152 ON DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF COMPOSTS. 



4. Sandy loam : two-thirds loam, and one-third sand. 



5. Rich loam : equal portions of loam and decayed manure. 



6. Rich sandy loam : same as the last, with the addition of one- 

 sixth sand. 



7. Light sandy loam : equal quantities of peat, sand, and loam. 



8. Loam and peat : two-thirds loam, and one-third peat. 



9. Sandy peat : two-thirds peat, and one-third sand. 



10. Peat and loam : two-thirds peat, and one-third sand. 



1 1 . Light sandy peat : same as No. 7. 



In the above varieties of compost, it will be perceived, I have 

 made no mention of decayed vegetable substances, such as willow 

 wood, leaf mould, &c. They can be used at the discretion of the 

 cultivator in those compositions where peat is used, by lessening 

 the quantity of peat and adding the same quantity of the above 

 decayed substances. In No. 9 I have added one-third sand to the 

 peat ; but if the peat should prove very sandy of itself, which is 

 sometimes the case, the additional sand can be dispensed with. 

 Also, in Nos. 3, 7, and 11, if the peat is sandy, the quantity of 

 sand laid down to be added can be diminished, as in Nos. 3, 4, 6, 

 and 7, if the loam is very sandy. 



Lime rubbish is frequently used in prepared composts for suc- 

 culent plants, such asEpiphyllum, Phyllanthus, and many others ; 

 still, if mixed in a compost heap with rich soil, or rotten dung, it 

 will take up, and render useless the carbonic acid gas which they 

 contain, and which is so beneficial to many plants. 



Amongst the substances useful to vegetation dissolved in the 

 water of soils may be reckoned atmospheric air, carbonic acid gas, 

 hydrogen gas, hunric acid, and a small portion of the salts of lime 

 and potash. Among the things hurtful are most of the acids, salts 

 of magnesia and iron, metallic substances in general, and stagnant 

 water. 



Plants seem to have the power of decomposing the water which 

 enters into their system from the earth or the air — that is, of sepa 

 rating its component parts, oxygen and hydrogen. 



F. F. Ashford. 



[Since the completion of Vol. II. of the Florkultural Cabinet, I find an 

 important error had escaped my attention in my paper on the culture of the 

 Heliotropes, page 1 — 5. Instead of the house being recommended in a 

 former number, it should have been in a future numlier, and wbjcli is now in 

 the hands of the Conductor.— F. Ashford.] 



