33 
HORTICULTURE AS A SCIENCE. 
NO. II. 
EARTHS AND SOILS. 
In our first, or introductory article (No. 85, page 9), we endeavoured to show 
tliat gardening was an art of far higher pretensions than those persons can admit 
it to be, who look only to the routine of the mechanical operations which attend it. 
And also, by referring to the mighty agents which are constantly exerted in effecting 
the development and progress of every plant, from the humblest moss to the lofty 
fir-tree, we hoped to make it evident that it ought to be treated and studied as a 
science, which can never be duly appreciated till its principles be taught in seminaries, 
or in classes attached to Horticultural Societies, by men of talent and practical 
knowledge. 
Earths and Soils being essential to the growth of plants, and, to a certain 
extent, familiarly known to every one, claim our first attention ; though it must be 
confessed, that to attain a thorough understanding of their structure and components, 
would demand a profundity of chemical knowledge which few can hope to acquire. 
We avow our intention not to perplex the student by attempting to enter into the 
mysteries of science ; and, therefore, we restrict ourselves to point out what ought 
to be, and may be known, leaving it to time and superior abihty to effect that great 
object which we hold up to view. 
The very term of earth involves a tissue of errors and misconceptions, which are 
the sources of half the failures that professional men, in common with amateurs, are 
subjected to. Loam is a word in the mouth of every one ; we meet with it in every 
horticultural page : yet who understands it ? Agricultural chemists have felt the 
importance of the difficulty, and have written and lectured to a very great extent on 
the subject of analysis of soils ; yet how little have their labours been appreciated ! 
By this term analysis, derived from the Greek verb analuo, we understand the 
dissolution, dissevermeiit, or entire separation of parts, under powerful chemical 
agency ; and, therefore, we perceive at once a difficulty, which they who are not 
versed in the processes of the laboratory can by no means surmount. Yet we 
hesitate not to affirm that earths and soils can never be completely understood 
without the assistance of analytic chemistry, and, therefore, claim the admission 
that this branch of science ought to become a part of horticultural education. So 
far we have gained a point ; for if it be true that a soil, in order to be properly 
applied to a plant, should be thorouglily known ; and, moreover, if it cannot be so 
known till it be subjected to chemical agency, then the science of analysis should be 
taught to the youth of the rising generation whose aim it may be to keep pace with 
the intelligence of the age. 
But though we claim this admission, we are conscious that, in the existing state 
VOL. VIII. — NO. LXXXVI. F 
