HILLS AND FLAT CULTURE 87 



I make my beds four feet wide and any length desired. As my land is 

 little on the adobe order I put on three or four inches of fine creek sand 

 and a very heavy dressing of thoroughly decomposed mixture of cow, horse, 

 pig, and hen manure. My beds are twenty feet long and I confine the soil 

 in them by laying a round spruce pole on each side, said pole being about 

 six inches in diameter at one end and five at the other; a little larger or 

 smaller will answer. By driving a small stake at each end of these poles 

 and one in the middle, and fastening them to the pole by a single nail in 

 each stake, a great saving of space is made on the edges of the beds, as 

 without some protection the heavy rains wash the edges of the beds very 

 badly. 



A few. days before sowing the seed, in September, I water the bed very 

 thoroughly until the soil is thoroughly saturated to the depth of eight or ten 

 inches. Leave it until it is in just the right condition to work. Then incor- 

 porate the sand and manure into the bed in the best possible manner by 

 vigorous use of a six-tined hoe fork with round steel teeth about one-fourth 

 of an inch in diameter and eight inches long. This thorough work, with 

 the addition of the sand and manure, leaves my beds about eight inches 

 above the general level of the land, and between each bed I leave a walk 

 fourteen inches wide. 



Some may say it is a great deal of trouble to prepare such beds. 

 Granted ; but when the beds are once carefully made they are fit for imme- 

 diate use at all seasons of the year, and for many years to come, not only 

 for onions, but for early lettuce, radishes, turnips, table beets, dwarf peas, 

 etc., that require a light, rich, and well-drained soil. An application of a 

 little liquid hen manure occasionally is very beneficial, and is all the fertiliz- 

 ing the beds will need for many years. 



This shows small-scale, intensive work. With such beds it is 

 possible to have vegetables in edible condition, before it would be 

 wise to sow seeds of the same kinds in open ground in the same 

 locality. 



Hilling. Hilling of plants to afford soil-room for growth 

 started from shallow planting is another means of attaining drain- 

 age and soil warmth during the winter season. It is the ridge prin- 

 ciple applied in spots and with vastly greater labor. If one has a 

 fancy for it he can indulge in it in a hand-made winter garden, but 

 otherwise there is nothing to be said for it. 



Flat Culture. All references to systems which lift the plant- 

 bed above the common surface should be accompanied by the clear 

 declaration, that except as associated with the distribution of irriga- 

 tion water, they are a delusion and a snare if carried into summer 

 work. The very release of water which fits them for winter use 

 unfits them for the dry summer. Level culture is the broad basis 

 upon which summer conservation of moisture rests. The plant root 



