April 1J. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
10 
There will be, at Farningham, in Kent, near the 
Dartford Station, on 15th, 16th, and 17th of June, an 
Exhibition instituted by the West Kent Domestic Poultry 
Association. 
“ The great object <*f the Society in fixing the Exhibition 
in the middle of June being to encourage breeders in their 
endeavours to increase the natural fecundity and precosity 
of Poultry, so as to produce the most valuable descriptions 
for table, either by crossing various breeds or preserving 
their original purity, a grand prize of A Gold Medal will 
be given for the best brood of six or more chickens of any 
breed, properly described, hatched since Christmas, 1852.” 
This is a good step in the right direction. 
Several Essays upon the longevity of the three kinds 
of individuals of the Hive-Bee having been sent in for 
competition for the prize of five guineas offered by the 
Entomological Society last year, they were referred to a 
committee, who unanimously considered the Essay written 
by Mr. Desborougb, of Stamford, as most worthy of the 
prize, to whom it was accordingly awarded. The Essay 
is now being printed for the Society’s Transactions, but 
we understand that a limited number of copies will be 
printed for separate publication. The Essay contains 
much interesting matter of some novel facts in this 
curious branch of Apiarian science. The Society have 
again offered a prize of five guineas for the best general 
Essay on the species of Cocculce, or Scale Insects, in¬ 
festing fruit trees in this country, with an especial 
Memoir on the Muscle Scale of the apple tree. The 
Essays are to be sent to the Society on or before the 31st 
December next, with a sealed letter containing the name 
of the writer, endorsed with a motto corresponding with 
one on the Memoir itself. 
PLANTING AN ORCHARD OR FRUIT GARDEN. 
( Continued from fage 498.) 
Having disposed of the preliminaries of drainage, 
enclosures, water, walks, &c., we come now to a con¬ 
sideration of the staple of the soil , the correction of 
which, if requisite, was so strongly urged previously. 
Now, the correction or improvement of tire staple is a 
thing that few care about carrying out, involving, as it 
does, a little extra labour at the onset. But, if a ne¬ 
cessary procedure, how much better to do it at first 
than to postpone it; how much more economical to do 
it in the lump than in the piecemeal way. 
It may here be explained where such a process becomes 
necessary.' Some soils are so exceedingly adhesive, that 
they are worked with extreme difficulty: here the clayey 
principle predominates. These soils are very well 
adapted for fruit-culture, provided the subsoil is tole¬ 
rably dry; when wet, they are only correctable at con¬ 
siderable expense, and with much uncertainty. To be 
sure, the fruit-trees may be planted on formed stations, 
I improved specially for the kind of tree, and elevated, 
! if considered necessary, much above the ordinary level. 
But, for vegetable culture, they are very inconvenient, 
even after ordinary drainage; and unless the latter 
operation be thorough, and the surface-soil duly im¬ 
proved,—which we have here termed “ correction of the 
staple,”—vegetable culture is seldom satisfactory. Po¬ 
tatoes will be moist and insipid; the cabbages blue 
instead of green; choice salads will rot, and crops in 
general suffer much from the devastations of slugs and 
snails. Moreover, all operations as to culture, &c., are 
infinitely more difficult in execution, and more uncer¬ 
tain in their effects. Ground dug a little beforehand 
for crops may require digging again, and the operations 
of the hoe may he rendered nugatory by a dashing 
shower. 
Very light or sandy soils are, of course, the opposite 
extreme; here, instead of the food of plants being, as 
in the case of clays, in a state of comparative fixation, 
that food is constantly tending to dissipation. The 
adhesive principle is wanting, which is better imparted 
by matters containing the clayey principle than by any 
others. The faults of the latter, with regard to fruit- 
culture, are easily overcome by the introduction of 
sound loams into the stations. Vegetables, on such 
soils, are enormous wasters of manure ; indeed, the soil 
itself is a waster through this want of fixity; and sandy 
soils may be said to require double the amount of 
manures in comparison with loams: in the extreme, 
they are practically termed hungry soils. On sandy 
soils unimproved, fruit is apt to become arrested in its 
growth in the middle of summer; and, indeed, if a 
severe drought occur, and continue, it is by no means 
unusual for a considerable portion of the fruit to be 
“cast.” This arises from the limited supply of nourish¬ 
ment afforded during droughts; an amount not by any 
means equal to the demand. The young shoots, too, 
are apt to suffer through insects or leanness exercising 
a very baneful influence on the produce of succeeding 
years. 
As to the effect of weak sandy soils on vegetable cul¬ 
ture, they are, perhaps, better known than the effects 
from clayey soils. Observe the difference between a 
succulent Cabbage and a thin leaved one. Other 
vegetables, and especially salads, suffer immensely in 
weak soils; they become lean and leathery in severe 
droughts, and this is no recommendation to the salad 
bowl, especially as to Lettuce and Celery. It is of no 
use talking about extra manuring, when a deficiency of 
moisture exists both in the air and the soil, and a sum¬ 
mer temperature prevails: all the manure imaginable 
cannot remedy the evil. 
I may touch lightly on other soils, as the two dwelt 
upon constitute, with occasional modifications, the ma¬ 
jority of garden soils. Peaty soils may be just adverted 
to : these are not often selected for fruit and vegetable 
gardens, but in order to make The Cottage Gardener 
meet almost every case, it becomes us to look thoroughly 
into each subject within our sphere of action. 
Peat or boggy soils, in an unimproved state, are too 
puffy, if I may apply such term for high culture; and 
this elasticity is the result of the raw character of the 
organic matter of which they are chiefly composed. 
They, in consequence of their peculiar texture, neither 
receive air, nor part with water, in that degree which 
an active vegetation requires. Plants or trees receive 
much of their nutriment through the medium of de¬ 
composing organic matter in the soil; but those boggy 
or peaty soils are antiseptic in their unimproved state. 
It is obvious, therefore, that to be fertile, their character 
must be changed. Trees and vegetables, on this class 
of soil, if unimproved, always carry a sickly appear¬ 
ance ; even our corn fields, where such land prevails, 
may be distinguished at great distances. Instead of the 
deep green of grain crops on healthy loams, we have a 
delicate yellowish green, with weak straw. 
As nearly all other soils are some modification of the 
preceding, I will now proceed to show how, after thorough 
draining, if necessary, such soils may be readily im¬ 
proved in texture, preparatory to the establishment of a 
fruit and vegetable garden. To begin— Adhesive Soils, 
or those in which the texture is too stubborn, may be 
ameliorated by any or all of the following matters:— 
Sand, road-scrapings from gravelly districts, ashes of any 
kind, the rubbish from old buildings, the shovellings 
of the bank where brick-making is carried on, &c. These 
