S32 PEAT. 



within 500 feet' of the top of Dodotolia, a hill 10,000 feet high, in 

 Kumaon, between Almorah and Sireenugger, on the Bhaugeruttie river, 

 growing in company with Quercus Kamroopii, and just above the 

 Deodar. Here every possible variety of colour capable of being pro- 

 duced by a mixture of crimson and white was to be found amongst the 

 Rhododendrons ; the whole side of the hiU was one blaze of colour. A 

 thirst-exciting ascent, in the middle of the day, 23rd April, made me 

 search eagerly for water, which I could only find in the shape of some 

 immelted snow on the north side of the lull in a shady nook, till I 

 descended at least 6000 feet to the stream in the valley below.'' It is, 

 therefore, clear that peat is by no means indispensable to such plants. 



A gardener must attend to three points if he wishes to grow 

 American plants well : 1, the soil must be loose and rich ; 2, while they 

 are growing there must be free and constant access of moisture without 

 stagnation ; and 3, there must be no chalk. — The soU must be light and 

 rich. Peat is not insisted upon ; on the contrary, our great growers 

 expressly state that other substances wiU answer the same purpose, 

 provided they are in the same mechanical condition. The reason of this 

 is obvious. "American" plants have in all cases deUoate hair-like 

 roots, which remain for years without any considerable increase in 

 diameter; such roots cannot find their way through a soil which offers 

 much resistance to their progress. Sand, very sandy loam, and decayed 

 vegetable matter intermingled form the soU that American plants 

 demand. Feat is a good material, because it consists of sand and 

 decayed vegetable matter ; and any other mixture of the same kind 

 will be also a good material. Decayed leaves, fragments of very rotten 

 branches or roots, probably charcoal, and such matters mixed with sand, 

 in order to prevent the soil from becoming too compact, replace it per- 

 fectly. The value of peat consists in its being a good natural mixture, 

 teadily procurable in large quantities, in many districts. The necessity 

 for loam depends upon its power of retaining moisture longer than dead 

 or decayed vegetable matter. Provided the requisite moisture can be con- 

 stantly secured, loam ceases to have value. Standiah and Noble recommend 

 the following as an excellent compost : — "To two parts of sandy loam 

 or peat, or in fact any sandy soil that does not contain much calcareous 

 matter (American plants exhibit a great dislike to that), add one-fourth 

 leaf-mould, one-eighth sand, and one-eighth rotten manure. If wanted 

 immediately, the whole should be weU beaten, and thoroughly incor- 

 porated before using. It would, however, be of great advantage to 

 allow the mixture to remain twelve months, turning it well two or 

 three times during that period. In old exhausted beds, a good dressing 

 of rotten manure forked in will be found highly beneficial." 



There must be free and constant access of moisture, without stag- 

 nation. In American plants the roots are much more quickly dried 

 than those of other plants. They are not thick, fleshy, cellular 



