40 THE FLORIST AND 
and if they are excluded, the process of decay and combination are ended, 
and the further growth retarded. 
To be available for the use of vegetation, a soil must not only possess all 
the ingredients of fertility, in a chemical sense, but its physical condition 
must also be of a nature to allow a free admission of air to all its parts, as 
well as admit the free extension and ramification of roots. Fibry soil pre- 
sents all these conditions in an eminent degree. The organic matter of 
which they are so largely composed, insures porosity, and during its gradual 
decay, various gases are evolved, and inorganic matters liberated, all of 
which taking place in the immediate vicinity of the roots, contributes 
largely to healthy growth and development of the plants placed under such 
conditions. 
The superiority of peat as applied to the pot culture of plants consists in 
its organic characteristics ; a soil rich in decomposing vegetable fibre is 
therefore the great desideratum, no matter whether it is termed peat or 
sod, and as we cannot conveniently procure the former we must be content 
with the latter, which, as a substitute, is of equal value. I am aware that 
this assertion will be questioned by some, but experience has proved its 
truthfulness, and our most successful plant growers can corroborate the fact. 
Henceforth, let there be no more lamentations about the want of peat, while 
a superior article is plentiful on every common, and no longer attribute the 
scarcity of Heaths, Boronias, Pimeleas and Epacrises in our green-houses to 
the want of proper soil for their cultivation. 
Delta. 
(To be continued.) 
