246 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



loam, and by proper management can have an}' de- 

 gree of depth or fertility given it. If the soil is very 

 light, sandy, or gravelly to a considerable depth, it 

 will be too porous, subject to drought and to infiltra- 

 tion, or the sinking of the most valuable and effica- 

 cious parts of manures so far into the earth as to be 

 "below, and, consequently, lost to the plants. On the 

 contrary, if the soil contains too much clay, it will 

 be close and tenacious, retentive of moisture, and 

 while it will be hard and solid when dry, it will be 

 sticky and like mud when wet. A clay soil, or one 

 too retentive of moisture, is more difficult to manage 

 than one which fails the other way ; but either can, 

 by proper care and skill (the first or porous soil by 

 the application of retentive materials, such as clay- 

 marl or common clay, and the last by deep and 

 thorough digging and draining, and perhaps the ap- 

 plication of a quantity of sand), be made suitable for 

 most plants. A soil naturally favourable is, howev- 

 er, always to be preferred, as in this case the simple 

 incorporation of manures to the proper depth is all 

 that is required to fit it for the reception of seed and 

 the growth of vegetables. Inattention to the soil is 

 a fundamental error in commencing a garden, and 

 many failures have occurred from a want of care in 

 this respect. 



But, however well constituted the soil may natu- 

 rally be, to produce many of the vegetables grown in 

 the garden, or, indeed, any of them in perfection, it 

 must be brought into a rich state by the liberal ap- 

 plication of manures. These, for the garden, should 

 be fine, free from the seed of all weeds, and easily 

 incorporated with the earth. In the country we not 

 unfrequently see manure fresh from the stables, full 

 of seed, straw, or hay, applied to gardens without 

 any previous preparation ; thus, at the same time, 

 greatly increasing the labour of cultivation, and ma- 

 terially diminishing the quantity and value of the 

 product. ISone but thoroughly-rotted manures or 



