254 PRIZE GARDENING 



the second should commence, and so on to the end of 

 the season. The moment the first planting has been 

 gathered, clear the ground as quickly as possible and 

 prepare for a second planting, and follow up this plan 

 the entire season. The preparation of the soil, so far 

 as the application of manure is concerned, and making 

 it fine, must be as thorough for each subsequent crop 

 as for the first. Do not think that once working and 

 once feeding is sufficient for the season ; it is not. 



No more manure should be used at one time than 

 a given crop will require. A surplus is nearly as fatal 

 to the production of a crop as a deficit. Plants to be 

 productive must needs have just as much nourishment 

 as they can assimilate ; but not be stimulated to excess, 

 which is fatal to productiveness. 



For success, every foot of the soil should be con- 

 stantly at work producing something. Nature will 

 not tolerate idleness; if the gardener does not plant, 

 she will. There is no reason why, in ordinary seasons, 

 the garden cannot be as green and productive in 

 August as in June. To that end, intensive cultivation 

 is a necessity. The surface must at all times be cov- 

 ered with a growing crop, and so thickly as to, in a 

 great measure, prevent evaporation. But by no means 

 plant so thickly that each plant cannot have all the room 

 for growth and air required. 



Room for a horse to walk between the rows is the 

 poorest economy possible, besides it is not necessary. 

 For instance, when we set our cabbage or cauliflower 

 plants, which require the greater part of the season to 

 mature, make an intermediate row of some quick- 

 growing vegetable. 



Imitate our up-to-date market gardeners near all 

 large cities. When they set their early cabbage plants, 

 they are in rows thirty inches apart, the plants fifteen 

 inches apart in the row. Between these plants they 



