l. As I
pour water on them just see what happens. Observe how little water it
takes to saturate sand. The limy soil holds more water and the clayey an
amazing quantity.

"I do not know whether you are much acquainted with the sea shore, I
doubt it."

"I am," broke in Katharine, "for each summer, except this last one, I
have spent a month at the beach."

"Then possibly you can tell us, Katharine, whether, or not, the sand
takes in, or absorbs, much heat during the day."

"Indeed it does absorb heat; why some days we used to go barefooted on
the beach right after dinner. I can tell you there were times when we
couldn't stand the heat of the sand."

"That is quite true," continued The Chief, "sand absorbs heat to a
remarkable degree. This heat is, to be sure, in the upper layers of the
sand. Had Katharine burrowed down with her toes below those upper layers
she would have found moist, cool sands. But an upper layer of soil, made
up of particles which fall apart easily because of the loose make-up, a
layer which has absorbed little water and much heat--well, to me that
sort of soil doesn't sound quite right for good gardening. Add to such a
soil, humus in the shape of stable manure in large quantities and this
same poor soil becomes very good.

"Now here is the lime soil tumbler. This soil has taken up rather more
water than the sand took. But it, too, surely needs to develop greater
power to take in and hold water. So the same sort of medicine which we
gave the sandy soil may be dealt out to the lime soil. Lime is a pretty
good substance to have in soil. Lime is a kind of fertilizer in itself;
it's a soil sweetener; it helps to put plant food in shape for use, and
causes desirable bacteria to grow. This sounds a bit staggering but all
of these things I am going to talk over with you. So just at present
forget it, Albert, if it is a heavy burden.

"The clay soil, you observe, has taken in quite a quantity of water.
That seems like a good thing. It is. But clay has a mean little habit
of squeezing tightly its particles together with the aid of water so
that air is excluded from the mass. It forms huge lumps; it bakes out
and cracks badly; and it is also very damp, cold and soggy in early
spring.

"As the problem with sand is to add something so that more water may be
held in the soil, so the problem with clay is to overcome that
bothersome habit of baking and caking and cracking. To do this we might
add sand or as