SOIL.] 



PRACTICE OF HORTICULTURE. 



[walls. 



raan to change the soil, althou<;h ho cannot, 

 exee|it to a very limited extent, cliaiii^e the 

 situation. He niay cover what is bad with 

 what is p^ood ; and, by de^'iees, so e(nn|)letely 

 mctaniorphoso the surface of the eartli, that 

 he will have no difficulty whatever in rearing 

 the best cropa upon it. IMany of our best 

 gardeners, in da^'s gone by, were sometimes in 

 the habit of sacrificing soil to situation ; but tliis 

 is not now so much the case. Nicol tliought 

 that several kinds of soil were necessary in the 

 same garden ; and Dr. Neill was of tlio same 

 opinion. " It is a happy circumstance," says 

 Nicol, " that, in many instances, we meet 

 with different soils in the same acre. In the 

 same garden they should never be wanting ; 

 and where nature or natural causes have been 

 delicient, recourse must be had to art, inas- 

 much as the variety of fruits and vegetables to 

 be cultivated, require different soils to produce 

 them in perfection." J^orsyth, in his Treatise 

 on Fruit Trees, recommends a deep soil, "of a 

 mellow pliable nature, and of a moderately dry 

 quality ; and if the ground should have an 

 uneyoa surface, by no means attempt to level 

 it ; for, by that unevenness, aud any little 

 difference there may be in the quality, you 

 will have a greater variety of soil adapted to 

 different crops. The best soil for a garden is 

 a rich mellow loam ; and the worst a stiff 

 heavy clay. A light sand is, also, a very 

 unfit soil for a garden." 



The soil of a new garden should be from 

 two to three or four feet deep ; and, according 

 to Loudon, its varieties should comprise — 

 strong clayey loam, light sandy loam (which 

 are the two grand objects), a composition of 

 one-fourth strong, with three-fourths light, 

 loam ; half strong and half light, and one- 

 fourth light, and three-fourths strong. These, 

 ho says, by a proper treatment, and with the 

 proper application of manures, may be ren- 

 dered productive of any of the known and 

 commonly cultivated vegetables in the highest 

 degree of perfection. In selecting a piece of 

 ground for a garden, it is not a bad plan to 

 take for our guide the natural herbage with 

 •which it may be covered. !N'eill recommends 

 this. He observes — "Tiie plants growing natu- 

 rally on the surface should be noted ; as, from 

 these, a pretty correct opinion may be formed 

 of the qualities of the soil. The subsoil 

 G i> 



should nleo be examined. If this bo radically 

 bad,HUc]i as an iron tiltii mixed with gravel, no 

 drawing, trenching, or manuring will ever prove 

 an effectual remedy; if, on the contrary, the 

 subsoil be tolerably good, tho Burfaco may bo 

 greatly meliorated by these means. In every 

 garden, two varieties of soil aro wanted — a 

 strong and a light one; or, in otlier words, a 

 clayey loam and a sandy loam ; different plants 

 requiring these respective kinds. For tho gen- 

 eral soil, a loam of middling quality, but par- 

 taking rather of the sandy than the clayey, is 

 accounted the best." Loudon recommends 

 these qualities of soil : — a strong loam, a light 

 loam, and a loam of medium quality ; the 

 latter occupying the borders, aud about half 

 of the compartments. 



WALLS. 



"Walls with a south aspect have always been 

 considered the best fur growing fruits ; and 

 the approved height is from ten to twelve 

 feet ; but this is a circumstance usually de- 

 cided by the form and size of the garden. 

 AVith respect to the height of fruit-walls, 

 considered merely as such, jS'icol gives the 

 preference to twelve feet ; that height being 

 very convenient for pruning, watering, and 

 gathering the fruit. It also admits of a 

 sufficient expansion for the branches of most 

 trees. A small garden encompassed by high 

 walls, has a bad effect, aud presents a gloomy 

 appearance ; but if they be of different heights 

 they give relief to the view. In a garden of an 

 acre, for example, forming a parallelogram of 

 the best proportion, aud gently elevated, the 

 north wall may be raised to the height of four- 

 teen feet ; the east and west walls to twelve 

 feet ; and the soutii wall to ten feet above 

 the ground-level. Although walls are erected 

 round a garden chiefly for the purpose of rear- 

 ing fruit against them, still they have another 

 advantage. — A kitchen garden may be as per- 

 fectly fenced aud sheltered by hedges as by 

 walls, which was the case in former times. But 

 in order to obtain the finer fruits, it becomes 

 necessary to build walls, or to erect pales as 

 substitutes. The influence which walls have 

 in increasing the temperature of the air im- 

 mediately in contact with them, is estima<"ed 

 at 7° of south latitude. Tlie mean tempe- 

 rature of a south wall, or within a few inches 



937 



