ARTIFICIAL SOILS. 121 



These three the organic matter (old sods or leaf- 

 mould or soil), the sand, and the fertilizer (whether it 

 is from the stable, or is a mixture of commercial fertil- 

 izers) should be mixed in equal proportions. The 

 materials should be well sifted to free them from lumps 

 and from worms or grubs, and completely and thor- 

 oughly mixed together when dry. The best plan is to 

 store them in a dry place, free from hard frost, and to 

 mix them as wanted for potting. The mixing should 

 be done on a broad table ; and, if the materials are 

 dry and dusty, only enough water should be used to 

 merely lay the dust. A wet and muddy potting soil 

 should never be used. 



For the hard-wood plants, the orange, the camellia, 

 heaths, azalias, rubber-trees, cape-jessamine, etc., we 

 use the same materials with the addition of old peat. 

 This peat, or meadow-muck, is a black soil composed 

 almost wholly of organic matter, and is found in bogs 

 and swamps. It must be dug up and piled in a heap 

 for a whole winter before it can be used. It must be 

 placed in a pile out of doors, in some well-drained 

 place, and for this reason it is best to take it away 

 from the swamp, and left to freeze all winter. After 

 being exposed to frost, it breaks up into a fine black, 

 powdery soil, that should be stored in barrels in a shed 

 or cellar. To prepare a soil for these slow-growing, 

 hard-wood plants, make a mixture of the leaf-mould 

 and the peat, using one-third of the leaf-mould (old 

 sods or soil) and two-thirds of peat. Next mix this 

 with an equal proportion of sand. This must form 



