How to manage a Garden 



Its Economic Value. 



Rotation combined, as previously pointed out, with good 

 tillage has this effect, that there may be a saving in the 

 amount of manure. If I grow celery for one year on a 

 plot of well-cultivated land, that celery takes from the land 

 as much available plant food as it can absorb, consistent 

 with its nature. If I desire to grow celery again, and yet 

 again, it is obvious that the same kind of plant food will in 

 time become insufficient, whilst at the same time there 

 might be sufficient for an excellent onion crop ; hence by 

 changing the crops we use up all varieties of plant food, 

 and give very little opportunity for it to go to waste. It 

 must furthermore be admitted that the more we take from 

 the soil the better, provided always we put back an equiva- 

 lent amount. It is foolish to suppose that we injure the 

 land by taking large crops off it. Only when we neglect 

 to put back manure, or put it back in inordinate quantities, 

 does injury occur. 



It may be laid down as a guide for those who are anxious 

 to work their garden according to a really healthy rotation, 

 that plants having the same nature and habit, or which, it 

 is safe to presume, take from the land a similar kind of 

 food, should not follow each other. Thus carrots, par- 

 snips, and beet, although requiring different food, yet are 

 so alike in general characteristics that it is safe to presume 

 that much plant food in common will be required by all 

 three. 



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