188 ON THE DISCRIMINATION OF SOILS. 
quainted, he but too frequently finds himself disappointed in the results which 
he has anticipated. He reads of loams, peat, bog earth, sand, manures, &c, and 
ne follows the directions that are given, but his plants sicken, the leaves, perhaps, 
turn yellow, and he can obtain no blossoms. He consults the Encyclopaedias and 
scientific catalogues, and compares the recorded periods of bloom, the size of 
the plants, and their general habit and character with the specimen before him, and 
perceives nothing in common that can raise his hopes. He makes some alteration, 
chiefly in the temperature of his climate, the volume of air admitted, and the 
quantity of water, but his plants do not thrive, and vexation succeeds his plea- 
surable anticipations ; and how pleasurable these are, none can tell but those who 
a^e gifted with an ardent love of plants, and feel, too sensitively, that " hope 
deferred maketh the heart sick." 
The cultivator in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis knows, or did know, 
what the nursery terms loam and bog earth imply. We, among others, are 
perfectly aware that by the former term was not meant the soil of a garden or field, 
but that peculiar pale, yellowish, or umber-coloured soil, which nurserymen 
purchase at sufficiently high terms about the neighbourhood of Hampstead, — a 
soil which would suit nearly every species and variety of stove or greenhouse exotics, 
either alone or blended with certain proportions of ff bog earth." 
Now this loam, as far as our recollection serves us, was soft or unctuous in 
texture, not gritty, capable of some adhesion of particles, yet so light, that if 
a portion in a medium moist condition was pressed in the hand, it would become a 
mass ; yet, if suffered to fall from the height of two or three feet upon a hard 
surface, would crumble and break apart. There are few gardeners, remote from 
London, who can obtain such a choice material; and if, indeed, any person possess 
what he believes to be a light and rich loam, he may be disappointed in its appli- 
cation. It is in inquiries concerning the nature of soils, that chemistry can afford 
an efficient aid ; and, therefore, we would recommend every gardener to cultivate 
it to an extent that may enable him to analyse his loam so far as to be able 
to determine its chief constituents. To do this, he will require a bottle of good 
muriatic acid (spirit of salt as it used to be called) ; another of sulphuric acid, 
which ought to be diluted with three times its weight of rain water ; and a third 
of solution of potassa ; that is, a liquor produced by dissolving one ounce of salt 
of tartar in two or three ounces of rain water. Two drachms, by weight, of 
any soil, dried on the stock or hob of a sitting-room grate, and powdered in 
a mortar, may be tested by adding two drachms of muriatic acid, mixed with 
an equal quantity of pure water. If any sensible effervescence, or hissing, arise, 
the earth contains chalk or limestone ; and, after standing together for four or five 
hours, the liquor may be strained through blotting paper, washed till sweet, and 
then dried in the same heat of the grate. The loss of weight will prove the quantity 
of chalk naturally existing in the soil. In 120 grains, from five to ten grains may 
be found; and to that extent it will prove useful, as it tends to add firmness 
of texture and moderate adhesiveness. Beyond ten grains in the 120, it might not 
be applicable to many greenhouse and stove exotics. 
After the abstraction of the chalk, and of the remaining acid, by the frequent 
washing with soft water, the soil must be again dried and weighed, and four times 
