IN THE GARDEN BORDER 23 



ers; poor roots, poor flowers; good roots, 

 good flowers." 



Heavy, wet clay soils need mellowing as a 

 general thing, although some of the strong 

 growing yellow and bicolor trumpet daffodils, 

 and all of the poeticus and Burbidgei types 

 will often make good growth and flower well 

 for a time in heavy soil. Yet some plants 

 eventually fail. 



Underdrainage, either with tile or triangle- 

 shaped board conduits placed three feet be- 

 low the surface, and twelve to twenty feet 

 apart, according to circumstances, is the cor- 

 rective for wet, heavy soils. These drains 

 are laid with a slight fall to an outlet, thus 

 leading off the surplus water. The benefit 

 of underdrainage is not only in drawing off 

 surplus water, from below but also in opening 

 the soil, allowing air to enter. The next best 

 thing to underdrainage is subsoil plowing, or 

 digging fully eighteen inches deep. 



When previous manuring and preparation 

 have not been done, use nothing but pure 

 ground bone at the rate of two to four ounces 

 on a square yard evenly strewn over the soil 

 and dug in. Follow this by some high class 



