GETTING INTO THE GROUND 33 



get these substances into the waiting ground in 

 late March, ahead of the April rains, is no small 

 part of the garden pleasure, because my imagi- 

 nation carries along the unseen sight of the chemical 

 processes that are going on in the land, conserving 

 waste, unlocking fertility, holding moisture in 

 ready shape, and increasing the power of the 

 earth to serve mankind. All that I am thus doing 

 is to follow the more deliberate processes of nature, 

 for the dropping leaf, the rotting twigs and trunks, 

 the incidental animal excrement, all happen natu- 

 rally, even though slowly, if man keeps his hands 

 off the face of the land. 



Here in this growing garden the so-called "green 

 manuring" has helped me mightily to hasten the 

 process of getting the ground into mellow tilth. 

 I will write later about choosing weeds; but I may 

 here properly say a word about how the growing 

 and turning under of the land-improving plants 

 has helped. One bit of yellow-red shale grading, 

 as unpromising for growth as the side of a rock, 

 has in three years been made into quite respectable 

 soil by alternating crops of sand vetch and rye 

 with coatings of manure and plantings of vegetables. 



These manure-crops are very nice to see, too ! 

 The rye, sowed last fall just ahead of a freeze-up, 

 has given us a bright green lawn to look at when- 



