DRAINAGE

There is, however, one other thing you must look out for in selecting
your garden site, and that is drainage. Dig down eight or twelve inches
after you have picked out a favorable spot, and examine the sub-soil.
This is the second strata, usually of different texture and color from
the rich surface soil, and harder than it. If you find a sandy or
gravelly bed, no matter how yellow and poor it looks, you have chosen
the right spot. But if it be a stiff, heavy clay, especially a blue
clay, you will have either to drain it or be content with a very late
garden--that is, unless you are at the top of a knoll or on a slope.
Chapter VII contains further suggestions in regard to this problem.