VEGETABLE GARDEN. 49 



finely the soil is pulverized, and the more useful implements for 

 doing this are the spade and hoe. Wood ashes, leached or not, 

 may be mixed with the soil to great advantage and profit. 



The introductory exercises being thus faithfully performed, the 

 garden may now be considered ready for the seed. The packages 

 of garden seeds as usually sold, have labels, giving time of plant- 

 ing and other useful directions. Having arranged the different 

 sections for the several varieties that may be desii-ed in some 

 regular order, in accordance with the taste' of the gardener, plant 

 the seeds with care, observing to have all properly covered, nor 

 be too lavish of the seed. Plant enough, and plant it where it 

 should grow, thus avoiding a needless amount of thinning which 

 sometimes proves injurious to the plants that remain, besides 

 which, order and regularity may be established in seed time, which 

 will enhance the beauty of the garden throughout the season, 

 and increase the gratification of him who cultivates it. 



With the appearance of the first tender shoot above the ground 

 begins the watchful care of the gardener, for coeval with the 

 expansion of the germ in the good seed begins to germinate a 

 thousand seeds which send forth an array of weeds to choke every 

 thing else, if not conquered in the beginning. Let a few moments 

 now be spent daily in loosening the soil, destroying the weeds and 

 guarding the plants from destructive insects, and the whole labor 

 is accomplished. 



The process is simple, the labor pleasant, and the reward is 

 abundant, both in the products of the garden and the gratification 

 of beholding its gradual development ; a two-fold profit, and all 

 may be achieved by almost every artizan in our numerous villages 

 and it is the bounden duty of every farmer to accomplish it. 



In conclusion we would urge this subject especially to the 

 attention of every farmer ; at the same time confessing our past 

 neglect, and to have felt its importance since having the matter 

 under consideration at this time more than ever before. 



In the discussion following, 



Mr. Gilbert said there were three requisites in the successful 

 management of a garden : first, good manuring ; second, fine 

 pulverization of the soil ; third, keeping mastery of the weeds. He 

 recommended the use of thoroughly decomposed manure applied 

 in the fall. He alluded to the difficulty of procuring seeds true to 

 their name, from the seedsmen ; and suggested as a remedy that 

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