502 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 10, 18&1. 
almost every kind of crop save cereals and pulse, and even these can be 
secured where there is some basis of peat or loam or clay with the sand. 
The parks and gardens of Paris, Versailles, Haarlem, and Berlin are on 
deep sands that are blown away when left exposed for any length of 
time with no crop upon them to prevent direct contact of the wind with 
the soil ; and not only do we see the finest of Potatoes and the most 
nutritious of herbage produced on these soils, but good Cauliflowers, 
Peas, Beans, Onions, fruits, and big trees full of sound timber. It 
would be inaccurate to say that any soil is beyond improvement, for the 
plough has found its way to the foot of Stonehenge, where only a 
hundred years ago cultivation was declared impossible, and on the 
granite of Dartmoor we may now see a fine grass sward where not long 
since the only vegetation comprised lichens and mosses. The farming 
and gardening at Prince Town owe their success in great part to the 
judicious use of sewage, and thus illustrate the immense importance of 
the subject before us. 
Garden soils usually consist of loam of some kind, the consequence 
of long cultivation. Natural loams are the result of the decay and 
admixture of various earths, and they are mostly of a mellow texture, 
easily worked and highly productive. They are, as a rule, the best of 
all soils, and their goodness is in part due to the fact that they contain 
a little of everything, with no great predominance of any one particular 
earth. Cultivation also produces loam. On a clay land we find a top 
crust of clayey loam, and on a lime or chalk land a top crust of cal¬ 
careous loam, where cultivation has been long pursued, for the staple 
is broken and manures are put on, and the roots of plants assist in 
disintegrating and decomposing, and thus there is accumulation of 
humus and a decomposition of the rock proceeding together, and a loam 
of some sort is the result. Hence the necessity of caution in respect of 
deep trenching, for if we bury the top soil and put in its place a crude 
material that has not before seen daylight, we may lose ten years in 
profitable cropping, because we must now begin to tame a savage 
soil that we have been at great pains to bring up to cover a stratum 
of a good material prepared for us by the combined operations of 
Nature and Art during, perhaps, several centuries. But deep and good 
garden soils may be safely trenched and freely knocked about, because 
not only does the process favour the deep rooting of the plants, but it 
favours also that disintegration which is one of the causes of fertility. 
Every pebble is capable of imparting to the soil a solution—infini¬ 
tesimal perhaps, but not the less real—of silica, or lime, or potash, or 
phosphates, or perhaps of all these ; but it must be exposed to light and 
air and moisture, to enable it to part with a portion of its substance, 
and thus it is that mechanical tillage is of the first importance in all 
agricultural and horticultural operations. 
The principal inorganic or mineral constituents of plants are 
potash, soda, lime, sulphur, chlorine, silica, and phosphates of lime and 
iron. Clays and loams are generally rich in potash, sulphur, and 
phosphates, but deficient in soluble silica and lime. Limestone and chalk 
are usually rich in lime and phosphates, but deficient of humus, silica, 
sulphur, and alkalies. Sandy soils are rich in silica, and are rarely 
deficient of lime, but are generally poor in respect of phosphates and 
alkalies. Therefore, on a clay or loam, farmyard manure is invaluable, 
because it not only contains ingredients that all crops appreciate, but is 
helpful in breaking up the texture of the soil. The occasional appli¬ 
cation of lime also is of importance, and not seldom this produces an 
almost magical effect on an old garden soil that has been heavily 
cropped and liberally manured. Calcareous soils are greatly benefited 
by a free application to them of manure from the stable and cow-byre ; 
but it would be (generally speaking) like carrying coals to Newcastle 
to dress these soils with lime. Clay may be put on with advantage, and 
nothing benefits a hot chalky soil more than a good dose of mud from 
ponds and ditches, which supplies at once humus, alumina, and silicates. 
In the manuring of sandy soils great care is requisite, because of 
their absorbing power. In the bulb-growing districts of Holland 
manure from cow sheds is worth the enormous price of Is. per barrow¬ 
load for digging into loose sand for a crop of Potatoes, to be followed by 
bulbs. This is an exceptional case, but it illustrates the subject usefully. 
As a rule sandy soils are deficient of phosphates and alkalies, and hence, 
instead of employing manure, which may often be more advantageously 
bestowed upon the loamy pieces and reserved for special purposes, it will 
be found that kainit (a rough form of potash) and superphosphate of 
lime will conjointly produce the best results, more especially in raising 
Potatoes, Onions, and Carrots, which are particularly well adapted for 
sandy soils. Probably one of the best fertilisers is genuine farmyard 
manure from stall-fed cattle, for it contains phosphates, alkalies, and 
silicates in available forms and suitable proportions. Artificial manure 
should be selected by analysis, and with a view both to correct the 
deficiencies of the soil, and to satisfy the requirements of the crops to be 
grown on it. 
For the present purpose the principal garden crops may be grouped 
in two classes, in accordance with the predominance of certain of their 
mineral constituents. The figures show the average proportions of the 
several minerals per cent, in the ashes that are left after burning a sample. 
In class 1 phosphates and potash predominate. This class includes 
the following :—The Pea, containing phosphates, thirty-six ; potash, 
forty. The Bean, phosphates, thirty ; potash, forty-four. The Potato 
(tubers only), phosphates, nineteen ; potash, fifty-nine ; soda, two ; 
lime, two ; sulphuric acid, six. The Parsnip, phosphates, eighteen ; 
potash, thirty-six ; lime, eleven ; salt, five. The Carrot, phosphates, 
twelve ; potash, thirty-six ; soda, thirteen ; sulphuric acid, six. The 
Jerusalem Artichoke, phosphates, sixteen ; potash, sixty-five. 
In class 2 sulphur, soda, and salt predominate. This class includes 
the following :—The Cabbage, phosphates, sixteen ; potash, forty-eight; 
soda, four ; lime, fifteen ; sulphuric acid, eight. The Turnip, phosphates, 
thirteen ; potash, thirty-nine ; salt, ten ; lime, ten ; sulphuric acid, 
fourteen. The Beet, phosphates, fourteen ; potash, forty-nine ; soda, 
nine ; salt, twenty ; lime, six ; sulphuric acid, five. 
As a matter of course Lentils and other kinds of pulse agree more 
or less with Peas and Beans in the predominance of phosphates and 
potash. So, again, all the Brassicas, whether Kales, "Cauliflower, or 
whatever else, agree nearly with the Cabbage in a predominance of lime 
and sulphur, ingredients which fully account for the offensive odour of 
these vegetables when in a state of decay. Fruits as a rule are highly 
charged with alkalies, and are rarely deficient in phosphates. Moreover, 
stone fruits require lime, for they have to make bones as well as flesh 
when they produce a crop. As regards the alkalies, plants appear 
capable of substituting soda for potash under some circumstances, but it 
would not be prudent for the cultivator to assume that the cheaper 
alkali might take the place of the more costly one as a mineral agent, 
for Nature is stern and constant in her ways, and it can hardly be 
supposed that a plant in which potash normally predominates cam 
attain to perfection in a soil deficient in potash, however well supplied 
it may be with soda. The cheaper alkali in combination with salt may, 
however, be usually employed in aid of quick-growing green crops ; and 
more or less with tap-roots and Brassicas. As regards Potatoes, it seems 
worthy of observation that they contain but a trace of silica, and yet 
they generally thrive on sand, and in many instances crops grown on 
sand are free from disease and of high quality, although the weight 
may not be great. The mechanical texture of the soil has much to do 
with this, and when that is aided by a supply of potash and phosphates, 
whether from farmyard manure or artificials, sandy soils become highly 
productive of Potatoes of the very finest quality. On the other hand. 
Potatoes also grow well on limestone and chalk, and yet there is but 
little lime in them. Here, again, mechanical texture explains the case 
in part, and it is further explained by the sufficiency of potash and 
phosphates, as also of magnesia, which enters in a special manner into 
the mineral constitution of this root. 
Thus far we have not even mentioned nitrogen or its common form 
of carbonate of ammonia, nor have we mentioned carbon or its very 
familiar form of carbonic acid. These are important elements of plant 
growth, and they account for the efficacy of manures derived directly 
from the animal kingdom, as, for example, the droppings of anima's, 
including guano, which consists, in part at least, of the droppings of sea 
birds. The nitrogen in these substances, however, is of an evanescent 
character, and rapidly flies away in the form of carbonate of ammonia. 
Hence, a heap of farmyard manure left for several years loses much of 
its value as manure, and guano should be kept in bulk as long as 
possible, and protected from the atmosphere or its ammonia will dis¬ 
appear. One difficulty experienced by chemists and others in preparing 
artificial manures is that of ; fixing ’ the needful ammonia, so that it 
may be kept from combining with the atmosphere, and at the same time 
be always in a state in which it can be appropriated by the plant. We 
cannot supply plants with nitrogen directly, but in all good manures 
there is a certain proportion of it in combination, and in many instances 
the per-centage of nitrogen is made the test of the value of a manure. 
The importance of humus—the black earthy substance resulting 
from the decay of vegetation—in a soil is that it contains in an assimi¬ 
lable form many of the ingredients essential to plant life. Humus is 
also highly charged with carbonic acid, which decomposes the crude 
minerals in the soil and renders them available as plant food. When 
vegetable refuse is burned the nitrogen—one of the costliest manures— 
is dissipated and lost. But by burying the refuse the soil gets back a 
proportion of the organic nitrogen it surrendered, and something over 
in the way of soluble phosphatic and potassic salts ; and as this organic, 
nitrogen assumes the form of nitric acid it is assimilated by the growing 
plant to the great benefit of whatever crop may occupy the ground. 
The practical conclusion is that in the treatment of the soil a 
skilful gardener will endeavour to promote its fertility by affording the 
natural influences of rain, frost, and sun full opportunity of liberating 
the constituents that are locked up in the staple, by restoring in the 
form of refuse as much as possible of what the soil has parted with in 
vegetation, and by the addition of such fertilising agents as are adapted 
to rectify the natural deficiencies of the soil. Thus instead of following 
a process of exhaustion, the resources of the garden may be annually 
augmented. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
December 8th. 
Comparatively small table space sufficed to contain the exhibits 
at the meeting on Tuesday last, yet the display was interesting, espe¬ 
cially of Orchids, which formed the greater part of the floral arrange¬ 
ment, though Chrysanthemams also added to the attractions, the new 
English and American seedlings receiving much attention. 
Fruit Committee.— Present : P. Crowley, Esq. (in the chair), and 
Messrs. J. Lee, R. D. Blackmore, Harrison Weir, G. W. Cummins, 
C. Ross, A. H. Pearson, W. Warren, T. J. Saltmarsb, A. Dean, W. Bates, 
W. Denning, G. Wythes, J. Hudson, H. Balderson, F. Q. Lane, J. Smith, 
G. Bunyard, J. Cheal, and P. C. M. Yeitch, Dr. R. Hogg, and Rev, 
W. Wilks. 
Some dwellers in the low-lying and damp districts of Mitcham, 
Merton, or Morden would have been surprised to see the display pro¬ 
vided at this meeting. No less than fifty-two dishes of extremely fine 
