March, 1912 
AMERICAN HOMES 
AND GARDENS 79 
White Poppy 
a very sandy or a very clayey soil as a poor soil, and one 
abundantly supplied with humus as good soil. A poor sandy 
soil contains from 80 to 100 per cent. of sand and as sand 
supplies little nutriment to plants unmixed with vegetable 
or animal matter, it stands to reason one would hardly ex- 
pect to make a lovely garden out of a mere sandbank, or 
out of a stretch of closely-packed clay, for though clay may 
contain plant food, the roots of plants cannot get to it unless 
the clayey soil is mixed with other soil. To a mixed sandy 
and clayey soil we give the name loam. Such loam contains 
from 40 to 60 per cent. of sand; if from 60 to 80 per cent. 
of sand, we call it sandy loam, and if less than 40 per cent. 
This loam is the basis of all 
of sand we call it clayey loam. 
good garden soil. Drainage 
lightens the soil and permits 
aeration, which is so neces- 
sary to it; and, freed from 
stagnant moisture, the earth 
becomes warmer and drier 
and more fertile, as the bac- 
teria which nitrify it and con- 
vert manure into plant food 
can live in soil that is prop- 
erly drained and tilled in in- 
finitely greater quantities 
than in soil that stands neg- 
lected. We must remember, 
too, that no amount of com- 
mercial fertilizer will help 
our gardens if the body soil 
is not put into a proper condi- 
tion to receive and take care 
of it; one might as well try to 
strain tea through a basin of 
jade. Lhe owner of Every- 
maw ssgarden has written in 
his notébook this quotation 
from Soraner’s “Physiology 
of Plants’: ‘The ideal con- 
dition of a soil is one which 
resembles a sponge and in 
which it will retain the great- 
est amount of nutritive sub- 
stances and water without 
losing its capacity for ab- 
sorbing air.” There you 
have it in a nutshell. The 
Dianthus 
The Hollyhock stands sentinel in Everyman’s garden-—one of 
loyal members 
The Bellflower 
problem does not seem so terrifying after all. We have 
only to dig a bit in the garden area. If we find the soil 
there too ‘“‘heavy,”’ we shall know what to do; too light, we 
shall likewise know how to alter its condition; but in either 
event we shall not forget that it will require frequent fertil- 
izing to keep it “up to pitch.” 
DRAINAGE 
I know of no better method of testing the soil of the 
garden plot than that of digging several holes to a depth 
of three feet and covering them to prevent rain from enter- 
ing. Then, after several wet days, the covering may be 
removed, and if water is found to have risen within the holes 
it may safely be assumed that the ground is not properly 
drained. For large areas of 
garden soil runs of tile drain- 
age pipe will be needed if the 
water collects beneath the 
top soil, but for small garden 
areas the soil may be re- 
moved to a depth of some 
thirty inches to receive an 
underbed of five inches of 
gravel. Of course, in such 
an operation the top soil 
must be restored to its orig- 
inal position. 
FERTILIZING 
It is not always easy for 
the garden beginner to know 
just how much fertilizer the 
soil requires. Perhaps he 
will discover that ‘‘over-fed”’ 
Nasturtiums wither and die, 
but one cannot seem to “‘over 
feed” the jolly little inhabi- 
tants of the flower bed. 
Probably the average flower 
garden will find stable or 
barnyard manure (that which 
has been heaped for at least 
six months, until it is well 
rotted) will prove sufficient. 
Stable manure, two barrow- 
fuls, say, to a square rod 
being ample, or somewhat 
less if barnyard manure 
(better for dry soils) is used. 
its most 
