DREN'S GARDENS EVERYWHERE 



The Soil Pantry 



\X7 E CAN look upon the soil as a great 

 * » big pantry full of food. This food 

 often is locked up in the pantry, locked 

 so tightly that even the plants themselves 

 cannot get at it. This is pretty serious. 

 We expect to find certain soils with little 

 food in them because they are really poor 

 and lack food. But it is amazing to think 

 about soils which have plenty of food and 

 to spare, but cannot give out this food 

 in proper form so that the plants may get 

 the benefit. Where can a boy or girl 

 find a key which will unlock this soil 

 pantry? 



What is plant food? There are a number 

 of chemicals and combinations of chemicals 

 which serve as foods to plants. Some 

 of these are very important. Others are 

 less important, not so necessary to plants 

 as others. The foods we should know 

 about are the absolutely necessary or 

 fundamental ones. There are three of 

 them: nitrogen is one, potash another, 

 and phosphorus the third. You can 

 always tell whether or not these foods are 

 actively present in the soil by the appear- 

 ance of the plant. Suppose its foliage 

 is fine and green and abundant? Then 

 you may know that there has been plenty 

 of nitrogen given to that plant. Now 

 appears a well-formed flower which tells 

 us that potash is available too. Good 

 sound fruit has been fed by potash and 

 phosphorus. 



Suppose the plants' foliage look weak 

 and sickly; then by this sign it is evident 

 that nitrogen is lacking in the soil. If 



THE GOAL OF OUR GARDEN WORK 

 LIES WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF 

 THIS CHILD'S OWN HOME. IT IS HIS 

 HOME GARDEN OR HIS EFFORT TO- 

 WARD THE IMPROVEMENT OF HIS SUR- 

 ROUNDINGS WHICH TELLS THE STORY 

 OF THE INCENTIVE WE HAVE GIVEN 

 HIM. 



Conducted by 



ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



New York 



there is trouble with flowers and fruit, 

 although the previous growth has been 

 good, then potash and phosphorus are 

 needed. 



I suppose the next question you would 

 ask is concerning the best form of these 

 different plant foods to add to the soil. 

 Put on manure for nitrogen. Bone ashes 

 or phosphates will give the phosphorus. 

 For potash get the muriate or the sulphate 

 of potash and wood ashes. Perhaps nitro- 

 gen is the most universally needed, the 

 most generally lacking food. 



The real key to the food question has 

 to do with bacteria. We hear a great deal 

 about bacteria in these days. Bacteria 

 are present in the soil too. There are 

 good bacteria and bad ones. The good 

 ones act upon the soil and change the food 

 into forms which the plants can take in. 

 The bad ones prevent this. To en- 

 courage the good and discourage the bad 

 ones the best conditions must be present. 

 The best conditions are these ; i first, 

 plenty of air ; second, water in right amount ; 

 third, a sweet condition of things; and 

 lastly, extra plant food if necessary. 



Clay soil, you have found out (by 

 experiment), has the bad habit of squeezing 

 its fine particles up into tight masses and 

 thus excluding air. So clay soil needs 

 to be helped over that weakness. It is 

 a soil which bakes and cracks in the sun; 

 it is a soil which is cold and wet in early 

 spring. We must change these conditions. 

 Again old rotten manure will put this 

 soil into shape. This sort of help is a 

 physical one. When manure was added 

 just for the nitrogen element in it, the 



soil was improved chemically. When we 

 add manure we also improve the soil 

 physically by breaking up its bad habits. 

 Ashes or sand mixed with clay will also 

 improve it physically. 



Sand has a bad habit, too. It is that 

 of letting water pass through it too quickly. 

 Sandy soil has not enough body. Rotted 

 manure added to this soil puts into it 

 what it lacks both chemically and physi- 

 cally. What is true of sand physically 

 is true, too, of lime soils. These need more 

 body; they also need to hold more water 

 in their own mass. Rotted manure is 

 the remedy for both of these. 



And so the great question is: How can I 

 make the soil of my garden hold just the- 

 right amount of water and give up to the 

 plant its proper and right food ? — 



Seed Tests 



LAST month's tests were with soils; 

 this time try the following with seeds : 

 Experiment i — Count out ioo seeds 

 of the kind you wish to test. If the seeds 

 are large, like squash or bean seed, take 

 but fifty. Place on a plate a damp blot- 

 ter, and on that sprinkle the seed you wish 

 to test. Cover with another damp blotter. 

 Have as many of these plates as you have 

 kinds of seed to test. After a day or two 

 count the seeds which have sprouted or 

 germinated. How many did not germi- 

 nate? What is the percentage of ger- 

 mination? Work out the germinating 

 per cent, for all the seeds you are going 

 to plant this season. Make a germination 

 table. 



Note the method used by Mabel in training her prize tomatoes 



Boy's Garden. Background of foxglove; effective foreground of Shasta daisies 



23 



