om, while the other has the
manure. The mushrooms will begin to start in a month or five weeks,
sometimes sooner, sometimes later, according to the heat of the place
where the boxes are situated.

[SOME HOURS WE SHOULD FIND FOR THE PLEASURES OF THE MIND.]

276. Dwarf Plants.

The following method of producing miniature trees is taken from an
article on this subject in 'Gardening Illustrated'.

"Take an orange, and having cut a hole in the peel about the size of
a shilling, take out the juice and pulp. Fill the skin thus emptied
with some cocoa-nut fibre, fine moss, and charcoal, just stiffened
with a little loam, and then put an acorn or a date stone, or the
seed or kernel of any tree that it is proposed to obtain in a
dwarfed form in this mixture, just about the centre of the hollow
orange peel. Place the orange peel in a tumbler or vase in a window,
and occasionally moisten the contents with a little water through
the hole in the peel, and sprinkle the surface apparent through the
hole with some fine woodashes. In due time the tree will push up its
stem through the compost and the roots will push through the orange
peel. The roots must then be cut off flush with the peel, and this
process must be repeated at frequent intervals for about two years
and a half. The stem of the tree will attain the height of four or
five inches and then assume a stunted gnarled appearance, giving it
the appearance of an old tree. When the ends of the roots are cut
for the last time, the orange peel, which, curiously enough, does
not rot, must be painted black and varnished."

The writer of the article saw this process carried out by a Chinaman
that he had in his service, and the trees thrived and presented a
healthy appearance for eight years, when the Chinaman left his employ
and took the trees with him. He tried the plan which has been
described but failed, but he was successful with an acorn and a
datestone which were planted each in a thumb-pot in a mixture of peat
and loam. The dwarfing was effected by turning the plants out of the
pots at intervals of six weeks and pinching off the ends of the roots
that showed themselves behind the compost. This shows that the
production of dwarf plants is chiefly due to a constant and systematic
checking of the root growth.

277. To Clear Rose Trees from Blight.

Mix