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JOXJBNA.L OF HOBTIOULTDBE AND OOITAQE GARDENER, 



[ Jano 22. 1876. 



silicates, and rich in humus, we Lave a fertile soil, especially 

 for fruit trees. 



Soils not containing lime are not necessarily made fertile by 

 its application, for if applied to a very sandy soil it may by 

 liberating potash and soda benefit the present crop, but it is 

 at the expense of the soils' exhaustion. An application of 

 marl to such a soil would be better, because more enduring 

 than lime. Clays, especially stroug clays, are improved by 

 the addition of sand, and more highly and permanently by 

 burning, by which w« obtain chemical changes of the highest 

 importance — rendering the soils' constituents soluble and in a 

 state to be appropriated by the roots of plants — and also 

 mechanical changes making the soil more porous. Sand for 

 calcareous clays and clays for calcareous sands must be a more 

 permanent improvement than any other application. Too 

 much dependancs is placed upon manures and expense in- 

 curred in them. A sandy soil, for instance, may by heavy 

 manuring be continued in fertility for a lengthened period ; 

 bat were a thorough marling given at the onset the soil would 

 be BO modified by the admixture as to make available in a 

 higher degree the manures applied with a corresponding in- 

 crease of produce. No manure will compensate for a deficiency 

 in the constituents of a soil for garden purposes. It is a com- 

 mon error to act on the principle that any soil, however poor 

 and shallow, may by manuring be made suitable for the growth 

 of every description of vegetable and frait crop. 



It may be urged that agriculturists do not seek to change 

 the character of the soil. I am very much mistaken if they 

 are not in advance of horticulturists, especially in the appli- 

 cation of inorganic manures. They are not so wasteful of the 

 organic manures as are horticulturists, whose solo principle of 

 production consists of " muck." Of inorganic manures we 

 make next to no use in gardens, yet for many purposes they 

 are highly essential, especially in the formation of fruit-tree 

 borders. It ia not through want of knowledge, but more fre- 

 quently by want of means not being placed at the disposal 

 of those entrusted with their formation, and to make up for 

 these defects of first formation repeated heavy dressings of 

 manure are called into requisition. Again, in forming gardens 

 too little regard is had to the subsoil. lu many instances the 

 soil is permanently injured by trenching, the good soil being 

 buried and the subsoil brought to the surface, and not until a 

 corrective of the injurious constituents is applied ia the fer- 

 tility of the soil restored. 



It is as a corrective that we seek the aid of lime in gardens. 

 The soils of some gardens are by the long continuance of ma- 

 nures rich, yet the plant food which they contain is sealed 

 against the plants, but by an application of lime the soil's 

 virtues are liberated. Soils, by want of proper admixtures, 

 become practically unproductive of the crops they were in- 

 tended to supply. They are worn out, as it is termed. Worn 

 out of what? Certainly they are not destitute of humus, as 

 is evidenced by the great growth of some plants. Potatoes 

 produce haulm of great length and waxy grub-eaten tubers. 

 Peas are remarkable for " straw " only, and fruit trees are 

 sterile. A change, indeed, is then needed by the introduction 

 of inorganic manures. Soils are frequently rendered unpro- 

 ductive by the erroneous application of manures. The remedy 

 I shall propose is quicklime, and the quantity to be applied 

 may be at the rate of two hundred bushels per acre, or, making 

 a deduction for walks, 160 bushels will be required for a 

 kitchen garden of one acre of medium garden soil ; for a light 

 Eoil a hundred bushels will be a sufficient dressing; whilst 

 to a clay soil the first-named quantity of two hundred bushels 

 per acre may be applied. 



The action of the lime will be to promote the decomposition 

 of animal and vegetable euhstancea, and render soluble inert 

 substances conducing to fertility. The lime should be applied 

 ffesb, distributed over the surface, and pointed-iu lightly with 

 a fork in early autumn or early spring, avoiding wet weather. 

 If the fruit tiess are infested with moss advantage should be 

 taken of tbe liming to give them a thorough dusting. No 

 manure thonld be applied in the year of liming, or in a case 

 of this kind in the autumn preceding. A liming of this kind 

 will be sufficient for three years, and ia only to be employed 

 as a first liming to a garden not in the " memory of man " 

 known to have had a similar dressing, or to a garden fresh 

 made from gra^s land. To ordinary garden ground, well 

 manured and fairly productive, a liming every fourth year at 

 the rate of thiity bushels per acre for a light soil, fifty bushels 

 for soils of medium texture, and seventy-five bushels for clays, 

 will be found sufficient and advantageous. These dressings 



are best given in Februnry or early in March, the manure being 

 applied in autumn at the time of digging. 



For orchards a dressing every seven years of one-sixth of 

 lime in combination with a compost of vegetable refuse and 

 soils, such as ditch-cleaninga, &o., applied at the rate of twelve 

 to twenty cartloads per acre aa atop-dressing, cannot fail to be 

 beneficial ; it is also excellent aa a top-dressing for lawns, in 

 either case being applied in November up to February, or not 

 later than early March. To Ught soils, however, unless heavily 

 manured, mild lime, or even old lime or mortar rubbish, may 

 be a better application than quicklime. I do not advise the 

 application of quicklime to poor light soil. Peat soils are an 

 exception in light soils, and are of varied descriptions. There 

 is a kind of peat very dark in colour, close in texture, and when 

 dried highly inflammable ; it is one of the worst possible of 

 peats for plants. Liming at the rate of two hundred bushels 

 per acre will correct the acidity of the peat, and by decompos- 

 ing the vegetable fibre will be found of great utility. Another 

 kind of peat is of a brown colour, soft and spongy though 

 fibrous and varying in texture, in some instances firmly com- 

 pressed, whilst in others it is loose; also considerably varying 

 in containing sand, some samples being plentifully furnished 

 therewith, and others are almost wanting it, but in all the 

 creeping rhizomes of the common Bracken (Pteris aquilina) 

 are plentifully found. This ia the best of all peats for hard- 

 wooded plants. To add lime is, of course, to destroy it for 

 American plants, but to make it suitable for a fruit garden 

 marling and liming must be resorted to. Bog soil — a black, 

 soft, spongy peat, usually found in hollows and accompanied 

 with water — may by liming aa before mentioned be made avail- 

 able for most vegetable crops, but without considerable addi- 

 tions of marl and sand ia unsuitable for fruits. In choice of 

 lime for peats that known as magnesian limestone should be 

 had, as it remains long in a caustic state, and for the same 

 reason it should bo selected for soils made " soapy " by heavy 

 continued manuring. 



Lime ia justly appreciated in gardens aa a destroyer of the 

 pests which prey upon the crops. By making the ground quite 

 white with quicklime during mild weather in early March, and 

 with a prospect of rain, we make quick work of the snails and 

 slugs, and by pointing it in after the first rain the lime will 

 act beneficially upon the vegetable matter in the toil. If the 

 first liming be not tlifeetual repeat in May in dry weather. I 

 always have on hand a stock of quicklime kept dry for this 

 purpose. Lawns are frequently distigured by wormcasts, and 

 moss grows apace. A sprinkling with quicklime, making 

 the surface white, will send away the worms. To kill moss 

 apply the limo in November, for which a hundred bushels 

 per acre will be neoessaiy. Lime ia also a valuable applica- 

 tion to most kinds of soils prior to their being planted with 

 Potatoes. — G. Abbey. 



IN AND ABOUT THE TOEQUA? LANES. 



Two characteristics of these l.".ne3 I have never seen equalled 

 — their dense shadiness and their red soil. They have been 

 well described as shut in en both sides by luxuriant hedges 

 and rows of tall Elm trees meeting above and overarching the 

 road, the side banks crowded with Ferna and wild flowers, and 

 the peeps over the gates being into deep green valleys and over 

 the craggy borders and bright water of Torbay. The redness 

 of the soil — formed of the disintegrated red sandstone — is so 

 intense when freshly turned up that fields then are almost 

 scarlet. I am ready to believe that its constituents influence 

 the things which it feeds, for the Devon cows are mostly red, 

 and tbe flower which now is in thousands on every old wall 

 and roadside bank is the Ccntranthus ruber, or Eed Spur- Vale- 

 rian. The Gladioluses are all red, and even the Eoees in tho 

 Devon Rosery s em mora crimson than elsewhere. The soil is 

 especially favourable for Roses — it is a clayey loam ; the mild 

 climate also suits them, and there is more than the usual per- 

 centage of iron in tbe water— circumstances all promoting the 

 florid in plants, animals, and man. I incline to think that 

 paring and burning is called " Devonshiring the land," because 

 by the process the burnt soil is reddened. The mildness of 

 the climate is shown by Geraniums remaining in the beds 

 throughout the year. Fuchsia coccinea is similarly uniojured 

 by our ordinary winters, but that of last year killed the young 

 branches, though it did not destroy the shrub. 



The Devon Kosery, Mesers. Curtis & Co.'s, deserves special 

 notice. It occupies twelve acres, is traversed by two streams, 

 and the head of one ia at such an elevation as to enable water 



