Gardening for Amateurs 



517 



incorporated with a sandy loam, binds the 

 particles together, and reduces the porosity, 

 thus assisting the soil to retain liquids much 

 longer. We shall speak further on the 

 tillage of the soil and the methods which 

 ought to be employed in order to bring all 

 soils into a fit state for gardening. 



Peat enters into the constitution of some 

 garden lands. This substance consists of 

 decaying vegetable matter ; it is highly 

 retentive, but acid and sour in nature. Lime 

 is an antidote for the latter disadvantage 

 and, properly used, it will help to decom- 

 pose the excess of humus and render it of 

 use for plant nutrition. Peat or peat litter 

 can with advantage be added to sandy 

 gardens. 



Chalk is found in almost all soils. If an 

 excess is present they are then called cal- 

 careous, or marl, if the chalk be mixed with 

 clay. Too much is, again, a drawback for 

 cultivation, yet some is always necessary ; 

 this, we shall point out, is generally added 

 as lime in some form or other. 



Humus, or decaying organic substances, 

 renders soil fertile. The humus gives that 

 correct texture for root development ; as it 

 decays or ferments it gives off heat and 

 warms the soil, and in decomposing it is 

 reduced to soluble plant foods, suitable for 

 all crops. If too much is present, the soil 

 becomes surfeited and sour, so that lime or 

 chalk would be required. Old garden land 

 generally contains plenty of humus, and the 

 top 3 or 4 inches of cultivated land is always 

 rich in this substance. The gardener applies 

 organic manures to keep up the supply of 

 humus. 



Some soils contain a large percentage of 

 stones. When these are present in large 

 numbers they monopolise space at the 

 expense of plants, and should be removed. 

 Small stones are, however, an advantage 

 rather than otherwise, for they attract 

 moisture and tempt seedlings to form roots 

 round their surface, they assist drainage, 

 and help to aerate the soil near the surface. 



Tillage of the Soil. The best garden 

 soil must be regarded as a highly manu- 

 factured article. Very seldom is Nature 

 beneficent enough to grant just those 

 conditions best suited for our purpose, and 

 the gardener must start on the virgin land, 



till it well, make up for its deficiencies, 

 and then regard it as the factory wherein 

 is to be carried out the wonderful process 

 of growing flowers, fruits, and vegetables ; 

 the manures he will look on as raw materials, 

 always necessary, and the soil a medium 

 whereby he can pass them to the plant, 

 Nature herself carrying out the process of 

 converting his raw materials and her own 

 gifts into vegetable tissues. The medium 

 or factory, then, must have sufficient sand 

 and grit to make it light, warm, and porous 

 to rain and air. Clayey soils and old meadow 

 lands often have the surface pared off and 

 burned or charred for this purpose. A fire 

 is started with material of any kind and 

 then coal or coke is added carefully until a 

 glowing red mass is obtained. The turves 

 are placed on this until hard and brittle, 

 then removed, broken up, and worked into 

 the soil. In such a way soil is sterilised, 

 plant foods set free ; but physically the 

 hard, burnt residue assists in opening up 

 and disintegrating the land. 



Sandy gardens must be made more stiff by 

 having some good, solid manure or clayey 

 soil added. Organic manures or humus 

 must be present to furnish food supplies, 

 warmth, and tenacity, while lime or chalk 

 are essential as a soil purifier. Virgin soils 

 always have an excess of some ingredients, 

 but the alluvial fields and allotments under 

 cultivation in modern times have only 

 approached the ideal, more or less, after 

 years of tillage and manufacture even yet 

 in many cases far from complete. 



Action of Frost, Snow, etc. The 

 process of disintegration of the soil is one 

 of the utmost importance to every gardener. 

 Undoubtedly he has to carry out much of 

 this breaking up and amelioration himself, 

 but natural agents assist him in great 

 measure. Water is the best help. When 

 the moisture in soil freezes it expands and 

 causes the lumps to be ruptured and torn 

 asunder so much that after frost the sur- 

 face of a garden is always covered with a 

 fine mould. Heavy soil in particular should 

 always be ridged up or hoed into drills as for 

 Potato growing ; this allows free play for 

 frost, letting the cold pierce through and 

 through the ground. If the ridges run 

 north and south, sun and air get better 



