THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 227 



perfectly when the plants are small. Careful early cultivation is 

 of the utmost importance, since, if the weeds are removed when they 

 are young, the work of weeding is very small. If allowed to remain 

 until well rooted, their removal is often a very serious matter, and 

 frequently, if neglected at this early stage, the weeds become so 

 firmly established as to make it a question whether to remove them 

 or plow under the whole crop ; and often it is the part of wisdom to 

 adopt the latter alternative. Aside from its effect in the prevention 

 of weeds, early cultivation is of great value in breaking up the crust 

 that packs firmly around the tender growing stems of plants, and 

 that seriously interferes with their growth. It is also, like all sur- 

 face cultivation, of aid in the conservation of moisture in the soil. 



Importance of Not Allowing Weeds to Go to Seed. A common 

 source of weed infection is often found in the few weeds that are 

 allowed to go to seed toward the end of the growing season in the 

 maturing crop or after the crop has been gathered. To some farm- 

 ers it often seems a small matter to allow a few plants of pig-weed, 

 purslane, tumble weed and weeds of other kinds to go to seed in the 

 garden, but absolute cleanliness should be the only rule in this par- 

 ticular, and it is by far the most economical in practice in the long 

 run. It requires but little labor and saves much useless expense 

 to destroy weeds that are going to seed. If the preventives for weeds 

 suggested are closely followed hand weeding will be reduced to a 

 minimum and will often be unnecessary with any crop. 



Weed Seeds in Manure for the Garden. The manure applied 

 to the garden is often coarse and contains many weed seeds, and is 

 a fruitful source of weed infection. The manure intended for the 

 garden that contains the seeds of weeds should be piled up and al- 

 lowed to ferment until the whole mass is thoroughly rotted. By 

 this means the seeds in it will be killed. But in order to rot manure 

 to best advantage, it should be forked over occasionally when well 

 warmed up by fermentation, and the whole turned over, with the 

 outside of the pile thrown into the center. If dry, it should be 

 watered enough to enable fermentation to continue, and to prevent 

 "fire-fanging." It is seldom advisable to use fresh manure in the 

 garden, and manure should only be applied in this condition when 

 free from weeds, and then only for some late-maturing crops, in 

 which case there will be time for it to rot before the crops need it. 

 All early crops need well rotted manure, and require it in much 

 larger quantities than do the late-maturing crops. (U. Minn. 

 A. E. S. 38.) 



General Cultivation. The methods to- be pursued in the gen- 

 eral cultivation of garden crops will vary somewhat, according to the 

 soil, season and crop. However, it is very important to remember 

 that the destruction of weeds is but a small part of the work of cul- 

 tivation. The most important part is to so fit the soil that it may 

 best withstand drouth. This is accomplished by frequent shallow 

 cultivation during the period of growth. The first implements to 

 use in the care of such crops as are generally cultivated by hand are 

 those that work the soil to only a very slight depth, close to the 



