THE CHOICE OF A SITE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



Subsoil. 



Business 

 and social 

 require- 

 ments. 



beholder's feet like an inland sea, the tops of neighbouring hills peering above it like so many 

 islands. On the other hand, to choose a site at an exceptional altitude on a mountain 

 side might result in its being submerged in low-lying cloud almost every morning and 

 evening. The site which will be found to be freest from such visitations is one on a 

 Southern slope which forms no part of a natural basin. 



Another important factor which should be considered by those persons fortunate 

 enough to be able to choose a site over a large area, is the nature of the subsoil. One 

 that is pervious, such as those composed of gravel, sand or marl, is healthier than one 

 which tends to become waterlogged in wet weather or is composed of stiff retentive 

 clay. The porous soil, however, may become a source of danger through the facility 

 with which poisonous matter from stables, cesspools or defective drains, can percolate 

 through it and contaminate the water supply, or give off noxious gases into living rooms, 

 unless this is guarded against. 



It has been maintained that a loamy clay subsoil is preferable to a sandy or gravelly 

 one, as the former is a slower conductor of heat, thereby maintaining a more even 

 temperature ; but this is not so, for every sudden change of temperature will be followed 

 by dampness in the stratum of air next to the ground. It is also said that, in fully 

 inhabited districts where efficient drainage is enforced, no inconvenience need arise from 

 building on clay if the foundations are overspread with concrete and the walls damp- 

 proofed. While it is true that the dangers of a water-retaining soil may be very much 

 reduced and even almost negatived by such means, it still remains that " prevention 

 is better than cure " and that, where possible, health and comfort will be always best 

 served by the choice of an elevated site on a porous subsoil, which is known to lessen 

 the tendency to diseases such as tuberculosis, asthma, rheumatism, ague and kindred ills 

 fostered by dampness. 



This class of site has also distinct advantages when we come to make the garden. 

 Not only is a light soil cheaper and easier to move in levelling the terraces and lawns, 

 but, although much can be done to improve a very heavy soil, apart from the rose 

 garden, one which is fairly light is preferable, especially for lawns. The paths, too, on 

 clay land are apt to be greasy and disagreeable in wet weather, and the soil of the beds 

 either very sticky or baked like a brick. 



The elevated site too has its advantages from the gardener's point of view, not only 

 because it will be more sunny, but because, being naturally drier, plants will not be so 

 easily affected by frost, which always attacks newly planted shrubs in the bottom of 

 a valley long before those higher up are affected, and, incredible though it may appear, 

 many varieties of trees, shrubs and plants luxuriate in an elevated position which would 

 not grow on lower ground. 



There remain the questions of water supply and sewage disposal, the former being 

 a matter which, strange to say, the author has more than once found to have been 

 totally neglected until the site has been purchased and even built upon. 



Having settled these absolutely essential hygienic requirements, there are many 

 other questions arising out of the prospective owner's business or social relations, his 

 personal preferences and those individual idiosyncrasies which, while they are quite 

 unexplainable on medical grounds, make surroundings which are healthy for most 

 persons quite unsuitable to the person subject to them. 



With regard to our prospective owner's business relations, we shall be stating the 

 case of a very large number of builders of new residences if we imagine him compelled 

 to build within easy reach of his place of business but wishing to obtain a site where 

 his growing family will obtain all the advantages of rural surroundings and healthy 

 country air, and large enough to allow him to indulge a bent for gardening, arbori- 

 culture, model farming, or other rural pursuits, such as can be dealt with within the 



24 



