LECT. x ENCOURAGEMENT AND ENDEAVOUR 



145 



of the hoe, both for preventing weeds and stimulating 

 the growth of useful crops. The man who despises 

 or underrates the use of the hoe can never be a 

 good gardener a master in the art of cultivation. 



Good seeds, thin sowing and early thinning of 

 plants to prevent crowding, have been pointed out as 

 prime essentials in cultivation. Think of these 



Fia. 35. A LESSON IN THINNING. 



Crowded and spoiled, thinned and profitable. This applies to all root and 



green crops. 



things of the value of stout, sturdy, well-rooted, 

 and well-set plants on the one hand, and of the com- 

 parative worthlessness of drawn-up weaklings, stuck 

 into the ground with scarcely any roots, on the 

 other. (See page 100.) We say think of these things, 

 but also act, abandoning wrong, and choosing right 

 methods, as being the cheaper, better, and more 



K 



