MAKING READY 



six hours of bright sunHght, has nearly all It 

 needs for health. It must have a good soil, and 

 If your garden-to-be Is caked over, you must 

 spade It up. Many yards In town have a hard 

 and leathery surface, like that of the plains In 

 the days of the overland trail. The plains had 

 been crusted by the beating feet of buffalo. They 

 were almost as If asphalted, and no vegetable life 

 appeared there except sage and cactus, with grass 

 and cottonwoods only In the river-bottoms. 

 When these desert lands were broken by the 

 plow they proved to be rich In phosphates. It 

 may be that the like will happen In your yard. 

 But It was no buffalo that pounded your soil Into 

 the semblance of clay: it was wilder and more 

 fearsome beings — the boys next door, and Mary 

 Ann. We have to consider these dynamic forces 

 in devising our garden, but we have first to spade 

 and fertilize, cut the sod to pieces, throw out the 

 stones and tomato cans, prepare strings or trel- 

 lises for vines, and plan the beds. Drainage, too, 

 and prevailing temperatures must be thought 

 upon. By drainage is meant such as results 

 from the porousness or heaviness of the ground, 

 and the natural slope of It. You can not do much 



9 



