254 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



acid, and so much nitrogen, and you buy these 

 things in sacks, all properly balanced, and ap- 

 ply them exactly where the need is indicated. 



There's nothing the matter with the theory, 

 as a theory. It needs experience to prove that 

 it has certain weaknesses in practice. 



Along at first my garden patch didn't suit 

 me in the quantity or quality of some of the 

 stuff it gave me. I'd been making garden in 

 Nebraska on a black, deep loam that had been 

 heavily enriched with tons and tons of manure 

 to the acre. It had produced according to its 

 strength. The results gotten down here, com- 

 pared with those of earlier times, were far from 

 satisfactory. My head lettuces looked pale and 

 pindling, and they weren't nearly up to grade 

 on the table. I'd always fancied that it would 

 take a pretty good gardener to beat me at 

 growing head lettuces. In Nebraska I'd had 

 'em as big as your hat and as solid as croquet 

 balls. The product of the first summer at 

 Happy Hollow turned out of the size of eggs 

 and of the texture of a wad of paper. 



There wasn't nitrogen enough in the soil; 

 that was plain. I bought soda nitrate and be- 

 gan to feed my plants as carefully as you'd 

 feed a bottle baby. The result was distressing. 



