10 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
THE SOIL QUESTION FOR PARKS AND CEMETERIES 
In taking up this subject the writer 
does not pretend to have discovered 
anything new, but would collect some 
of the acknowledged facts in agricul- 
ture and show their importance to hor- 
ticulture and landscape art. 
In order to be in order, it will be 
necessary to begin with the soils. 
Soil, as everyone knows, is formed 
from pulverized rocks and is deposited 
in depressions by the action of wind 
and water. 
The surface soil is usually easily dis- 
tinguished from the sub-soil by differ- 
ence in color, due to the greater amount 
■of organic or vegetable matter which it 
contains and this vegetable matter is 
■of great importance to the physical con- 
dition of the soil as well as on account 
of the amount of fertility it contains. 
The vegetable matter, or humus, as it 
is commonly called, makes the soil more 
porous and increases the amount of 
water it is able to carry. It also pre- 
vents its baking or becoming hard in 
■dry weather, so that when rain comes 
it is absorbed more quickly and held 
in suspension for the use of plant life. 
The composition of the soil depends 
largely upon the character of the rocks 
from which it was originally formed, 
the amount of humus in the soil, the 
quantity and kind of fertilizers which 
have been applied, the action of the 
water in the soil, as well as that of air, 
aci4s, worms and insects which make 
the soil their home. 
The humus is continually decompos- 
ing and the elements of fertility are 
either being taken up by plants again 
or are entering into new chemical com- 
pounds in the soil. In some cases they 
are leached out and lost. The soil is a 
vast laboratory which only the Supreme 
Chemist can control. 
When we come to talk about fertil- 
izers, to many it will bring to mind the 
picture of boyhood days on the farm. 
The manure was not properly cared 
for and when spring came round it 
was carted to the nearest field that was 
to be plow^ed, while the more distant 
part of the farm received a little sprink- 
ling of some commercial fertilizer 
which the agent' of course said was the 
best in the country; or, perhaps, Mr. 
Jones had used it the year before and 
“Gosh, he had a thundering crop.” The 
fertilizer problem, however, is too large 
to be brought into discussion on soils. 
The texture of soils is very impor- 
tant. If it is too fine, as in clay, it be- 
comes hard when dry, so that when the 
rain comes the water runs off before it 
is absorbed. If too coarse, as sand, 
the water runs right through as in a 
seive. 
There is a natural water table in the 
soil which is variable with the condi- 
tions. In a dry time, when evaporation 
is rapid, it becomes lower. Sometimes 
when very dry, we find no apparent 
moisture in light soils until we get 
down two or three feet. If the ground 
is covered with anything that will pre- 
v'ent evaporation, the moisture will 
gradually draw up nearer to the surface 
by capillarity, or, as the boys say, “it 
soaks up.” It follows, therefore, that 
the proper way to treat lawns is to cut 
them as high as possible in dry weather. 
Cut often enough and leave the cut 
grass on the lawn to settle down about 
the roots and help prevent evaporation 
as well as add humus to the soil. 
Let those who believe in watering 
lawns try it for an example a half hour 
on a piece of land containing a thou- 
sand square feet, then with a spade see 
how deep the moisture has penetrated. 
Now stop and think how long it will 
take Old Sol to undo the work. This 
watering encourages the roots to come 
up for that water and get scorched to- 
morrow. instead of going down into the 
cool sub-soil to seek the water in the 
reservoir below the water table. 
The writer has known many instances 
where a stratum of clay has been put 
between the subsoil and the surface soil 
to prevent the moisture soaking away, 
but in spite of this much ran off in a 
rainy time and was lost, while in a dry 
time the clay prevented the soil wafer 
from ‘“soakiag up” or the roots going 
through after it. 
According to the Maine Agricultural 
Experiment Station, timothy or herds' 
grass, cut when in full bloom, contains 
71.9 per cent of wafer. Now, two tons 
of dry hay per acre will dry in a day 
and a half if the conditions are favor- 
able, and though there will still be some 
moisture left in the hay, this will give 
some idea of the rapidity of evapora- 
tion and the importance of trying to 
prevent it. 
In a few cases soils may be low and 
too moist, in which cases drainage must 
be resorted to ; and in a cemetery it 
would be best to lay the drains in the 
avenues and walks where possible. 
The physical action of water in the 
soil is very marked. Water precipitated 
upon the earth absorbs gases and dis- 
solves chemicals in the soil, which again 
form new compounds, and so a contin- 
ual change is going on in the soil, and 
with the disintegration of the particles 
of rock which go to make it up. 
The action of the air in the ground 
is also continuous by reason of the oxy- 
gen which is entering into composition 
with the elements in the soil. 
The influence of vegetable life is very 
important. Certain plants like lichens, 
mosses, etc., can live and grow on solid 
rock and of course take something from 
the rock. 
Animal life is formative rather than 
destructive. Coral, chalk and flint are 
of animal origin. The common earth 
worms affect the soil not only by their 
secretions but by their burrowings in 
allowing the air to penetrate. The 
earth also passes through them and is 
acted upon by their digestive organs 
and is considerably modified. Ants bur- 
row and take organic matter into the 
soil and mix it, thus making some 
change. 
A crop, whether grass or anything 
else, grown and removed from the soil, 
takes away a large quantity of the ele- 
ments of fertility which must be re- 
turned, and how to do this at the least 
cost and in the best forms is the great 
fertilizer problem. 
F. G. Bartlett. 
Holyoke, Mass. 
