PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
SQIHE first requisite for the propagation and growth 
a. ed of plants is a suitable soil. Most people take their 
WMP || soil as they find it, adding much or little dressing 
=———J from the barnyard, or patent fertilizers, put in 
their plants, and abide by the results, which are, that certain 
things flourish well and others quietly disappear. This gentle 
disappearance, usually attributed to the weather, the nursery- 
man’s stock, or pests, is the only protest a plant can utter 
against an unsuitable diet. It generally gives a month’s 
warning that it is about to quit your service when it pines and 
droops, and whenever you see a plant grow pale and languid 
it is high time to consult authorities. I presume the best 
all-around soil is a rich sandy loam, for this is adapted to the 
majority of plants. By loam I mean the top soil of pasture 
or grass-lands, just under the grass for a few inches. It is full 
of fiber, and is the product of decayed vegetation, which has 
been incorporated in the earth beneath and has enriched it. 
It is generally brown or almost black, finely pulverized and 
rich in humus. It varies greatly, owing to the character of the 
soil beneath. In low wet lands it is black, heavy and some- 
times a little sour, which last condition can be altered by 
spreading out a pile of it to the sun and air, and letting it 
freeze through a winter. In sandy districts it will be very 
light, and will need manuring, and, if procurable, a little clay 
and black muck well mixed with it, to give it body. In 
gravelly places it will need leaf mold, black muck and per- 
haps a little sand. A heavy loam resting on a clay subsoil is 
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