Nov. 8th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
149 
Gypsum is a well-known white powdery substance, 
found abundantly in large deposits in numerous parts 
of the globe. It is present in many soils, particularly 
in those of a peaty nature. The gypsum of commerce 
consists of— 
Water. 
... 21 per cent. 
Lime . 
... 38 „ 
Sulphuric acid. 
. ... 46 „ 
100 
But when calcined it consists of 411 per cent, of lime 
and 581 per cent, of sulphuric acid. Deprived of its 
water at a low red heat, it forms the well-known 
“Plaster of Paris,” which, when made into a thin 
paste with water, chemically unites with it, and forms 
in a few minutes a hard substance, as in plaster casts, 
cornices in rooms, &c. Its action as a manure is two¬ 
fold : in the first place, it serves directly for the food 
of several cultivated plants, especially those belonging 
to the Leguminous family—Beans and Peas, for 
instance; and, secondly, it fixes and retains certain 
soluble substances in the soil, which are necessary 
for the growth and nutrition of plants. To the same 
property is to be ascribed its action of “ fixing 
ammonia,” when scattered over the floors of stables, 
cattle-sheds, dung-heaps, manure-tanks, &c., by 
absorbing the ammoniacal gases, and preventing 
their escajie into the air. 
The sulphuric acid contained in gypsum acts 
beneficially in decomposing and bringing into activity 
the humus and insoluble matters accumulated in 
leafy-moulds, loam, or peaty soils. Unless, however, 
the gardener has to deal with a soil which has been 
under rich cultivation for a number of years, it will 
not be advisable for him to employ much gypsum, cr 
coal ashes, for Professor Jamieson, in some experi¬ 
ments instituted for the Sussex Association for the 
Improvement of Agriculture, finds that those manures, 
which contain quantities of sulphuric acid, favour and 
encourage the disease known as “ club-foot,” a disease 
that affects and often almost ruins Turnip and Swede 
crops, also Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Rape, and other 
members of the Crucifer® family, unless there is 
plenty of decaying vegetable matter in the soil to 
counteract the evil. 
Gypsum will act beneficially only in wet, warm 
seasons, as in this case the water will not only convey 
it to the plants, but the heat will assist the assimilation 
of the sulphuric acid contained in it. It operates best 
in soils that are light, dry, and sandy, as they soonest 
admit the falling rain, which dissolves and conveys 
the manures to the roots of the plants, whereas clayey 
soils, which are stiff and impervious to the rains, 
retain the gypsum for a greater length of time. On 
land which has been exhausted by cropping, and 
which contains not much vegetable matter, it will 
prove of little or no avail, but it will do good after an 
application of farmyard dung, or after digging in a 
quantity of green-vegetable refuse. 
(To be continued.) 
HERBACEOUS BORDERS. 
Thebe is no season of the year more suitable for the 
overhauling and arranging of these than the present, 
as now that the plants have completed their growth 
and are at rest, they may with safety be dug up if 
necessary and divided. This lifting gives a fair 
chance for trenching the border, which should be 
taken advantage of, as it is impossible to grow peren¬ 
nials well unless they can send their roots far down 
where they can find food and moisture and be inde¬ 
pendent of weather. Herbaceous plants are mostly 
gross feeders and are greatly benefited by manure, 
especially when it is placed low in the earth, which 
may be done while deep digging or trenching is going 
on, as then it may be burned at the bottom, where the 
rootlets will find it when most needed to support and 
nourish the flowers. 
To arrange a border properly, it is necessary to know 
the plants well, that the strongest growers and tallest 
may be placed at the back, and suflicient space left for 
Dahlias, Gladiolus, or summer occupants of the garden 
of those and kindred subjects to be planted between 
This will give the permanent things more room and 
admit of great variety, so that something or other will 
be always coming in bloom. As soon as the arrange¬ 
ments are complete and all the plants in, it will fce 
found a good plan to give the border a top-dressing to 
burnt clay besides supplying available potash will 
be found an excellent material for improving the 
mechanical condition of wet unworkable soils, which 
is often of more consequence to the productiveness of 
a garden than the direct action of plant-food. 
Soot consists principally of fine particles of carbon 
or charcoal. It contains besides other substances, 
from 2 to 4 per cent, of sulphate of ammonia, to 
which its fertilizing properties are chiefly due, and 
being a decomposed manure, it acts like guano, only 
more weakly. It is more suitable for heavy than for 
light sandy soils. We have seen it applied with good 
tenacity and closeness to gravelly soils, opens and 
imparts freeness to still clays, and adds firmness to 
such as are of a sandy nature. Its effects are 
precisely such as usually follow the application of 
marl, and, like marl, the repetition of chalk exhausts 
the soil, if manure be not afterwards added to it in 
sufficient quantity. 
Maul maybe said to be a “lime-mud” deposited 
in low situations in the last over-flowings which have 
taken place on the surface of the earth. The kinds 
richest in lime are called “ chalk-marl ”; those 
composed of clay and lime, “clay-marl”; those 
HALVA ALCEA : FLOWEES TALE EOST-FINK. 
effect at the rate of about forty bushels per acre upon 
Onions, Turnips, Spinach, Asters, &e., and as a 
dressing for impoverished lavms. It also acts as a 
cheek to the ravages of insects. It is better applied 
in small quantities at a time, and just before or 
immediately succeeding rain. 
Chalk is a form of carbonate of lime that occurs 
very abundantly in many counties of England, and 
which from its soft earthy nature has been extensively 
applied to land since the days of Pliny. The quantity 
laid on varies with the quality of the soil, and of the 
chalk itself, and with the more or less perfect 
crumbling it undergoes during the season of winter, 
and with the purpose it is intended to serve. It gives 
consisting of loam and lime, “ loam-marl ”; and 
those of sand and lime, “ sandy-marl.” 
Clayey and stoney marls are well suited to light 
sandy soils, which they improve and render more 
solid. On the contrary, sandy marl is good for stiff 
soils, causing them to be pliable and easy to work. 
Some rich marls consist in part or in whole of 
broken and comminuted shells; these are highly 
fertilizing upon soils of every description. Marls 
operate in the soil in a similar manner to lime, but 
while their effects are not so quick as those of lime, 
they are more lasting, and are acknowledged as capital 
promoters of vegetable growth, especially of Roses and 
fruit-trees of all descriptions. 
