132 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



somewhat brick-shaped, because of the greater work which 

 can be done with the same or fewer turnings of the horse 

 or team than on a square piece. At both ends there should 

 be a roadway left for turning the team. This shape is 

 equally adapted for flat or ridge cultivation. 



In the horse-power farm garden there should, of course, 

 be no permanent walks. If walks are desired, leave spaces 

 lengthwise unplanted and uncultivated and smooth down 

 the surface with a roller. Such arrangements, however, 

 waste land and waste moisture, for the hard ground draws 

 water laterally. It is better economy therefore to evenly 

 cultivate the whole area. Lay out the plantings in straight 

 rows for ease of cultivation, and either plant full rows of 

 each vegetable or continue the row with another kind 

 which requires the same distance between rows. Proper 

 distances for each vegetable will be considered in subse- 

 quent chapters. It is convenient to make the distances 

 multiples of some unit. For instance two feet between the 

 rows is about the minimum distance for horse cultivation. 

 Some growers therefore plant at two, four, six, eight, etc., 

 feet distances; others start with three feet and proceed 

 with six, nine, twelve, etc., the latter for the largest run- 

 ning vines. This makes rows of the small, upright grow- 

 ers a yard apart, which is rather too great a distance 

 ordinarily. 



It is often a great convenience to have permanent dis- 

 tance stakes set close to the fences on the ends of the plot 

 and placing them the accepted unit apart. It is easy to 

 regulate distances by slipping the planting line over two 

 opposite stakes which give the desired separation. If one 

 has a good horse and a good eye, he will, however, prob- 

 ably prefer to use a "marker" made with thills and plow 

 handles properly fastened to a cross-bar eight or ten feet 

 long and fitted with wooden teeth such distance apart as 

 he adopts as his unit of distance between the rows. Start- 

 ing then with a straight guide-line on the surface on one 

 side, three or four parallel lines can be clearly marked at 

 one driving over. Following: these marks with the garden 



