1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 159 



divisions: 1. Location and Soil of Market Garden. 2. Ma- 

 nures. 3. Seeds. 4. Seed Sowing and Crop Culture. 

 5. Markets and Marketing. G. Howwe raise Special Crops. 



Location and Soil of MarTcet Garden. 

 For an ideal market garden we choose one having a variety 

 of soils and a varied exposure. For our early crops we seek 

 a southern aspect, protected on the north and north-west by 

 bluffs, buildings, trees or at least close fences. We prefer 

 for most vegetables a lightish loam having a little sand in its 

 composition, and for these reasons : We can work land of 

 this description earlier in the spring, and if, perchance, 

 worked when too moist, it partly or wholly recovers from the 

 ill effects. It responds very quickly to high manuring, and 

 is well adapted to the cultivation of small crops by improved 

 garden tools. In soils of this kind we find the conditions 

 necessary for rapid root development, and necessarily, there- 

 fore, of vigorous plant growth. 



Manures. 



Having our parcel of ground adapted to gardening, we are 

 confronted by the omnipresent fertilizer question. Some 

 one has said, " To develop the utmost economic capacity of 

 a given soil by fertilizing appliances, is the work of a wiser 

 man than belongs to our day." Growing plants require 

 food ; accordingly, before we can crop land heavily we must 

 fertilize abundantly. The chemical elements entering into 

 the composition of plants are comparatively few, and the 

 ash or mineral elements very light. 



It is estimated that an acre of grain contains but one hun- 

 dred and forty pounds of ash elements, while the weight of 

 the foot of soil on the surface of the grain field may be nearly 

 four millions of pounds. The question continually reverts : 

 In how concentrated a form ought we to give the fertilizing 

 elements to the plants? Some reason that, as it would be 

 folly to try to satisfy a hungry horse with a few whiffs of 

 hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, seasoned with chlorine or 

 fluorine and an occasional pinch of calcium, sodium and 

 phosphorus, so it would be equally unwise to feed plants 



