54 



BIGGLE GARDEN BOOK 



It is an easy matter to determine whether a soil needs 

 lime. Five cents will buy at a drug store enough blue litmus 

 paper to test a large field. Cut the paper into narrow strips 

 and make tests in different parts of the field by pressing 

 the moist soil into close contact with the paper. If the paper 

 turns red in a few minutes, a sour soil is indicated and 

 lime should be applied. The degree of acidity will be shown 

 by the extent to which the blue paper turns to red. A 

 growth of sorrel is often an indication of a sour soil. The 

 plowing under of heavy green crops usually causes sourness 

 and necessitates applications of lime. 



Guiding a horse cultivator: Some folks have difficulty 

 in the double duty of holding the handles and managing the 

 reins. A steady, slow-walking horse is required, and you'll 

 need to buckle or tie on an extension to the length of 

 ordinary lines. To operate, buckle or tie the lines together, 

 put them around the upper part of your body beneath both . 

 arms, and have the lines just long enough to be gently taut 

 as you hold to the cultivator handles and walk along. Thus 

 adjusted, a slight twist of the body either way will guide 

 the horse to right or left as may be required; and at the end 

 of the row a touch on the lines with the hand will "gee" 

 or "haw" him around for the return trip. Soon he'll learn 

 the work and keep his proper place almost automatically. 

 If at first he walks too fast, lean back steadily on the lines 

 until he learns a slower pace. Always cultivate each aisle 

 between two rows, twice up on one side and back on the 

 other; keeping the same order in each aisle, so that the horse 

 will learn which side to walk on. Few people can do good 



. 



work by cultivating through an aisle just once and trying 

 to watch 



both rows. 



