82 REMARKS ON COMPOST FOtt POT PLANTS. 



rally in peat, or those which are known to thrive best in a very light 

 sandy soil : also to be mixed occasionally with loam, for such as de- 

 light in an intermediate compost. 



Most plants grow remarkably free in peat during the summer 

 season, if kept carefully watered, particularly those which come under 

 the denomination of half herbaceous or biennial like plants; yet even 

 these are often liable to perish in winter, on account of the extreme 

 lightness of the soil, and the cold necessarily produced by frequent 

 watering. 



Shrubby, hard wooded, and fine fibrous rooted plants in general, 

 thrive very well in this and loam, mixed in about equal proportions ; 

 but T think it by no means suitable to fruits. It is seldom used by 

 itself except for heaths, Botany Bay plants, and the general pro- 

 ductions of Northern America, to all of which it seems particularly 

 adapted. 



Sand is rarely used simply, except for striking cuttings of the 

 two first of the above mentioned plants ; viz., heaths and Botany 

 Bays; for which it is peculiarly suitable ; their fine hair-like fibres 

 not having strength to vegetate in stronger soils. An inch or two in 

 depth on the surface is quite sufficient, as it is intended merely to 

 strike the cutting in, the lower part of the pot being filled with peat, 

 into which the young fibres will soon penetrate, and draw therefrom 

 the principal part of their nourishment as from their parent soil: it 

 should be kept moderately moist when used in this manner, other- 

 wise, from its natural drying quality, it would soon parch up and 

 destroy whatever cuttings may have been put therein. 



The soil of the interior parts of Southern Africa being for the 

 greater part excessively sandy, a considerable portion of it should be 

 used in the composts intended for the productions of that country, 

 both of woody, herbaceous, and bulbous species. 



Pit sand should be invariably preferred for this purpose, it being 

 of a more lively vegetating nature than river or sea sand, and if 

 we may judge by colour the whitest that can be procured ; as I 

 have always observed it to be the finest, and have, from repeated 

 trials, proved that the finer the sand the surer a good crop of 

 cuttings. 



It requires no kind of preparatory process, more than shifting, to 

 divest it of those small pebbles, &c, which are usually found amongst 



