^ HAPPY— RAIN OR SHINE 129 



it insures the thing you want — ^vegetables and 

 not money — unless, of course, you do truck 

 gardening for a living, which alters the case. 



It was because I practiced the methods of 

 intensive gardening that I was insured the 

 worst year for gardening (in Maine) I have 

 ever known. In putting in the Bantam com, 

 for instance, I dug for each hill a hole a foot 

 deep and wide, in which I mixed a little pulver- 

 ized sheep manure and bone meal (wood ashes 

 do not seem to help com) with the (previously 

 manured) soil. Then, with my finger, I made 

 seven little holes for seven kernels of corn 

 which had soaked in water overnight. Then I 

 dug down with my trowel for some moist soil 

 and put it over the kernels, after which, with 

 my foot or the flat end of the hoe I firmed the 

 soil. Then I wet the "hill" thoroughly (usually 

 it is called a hill, though hilling is no longer 

 practiced by up-to-date com growers) and 

 finally I hoed an inch of dry soil over the whole 

 to form a dust mulch to keep in the moisture. 

 As all of the seven kernels sprouted, three were 

 pulled out when they were six inches high, the 

 strongest being left. 



MAKE INTENSIVE GARDENING COMPULSORY! 



It was slow work, no doubt — ^but I got my 

 com; I was insured against total loss. In a 

 favorable season most of my painstaking work 

 would have been superfluous; but don't you 



