GENERAL remarks. 



13 



CHAPTER II. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



N the laying out of a garden, the soil and situation must be 

 considered as much as the nature of the ground will admit. 

 Let no lady, however, despair of being able to raise fine flow- 

 ers upon any soil, providing the sun is not too much excluded, for 

 the rays of the sun are the vital principle of existence to all vege- 

 tation. The too powerful rays can be warded off by the arts of in- 

 vention, but we have yet no substitute for that glorious orb. Unless 

 its warm and forcing influence is allowed to extend over the surface 

 of the garden, all flowers wither, languish, and die. Sun and air 

 are the lungs and heart of flowers. A lady will be rewarded for 

 her trouble in making her parterre in the country ; but in large 

 towns, under the influence of coal smoke, shade, and gloom, her 

 lot will be constant disappointment. She can only hope to keep 

 a few consumptive geraniums languishing through the summer 

 months, to die in October, and show the desolating view of rows 

 of pots containing blackened and dusty stems. 



Many soils which are harsh or arid, are susceptible of improve- 

 ment by a little pains. Thus, a stiff clay, by digging well and 

 leaving it to become pulverized by the action of the frost, and 

 then mixing plenty of ashes with it, becomes a fine mould, which 

 I have ever found most excellent for all flowers of the hardier 

 kind. The black soil is the richest in itself, and requires no assist- 

 ance beyond changing it about a foot in depth every three years, 

 as a flower garden requires renewing, if a lady expects a succes- 



