VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
THE LEAVES OF PLANTS. 25 
same treatment until it becomes simple black mould. Erect in 
some suitable place a little shed, open back and front for the 
free admission and circulation of air. Fit this up with some 
rough bins. Fill one with the turfy loam and dung when well 
amalgamated, as directed above — another with the old cow dung, 
— another with some good peat, not obtained any where or 
any how, but well selected, from its containing abundance of 
vegetable fibre. Now, here are the foundations for compost to 
grow any thing in. Some will say I have omitted leaf mould. 
Much as it will surprise many to hear it, I have no hesitation in 
saying I dislike it. I have always found it at every age the 
home of grubs and their larvae, and I never find the plants root 
in it as well as in a proportion of such peat as above-mentioned. 
Let no one be deterred by imagining that the above arrange¬ 
ments will involve much expense, or be offensive to the eye of 
neatness. A few rough fir-poles will form the shed, and a very 
little contrivance will make it ornamental as well as useful, — 
covered, as it may be, by a honey-suckle or rose. When once 
a stock is obtained the florist will be sure to have his bins 
replenished as they are exhausted; and no one that knows the 
comfort and advantage of having a variety of soils ready for 
mixing for immediate use would give up the plan. I should 
add that a stock of the sharpest, cleanest silver sand that can be 
obtained should be at hand, and if kept covered over so much 
the better, especially if the spot be frequented by cats. 
E. Beck. 
Isleworth. 
Horticultural Essays, 
By the Members of the Regent's Park Gardeners' Society. 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY..-—THE LEAVES OF 
PLANTS. 
By Mr. T. Moore. 
(Continuedfrom p. 14.) 
The life of vegetables seems to consist in a successive diurnal 
decomposition and recomposition of carbonic acid. During the 
VOL. VI. NO. II. e 
