No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 349 



and so has the dates well fixed, but with the trucker it is quite 

 different, there are very many plantings to be made and each as 

 important in point of time and season as any farm crop dare be. 

 And there are the various successions that have to be noted. All 

 this is confusing unless there is something to guide. There is a 

 season when a gardener can think and plan at leisure. He should 

 then make definite record of plans and purposes. This with the 

 time of seeding and the various successions should be conveniently 

 displayed; giving valuable assistance at a time when time itself is 

 at a premium. 



Every gardener before he can hope to make a success must be 

 thoroughly alive to the best methods of production. The soil in the 

 first place is no small factor. The gardener should know his soil; 

 its likes and dislikes. He is very likely, in the early spring, through 

 enthusiasm and over-anxiousness to have an early start, to be un- 

 willing to await proper soil conditions. The working of soil at such 

 time is harmful and cannot be remedied the entire season. He 

 should direct every effort to securing the best kind of a seed bed. 

 The great importance of good tilth has always been appreciated by 

 practical men, and experience has abundantly taught us that care 

 should be exercised in bringing the seed into perfect tilth before 

 receiving seeds or plants. Seed placed into mellow soil will allow 

 the roofs to grow unhindered in any and every direction in search 

 of moisture and plant food, and it is this intimate and close contact 

 of the absorbing surfaces of the fibrous roots with soil particle that 

 nourishes and sustains the plant. Again, the fact remains, that 

 unless there exist proper soil condition he may lavish upon the gar 

 den spot all the plant food he pleases and there will not be the re- 

 sults desired. Soil for the garden should not bake and crack, or 

 run together and puddle after rains. But how are we to secure 

 the proper physical condition? The crying need of our Pennsyl- 

 vania farms and gardens to-day is more humus. We are preaching 

 it and yet it is being used twice as fast as supplied. Gardeners living 

 near the cities can often supply this cheaply in the form of stable 

 manure, while it remains for the other fellow to resort to green 

 manuring. However, he has not need of being discouraged. Green 

 manuring is a well know fact, but its importance is by no means ap- 

 preciated. Every inch of the garden should be wintered with some 

 cover crop to furnish organic matter, and to save from leaching 

 the available plant food, and also in case of a legume to furnish ni- 

 trogen. Crimson clover and cow-peas may be groAvn to advantage 

 in some parts of the State. Eye and hairy vetch are more appro- 

 priate because they can be sown later. Then rye may be sown as 

 the last resort; say 3 to 4 bushels per acre. 



However, in this connection it might be well to say a word about 

 lime. In turning doAvn these green crops he should not overlook 

 the use of this important element to correct acidity. It seems we 

 use too little lime in our market gardens anyway. Manuring heavily 

 from year to year necessitates liming as well to keep the soil in good 

 sanitary condition. In visiting market gardeners through Philadel- 

 phia county last summer I was very much impressed with what 

 benefit a little lime would be upon some of those garden spots. While 

 being shown over one of these large plantations I was told of a 



