SOIL, MANURES AND WATERISTO. 361 



manure alone is all that will be necessary. When the 

 sods have become perhaps half rotted, the pile should be 

 cut down and worked over. If this is done the first of 

 May, the compost can be used for filling the benches, in 

 three or four weeks, and by August it will be in good 

 condition for potting. When it can be readily obtained, 

 sheep manure is of value, either for mixing with soil for 

 potting, as a top-dressing or for preparing liquid manure. 



For seed pans and for potting cuttings, it is well to 

 pass the compost through a coarse sieve, but for most 

 purposes this will be an injury, as much of the fibrous 

 portion of the compost will be removed. With a com- 

 post prepared as above, almost any kind of plants can 

 be grown, bub the intelligent florist will prefer to modify 

 it to suit the wants of the different species. 



For bulbs, in particular, and for cuttings of nearly 

 all plants, the amount of sand can well be increased. 

 Leaf mold is a valuable addition to a potting soil, but, 

 for most plants, its use is not essential, and the same 

 can be said of peat. Many of the stove plants, however, 

 do best in a light, porous soil, and leaf mold and peat 

 can be added to advantage, in the proportion of one part 

 of each to eight of the compost. 



SAND FOE THE CUTTING BENCH. 



The use of "silver sand" has been insisted upon as 

 necessary for success in growing cuttings, but florists 

 now take no especial pains to obtain it, although it is 

 desirable if it can be secured near at hand. Tlie main 

 thing is to use sharp sand of medium fineness, that is 

 free from organic matter. Anything that partakes of a 

 quicksand nature, where the angles of the grains have 

 been worn off, will pack around the cuttings, and 

 extremely fine sand has the same fault. Coarse sand, on 

 the other hand, dries out too quickly, unless it is flooded, 

 and admits air too freely to the cut surface of the cut- 



