DECORATIVE VARIETIES. 
33 
whatever the weather may be, it may be used at any 
time. This loam should be full of fibre, if the best in- 
terests of the plants are to be served, and of this material 
take four parts. The loam should be broken up into 
small nodules about the size of a walnut, and the quantity 
of fine soil as small as possible. Leaf-mould and horse 
manure, the latter as prepared for a mushroom bed, 
should be added to the compost, one part of each of these 
being sufficient. A liberal dusting of wood-ashes or 
crushed charcoal should also be added, and to serve the 
same purpose, crushed oyster shells may be used with 
advantage. To each bushel of soil add a five-inch potful 
of any well-known and approved fertiliser, but take par- 
ticular care that this is well distributed by mixing 
thoroughly. Coarse silver-sand or clean road grit should 
be added in a sufficient quantity to make the compost 
porous. This is very important, as proper drainage of 
the soil must be provided if the well-being of the plants 
is to be assured. In this case, none of the ingredients 
should be passed through a sieve, but simply broken up 
into small pieces, as already recommended. It will be 
apparent to the grower how necessary it is that the heap 
of these ingredients should be thoroughly well mixed ; and 
if prepared a week beforehand, well blended at the time, 
and two or three times in the interval also turned over, the 
different ingredients will be well and evenly distributed 
and the heap of soil sweetened. 
Much depends upon the object the grower may have in 
view, with regard to his decorative plants, as to the size 
of pots he should use. The earlier propagated plants 
will, by the time the final potting has to be done, be well 
rooted in either five-inch or six-inch pots, according to 
their respective vigour. Plants in five-inch pots should 
be transferred to those measuring nine inches in diameter, 
and those in six-inch pots into others a size larger, 
namely ten-inch pots. The grower must determine for 
himself, to some extent, the needs of individual plants, 
placing the more vigorous growing varieties into pots of 
