IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS, 



23 



To conclude, in regard to the texture of soils, choose 

 or make for your garden a loam of medium texture a lit- 

 tle inclined to sand, and the finer its particles the better. 

 Clays and sands both become objectionable, as they de- 

 part from this friable loamy texture, and the first step in 

 their improvement is to bring them to this condition. A 

 medium consistency best agrees with vegetation. 



The depth of soil in the garden is as likely to need im- 

 provement as its texture. A deep soil is necessary that 

 the roots may penetrate it freely in search of food, and 

 be able to endure our summer droughts. The roots of a 

 strawberry have been traced five feet down in a deep rich 

 soil. The difference in freshness and growth of plants 

 raised upon trenched soils, and those growing upon soils 

 prepared in the common manner is remarkable. In lawns, 

 the color of the grass will indicate very exactly the 

 greater or less depth of the soil. The depth of soils may 

 be increased by subsoil ploughing, or trenching. 



Subsoil plougJiing is much cheaper and answers a very 

 good purpose when the spot to be prepared is large. A 

 common turning plough goes first, and ploughs as deep a 

 furrow as practicable. "It is followed by the subsoil plough 

 in the same furrow, which loosens the soil without turning 

 it up to the depth of eighteen or twenty inches, unless it 

 is a stiff clay or gravel. 



Trenohing is the mode of improving the depth of the 

 soil in smaller gardens, and is performed in this manner : 

 At one end of the plot to be trenched, you dig with the 

 spade a trench three feet wide, and two feet deep ; you 

 throw the earth out on the side away from the plot to be 

 treS^ched. Shovel the bottom clean, and make the sides 

 perpendicular, leaving a clear open trench the width of 

 the plot. Open another trench the same width, and put 

 the surface spadeful of that into the bottom of the former 



