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for educational purposes, as it only muddles matters, and in no case use prepared garden or potato manures, the composition of which is unknown. If a complete plant-food is desired, see that it is complete Make out a table of the composition of the various manures. (6.) A few garden hints may well be observed : Come to a thorough understanding with your pupils before going outdoors Discipline is necessary at all times; have a definite plan in mind. Never work the ground in cold or wet weather. Cover-crops for the winter will improve the heart and strength of the soil. Sow cover-crops sufficiently thick to kill weeds. Rotation is necessary to prevent soil - exhaustion. Cover-crops and rotation will give all concerned a legitimate rest. Always sow seeds m drills; drills are much easier kept clean, easier watered, easier thinned, and look better. Straight drills are easily made by drawing a small rope or straight pole or board back and forth on the bed. Children delight in sowing seeds twenty-seven times too thick, and thirteen times too deep. L-ive warning that the oackct should sow a certain number of feet in the drills, or so many rows, and that the slightest covering will do—" twice the depth of the seed " means merely out of sight. _ Keep the ground well stirred around all growing crops. Roots need air, and hoeing conserves moisture. Nothing is gained by planting high-temperature seeds, such as melons, cucumber, beans, and maize, before hot weather.' Grass-seed, sweet-peas, parsnips, onions, spinach, &c, germinate in cold weather, and make even stronger growth in cold soil. Make out a planting calendar for the year, and hang it on the wall for reference, also a seed guide, showing vitality, period of germination, number of seeds in an ounce, and the extent it will sow. Have a place for everything. Do not have garden- plots over 4ft. wide. Children cannot reach over 2ft. from the path Square, finished garden-pegs are the corner-stones of neatness. If we do not begin carefully drills sowing, and thinning will be done in the same careless manner. Emphasize tidiness from the start. Label everything iii clear letters that may be seen from the path. Date of sowing is important. That which is so well known at time of sowing is easily forgotten, and, besides others wish to know. Grow for class use, not for show. Promote unselfishness. Ask each pupil for seedlings &c, from time to time for class use. Study what is grown as it grows. Have pupils press seedlings from the garden and flowers from the beds, for purposes of winter drawing It is much easier for the beginner to draw from the pressed specimen. Drawing from nature will follow Transplant when thinning; for transplanting is economic, frugal, and educational. In flower-beds, best effects are produced by planting all of one variety in one place. Do not scatter or confuse. Massing gives a pleasing unit v. Pluck the flowers that you may have all the more. Plucking promotes and prolong* blossoming, and schoolroom decoration becomes_a necessary part of gardening Pinch off terminal buds of cosmos and other slender plants, to improve shape and blossoming (7 ) Potato Experime,its--(a.) To show the relative value of the different varieties, procure 3 lb. (seed-sets about hens-egg size) of each of three or four of the leading varieties. Obtain as much information aTpossible regarding the ancestry, health, and yield of each variety. Notice the promising features of each variety before planting, such as shallowness of eye, smoothness of skin, constancy and compactness of shape, prominence of terminal bud, &c. Plant these varieties under similar conditions, c her with one suitable manure, or have the rows cross each of the manurial areas above recommended Date of sowing and time of maturity should be noted and compared; the yield from he Ub should lie weighed and stored for winter study. Then the tendency to succumb to rot, the keeping quality, and the peculiarity and structure of each variety may be observed Keep the best or next setting (b.) To show the different ways of planting sets, 141b. to 281b of one good varied will be needed. If the rows are 20 ft. long, take twenty potatoes for each trial. Row No 1 • Whole sets, 1 ft. apart. Row No. 2: Terminal half, Ift apart. Row No. 3: Stem half Ift aoart Row No. 4: Oblique cuttings from tip to stem, with terminal bud. Row No. 5. Other half of No 4. Row No. 6 : Thick peelings containing all the eyes in order Plant on moss. Row No 7 : Terminal bud only, with small portion of pulp attached. Plant with moss to conserve moisture Row No. 8: Remaining portion of No. 7. Row No. 9: Properly sprouted ones in which only the growth of the terminal sprout has been encouraged, and this sufficiently ha denedo strengthened in partial light. Row No. 10: The separated sprouts might be tried ike the kumara. They will strike root in wet sand. Row No. 11 : Sets &in deep. Row No. 12 . SWs 2in Teep. Of what practical importance is "bud setting"? Are buds or potato-eyes ever sent through he mail? Might not the removal of eyes from a diseased tuber give an undiseased et? What i the danger in planting large sets? What is gained by proper sprouting before planting (c) Special treatments: Row No. 1, no treatment; row No 2, spoonful of sulphate with each set • row No 3, spoonful of muriate of potash with each set; row No. 4, hand- ?, l P of theTwitlieach set row No .* 6? spoonful of sulphur with each set; row No. 6, two spoonfuls of kin t wiU eac set row No. 7, two spoonfuls of superphosphate with each set. (Note.-The needs o a plant can be well ascertained from its composition. Take the composition of the potato, example-80 per cent, water, from soil-moisture and rainfall; 1 per cent, ash from various minerTsalts in soil; o'2 per cent, nitrogen, from nitrification of humus in rich soils or addition of sma quantity of sulphate of ammonia tc depleted soils; O'l percent phosphoric acid from some soluble phosphate ; o'3 per cent, potash, from some form of potash Now, to produce 10 tons oTpotatoe7 P er acre, 2240 xlO 4- 1000 or 22'41b. of phosphoric add will be necessary. The most Soluble Phosph'tte-le., superphosphate-should contain 15 per cent, phosphoric acid, and theoretia h H wt of superphosphate should supply the required amount of phosphoric acid; but praccauy ij u y VL - 1 J i . btt resu p,s. In like manner, the quantity of potassic manure Sr cent of 10 tons is 672 lb., so that 1 cwt. of sulphate of potash (95 per cent pure) is little enough. Sulphate of potash improves the quality as well as the quantity of potatoc but muriate (chloride) of potash is said to promote clamminess Excess of nitrogen lull te iu-efully avoided, as big tops are often produced at the expense of the tubers-*.*., excesebnldino limits storage. So we may conclude that a simple and efficient potato-manure may bLmade with throe parts of " super "to one of sulphate of potash. Likewise, the needs of other