THE FLATS 



119 



loam from the garden, one part of leaf mold from the woods, 

 and to every bushel a quart of sand. If the loam was light, 

 omit the sand. This will give us a light, not dark-colored 

 earth, which will not hold too much water, and which will 

 warm quickly under the sun. The finer vegetable seeds 

 will do well in this, also ; but lettuce and all seeds of the 

 squash family (cucumber, melon, marrows) will be glad of 

 an extra part of fine manure. And now, when we find that 

 our newly mixed soil 

 is, when damp, 

 neither soggy nor 

 sticky, but that it 

 can be quickly 

 rubbed apart by the 

 finger, we have the 

 sort of earth that we 

 need. 



If in mixing the 

 soil we find that the 

 whole, when mixed, 

 or any part before 

 mixing, is lumpy or 

 coarse, we should put 

 it through a sieve, using only that which can be easily rubbed 

 through with the finger. For damp soil the sieve may be 

 fairly coarse, from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in mesh. 

 Use an ash sieve or a fry-basket. Or make your sieve, as 

 shown in the illustration. A flour sieve is much too fine. 

 Do not throw away the siftings ; they may be used for 

 the drainage of our flats. 



The filling and watering of the flats is the next step. 

 Take the flats, already provided with their drainage material, 

 and with spoon or trowel fill them with earth, smoothing it 



FIG. 65. Sieves, for sifting earth, made of 

 screening tacked over boxes. 



