20 PRIZE GARDENING 



warm water and set in a partially darkened room or 

 cellar where the temperature will be about sixty-five 

 degrees. No further care is necessary except to 

 sprinkle should they become too dry. This work may 

 be done a month previous to planting, with the advan- 

 tage that your crop is growing even while the ground 

 is still frozen outside. During this time the sprouts 

 will have grown two to six or eight inches in length, 

 and will require careful handling in planting to avoid 

 breaking off. They must be entirely covered, but will 

 be out of the ground within a very few days. By this 

 method no infertile seed is planted and the potatoes 

 will be up ahead of the weeds. The advantage of ten 

 days or two weeks in the early markets will many times 

 repay the little extra labor. 



Sweet Corn : To sprout the seed, take shallow 

 tin or sheet-iron pans or anything in which one can 

 give bottom heat if required. Put in an inch or so 

 of sand and thoroughly moisten. Over this spread a 

 cloth. The corn is then spread on and covered with 

 another thickness of cloth. Sprinkle on a light cover- 

 ing of moist soil and set in a warm place. Five to 

 eight days before planting will be sufficiently early to 

 start the seed. By this plan no poor seed will be 

 planted and the seed may be put in much earlier with- 

 out the danger of rotting. The corn will be ready for 

 table or market use much earlier than by the ordinary 

 method of planting. 



Club Root : Many questions from widely differ- 

 ent sections indicate that the disease is more general 

 than might be supposed, and a brief summary is all 

 that can be attempted now. The disease is a fungous 

 growth. Wet, acid soil seems to be its natural home, 

 but it may be carried or spread in various ways ; as by 

 the overflow of surface water or tools used in 

 the cultivation of infected ground. The only reme- 



