24 THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



and does not harden." Well, I will admit that there is a good deal in 

 those remarks, but it does not follow that because we all have not 

 such land to labor that we cannot grow equally well vegetables, berries, 

 and fruits of all kinds. Light soil as a rule requires more attention 

 than clay. It requires more manure; being loose, the liquid soon 

 percolates through it. It is more given to weeds, and of course requires 

 more labour to exterminate them. Gooseberries, and several kinds of 

 grapes have a strong tendency to mildew, when the reverse is the case 

 on the clay soil, whose stringent nature better retains the fertilizing 

 qualities of the stimulants applied, and gives the benefit of them to the 

 expected crops. Our farmers as a rule, particularly in this neighbor- 

 hood, pay little attention to the garden. If you ask them, they will say, 

 " Oh, it does not pay, we have not time, the land is too hard." A very 

 great mistake. ]S[othing pays better than a cared-for garden ; and the 

 soil soon mellows to the industrious hand. Generally there is a little 

 spot fenced in called a garden, near the farm house, but you need not 

 go in to examine it, you have only to look over the pickets, and 

 you see some currant bushes around the fence, struggling with long 

 grass for the mastery, assisted by some burrs and Canada thistles; and 

 a place scraped among the weeds for a dozen of tomato plants and a 

 hundred of cabbage plants, or perhaps a few early potatoes, which, 

 when you go to look for your crop, if the stalks are not green, you may 

 have some difficulty to find. And this is not owing to the tendency 

 of the soil to weeds, but to shere neglect, when an hcur now and again 

 would do the work required, and the garden would be a pleasure to 

 look at, as well as a source of profit — yea, more so than any other 

 portion of the farm. 



My garden is composed of stiff clay soil. In it I grow six different 

 kinds of gooseberries; white and red raspberries; blackcaps in abundance 

 for our family; fourteen different kinds of grapes, many of the 

 Chasselas family, and no mildew of any kind interferes with them. 

 Asparagus, and other vegetables thrive well. In the orchard, pears 

 and apples succeed, also plums and cherries. But in the cultivation 

 of strawberries I give in to the sandy soil ; I think they are easier 

 grown there, and I have no room in my patch to wait for them. 



Now,. Mr. Editor; my object in writing these few hurried lines is 

 to endeavor to make the cultivation of the garden more popular, par- 

 ticularly on clay soil. I hope that the farmers through the country 



