SOIL FERTILITY 



may very likely approach, or readily be made to 

 approach by the use of ordinary fertilizers. Ac- 

 cording to soil fertility, a division is made into 

 (i) sandy soil, containing 80 to 100 per cent of 

 sand; (2) sandy loam, with 60 to 80 per cent of 

 sand; (this is light to work, and if plant food be 

 added, is quicker in results, hence desirable for 

 truck farming); (3) loam with 40 to 60 per cent 

 of sand, the best all round soil (if air dried, it 

 will weigh 100 pounds per cubic foot; while aver- 

 age garden soil weighs about 70 pounds); (4) 

 clay loam with 20 to 40 per cent of sand; and 

 (5) clay, a heavy soil, likely to be cold, with from 

 20 per cent of sand to no appreciable amount. 



For a number of reasons a light sandy loam 

 is preferable for children's gardens. It is less 

 subject to weather conditions than the other soils. 

 Consequently, it can be worked at almost any 

 time, as, for example, earlier in the spring and 

 sooner after showers. The children can handle it 

 more easily than the colder clay, which tends to 

 become hard and lumpy, to hold pools of stagnant 

 water, and to form slippery paths where a tumble 

 might be disastrous to clothing or to plants. A 

 light loam will grow and rapidly mature, with 

 comparatively little special treatment, the plants 

 usually selected for the children's beds, as well as 

 nearly all those chosen for the observation or 

 sample plots, it is the least difficult soil; conse- 

 quently it is the standard to which one should try 

 to attain when soils on school garden sites have 

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