Imjportance of analijsing Soils. 489 



had been buried *, to protect them from the cold, they perished 

 because the place dug had not been deep enough. 



Plants in greenhouses, on the contrary', stood extremely well, 

 on account of the clear and frosty weather. The plants, also, in 

 hot-frames, which are not kept covered longer than two months, 

 were fresh and healthy ; most of them were evergreen shrubs, 

 and plants which partly belonged to the frigidarium and partly 

 to the tepidarium. 



Art. III. Importa7ice to Gardeners of a Knotnledge oj" the Method 

 of analysing Soils. By Peter Mackenzie. 



The method of analysing soils should form a part of the ac- 

 quirements of every gardener, and yet how few there are that 

 can tell what are the component parts of the soil from which 

 they earn their daily bread ; judging from their writings, they 

 appear to be better acquainted with synthesis than analysis. 



Almost every gardener has his own composition for growing 

 his favourite flowers and vegetables. Take, for instance, the 

 carnation. One man recommends rotten horse-dung, loamy 

 earth, and coarse sea-sand, in certain proportions ; another will 

 substitute cow-dung for horse-dung; a third will add newly 

 slaked lime ; a fourth recommends unburnt sulphate of lime, 

 finely ground ; and a fifth considers burnt turf ashes an ex- 

 cellent ingredient for mixing with carnation composition. The 

 most of them agree in recommending loamy earth as part of 

 their compost : but loam is a very indefinite term ; sometimes 

 clay may predominate in one place and sand in another. It is 

 also known to those who have analysed soils, that the oxide of 

 iron is not always found in equal quantities ; and there may at 

 one time be the peroxide of iron, and at another time the prot- 

 oxide of iron. Yet, with all these diflFerences, and more that 

 might be named, it still goes by the name of loamy earth. How- 

 ever well some of these composts may do in one part of the 

 country, it is as well known that they are often condemned in 

 another district. If both loams had been analysed, perhaps 

 some ingredient would be found in the one which the other did 

 not possess, that might be the cause of the failure so often com- 

 plained of. 



If gardeners were able to discover by analysis the component 

 parts of the soil, it would enable them, perhaps, to work with a 

 greater degree of certainty than they can possibly do at present, 

 with their empirical knowledge in that department of gardening. 



* [In this operation the plants are not taken up by the roots, but a hole is 

 dug, and the plant is bent down in it, and then covered up.] 



