MARCH] 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



319 



nient for walking on. For the method of doing which, as well as 

 that of their general formation and treatment, see the Flower Gar- 

 den for next month, to which I {ferticularly refer you, and advise as 

 much of that work to be done in this as the weather and hurry of 

 business will permit. 



Such gravel walks as were broken up and laid in ridges the begin- 

 ning of winter, which is a very bad practice, as noticed on page 90, 

 should now be levelled down, formed, dressed, and rolled, as directed 

 next month. 



The necessity of due attention being paid to all your walks, on the 

 opening of spring, is so evident, that it is scarcely necessary to urge 

 it; the having them neat and newly dressed will give a gay and 

 sprightly appearance to the whole garden. 



RATIONALE OF DRAINING LAND. 



*> -'.; \ ^i. ./ .V, / ;,> , M/>, *: "q&i'if W*. ' ' "'''* '' " "" ' '*'' '"* *' < ' '^fV 



So many gardens consist of a clay soil which it is necessary to 

 success to drain, the following should be studied by those who wish 

 to understand the necessity of the oft repeated advice as to drainage, 

 whether they be gardeners or farmers. 



The reason why drained land gains heat, and water-logged land is 

 always cold, consists in the well-known fact that heat cannot be trans- 

 mitted downwards through water. This may readily be seen by the 

 following experiments : 



Experiment No. 1. A square box 

 was made of the form represented by 

 the annexed diagram, eighteen inches 

 deep, eleven inches wide at top, and six 

 inches wide at bottom. It was filled 

 with peat, saturated with water to c, 

 forming to that depth (twelve and a half 

 inches) a sort of artificial bog. The 

 box was then filled with water to d. 

 The thermometer a, was plunged, so 

 that its bulb was within one and a half 

 inch of the bottom. The temperature 

 of the whole mass of peat and water 

 was found to be 39 J Fahr. A gallon 

 of boiling water was then added; it 

 raised the surface of the water to e. In 

 five minutes the thermometer a rose to 

 44, owing to the conduction of heat by 

 the thermometer, and its guard tube; at 

 ten minutes from the introduction of 

 the hot water, the thermometer a rose to 46, and it subsequently 

 rose no higher. Another thermometer, 6, dipping under the surface 

 of the water .ate, was then introduced, and the following are the 

 indications of the two thermometers at the respective intervals, 

 reckoning from the time the hot water was supplied : 



