ven to the matter of
caring for the fire, removing ashes, etc., making the management of
these things as convenient as possible.

CHAPTER XXIII

MANAGEMENT

Experience only can teach the beginner just how to manage his vegetables
and plants in this new winter garden. But at the outset he must remember
one thing: If it is true that he has control of his miniature world of
growing things it is also true that he can leave nothing, as he does
with his outside garden, to the treatment of nature. The control is in
his hands--the warmth, the moisture, the fresh air, the soil--none can
be left to chance; he must think of them all. And before going into
details, which might at first be confusing, let us take up the elements
of this little world over which we are to reign, and try to elucidate
first a few general rules to guide us. The house, after countless little
delays and unforeseen problems conquered by personal interest and
ingenuity, is at last ready, and the bare board benches look ugly enough
in the bright, hot sunlight. How are they to be converted into a small
Garden of Eden, when all outdoors is chained in the silent desolation of
drifted snow? Here is a new task. No longer Nature's assistant, the
gardener has been given entire management of this new sort of garden. It
is almost a factory, where he must take his raw materials--earth,
water, heat, light, and the wonderful thread of life, and mold these all
into a hundred marvelous forms of beauty and utility. Something of art,
something of science, something of business, must all be brought to his
interesting work.

Let us begin then at the bottom. What is the best kind of dirt to use?
It should be friable, so that it will not bake and cake in the pots;
rich, that the little plants may readily find ample nourishment; porous,
that water may be soaked up readily, and any surplus drained off freely.
A soil answering all these requirements is made as follows: cut from an
old ditch or fence-side, thick sods, and stack them with the grass sides
together to rot. This heap should be forked over several times, when it
has begun to decompose. In dry weather, if within reach of the hose, a
good soaking occasionally will help the process along. The sods should
be cut during spring or summer. To this pile of sod, when well rotted
(or at time of using), add one-third in bulk of _thoroughly rotted
manure_--cow and horse mixed, and a year old, if it can be obtained--and
m