farmers' gardens. 341 



of doing tliis is by mixture of other soils, as will be presently stated. This is 

 also advantageously resorted to when the soil is too little or too much retentive 

 of moisture, in consequence of being too loose, or sandy, or calcareous, or too 

 compact and stiff. This is called tempering the soil. When the soil is too 

 loose and porous, or too stiff, the mixture of the opposite kind in just propor- 

 tions will bring it to a more suitable condition. In this way a body is given 

 to those lands that are too porous, and those which are too heavy and tena- 

 cious are made more light and loose. This process brings no nutriment to the 

 plant directly, but only mediately by attaining a retentive power in the right 

 degree, and thus furnishing nutriment by a proper supply of water; and it also 

 acts favorably on the health and quality of plants. 



A decidedly gravelly or sandy soil is unsuitable for garden purposes. So is 

 a heavy clay soil. Such a soil would be wet in its natural state, and a wet 

 soil is a cold one. But all these may be so altered and attempered by drainage 

 and combination of materials as to make a sandy loam that will meet all the 

 wants of common plants. Moist, heavy soils that rest upon clayey subsoils 

 are better adapted to pasturage, mowing fields, and the production of trees, 

 and can only be made suitable for a vegetable garden by thorough draining. 

 and then by trenching or deep ploughing, and the intermixture of sand and 

 muck. Without these helps such land is too wet in rainy seasons, and is 

 liable to become hard upon the surface during dry seasons, and in either case 

 is unfavorable for the free growth of plants. But by the removal of the water 

 the physical properties of the soil are in a remarkable degree improved. " Dry 

 clay can be easily reduced to a fine powder, but it naturally runs together 

 when water is poured upon it. So it is with clays in the field. When wet 

 they are close, compact, and adhesive, and exclude the air from the roots of 

 the growing plant. But remove the water and they gradually contract and 

 crack in every direction, become open, friable, and mellow, and are more easily 

 nd cheaply worked, and pervious to the air in every direction." Thorough 

 drainage, then, and the intermixture of sand, and coarse and warming dressings 

 from the horse stables, will bring a heavy soil into a condition favorable to the 

 growth of any plant. 



Many farms are made up entirely of sandy, plain lands upon which there is 

 no soil of a different character. When such a soil is highly cultivated it will 

 bring certain early vegetables to perfection, but fails to mature crops that 

 require a longer growth. It may be amended, however, by a mixture of clay 

 and muck. These should be hauled in and spread upon it in the autumn or 

 winter, so that frosts and rains may pulverize and sweeten them ; then by 

 ploughing and by other means they should be thoroughly mingled with the 

 soil In this way, and with suitable manuring, a sandy loam may be formed, 

 which is the best soil for all garden purposes. But it may be necessary to 

 drain even a sandy soil. If springs rise to the surface, as they frequently do, 

 it must be drained. In many sandy soils water is obtained in wells by digging 

 only eight or ten feet, because the sand rests upon a hard or clayey bottom. 

 In such cases draining is indispensable to success. The action of manures on 

 light, sandy soil increa.-es its cohesibility, its capacity for absorbing and re- 

 taining moisture, and renders it more compressible. Applied in sufficient 

 quantity it renders the soil unctuous or pasty, and less likely to be affected by 

 sudden atmospheric alternations of wet and dry. It also forms a better medium 

 for the roots of vegetables, which, in a light and excessively porous soil, do 

 not take hold with sufficient firmness. 



The depth of a cultivated soil is always a matter of importance. Lands on 

 which the vegetable stratum is thin are deficient in permanent productive 

 power, and require much more manure and more thorough working than those 

 of greater depth. Digging two spits deep, as is the practice in Europe, or 

 gradually going deeper with the plough, tends to improve such soil, and will 



