AND CONSERVATORY. 59 



used up advantageously in making a potting shed, and a brick 

 or tile flooring is to be desired. A lean-to with tiled roof, in 

 which a few glass tiles are inserted, will answ^er well, if a wall 

 can be spared for it, and the whole front may be open, if the 

 situation is quite sheltered. If the front is closed there must 

 be two or three windows. To give an idea of the proper size 

 for such a shed we should say that a length of twelve feet and 

 a width of eight feet would suflice for a small garden. Any 

 way there must be room for handling plants and for a wheel- 

 barrow to turn, and for a store of necessary materials. 



A strong bench should run the whole length of the shed, 

 and beneath it should be rough bins with sloping fronts for 

 storing loam, peat, sand, and other stufi". The stout uprights 

 which support the bench will aff'ord a holding for the divi- 

 sions of the bins, which should be six in number at least , one 

 or two of them much larger than all the rest for loam and 

 peat, of which there must always be a good store. The sloping 

 front should drop into grooves to facilitate filling the bins. A 

 locker for labels, seeds, and other oddments will be useful, 

 and the whole of the garden tools may be accommodated on 

 the back wall by providing rails and hooks to hang them on. 



Composts for plant-growing are compounded in a great 

 many diff"erent ways, as patent medicines are ; but the wise 

 cultivator will not have many of them. AVe will suppose that 

 the bins are filled with materials. These should consist of 

 mellow loam full of decayed fibre, tough fibrous peat, silver 

 sand, leaf mould, potsherds, old broken plaster or mortar, and 

 the most rotten portion of the manure from an old hotbed or 

 any similar source. AYith these before us we will prepare 

 what shall henceforth be termed the nniversal compost. We 

 will put upon the bench a bushel of the loam, a peck of 

 leaf mould, a peck of the powdery manure, and half a peck of 

 silver sand, aud proceed to chop them over and mix them 

 with the trowel, throwing out all large stones as the 

 mixing proceeds. If this is well done the compost 

 will be ready, and will suit perfectly nine tenths of all the 

 plants you are likely to cultivate. Another useful compost 

 will consist of one bushel of peat, one peck of leaf mould, and 

 one peck of silver sand. This will suit for the remaining 

 tenth; and upon my word, if you never deviate from these 

 prescriptions, you may become, by proper attention to other 



