FEBRUARY: FOURTH WEEK 51 



may be worth several dollars a load or not worth the haul- 

 ing. Fertilizers may or may not be of benefit in any par- 

 ticular case. What would be thorough preparation of the 

 soil in one garden would be just the wrong thing in another. 



Following are the materials available for enriching the 

 small garden, with a few statements as to comparative 

 advantages and disadvantages of each. The gardener 

 should remember, however, that the greater the variety 

 he can use, as a general thing, the better. 



Whenever it can be obtained at a reasonable price, good, 

 well-rotted stable manure makes the best foundation for 

 the garden. The great value of manure as a fertilizer Kes 

 in the fact that it not only adds plant food to the soil, but 

 also contains vegetable matter or humus, which is neces- 

 sary to keep the soil in good physical condition — loose and 

 crumbly — so that it is capable of absorbing and holding 

 the greatest possible amount of water without becoming 

 sticky and lumpy and excluding air. It also increases 

 the action of the various bacteria that help in the processes 

 of changing unavailable to available plant food, and, in 

 the case of such crops as beans and peas, of gathering 

 nitrogen from the air. Good manure should be so well 

 rotted that it is fine and crumbly, but not in lumps. It 

 should be evenly moist all through, neither sopping wet nor 

 so dry as to be fluffy. If you cannot obtain manure that 

 is already thoroughly rotted place what you do get in a 

 compact pile and tramp each layer down hard. In this way 

 fermentation may be hastened and the manure rotted 

 thoroughly in quite a short time. Manure that is ferment- 

 ing or fermented should always be kept in a well-packed 

 pile until you are ready to fork it into the ground. If it is 

 spread out, or left loose, it loses a great deal of its value. 



An excellent plan is to place in a hole any manure that 

 you do not need for immediate use. To this should be 

 added, from time to time, any house or garden refuse that 

 will rot — various vegetable trimmings, old sods, weeds that 

 have not gone to seed, or anything of similar nature. This 

 may be kept in much the same way as a smoldering fire, 



