SOME PRACTICAL HINTS 



whole bed at once and filling it in after- 

 wards, because one only needs to throw the 

 earth a few inches, and does not have to 

 handle it a second time to fill in again. I 

 bury the sods, instead of merely taking 

 them off and throwing them away, because 

 the best of the earth is collected at their 

 roots, and if buried deeply enough to pre- 

 vent their sprouting again, the roots and 

 leaves will soon rot into the soil and form 

 a layer of fine, rich mould such as all plants 

 dearly love, and which is as good as manure 

 for most of them. For some, however, 

 such as lilies, Japanese iris, etc., I add to 

 this a layer of earth which has been mixed 

 for my use with twice its bulk of manure, 

 phosphate, and wood-ashes before filling hi 

 the natural earth, and afterwards I top 

 off with a good layer of the same, well 

 forked in and incorporated with the upper 

 157 



