The planting of slag heaps is specifically mentioned. Much practical
research into this form of gardening was carried out many years ago in the neighbourhood of Aberdare, where most flourishing groves, some containing quite large trees, came into being ; and hideous heaps of slag were changed into hills of beauty. " The conversion of tips," as someone nicknamed the movement, was a godsend to the neighbourhood. It may be said that all soils will nourish some plant or other ; and a great deal of the rubbish from mines, as in the offal from towns, is peculiarly favourable to growth when it can be once induced. Nearly all derelict industrial works can be made beautiful by a botanist if he can find workers, at next to no cost. As to dumps of town refuse, they are almost as fertile as a virgin soil, though most of them are left to the sweet mercy of chance weeds. Even so, as I have seen lately, parts of them may become a botanist's paradise.
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