Gardening for Pleasure, 



CHAPTER I. 



SOIL AND LOCATION. 



It is rare in determining the site for a residence, that 

 the soil is taken into consideration, and in consequence, 

 we sometimes find that the garden surrounding the 

 house presents a barren appearance, that nothing can 

 remedy short of the placing a foot of good soil over the 

 whole surface. This condition is not so often due 

 to the natural poverty of the soil, as caused by grading 

 off the surface soil, or by filling up to the desired grade 

 with the material thrown out in excavating the cellars, 

 or other subsoil, clay, or gravelly material, and placing 

 these over the soil intended for the garden. This is 

 often done for the convenience of contractors, to the 

 great injury of the proprietor, without either being 

 aware of the bad results. As a good soil will tend more 

 than all else to give satisfactory results in garden opera- 

 tions, it is all important to secure it. When discretion 

 can be used in deciding on a location, one should be 

 chosen that has naturally a suitable soil, rather than to 

 attempt to make it so by carting a foot of good soil over 

 the bad, which would be found not only very expensive, 

 but in many situations, next to impracticable. I have 

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