CHAPTER IV 



SOILS, AND HOW TO CULTIVATE THEM 



THE merest tyro in gardening soon comes to realise that 

 there is almost as great a variety in the quality and com- 

 position of the soil he endeavours to cultivate as there is 

 in the flowers, fruits and vegetables that he seeks to grow in it. 

 That its quality should vary with varying localities is not sur- 

 prising, but that its composition within the confines of his own 

 small plot of ground should differ so radically as is not infrequently 

 the case may very well create astonishment, and certainly 

 invite some explanation. Let us suppose that the tenant of a new 

 garden is making a preliminary survey with a view to planning 

 it out so as to realise his own ideas and to put it to the best 

 economic advantage. The chances are that in nine cases out of 

 ten he will look directly to the end and overlook the means. He 

 will not trouble himself greatly about the quality of the soil, but 

 will proceed to have the ground " dug over " (either by his own 

 exertions or by the aid of a mercenary), and to have it " planted " 

 forthwith. Whether the ultimate result will satisfy him may 

 perhaps be problematical. But that some such rough-and-ready 

 proceeding as this is the all too common practice of the new 

 owners of small gardens I have not a shadow of doubt. 



What, then, is the better alternative ? Surely it is that the 

 gardener should first of all make himself thoroughly acquainted 

 with the characteristics of the soil he is about to till. His earliest 

 task should therefore be to dig out holes to a considerable depth 

 in various parts of the garden. The result will probably surprise, 

 and in some cases dismay him. He may, as I hinted in a previous 

 chapter, discover, not many inches below the smiling loamy 

 surface, a number of relics bequeathed by the speculative builder 

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