30 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1881. 



is mud, and when it becomes dry, it is like a brick. It may be 

 improved by the addition of old well-rotted manure and sand, 

 but will never be good potting soil. 



The best thing I know of, for a basis for a potting compost, is 

 leaf mold from any kind of deciduous trees. Pine and other 

 evergreens are to be avoided. This leaf mold may be from the 

 leaves raked from the lawn, or any other convenient place ; but 

 i.t is necessary that they should be thoroughly decayed. When 

 it becomes truly mold it is all right. Some varieties of leaves 

 will hardly do this under two or three years. 



Or, you may go into any deciduous woods, and after scraping 

 away the leaves, take the la3'er of decayed vegetable matter 

 under them. This, if obtained in the Spring, and overhauled a 

 few times during the Summer, will be in good condition to use 

 in the Fall. 



Where leaf mold cannot be obtained, the next best thing is 

 rotted sods. Take them two or three inches thick from an old 

 pasture, or some light warm soil, never from soil that is heavy 

 or clayey. They should be packed one upon another (in June is 

 the best time) and towards Fall they should be thoroughly 

 chopped and mixed over with the spade, two or three times, till 

 they become quite tine. Then add to this, onc-fourth of its bulk 

 of old hotbed, or other thoroughly rotted manure. It is better 

 if several years old. Add to ever}^ bushel of this mixture one- 

 half peck of rather coarse sharp sand. If you are fortunate 

 enough to obtain the leaf mold, you may use less manure and 

 more sand. 



A compost prepared in this way will be excellcTit for all kinds 

 of common house plants, such as Geraniums, Petunias, Prim- 

 roses, Fuchsias, &c. For Ferns and Lycopodiums, leaf mold and 

 sand without any manure is best. But a very good substitute 

 may be made by taking one bushel of the potting compost just 

 described and add one and a-half pecks of sand, and one peck of 

 old dry peat. This makes a soil very well adapted to most of 

 the ferns and mosses when grown in pots, and it makes a good 

 soil for Wardian cases. And if made a little richer, it is an 

 excellent soil for Callas. 



Of course Gardeners, when they are potting off a batch of 

 plants, will vary the proportion somewhat, putting in more or 

 less of sand and manure, according to the needs of the variety 

 they have in hand. But there will always be good results, so 

 far as they depend on the soil, from using such a compost as I 

 have described. 



Tiie plants being potted in a suital)le compost, they must have 

 a temperature suited to the conditions of growth. And for most 



