362 THE FLORIST. 



A garden having an incline is of course very easily and effectually 

 drained. When the mechanical condition of the borders is what it ought 

 to be, and the drainage effective, we need not care much about the 

 quantity of rain that falls ; though at times w^e may get a little more of 

 it than we like, it will do little or no injury. It is only when there 

 are no outlets for the water, and the soil is for months full of water, 

 that injurious effects are produced. Thorough drainage also takes off 

 all springs of water from below. Gardens having a dry gravelly sub- 

 soil, and on an incline, will not require much drainage. 



To insist at any length on the advantages arising from draining is 

 not necessary, as they are admitted by all well-informed people. I 

 may, however, be permitted to mention a few of them. The presence 

 of too much water m the soil keeps it cold. The heat of the sun's rays, 

 w^hich are intended by nature to warm the land, is expended in evapo- 

 rating the water from its surface. The temperature a dry soil will 

 attain in the summer time is often very great. When the land is full 

 of water, it is only after long droughts, and w^hen it has been thoroughly 

 baked by the sun, that it begins to attain the temperature which dry 

 land has reached, day after day, probably for weeks before. When too 

 much water is present in the soil, also, that food of the plant which the 

 soil supplies is so much diluted, that either a much greater quantity of 

 fluid must be taken in by the roots, or the plant will be scantily 

 nourished. The presence of so much water in the stem and leaves 

 keeps down ikeir temperature also ; when the sunshine appears, an 

 increased evaporation takes place from their surface — a lower natural 

 heat, in consequence, prevails in the interior of the plant, and the 

 chemical changes on w^hich its growth depends proceed with less 

 rapidity. By the removal of the w^ater, the physical properties of the 

 soil are in a remarkable degree improved. The access of air is also 

 essential to the fertility of the soil and to the healthy gi'owth of plants. 

 The insertion of drains not only makes room for the air to enter, by 

 removing the water, but actually compels the air to penetrate into the 

 under part of the soil, and renews it at every successive fall of rain. 

 Open such outlets for the water below, and as it sinks and trickles away 

 it will suck the air after it. 



Nor is .it only stiff and clayey soil to w^hich drainage can with 

 advantage be applied. It wdll be obvious to every one, that when 

 springs rise to the surface in sandy soil, a drain must be made to carry 

 off the water. Every one is familiar with the fact that w^hen w^ater is 

 applied to the bottom of a flower-pot full of soil it will gradually find 

 its w^ay towards the surface, however light the soil may be. So it is 

 in sandy soils or subsoils. If water abounds at the depth of a few feet, 

 or if it so abounds at certain seasons of the year, that water w^ill rise 

 towards the surface, and as the sun'fe heat dries it off by evaporation 

 more water will follow to supply its place. This attraction from beneath 

 will always go on when the air is dry and warm, and thus a double 

 evil w^ill ensue. The soil will be kept moist and cold, and instead of a 

 constant circulation of ah' downwards, there will be a constant current 

 of water upwards. Thus will the roots, the under soil, and the organic 

 matter it contains, be all deprived of tlie benefit wdiich the access of air 



