CHAPTER 1, 
SOILS: Their nature and improvement. 
Never before has there been such a demand for knowledge 
and information about gardening, and never has there been 
such a supply produced through the Press as at the present 
time. As the standard of intelligence rises, so also grow the 
knowledge and appreciation of the advantages of a better 
cultivation of the soil, to the increase of wealth, pleasure, and 
profit. 
Occupiers of gardens are no longer content with being 
told what to do, how to do it and when to do it, but they 
wish to know why they ought to do certain things. This is 
as it ought to be. To understand why we do a thing is to 
take a most important step toward ensuring success for that 
operation; and it is as true of gardening as of any other 
work. The writer, bearing the above in mind, and being 
desirous of supplying information in a clear form and 
sufficiently plain “to be wunderstanded of the people,” 
introduces into this cheap hand-book practical facts that he 
hopes will be of every-day use to all gardeners. 
In order to produce the best result from the soil we 
cultivate, it is necessary not only to dig and manure that 
soil, but also to know something about its nature. Without 
such knowledge it will be an easy matter to waste both time 
and money in digging and manuring; by digging at the 
wrong time or in the wrong manner, and by applying the 
wrong kind of manure. 
Soils vary in their nature (1) chemically and (2) 
mechanically. 
