ABOUT MAKING GARDENS 103 



how much space you need, but the width should not 

 be over three to four feet. 



The slope, if possible, should be to the east or 

 south, or the southwest ; best of all to the southeast. 

 A wooden frame is often the best that you can 

 do, and it should be in a sheltered nook, behind a 

 hedge, or possibly at a corner of the barn. The 

 make-up is simply horse manure fermented and over 

 this a layer of very fine rich mold. For some seeds 

 I prefer pure sand and for others leaf mold. You 

 can generally find about what you want around the 

 edge of the barnyard. 



You are at last in your country garden, and the 

 puzzles will begin to propound themselves, while 

 others will solve themselves. I have only tried to 

 answer a few of your questions, although you are 

 bubbling over with more inquiries. Do not be fool- 

 ish enough to write them, but study them out for 

 yourself. Remember all the while that you have 

 no moral or physical right to exhaust your land. 

 Find out how to make soil and how to keep it rich. 

 You and I will have another talk on this subject by 

 and by. 



There is almost always fertility below to bring 

 up especially in sandy land, and there is always 

 a wealth of plant food in the air to bring down. 

 The sum of your problem, and all your problems, 

 is how to get at the nitrogen which you own over- 

 head and the phosphates or potash that you own 

 down below. 



