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SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



REMARKS ON THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING— No. TL 

 BY DR. WM. W. VALK, FLUSHING, L. I. 



Earths and Soils, — 'In our first article,* 

 introductory to the series, an attempt was 

 made to show that gardening was an art of 

 far higher pretensions than those persons 

 can admit it to be, who look only to the 

 routine of the mechanical operations which 

 attend it. And also, by referring to the 

 mighty agents which are constantly exert- 

 ed in effecting the development and pro- 

 gress of every plant, from the humblest 

 moss to the largest tree, we hoped to make 

 it evident that it ought to be treated and 

 studied as a science, which can never be 

 duly appreciated until its principles be 

 taught in seminaries, or in classes attached 

 to horticultural societies, by men of talent 

 and sound practical knowledge. 



Earths and soils being essential to the 

 growth of plants, and, to a certain extent, 

 familiarly known to every one, claim our 

 first attention ; yet it must be confessed, 

 that to attain a perfect understanding of 

 their structure and components, would de- 

 mand a profundity of chemical knowledge 

 which few can hope to acquire. The stu- 

 dent must not therefore, be perplexed by 

 any attempt to enter into the mysteries of 

 science, consequently we restrict ourselves 

 to the pointing out of Avhat ought to be, 

 and may be known, The great object we 

 desire to accomplish, must be left to time 

 and circumstances. 



The very term earth, involves a tissue of 

 errors and misconceptions, which are the 

 sources of many of the failures that profes- 

 sional men, in common with amateurs, are 

 subj ected to. Loam is a word in the mouth 

 of every one ; we meet with it on every 



* Vol. I., p. 505. 



horticultural page ; but who understands 

 it ? Agricultural chemists have felt the 

 importance of the difficulty, and have writ- 

 ten and lectured on the subject of analysis 

 of soils, yet their labors have not been duly 

 appreciated. 



By this term analysis, is to be understood 

 the dissolution, disseverment, or entire sep- 

 aration of parts, under powerful chemical 

 agency ; and therefore, we at once perceive 

 how difficult it is for those who are not 

 familiar with the processes of the laborato- 

 ry, to investigate satisfactorily the proper- 

 ties of earths and soils. Yet we unhesi- 

 tatingly affirm, that a complete understand- 

 ing of their agency in the process of culti- 

 vation, cannot be had, without the assist- 

 ance of analytic chemistry ; therefore, we 

 claim that this branch of science ought to 

 become a part of horticultural education. 

 So far, we have gained a point ; for if it be 

 true that a soil, in order to be properly ap- 

 plied to a plant, should be thoroughly 

 known, then the science of analysis should 

 be taught to the youth of the rising gene- 

 ration, whose aim it is to keep pace with 

 the intelligence of the age. 



But though we claim this admission, we 

 are conscious that in the present state of 

 knowledge, any attempt to elucidate the di- 

 rect processes of analysis would be embar- 

 rassing ; therefore, we propose to adopt a 

 more simple order of investigation, by 

 which we hope to remove difficulties, and 

 to instruct any one to acquire, with some 

 degree of precision and certainty, the esti- 

 mated componency of an earth, and its ap- 

 plicability to the operations of horticulture. 



In the first number of the Journal of the 



