214 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



Hazel-nut kernels, 60 



Beech-nut kernels, 15 to 17 



Plum-stone do 33 



Sweet almond kernels, 40 to 54 



Bitter do. do . . 28 to 46 



APRIL GARDEN-WORK. 



EVERY one will now be at work in the garden. A few 

 suggestions may make your garden better. 



PLOWING GARDENS. We do no^ like the practice except 

 when the garden is large, and the owner unable to meet 

 the expense of spading. But if you must plow, let that be 

 well done. Those contemptible little one-horse plows, with 

 which most gardens are plowed, should be discarded. The 

 best plowing will be too shallow, but these spindling little 

 plows, drawn by a little meagre horse, will skim over your 

 ground, averaging from three to four inches deep, and pre 

 paring your soil to receive the utmost possible detriment 

 from summer droughts. What chance have young roots, 

 or the finer fibres of plants, to penetrate more than a few 

 inches of surface-soil ? Persons come to our garden and 

 wonder why some vegetables flourish so well, while they 

 never have luck with them, &quot;It must be a difference of 

 soil.&quot; No, it is the difference of working it. Give your 

 vegetables a chance to descend eighteen or twenty inches 

 if they incline to it, and you will have no more trouble. A 

 large plow should be used, and you should stand by and 

 see that it is put in to the beam. A garden soil is usually 

 mellow, and a plow can go to its full depth without hurting 

 the horses. 



SPADING. This mode of working the ground will always 

 be employed by those ambitious of having a first-rate gar 

 den. Indeed, where there is much shrubbery and perma 

 nent beds, as of asparagus, pie-plant, strawberry, and plant- 



