PEEPARING GEOUND FOE TEANSPLANTS 51 



After the transplants have been taken off, the ground 

 should be carefully forked over if there is much coucL- 

 grass, convolvulus, or other peiennial weeds, care being 

 taken to get out as much as possible, because the smallest 

 piece that has a joint left in the ground will grow again. 



The ground should then be ploughed, and the seed 

 drilled, not sown broadcast, as then it is possible to keep 

 annual weeds down by hoeing between the hues until 

 such time as the green crop is high enough to suppress 

 them. 



The times for sowing and the quantities of seed required 

 per acre are: 



The crop should be ploughed or dug in while the stalks 

 are still soft, and not left until they become " woody." 



By the time the ground is wanted again for transplants, 

 the crop will have decayed and added a good supply of 

 humus to the soil. 



Manuring and Cleaning Crops. 



Instead of growing a green crop to be dug in as manure 

 for the beds, they may be given a fair dressing of farm- 

 yard manure and a root crop grown upon them. There 

 is an advantage in growing root crops, because the constant 

 hoeing needed for them cleans the land. For this reason 

 they are often called " cleaning crops." 



A crop of potatoes is the best to grow, as by the action 

 of their roots and tubers the soil is more broken up than 



