44 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



countries, he is apt to conclude that the Creator has done 

 little for the modern garden except to furnish a place 

 to put it, because the chief art of gardening seems to con- 

 sist in using as little of the natural soil as possible. This 

 state of affairs has not arisen in California yet, for the 

 reasons shown in the descriptions of our garden soils, and 

 yet we do not mean to suggest that the farm gardener 

 should in all cases expect to reach satisfactory results 

 without due effort for soil improvement on the small area 

 which he expects to yield so much. 



Improvement of Adobe Soils. Our adobes, especially 

 those of the darker hues, are rich and durable. In com- 

 mon with heavy clay soils everywhere, they are retentive 

 of moisture. In our arid summers, however, they lose 

 their moisture speedily by evaporation, if untilled, and 

 dry out to a greater depth than lighter soils. They are 

 refractory under tillage and unless caught at just the 

 right moment they are either wax or rock under the plow, 

 and the cultivator will either stick fast or ride over the 

 surface. And yet if one has nothing but adobe he is not 

 as badly off as he might be, because adobe is easily suscep- 

 tible of improvement. The points to attain are several, 

 but they are inter-related and effort for one measurably 

 helps toward all. 



The free use of air-slaked lime applied about the time 

 of the first rains is the first and simplest effort toward 

 breaking up the tenacity of the soil. This should be done 

 no matter what greater efforts are to be undertaken later. 



Deep and thorough tillage, taking the soil at just that 

 condition of moisture when it works well with plow and 

 harrow, will be found to progressively improve its tilla- 

 bility by mere action of air and implements. If this is 

 all that can be undertaken at first, do this thoroughly and 

 put in the cultivator after each heavy rain as soon as the 

 proper condition of soil arrives, so as to prevent baking 

 of the surface. For winter growth of vegetables in re- 



