Mar,] 



THE FLOWJER GARDEN. 



867 



Daring Vei-y heavy rains many florists cover the compost with 

 tarpauhng or double mats to prevent the nitrous particles from 

 being washed out. This is also an excellent precaution. If 

 any objection be started that the quantity of dung is too great 

 in proportion to the loam, I ansvrer that such an objection might 

 be well founded, if the compost were to be used immediately 

 on its being mixed together ; but as it has to lie six months 

 before it is used, 1 am decidedly of opinion that the quantity is 

 not more than is necessary in order to ensure a luxuriant 

 growth and generous bloom." 



Mr. Maddock, an equally successful and well-known florist, 

 gives the following as his practice : — 



" One half rotten horse-dung, one year old, or that which has 

 been used for a hot-bed for cucumbers, melons, &c. ; one-third 

 sound loamy earth, one-sixth coarse sea or river sand. These 

 ingredients are to be mixed together in autumn, laid in a heap 

 about two feet thick, in an open exposure, and turned two or 

 three times during winter ; or otherwise, the dung alone, after 

 being used as a hot-bed, may be thrown together in a heap, in 

 a conical form, in order to rot more perfectly ; and as its sur- 

 face freezes in winter, it should be pared off and laid on one 

 side till the whole mass has been completely frozen throughout. 

 This may be repeated as often as the season permits, and it 

 will be completely fit for use the following spring. The earth 

 and sand may be added to it in March, when wanted to fresh 

 pot the plants for bloom. The whole should be well mixed and 

 incorporated, and passed through a coarse screen or sieve to 

 reduce its parts and take out stones or any other extraneous 

 substance which it may contain. In country places, where the 

 air is more pure, experience has pointed out the propriety of 

 using less dung and more loam. The proportions of which, 

 for such situations, may be reversed, viz. : one-half loamy 

 earth and one-third dung, with the sand as before specified. 

 The preparation of the compost, in other respects, is to be ex- 

 actly the same in all situations." 



The pots and mould being prepared, the plants should be 

 carefully taken out of the small pots in which they have stood 

 the winter, or if they have not been potted, taken carefully 

 out of the bed, into which they may have been pricked out last 



