A DISH OF SALADS. 



80 



CHAPTER VII. 



A DISf) QF SALADS. 



OU have a little space at the 

 back of the house. It is very 

 small, so small indeed that it 

 seems hardly worth while to 

 use it. There's nothing in it, 

 save a few rank weeds. The 

 sun only shines there a part 

 of each day. If weeds will 

 grow, something better will 

 grow. The actual surface may 

 be only a bed along the fence, 

 say 25x4 feet. Small as the 

 border is, it can be made to 

 keep your table in salads four months out of every 

 twelve. 



First of the soil. Dig it up and see what it is like. 

 As nearly all our cities grow outward into the coun- 

 try, it often happens that the yards about the houses 

 contain very fair soil. If it is thin and sandy, good 

 garden loam should be procured. Two one-horse 

 loads should be enough. The florists can usually 

 provide it for about $2 a load. If it is very heavy and 

 is wet for sometime after a rain and cracks when dry- 

 ing in the sun, it has too much clay, and this defect 

 can be easily cured by the addition of about a barrel 

 of sand from the mason's yard. If weeds grow, the 

 soil is pretty nearly right, and can be made just right 

 by the addition of manure from barn or stable. If 

 this cannot be procured, use one of the standard fer- 

 tilizers, together with ground bone or bone-meal and 

 wood ashes. These things can be procured at the 

 seed stores by the pound. If possible have the soil 



