THE SOIL WATER 95 



different kinds of soil, and set them in the warm sun or on 

 a stove. The sandy ball will crumble away, the loamy soil 

 will cling longer, and the clay ball will bake hard. But 

 moisten it, and set it outdoors on a freezing night, and it will 

 begin to break up. Clay soils plowed in fall are usually 

 improved by the winter's frost. 



Finally, clay soils may be improved by lime. To show 

 this, get a lump of stone lime about the size of a hen's egg, 

 and slake it in water until the mixture is a creamy whitewash. 

 Get four four-pound lots of clay soil. Mix the first with a 

 half ounce of the whitewash, the second with an ounce, the 

 third with four ounces. With the other put plain water, 

 or none at all, if the soil is moist. Now mold the four 

 samples into balls of uniform size, and allow them to dry and 

 harden. Finally test them by dropping from different 

 heights. Those which have the most lime will break the 

 easiest. 



This happens because the lime has made the fine par- 

 ticles of clay cling together in groups, like grains of sand. 

 To show this, mix water with our whitewash, let it settle, 

 and draw off into a bottle some of the clear liquid. Into 

 another bottle put pure water. Drop into each some clay, 

 shake vigorously, and allow both to settle. From the lime 

 water the clay will settle quickest. If the water is poured 

 off, and the soil taken out and dried, the limed clay will be 

 granular (grainy) and will crumble quickest. 



To improve a clay soil, therefore, lime should be worked 

 into it. 



We ought to know, now, something about the soil of our 

 gardens, how they will act and how to improve them. If 

 you have tested the soil of your garden; write in your note- 

 book how to make it better. Calculate the cost, and plan 

 how to get the money for it. 



