Show T f I- I Your Own WHAT IS PEAT MOSS MOSS' A reader of this department in inThe inThe inThe The Telegram asks me me to explain fully Cully about peat moss She says that I 1 often mention it but she is unable to obtain It in m her small smal smalltown smalltown town and wants ants to know more about it Peat moss is the most perfect form of ol humus available to garden garden- ers Humus is decayed vegetable matter which is an Absolute necessity necessity necessity sity for the fertility of all soils Without humus a soil is dead and useless with it a soil is friable triable loamy fertile and highly desirable for all forms of gardening Leaf Lea mold is humus But leaf mold often contains weed seeds or fungus 1 spores Peat moss is absolutely pure humus and can carry no disease germs nor fungus spores to other soils neither will vill it spread a fine crop of weeds wherever it is used This perfection of purity comes as much from the method of collecting and marketing it as from the peculiar peculiar peculiar liar ways in which it was formed Ages and ages ago in certain fresh water lakes in various parts of the globe sphagnum moss grew died and decayed and so today we have what we call peat moss from these ancient deposits It is imported imported imported im im- im- im ported to this from Europe Europe Europe Eu Eu- rope mainly from Sweden where the industry has reached a high degree degree degree de de- de- de gree of ot efficiency and the moss we buy In bales has actually been vacuum cleaned Peat moss has enormous powers of absorbing water The fibrous structure of ot its pure vegetable matter matter mat mat- ter can absorb as much as 15 parts of water to one of ot peat moss This factor alone would make it invaluable ble to use with soil mixing well in But there are arc many other desirable qualities to consider also Peat moss corrects difficult soils in many ways If the earth of ot your garden is too light either cither sandy or gravelly or what we call thin dig dis peat moss into It and give it life Such thin hm soils will not hold water but the peat moss will make up for forthe tho the deficiency and will also aid the crying need o of most sandy soils On the other hand peat moss mingled with heavy clay soils will break up the stiff cold clay will add warmth to such cold soils solis and will make them much easier to work If IC soils are very poor whether sand or clay spread the granulated pea moss three or four inches deep over ver the surface and then dig it in into into to o the tho upper six or seven inches Even when you can see nothing wrong with the earth of ot your gar- gar den a two-inch two layer laer mixed with the thc top soil will be of oC inestimable benefit And besides mixing it with wilh the loam of oC the garden we ma may use peat moss as a cover or mulch either in summer to conserve moisture moisture moisture mois mois- ture or in winter to prevent alternate alternate alternate alter alter- nate freezing and thawing of the ground In fact there are so man many uses for peat moss that every amateur amateur amateur ama ama- gardener should keep a quantity quantity quan quan- Uty on hand I QUERIES Mrs S. S S. S S. S Bountiful writes How can I tell whether bulbs which I started in m pots some weeks ago i have made a root system You said that they should not be brought indoors until the roots were formed Please advise me Ans If If you potted them correctly correct correct- ly with a piece of oC crock over o the drainage hole in m each pot it will be easy to push the contents of ot one pot up out o of its container by pushing pushing pushing push push- ing a pencil through this hole Then you can see seo if iC tho the roots have reached the bottom |