THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 181 



Tomatoes, Peppers and Egg Plants should be transplanted a 

 second time, preferably to pots, before being set out of doors. If they 

 have been given plenty of room at the first shift in the frames or flats, 

 they can be put into three and a half- or four-inch pots, and be in 

 bud and blossom when set into the garden. 



It is very important that all plants, whether hardy or tender, 

 should be "hardened off" carefully before being moved from the 

 frames to the open garden. To do this, leave them uncovered all the 

 time for several days and nights before you set them out, putting on 

 the sashes only if frost threatens. Should plants inadvertently get 

 touched by frost, watering them with ice-cold water in the morning 

 and keeping them shaded from the sun will often enable them to re- 

 cover when they might otherwise be lost. 



Watering — Irrigating 



Within the last few years there have been developed several 

 systems for applying water artificially. Any gardener who has a water 

 supply with thirty pounds pressure available can get his own rain 

 whenever he wants it by installing an irrigation system, at a very 

 shght cost. 



The type that has been most widely used consists of horizontal 

 piping supported a few feet above the surface of the garden ajid per- 

 forated at regular intervals. These pipes can be turned by a handle 

 and a valve turns the water on or off as needed. A single line of pipe 

 will water a strip of ground twenty-five feet wide on both sides, or a 

 total of fifty feet. 



Another system which is slightly more expensive and applies the 

 water more rapidly, has adjustable circular sprays placed every twenty- 

 five or thirty feet along the line of pipe. It also does excellent work. 



Watering with a hose by hand is not to be compared with water 

 applied by a modern irrigating system. The soil can be soaked evenly 

 and to as great a depth as desired, the water being put on whenever 

 and wherever wanted by simply turning a valve and occasionally 

 turning the pipe. For very small gardens a portable system of both 

 types can be had. 



General Principles of Cultivation 



Late afternoon or evening is the best time for watering vegetables. 

 If a hand hose is used, wet the ground thoroughly by letting the spray 

 rise in the air and fall in a fine shower. To produce a similar result 

 hold the sprinkling can as high as possible. 



What is "cultivation .^" Why do we do it and what does it accom- 

 pHsh ? We cultivate to keep down weeds that might rob the growing 



