The Garden Under Glass

POTTING AND POTTING SOILS 223 Ingredients for Potting Soils There are many substances used for making up a compost, according to the dass of plant to be dealt with. Among these we may mention leaf-soil, animal manures, peat, sand, charcoal, mortar rubble, wood ashes, brick dust, sphagnum moss, oyster shell, bones and bone meal, and the many patent plant fertilisers. Of course, all these are not put into one compost, or it would, indeed, be a peculiar mixture, but if many different sorts of plants are grown, and it is desired to grow them well, it will be difficult to do without a little of each of them at some time or other. Leaf-soil and Manures Leaf-soil enters largely into well-nigh eveiy mixture. Besides giving nourishment of a nitrogenens nature it possesses in a remarkable degree the property of retaining moisture, and for this reason it is especially suitable for forming a compost for seeds, cuttings and young plants. The best leaf-soil is that made from oak leaves. These should be gathered in the autumn and put into a heap to rot. If time be spared it is a good plan to turn them over occasionally, but this is not imperative. For use they should be passed through a half-inch sieve. Where possible, it is better to leave them for two years, so that they may pass the sieve more easily. When leaf-soil is used for orchids I prefer to prepare them in the folio wing manner : Dry oak leaves are put into a bag, and this is placed over the greenhouse boiler, or on the hot-water pipes, where the leaves will be so completely dried as to be quite crisp. In due course they may be taken out and