28 GARDENING BY MYSELF. 



the year before, and the year before that, 

 which come next ; and when you have thus 

 disposed of several withered generations, 

 you will come to a little black, fresh, per- 

 fectly-decayed mould. Not much in a 

 place, perhaps, but the places are many ; 

 and there is nothing, with me, that has 

 proved so good for the growth of seeds, as 

 this same leaf mould from the woods. You 

 may use it alone, or with a mingling of 

 common earth, or a little sand. 



Having got the soil, the next thing is 

 what to put it in. What is to hold your 

 little seed beds in the house? All the 

 florists, without exception, I believe, say : 

 " Never use pots." And I onl}^ answer such 

 high authority with the old words : '' When 

 you can't do as you would, you must do as 

 you can." Little seed boxes, sawed in two 

 at a four-inch depth, are capital ; and soap 

 boxes Avith the like treatment, are first-rate. 

 But it is not every lover of flowers that has 

 strength and time to cut up old boxes or 

 make the new. It is not everv masculine 



