250 Gardening Under Glass 



writers, and the advice is excellent, but the man 

 who may have a greenhouse twenty -five or fifty 

 feet by twenty feet in his lot that is but twenty- 

 five feet by sixty feet will have difficulty in 

 getting that kind of soil and he can get along 

 without it. 



The three essentials of a good soil are sub- 

 stance, friability, and fertility'. Soil is rarely 

 found that cannot be made reasonably good by 

 the addition of some other material. Sand is 

 very friable but lacks substance and fertility, 

 but may be made to grow plants by the addition 

 of manure or sifted coal ashes and soil of heavy 

 character. Very heav^^ clay soils may be made 

 good by the addition of sand, light manure, leaf 

 mould, or other material that contains consider- 

 able humus. 



Soil for sowing seeds should generall}^ be lighter 

 and more friable than for other purposes. A 

 compost of one half good loam, one fourth sand, 

 and one fourth leaf mould or thoroughly well-de- 

 caved manure, will make an excellent medium for 



sowing most seeds. 



Tomatoes 



To obtain a supply of Tomatoes through the 

 winter make the first sowing of seeds between 

 July 1st and 10th. The seeds should be kept 



