In the Garden
A great deal of scientific—and indeed almost mystic advice has been given us on the subject of compost. It is doubtless excellent ; but there is something to be said for the wholly unscientific and unmystical compost heap. Now I mowed some very old and coarse grass in a paddock and stacked it in a heap and put a little, a very little earth on the top. On this I sowed four vegetable marrow seeds. They germinated and grew and grew to a fantastic length and produced a large quantity
of immense marrows over a long period. The more orthodox lumps where the gardener planted out his marrows bore no comparison. That is not
the end. The rough hay has become a most persuasive compost, and isthus twice blessed. It is possible that the virtue in this heap is due in
part to a proportion of nettle which is probably—so even the scientific say—one of the more valuable incedients of any compost. W. BEACH THOMAS.
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