68 



and we quite agree with Mr. Marnock in deprecating 

 the practice of paving or concreting between the 

 border-soil and the snbsoil. Wherever the bottom 

 is so constructed as to resist the passage of mois- 

 ture, either upwards or downwards, we think the 

 surface, in hke manner, ought to be shielded from 

 the falling rains. We had almost said that no- 

 thing could be more unphilosophical than to lay 

 the border earth on an impervious stone floor, 

 which must of necessity retain every drop of rain 

 water that falls upon it. It is true it may filter 

 towards the front and escape ; but what an ex- 

 cess of moisture there must continually be towards 

 the lower part of the border ; certainly quite enough, 

 for at least nine months in the year, to keep six or 

 nine inches of the lower portion of the border com- 

 pletely saturated with wet ; and more than enough 

 to rot half the roots of the trees, which annually 

 send their roots downwards. {Gard, Journ, 1846, 

 501.) 



These remarks of Mr. Marnock are indeed most 

 judicious, and the idea of making impervious bottoms 

 cannot, in our opinion, be too much repudiated. It 

 does, indeed, appear strange, that whilst the agricul- 

 turist is so anxious to remove the hard pan from be- 

 neath his soil, which exists in some localities, and 

 w^hilst the benefits of a thorough aration by subsoiling 

 or otherwise are generally recognised, that gardeners 



