24 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



loam, brown loam, clayey loam, fat soil, sandy soil, garden mould, which 

 are continually spoken of by the gardener, have no specific proportions in 

 themselves, and yet on those proportions their fertility and capabiUties 

 depend. 



69. Sandy soils are loose, friable, open, and dry, and for that reason easily 

 cultivated. They rest chiefly on the old red sandstone, and granite and coal 

 fo rmations. When alumina and calcareous matter are absent, however, they 

 are nearly barren : they absorb manures without benefit to the land. Where 

 alumina and lime exist, they are more compact and adhesive, and grow good 

 crops of beans, peas, spring wheat, and turnips. They are capable of improve- 

 ment by admixture with clay, marl, chalk, and other adhesive soils, which 

 communicate their constituent properties to them. 



70. Calcareous soils resting on the upper chalk formation are usually deep, 

 dry, loose, friable, and fertile in their nature ; but others, resting on the shaly 

 oolite, are stony, poor, thin soils. Leguminous plants, as peas, beans, vetches, 

 sainfoin, and clover, do well on such soils, hme being essential to their growth. 

 Where pure clay is jDresent in such soils, they are called loams or calcareous 

 clays ; where silica is in excess, they are termed calcareous sandy soils. 



71. Clay soils are characterized by stiflFness, impenetrability, great power 

 of absorbing and retaining moisture, and great specific gravity ; they are, 

 consequently, cold, stiff, heavy, and imper^-ious, costly to cultivate, and 

 often unproductive. Perfect drainage, burning the soil with wood fagots, 

 branches of trees, grass sods, and vegetable refuse, and mixing chalk and 

 sand, are the only remedies. Burning is the most eflBcient remedy ; the burnt 

 clay acting chemically as a manure, its constituents being rendered more 

 soluble. Provided a moderate heat has been applied to the process, the 

 potash is rendered soluble, and liberated from the clay in which it occurs in 

 an insoluble combination. Thus treated, clay soils become the most fertile 

 for all heavy crops. 



72. It will be ob\-ious to the reader that the process of analysis involves 

 more minuteness of detail in carrying it out than we can here enter into. 

 Dr. Scoffem's book, however, is very practical, and enters into all these 

 details in a manner which any intelligent gardener may easily follow. 



73. In the absence of a geological or chemical knowledge of soils, many 

 practical gardeners attach great importance to the vegetable products they 

 throw up spontaneously, in the form of weeds, as an index to their nature 

 and quality. The late Mr. Loudon has recorded, in his laborious work, a sort 

 of vegetable index to soils based on this idea. 



74. The leading soils for the cultivator are the clayey, calcar'eous, sandy, 

 ferruginous, peaty, saline, moist or aquatic, and dry. 



AKGiLt-ACEOrs. — Tussilago Farfara ; Po- 

 tentilla Anserina, argentea, audreptans; 

 Thalictrura flavum ; Carei, many spe- 

 cies; Juneus, various species ; Orotius 

 tuberosus ; Lotus major and cornicula- 

 tus ; Saponaria olBcinalis. But the colts- 

 foot Tussilago Farlara is a certain and 



universal sign of an argillaceous soil, and 

 is the chief plant found on the alum- 

 grounds of Britain, France, and Italy. 

 Calcareous. — Veronica spicata; Galium 

 pusillum; Lithospermum officinale, and 

 purpuro-cseruleura ; Campanula glo- 

 merata and hybrida; Pbyteuma orbi- 



