18 MARKET GARDENIKG. 



As sunlight is the great factor, in the growth of 

 vegetables, too much attention cannot be given to afford- 

 ing uninterrupted access for every ray of sun to the grow- 

 ing crops, hence no houses, barns, sheds, fences or trees, 

 should be allowed to cast shadows at any time upon the 

 garden surface ; and trees, even so located as not to cast 

 a shadow on the crop, may be robbing them both of 

 their moisture and fertility by their wide-reaching roots, 

 which should be cut off by sinking a deep trench between 

 them and tlie garden. 



Soils. — The soil may be anything but brick clay, 

 theoretically a light sandy loam is best, but here, again, 

 astonishing results are often obtained on forbidding 

 soils ; for instance, on sticky red clays and sands, the 

 latter seemingly no better than those of the seashore. 

 No soil should be considered entirely bad until it has 

 been proven so. 



So much of success or failure in garden operations 

 depends upon the natural character of soil, that tlie 

 composition of each field of a farm should be closely 

 observed, if not in the scientific view of geological 

 formation and chemical composition, then in the more 

 ordinary view of the meclianical conditions, as respects 

 texture, weight, porosity, adhesiveness and aeration. 



Soils may be divided into three divisions, as respects 

 their origin : 



1st. Sedimentary — A soil formed entirely out of 

 the local rocks. 



2d. Drift — Soils formed out of divers materials, 

 irregularly mixed and deposited without stratifio-atiom. 



3d. Alluvial — A soil of flood deposit by water, 

 the finer particles being on the toj^. 



This soil is the only one, as a rule, of any agricul- 

 tural value, and it may be said to be derived from 

 broken, pulverized, decomposed rock brought by water 

 from many and far distant parts and deposited in layers. 



