THE SOIL 5 



needful as most of the moisture it may receive, either 

 by rain or artificially, passes away without greatly bene- 

 fiting the crops ; thus watering and mulching become 

 essential. A gravelly soil is naturally wanting in plant 

 food, so that roots of plants must be nourished by 

 manures artificially given. Light and poor land, such 

 as that under consideration might well be called, is ex- 

 pensive to cultivate, and, even when every attention has 

 been given it, the crops obtained would probably not 

 be so good as those upon more suitable land with half 

 the labour. The cases above drawn of these two kinds 

 of soil are, one should remember, quite extreme ones. 

 Knowing the disadvantages of both heavy and light 

 land it will be advisable to see how each can be im- 

 proved, for it is more than likely that the majority of 

 prospective kitchen gardeners will have considerably 

 to change the condition of the land freshly brought 

 under cultivation before they are able to obtain the 

 best results. We will first consider the best methods 

 of 



Improving Heavy Land. This soil is too close, 

 stiff and retentive of moisture, and such additions as 

 lime, brick and mortar rubble, burnt clay and refuse, 

 ashes, coarse sand and other materials should be 

 made. Much good will also come from roughly digging 

 it in the autumn and leaving the large unbroken masses 

 of soil exposed to the frost, rain, and snow of winter. 

 In the spring it may be broken up and prepared for 

 planting with little trouble, the action of the frost, etc., 

 rendering the soil quite friable and easy to work. To 



