64 THE HOME ACRE. 



strong-growing vegetables may be seen at their 

 best during the first season ; but the more delicate 

 vegetables thrive better with successive years of 

 cultivation. No matter how abundantly the ground 

 may be enriched at first, time and chemical action 

 are required to transmute the fertilizers into the 

 best forms of plant-food, and make them a part of 

 the very soil itself. Ploughing or spading, espe- 

 cially if done in late autumn, exposes the mould 

 to the beneficial action of the air and frost, and 

 the garden gradually takes on the refined, mellow, 

 fertile character which distinguishes it from the 

 ordinary field. 



In dealing with a thin, sandy soil, one has almost 

 to reverse the principles just given. Yet there is 

 no cause for discouragement. Fine results, if not 

 the best, can be secured. In this case there is 

 scarcely any possibility for a thorough preparation 

 of the soil from the start. It can gradually be im- 

 proved, however, by making good its deficiencies, 

 the chief of which is the lack of vegetable mould. 

 If I had such soil I would rake up all the leaves I 

 could find, employ them as bedding for my cow 

 and pigs (if I kept any), and spread the compost- 

 heap resulting on the sandy garden. The soil is 

 already too light and warm, and it should be our 

 aim to apply fertilizers tending to counteract this 

 defect. A nervous, excitable person should let 



