THE CULI>jARY GARDEN. 



4i 



and such operations should not be done in wet weather, nor 

 when the ground has been saturated with wet. 



Gravelly soils are also very unfit for garden ground, as being 

 generally of themselves sterile, and not readily enriched by 

 manures, the finer particles of which are washed off by the 

 rains; and they are also subject to suffer much from drought in 

 summer, as they are not capable of retaining a sufficient quan- 

 tity of moisture to support the crops in dry weather. Such 

 soils are capable of improvement, by divesting them of the 

 greater portion of small stones, and by the addition of strong 

 loam, or even any tolerably good earth ; and this must be applied 

 in quantities sufficient to form a body capable of retaining a 

 sufficient quantity of moisture for the support of future crops. 

 Light sandy, or even gravelly soils, are, however, not without 

 their advantages, because they are much warmer, and by afford- 

 ing a much less quantity of moisture, the crops will not grow 

 so luxuriantly, and therefore be much sooner fit for use than 

 those, which are grown on strong clayey soils. Early spring 

 and winter crops are not only much earlier on sandy soils than 

 upon clayey, but are also much more capable of resisting the 

 fi'ost. On the approach, however, of the summer's drought, 

 the crops either fail entirely, or else are unproductive and of 

 short duration. 



The soil most proper for the purpose of garden culture 

 should, therefore, be neither too strong nor clayey, nor of too 

 loose and gravelly a quality, but of a rich and rather a light 

 pliant nature, capable of being m'ought at all seasons without 

 inconvenience, and of sufficient depth to allow the roots of all 

 sorts of trees and plants to extend themselves with facility. 

 Black vegetable, hazelly brown, and chestnut-coloured loams, 

 are all proper for the purpose of garden ground; and all those, 

 which are of a more stiff' and tenacious nature, or too loose, and 

 insufficient to support trees and plants, must be made good by 

 the application of such substances as are of a contrary nature. 

 In procuring mould, either for improving or renewing the soil, 

 care should be taken to prefer such only as is near the surface, 

 as it is in general the most productive and fruitful, and is in 

 reality, the true vegetable earth. The top spit, that is, to 

 tne depth of one foot from the surface of any common or field. 



