RIDGING. 17 



the same time as thinning out crops, by one and the same 

 operation. Turnips, carrots, parsnips, spinach, and some others, 

 are so^ti broadcast, as it is called — from cast abroad, perhaps, 

 for the seed is cast or throAm all over the space — and raked 

 in, so that when it comes up with a good many weeds among 

 it, as is always the case, you have to hoe out the weeds, and 

 as many of the young plants as will leave the rest a certain 

 distance apart. Perhaps this is the most difficult operation 

 with the hoe ; and there should be hoes to use according to 

 the distance of the crop. For thinning onions, hoes are very 

 small ; turnip hoes longer. The last operation we shall men- 

 tion for the hoe is, to earth up crops ; that is, to first loosen 

 the earth to freshen it up, and then draw a ridge of it on each 

 side of a row of whatever vegetable it may be, and so form a 

 bank, as it were, up the stem.s of the plants. Peas, beans, 

 cabbages, cauliflowers, and almost every description of vege- 

 table, are the better for drawing earth up to their stems, when 

 they have begun to grow well, whether from seed or after 

 planting out ; and the hoe will perform this office for anything 

 but celery, which, after the hoe has done all it can, must, for 

 the last few weeks, be regularly banked up by a spade ; for 

 it grows often a full yard, and requires earth as far as it is to 

 be blanched. 



RAKING. 



Eaking is performed with an instrument or tool which 

 may be described as a coarse iron comb, set crosswise at the 

 end of a handle, in the same way as the hoe. It consists of 

 a strong iron bar, with iron teeth set from one to two inches 

 apart, and of various sizes, according to the rough or smooth 

 work it has to perform — small ones, with half a dozen or 

 eight teeth, for raking borders between the flowers and plants ; 

 larger ones, made stronger, and with eight, ten, or even a 

 dozen teeth, are for heavier work. The rake in a garden is 

 to do the work of a harrow in the field, — level the ground, 

 break the lumps, leave it even, draw off the weeds and stones, 

 rake in and cover seed. It is generally used after the hoe. 

 When the weeds are chopped off, they should be raked into 

 heaps or drawn off altogether. The rake is dra^vn towards 

 us, and we may be said to work backwards, whereas in hoeing 

 we go forwards, chopping up the weeds as we advance, that 

 the earth we loosen may be left behind us. When ground 



B 



