ON THE DISCRIMINATION OF SOILS. 
191 
with iron. In countries where limestone abounds, the grit contains that substance, 
and will effervesce with acids. 
Both these sands are of great utility, because they give lightness and freedom to 
the loamy composts that are used in the culture of plants in pots. 
Heath Soil. This substance is of primary importance ; it is the earth which 
is found at the surface of commons or wastes, where heaths grow naturally. It is 
the peculiar soil of these plants to which the distinctive title American " is 
applied. Thirty years ago the nurserymen in the neighbourhood of London called 
it by the name of bog-earth, and this title, though erroneous, was at least definite 
and understood; of late years, however, it has been fashionable to adopt the 
terms peat and peat-earth ; they are not only indefinite, but utterly vague and 
inappropriate. Peat, strictly speaking, is the black, decayed vegetable matter dug 
out of bogs or turbaries ; it is to most plants inert and useless ; but to a few it 
affords an aliment of great power ; we may mention as examples the Thunhergia 
and Amaryllides ; not, however, to dwell upon a subject which is now irrelevant, 
we shall only observe that, by the term peat, writers of the day mean to express 
heath-soil, the bog-earth of the last century ; hence we read of sandy peat, turfy 
peat, black peat, &c. All these terms are applicable only to heath-mould, and they 
express the varying texture of that material, which certainly admits of much varia- 
tion in the proportions of its ingredients. The sandy heath soil of Bagshot is of a 
greyish black tint, it contains a very great proportion of pure white sand, with per- 
haps scarcely one tenth part of black, decayed vegetable matter. The best heath soil 
contains much fibrous matter, and is either black or of a brownish hue, which de- 
pends upon the peculiar nature of the vegetable matter. All these soils abound 
with pure white sand, hence their peculiar applicability to plants whose roots are 
very fibrous, tender, and delicate. Heath mould and loam in different proportions 
are the staple soils of the gardener, and with them he can effect almost every species 
of culture. 
Peat, pure peat, or the earth of turf bogs, contains very little sand ; it is a 
heavy, dead, soil, forming, when burnt, a rich manure for inert, cold land ; but in 
most instances it is adverse to the gardener. 
We earnestly advise our horticultural readers to desist from the use of the term 
peat, unless they really intend to express the substance dug out of bogs and peat- 
mosses, and whenever this may be the case, to style it pure peat. 
When the soil of heaths is understood, we recommend the invariable adoption of 
the term heath-mould, and to qualify it by adding the descriptive words sandy, 
turfy, or the like, as occasion may dictate. 
We shall close our remarks by referring to another vague and unsatisfactory 
title which is given to an earth of a still more compound nature than any we have 
hitherto noticed. In descriptive catalogues and horticultural periodicals, we con- 
tinually meet with the words rich mould. Now, we ask, what can any one under- 
stand by the terms, for nothing can be more general and indiscriminate. Good 
garden soil is a rich mould, so is a compost of loam and vegetable, or animal ma- 
nures. We cannot detect the exact meaning of the writers ; but that we may in 
some degree give to mere empty sounds " a local habitation and a name," we shall 
venture to describe a soil or compost, whichj in our opinion, may merit the name of 
