IV 



THE SOIL 



ONE thing essential to a garden, and without 

 which there can hardly be a garden, is proper 

 soil. It is not necessary that the beginner should go 

 into an exhaustive study of the subject, but a general 

 acquaintance with the physical characteristics at least, 

 of the various kinds of soil, is imperative. Nothing 

 can make up for a lack of understanding of this. 



In the first place soil is classified in three ways: 

 first, according to its origin, which means according to 

 the rock from which it was derived — whether from 

 limestone, sandstone, or from granitic formations, for 

 example; second, according to its chemical properties — 

 whether calcareous, alkaline and so on; third, accord- 

 ing to its physical or mechanical properties — whether 

 dry, moist, stony, gravelly, clayey, sandy, or loamy. 

 For the present, however, we will overlook the first 

 two classifications, giving attention to the third only, 

 i. e., the mechanical or physical properties. 



Soil is made up of particles of broken-down rock 

 combined with decomposed organic (or living) matter. 

 The size of these particles, their relation to each other, 



II 



