Consider the Soil 
secret of success in a garden lies in the soil. It must 
be loose enough not to crowd the small rootlets and to allow 
free circulation of water and air, yet firm enough to hold 
sufficient moisture for their nourishment—not soggy, but well- 
drained and containing in correct proportion those chemical ingre¬ 
dients required for plant growth—Nitrogen, Potash and Phos¬ 
phorus. 
I. TEXTURE AND STRUCTURE OF SOIL 
Geologists have divided soil into several classes identified by 
the size of the particles of decomposed mineral or vegetable mat¬ 
ter of which they are formed, sand, clay, adobe, calcareous or 
limestone and silt or alluvial soil, being of the mineral group, 
while peat and leaf mold (which embody strictly decomposed 
vegetation) represent the vegetable formation and humus is a 
combination of both decomposed vegetation and minerals, in 
which the former predominates, affected by the circulation of air 
through it, together with absorption of certain life-giving proper¬ 
ties derived from the elements. Every one of these classes may be 
found in some section of the great Southwest. 
SAND 
Sand, which is generally disintegrated quartz, is the coarsest of 
all soils. The looseness of its particles allows water to pass through 
Ideal Soil 
Classes 
3 
