108 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



trim. For general purposes, probably a heavy soil is best. It 

 is easy to make a part of the land light enough for a few early 

 crops. Then a heavy soil holds manures better. By autumn 

 plowing and cultivating the ground in plats, one can bring it into a 

 good friable condition. We all know the value of a retentive 

 soil in summer time. These general remarks have some bearing 

 on what I shall say later. 



We gardeners, taken together, are a conservative lot. We 

 believe in " leaving well enough alone." It is a good policy, and 

 one which carries much weight with it, and respect also. There 

 are methods which we continue, often because it is the custom or 

 practice to do so, and often we cannot explain why. Much expe- 

 rience is scratched up in a hand to hand sort of way ; we find 

 out as we must, and often we are obliged to experiment for our- 

 selves, for the best practice of one does not always suit the case 

 of the other. The gardeners of the United States have to thank 

 the old-country gardeners, and many of us our old-country train- 

 ing ; though much that we do here is done differently, yet an 

 intelligent training helps us better to gauge our practice to the 

 altered conditions, and these are principally of climate. Wrong 

 we may be sometimes, and often too particular, but it is better 

 always to err on the side of prudence. 



Take the old books, and we shall read : " One-third of turfy 

 loam, one-third of leaf soil, and a third of sand ; " or it may be 

 fourths, including rotted manure, or fifths, with peat added ; but 

 accurate measuring is tedious work, and too slow to suit Yankee 

 ideas, so the tendency is toward simpler methods. As a matter 

 of fact there are but few mixtures of soil in use today. Leaf 

 soil, one of the best ingredients in any compost, is seldom used 

 in any except private gardens. Many gardeners manage to get 

 along without it. Well rotted manure is a good substitute, and 

 in some cases is better. It is necessary, however, owing to the 

 prevailing slipshod methods, that the soil should be light for potted 

 plants. The man with a hose can over water with safety when 

 the weather is hot, and the plants soon dry out, and when it is 

 cold artificial heat has the same effect. But you cannot persuade 

 the old-time gardeners to use the hose, though they ma}'' see that 

 it really makes little difference, if ordinary care is used. Many 

 plants set down as requiring heavy soil may be grown as Avell in a 

 light soiL Wherever the rose grower is located, he finds means 



