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old well together ; which, if properly performed, will 

 continue a moderate heat for four or five months. 

 The best season to screen the bark is in the month of 

 September ; for the beds will be put into a good con- 

 dition for the winter. When these beds begin to 

 decline in heat, some new bark should be added, to 

 renew it again. Many gardeners place their new tan 

 in the beds in layers, and plunge the plants in old 

 bark on the top of the new ; but this method cannot 

 promote the welfare of the plants so much as when 

 the bark is screened, and the new and old mixed well 

 together ; for the fermentation is not so moist when 

 the pots are plunged in all old bark ; and when it is 

 all new at the bottom, the roots are apt to be burnt 

 by the bark heating too violently. {Giles on Ananas, 

 8.) 



Mr. Dall, gardener to the Earl of Hardwicke, at 

 Wimpole, uses, and recommends, for the more safe 

 and expeditious manner of filling tan round the pots 

 that are partly plunged into the bark-bed, as here 

 stated, a pipe or funnel made of sheet-iron ; the 

 mouth that receives the tan is 15 inches, and the 

 lower end four and a half inches diameter, with two 

 handles fixed to it, so that the operator easily holds 

 it while a lad is filling in the bark from a flower-pot. 

 (Hort. Soc* Trans, vii.) 



Oak Leaves are often employed as a substitute for 

 tanner's bark in the pine stove. In districts where 

 k 2 



