SUCCESS IN MARKET GARDENING 



Wherever the water has been extracted by drainage, 

 it leaves a moderate moisture in the soil (until 

 withdrawn by evaporation or taken up by the 

 crop), which is exactly the condition most favour- 

 able to vegetation. The various processes of 

 preparation, and later cultivation, are directed 

 more especially to the maintenance of this con- 

 dition. 



The ground should be finely pulverized both 

 at and below the surface, encouraging the roots 

 to strike downward and below the immediate 

 influence of the hot sun. The air entering through 

 the fine interstices of the soil condenses its latent 

 moisture upon the cooler portions beneath the 

 surface; thus contributing materially to the desired 

 moisture, and also aiding the chemical changes 

 attendant upon plant growth. 



Another very important result of thorough and 

 deep pulverization is the capacity afforded to the 

 soil of directly absorbing and holding rain-water 

 which otherwise would flow off wastefully, if 

 not destructively, on the surface. Any one can 

 see for himself the contrast between a soil which 

 has received this thorough tilth, and one which 

 has not; the latter looks well enough early in 



