66 Home Vegetable Gardening 



ers, on sandy soils, where they will not long be 

 retained, should be applied only immediately before 

 planting, or as top and side dressing during growth. 



Sandy soil in the garden will produce early and 

 quick results, and is especally adapted to melons, 

 cucumbers, beans and a number of the other garden 

 vegetables. 



Gravelly Soil is generally less desirable than 

 either of the others ; it has the bad qualities of sandy 

 soil and not the good ones of clay, besides being 

 poorer in plant food. (Calcareous, or limestone 

 pebble, soils are an exception, but they are not widely 

 encountered.) They are not suited for garden 

 work, as tillage harms rather than helps them. 



The Ideal Garden Soil is what is known as a 

 *'rich, sandy loam," at least eight inches deep; if it 

 is eighteen it will be better. It contains the proper 

 proportions of both sand and clay, and further has 

 been put into the best of mechanical condition by 

 good tilth. 



That last word brings us to a new and very im- 

 portant matter. "In good tilth" is a condition of 

 the soil difficult to describe, but a state that the gar- 

 dener comes soon to recognize. Ground, continually 

 and properly cultivated, comes soon to a degree of 

 fineness and lightness at once recognizable. Rain is 

 immedately absorbed by it, and does not stand upon 

 the surface ; it does not readily clog or pack down ; 



