Then let us plunge in medias res at
once.
The ideal soil for a garden is a mellow, sandy loam, underlaid
with a subsoil that is not too open or porous. Such ground is
termed "grateful," and it is not the kind of gratitude which has
been defined as "a lively appreciation of favors to come," which
is true of some other soils. This ideal land remembers past
favors; it retains the fertilizers with which it has been
enriched, and returns them in the form of good crops until the
gift is exhausted; therefore it is a thrifty as well as a grateful
soil. The owner can bring it up to the highest degree of
fertility, and keep it there by judicious management. This sandy
loam--Nature's blending of sand and clay--is a safe bank. The
manure incorporated with it is a deposit which can be drawn
against in fruit and vegetables, for it does not leach away and
disappear with one season's rains.
Light, thin, sandy soil, with a porous or gravelly subsoil, is of
a very different type, and requires different treatment. It is a
spendthrift. No matter how much you give it one year, it very soon
requires just so much more. You can enrich it, but you can't keep
it rich. Therefore you must manage it as one would take care of a
spendthrift, giving what is essential at the time, and in a way
that permits as little waste as possible.
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