January 27, 1363.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



05 



Day 



Day 



ol' of 



M'nth 'Week. 



27 



Tu 



28 



W 



29 



Th 



30 



F 



31 



S 



1 



Scn 



2 



M 



-FEB. 2, 1663. 



Hermann d. 1605. B. 



Agardh d. 1859. 



T. Mavtyn d. 1768. B. 



W. Aiton d. 1793. G. & B. 



Sir Ashton Lever d. 1788. 



Septuagesijia Sunday. 



Purification. Candlemas Day. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Weather near London in 1362, 



Barometer. 



30.165—30.027 

 29.805—29.733 

 29.76S-29.62S 

 29.650—29.595 

 29.74S— 29.683 

 29.962—29.809 

 30.076-30.008 



Thermom 



decrees. 

 49-31 

 53-40 

 54—45 

 54-44 

 55-48 

 5 (—44 

 53-44 



W ind. 



S. 

 S. 



s.w. 

 s.w. 

 s.w. 

 w. 

 s.w. 



Rain in 

 Inches. 



•06 

 •08 

 •32 

 •02 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



m. h. 



49af7 



m. h. 

 87 at 4 



Moon 

 Rises 



Moon's 



Clock 

 before 



D:iy of 



and Sets; Age. Sun. I Year. 



9 

 10 



11 

 12 

 13 

 14 



13 33 



13 43 



13 51 



13 69 



27 

 28 

 29 

 E0 

 31 

 32 

 33 



Meteorology op the Wrasic.-At Cluswick, from observations during the last thirty-six years, the average hiehest and lowest 

 on tne 31SE, in IBj/. Dunng the period 144 days were fine, and on 108 rain fell. 



THE IMPEOVEMENT OP CLAYEY SOILS. 



AVLNG observed that you 

 have recently had to reply 

 to several inquiries con- 

 cerning the improvement 

 of clayey soils, I have 

 thought that my experi- 

 ence in so important a 

 matter might be acceptable 

 to your pages, and, I hope, 

 instructive to those of 

 your readers who may un- 

 fortunately have to supply fruits 

 and vegetables from a garden, the 

 soil of which is a rank clay. Those 

 alone who have had that disheart- 

 ening work, and the almost insurmountable difficulties to 

 combat in producing from such a soil all that is generally 

 expected as the produce of a gentleman's garden, can 

 fully realise how exceedingly desirable it must be to carry 

 out any process which will change a stiff, tenacious, damp 

 clay to a more friable and fertile staple. 



When I entered on the care of the gardens at Dyrham 

 Park some fourteen years ago, the worthy proprietor had 

 previously decided to burn a very considerable extent of 

 the soil, which was of a more clayey description than any 

 that ever I had seen enclosed with garden walls. Capt. 

 Trotter took the idea from the Great Northern Eailway 

 Company in their operation of burning in that neigh- 

 bourhood immense quantities of clay, turning it into 

 something like pounded bricks, for the purpose of putting 

 between the rails instead of gravel. 



Accordingly when I went to Dyrham, the burning 

 process had been commenced, and a patch or two had 

 been burned and cropped. But the method pursued was 

 simply to burn a heap in the centre of a quarter, taking 

 the soil just as it came, top and bottom spit, round the 

 fire, and then to spread it generally over the surface, and 

 crop it. _ The summer being a very hot and dry one, vege- 

 tation simply existed among so dry and porous a materfal, 

 it being more like red brick-dust than anything else. 

 . After having satisfied myself that this burning process, 

 if properly carried out, would prove a thorough renovator 

 of so terrible a soil to work, and having been informed 

 that the garden was well drained, I set about the work 

 of burning to a large extent ; and I cannot here do better 

 than describe the mode of burning in the words made use 

 of on a previous occasion. 



As soon as a quarter became vacant, a fire or two was 

 started, according to the size of the quarter. When only 

 one fire was required, it was, of course, started in the 

 middle. The site for the fire was first trenched to the 

 depth of 2 feet 9 inches, turning the top spit (which had 

 through a long course of years been improved a little by 

 liming, the addition of ashes, road-scrapings, &c), into the 

 bottom of the trench, taking out the two bottom spits for 

 burning. So thoroughly clayey was the greater part of 

 the soil moved, that the men had to dip their tools in a 

 No. 96.— Vol. IV., New Seeies. 



pail of water at every lift, to make the next spadeful slip 

 off the metal. On this site the fire was commenced. 

 Wood which was only fit for charring or firewood, and 

 which is generally plentiful enough about most gentle- 

 men's places, was used. In that locality coal was costly, 

 and not so effective in this case as wood ; the latter also 

 affording in burning a desirable quantity of potash. The 

 site for the fire being ready, a little stack of wood was 

 formed 5 feet in diameter at the base, tapering cone- 

 like to the height of 5 feet, beginning with a few dry 

 faggots in the middle, and finishing with stronger junks 

 of wood round the outside. All round this stack of wood 

 a coating of the clay was laid on to the depth of about a 

 foot. It was found best to pack it on in lumps as it was 

 turned out of the trench. When this was done the wood 

 was set fire to at the centre, and long ere the wood was 

 all consumed the clay caught fire and burned freely. As 

 soon as the first layer was nearly burned through another 

 layer was added all round, which in its turn soon burned 

 through also. The fire was then broken down with a 

 strong iron-handled hoe, for the double purpose of adding 

 more wood to quicken the fire, and enlarging the basis of 

 operations. After the fire was thus set agoing the wood 

 was of necessity laid horizontally over the burning heap, 

 putting the strongest pieces of wood next the burning 

 mass, and finishing off the layer with the smallest, to 

 prevent the clay from lying too closely to the wood and 

 obstructing the draught necessary to combustion. 



In the meantime trenches were opened at the extre- 

 mities of the quarter, and the clay taken out, as already 

 described in making the site for the fire, and forwarded 

 to the fire, there being the solid undisturbed surface to 

 wheel it over, and the distance lessened as the fire be- 

 came larger and required more feeding. But to return 

 to the fire. When it was again found necessary to break it 

 down for the purpose of extending the base, and increas- 

 ing its capacity for consuming the clay, another layer of 

 wood was added, and then a layer of clay over the 

 surface, and all round the outside of the heap. After 

 this, as the layer of clay was burned through, another 

 was packed on all over and round without any wood, and 

 so on with two or three layers, till it became necessary 

 to enlarge the base of the fire, by drawing it down from 

 the top, then more wood was added ; and from the great 

 power which the fire attains it is necessary to have 

 plenty of clay and men at hand to cover over the wood 

 quickly, or it would be consumed without doing much 

 good ; and so this process was continued till the necessary 

 quantity was burned. I have frequently had three great 

 fires going at a time, on to the tops of which I have 

 wheeled layers of clay to the thickness of 3 feet and more 

 at a time. When the fire became powerful it formed a 

 solid pile of fire, which very soon worked its way through 

 thick and successive layers of clay, transforming what 

 was once an insoluble, wet, tenacious paste, into a heap 

 of material greatly altered in its mechanical properties, 

 and with a great capacity for the absorption of ammonia, 

 besides being mixed with charred wood and potash. 



As soon as the heap was sufficiently cool to be moved 

 No. 748.— Voi, XXIX., Old Seeies. 



