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Horticulture (To choose the best Soil)
To choose the best Soil for a Garden.
Prefer a sandy loam, not less than two feet deep, and good earth not of a binding nature in summer, nor retentive of rain in winter; but of such a texture that it can be worked without difficulty in any season of the year. There are few sorts of fruit-trees or esculent vegetables, which require less depth of earth to grow in than two feet to bring them to perfection, and if the earth of the kitchen-garden be three or more feet deep, so much the better; for when the plants are in a state of maturity, if the roots even of peas, spinach, kidney beans, lettuce, etc., be minutely traced, they will be found to penetrate into the earth, in search of food, to the depth of two feet, provided the soil be of a nature that allows them; if it can be done, a garden should be made on land whose bottom is not of a springy wet nature. If this rule can be observed, draining will be unnecessary, for when land is well prepared for the growth of fruit trees and esculent vegetables, by trenching, manuring, and digging, it is by these means brought into such a porous temperament, that the rains pass through it without being detained longer than necessary. If the land of a garden be of too strong a nature, it should be well mixed with sand, or scrapings of roads, where stones have been ground to pieces by carriages.
To make Gravel Walks.
The bottom should be laid with lime-rubbish, large flint stones, or any other hard matter, for eight or ten inches, to keep weeds from growing through, and over this the gravel is to be laid six or eight inches thick. This should be lain rounding up in the middle, by which means the larger stones will run off to the sides, and may be raked away; for the gravel should never be screened before it is laid on. It is a common mistake to lay these walks too round, which not only makes them uneasy to walk upon, but takes off from their apparent breadth. One inch in five feet is a sufficient proportion for the rise in the middle; so that a walk twenty feet wide should be four inches higher at the middle than at the edges, and so in proportion. As soon as the gravel is laid, it should be raked, and the large stones thrown back again; then the whole should be rolled both lengthwise and crosswise; and the person who draws the roller should wear shoes with flat heels that he may make no holes, because holes made in a new walk are not easily remedied. The walks should always be rolled three or four times after very hard showers, from which they will bind more firmly than otherwise they could ever be made to.
To prepare Hot-beds, Manures, and Composts.
Stable-dung is in the most general use for forming hot-beds, which are masses of this dung after it has undergone its violent fermentation.
Bark is only preferable to dung because the substance which undergoes the process of putrid fermentation requires longer time to decay. Hence it is found useful in the bark pits of hot-houses, as requiring to be less often moved or renewed than dung or any other substance.
Leaves, and especially oak leaves, come the nearest to bark, and have the additional advantage that when perfectly rotten like dung they form a rich mould or excellent manure.
The object of preparation in these three substances being to get rid of the violent heat which is produced when the fermentation is most powerful, it is obvious that preparation must consist in facilitating the process. For this purpose a certain degree of moisture and air in the fermenting bodies are requisite, and hence the business of the gardener is to turn them over frequently and apply water when the process appears impeded, and exclude rain when chilled with too much water.
Recent stable-dung generally requires to lie a month in ridges or beds, and be turned over in that time thrice before it is fit for cucumber-beds of the common construction; but for McPhail's hot-beds, or for linings, or for frames with movable bottoms, three weeks, a fortnight, or less, will suffice, or no time at all need be given, but the dung formed at once into linings. Tan and leaves require in general a month. Fermentation is always most rapid in summer, and if the materials are spread abroad during the frost, it is totally impeded. In winter the process of prepation generally goes on under the back sheds, which situation is also the best in summer, as full exposure to the sun and wind dries too much the exterior surface; but where sheds cannot be had, it will go on very well in the open air. Some cultivators have devised plans to economize heat by fermenting dung in vineries which are just beginning to be forced, or in vaults under pine pits, or plant stoves.
To form Dung Beds.
In general such beds are formed on a level surface, but Mr. T. A. Knight's plan is to form a surface of earth as a basis, which shall incline to the horizon to the extent of 15°; on this he forms the dung-bed to the same inclination, and finally the frame, when placed on such a bed, if as is usual, it be deepest behind, will present its glass at an angle of 20°, instead of six or eight, which is undoubtedly of great advantage in the winter season.
Ashes are often mixed with the dung of hotbeds, and are supposed to promote the steadiness and duration of their heat, and at least to revive it if somewhat decayed. Tan leaves have also been used for the same purpose, and it is generally found that about one-third of tan and two-thirds of dung will form a more durable and less violent heat than a bed wholly of dung. The heat of dung-heds is revived by linings or collateral and surrounding walls or banks of fresh dung, the old dung of the bed being previously cut down close to the frames, and in severe weather the sides of the beds are often protected by bundles of straw or faggots.
The residuum of heats, properly reduced by keeping, is a good simple manure for most fruit trees, and excellent in a compost; but where the soil is naturally cold a little ashes of coals, wood, straw, or burnt turf, or a minute proportion of soot, ought to be incorporated with it. Hog-dung has a peculiar virtue in invigorating weak trees Rotten turf, or any vegetable refuse, is a general manure, excellent for all soils not already too rich. One of the best correctives of too rich a soil is drift sand. For an exhausted soil, where a fruittree that has been an old, profitable occupant is wished to be continued, a dressing of animal matter is a powerful restorative, such as hogs' or bul-