August 29.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
“ soured,”—their particles become forced closer together, 
whereby the qualifying and wholesome air contained in 
their interstices is forced out, and the air cavities, ot. 
course, compressed. This occurs through the tread of 
the foot of either man or horse, and is also continually 
taking place through the action of the spade or other 
implement employed in digging and collecting it. 
Soils thus circumstanced are with difficulty pulverized 
a<miu; indeed, if buried forthwith below the ground 
level, they will long retain these awkward properties; 
and if preserved in the compost yard, . many months 
pass away, and some handling is requisite, in oidei to 
get them in a wholesome condition again. They are 
fuller of the invigorating and mellowing agencies ot the 
atmosphere in the end ot summer; tor it is well known 
how pent-up and stagnant moisture becomes evaporated 
by the heat of summer, the place of which must of 
necessity he filled with air. 
Strong soils, moreover, contract much by drying, and 
this, as is well known, causes them to rift in all 
directions; which mechanical action is ot the utmost 
benefit to the soil, as ultimately promoting easy pul¬ 
verising. We need scarcely add, that the latter process 
is absolutely essential to fertility. 
Now, a winter’s fallow, or exposure to the alternations 
of frost and thaw, will produce the same mechanical 
effects; hut then the soil becomes filled again with 
moisture. Thus it will he readily seen why the end ot 
summer is decidedly the most eligible time to collect 
soils. Another point recommends this course: the 
turfy material at this period contains a greater amount 
of organic matter than at any other period. Gross 
herbage will be found to prevail, and a vast accumulation 
of organic remains of the previous spring s growth; 
and we need scarcely say, that all good cultivators esteem 
their soils in proportion to the amount of organic matter 
they contain. 
We would have all young gardeners pay the utmost 
attention to these points. Much, very much is to be 
learned from the study of this apparently simple affair. 
Of course the remarks here made apply principally to 
what are termed loams,—that indefinite class ot soils 
fully understood by the practical man, the squeeze of 
whose thumb and finger will determine with tolerable 
accuracy the character of such soils. 
We have given in a hack number of The Cottage 
Gardener, a definition of what constitutes the gardener s 
loam; hut we fear it will he almost as difficult to convey 
a truly satisfactory idea to the mind ot a person ill 
informed in gardening matters, as it would to a young 
amateur grazier as to what constitutes handling, feel 
and touch” to the old veteran grazier. 
The aspirants for horticultural fame, however, ot the 
rising generation, may fairly exult in their position in 
this respect, as compared with some other classes of 
society; for by means of such periodicals as The 
Cottage Gardener, they have these abstruse, techni¬ 
calities, conventionalities, &c., &c., made realities, and 
brought fairly home to them. 
Now, it must not be supposed that in speaking ot 
composts, soils, &c., that we would wish our readers to 
infer that we are continually harping about loam. It 
must be confessed that loam—good loam—is the.very 
elixir of the compost yard; still, as we are not advising 
. the year round about strawberry potting, melon culture, 
and the like, we must cast our eyes over the wants ot 
the cottager and the amateur, and see what advice can 
be given them in the improvement of the staple in their 
respective plots, more especially as concerns fruit-tree 
culture. , , 
Various, then, are the materials that may be collected 
for such purposes, varying, too, with districts. Besides, 
the question is not always what ought to be had, but 
what can be had; and it so happens that many self- 
taught amateurs, possessed of much horticultural 
acumen, will turn materials to account which the gar¬ 
dener of my Lord Duke would utterly despise. Ama¬ 
teurs, cottagers, &c., as well as folks already possessed 
of good gardens, frequently have to enclose and reclaim 
plots of ground where nothing of a loamy character 
exists. Sometimes the new plot is gravelly, sometimes 
very sandy, and ofttimes of a peaty, boggy, or moor 
soil character. It not unfrequently happens, also, that 
the plot is in a town or in the suburbs, where, it may 
be, brick rubbish and the most ordinary soil lie side 
by side in pell-mell confusion. 
In anticipating improvements in such soils or sites, 
the first thing, of course, is valorously to determine on 
thorough drainage, if necessary. This we will take for 
granted. Next, to consider the general character of the 
plot, and if great inequalities exist in point of texture, 
to determine on making the clay help the sand and 
gravel, or vice-versa, as the case may be. These tilings 
concluded and plans of culture laid down, it will be 
readily ascertained how much and what character of 
improvable material is requisite to carry out tlie plan. 
Such, then, forms a legitimate course of procedure for 
the end of summer, provided the chance offers; and an 
active and thinking person will set about getting toge¬ 
ther materials according to the demand. 
We need hardly remind townsfolk or suburbans of 
the facility that exists in general for getting together 
such imperishable materials as brick-rubbish, old plaster, 
charred material, &c., &c., by which to open the staple 
of soils, hitherto too retentive of moisture. On the 
other hand, the refuse of the carpenter’s bench or work¬ 
shop may be sought, for such things as shavings, saw¬ 
dust, &c., all of which are available as vegetable or 
organic matter, to add to the embryo dung-heap. 
The turfy material from ordinary commons or wastes 
is not to be despised because it is easily procurable. It 
is astonishing what an amount of nutritive qualities is 
contained in the surface skimmings oi such places, 
albeit the staple of the soil beneath is below considera¬ 
tion. Here will be found an accumulation of vegetable 
matter, the work, it may be, of ages; and here by con¬ 
sequence, a vast amount of that pabulum, 01 those 
nutritive qualities which all organic matter in its pro¬ 
gressive decay furnishes in a steady way to the genera¬ 
tion of vegetables or trees by which it is superseded. 
We have now been speaking of organic matter 
chiefly; for, indeed, many sterile plots need much in 
this way. We have many a time seen fresh garden 
enclosures, or reclaimed waste lands, in which a 
thorough drainage and a liberal addition of such mat¬ 
ters, would at once set the plot a going.. . 
Speaking of the obtaining of materials for improve- 
ments, we may here advert to the one of cliut) eel matter, 
and in so doing must beg to recommend those who wish 
to avail themselves of such a useiul and profitable 
article, to direct their attention at once to its accumula¬ 
tion. No better time can be taken for the purpose 
Nature, ever bountiful in her vegetable productions 
has, by the month of September, covered every common 
and wild, every lane and roadside, and even the most 
barren moor with coarse herbage, adapted to work up 
in this way. Moreover, the garden itself, with its ap¬ 
purtenances of hedge clippings and other coarse mate¬ 
rial, yields at this period an unusual amount ot stuff 
capable of being made into a most useful component of 
a renewing compost. . . . , 
Let us, then, advise strongly that tins principle be 
attended to, and at this season; and that all weeds and 
rubbish be collected to one common spot, both to pro¬ 
mote order and decency and to augment tlie compost 
heap, against the days of alterations and improvement. 
We must again revert to the subject of loamy mate¬ 
rials. Loams are used in general to give stability and 
