THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
THE COMPONENT PARTS OF SOIL, 
Whatever may be their color, are argil, sand, water, and air. 
Into these original principles may all earths be reduced, however 
blended with apparently foreign substances. Argil is the soft and 
unctuous part of the clay. The primitive earths, (argil and sand,) 
contain each, perhaps in nearly equal degrees, the food of plants, 
but in their union the purposes of vegetation are most completely 
answered. The precise quantity of each necessary to make this 
union perfect, and whether they ought to be equal, it is neither 
very easy nor material to ascertain, since that point is best deter- 
mined in practice, when the soil proves to be neither too stiff or 
adhesive from the superabundance of clay, nor of too loose or weak 
a texture from an over quantity of sand in its composition. 
BEST SOIL FOR A GARDEN. 
Prefer a sandy loam, not less than twelve inches deep, and 
good earth, not of a binding nature in summer nor of retentive of 
water in winter, but of such a texture that it can be worked with- 
out difficulty in any season of the year. Few plants require less 
depth of earth to grow in to bring them to perfection, and if the 
soil of the garden be two or more feet deep so much the better ; 
for, when many varieties of plants are in a state of maturity, if 
their roots be minutely traced, they will be found to penetrate into 
