THE 

 *^*^ SOIL 



uated soil can be made to yield good returns, 

 and the gardener who is not disposed to give 

 proper care and attention wUl find nothing 

 in this book, or in any other, that will teach 

 him how to succeed. The German idea is 

 that a good soil is merely a place to put fertil- 

 izers (and German ideas on gardening are not 

 to be despised). This is simply another way 

 of repeating that, with brains and work any 

 soil can be made to yield good returns. It is 

 not safe, however, to trust to the " Light of 

 Nature" as to what "proper care and attention" 

 is, so here are the details. 



If you are already settled and are planning 

 to use your back yard for a garden, you will 

 have to take the soil as it is, and by your own 

 effort make it what it should be. There is no 

 cause for despair no matter what it may be. 

 A back yard that was trodden almost as com- 

 pact as asphalt, and whose clods when dug had 

 to be broken up with an axe, was made to yield 

 a large variety of flowers the first season it 

 was planted. So go ahead and do what you 

 can with what you have. But, if you are hunt- 

 ing for a garden plot, bear in mind the import- 

 ance of soil texture. You may thereby save 

 yourself both time and labor. 



The first thing is to examine the soil to de- 



