12 GENERAL ADVICE 



soil becomes hard and crusty, as it does after a 

 rain. Instead of pouring water on the bed, there- 

 fore, we will keep the moisture in the bed. If, 

 however, the soil becomes so dry in spite of you 

 that the plants do not thrive, then water the bed. 

 Do not sprinkle it, but water it. Wet it clear 

 through at evening. Then in the morning, when 

 the surface begins to dry, begin the raking 

 again to keep the water from getting away. 

 Sprinkling the plants every day or two is one of 

 the surest ways of spoiling them." 



PREPARING THE UNDER -SOIL. The first step in 

 the preparation of land, after it has been thor- 

 oughly cleared and subdued of forest or previous 

 vegetation, is to attend to the drainage. All land 

 which is springy, low and "sour," or which holds 

 the water in puddles for a day or two following 

 heavy rains, should be thoroughly underdrained. 

 Draining also improves the physical condition of 

 the soil, even when the land does not need ditch- 

 ing for the removal of superfluous water. In hard 

 lands, it lowers the water-table, or tends to loosen 

 and aerate the soil to a greater depth, and thereby 

 enables it to hold more water without injury to 

 plants. Drainage is particularly useful in dry but 

 hard garden lands, because these lands are often 

 in sod or permanently planted, and the soil can- 

 not be broken up by deep tillage. Tile drain- 

 age is permanent subsoiling. 



In most regions, well baked cylindrical tiles 



