COM 



160 



COM 



COMESPERMA. Three species. 

 Green-house evergreen shrubs. C. gra- 

 cilis is a twining plant. Cuttings. 

 Sandy loam and peat. 



COMFREY. Simphytum. 



COMMELINA. Twenty-five species. 

 Chiefly stove evergreen trailers, which 

 are increased hy divisions and seeds 



in a dry cellar for the winter, out of the 

 reach of damp or frost; they will then 

 require no more trouble until the follow- 

 ing March, when they should be taken 

 out, potted, and placed either in a warm 

 pit or dung frame, to forward them 

 again for planting out. 



" The roots will survive the winter in 



sandy loam and peat. The hardy kinds, ; the open border, if slightly protected, 



seeds or offsets ; and the annuals, seeds 

 and common garden soil. 



C. calestris is one of the most beauti- 

 ful of this genus, and the following di- 

 rections for its cultivation are given by 

 Mr. G. Gordon, of the Chiswick Gar- 

 dens. 



" About the end of February sow the 

 seeds, in pans or pots, filled with a mix- 

 ture of sandy loam and leaf mould, and 

 place them in a warm pit, or dung- 

 frame. When the young plants are 

 large enough to handle, pot them off 

 singly into sixty-sized pots, and return 

 them to the warm frame, or pit, for a 

 week or ten days ; afterwards admit air, 

 and finally remove them to a cold 

 frame, or pit, to harden, ready for 



and kept dry ; but then they are late in 

 starting, and never so fine as when the 

 roots are taken up, and preserved 

 through the winter, like those of the 

 Dahlia. The old roots may be divided 

 like those of the Garden Ranunculus." 

 — Gard. Chron. 



C M M E R S N I A . T wo speci es. 

 Stove evergreen shrubs. Ripened cut- 

 tings. Peat and loam. 



COMOCLADIA. Three species. 

 Stove evergreen trees. Ripened cut- 

 tings. Peat and loam, or any light rich 

 soil. 



COMPARETTIA. Three species. 

 Stove epiphytes. Division. Wood or 

 fibrous peat. 



COMPOST is a mixture of manures, 



planting out in the open border, which j or of earths and manures, in such pro- 



should be done about the end of May, 

 or beginning of June, when the danger 

 from late frosts and cold nights is over. 

 " In planting, they must not be put 

 in a dry or shaded situation, but in a 

 warm, and rather damp one ; and in a 



portions, and of such qualities as are 

 considered particularly applicable to 

 the plant or crops to which the compo- 

 sition is to be applied. The subject of 

 Composts has been studied but slightiy 

 at present, by men who combine science 



rich loamy soil. They will then flower I with practice, and what is here offered, 

 freely all the summer and autumn ; but | must consequently be less satisfactory 

 like the Dahlia, their beauty is destroy- I than the author is conscious it might be. 



ed by the first frost in the autumn, 



" The plants flower freely the first 

 season from seed, but they display their 

 delicate azure blossoms in the greatest 

 perfection the second season, if the 

 roots are taken up, and preserved like 

 those of the Dahlia, over the winter, 

 which is best done in the following way: 

 — When the plants have done flowering, 

 and there is danger of the roots getting 

 injured by severe frost, they must be 

 taken up, and placed to dry for a few 

 days ; then procure a box, or some 

 large flower-pots, and place a little dry 

 soil at the bottom ; (the best substance 

 for packing all kinds of roots in during 

 winter, is dry sandy peat) — then place a 

 layer of roots, filling in between with 



A correct preparation of Composts 

 must be founded upon a due knowledge 

 of the food of plants. This is ascer- 

 tainable from their analyses, and these 

 reveal what is sustained by practice, 

 that there are some substances required 

 by all plants as food, and that there are 

 other substances which are beneficial 

 to some plants, and useless, or even 

 injurious to others. 



Now the substances universally re- 

 quired by cultivated plants, are, carbon, 

 hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phos- 

 phate of lime, and, perhaps, common 

 salt. These are supplied to plants by 

 the atmosphere, and by decaying ani- 

 mal and vegetable matters. 



The substances required only by par- 



soil ; and so on until you have disposed \ ticular plants, are certain salts, such as 

 of all the roots, when the whole should sulphate of lime, by the turnip; — sul- 

 be covered over with a thick layer of any phate of magnesia, (Epsom salt) by the 

 dry substance. Place the plants either i potato ; — nitrate of potass (saltpetre), 

 under the stage in the green-house, or I by borage, and the lilac. 



