62 THE HOME ACRE. 



can improve any soil, and coax luxuriant crops 

 from the most unpropitious. 



We will speak first of the ideal soil already 

 mentioned, and hope that the acre contains an 

 area of it of suitable dimensions for a garden. 

 What should be the first step in this case? Why, 

 to get more of it. A quarter of an acre can be 

 made equal to half an acre. You can about 

 double the garden, without adding to it an inch of 

 surface, by increasing the depth of good soil. For 

 instance, ground has been cultivated to the depth 

 of six or seven inches. Try the experiment of 

 stirring the soil and enriching it one foot down- 

 ward, or eighteen inches, or even two feet, and see 

 what vast differences will result. With every inch 

 you go down, making all friable and fertile, you 

 add just so much more to root pasturage. When 

 you wish to raise a great deal, increase your lever- 

 age. Roots are your levers ; and when they rest 

 against a deep fertile soil they lift into the air and 

 sunshine products that may well delight the eyes 

 and palate of the most fastidious. We suggest 

 that this thorough deepening, pulverization, and 

 enriching of the soil be done at the start, when the 

 plough can be used without any obstructions. If 

 there are stones, rocks, roots, anything which pre- 

 vents the treatment which a garden plot should 

 receive, there is a decided advantage in clearing 



