PREPARING THE SOIL 249 



thing of the same sort. All weeds, pea-pods, stems, and dead 

 plants should be cast here. Prevent anything from sprout- 

 ing on the heap, unless of your own accord you plant on or 

 near it squashes or vines to cover it and make it sightly. 

 If you do this, or .if you keep the heap neatly squared and 

 flattened, there is no reason why you should not have it in 

 full sight. And then, whenever you are in need, you can go 

 to the compost heap as to a bank, and draw out good soil 

 for your garden. 



While'you are beginning this pile, you should decide whether 

 the grass on the garden ought to be cut also, and stacked 

 there/ Short grass, or small weeds, may readily be dug into 

 the ground. But if they are very long, then they had best 

 go to the pile. 



Next comes the question, must the soil be drained ? If, 

 on digging in the early spring or soon after a rain, you find 

 that water stands in a hole eighteen inches deep, and will 

 only slowly drain away, then probably you have a hardpan 

 or clay subsoil, and the land ought to be drained. Or if you 

 go out after a heavy rain, and find that over the whole garden, 

 or on parts of it, the water stands in puddles for some hours, 

 then pretty surely the garden needs draining. 



This, to be properly done, is a work for men. The work is 

 heavy. But if the garden is not very large, and your courage 

 is good, you can do something at it yourself. In the back of 

 the book I put an explanation of how this is done. 



But perhaps you wonder why we drain the land. If drains 

 lead the water away, how are the plants to live, especially in 

 time of drought ? Well, we shall be doing to the garden only 

 what we did to the potted plant, in leaving a hole in the bot- 

 tom of the pot. The drains can never lead all the water 

 away, since the soil holds much by capillary action. Drains 

 merely take away the water that stands too high in the soil. 



