16 . i 



clay, muck or leaves. Rotted sods and leaves over which hi 

 been thrown soap-suds and slops from the house make an ex( 

 lent compost and are greatly improved by the addition of wo 

 ashes. Indeed I think that there are but few sandy n 

 gravelly knolls so dry and sterile but that a compost of lea^ 

 and wood-ashes alone scattered thickly over the surface so 

 to leach down with every rain, would make them profitably p 

 ductive. Leaves are the natural fertilizer and mulch of I 

 strawberry, and enough go to waste every y^ar to make ferl 

 every bed in the country. All light and heating manures te 

 to increase the natural dryness and lightness of the soil, wher( 

 the constant aim should be to counteract this by adding i 

 absent element of vegetable mould. 1 



Now let us consider the other extreme, a cold, stiff clay tl 

 may even be inclined to wetness and sourness. This oppos 

 kind of soil requires directly opposite treatment. Here light a 

 heating manures are the best, and, in preparing the ground, m 

 be carted directly from the horse-stable and plowed in. I 

 tendency of this land is to bake, crack and grow ver}'' hard, 

 a compost, well decayed, of stable manure, leaves, etc., is spre 

 and left upon the surface, it obviates this and keeps the soil m 

 low and porous. Plowing such land into ridges in November : 

 the action of the winter frost is very beneficial. 



But if the water occasionally stands upon, or two or three f( 

 below the surface, there can be no certain success withe 

 thorough drainage. I have been doing a great deal of tl 

 during the present open winter and can recommend the " be 

 drain " where stones are plenty. My men build two rough-fac 

 walls a foot high and a foot apart, and cover with large f 

 stones, chinking in carefully with sm.'ill ones so that no earth c 

 find its way into the drain as the ditch is filled again. Tl 

 leaves a water-course a foot in the clear. Where there is i 

 much water, the same form of drain of half the size will answ 

 This kind of stone-work is done rapidly, as two men in two sh( 

 winter days built thii'teen rods with a water-course six inch 

 square. I 



