Teachers' Leaflet. 



555 



In case of doubt as to" natural 

 drainage of soil, treat the plot as 

 though it was defective in this re- 

 spect. The picture shows a boy mak- 

 ing an excavation preparatory to 

 planting bulbs in a soil with defective 

 drainage. The pit should be dug about 

 two feet in depth. In the bottom put 

 loose stones to the depth of about ten 

 inches, and on top of the coarse stone^ 

 put about four inches of gravel or 

 stone of corresponding size, and on 

 top of the gravel put two inches of 

 sand. There now remain eight inches 

 to be filled wdth soil in which the bulbs 

 are to be planted. These dimensions Over-coming defective drauuii;c. 

 are not arbitrary and mav be modified to fit conditions. The office of 

 the stone, gravel, and sand is to permit the drainage water to percolate 

 down through the open spaces. If the soil in which the bulbs are to be 

 planted should not be friable, some sand should be mixed with it. 



If the teacher is not able to recognize a tenacious soil when she sees it, 

 the pupils will no doubt be glad to make a test for her, particularly if they 

 have not passed the mud-pie period of childhood. If they succeed in 

 making marbles of the soil^ sand should be added until the particles when 

 moist lack cohesion. The pupils will think this test fun, and in it lies a 

 lesson in soils that is fundamental, and one that the logarithm teacher 

 should be glad to know. The story, "Adventures of the Soil," is as 

 interesting as a romance and is made the theme of a separate chapter. 

 Friability is an important factor in the make-up of a fertile soil. Where 

 the area is small as is the case in children's gardens it is feasible to make 

 a stifif clay friable by mixing with it sand or spading in rotted leaves, and 

 thereby avoid a lumpy soil or one that forms a hard crust after drying. 



Management of bulbs after planting. 



Fall bulbs will give fairly good results in the first spring after plant- 

 ing even though the soil is poor. They have in them a store of starch 

 prepared during previous seasons of prosperity which will carry them 

 through one spring of poverty. To have them produce blossoms in suc- 

 cessive springs without deterioration, abundant fertility is necessary and 

 the foliage should remain until ripe. 



Fall bulbs should have a winter overcoat. It should be put on when 

 the ground begins to freeze. This usually occurs about the time of 

 Thanksgiving. For that garment I much prefer coarse stable manure. 



