180 HOME AND GARDEN 



feet wide that pass for the most part through the 

 more thickly wooded places. They were made for 

 a twofold purpose, firstly for the sake of having 

 paths where paths were wanted, and secondly for 

 obtaining the thin skin of black, peaty earth, the 

 only soil my ground can boast, that overlies the great 

 depths of yellow sand and stony strata that go down 

 for nearly two hundred feet before we come to water. 

 As the paths were made, this precious earth was 

 stored in heaps by their sides, and these heaps have 

 been a precious reserve to draw upon ever since. In 

 some places this peaty surface is only an inch thick, 

 though in some hollow holes there may be as much 

 as four inches. Below that is an inch or two of 

 loose sand, partly silver sand ; this we also save ; then 

 comes hard yellowish sand and what is called the 

 " pan," a thin layer of what is neither stone nor sand, 

 but something between the two. It is like thick flakes 

 of rotten rust ; hard enough for the spade to ring on 

 when it reaches it, supported by the firm sand below. 

 In all cultivation for woodland planting it is neces- 

 sary to break through this pan ; nothing thrives if 

 this is not done. 



No part of my copse was broken up except a 

 space of about forty feet wide next to my southern 

 frontier, where I wished to plant groups of Juniper, 

 Holly, Mountain Ash, and Ilex ; and a roundish area 

 about the middle of the ground for Cistuses. Both 

 are now so well covered with a natural carpet of the wild 



