A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

CL A 153 C L I
ing drain-like openings across the heap;
make one of these drain-like openings
from end to end in lengtli; these funnels
are to be built also with sods ; some dry
turf, such as is used for fuel, is to be
put into these funnels and over it, and
between the funnels well-dried sods or
any other combustible materials are to
be laid on to the depth of a couple of
feet over these sods, partially dried to
the level of the walls ; these materials
being set on tire, a powerful heat will
be produced, quite capable of burning
clay, without previously drying it. Care,
however, will be necessary to avoid
throwing it on in too great a quantity
at once, until the fire is well up, when
a large quantity may be thrown on. The
sod walls are to be raised as the heap
rises; and as soon as it is perceived by
the strength of the smoke and glow of
heat, that the mass is ignited in all its
parts, the apertures may be closed up,
and the heap left to become charred ;
should appearances indicate a likelihood
of the fire being smothered, it
will only become necessary to open one
or more of the funnels to secure its
acting. If the land on which the burned !
or charred clay is to be applied be deficient
in calcareous matter, earth containing
it, if burncti, would improve it
much. If well done, there is no im-
provcnient so cheap, and at the same '
time so valuable; if, on the other hand,j
the burning is hurried, or the fires neglected,
the consequence will be, either
the clay will be burned into lumps like
brick ends that will not fall to pieces
when e.xposed to the air, or the clay I
will not be charred or burned at all ;
therefore, the heat should always be
slow and steady, never, if possible,
burning the clay red, but black. This
is difficult to manage, depending.much
upon the wind, stopping up the aperture
upon the windward side, and opening
that on the other side. The whole
time the heaps are burning will take
from two to three months, the time depending
much on the weather ; from
sixty to one hundred yards may be
burned in a heap ; and if there be not
sufficient sod, coarse turf, bushes, &c.,
on the spot to keep up a sufficient body
of fire at the commencement, wood of
any kind, or small coal, must be used."
— Gard. Chron. \
Clay soils are the worst that can be
j
for gardens, for there is scarcely one of'
1
the crops there cultivated that is not injured
by stagnant water, which can
scarcely be prevented in clay soils at
some seasons ; and in wet weather
clayey soils cannot be worked, whereas
the gardener must be inserting or attending
to his crops every day.
CLAYTONIA. Fifteen species. Hardy
annuals or tuberous-rooted peren-
nials. Seeds. Peat soil.
CLEMATIS. Fifty species, and
many varieties, chiefly climbers. The
stove and green-house species grow
well in a light loam and peat soil, and
increase from cuttings. The hardy herbaceous
kinds, divisions. The hardy
deciduous, layers. Common soil.
CLEOME. Twenty species. Stove
or hardy annuals, biennials, or evergreen
shrubs. Cuttings or seeds. Rich
light soil.
CLEONIA lusitanica. Hardy annual.
Seeds. Common soil.
CLERODENDRUM. Forty species.
Chiefly stove evergreen shrubs. C.
volubile, a climber. Cuttings. A rich
soil of loam, rotten dung, and sandy
peat.
CLETHRA. Nine species. Hardy
deciduous or stove green-house evergreen
shrubs. Cuttings. Peat earth, or
light sandy loam. The hardy kinds increase
also by layers.
CLEYERA japonica. Green-house
evergreen shrub. Cuttings. Sandy
peat.
CLIANTHUS j)«nife«s. Half hardy
evergreen shruD. Cuttings. Loam,
peat, and sand.
CLICK-BEETLE. See Wireworm.
CLIDEMIA. Twelve species. Stove
evergreen shrubs. Cuttings. Peat and
loam.
CLIFFORTIA. Sixteen species.
Green-house evergreen shrubs. Cuttings
of the young wood. Peat and
loam.
CLIMATE controls the growth of
plants most imperatively, and in the
cultivation of his fruits, flowers, and
culinary vegetables, it forms the first
object of the gardener's inquiry. He
must first know the climate in wliich
any givien plant is native ; and secondly,
the soil which it affects, Ocfore he
can cultivate it successfully. How allinfluential
is climate appears from the
fact, that different countries have often
a totally different Flora on soils similar
in constitution. Thus, as is observed