1 88 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



August, 



THE COMPLETE GARDEN.* 



VIII. 



DV A WELL-KNOWN HORTICULTURIST. 



(Continued from page 173.) 



UNDBRDBAININCJ. 



The complete home or other garden must be 

 located on a welRlrained plat of land ; if the 

 land be not so naturally, then a suitable sys- 

 tem of under drains must be introduced. Drain- 

 ing has for its object the speedy drawing away 

 of any excessive moistiu-e in the soil, for few 

 plants can succeed with their roots in water- 

 logged ground. 



Fin. 23. .4ii luidvainedflotiyer Fig. 24. T}ie same well 

 pot the .^oil wet and som; drained, the t^nil in good 



the plant dying. order the plant thrifty. 



FAMILIAR ILLUSTRATION OF LAND DRAINING. 



The condition of land that calls for under- 

 draining and of that properly drained may be 

 illustrated by two pots of soil as shown in the 

 accompanying cuts. Here Pig. 2:; is a pot, the 

 drain hole of which has been closed with a cork 

 to prevent any water escaping. In Fig. 24 

 this hole is open with some pot-sherds over it 

 permittuig unneeded moisture freely to pass 

 out. The first pot allows water to escape very 

 imperfectly only by evaporation and slightly 

 through the sides. Thus even ordinary water- 

 ing at the top will cause the soil to become 

 soggy and injurious to plants through shutting 

 off air from the roots and otherwise. So with 

 laud not having good di-ainage. Any excessive 

 moisture, and especially in the spring time, 

 with escaping only by evaporation or imper- 

 fectly through a lower outlet, must, by the 

 addition of rains, be long in a wet, cold and 

 otherwise uninviting condition for tillage. 

 Besides this, soils in such a condition ordinarly 

 are sure to lead to the trouble of plants in them 

 heaving during freezing and thawing weather, 

 and it is unsatisfactory in many other ways. 

 With soil drained as illustrated in Fig. 24 it is 

 quite otherwise. Here the super-abundance of 

 water quickly leaves the soil, rendering it at 

 once porous for the admission of ail" and heat, 

 and thus in a normal condition for growing 

 roots. The puny plant with feeble roots in the 

 first pot of our picture, and the vigorous, 

 healthy one with roots tm'ued back by the pot 

 in the other, show but the natural consequence 

 of these respective conditions and should con- 

 vey their lessons to all land tillers. 



While it is true that nearly all soils are bene- 

 fited by artificial draining, occasionally it is 

 otherwise. Land of a light nature and over- 

 laying a gravelly or sandy subsoil will generally 

 be sufficiently porous underneath to draw away 

 any excess of wetness. Here imderdraining 

 would be a waste of outlay. The same is true 

 of soil that is somewhat shallow and overlaying 

 a sub-strata of shaley rock, or a rock bed inter- 

 sected by many seams through which the 

 water can escape. A general test as to what 

 land requires draining might be thus stated : 

 Any soil where water would be found in holes 

 two feet deep one day after the close of a soak- 

 ing rain, or any that in the spring would be 

 unfit to spade or plow two days after frost had 

 completely escaped. 



The usual drains employed are of porous 

 earthen-ware. The best style is the round with 

 collars, although others are suitable. For gen- 



* Copyright, 1887, by Popular Oardening: Publishing Co. 



eral use a size of bore of from one and one- 

 half to two inches in diaipeter should be 

 employed, with cross mains fully double the 

 diameter of the laterals. A quality should be 

 chosen that are so hard burned as to give a 

 clear ring when struck, but not over-burned. 



In laying out drains there should be provided 

 one or more main courses, with laterals to these 

 at from fifteen to forty feet apart, according 

 to the nature of the soil and extending to near 

 the limits of the plat. In Figure 7, page 1.32, 

 the arrangement of the main and laterals of a 

 four acre garden are shown by heavy Unes. 

 The general manner of laying, together with 

 the getting of grade lines, are shown in the 

 accompanying Figure 2.5. 



One of the first points to consider is a means 

 of outlet to the drains, lower of course than 

 any part of the land to be drained. This in 

 Figure 2.5 is seen at a. The next matter is the 

 providing of the necessary fall for the drains 

 throughout, having especial regard to their 

 course being even and with a gradual fall from 

 the extreme points to the outlet. To secure 

 this after a simple fashion a system of stakes 

 should be brought into use, not only for Indi- 

 cating the course, but, what is of greater im- 

 portance, to secure the means of determining 

 the exact grade of the drains, before even the 

 ditches to receive them are begun. How this 

 may be done is by so driving the stakes along 

 the sides of the proposed ditches that their 

 tops, brought to a line by sighting (See dotted 

 lines in Figure 25), shall represent the exact 

 grade of the diains themselves, but with these 

 lines lit a i/iren height (say five feet) ahore the 

 drains (ts they are to lay eumpleted. Such 

 lines are called datum lines, for they serve (at 

 the stakes) to measure from in locating the 

 ditch bottoms as well as the tiles themselves. 



Let us illustrate the securing of the datum 

 lines throughout a plat by starting at A in 

 Figure 25. Here a stake is driven with its top 

 at, say, exactly five feet above where the drain 

 outlet is to come. A, B represents the course 

 of the main drain, at the further end of which 

 (B) the second stake is to be driven. To pro- 

 vide proper faU the top of this stake must be 

 somewhat higher than that of A, the rule being 

 one inch of fall for each rod of drain, al- 

 though much less may answer if pains are 

 taken to have them very evenly laid. To get 

 the necessary levels and heights, especially 

 where the ground is quite even, a spirit level 

 with sights is required. In most ordinary cases 

 a common carpenter's l^vel might be made to 

 answer. The end stakes in place, intervening 

 ones are readily set, their heads in exact line 

 horizontally with the first two, one man driv- 

 ing the stakes as another sights from end to 

 end along their tops. A stake should come at 

 each point where a lateral is to leave the main 





same measure from the tops of all the stakes 

 (in this case five feet), the outcome must be a 

 line of ditch bottoms over the plat as true to 

 line as the datums themselves. This is precisely 

 what is wanted and once secured the ditches 

 are ready for the tile. The preferred depth 

 below the surface for the tiles is from three to 

 four feet, a matter that wiU vary somewhat 

 with the contour of land and the fall secured. 

 In laying the drains they should be fitted 

 closely and evenly, as well as firmly settled in 

 place. The main should usually be laid first, 

 or all may go down together. Where trees 

 are to come the joints should be cemented 

 to prevent roots entering the tiles. In such 

 cases the porousness of the tile may be ti-usted 

 for admitting water. Where tile drains can- 

 not be procured a fair substitute may be had 

 in narrow boards nailed together to form 

 square or triangular box-like drains. Stone 

 and brick drains have also been employed, but 

 at best they are liable to prove unsatisfactory. 



MANURING. 



Without a fertile soil, a soil abounding 

 in plant food, it is impossible to have a 

 complete garden. To therefore provide an 

 unstinted supply of good manure, both 

 when beginning a garden, and to cultivated 

 parts annually thereafter, is one of the most 

 essential parts of the gardener's business. It 

 means the reward of vigorous growth in grass, 

 flowers, shrubs, trees, vegetables and fruits. 

 Its absence is as sure to produce a stunted and 

 unsatisfactory condition in these as the ab- 

 sence of enough food for animals must cause 

 unthriftiness and poor development.. Manur- 

 ing is but another t^rm for plant feeding. 



Of manures there are three kinds, vege- 

 table, animal, and mineral. Vegetable manure 

 consists of decayed vegetation, either such as 

 grass, leaves, bedding, roots, (as when turf is 

 used in compost or clover is raised) and green 

 crops plowed under. Peat, muck, and leaf 

 mold are also vegetable manures, and espec- 

 ially valuable on sandy or other light land. The 

 efficiancy of muck is increased by composting 

 with lime, at the rate of three bushels to a 

 cord of muck, for rendering the nitrogen avail- 

 able as plant food. Ashes — the ash of plants 

 — properly also comes under this head. As 

 manure their value varies with the land, such 

 as is heavy being usually the most benefited. 



Animal manures include the excrement of 

 animals, night soil, and the blood, bones and 

 other parts of dead animals. Of these the for- 

 mer, as stable manure and mixed with vege- 

 table bedding (straw, leaves, dried muck, etc.) 

 is the most valuable of all manures for the 

 garden, containing as it does all the elements 

 of plants. The richer the food upon which 

 animals feed, the richer the manure. 



Fig. 85. 



^^^^y////yy 



Underdraining: Main and Lateral Drains in course of Laying. Dotted Lines at . 

 tops .shorv Datum Lines, from which Depths are Measured . 



■take 



at least, and if one is brought between, as 

 shown in the engraving, it usually is better. 

 To secure the datum lines of the laterals it is 

 only necessary to proceed with each line from 

 its stake at the main to its further end, as has 

 been described for A to B. The same course 

 will also be found in general applicable to all 

 systems of drainage. 



With the datum lines fixed by stake tops and 

 to the necessary fall, it is clear that by opening 

 ditches along the rows, with their bottoms the 



Of the animal manures, that from the horse 

 is, weight for weight, better than cow or hog 

 manure. Still this depends somewhat upon 

 soil, for cow manure on light land tends to 

 promote moisture, hence has an advantage in 

 this respect. Horse manure is preferred for 

 heavy soils. A mixture of different manures 

 is the oftenest used and with satisfaction. 



To fit land for gardening at least 75 tons of 

 manure should at the start be applied to each 

 acre of land, or one half ton to each square 



