THE SOIL 



weighted in the soil with which he has to deal, and how 

 much it is overweighted; there is a simple test which 

 will show, approximately and near enough. 



Go out into the garden or onto the ground where 

 the garden is to be, and turn up a spadeful of earth 

 there three days after there has been a rainfall. Is 

 it powdery and light? Then sand predominates — 

 and when sand predominates organic matter is what 

 is needed to bind the particles together. 



Is it sticky and Kke putty, retaining the imprint 

 of your fingers? Then it lacks sand and has corre- 

 spondingly too much clay; so it is sand or some 

 loosening agent that is the thing required. 



Ordinary manure is as good as anything you can 

 get for supplying the needs of a too sandy soil, while 

 deep plowing, which gives the water a chance to escape 

 from clay, is often all that an ordinarily heavy soil 

 that has lain unworked, requires to make it into a 

 friable loam. If this does not Hghten it enough, how- 

 ever, a dressing of lime should follow — and sand may 

 be worked into it, or coal ashes, or both, if it still 

 remains soggy and stiff. 



Begin your garden by doing this work with the 

 soil. The weathering of it during the winter will help 

 greatly, for the action of the frost and sun has a 

 decided physical effect that should be taken advantage 

 of whenever possible. With a spring beginning there 

 is no time for these to do their portion of the work — 

 but with a start made in the fall there are from six 

 to seven months ahead, during which the elements 



13 



