204 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



Saxifrages, and Veronicas. These are all within the means of most 

 owners of small gardens, and may be arranged in bedding-out form, the 

 shrubs for centres and panels, and the dwarf hardy plants for massing 

 and carpeting. 



SOIL AND CULTIVATION. Next to position, soil is the most 

 important element in the formation of a garden. In selecting a 

 soil, two things should be kept in view first, that an open or well- 

 drained soi 1 assists climate (that is, the more porous a soil is the 

 warmer is the ground, and the better able to withstand extreme cold 

 are the plants) ; and secondly, that the soil should be deep. Unless 

 there is depth, permanent things will not flourish satisfactorily. And 

 for less permanent things, depth of soil is just as important, as it 

 renders unnecessary frequent dressings of fresh soil to maintain 

 fertility. Wherever these conditions of soil exist, flower-gardening 

 is easy ; but in many cases opposite conditions have to be dealt with, 

 and though it is hopeless to attempt to rival a naturally suitable 

 soil, a very near approach can be made to doing so. The best soil 

 is good loam, that is, soil of a clayey nature, but sufficiently sandy 

 not to be sticky. Of the two states, light and heavy, the light is 

 the better, because it is the warmer, and the more easily cultivated. 

 In dealing with heavy soil, we must have drainage, deep tilth, and 

 the working-in of material rendering it more porous, such as half- 

 decayed leaves, mortar or brick rubble, charcoal, and ashes. If 

 manure be needed, it should be used in the long straw state as it 

 comes from the stables. One mistake frequently made with regard 

 to soil is, that sufficient attention is not paid to the kind of plants 

 that the soil of a given district is best suited for. Were this always 

 remembered, we should see fewer garden failures, and the gardening 

 in different districts would possess an interest from variety. If each 

 possessor of a garden were to strike out a line for himself, the 

 question of suitability of soil would soon be settled, for a man would 

 be too observant to plant a Rhododendron in chalky soil because he 

 had admired a friend's Rhododendrons in peaty or vegetable soil. 

 A healthy Yew or Box is infinitely preferable to a sickly Rhodo- 

 dendron. The annual dressing of flower-beds is needed to get the 

 best effects ; and by all means continue it, but not to the entire 

 neglect of hardy flowers and shrubs. These though they will do a 

 long time without fresh food, enjoy rich top-dressings of good soil or 

 manure ; it is only by so treating them that their best effects are 

 developed. 



Flower-beds occasionally require to be deeply dug. Trenching 

 is perhaps the proper term, but it scarcely expresses what I mean. 

 The time to do it is when the beds are empty. I trench up my 

 flower-beds once in two years in autumn, after the summer bedders 



