SOILS. 73 



that these two men were competitors in the same class ; 

 and I found, as I anticipated, on entering the show, that 

 Gaylad was first and Doleful nowhere. Subsequently, at 

 the dinner, and as I again expected, Mr Doleful informed 

 us that his defeat was to be attributed entirely to the 

 wretched nature of his soil ; a remark which was received 

 with a graceful silence by the company in general, and by 

 Mr Gaylad in particular with a festive wink. 



Some soils, we all know, are naturally more beneficent 

 than others, but gardening is an art ; its primary business 



" To study culture, and with artful toil 

 To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil;" 



and its success certain, wherever this aira colendi is under- 

 taken by working heads and hands. I know of only one 

 soil in which the attempt to grow grand Roses would be 

 hopeless — a case of " Patience sitting by the pool of Des- 

 pondency and angling for impossibilities," with never a 

 nibble — and that is the light barren sand called " drift " 

 and " blowaway," of which the clay farmer said derisively 

 that it might be ploughed with a Dorking cock and a carv- 

 ing-knife ! Mud, we are told in Mortimer's Husbandry, , 

 makes an extraordinary manure for land that is sandy. 



