Bin 5. (Cow Manure)

This is cow droppings placed in a ridge, and roofed, similarly to the horse-dung, but allowed to remain to a much greater age; in fact, when placed in Bin No. 5, it has the appearance of rich peat, being at least two years old.

Bin 6. (Wood Ashes And Charcoal)

Brush-wood at bottom, covered with all sorts of garden refuse, viz. cabbage stalks, potato haulm, hedge clippings, and in fact weeds and rubbish of all kinds, which, when about half-burned, are closed up with soils of any kind, and kept smouldering for days; when the combustion is complete it is subjected to a riddle of an inch mesh, and what comes through is housed in a dry state in this bin, the rest belongs to bin 19.

Bin 8. (Sharp Sand)

Coarse river sand; but every potting-shed should be furnished with two kinds, the one very coarse and the other very fine, both as sharp as they can be obtained; the London propagating sand is an invaluable article.

Bin 10. (Sphagnum, Well Scalded)

This is chiefly for orchidaceous plants, and requires to be steeped in boiling water for some hours previously to being transferred to this bin, in order to destroy insects. It is also useful to cover fresh sown seeds, where it is desirable to insure a permanent moisture without frequent watering; it also produces a darkness favourable to germination.

Bin 13. (One-Inch Drainage Termed No. 1)

This is composed of about equal parts of boiled bone, charcoal, and pounded crocks, in lumps averaging an inch square, and intended to cover the rough crock placed over the hole of pots, from No. 32 to No. 16 of the London sizes inclusive.

Bin 19. (Charcoal In Large Lumps)

This is used to mix with the potsherds for orchidaceous plants, and when large masses are wanted for very large shifts.

Bin 20. (One-Inch Boiled Bone)

This is used after the manner of No. 19, when considered requisite. To the above may be added old tan, riddled particularly clean; to be intermixed with or placed over the drainage; for such it answers exceedingly well, notwithstanding the prejudice against it. It is very well adapted for annuals in pots, a single crock with a handful or two of old tan over it, provides a safe drainage for a season, and withal a rooting medium. - Gard. Chron.

Care Required

A principal object to be aimed at in potting is complete drainage, for nothing is more injurious to most plants than stagnant water about their roots. The drainage is best effected by filling one-fourth the depth of the pot with the larger fragments of bones and charcoal mixed in equal proportions; this and the pebbles, woody fibres, etc, which are now allowed to remain in the soil, will remove from it all superfluous water. Dryness in the centre of the ball of earth is another evil to be avoided. Though not usually suspected, it occurs more often than excess of wet, and deprives the roots of a large proportion of their pasturage. To prevent it, a small rod of iron should be thrust through the earth around the stem occasionally, to allow the water poured upon the surface a freer entrance. Mr. Moore, to effect the same, says - "Whenever a plant (most particularly a valuable specimen plant) is repotted, either in its infancy or in its maturity, I would introduce a few sticks of charcoal perpendicularly into the pot; these should be long enough to extend from the bottom of the pot to the top of the soil; about three might be placed at regular intervals, and they should be as close to the roots, and as | near to the centre of the pots as possible.

Thus if a plant is shifted but once, it will be provided with some chan- ' nels for moisture, extending throughout the soil, and if it be frequently repotted, the number of these channels may be increased. When these are once introduced into the soil they are perma-nent; for being of material which is not subject to rapid decay, they will) serve at least the lifetime of a plant, | and by occasionally making use of a simple siphon, a mere worsted thread, in contact with moisture, a slow, mo-derate, and constant supply of moisture may be conveyed at pleasure to and through the centre of the soil, and the whole mass may thus be kept regularly and equably moistened." - Gard. Chron. See One-Shift System.