418 AGRICULTURE. 



tables, is really a most excellent manure itself. Hence, in any clayey 

 kitchen garden, where brush, faggots, or refuse fuel of any descrip- 

 tion can be had, there is no reason why its cold compact soil should 

 not be turned at once, by this process of burning the clay, into one 

 comparatively light, warm, and productive.* 



The difficulty which stands in the way of the kitchen gardener, 

 who has to contend with a very light and too sandy soil, is its want 

 of capacity for retaining moisture, and the consequent failure of the 

 summer crops. 



In some instances, this is very easily remedied. We mean in 

 those cases where a loam or heavier subsoil lies below the surface. 

 Trenching, or subsoil -ploughing, by bringing up a part of the alu- 

 mina from below, and mixing it with the sand of the surface soil, 

 remedies the defect very speedily. But, where the subsoil is no bet- 

 ter than the top, or perhaps even worse, there are but two modes of 

 overcoming this bad constitution of the soil. One of those, is to 

 grasp the difficulty at once, by applying a coat of clay to the surface 



* A simple mode of burning clay in the kitchen garden is the following : 

 Make a circle of eight or ten feet in diameter, by raising a wall of sods a 

 couple of feet high. Place a few large sticks loosely crosswise in the bottom, 

 and upon those pile faggots or brush, and set fire to the whole. As soon as 

 it is well lighted, commence throwing on lumps of clay, putting on as much 

 at a time as may be without quite smothering the fire. As soon as the fire 

 breaks through a little, add more brush, and then cover with more clay, till 

 the heap is raised as high as it can be conveniently managed. After lying 

 till the whole is cold, or nearly so, the heap should be broken down, and 

 any remaining lumps pulverized, and the whole spread over the surface and 

 well dug in. 



"As an example," says Loudon, "of the strong clayey soil of a garden 

 having been improved by burning, we may refer to that of Willersly Castle, 

 near Mattock, which the gardener there, Mr. Stafford, has rendered equal 

 in friability and fertility to any garden soil in the country. " When I first 

 came to this place," says Mr. Stafford, " the garden was for the most part a 

 strong clay, and that within nine inches of the surface ; even the most com- 

 mon article would not live on it; no weather appeared to suit it; at one 

 time being covered by water, at another time rendered impenetrable by 

 being too diy. Having previously witnessed the good effects of burning 

 clods, I commenced the process, and produced, in a few days, a composition 

 three feet deep, and equal, if not superior, to uny soil in the country.' " 

 Suburban Horticulturist. 



