SOILS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT 201 



manure will be mostly washed through and lost unless it 

 is applied after the heavy winter rains and snow. A little 

 waste cannot be helped during the marling year, for it is 

 inadvisable to trench the soil when the marl has only been 

 on a month or two. Sandy soils may be improved gradually, 

 but it is a long and expensive process. 



Allied to sandy soils are gravelly and flinty soils. These 

 can be greatly improved by deep digging or trenching, all 

 the largest stones being picked out. The wooden rake 

 comes in useful here. The oftener it is passed over the 

 surface after digging, the better the soil will become ; and 

 with the aid of plenty of manure such soils will soon be 

 greatly improved. 



Improvement of Clayey Soil : I have already given 

 some suggestions on the improvement of a sub-soil composed 

 of clay, shale, etc., in the section on trenching. If the 

 clay is on the surface it is more difficult and it may be 

 several years before a decent tilth is obtained. Here 

 deep false trenching and the thorough mixing in of road- 

 scrapings, coal, furnace, and wood ashes, lime, old turf, 

 leaves, manure, sand, old mortar rubble, etc., with both 

 spits is advisable. The use of lime is most important. 

 Break up the clay with a fork and spade and mix in these 

 materials as well as possible. Leave the surface of the 

 border rough so that the frost can get through. 



If it is not possible to trench with the above thoroughness, 

 divide the plot into sections and throw up the soil into 

 ridges, piling the clay as high and as rough as possible 

 in October or November. The frost will then disintegrate 

 the clay and in the spring the ridges can be levelled down. 

 The soil will also be greatly improved, and still further 

 so if road-scrapings and manure are dug in. 



Clay soils which are usually so wet in the winter require 

 to be frequently forked up and hoed and stirred during the 

 summer months, or they will become hard and baked, and 

 water will not filter through them. They are hard to work, 

 but I prefer a heavy soil to a light one. Light soils are 

 harder to improve than clayey ones, for they sometimes 



