322 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ October 5 . isss 
placing them in a light airy greenhouse in the autumn to ripen 
their growth. Abundance of water, with a little weak liquid 
manure occasionally, should be given during the growing season, 
and a good syringing at least twice a day keeps them clean and 
assists their growth. As the leaves fade the syringing should be 
discontinued, and less water at the root should be given, withhold¬ 
ing it altogether when all the leaves have faded. As the flowers 
advance a little water may be given, but not much, or the roots 
will get too long to make the potting operation easy and safe. 
P. lagenaria is so easily grown and requires so little heat that any¬ 
one possessing a greenhouse may venture to grow it. Few Orchids 
are more pleasing than these pretty little plants—Indian Crocuses 
as they are called—and they come in at a time when Orchid 
flowers are rather scarce. In the Himalayas, where these plants 
are found, they must form beautiful pictures ; clothing, as I am 
told they do, old tree trunks, rocks, with a perfect carpet of pink 
and white.—K. 
SOILS FOR POTTING. 
Much of the success attending the cultivation of plants in pots 
depends on the soils at the cultivator’s command. This is, there¬ 
fore, a point demanding attention and much knowledge, which 
can only be gained by experience and partially from written or 
printed instructions. The two chief articles needed are loam 
and peat. 
Loam. —The best kind of loam is that made from turf taken 
from an old pasture, and cut 3 or 4 inches deep, or as deep as 
the fibres or the grasses hold the soil firmly. But some pastures 
—good old ones, too—are on very heavy clay, and others are on 
gravel or sheer sand. Either of these are better than nothing, but 
neither make the best kind of loam for most purposes. True, some 
plants, such as Lilies among flowers, and Melons among fruits, 
delight in heavy loam, while very sandy loam, pure and simple— 
which is generally all fibre, as the loose soil shakes out easily—is 
just what Lapagerias and some other plants delight in. Never¬ 
theless, loam from a fertile soil of a medium texture is best. At 
the same time very few people, even among those who live in the 
country, have a choice of soils. If only heavy loam can be 
obtained it should be cut and stacked (under cover if possible), 
with layers of horse droppings and charred refuse sandwich 
fashion between the layers of turf. The manure will enrich, and 
when chopped up and mixed with it tend to lighten the loam. 
At potting time leaf soil may be added with advantage for many 
plants, and also sharp sand. These will further lighten it. For 
other plants, and especially such as are in large pots, pieces of 
freestone, charcoal, or even tough peat, will further tend to improve 
such soils. 
This lightening and mixing process must not be overdone, 
though. Very light loam should be stacked in the same way, but 
cowdung should be placed with the turves instead of horse 
droppings. The charred refuse should also be kept out, and a 
little heavy soil be added instead. In chopping it up for potting 
any light loose soil should be shaken out, and mixing sand with it 
may be altogether unnecessary. When it is used for plants in 
large pots large pieces of the turf should be used, and firmly 
packed into the space between the roots and sides of the pots. 
Leaf soil may be quite unnecessary, and the decayed cowdung 
sufficient for enriching it. Instead of lumps of porous charcoal 
and sandstone we would (and do) substitute lumps of fresh bone. 
By such process, and the different employment of different 
materials, very dissimilar soils may be made to answer the same 
purpose. Medium loam requires nothing more than stacking with 
a little manure of some kind, and any admixture required by the 
different plants to which it is to be applied. 
For loam we have often used partially decayed “ rack ” (quick 
grass roots) from off fields ; and for small plants in small pots, or 
for rapidly growing annuals, such as Balsams, Cinerarias, and 
similar plants, it is very good, especially if mixed for some time 
before using with horse droppings or such like, and a little bone 
meal when put into the pots. For large plants of Lapagerias, 
Oranges, Yallotas, Lilies, and Camellias, we always endeavour to 
secure proper turfy loam, as such loam as rack makes soon become 
earth, and is then apt to get too solid and sour, in which state 
nothing can thrive in it. 
Peat. —It is not every district that possesses good peat for 
plant-growing purposes. Moreover, different plants require 
different kinds of peat. Ferns delight in that spongy kind which 
is only decaying mosses and other kinds of vegetation. Heaths, 
Azaleas, and similar plants demand peat from the surface of dry 
ground, and it is much better if it is full of grassy fibres and is 
dashed with sharp sand. It is only rarely that such is the case, 
however, and the sand has to be supplied by the cultivator. The 
peat should be cut in turves like the loam, and stacked in the 
same way, but without manure. Both loam and peat should be 
stacked some months before they are required for use. 
Leaf Soil. —This is simply leaves which have been laid in a heap 
until they have decayed. It is best when it is just decayed enough 
to pass through a sieve and remain in a flaky condition. 
Decayed Manure should be made similarly, and used in the 
same way, but we very much prefer applying any manure re¬ 
quired for pot plants in a fresh state among the soil at stacking 
time in the way described. Placing manure in heaps dissipates 
its best properties, which are washed out by the rains or escape 
into the air. When placed in the soil in a fresh state the latter 
absorbs it, and is benefited and enriched. 
Charred Refuse is the remains of any fires which may be made 
annually for the sake of getting rid of prunings, old Pea and other 
sticks, Cabbage stumps, kc. It is very valuable on the potting 
bench ; and to make as large a heap as possible any earth which 
adheres to the roots should be charred, especially if the soil is 
clayey, along with the other materials. 
Sand. —Everybody knows what sand is, but it may be necessary 
to state here that close adhesive sands are of no use for mixing 
with potting soils, as sand is only used to make the soils with 
which it is mixed more porous. Pure white sharp sand (silver 
sand) is best, but clean sharp river or other washed sand is good, 
no matter what colour it may be. Pit sand often contains much 
iron, and is then worse than useless. 
Bones. —Quarter-inch bones and bonemeal when judiciously 
mixed with soils at potting time are of very great value to all 
plants which love to grow in loam. Ordinary manure, well 
decayed, soon loses much of its nutritive value, because it decays 
rapidly, and the repeated waterings, which are necessary for 
plants in pots, rapidly wash its nutritive substance out of the pots 
and beyond the reach of the roots. Bones, on the other hand, 
decay and give out their feeding substances slowly, and last 
until the plants want nourishment most—after the pots are full 
of roots. After this happens the roots literally absorb the sub¬ 
stance of the bones, and so find sustenence, when, without their 
presence the plants would likely be on short commons. When a 
little bonemeal is added to the soil at potting time we find 
that the plants thrive for a long time in comparatively small 
pots, especially if a very little sulphate of ammonia is dissolved 
in the water which is given them. When no bones are in the 
soil we find that guano water or liquid manure made from 
animal dung is necessary to produce equal results. In number¬ 
less instances liquid manure with an offensive smell is not 
tolerated, and an odourless stimulant, such as a weak solution 
of sulphate of ammonia, becomes necessary if the very best results 
are expected.—N. B. 
POTTS’ SEEDLING APPLE. 
I HAVE always considered Potts’ Seedling Apple a most valu¬ 
able variety. The fruit is clean, large, and excellent for either 
baking, boiling, or exhibition purposes. The tree is a very good 
grower, with splendid foliage and very distinct, which makes it 
the more prizeable. I used to exhibit a good deal at the various 
shows, and nearly always carried off first prize with Potts’ Seed¬ 
ling, although I had Lord Suffield quite as large at the time. I 
cannot say with strict accuracy where nor by whom it was origi¬ 
nated, excepting that when 1 used to go down into Lancashire 
collecting new Gooseberries, &c„ I came across it at Oldham in 
the garden of a small cotter, a Gooseberry grower, who had two 
small young trees of it; and he stated that he had just procured 
these from a Mr. Potts, who had raised it. I presume he was a 
neighbour, but do not know for a certainty. I think it is about 
thirty years ago, as near as I can remember. After hearing such 
a glowing description of the Apple by the individual named I was 
very anx ous to procure the sort, which I did, and have every 
reason to think it one of the best kinds in cultivation. If any¬ 
thing that I have said will be of any service I shall be very 
pleased.— John Nelson, Nurseryman, Cat cliffe, Rotherham. 
[We have received very fine fruits of this Apple from Biverdale 
near Sheffield, and it appears to be admirably adapted for exposed 
localities and northern districts.] 
BOMAREAS. 
Climbing Alstromerias would not be an inappropriate title for 
Bomareas, for they are very closely allied to those plants, differing 
from them simply inhabit and in the form of the seed pod, which 
is triangular. So nearly, indeed, are the two genera related that 
many of what are now known as Bomareas were at one time 
classed with the Alstromerias ; but the formation of a separate 
genus was necessary and judicious when the number of species 
