460 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part II L 



fill to the gardens in the spring or summer months. If a garden be not naturally 

 sheltered with gently rising hills, which are the best shelter of any, plantations of forest^ 

 trees, made at proper distances, so as not to shade it, will be found the best substitute. 

 {Fors7jth, Tr. on Fruit Trees, p. 286.) 



2407. y4 garden should be ivell " guarded ivith ivood," oil the nortli-east, south-west, and 

 norlh-xvest ; the south and south-east being the only aspects that should be open. This, 

 Switzer says, is of " great import." There is great danger as to the easterly exposition, 

 inasmuch as all blighting winds come from that quarter ; so also the south-west is sub- 

 ject to the violent concussions of those winds that come off from the Atlantic or western 

 ocean. But, it may be observed, the sun acting in an oblique manner, and the winds 

 fluctuating horizontally, the garden may be planted all round with wood, between ten 

 and fifteen yards' distance, provided you keep your trees on the south side to about fifteen 

 feet high, for security from winds, without any danger of depriving it of the benefit of 

 the sun. {Pratt. Fruit Gard. 2d edit. p. 18.) 



2408. Shade as u'ell as shelter are attended to by Abercrombie, who observes, " that 

 competent fences are serviceable in sheltering tender seedlings, and in forming warm 

 borders for early crops and winter standing plants ; while in another direction some part 

 of the line of fence will afford a shady border in summer, which is required by the pecu- 

 liar constitutions of many small annual plants. Where a kitchen-garden encloses two, 

 three, or four acres, it will admit cross walls at proper distances, by which the advantages 

 just mentioned may be multiplied." {Prac. Gard, 2d edit. p. 3.) 



Sect. V. SoU. 



2409. The soil of a garden is obviously of the greatest consequence in its culture. It 

 is, however, a subordinate consideration to situation and exposure, for the soil may be 

 changed or improved by art ; but no human efforts can remove the site, or change the 

 exposure of a plot of ground. This subject was much more attended to about a cen- 

 tury ago, in the days of London and Wise, Switzer and Hitt, than it seems to be at 

 present. Gardeners, in general, depending too much on manures, and other adventitious 

 aids, for securing large, though sometimes ill-flavored, culinary crops. Jethro Tull has 

 some coarse, but to a certain extent just remarks on this subject. As an auxiliary argument 

 in support of his delusive doctrine of rejecting manure in culture, he affects to " wonder 

 that gentlemen who are so delicate in other matters should make no scruple to cat vegetables 

 and fruits grown among the vilest filth and ordure." {Treatise on the Horse-hoeing Hus- 

 bandry, 3d edit. p. 30. ) 



2410. The best soil for a garden, M'Phail observes, " is a sandy loam, not less than 

 two feet deep, and good earth not of a binding nature in summer, nor retentive of rain 

 in winter; but of such a texture, that it can be worked without difficulty, in any seasoh 

 of the year. It should be remembered, that there are few sorts of fruit-trees, or esculent 

 vegetables, which require less depth of earth to grow in than two feet to bring them to 

 perfection ; and if the earth of the kitchen-garden be three or more feet deep, so much 

 the better; for when the plants are in a state of maturity, if the roots, even of peas, 

 spinage, kidneybeans, lettuce, Sec. be minutely traced, they will be found to pene- 

 trate into the earth, in search of food, to the depth of two feet, provided the soil be of a 

 nature that allows them. If it can be done, a garden should be made on land whose 

 bottom is not of a springy wet nature. If this rule can be observed, draining will be 

 unnecessary ; for when land is well prepared for the growth of fruit-trees and esculent 

 vegetables, by trenching, manuring, and digging, it is by these means brought into such 

 a porous temperament, that the rains pass through it without being detained longer than 

 necessary. If the land of a garden be of too strong a nature, it should be well mixed 

 with sand, or scrapings of roads, where stones have been ground to pieces by carriages." 

 (Gard. Rem. p. 12.) 



2411. A hazel-colored loam, or a blackish vegetable earth, according to Abercrombie, 

 *' may be regarded as good ; or if it be a fat loam mixed with silvery sand, or a moder- 

 ately light mellow loam. A bed of very light sand or gravel is to be rejected, unless 

 the alternative would give you a soil still more difficult to improve. The worst of all 

 soils for a kitchen-garden is a strong clay. Nevertheless, as both clay and chalk have 

 an attraction for fluid and volatile solutions of oil, a limited proportion of those earths 

 contributes to form a rich and generous soil. Chalk may abound in a higher proportion 

 than clay, and sand in a higher proportion than either clay or chalk, without causing 

 barrenness. The soils best adapted for moderating the excesses, and compensating the 

 deficiences of heat and moisture in different seasons, are compositions of sand, pulverised 

 chalk, and finely divided clay, with a proportion of animal or vegetable matter. If the 

 soil be not naturally good to the depth of thirty inches, and thence to three feet, proper 

 earths and composts should be incorporated with it, to make it so, whei-e the tenure does 

 not render the expense unadvisable. It should be done where it is intended to found a 



