The Small-holder as a Market Gardener. 41 



yields remarkable results as compared with ordinary culture, 

 and its special value to the small-holder lies in the fact that 

 its principles can be more readily and less expensively applied 

 on a small than on a large scale. It is a system in which 

 personal care is an extremely important factor of success, and 

 it is just this personal attention which the small-holder is in a 

 position to give. 



Modern investigations confirm tne experience of past gener- 

 ations that the proper use of the spade by manual labour is 

 the best means of increasing the productive power of the soil, 

 and no mechanical appliance yet devised is equal to it for 

 efficient work. Cultivated soil teems with minute organisms 

 which are constantly engaged in maintaining its fertility, and 

 spade cultivation surpasses every other method in producing 

 the conditions in which these indispensable bacteria multiply 

 most rapidly. As the cultivation of the soil by hand labour is 

 a necessary part of intensive work, that becomes an additional 

 reason why this system of culture should appeal strongly to 

 the small-holder. 



