6 
Garden Work 
soil, thus carrying away the surface water, which is the 
special object of draining. The lines of piping should 
be from 9 to 12 ft. apart. When this is done a liberal 
supply of ashes, grit, or sand should be added during 
the process of digging. This tends to make the soil 
more porous, and will allow the water to pass into the 
drains. It can be improved, also, by adding about 20 lb. 
of quicklime per pole and pointing it in. The lime unites 
with the silicate of alumina, making the whole soil more 
friable. Sometimes, with the object of improving its 
physical condition, part of the soil is burned. The action 
of fire on the clay is to make it easily pulverized. The 
burnt soil can then be spread on the top and dug in, 
thus improving the whole. A clay soil is often a very 
late soil, on account of the excessive amount of water it 
holds. It takes much more heat to raise the temperature 
of water 1 degree than it does to raise that of sand 1 degree. 
Therefore the greater the amount of water in the soil the 
longer is the soil in being warmed for the germination 
of seeds and the growth of plants in spring. 
Clay soil is very difficult to cultivate, and after rain 
it is some time before one can work it at all. When it 
is improved in texture it has many advantages, retain- 
ing moisture for a considerable time, thereby ensuring a 
continuous growth. 
D. SANDY SOILS 
These may have from 80 to 90 per cent of sand, 
and from 10 to 20 per cent of clay and organic matter. 
They are generally very poor soils, on account of the 
very small quantity of organic matter which they contain 
