124 



lish water meadow — combining thorough drainage 

 below with timely irrigations. The only thing neces- 

 sary would be to infuse the saline principle : this is 

 so easy that it needs no comment. 



Before finishing this division of the subject, we 

 would beg to impress on the inexperienced in its cul- 

 ture the propriety of using charred, or rather burnt, 

 matters, in combination with salt and manures. 

 Much and weighty testimony exists as to the utility 

 of such applications ; as to their economy, that re- 

 quires no remai'ks. Hedge clippings, vegetable 

 haulm, tree leaves, and weeds, may be put together 

 and burnt for this purpose. 



OPEN-GROUND CULTURE. 



Beds. — Some of the precautions required in the 

 construction of these have been incidentally noticed 

 in the previous section, under the head *' Soil." If 

 the requisites for its staple and drainage, as there di- 

 rected, are carefully provided, it is of very secondary 

 consequence whether the beds, as usual, are raised 

 above the level of the surrounding ground, or whether 

 their surfaces are of equal height, as recommended by 

 Mr. Beaton. In very stiff and retentive soils, how- 

 ever, and where the surface soil is of a shallow cha- 



