CHAPTER XII. 

 HOW TO WORK 



IF you are only just beginning to experiment 

 with gardening, and feel that a fresh supply 

 of fruits and vegetables from May until 

 Christmas would satisfy you for the first year 

 or so, you will find a plot 100 x 200 feet quite 

 large enough to feed your family and a little 

 more besides. If your plot has not been used 

 for a long time, you will have to do your plow- 

 ing, if you can, the fall before you plant it. 

 This will give the frost a chance to sweeten the 

 soil, and it is very likely to need a good deal 

 of sweetening. Most yard soils have become 

 acid, and in an acid soil little will grow. It 

 comes from the earth having been so long 

 packed down that the air has had no chance to 

 circulate^ and fresh air sweetens your soil just 

 as it does your house. 



It is not good to put stable manure on an acid 

 soil. What it wants is a little slaked lime or 

 plaster, to help the sweetening process. Some 

 scientists claim that we can find out whether or 

 not soil is acid by the use of blue litmus paper, 

 which you can get at any druggist's. Open 

 the soil to a depth of six inches and put in the 

 litmus paper, drawing the earth close up to it. 



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