Soil. 49 



land hitherto considered worthless. This vein is from 

 one to two feet thick and about six feet below the sur- 

 face, and consists of both coarse and fiiie gravel, thor- 

 oughly mixed and held together by a sticky, paste-like 

 substance. A trial of this proved it to be the one thing 

 lacking in my soil for the successful growing of certain 

 varieties. Now, with one-third of this added to our 

 natural soil, as good Brides, or Mermets can be grown 

 as are to be found anywhere, while Beauties, instead of 

 climbing out through an aperture in the roof as of 

 old, form buds on a majority of the shoots, which de- 

 velop into first-class flowers. In order to prove the 

 theory upon which I started, a part of a bench was 

 planted to Perles in which this mixture was used. The 

 growth w-as grand. Foliage dark and glossy, rich be- 

 yond anything I had ever seen, but not one perfect 

 flower was cut from that bench during the entire sea- 

 son, all being what are termed " bullheads." These 

 were grown in a house with Mermets and at the same 

 temperature. 



In addition to those varieties mentioned, Madam 

 Hoste, Gontier, and Souv de Wootton, thrive well in 

 this kind of soil, but for La France, Duchess of Albany 

 and Niphetos this mixture is useless, in fact a positive 

 injury. 



I have been thus explicit in giving my experience in 

 this matter, because no one can afford to overlook the 

 minutest details while studying soils, and cause and 



