The Fascinating Art of Soil Building 63 



Remember that the soil is the real basis of all 

 your work with growing plants — the keynote to 

 failure or success, and it is really much less work 

 to care for this soil properly, taking the trouble 

 to do it as described above, and making enough 

 to last for a year, than to bother to find the right 

 kind of soil each time a small quantity is needed. 



Some plants do well in a particularly light, 

 loamy soil, and others require heavy soil. It is 

 an easy matter to make a heavier soil by adding 

 loam to the mixture described above, or to make 

 a lighter one by adding rotted manure or leaf 

 mould. 



Where plants are to be grown in solid benches, 

 good drainage must be provided by first putting 

 in a layer of coal ashes, or gravel. Raised 

 benches, which are most used, are usually made 

 with provision for drainage so that any surplus 

 water can run off, but a shallow layer of some 

 coarse material — inverted sods, for instance, or 

 screened ashes of suitable size — ^being first put in 

 to keep the soil from washing through the cracks. 

 The proper method for securing good drainage 

 in pots is shown in the illustration on page 114. 



