THE BOOK OF THE 

 HOME GARDEN 



CHAPTER I 

 SOILS AND HOW THEY WORK 



I EXPECT you think it queer of me to say soils, 

 and suppose all earth is alike, but indeed no. Those 

 of you who live on the prairie have one kind of 

 soil, and those of you who live along New Eng- 

 land's stern and rock-bound coast have another, 

 and those who live in valleys where rocks are soft 

 have another, and we Long Islanders have an- 

 other. They all grow good crops and beautiful 

 flowers but we must understand them so as to help 

 and not hinder Mother Nature. 



Let us find out what soil is, and how the Great 

 Mother made it. Have you seen a big rock with a 

 curious kind of gray green moss hanging to it? 

 Well, that moss is called lichen and can live on just 

 the rock and the rains and dews that fall. Every 

 year some of it falls into a crack of the rock and 

 decays, and then we call it humus. In this humus 



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