73 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 4. 
agencies of moisture, heat, and air; these, by united 
action in a progressive way, reduce and diffuse the 
elements or principles which are contained in both 
organic and mineral substances. 
When, by the application of labour, guided by a proper 
appreciation of these principles, a soil has undergone 
the necessary amount of improvement, it is in a condi¬ 
tion to afford every facility for the fibres to range in 
quest of food, not only at the present moment, but 
during the life of the crop. This, indeed, with a proper 
application of manurial matters, and a judicious course 
of culture, constitutes what is called good farming; and 
! by such means is the character and value of the laud 
; itself, as well as of its produce, increased, 
j The following condensed view of those soils which 
require particular assistance may bo sufficient for our 
j present subject: — 
Adhesive, or stiff soils, the clayey principle predomi- 
I nant. 
j Loose soils, in which silica, or the sandy principle, 
j predominates. 
j Peaty soils, containing excess of vegetable matters. 
Many intermediate characters there are, but these 
will suffice for our present purpose. How to correct these 
in an economical way is our present business. J may 
here observe, however, that according to our first-rate 
scientific men, who have been at much pains to classify 
soils, that those containing about fifty per cent, of clayey 
matter, are termed Argillaceous or Adhesive Soils. 
Those with from twenty to thirty per cent, of clay, are 
called Sandy Soils. The Peaty consist chiefly of the 
remains of dead vegetable matter in various stages of 
decomposition. In an unimproved state, and moist, it 
is said to be charged with humic acid, which is injurious 
to vegetation. 
Adhesive Soils, our first class, can only be per¬ 
manently improved by the introduction of such sub¬ 
stances as, by insinuating themselves through the soil 
when in a pulverised state, prevent its ever returning to 
a stubborn condition. Of such a character are sands, 
or very sandy soil, lime or mortar rubbish from old 
buildings, the scrapings of brick-making grounds, burnt 
ashes of any kind, especially from peat or vegetable 
matter, &c., or, indeed, anything which cannot be 
made to cohere by pressure. 
Loose Soils are highly improved by marls, or even 
clay ; the latter, however, of rather difficult application ; 
ditchings from strong lands, pond mud, &c., all, of 
course, in a state of division, so that they blend 
uniformly with the loose soil. 
Peaty Soils. —After the stagnant moisture is fairly 
removed, these soils will, through airiug, become 
mellow and crumbling ; and, to facilitate this condition, 
many throw such lands into high ridges; this, during a 
dry and warm period, greatly hastens its improvement. 
Land of this character requires liberal applications of 
both sand or sandy soil, and the marly or clayey 
principle, for it is apt to “ burn” during dry weather; a 
soil, indeed, liable to extremes, which extremes must be 
corrected. 
Those who live near thriving towns should be ever on 
the look-out for materials of a corrective or manurial 
character, for such are always to be had. Even saw- i 
dust may be turned to excellent account in various 
ways, and such articles may commonly be had for 
carting away. By the way, sawdust is a capital mate¬ 
rial to throw under stock of any kind. A reverend 
gentleman, of these parts, who has been long noted for 
good husbandry and stock management, and who farms 
I rather extensively, uses immense quantities of sawdust 
beneath his ordinary stock and in his pig-styes. This ! 
i would, with the addition of soot and a little guano, make 
j an excellent drill compost for root-crops. The debris of old 
l buildings, walls, &c., which is always to be had near 
busy towns, is a capital improver, it can hardly be 
applied wrong; it is, however, particularly adapted for 
correcting stubborn soils. I have known grass land 
become speedily covered with white Clover and Trefoil 
on the heels of an application of this kind. 
And now we will suppose draining has first been 
properly carried out, and that when the land had 
become emptied of stagnant water, due attention had 
been paid to the other improvements; the next thing 
will be how to crop or apportion it. 11. Errington. 
MEETING OF THE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY.—I 8th April, 1854. 
This was the vacation for the Easter holidays in Par¬ 
liament, and London was gone to the provinces;—the i 
cabmen were hanging about in groups. You could see, 
by the young men in the shops, the hair-dressers had ; 
more time on their hands, and the rooms and shops in 
Regent-street were not half full that day, but it was the 
gayest day of the season for flowers, without auy very ' 
particular novelty of great merit. There is a horse- j 
shoe table in front of the Chairman, in the centre of 1 
one side of the room; the open part of the shoe is not 
open in the table; the seats for the Fellows are in half 
or three-quarter circles round the table. A member 
sitting opposite where the great toe would be in the 
shoe is directly opposite the Lecturer, Dr. Lindley, the 
Vice-Secretary; and lie who sat opposite the little toe 
faced the Chairman; then, on this trellis, in front of the 
Chairman and Lecturer, they place all the rarest things— 
the fruit and the low plants; tall plants are on other 
tables. If tall plants stood here, many could not see 
the Lecturer, or who was in chair. Now, and for the 
future, to make easy work of it, I shall begin to tell the 
plants as they stand upon this table. The first was a 
new plant from Mr. Week's, of the King’s Road, Chelsea, I 
he who grows the Victoria Water Lily out in the pond, 
it is called Apluilandra laterilia, is from Guatemala, 
does not seem to be difficult to grow, and flowers in a 
very dwarf state, which few of the Aphelandras do. 
This was a cut-down plant to within six inches of a > 
twenty-four pot; the stool made two shoots, and one of I 
them was in bloom, a few inches “ above the start.” 
The Lecturer had seen this plant a week or ten days ! 
before, when, he said, it was very much finer; laterilia 
means brick-colour, and that was about it. Apart from the ; 
novelty, this plant exhibited quite a new feature in cul- j 
tivation, at least, it did so to me; and I would ask, has 
any gardener ever seen a strong Aphelandra or Justicia, 
or even any strong plant of an Acanthad, the Natural 
Order to which they belong, that went into bloom, on 
the first move, after being cut down ? I never saw such 
a thing, and I believe it to be unnatural in the whole 
order, and that the disposition to flower so soon after 
resting was induced by other means, and if so, why not 
get many more of the long-legged Acantluids to flower 
on short stumps. I can conceive how the effect was 
produced, but it would take me out of my way too far i 
to describe it to-day. 
Epidendrum Stamfordianum, from an old friend, Mr. 
Dunsford, Chingford, Essex, was very fine, with four 
long, branched, flower-stems or panicles, studded with 
cream-colour and brown-speckled flowers. Four pots of 
the hardy (l believe) Vellum Violet, from South Pa¬ 
tagonia, which Mr. Veitcli introduced a few years back ; 
they were very nicely in bloom, and the colour is a soft, 
dark yellow, but there is no scent in the flowers; these 
were sent from the l’iue Apple Place collection. The 
Messrs. Leo, of Hammersmith, had on this table two 
small plants of Epacris miniata splendens, by far the 
best cros3 I have yet seen from miniata, deep, shining, 
