JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
February 9, 1882. ] 
117 
diameter. At Salem, New York, there is a White Oak, the branches 
of which spread over 112 feet. In Berks, Pennsylvania, there is a 
Chestnut tree which measures 40 feet at the base ; and at Show- 
hegan, Maine, there is a Itusset Apple tree 4^ feet in diameter, with 
branches covering a space 03 feet in diameter. Then there are the 
historic ti’ees, par excellence , some of which have now disappeared, 
as the Charter Oak .—(American Magazine of History.) 
GALANTHUS ELWESII. 
Of all Snowdrops this is one of the most distinct and effective. 
It has been in bloom with us since the week before Christmas, 
and there are still unexpanded buds. The flowers are larger 
than those of G. plicatus, and are readily distinguished from all 
other species or forms by the dense green basal blotches of the 
three inner segments. It is named in compliment to Mr. Elwes, 
and was first found by M. Balausa in 1854, on the Gamauladagh 
Mountains to the north of the Gulf of Smyrna. It appears to 
have been introduced to English gardens by Mr. Elwes, who 
collected it on the mountains near Smyrna in 1874, The plant is 
now tolerably abundant in all good gardens, where, with the still 
larger G. Imperati, it well deserves a place. G. Elwesii is rather 
variable in markings, and is well represented in the “ Botanical 
Magazine,” t. G1G6.—D. 
WHAT PLANTS USE. 
(Continued from page 405 last Volume.') 
Soils. —Some soils are heavy and others are light; some are 
sterile and others fertile ; some, like peat soils, are composed 
almost wholly of organic matter, and others are almost entirely 
deficient of organic matter. There are trap soils, chalk soils, clay 
soils, sandstone soils, limestone soils, and others far too numerous 
to mention. That all are not fertile alike we all know, but we 
believe few are aware of what constitutes the difference between 
a fertile clay and an unfertile one ; why some loams are good for 
nothing, and others good for nearly anything and everything. 
In the few remarks on soils which follow we will endeavour to 
point out some peculiarities whereby soils resembling each other 
in appearance and different in quality may be recognised, and 
in this endeavour we will confine ourselves strictly to our own 
observations. 
We begin with loam, for by that name gardeners designate a 
great variety of soils ; indeed with gardeners every soil is loamy 
which is not clay, peat, or sand. A mile to the east of this there 
is a square mile or more, where two streams join, composed of 
what would be unanimously termed a brown medium loam. It 
has lain in pasture time out of mind, and the surface is full of 
fibre. Nine gardeners out of every ten would pronounce such to 
be first-class loam for ordinary purposes. Still it is worthless, or 
nearly so. It has a medium texture, but it is just because it is 
composed of extremely fine particles of sand. It is of a fine brown 
colour, but that is because it is dyed with iron. It is full of fibre, 
but that is because of its poverty, and because of its poverty the 
grass that grows in it is nearly useless for auimals and the fibres 
of its roots for plants. Yet a casual observer would be easily 
deceived as to its nature, and more than one or two plant-growers, 
whose names are widely known, have been so. 
To the south of this there is a large tract of peat land, bleak, 
bare, and hopelessly barren. All along the northern edge of this 
tract lie fertile tracts. The line runs zigzig, and where the peat 
runs in promontories among the loamy land are lands which are 
only broken up at long intervals. Between these intervals the 
land is under pasture. The turf grows close, thick, and is a mass 
of fibre. Some time ago a plant-grower, at one time rather 
famous, told us that the turf from off these places was the best he 
had ever had for large plants. Half peat, half loam, it suited 
every plant. We had a quantity of it stacked in orthodox fashion, 
with layers of fresh manure alternating with layers of turf, and 
after it was fairly decayed used it as loam generally is used, and 
lost reputation with great rapidity. Every plant in that loam 
failed to succeed, and not a few speedily became unhealthy. Yet 
it was recommended to us by one of “light and leading” as the 
best in a wide district; it was fair to look upon, but it proved 
worthless. 
Along the northern edge of this peat soil, as we said, there is a 
tract of fairly fertile land. This is nearly a mile broad. Parallel 
with this, again, there is another tract two miles long and varying 
from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile broad, which is, when 
deeply broken up, surprisingly fertile. This is too good soil to be 
allowed to lie long in pasture, hence it is never allowed to lie lcng 
enough to form that fibry loam which delights gardeners and 
amateurs ; yet from this we now take all the loam we need, for we 
have learnt that when properly used it is very good for all loam- 
loving plants. Yet a casual observer would fail to see any great 
difference in any of these soils by merely examining a handful from 
the surface ; and if he were to value each according to the fibre it 
contained he would assuredly choose the worst. Choosing soil for 
potting purposes, making Vine and other borders, is a cause of 
stumbling to not a few, and especially to young men or amateurs. 
The question naturally occurs here, How are worthless soils to be 
distinguished from good soils ? If men bred to the business some¬ 
times make mistakes, with years of experience to guide them, how 
are beginners to know ? Our advice is in all cases to examine the 
subsoil. In the first case we have mentioned the subsoil is fine 
sand dyed brown with irony ochre ; in the second it is a sand¬ 
stone, and in the third the subsoil is composed entirely of whin- 
stone (trap) debris. This layer of whinstone varies in thickness 
from 3 to 60 feet. How it came there we cannot tell, but we 
suspect that it is glacial dGbris for various reasons. It rests on 
the boulder clay, which never, however, comes to the surface or 
intermingles with it. The sands which compose the bulk of the 
other soils are almost pure quartz, a mineral which is almost pure 
silica. The trap soil is chiefly made up of decayed felspar and 
hornblende, which between them furnish potash, soda, lime, mag¬ 
nesia, iron, manganese, and silica. These are not the only minerals 
present in trap, but are the main ones. Others exist which furnish 
phosphorus and sulphur, &C., in quantities sufficient to make the 
soil fertile. This trap soil is full of undecayed but decaying pieces 
of the rock, which, being continually ground down by the elements 
and agricultural instruments, continually yield fresh supplies of 
food to plants. Not only so, but this soil contains iron only in 
very small quantities, whereas the other two contain it in injurious 
quantities. 
Four or five miles to the north-east of this there is a large tract 
of very heavy but very fertile land. Seven miles to the east 
there is another tract of very heavy clay, but very different in its 
fertility from the former. The former is simply the siltings-up 
