IV INTRODUCTION. 



but plants do not live upon soil, they live in it, and 

 partake of the food it contains. It therefore fol- 

 lows that if the soil does not contain the food the 

 plant demands for growth, and the development of 

 its fruits, it must be supplied ; there is no alternative. 

 The question as to the best kind of soil is an arbitrary 

 one. Clay w ill be clay and sand will be sand ; natural 

 conditions must be accepted as we find them. But 

 it does not follow that a naturally uncongenial soil 

 cannot be made to produce good crops. 



Our opinion, based upon the experience of many 

 years, is, that the condition of the soil is of far 

 greater importance than its character, and it is upon 

 the former that success largely depends. A lively 

 loam is undoubtedly the best soil for a garden ; that 

 is, it is congenial to a greater variety of plants than 

 any other. Failing in this, we must make the best 

 use of such as we have. Our experience and obser- 

 vation show conclusively that many unproductive 

 soils, both heavy clay and light sand, are such from 

 lack of proper tillage. Some of the most valuable 

 lands under cultivation, were, at one time, heavy wet 

 clay, or drift sand. The former, was restored by 

 drainage and tillage, the latter by food and tillage. 



The bulb lands of Holland, now worth $3,000 

 per acre, are of the same general character as much 

 of the pine lands of the Atlantic coast from Long 

 Island to Florida, yet they produce enormous crops 

 when liberally fed with stable manure. The very 

 general opinion is that the difference in the cost of 

 labor to produce a crop is more than sufficient to pay 

 for the manure used on the sandy soil, where all the 

 plant food employed is at once available. The deli- 

 cate roots of the plants can easily penetrate the sandy 



