12 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND 



properly drained and tilled in infinitely greater 

 quantities than in soil that stands neglected. 

 We must remember, too, that no amount of 

 commercial fertilizer will help our gardens if 

 the body soil is not put into a proper condition 

 to receive and take care of it; one might as well 

 try to strain tea through a basin of jade. The 

 owner of Everyman's garden has written in 

 his notebook this quotation from Sorauer's 

 "Physiology of Plants": "The ideal condi- 

 tion of a soil is one which resembles a sponge 

 and in which it wiU retain the greatest amount 

 of nutritive substances and water without los- 

 ing its capacity for absorbing air." There you 

 have it in a nutshell. The problem does not 

 seem so terrifying after aU. We have only 

 to dig a bit in the garden area. If we find the 

 soil there too "heavy," we shall know what to 

 do; too light, we shall likewise know how to al- 

 ter its condition; but in either event we shall 

 not forget that it will require frequent fer- 

 tilizing to keep it "up to pitch." 



DEAINAGE 



I know of no better method of testing the 

 soil of the garden plot than that of digging sev- 



