THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN 99 



can get a warm, sunny exposure; if sloping south the crops will 

 be earlier, but this is not essential. Very stiff land of a clayey 

 nature can be improved by additions of street scrapings, sand, 

 fine gravel or fine coal ashes. Vegetables will grow well in almost 

 any soil in which water does not stand. Such soils require drainage 

 to produce good crops; drainage warms as well as sweetens the soil. 

 The best manure for nearly all vegetables is well rotted cow or 

 horse manure, if applied and worked in. In the fall fresh manure 

 can be used to advantage, but it is better not to use such when near 

 planting time. It is always well to save and bury as much of the 

 humus or vegetable matter as possible ; too often this is thrown on 

 the rubbish heap. 



In considering any general order for work for the vegetable garden 

 the leading principle should be that its productive powers should be 

 taxed fully. There need be no resting of the ground and it is very 

 easy if there should, perchance, be a surplus of any crops to sell 

 them, to give them away, and in case of the Brassica family to 

 return them to the soil for manure. Hard cropping of course is 

 not possible unless the land is liberally manured and the surface 

 soil kept constantly tilled. To put little in and take off much 

 means virtual exhaustion; a whip will not work as a substitute for 

 corn for a horse with hard work to do; nor will a candle burn long 

 if lit at both ends. Always dig deeply, and when occasion will 

 permit trench a couple of spits deep. Change crops from year to 

 year where this can be done; this is not absolutely necessary and 

 it is not always possible to do it, but the majority of vegetables 

 do better with a change of ground. 



Soils which are sour or acidy should have a liberal dressing of 

 lime; this is best applied in the fall after the crops have been gath- 

 ered. Sufficient lime is not used in New England; once in three 

 years the bulk of soils are benefited by an application ; do not apply 

 the lime, however, at the same time as manure, as the lime will 

 release much of the nitrogen from the latter. Barnyard manure 

 cannot always be procured, but good crops can be produced, with 

 chemical fertilizers alone; these, however, must be used with 

 greater precaution than the manure. Too often fertilizer is used 

 in seed drills and the seedmen are blamed for selling poor seed, 

 where the seedlings have been practically destroyed by the ferti- 



