TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT 85 



these facilities, they rarely guarantee seeds. It is obvious 

 that the amateur has little chance of succeeding in such a 

 difficult business. Nevertheless, he will be able after a few 

 seasons of increasing experience to gather seeds from selected 

 plants and so furnish his own supply. It must be borne in 

 mind, however, that plants can be improved by cross breed- 

 ing and that by keeping a variety too long on the same 

 ground its quality deteriorates, and the plant tends to re- 

 vert to the type natural to it before domestication. 



When land is cropped every season, the nitrogen, potash, 

 and phosphorus removed from the soil must be replaced in 

 some form, otherwise you have diminishing returns, while 

 the expense for labor is the same. In farming small areas 

 for specialties you cannot easily invoke the principle of ro- 

 tation by enriching the land with legumes, to be plowed under 

 while green, the bacteria on the roots of which gather nitro- 

 gen from the air, but you must get stable manure or buy 

 chemical fertilizers to maintain the fertility. 



Special crops divide themselves naturally into two classes : 

 those raised for immediate shipment to market, and those to 

 be hauled to canneries. The first type are generally prepared 

 in a more expensive way, and need more care and attention. 

 Each class requires its own special forms of packing to con- 

 form to market peculiarities fixed by the taste of consumers. 



For the cultivation of all specialties, many items of prep- 

 aration are identical. Land must be well drained, it must 

 contain a sufficient amount of humus, or decaying vegetable 

 matter, to make it loose and porous; it must be free from 

 sticks and stones or any foreign matter likely to impede cul- 

 tivation or obstruct growth. The proper formation of a 

 seed bed is a prime prerequisite to successful cropping. 

 After the land is manured and plowed it should be gone over 



