BACK-YARD GARDENS 



application of an old axe was required to re- 

 duce it to the consistency of stove-coal. " If 

 doesn't look as if roots could make much head- 

 way in it, does it?" I said to the boys. "But 

 we haven't done w r ith it yet. Just wait." 



We left it exposed to the action of air and 

 sun. Water was poured over it frequently, 

 and the boys were instructed to " keep working 

 at it" by odd spells. And they did so faith- 

 fully, with axe and hoe, until at last it began 

 to look something like soil. 



Then I sent the boys out with baskets, and 

 the keeper of a livery-stable near by gave them 

 the sweepings of the stalls, on condition that 

 they gathered them for themselves and made 

 the stalls clean. This they were glad to do, as 

 I had told them how necessary it was that the 

 soil of the back yard should have some fertiliz- 

 ing element added to it if we expected to grow 

 good plants in it. These sweepings were not 

 ideal fertilizer, by any means, but they were a 

 great deal better than nothing, and we mixed 

 them well with the coarse earth, thus furnishing 

 it with nutriment for the plants we would 

 attempt to grow, and making it lighter and 

 mellower. It was far from being an ideal soil 

 when we were ready for planting our seeds, but 



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