100 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921 



Then along comes Jack Frost and freezes the water in the clods. 

 We all know what happens when a glass or a pitcher is left with 

 water in it on a very cold night, the water freezes and in freezing 

 swells and bursts the glass or pitcher. That is precisely what 

 happens to the clods of earth, for the water freezes between the soil 

 particles and forces them apart so that by springtime the clods are 

 clods no longer but loose and mellow soil. 



With the clods broken up and the soil loose and m.ellow it will be 

 an easy matter to mix a load or two of well rotted manure with it to 

 give it the organic matter and 40 or 50 pounds of fertilizer for the 

 minerals and we can go right ahead as soon as the weather is warm 

 enough and plant a garden. If the backyard is an extra large one 

 more manure and more fertilizer will be needed, but the amounts 

 mentioned will be about right for a space 20 feet wide and 50 or 60 

 feet long. 



Some backyards are particularly hard to deal with because in 

 digging the cellar for the house the lifeless clay taken from the 

 bottom of the cellar was spread all over the yard to a depth of a foot 

 or two. The main thing, however, will be to get it broken up so 

 that the weather can get at it and then work some manure into it. 

 When once in condition to grow plants the process of improvement 

 becomes quite rapid. 



Vacant Lot Gardens 



When it comes to making a garden on a vacant lot some addi- 

 tional problems are sure to confront us. Most vacant lots have, at 

 one time or another, been used as dumping grounds and the original 

 soil, which may have been very good, has been completely covered 

 with cinders, broken bricks and stones, broken bottles, bale wire 

 and every kind of refuse you can think of. Even under these con- 

 ditions the land may be overgrown with weeds showing beyond a 

 doubt that the soil is fertile. The problem will be to get rid of 

 everything that will interfere seriously with cultivation. Perhaps 

 there may be enough stones lying over the ground to build a stone 

 fence along one side but what matter, for it is a long time until 

 planting time and the stones can be carried off. Broken bottles, 

 bricks and large cinders should all be gathered up and either hauled 

 away or piled in one comer of the plot where the unsightly pile can 

 later be covered with vines. It is surprising how a watermelon or a 

 squash vine likes to ramble all over a pile of old bricks and cinders. 



