THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



dirt will usually be all that is entailed, as some one 

 can always be found to haul it away for it. 



There is one condition to be considered, how- 

 ever, in this method of restoring the soil, and that 

 is the grade. If this is high enough to allow of the 

 removal of any considerable amount of earth, well 

 and good, but if not, fresh earth must be brought 

 in to take its place. However, the ploughing and 

 fertilising of the soil will raise the grade consider- 

 ably, and land that at first may appear too low 

 will, in the course of two or three years' cultiva- 

 tion, have quite recovered its usual grade. 



The proneness of land to rise has been well dem- 

 onstrated on my own place, where the house stands 

 on a knoll, the ground sloping away in all direc- 

 tions, and should, for this reason, afford a per- 

 fectly dry house and cellar. The contrary, how- 

 ever, is true, owing to the fact that several years 

 ago the sod was broken around the foundations 

 of the house for the planting of vines and shrub- 

 bery. As the soil about foundations is never very 

 suitable for the growing of plants, fresh earth was 

 added from the compost heap and garden, much 

 of the poor soil being first removed. Subsequent 



top dressings of soil and fertilisers has resulted in 



[16] 



