126 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
HINTS TO AMATEURS 
ON THE PRINCIPLES WHICH SHOULD REGULATE THE FORMATION AND 
CULTIVATION OF A GARDEN. 
In tlie present day, when we have such numbers of periodicals devoted to 
the science of gardening, and each contributed to by so many gardening 
professionals, it requires some consideration to choose a subject which shall 
interest the amateur from its novelty, and, at the same time, furnish him with 
copious and practical information, and be a sort of right guide to his opera¬ 
tions. Unfortunately for the amateur, gardeners in general do not write for 
the million, but generally for the information of their brother gardeners, and 
this with an air of pedantry which is not inviting. 
Dr. Hogg has, in my opinion, acted wisely in introducing to the pages of 
the Florist and Pomologist the elementary principles of botanical litera¬ 
ture ; and the style in which it is done is so easy and familiar that those who 
run may read, and obtain a sufficient botanical knowledge without attempting 
to burthen themselves with an overload of scientific names, which, to the 
elderly student, must be quite distressing. 
Acting under a similar impulse, I propose to treat of the general principles 
of cultivation of the soil, commencing with the drainage, and followed by the 
operation of trenching, which, I doubt not, will be read with pleasure and 
advantage by many. First, then, we will speak of the drainage. 
It is now generally admitted that, in order to obtain perfect cultivation, 
this is most essential. No soil containing a surplus of water can, by any 
means, be fitted for the culture either of farm or garden productions. Thou¬ 
sands of instances prove this, and a result diametrically opposite results from 
the improvement by drainage. 
A vast number of amateurs are resident in the environs of large towns, and 
as such their gardens are surrounded by deep drains, cesspools, and such places, 
which materially drain their ground; but there are others whose lots are not 
so fortunate, and in the same districts there may be plots of ground wet and 
sour. The amateur must, therefore, look out for this, and be on the alert to 
prevent it, if existing, by a course of drainage, which, if he has ample funds, 
will only give him a little trouble and additional amusement; and if it does 
not exist he need not trouble about it. But we would insist on its importance 
as an onset, and to commence the drain at the lowest point of the ground, 
keeping it a few inches below the bottom of the cultivated ground, so that it 
may readily be freed from superfluous moisture at all times. In the case of 
walks, gratings should be used over small cesspools ; and in case of heavy 
storms the mud washed into them would form a residuum, the water over¬ 
flowing into a small drain, near their top, and communicating with the 
main, so as to avoid bringing extraneous matters into the general garden 
drains. 
Having said this much on the subject of drainage, I would beg to offer a 
few remarks on the importance of deeply trenching the ground, an all-important 
operation. The labour of this is expensive, and many will be deterred from it 
on that account; but I feel it my duty to make known what I have adopted 
and carried out for twenty-six years in the garden of Dr. Harcourt, late Arch¬ 
bishop of York, at Nuneham Park, Oxford, with the most satisfactory results, 
and must leave it to my friends to make their own arrangements. 
When I took charge of the garden at this place in 1836, I found it a very 
superior and handsomely-designed place as to the walls, but in no other way 
decent; two of the quarters had been given to the farm for the growth of 
