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it on the high authority of Humboldt; but I am sure it is right, 
and this year’s experience has taught me that plants cannot stand 
against either drought or frost, unless, they are strong and healthy, 
and that a good rich soil is the best way to make them so. I 
think my own garden, is to some extent, a proof of this; with 
its deep alluvial soil it gives many plants all that they ask for, 
but I saw it more fully proved in another, and far grander garden. 
I went in October with your Vice-President to Abbotsbury, in 
Dorsetshire. Though I had often heard of the beauty of the garden, 
I had never seen it, and when I did see it I could scarcely believe 
my eyes. There were trees and shrubs, and other plants from 
Australia, New Zealand, the Cape, Mexico, Brazil, and 
other parts, not merely living, but flourishing as if they 
were in their own native countries. Then came the 
puzzling question, how do these plants grow at Abbotsbury with 
a luxuriance that is almost unknown North of the Riviera? The 
garden is near the sea, facing the South, with the low hills of the 
Chalk Downs behind sheltering it from the North, and is well 
sheltered by walls, fences, and other artificial protections; but 
this will not explain it. There are hundreds of places round 
our coasts as well situated for aspect and protection, but with no 
such gardens ; and I have been driven to the conclusion that the 
secret must lie to some, perhaps to a great, extent, in the soil. 
As we walked to the garden from the village we passed a small 
roadside cutting, showing a section, which at once attracted the 
attention of my geological companion. It was a ferruginous 
oolitic brash, and I should have considered it as bad a material 
for a garden as could be found; yet the Abbotsbury garden is 
almost entirely on this. There is no doubt that iron in the 
soil is a great help to many plants; gardeners like it for their 
hydrangeas, and in my own neighbourhood I havea good example 
of its value. I have never succeeded in growing the beautiful 
Tropeolum speciosum, which, in many parts, especially in the 
North, grows like a weed. I know of one place where it is even 
