SPADEWORK 
39 
thoroughly examined in the morning. Clay 
soil gives much more trouble, especially if 
of a poor brashy quality ; but no one need 
despair. It is only a question of patience, 
hard work, and the determination to grow 
plants well, that is needed, and even the 
difficulties of a clay soil can be overcome. 
Clay soil is always cold, because it retains so 
much moisture. Draining alone is insufficient; 
it is necessary to lighten the soil above the 
drainage, in order to allow the moisture to 
escape. Clay soil, cold and wet as it is in 
winter, bakes hard and cracks in summer heat, 
consequently letting the heat get down to the 
roots of plants growing in it, and killing them 
by over-evaporation. To obviate this the 
soil must be improved, and made more open 
by the addition of burned soil, charred vege- 
table-refuse, mortar-rubble, etc. The latter is 
exceptionally valuable, as the lime contained 
in it is a plant food as well. 
If the border is to be made on stiff clay soil, 
it will be best to thoroughly drain it first, by 
means of land drains, or broken bricks set 2 
or 3 feet deep to carry off the surplus water. It 
is the combination of cold and wet that kills 
plants in the winter, and it will be understood 
that water stagnating round their roots will 
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