SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



13 



Royal Agricultural Society of England, is 

 a prize essay on soils, by the Rev. Mr. 

 Rhara. This gentleman, perceiving the 

 difficulties attendant upon a regular analy- 

 sis by chemical agents, devised and pro- 

 pounded a mechanical process, which pos- 

 sesses high merit. It has been honorably 

 noticed in several periodicals, but, able as 

 it is, the processes described are too elabo- 

 rate for ordinary practice. Something more 

 simple will answer better. 



The three chief earths, which will be 

 found in almost every good garden, are 

 loam, heath earth (erroneously termed peat,) 

 and leaf mould. Sand of every kind is in 

 constant requisition ; that is, pure silver, or 

 glass-house sand, which needs no investi- 

 gation, for it is little else than flint in a 

 state of minute division, and therefore not 

 susceptible of decomposition. 



Loam is the staple of the land ; it occurs 

 abundantly, but varies extremely in its tex- 

 ture and quality. That kind which is pro- 

 pitious to every operation of the garden and 

 floriculture, is soft, and smooth or unctuous, 

 but so little liable to adhere or clo.d, that if 

 a handful of it be tightly compressed, when 

 just so moist as to be in a fit condition for 

 potting, and be suffered to fall from the 

 hand, it will break on the ground into fine 

 particles. Such a loam will remain firm, 

 yet open, in a garden pot, without cracking 

 into fissures or detaching itself from the 

 sides. It is composed of pure clay, very 

 fine sand, iron in a condition resembling 

 ochre, and generally a small proportion of 

 chalk. In naming pure clay (alumina,) Ave 

 do not mean clay in the common sense of 

 the term, because the stiffest and most bind- 

 ing clays of the field contain a very large 

 proportion of sand. But to prove the ex- 

 istence of the above named earths, recourse 

 must be had to chemistry ; yet as it is not 

 our present object so to do, our investiga- 



tion must be confined to texture only ; there- 

 fore, whenever it is intended to compare 

 two kinds of loam, the gardener should pos- 

 sess himself of a sort he knows to be good, 

 approaching in quality to that above de- 

 scribed, and by submitting it to the follow- 

 ing simple operations two or three succes- 

 sive times, in order to prevent error in ear- 

 ly practice, a standard will be obtained by 

 which to judge of the value and applicabi- 

 lity of any loam that is found elsewhere. 

 The instruments of analysis will consist of a 

 pair of scales, sufficiently accurate to detect 

 a single grain, a set of troy weights, three 

 or four jugs or tall narrow glasses with lips, 

 a strainer with fine holes, a small hair sieve, 

 another of gauze, a glass funnel, a few 

 folded pieces of white filtering paper, a 

 small Wedgwood mortar with a lip and pes- 

 tle, and two or three tumblers. These will 

 form a very ample set of utensils ; though, 

 with the scales, two small jugs, the mortar, 

 and a few cups, all may be done th^it is ne- 

 cessarj'. 



Process : — Collect a specimen of the loam 

 to be examined, dry it in the sun, and re- 

 move any stones or pieces of wood that 

 may be among it. Then weigh an ounce 

 or half an ounce, troy or apothecary's 

 weight — the first 480 grains, the latter 240. 

 Rub the earth in the mortar, so as to detach 

 the gritty sand, and separate that by the 

 sieve. Weigh the grit, and note the weight 

 in grains : again weigh the fine siftings ac- 

 curately, and make up any loss by a little 

 more fine earth : then dry it in a saucer at 

 a heat of about 250 degrees. Weigh it 

 while hot, and the loss will show the quan- 

 tity of moisture which the soil retains natu- 

 rally, however dry it may appear. This 

 moisture it will attract again by being ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere. 



Return the fine earth to the mortar, and 

 rub it with water, gradually added, till a 



