make the necessary additions. 

 These, with Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Cinerarias, Calceo- 

 larias, all sorts of greenhouse annuals, and numberless 

 other plants, will grow to perfection in soil from this one 

 great prepared and protected store. It will be found in 

 every respect infinitely preferable to mixing the soil on 

 the day of potting, which takes up valuable time, and is 



No. 187S.— Vol. LIII., Old Sebibb. 



