MIXING. 39 



By using a pail, only small quantities of soil and 

 manure are needed, but there will be sufficient 

 material in each case after a thorough mixing to 

 tell what the combinations look and feel like. It 

 is always best to allow the heaps to stand a week 

 or two for they often change their texture on 

 standing, especially when lime is used. With a 

 little practice one can soon determine in his own 

 mind what combinations suit him best, and then he 

 will at least have a rational basis to work upon. 

 Right here we may utter a word of warning 

 against the growing practice of allowing 1 the ex- 

 perimenting mania to get the better of judg- 

 ment. Some individuals are over-inquiring, and 

 for this reason the temptation is to experiment 

 continually, with the result that nothing succeeds, 

 for the simple reason that one thing is not tried 

 long enough to find out its real value. We 

 find a grower trying first this, then that ferti- 

 lizer or method, with the result that by and 

 by he gives up in disgust and says that his 

 soil or his section is not suited to the crop he 

 is attempting to grow. If he could only be 

 brought to a realization of the fact that the trouble 

 is not wholly in the soil or surroundings, but is 

 partly in himself, he would soon be on the road to 

 success. We have known men to spend years of 

 work in experimenting one way or another, and at 

 the end of that time they would be little wiser 

 than when they commenced. All this time the 



