Page:On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae.djvu/27

 Rh the turf. Let this earth be laid in heaps, in some dry airy part of the premises, placing the turf downwards: in 6 months, (or if longer the better,) it will be fit for use. To prepare it for sowing seeds, or potting, it is necessary to pass it through a sieve; that for seeds, and small young plants, should have meshes, or openings, about ¼th of an inch diameter; but that for larger plants, may have openings ½ an inch diameter.

The pots in which vegetables ought to be cultivated, not even excepting some aquatics, should neither be baked very soft, nor very hard; the former are of short duration, unsafe to carry about, and preserve valuable plants in, being so liable to break; the latter being less porous, often retain moisture, and exclude the air so completely, as to render a plant unhealthy, if not actually kill it. The roots of many species in this Order, delight to enter the veins and cracks of rocks, in search of moisture; which may with little trouble be imitated at the time of potting, by placing among the earth, large pieces of broken pots, or sand-stone, free from Lichens and Mosses. These large broken pieces, besides the usual drainage, will also prove beneficial, in carrying off any superabundant moisture, from injudicious watering, or heavy and continued rains: nor will they be found less useful in very dry summers; for these hard yet porous substances, retain a kindly moisture when covered with earth, a much longer time than the earth alone would; consequently the small fibres which cling to them, receive nourishment in much the same way, that nature affords her liberal assistance, where they grow wild.

Old pots should never on any account be used, unless previously well washed and scrubbed with a brush inside and outside, after which they must remain till thoroughly dry; for by use, their pores become so obstructed with Confervæ, and other minute vegetables, as to be very injurious to plants growing in them/ It is also a point worth attending to, especially in extensive collections, to keep all