24 'VEGETABLE GROWING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



The effect of change of crops is to enable the soil to be cropped more 

 continuously, and to produce a greater bulk of material from a given area. 

 On valuable land the grower must get a second and sometimes a third- 

 crop in one season, and this can only be done where a rotation is systematically 

 practised. 



Judgment and experience are necessary to the determination of a really 

 satisfactory rotation, a succession perfect in all respects being exceedingly 

 difficult to arrange. It must be remembered that some crops apparently 

 very different from one another are really closely related, and subject to the 

 same pests. The turnip is cultivated for its root, but it is of the same genus 

 as the cabbage, and neither should follow the other. Nor do potatoes and 

 tomatoes appear very much alike when viewed from the point of view of their 

 products, but botanically they are closely related, and subject in particular 

 to the same fungus diseases, so that land that has carried potatoes that 

 were affected with Irish blight, will not be cleaned up by planting tomatoes 

 next year. 



Summed up, it may be said that short-season crops should be followed by 

 long-season ones, shallow rooters by deeper rooters, and residue-producing 

 crops (for turning under) by heavy-feeding crops. Only by foresight, and a 

 careful record of what is done with each block year by year, can such a 

 programme be successfully carried out. 



IMPLEMENTS AND EQUIPMENT. 



The farmer who is growing cabbages or cauliflowers, or root crops like 

 turnips or carrots, on a fair scale, is able to employ horses in the preparation 

 of the land, and even in the inter-cultivation of the crops, but the production 

 of a large number of vegetables in a small area necessitates the use, almost 

 exclusively, of manual labour, and the equipment required will therefore vary 

 accordingly. 



Specialty vegetable growing is generally carried out in conjunction with 

 some other branch of farming, and implements, such as the plough, harrow, 

 roller and cultivator, are already part of the farm plant, so that only a few 

 smaller implements, suited to the requirements of the particular crop in 

 question, will require to be added. 



For intensive culture, the following list should cover the implements 

 required : Spade, shovel, pick, fork, pronged hoe, dutch and chipping hoes of 

 various shapes and sizes, rake, hand seed-sower, cultivator, trowel, tape 

 measure, garden line and reel, manure fork, wheelbarrow, knife, brushes, 

 baskets, watering-can, buckets, hose, spray-pump, sieve, shears ; dibber, axe, 

 tomahawk, scales, and packing needle. A certain number of tools for repairs- 

 will also be required, such as hammer, chisel, wrench, punch, saw, square, 

 brace and bits, and a plane. 



