THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN. 77 



Wilfrid Wheeler remarked that the matter of rotation of crops in 

 a garden could be often dispensed with if the soil was tested for 

 acidity with blue litmus paper, covering the paper about six inches 

 deep in the soil and allowing it to remain about fifteen minutes. 

 Upon removing the paper, if it remained blue the soil was all right, 

 but if it was red the soil needed lime. This lime should be applied 

 slaked at the rate of about one bushel to every four square rods of 

 land. This application of lime should last for about five years. In 

 testing the garden it is best to try a number of places, and gardens 

 that have been worked a great many years are more apt to be acid 

 than newer soil. One great benefit derived from this liming pro- 

 cess is the freeing of insoluble nitrogen, and it is better after the 

 soil has been limed not to put on any fertilizer of a nitrogenous 

 nature. 



