Ill 



SITUATION AND SOIL 



37 



lower drainage of the pipes may become choked by age 

 or neglect of attendance to the outfalls, &c., and the 

 upper drainage of the cultivated soil is sure to be in- 

 jured if the ground be trampled on or meddled with in 

 a thaw or at any time when the soil is wet. 



If such land should be the portion of the Rosarian, 

 every effort should be made to lighten it, and to keep 

 its particles as separate as possible, and prevent their 

 being squeezed together in a puddle of putty. The 

 agriculturist seeks the aid of frost for the disintegration 

 of clay : if the soil be thrown up roughly and as much 

 as possible exposed to the air, it will be found on the 

 first dry time after a thaw in fair planting condition, 

 but even then it should be trodden as little as possible. 

 Anything that will mechanically keep the particles 

 apart is good for digging into actual clay : long strawy 

 manure, leaf-mould, road-scrapings, grit, light sandy or 

 gravelly soil, or even coal ashes will all help ; but the 

 best of all is the burnt clay itself, mixed well into the 

 land. 



The clay should be burnt as follows. A large col- 

 lection should be made of all manner of vegetable refuse, 

 weeds, and rubbish that will not easily burn, sticks and 

 wood both green and dry, but nothing except just the 

 kindling that will burn too quickly, Rose prunings and 

 hedge clippings, rotten wood and old stumps, &c. Two 

 or three large old roots that will smoulder a long time 

 may be placed in the middle, and the heap arranged 

 of such a mixture of fairly inflammable and damper 

 materials that the fire will neither go out nor break into 

 fierce flame. In and upon and around this heap, when 

 well on fire, should be placed the clay in quantity pro- 

 portionate to the amount of fire. Constant watching 

 will be necessary to add fresh clay when it is needed and 



