42 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the soil will admit and thoroughly enriched with plenty of good barn- 

 yard manure. Vegetables can be raised with more or less success 

 on soils of various degrees of richness, but taking the average 

 piece of ground, if from five to ten cords of good barnyard 

 manure is spread broadcast and harrowed in, in the fall, and 

 in the spring from five hundred to a thousand pounds of some 

 good chemical fertilizer is dropped in the rows at the time of 

 planting, there is no reason why a good vegetable garden cannot 

 be had. 



A very important point in forming a good garden is to so 

 arrange the plantingK)f the different vegetables, both by a judi- 

 cious selection of sorts, and also bj^ planting the varieties selected 

 at the proper times, as to secure a succession of the different 

 kinds for the table throughout the season, and not a dozen varie- 

 ties all togeiher when it is impossible to use more than three 

 or four ; or on the other hand having a time come when there 

 is no vegetable whatever fit for tlie table. Let us now suppose 

 that we have prepared a garden of one acre for planting, and that 

 it is the first of April, 



Suppose the piece to be oblong in shape, say 100 feet wide by 

 436 feet long, which, divided into rows, will give 109 rows, each 

 row (that is, the surface upon which the seeds or plants will 

 be placed) one foot wide and 100 feet long, with three feet 

 between each row, which is ample space for horse cultivation. 



I will now mention the varieties of vegetables suitable for the 

 kitchen garden, with short hints for their culture, and at the same 

 time state the number of rows of each vegetable, which should 

 be planted to supply a family of ten persons for one yeav in au 

 average season. Please remember that our rows are each 100 

 feet long. 



The Beet. The soil best suited to the beet is a deep, light 

 and rich sandy loam. Early beets should be sown from the 10th 

 to the 20th of April, or as soon as the ground is in good working 

 condition. As soon as the plants are well up they should be 

 thinned to from four to six inches apart. July 1, or perhaps a little 

 earlier, is the proper time to plant for the winter crop ; the plants 

 ma}' be left a little closer together, say from two to thi'ee inches 

 apart, as, the weather being warmer, they will grow as well at this 

 season as the early ones sown in Apiil do thinned to six inches 

 apart. Cover tbe seed one inch deep. The Early Bastian and 



