SOILS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



599 



the wood and promote a wealth of llowers in the 

 following spring. 

 Pelargoniums, Cape. —These make noble tub plants — 

 Rollisson's Unique, Oak-leaved (quercifolium), and other 

 varieties, but of course they must not have the shelter of a 

 stable or outhouse during the winter months. Careful treat- 

 ment will be as necessary then as in the summer months. 

 The Cape Pelargonium specimens grown by Mr. Hudson 

 at Gunnersbury House Gardens, Acton, are very line, 

 and remind us of a class of plants that seems to have 

 passed almost out of cultivation. At one time the Pelar- 

 goniums, or " Scented-leaved Geraniums," as they were 

 more familiarly known, were in considerable demand. 



Other' Good Tub Plants.— Besides the popular kinds 

 already mentioned, the writer has seen the following 

 made good use of in tubs : Abutilon Boule de Neige, 

 the beautiful white variety so frequently seen in green- 

 houses and conservatories ; Agaves of sorts ; Brugmansia 

 Knighti ; Choisya ternata, popularly known as the 

 Mexican Orange-flower ; the Orange ; the Coral tree 

 (Erythrina Crista-galli) ; Hedychium Gardnerianum, or 

 the Garland-flower, one of the hardiest of its race, with 

 handsome Musa-like leaves and fragrant flowers ; 

 Heliotropes, smothered with their sweet-smelling 

 flowers in summer ; the pretty Plumbago capensis, and 

 Yuccas. 



SOILS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



IN gardening, soils have very much to he taken as found. To materially improve them 

 is difficult. Change comes only after many years' cultivation, and by the addition of 

 material both of soil of many kinds and of manure. Working, however, intelligently 

 may do much to lighten trouble arising from soils of extreme character, such as those 

 very light or very heavy. A medium soil that is naturally friable, porous, deep, and well 

 drained is almost of an ideal nature and rarely exists, yet is sometimes found, especially in 

 valleys where accumulations of alluvial deposit from rocks and hills have created depth. 



Treatment of Heavy Soils. 



These are usually termed clay, although sometimes found in bog formations. Clay 

 soils are very common, and usually exist to a great depth. They are very difficult to work', 

 yet usually where well managed are very reproductive under fairly favourable conditions. 

 Clay soils usually need some sort of drainage, such as is furnished by cutting out drains 

 from 2ft. to 4ft. in depth, and narrow, and in such directions as may ensure a fall for the 

 water extracted from the soil. These drains may be laid in parallel, 20ft. to 40ft. apart 

 as may be required, and consist of porous pipes, or, failing these, some cjin. of stone 

 rubble or broken clinkers, on which is laid heath or furze to keep the soil from choking the 

 rubble. Such drains do great yood in carrying off surplus moisture. So also will in other 

 cases surface drains where deep draining may be too costly. The object of drainage is, 

 first, to relieve the soil of water that otherwise would become stagnant and sour and 

 harmful to vegetation ; and second, because soil choked with water excludes air, and air 

 which follows water as it retreats downward is not only essential to plant life, but sweetens 

 and purifies soil and renders it fertile. 



It is imperative in working stiff soils that whilst broken up deeply the lower or subsoil 

 be kept beneath and not brought to the surface. Wanting air, it is infertile, and several 

 years' exposure to light and air is needed to render it fertile. But if in trenching 

 the top soil be well broken and thrown out of the trench, the clay bottom well dug and 

 broken up also, not only will the air penetrate to it later, but manure and plant food 

 will also permeate it from the cultivated surface, and in course of time the subsoil mav 

 be gradually incorporated with the surface soil, great good resulting. As the process of 

 trenching proceeds the top spit from the next trench is laid over the broken-up subsoil 

 in the preceding one, and thus the best soil is always kept on the surface. These strong 

 soils will benefit greatly by liberal exposure to the elements in winter when uncropped, 

 provided the winter be fairly dry and there be hard, penetrating frosts. Frost congeals the 

 water in the soil, and in so doing causes the particles to burst asunder, so that when a 

 thaw comes and also drying winds, the previous hard-clung soil is found to be pulverised and 

 in excellent working condition. Wet winters or cold wet springs not only react adversely 

 on the soil after the frost has broken it up, but positively make its condition worse than 

 before. These are matters that require foresight. Certainly stiff soils should never be 



