ON SOILS, ETC. 147 



wastes, and more in all their various intermediate stations, as 

 mountains, low lands, &c. &c. especially heaths from the varied sur- 

 face of Southern Africa ; it will surely he obvious, that a supply of 

 every variety of soil should be always at hand, and that the peat 

 answering for one species will not be so congenial as another brought 

 from a very different situation and soil. 



It should be cast into a heap in the compost yard for twelve or 

 fourteen months before used, a practice which ought to be observed 

 with composts in general. 



It is to be used only for such plants as are known to grow natu- 

 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 I 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, 

 otherwise, 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 



t3 



