CHAPTER XII. 
HOW TO WORK. 
F 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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