_Soils and Composts._--The principal soils used in gardens, either
alone, or mixed to form what are called composts, are--loam, sand, peat,
leaf-mould and various mixtures and combinations of these made up to
suit the different subjects under cultivation.
_Loam_ is the staple soil for the gardener; it is not only used
extensively in the pure and simple state, but enters into most of the
composts prepared specially for his plants. For garden purposes loam
should be rather unctuous or soapy to the touch when moderately dry, not
too clinging nor adhesive, and should readily crumble when a compressed
handful is thrown on the ground. If it clings together closely it is too
heavy and requires amelioration by the admixture of gritty material; if
it has little or no cohesion when squeezed tightly in the hand, it is
too light, and needs to be improved by the addition of heavier or clayey
material. Sound friable loam cut one sod deep from the surface of a
pasture, and stacked up for twelve months in a heap or ridge, is
invaluable to the gardener. When employed for making vine borders, loam
of a somewhat heavier nature can be used with advantage, on account of
the porous materials which should accompany it. For stone fruits a
calcareous loam is best; indeed, for these subjects a rich calcareous
loam used in a pure and simple state cannot be surpassed. Somewhat heavy
loams are best for potting pine apples, for melons and strawberries,
fruit trees in pots, &c., and may be used with the addition of manures
only; but for ornamental plants a loam of a somewhat freer texture is
preferable and more pleasant to work. Loam which contains much red
matter (iron) should be avoided.
_Sand_ is by itself of little value except for striking cuttings, for
which purpose fine clean sharp silver sand is the best; and a somewhat
coarser kind, if it is gritty, is to be preferred to the comminuted
sands which contain a large proportion of earthy matter. River sand and
the sharp grit washed up sometimes by the road side are excellent
materials for laying around choice bulbs at planting time to prevent
contact with earth which is perhaps manure-tainted. Sea sand may be
advantageously used both for propagating purposes and for mixing in
composts. For the growth of pot plants sand is an essential part of most
composts, in order to give them the needful porosity to carry off all
excess of moisture from the roots. If the finer earthy sands only are
obtainable, they must be rendered sharper by washing away the earthy
particles. Washed sand is best for all plants like heaths, which need a
pure and lasting peaty compost.
_Peat_ soil is largely employed for the culture of such plants as
rhododendrons, azaleas, heaths, &c. In districts where heather and
gritty soil predominate, the peat soil is poor and unprofitable, but
selections from both the heathy and the richer peat soils, collected
with judgment, and stored in a dry part of the compost yard, are
essential ingredients in the cultivation of many choice pot plants, such
as the Cape heaths and many of the Australian plants. Many
monocotyledons do well in peat, even if they do not absolutely require
it.
_Leaf-mould_ is eminently suited for the growth of many free-growing
plants, especially when it has been mixed with stable manure and has
been subjected to fermentation for the formation of hot beds. It any
state most plants feed greedily upon it, and when pure or free from
decaying wood or sticks it is a very safe ingredient in composts; but it
is so liable to generate fungus, and the mycelium or spawn of certain
fungi is so injurious to the roots of trees, attacking them if at all
sickly or weakened by drought, that many cultivators prefer not to mix
leaf-mould with the soil used for permanent plants, as peaches or choice
ornamental trees. For quick growing plants, however, as for example most
annuals cultivated in pots, such as balsams, cockscombs, globe-amaranths
and the like, for cucumbers, and for young soft-wooded plants generally,
it is exceedingly useful, both by preventing the consolidation of the
soil and as a manure. The accumulations of light earth formed on the
surface in woods where the leaves fall and decay annually are leaf-mould
of the finest quality. Leaves collected in the autumn and stored in pits
or heaps, and covered with a layer of soil, make beautiful leaf-mould at
the end of about twelve months, if frequently drenched with water or
rain during this period.
_Composts_ are mixtures of the foregoing ingredients in varying
proportions, and in combination with manures if necessary, so as to suit
particular plants or classes of plants. The chief point to be borne in
mind in making these mixtures is not to combine in the same compost any
bodies that are antagonistic in their nature, as for example lime and
ammonia. In making up composts for pot plants, the fibrous portion
should not be removed by sifting, except for small-sized pots, but the
turfy portions should be broken up by hand and distributed in smaller or
larger lumps throughout the mass. When sifting is had recourse to, the
fibrous matter should be rubbed through the meshes of the sieve along
with the earthy particles. Before being used the turfy ingredients of
composts should lie together in a heap only long enough for the roots of
the herbage to die, not to decompose.
_Manures_ (see MANURE).--These are of two classes, organic and
inorganic--the former being of animal and vegetable, the latter of
mineral origin. The following are organic manures:
_Farm-yard manure_ consists of the mixed dung of horses and cattle
thrown together, and more or less soaked with liquid drainings of the
stable or byre. It is no doubt the finest stimulant for the growth of
plants, and that most adapted to restore the fertile elements which
the plants have abstracted from exhausted soils. This manure is best
fitted for garden use when in a moderately fermented state.
_Horse dung_ is generally the principal ingredient in all hot bed
manure; and, in its partially decomposed state, as afforded by
exhausted hot beds, it is well adapted for garden use. It is most
beneficial on cold stiff soils. It should not be allowed to lie too
long unmoved when fresh, as it will then heat violently, and the
ammonia is thus driven off. To avoid this, it should be turned over
two or three times if practicable, and well moistened--preferably with
farm-yard drainings.
_Cow dung_ is less fertilizing than horse dung, but being slower in
its action it is more durable; it is also cooler, and therefore better
for hot dry sandy soils. Thoroughly decayed, it is one of the best of
all manures for mixing in composts for florists' flowers and other
choice plants.
_Pig dung_ is very powerful, containing more nitrogen than horse dung;
it is therefore desirable that it should undergo moderate
fermentation, which will be secured by mixing it with litter and a
portion of earth. When weeds are thrown to the pigs, this fermentation
becomes specially desirable to kill their seeds.
_Night-soil_ is an excellent manure for all bulky crops, but requires
to be mixed with earth or peat, or coal-ashes, so as both to deodorize
it and to ensure its being equally distributed. Quicklime should not
be used, as it dispels the greater part of the ammonia. When prepared
by drying and mixing with various substances, night-soil is sold as
desiccated night-soil or native guano, the value of which depends upon
the materials used for admixture.
_Malt-dust_ is an active manure frequently used as a top-dressing,
especially for fruit trees in pots. It is rapid in its action, but its
effects are not very permanent. _Rape dust_ is somewhat similar in its
character and action.
_Bones_ are employed as a manure with decided advantage both to
vegetable crops and to fruit trees, as well as to flowers. For turnips
bone manure is invaluable. The effects of bones are no doubt mainly
due to the phosphates they contain, and they are most effectual on dry
soils. They are most quickly available when dissolved in sulphuric
acid.
_Guano_ is a valuable manure now much employed, and may be applied to
almost every kind of crop with decided advantage. It should be mixed
with six or eight times its weight of loam or ashes, charred peat,
charcoal-dust or some earthy matter, before it is applied to the soil,
as from its causticity it is otherwise not unlikely to kill or injure
the plants to which it is administered. Peruvian guano is obtained
from the excreta of South American sea-birds, and fish guano from the
waste of fish. Both are remarkable for the quantity of nitrates and
phosphates they contain.
_Pigeon dung_ approaches guano in its power as manure. It should be
laid up in ridges of good loamy soil in alternate layers to form a
compost, which becomes a valuable stimulant for any very choice
subjects if cautiously used. The dung of the domestic fowl is very
similar in character.
_Horn_, _hoof-parings_, _woollen rags_, _fish_, _blubber_ and _blood_,
after treatment with sulphuric acid, are all good manures, and should
be utilized if readily obtainable.
_Liquid manure_, consisting of the drainings of dung-heaps, stables,
cowsheds, &c., or of urine collected from dwelling houses or other
sources, is a most valuable and powerful stimulant, and can be readily
applied to the roots of growing plants. The urine should be allowed to
putrefy, as in its decomposition a large amount of ammonia is formed,
which should then be fixed by sulphuric acid or gypsum; or it may be
applied to the growing crops after being freely diluted with water or
absorbed in a compost heap. Liquid manures can be readily made from
most of the solid manures when required, simply by admixture with
water. When thus artificially compounded, unless for immediate use,
they should be made strong for convenience of storage, and applied as
required much diluted.
The following are inorganic manures:
_Ammonia_ is the most powerful and one of the most important of the
constituents of manures generally, since it is the chief source whence
plants derive their nitrogen. It is largely supplied in all the most
fertilizing of organic manures, but when required in the inorganic
state must be obtained from some of the salts of ammonia, as the
sulphate, the muriate or the phosphate, all of which, being extremely
energetic, require to be used with great caution. These salts of
ammonia may be used at the rate of from 2 to 3 cwt. per acre as a
top-dressing in moist weather. When dissolved in water they form
active liquid manures. The most commonly used nitrogenous manures are
nitrate of soda, nitrate of potash and sulphate of ammonia, the prices
of which are constantly fluctuating.
_Potash_ and _soda_ are also valuable inorganic manures in the form of
carbonates, sulphates, silicates and phosphates, but the most valuable
is the nitrate of potash. The price, however, is generally so high
that its use is practically nil, except in small doses as a liquid
manure for choice pot plants. Cheaper substitutes, however, are now
found in sulphate of potash, and muriate of potash and kainit. The two
last-named must not be applied direct to growing crops, but to the
soil some weeks in advance of sowing or cropping. The manures of this
class are of course of value only in cases where the soil is naturally
deficient in them. On this account the salts of soda are of less
importance than those of potash. The value of wood ashes as a manure
very much depends upon the carbonate and other salts of potash which
they contain.
_Phosphoric acid_, in the form of phosphates, is a most valuable plant
food, and is absorbed by most plants in fairly large quantities from
the soil. It induces the earlier production of flowers and fruits. In
a natural state it is obtained from bones, guano and wood ashes; and
in an artificial condition from basic slag or Thomas's phosphate,
coprolites and superphosphate of lime.
_Lime_ in the caustic state is beneficially applied to soils which
contain an excess of inert vegetable matter, and hence may be used for
the improvement of old garden soils saturated with humus, or of peaty
soils not thoroughly reclaimed. It does not supply the place of
organic manures, but only renders that which is present available for
the nourishment of the plants. It also improves the texture of clay
soils.
_Gypsum_, or sulphate of lime, applied as a top-dressing at the rate
of 2 to 3 cwt. per acre, has been found to yield good results,
especially on light soils. It is also employed in the case of liquid
manures to fix the ammonia.
_Gas lime_, after it has been exposed to the air for a few months is
an excellent manure on heavy soils. In a fresh state it is poisonous
and fatal to vegetation, and is often used for this reason to dress
land infested with wireworms, grubs, club-root fungus, &c.
_Burnt clay_ has a very beneficial effect on clay land by improving
its texture and rendering soluble the alkaline substances it contains.
The clay should be only slightly burnt, so as to make it crumble down
readily; in fact, the fire should not be allowed to break through, but
should be constantly repressed by the addition of material. The
burning should be effected when the soil is dry.
_Vegetable refuse_ of all kinds, when smother-burned in a similar way,
becomes a valuable mechanical improver of the soil; but the preferable
course is to decompose it in a heap with quicklime and layers of
earth, converting it into leaf-mould. Potato haulms, and club-rooted
cabbage crops should, however, never be mixed with ordinary clean
vegetable refuse, as they would be most likely to perpetuate the
terrible diseases to which they are subject. The refuse of such plants
should be burned as early as possible. The ash may be used as manure.
_Soot_ forms a good top-dressing; it consists principally of charcoal,
but contains ammonia and a smaller proportion of phosphates and
potash, whence its value as a manure is derived. It should be kept dry
until required for use. It may also be used beneficially in preventing
the attacks of insects, such as the onion gnat and turnip fly, by
dusting the plants or dressing the ground with it.
_Common salt_ acts as a manure when used in moderate quantities, but
in strong doses is injurious to vegetation. It suits many of the
esculent crops, as onions, beans, cabbages, carrots, beet-root,
asparagus, &c.; the quantity applied varies from 5 to 10 bushels per
acre. It is used as a top-dressing sown by the hand. Hyacinths and
other bulbs derive benefit from slight doses, while to asparagus as
much as 20 lb. to the rood has been used with beneficial effect. At
the rate of from 6 to 10 bushels to the acre it may be used on garden
lawns to prevent worm casts. For the destruction of weeds on gravel
walks or in paved yards a strong dose of salt, applied either dry or
in a very strong solution, is found very effective, especially a hot
solution, but after a time much of it becomes washed down, and the
residue acts as a manure; its continued application is undesirable, as
gravel so treated becomes pasty.
_Garden Tools, &c._--Most of these are so well known that we shall not
discuss them here. They are, moreover, illustrated and described in the
catalogues of most nurserymen and dealers in horticultural sundries.
_Tallies or Labels._--The importance of properly labelling plants can
hardly be over-estimated. For ordinary purposes labels of wood of
various sizes (sold in bundles) are the most convenient. These should be
wiped with a little white paint or linseed oil, and written with a soft
lead pencil before the surface becomes dry. Copying-ink pencils should
not be used, as water will wash away the writing. For permanent plants,
as trees, roses, &c., metallic labels with raised type are procurable
from dealers, and are neat, durable and convenient. Permanent labels may
also be made from sheet lead, the names being punched in by means of
steel type. For stove and greenhouse plants, orchids, ferns, &c., labels
made of xylonite, zinc and other materials are also used.