IRISH GARDENING 



the glass as possible. In America plants are 

 kept as far from the jjiass as possible. In a 

 large and well managed and successful nursery, 

 where Roses, Carnations, and Violets were 

 largely grown for cut flower, planted out in the 

 houses, I asked the owner why he built his houses 

 so high and kept his plants eight to nine teet 

 from the glass. He replied they were that 

 height because he could not manage, owing to 

 the expense and the danger of snow smash, to 

 build them higher ! The roofs of fine lofty 

 conservatories look bare and naked owing to 

 the absence of climbers. These cannot be 

 grown, as they burn in summer and freeze 

 in winter. In our country we constantly 

 caution the young gardeners to water carefully 

 and sparingly in winter, over-watering being 

 a prolific cause of disaster in most establish- 

 ments. In America under-watering is the 

 danger, and young gardeners, especially im- 

 portations, have to be carefully watched, and 

 so it is also with ventilation, shading, and other 

 details of indoor cultivation. I have frequently 

 expressed the view that gardeners who can 

 grow different classes of plants successfully in 

 different parts of the country, and in houses of 

 various shapes and makes, represent a type of 

 man with a reasoning intellect of a high order. 

 He must change most of the smaller details 

 in applying the broad principles. Adaptability- 

 is the first necessity for any yoimg gardener 

 going to America. He must be prepared to 

 unlearn much which he has learned, and 

 do it quickly, or he will find himself out of 

 employment. I'^or intelligent, persevering- 

 young men there is, in that country, a good 

 opening. 



In a large, rough, wooden house in Canada 

 I saw batches of various species of Cattleya 

 grown for market work, the number and vigour 

 of the young growths on which would 

 have made our most skilful Orchid growers 

 envious. 



One of the finest groups of Vandas I have 

 ever seen were in a large iron house, twenty- 

 five feet high, in the Botanic Gardens, Bronx 

 Park, New York. .'\s good a collection of 

 Phalainopsis as I have ever seen were grow n 

 in a neat modern structure in a garden 

 near Boston, facts which give cause for 

 reflection. 



Next month Sir F. W. Moore will deal with 

 Public Gardens and Parks' systems in .'\met ica. 



The Improvement of Soils. 



By G. O. Shhrrarh, A.R.CS.I. 



ONE of the chief aims of a gardener is to 

 bring the soil he has to deal with to the 

 highest degree of fertility, and the object 

 of this article is to discuss the various means 

 b)- which this is eflected. A soil consists of a 

 mixture of particles of clay, sand, humus and 

 lime in varying proportions. If the clay par- 

 ticles predominate we get a heavy soil retentive 

 of moisture ; if the sand forms the principal 

 ingredient the soil is light, porous and warm ; 

 while a high proportion of humus means an 

 abundance of plant food. It is seldom that we 

 get the texture of a soil uniform to any consider- 

 able depth ; more often there is a sharp line of 

 demarcation between top soil and sub-soil, the 

 former usually containing a much larger propor- 

 tioii of decayed vegetable matter (humus) than 

 the latter, as is indicated b\- its dift'erence in 

 colour. The depth of the water table varies 

 greatly in different soils and situations, and this 

 brings us to the first nieans of improving soils — 

 namely, by drainage. 



The roots of garden plants will not live in 

 water-logged soil, consequently they do not 

 travel beyond the water table. By draining a 

 soil ue lower the water table, and thus enable 

 the plants' roots to extend to a greater depth, 

 so that their feeding area or imderground pas- 

 turage is increased. Biit drain.-ige does nuich 

 more than this ; by the removal of stagnant 

 water, air can penetrate and oxidation processes 

 take place which make some of the mineral 

 constituents of the lower portion of the soil 

 available to the plant ; beneficial bacteria can 

 also thrive and multiply, and these further 

 increase the supply of available plant food. It 

 is well known th.-it ilrained soils are warmer 

 and earlier than undrained ones, owing to the 

 fact that air is much easier to heat than water. 

 The stickiness of heavy si>ils is due to the 

 presence of a high proportion of very small 

 particles ; the water percolating through the 

 soil gradually washes away the finest of these, 

 and they pass down the drains, leaving the soil 

 ol' a better texture, tlius a cla_\' soil is rendered 

 more w-orkable by drainage. 



Liming naturally succeeds drainage as a 

 means of improvement, for lime unites with 

 and so removes the acids produced in a water- 



