ON THE USE OF HEATH-SOIL FOR FINE-ROOTED PLANTS. 
67 
it never presses too closely upon the tender roots of plants, nor interrupts their 
extension. It is not liable to become compressed, or hardened, or impermeable to 
the most slender root. 
These particulars, which have suggested and governed the directions previously 
given, will suffice, first, to guide the cultivator in his choice of heath-soil, and 
secondly, to give him a hint as to the best way of using it, and the kind of earth 
which may be most properly substituted for it when a superior sort cannot be 
procured. 
It will aid him, primarily, in judging what properties his heath-soil should 
possess. It should be very full of fibre, very free from sand, unless, perhaps, a few 
fragments of sand-stone, and particularly light and open. A close-textured boggy 
earth is extremely unfit for cultivating plants in. And where there is any depth 
of it in the bed from which it is taken, it should, when w T alked over, exhibit a high 
degree of springiness or elasticity. The same property should, moreover, be apparent 
when it; is made up into an artificial bed, or, if in a pot, when pressed lightly by 
the hand. 
The second point involved in these remarks relates to the fittest method of 
employing heath-soil. It should be taken in its rough state, and very partially 
reduced, either for the border or for pots. It should not be divested of any of its 
fibre, or any small pieces of stone it may contain, and, in the case of external 
borders, not even the living vegetable matter should be stripped from its surface, 
for all this will help to lighten it, and to preserve its porosity. In using it for 
potting, it ought to be broken up by the hand into rough lumps from two to three 
inches square, put irregularly and loosely into the pot. And especially should 
care be observed in preventing it from being much trodden upon if in the border, 
or much compressed in any way when in a pot, subsequently to the period of 
depositing it in either of such places. 
Where good heath-mould cannot be had, the most suitable earth which can be 
used instead of it is coarse leaf-soil, or that derived from any kind of decomposed 
wood. This, with fibrous and open loam, or even the latter by itself, will always 
be infinitely preferable to bad peaty earth. Indeed, what has now been advanced 
will manifest that any soil sufficiently loose and free in its texture, and which is 
tolerably neutral in its chemical properties, might be substituted for heath-mould, 
when this is not obtainable, or cannot be got in a duly fibrous state. 
If this article shall at all help to elucidate the true nature and use of heath- 
mould, and to indicate in what condition it should be employed, we shall feel that 
a highly desirable end has been gained, and a long stride made in advance. 
