108 The Compost -Yard. 



beginning to build their homes with more artistic taste : Gothic houses 

 are being reared on every side. There seems to be a disposition for 

 improvement throughout the State ; and I leave it with an exalted idea 

 of Kentucky hospitality and politeness, and a thorough appreciation of 

 their taste and ability, as displayed in terra-cultural science. 



THE COMPOST- YARD. 



It is impossible to carry out good gardening without composts or fresh 

 soils. It signifies little whether the gardens be one acre or fifty, whether 

 they contain one plant-house or a dozen ; a compost-yard becomes a 

 necessary adjunct, and deserves the title, although it may contain only 

 two or three kinds in as many cartloads. Ladies and gentlemen who are 

 unacquainted with the practical details of gardening, are apt to wonder 

 why so much fuss should be made about soils ; but their wonder would 

 cease could they, for only a couple of years, go through the routine of 

 practical gardening and plant culture. Could what gardeners term the 

 pottiiig-board tell tales, it would reveal many a secret which might astonish 

 those who have not dabbled in composts, manures, drainages, &c. 



And this is not all mere empiricism ; tlie first gardeners in the land, 

 from Sir. J Paxton downwards, will bear us out in the absolute necessity 

 that exists for a potting-bench ; the latter, of course, of little use without 

 the compost-yard. We think it was Rousseau, or some witty Frenchman, 

 who said that a knave and a fool weic made for each other ; and truly the 

 same may be said of the potting-shed and the compost-yard. 



But the very kitchen garden and the flower garden have their demands 

 on this useful, out-of-the-way place, and we must proceed to show forth a 

 simplified course of practice in regard of soils. What gardeners term 

 loam is the first in the list of necessary materials. To describe what a 

 good loam is, in the eye of the gardener, is a most diSicult affair ; good 

 gardeners in this matter are mere rule-of-thumb men ; color is not a par- 

 amount object — it is more a matter of texture ; and we know gardener^ 

 who could tell a good loam blindfolded, so that the finger and thumb would 

 appear to be pretty good judges in these matters. 



To those amateurs, ladies or g' ntlemen, who, not having experience in 

 gardening affairs, yet desire to acquire such, we would particularly address 

 ourselves, as to this material called " loam." K\\ Icams are simply soils 



