The Garden Under Glass

POTTING AND POTTING SOILS. 221 uneven ; destroying the lower leaves of the plant, giving the plant too large or too small a shift ; using the soil when too wet, or too dry, or too lumpy, or too much endowed with grass j putting too much manure in the soil, not properly mixing it; omitting to pull from the old ball soil not taken up by roots ; roughly raking or combing the old ball; potting when the old ball is very dry ; pressing the soil with the two thumbs when six fingers may be used. These are the more common mistakes in general potting. A Stack of Turf For the purpose of potting, fibrous loam is greatly in demand. This is usually procured from old pastures where the land has not been broken for generations, and where the roots of the grass form a complete network for several inches down. To obtain loam with plenty of fibre for a depth of about four inches is the aim of the grower. The best time to cut it is in the early autumn, though where wire-worm abounds it would be well to leave it until later to afford a chance for this pest to hide itself lower in the soil. The turf should then be made into a stack by setting it with the grass downwards and a layer of well-rotted cow manure between the layers of turf. In the course of a few months the loam will be thoroughly impregnated with the virtue of the manure, and will be more suitable for the growth of the majority of pot plants than if no manure had been used. The method of adding manure at the time of stacking is far preferable to mixing it with the soil when forming the compost. The stack may be made of a square or an oblong shape, and the layers at the top should be so arranged as to form a roof for throwing off the water. The bottom on which the stack is to stand should be both level and dry.