THE CULINARY GARDEN. 



bb 



SL triangular vacuity under them would be beneficial in its effects, 

 and admit of the water passing more readily off. Where gravel 

 is to be had, excellent drains may be formed by introducing 

 drain tiles in the bottom, and filling up the remainder of the 

 drain to a sufficient depth with coarse gravel ; and, in such cases, 

 the expense of screening out the finer particles through a coarse 

 screen will be repaid by facilitating the escape of the water. 

 Consistently with a previous observation, chalk, when newly 

 dug, and when it runs in large pieces, makes drains equal to 

 stone, but it must be used before being exposed to the action 

 of the atmosphere, for when once charged with moisture, and 

 exposed to frost, it becomes pulverized ; but if used soon after it 

 is dug, it will last for ages, and of itself absorb a large portion 

 of moisture. Heath and furze are not unfrequently used for 

 draining when no better materials can be procured, but when 

 laid in quantities even considerably below the surface, and 

 beyond the action of the air, they are liable, from their dispo- 

 sition, to ferment. They may be used for temporary draining, 

 and for that purpose are often employed by agriculturists ; but 

 in draining ground for garden-purposes, the inconvenience 

 which arises in repairing such drains is so great as to render all 

 kinds of temporary di-aining, radically bad. There are few 

 soils, during their preparation for garden-purposes, which do 

 not afford a considerable quantity of stones, gravel, &c., and 

 the refuse in the erection of walls, hot-houses, &c., if collected, 

 will supply, in many cases, sufficient materials for this pur- 

 pose. When they are found inadequate, recourse must be 

 had to other sources to supply the deficiency. Draining, 

 although long practised in the improvement of soils, has only 

 of late years been properly understood; and it must be ad- 

 mitted, that too little attention is generally paid to this im- 

 portant point, in the first formation of many gardens. When- 

 ever that be the case, the defects will for ever be obvious in the 

 diseased state of the fruit-bearing trees, and in the late and 

 unproductive crops of the most common vegetables. 



When the garden is so situated as to be subject to occasional 

 floodings, fi'om the rapid melting of snow or sudden falls of 

 rain, which is frequently the case, when lying at the foot of 

 hills, ov on steep declivities, it is oflen necessary in such cases 



