56 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



some out-of-the-way corner of the park. On the whole, it 

 may be said that the more substantial the filling the better 

 the crops, since some roots strike deep. The course that has 

 just been suggested is the one most commonly followed in 

 dealing with the "made land" in cities, where the ground 

 consists mostly of gravel, ashes, and tin cans. A girl from 

 the Winthrop School writes naively, "When we were dig- 

 ging we found many curious things. There were stones, 

 worms, broken glass, and bricks." 



The question of enrichment — what and how much — will 

 nowadays accept nothing short of a scientific answer. A 

 thorough knowledge of what substances to use, and how to 

 use them, is to-day a necessary part of a farmer's equipment. 

 He must at all costs keep up with the new methods that are 

 being introduced every year. Sometimes our young gardeners 

 will begin by verifying some of the commonly accepted rules 

 about fertilizers ; then they will be enticed to work out experi- 

 ments wholly their own. Practical knowledge is gained by 

 watching the effects of different sorts of fertilizers on selected 

 plants arranged in separate boxes. Among the commonest 

 samples are to be found such stand-bys as nitrate of soda, acid 

 phosphate, muriate of potash, and some forms of " complete 

 fertilizer," as it is called, not omitting samples of barnyard 

 manure. Other samples then can be tried whose effects are 

 less familiar. 



There are all sorts of clever ways of applying fertilizers. 

 What gardeners call a " quick start," for instance, is secured 

 by making a somewhat deeper furrow than usual, scattering 

 in some fertilizer^ then sprinkling on top a light layer of earth 

 before sowing the seed. But it must be emphasized that by 

 far the most effective, as well as the most commonly used all- 

 round fertilizer, is well-rotted barnyard manure. "Well-rotted" 

 means that decomposition has been going on for at least a 



