GARDENING AND TRUCK FARMING. 289 



plants will endure, and readers must decide for themselves when 

 to plant in their locality. Every gardener should keep a diary, 

 and record every operation with the date. It becomes exceed- 

 ingly valuable as the years pass, to be able to look back and see 

 how early and late the different garden crops have been planted, 

 what degree of cold they have endured, and at what date they 

 have matured. All these points are important, and should not 

 be left to memory, but be made a matter of record. 



Insects. In another chapter you will find a description of 

 the various insects which are injurious to the garden, and the 

 best means of preventing their ravages, and I shall only say 

 that to avoid many of them, all that is necessary is a soil so 

 rich and well cultivated as to insure a strong thrifty plant. 

 This is not true of all, and for some, poisons must be used, and 

 when this is done, it should be with extreme care. The rem- 

 edy should also be applied in time, as a little delay may cause 

 the loss of the plants in spite of all efforts to the contrary. 

 When you have such crops as are liable to the attacks of in- 

 sects as young cabbage plants, cucumbers, squashes, melons, 

 etc., watch them constantly, and have your poisons already 

 mixed and ready for use. Fortunately, with most of these 

 pests, the period in which they injure the plants is short, and 

 attention for a few days will usually .save them. 



Rotation and Succession of Crops. Most garden 

 crops do best if not planted on the same land year after year- 

 onions being perhaps the only exception and this should be 

 kept in mind in assigning the different vegetables their place in 

 the garden. A garden brought to the condition it should be, is 

 too valuable to grow only one crop in a season, and as there are 

 quick maturing crops, and the planting season lasts from the 

 first of March, or earlier, till September, there is no need of any 

 vacancies. Keep something growing on every foot of the garden, 

 if only sweet corn to grow fodder for the cows. In some cases 

 two crops can stand on the ground at once for a short time, as 

 for example, vines can be planted among the early potatoes and 

 get a little start before the potatoes are dug, or cabbage or sweet 

 corn can be planted in the same way. Beans or cabbage can 



19 



