i879-] THE AMATEUR'S GARDEN. 25 



Our selection of seeds will be very short, as nothing tends more to 

 perplex the inexperienced than overwhelming lists. 



As the first paper appears in January, I shall begin with work suit- 

 able for this month, and shall endeavour to do the same for the first 

 few months of the year at least. 



The Cultivation of the Soil. 



In new gardens the soil is very often of a poor description, and in order to 

 grow the finest vegetables to the greatest perfection,' it is imperative that 

 means be taken to put it into good condition. It is scarcely necessary to say 

 that, in the first place, it must be well drained. Stagnant water will render 

 abortive all efforts to cultivate well. If it is heavy clay it will be greatly 

 improved by an addition of fine lime-rubbish, sand, fine ashes, or road-sweep- 

 ings, especially off a road where the soil is of a light nature. But nothing 

 will prove so useful as wood-ashes, or part of the soil itself burnt. Light soil 

 requires the opposite treatment. Medium soils need nothing to alter their 

 mechanical nature. But all will require trenching and a very liberal manur- 

 ing to get them into the best condition the first season. All garden soils are 

 better if they are at least 2 feet deep, but many are not 1 foot. To prepare 

 any of these properly, let them be carefully turned over, trenched, and a 

 good layer of stable-yard manure dug in between every spadeful of earth. 

 If the soil is only 1 foot deep, it will be advisable to turn a little of the 

 subsoil to the top, if of a good quality, with a view to a deepening of the 

 whole. Over this subsoil should be spread a layer of very rotten manure to 

 be worked in in spring, mixing the manure, subsoil, and good soil as well as 

 possible after they have been pulverised with the weather. For this purpose 

 it is best to prepare such soils in autumn, as they then are exposed to the 

 whole winter's frost, and the rains have the effect of carrying the essence of 

 the manure into the body of the soil in an equal manner. If during frosty 

 weather a good soaking of urine can be given, it will further prepare the soil 

 for carrying first-class crops the first year. If the subsoil contains iron, as 

 is the case in most sands and gravels, or if otherwise unsuitable, it will be 

 much better to simply break it up with the fork, or pick if necessary, and 

 leave it where it is, laying a good coating of manure over it ; and by the next 

 time it is turned over the rain will have washed the deleterious matter out of 

 it, and that part of it enriched by the layer of manure will be fit to turn to 

 the top, when another inch or two can be broken up and improved in the same 

 way. This has been my own practice on a soil which did not average 8 inches, 

 and I can recommend it as being the best way of improving thin soils when 

 fresh good soil cannot be added. Of course this only applies to thin soils. 

 But even when the soil is deep, the bottom of the trench ought to be left in a 

 broken state, more especially if it be at all heavy. 



It is to be understood that the foregoing remarks apply to soil under cultiva- 

 tion for the first time. In ordinary garden soils less work and much less man- 

 uring will suffice. But when land is first broken up, it will always pay to treat 

 it in the liberal manner described. Trenching is not resorted to as often as it 

 should be in villa gardens. It is too much the custom to simply spread manure 

 over the surface of the ground annually, and dig it in in spring; and no differ- 

 ence is made, no matter how great may be the different requirements of the 

 plants cultivated. Where the soil will admit of it, it ought to be turned 

 over to the depth of 2| feet once every three years. The first year it 



