Vegetable-Gardening 



1399 



the soil level and smooth. If horse power is used the hand-raking may 

 be resorted to for complete smoothing ; or, if the garden is exceptionally 

 large, the smoothing may be done by the use of some one of the manufac- 

 tured tools drawn by horse power. It is important that the surface of the 

 garden be left in the finest condition, so that no obstructions will be in 

 the way of rapid planting and transplanting. 



Permanent staking 



After the smoothing is done, permanent stakes can be driven at the 

 corners of the garden in place of the temporary stakes described above. 

 The permanent stakes should be of some substantial material, such as 

 2-by-4-inch scantlings. A nail should be driven in the top of the south- 

 east corner stake, exact measurements from that nail to the stakes north 

 and west should be made and nails placed in the tops of those stakes, and 

 from these nails measurements should be made in order to determine the 

 position of the nail in the northwest stake. The nail system helps greatly 

 in future exact measurements for planting; with exact measurements 

 from the nails, the rows can be made quite straight and parallel to one 

 another. 



PLANTING 



The time of planting is given in the planting-table. That table, how- 

 ever, must be modified so as to suit conditions of weather and other factors 

 of the great outdoors; it is meant to 

 serve merely as a guide. In planting 

 the seed, a row in the garden should 

 correspond to a row 

 as planned on the 



paper. Measurements Fig. 32. — A convenient tool for marking 

 from the stake should jurrows 



be taken at both ends of a row. A garden line or some 

 other means should be used for keeping rows straight. 

 The seed should be planted according to the table. A 

 furrow should be opened to the required depth with 

 a hoe, which, as has been said, should be guided by 

 a line or mark. The seed should then be spread along 

 the bottom of the furrow, and dirt should be filled in 



™ IG - , 3 ?-7~ Adtbble, over ^ e seec j an( j p resse d down by the feet. 



useful in planting I J 



or 'transplanting The matter of pressure around seeds is very im- 

 portant because an aid to the first step in germination 

 is the swelling of the seed by the water that it absorbs. The pressing 

 of the soil increases absorption of water from the soil by the seed. 

 Pressing on clay soil, however, may be overdone. If a planting machine 

 is on the farm or in the home it may be used with very good results 



