86 



Cultivation and tillage 



If you watch an allotment holder who grows onions 

 really well working away at his seed-bed you will see 

 what a beautifully fine tilth he gets. If you try to do 

 the same you will probably fail; his seeds will be up 

 before yours and will grow into healthier plants. Only 

 after long practice w ill you succeed, and then you will 

 have mastered one of the great mysteries of gardening. 



As soon as the plants are up they have to be hoed, 

 and the more often this is done the better. Hoeing has 

 several useful effects on the soil; during summer time 

 some experiments may be made to find out what these 

 are. A piece of ground is wanted that has got no crop 

 on it. Set out three strips each six feet wide and six 

 feet long, leave one entirely alone, hoe the second once 

 a week, and the third three times a week ; put labels 

 on so that no mistake can arise. The surface of the 

 untouched plot becomes very compact and glazed in 

 appearance; the other soils look nice and crumbly. 

 Take the temperature of the soils by placing a ther- 

 mometer into it at various depths — half inch, three 

 inches, and six inches — also take the temperature of 

 the air; enter up the results as in the table, which 

 shows what happened at Harpenden. 



