98 ON THE TUMP COMPOST 



being sold for building upon, I have been enabled to get a load* 

 for two shillings, and in a particular instance, I have given as 

 much as five shillings. I pile them up in a square pile, and after 

 they are a year old or upwards, I brake them up with a spade 

 as small as I can, and afterwards pass them through a wire riddle 

 with holes one and a half inch diameter, the soil being previously 

 dug out of the bed fifteen inches deep. I put that portion whicb 

 would not pass through the riddle at the bottom of the bed, and 

 the others on the top of this, to within three inches of the sur- 

 face of the bed, and upon this I plant my bulbs. This plan has 

 been adopted by several gentlemen I could name, one of whom 

 in 183G won four, and in 1837. six silver cups in addition to other 

 prizes. I have also experienced the same results, but not being 

 a subscriber to the cups. I have of course only won in the clas- 

 ses. In 1837 at a meeting where were exhibited some of the 

 choicest blooms from the first beds in Lancashire, I won three 

 firsts and two thirds, and aEoi tie Siam, which was unquestion- 

 ably the finest bloom I staged, was stolen, during dinner, before 

 it was judged. The whole of my bloom that year was good, and 

 the flowers very large. As I said before I find this compost not 

 infallible, I of course use the two following : 



For flame varieties deficient iu colour and breeder Tulips in- 

 tended for exhibition 



One-fourth old cow dung. 



One-fourth old horse dung.. 



One-half maiden soil. 

 For those which are dirty, that is r too much colour ; 



One- third old lime mortar, sifted fine, and 



Two-thirds of maiden soil. 

 In arranging my roots from my book to plant, I place in the 

 box with a root of a breeder a green coloured paper, with a 

 dirty flower, a white ; and with one deficicient in colour, a blue. 

 I take care to have a large Carnation pot of each compost, and 

 when I find a bulb with a certain coloured paper, I take out 

 the soil nine inches deep, where the bidb is to be planted, and 

 fill it up again with the necessary compost, by so doing, I gene- 

 rally succeed. Roots of feathered flowers deficient in colouring 

 do not require any other compost than the general one, as it is 

 much better to have them too clean, than otherwise. This com- 

 post serves me for two years, the riddlings at the bottom of the 

 bed being frequently mixed with the top soil during the summer 



