PREPARING THE SOIL 257 



leaves, and not sawdust, which is slow to rot and makes 

 the garden sour ; and, finally, the manure should be as well 

 rotted as you can get. Well-rotted manure shows itself not 

 at all as a mixture of bedding and manure, but as a dark, 

 finely shredded substance, pretty light in weight. The 

 nearer it is to this, and the less it looks like fresh manure, 

 the better it is. You see it must not have been allowed to 

 "burn" (in this case its color is light) ; it must have been kept 

 moist, and it must have been Burned and mixed many times 

 before it- is in the best condition for the garden. 



For a sour soil we provide lime, putting it on after the 

 garden has been spaded. This not only makes the soil sweet, 

 but also makes clay more open in texture, and sandy loam 

 more close. It comes in many forms, of which the commonest 

 is quicklime, or stone lime, which should be laid out on the 

 soil in little heaps, and allowed to slake. When it has all 

 fallen away into powder, spread it over the whole garden. 

 The amount should be at the rate of at least a pound for every 

 five square yards. Or buy the lime already air-slaked, 

 and use twice as much. On heavy soil use more. These 

 are the best and surest forms. Other kinds are agricultural 

 lime, gas lime (which is no longer very well thought of), marl, 

 basic slag, and wood ashes. But as the quality of all of 

 these varies greatly, be sure that you find out from the 

 dealer how much lime they contain per pound. Any of 

 them should be scattered on the surface of the ground after 

 it has been spaded, and then should be raked in. 



After spading comes the raking. This should not be solely 

 for the purpose of breaking lumps. The fork has done 

 most of that, and the surface should be rather finely grained, 

 but of course irregular. The rake now makes everything 

 smooth. It breaks the smaller lumps, takes out here and there 

 a weed or a root that has escaped the fork, it levels, and it 

 s 



