266 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



up the soil for his beds, he will only require the proper supply of dressing, for 

 ■which he must provide himself with — 



1. All the leaves which can be got together, except those in the shrub- 



beries, which should be dug in. 



2. A heap of clean road -grit. 



3. A heap of sand, silver or rivei\ 



4. A good stack of tui-fs cut from some pasture, three inches or less in 



thickness. 



5. A neap of cow-dung. 



6. A heap of stable-dung, which is most suitable for the present purpose 



when taken from an old hotbed. 



7. A stack of turfy peat from a common. 



8. All the waste of the garden should also be placed where it may rot, 



for it is a capital dressing ; because, when once fairly rotted into 

 mould, it is next in value to pure leaf-mould. 



715. We hear and read of all manner of exciting composts, such as guano, 

 night-soil, bullock's blood, offal of the slaughterhouse, sugar-bakers' scum, 

 and various other not very nice material ; but all this resolves itself into the 

 single fact that all animal matter, as well as animal dung, enriches the groimd, 

 — bone-dust, shavings of horn and hoofs, among the rest. But there is an 

 tmcertainty about the strength of all these materials which renders them un- 

 Euited for delicate and valuable plants, although, for fanning operations and 

 coarse vegetable gi-owing, they are valuable. A collection of florists' flowers 

 cannot be played with, and their existence would be often placed in jeopardy 

 by exciting composts, of which the strength is not easily ascertained ; whereas 

 all those materials which we have recommended are known. Beyond thes 

 we may mention rabbit-, sheep-, and even poultry-dung, which may be ob- 

 tained for the purpose of using as liquid manure after being thoroughly 

 decomposed ; such liquid manure being made by stirring a pound of rotted 

 poultry-dung, or half a peck of rabbit-, sheep-, or cow-dung, in 18 gallons ot 

 water for two or three days, and, when settled, it is fit for use. 



716. III. Water. — A good deal of our success depends on the water we 

 use for irrigation. The springs about Norwood defeated a friend of ours for 

 years in the attempt to grow plants and flowers for show : it appeared to be 

 charged with iron, and nothing did weU with him until he sent for all the 

 water he used to a ]oond a mile or two away from him. Some pump-water, 

 apparently clear, is too hard to do well for watering plants, but this' may be gob 

 over by keeping it in shallow tanks a considerable time before using. It 

 is, however, far the best plan to contrive that every drop of rain-water be 

 saved for the use of the gardener. Every roof that offers the opportunity 

 should supply its contribution to tubs or tanks so placed as to receive it, and 

 nothing but rain or river-water should on any account be used if it can be 

 avoided. Plants under glass should always be watered from tubs or tanks 

 kept at the same temperature as the plants are growing in ; therefore some 

 vessel must always be kept in the house. Nothing does much greater mis- 



