GENERAL DISCUSSION ON VEGETABLE GROWING. 



OPENED BY WARREN W. RAWSON, ARLINGTON, MASS. 



Saturday, February 3, 1906. 



A meeting for the consideration of the subject of vegetable grow- 

 ing was held at Horticultural Hall today. Hon. Warren W. 

 Rawson, Chairman of the Committee on Vegetables, opened the 

 discussion and spoke as follows: 



The necessary requirements for growing good vegetables are 

 proper soil, good seed, thorough cultivation, and careful attention. 



The soil for most vegetables should be of a sandy nature with a 

 good subsoil for drainage. A soil of this nature is especially 

 adapted to such crops as lettuce, spinach, radishes, cucumbers, 

 beets, asparagus, rhubarb, parsnips, peas, beans, celery, tomatoes, 

 and early cabbages. A heavier soil with a clay subsoil is best for 

 such crops as onions, late cabbage, early celery, and summer 

 lettuce. The light or sandy soil can be cultivated much earlier 

 than the heavy soils and will produce two or three crops each season, 

 while the heavy soil in most cases produces only one. 



The cultivation of the soil is a very important item to the crop 

 as well as the amount and kind of fertilizer applied. The better 

 the soil is prepared the earlier and better the crop. It should 

 never be worked when wet and not too early in the spring before 

 the frost is out because it is then cold and wet. In this locality 

 it often happens that land is prepared in the month of March and 

 then such crops as spinach, lettuce, and radishes are sown. But 

 it is better not to plant the above until April for then the ground 

 seldom freezes at night thus resulting in a better germination of 

 the seed. It will also grow better t]ien than when it is planted too 

 soon. 



On the heavier soils very little is done until the last of April or 

 the first of May. If the land is twice plowed and well harrowed 



