1/6 THE HOME ACRE. 



while at the same time maintaining a mastery over 

 the weeds. 



As soon as the severe frosts are over, in April, 

 I rake the coarsest of the stable-manure from the 

 plants, leaving the finer and decayed portions as a 

 fertilizer. Then, when the ground is dry enough 

 to work, I have a man weed out the rows, and if 

 there are vacant spaces, fill in the rows with young 

 plants. The man then forks the ground lightly 

 between the rows, and stirs the surface merely 

 among the plants. Thus all the hard, sodden 

 surface is loosened or scarified, and opened to the 

 reception of air and light, dew and rain. The man 

 is charged emphatically that in this cultivation he 

 must not lift the plants or disturb the roots to any 

 extent. If I find a plant with its hold upon the 

 ground loosened, I know there has been careless 

 work. Before digging along the row the fork is 

 sunk beside the plants to prevent the soil from 

 lifting in cakes, and the plants with them. In 

 brief, pains are taken that the plants should be 

 just as firm in the soil after cultivation as before. 

 Let the reader carefully observe that this work 

 is done early in April, while the plants are com- 

 paratively dormant. Most emphatically it should 

 not be done in May, after the blossoms begin to 

 appear. If the bed has been neglected till that 

 time, the surface merely can be cultivated with a 



