PERMANENT PLANTATIONS 15 



this, but it is rarely that one finds such care in English 

 gardens. The southern site, of course, is always the 

 warmest, and when well drained in addition nothing 

 more can be desired. I know that such positions are 

 not always available, but when arranging for extensive 

 culture, such places must be sought for. I know in the 

 county of Cornwall alone many hundreds of acres with 

 this ideal position, and yet such are utilised for ordinary 

 farm crops (which, their owners allege, " do not pay "). 



SOILS FOR PERMANENT PLANTATIONS 



I scarcely need again revert to the kind of soil suited 

 for the permanent plantation, but as there are several 

 methods of laying out the beds and plantations, care must 

 be exercised, for an ideal soil is not always at command. 

 Where a porous subsoil exists on sloping ground as 

 described with a good loam on its surface, nothing better 

 need be desired, for such top soil is sure to be of a sandy 

 nature and friable, and should this be naturally fertile 

 as is usually the case, future success is secure. I spoke 

 of asparagus being grown on clay soil in Berkshire and 

 of how the roots were drawn to the surface by manuring. 

 On such soils this is quite necessary ; but, given a deep 

 siiicious soil, the deeper the roots can penetrate the- 

 better will be the crop of asparagus. 



I remember some years ago the late Mr Shirley 

 Hibberd writing in the Gardeners Magazine on- the 

 depth to which the roots of asparagus would travel if 

 allowed. Some buildings were being erected near his 

 house, and on a large heap of top soil which was thrown 

 up Mr Hibberd was allowed to grow some asparagus. 

 He mixed dung with the soil, and the plants grew so 

 amazingly that some who saw them could not be con- 

 vinced that they were not specimens of some new and 

 superior kind of asparagus, and a gentleman actually 



