Rotations, &c. 51 



classes of plants are standing together on the same bed but 

 the most carefully-planned scheme is liable to disarrange- 

 ment by unsuitable weather, the attacks of birds or of insects, 

 and other unforeseen circumstances which may make it neces- 

 sary at short notice to discard one crop and substitute another 

 of an entirely different kind. 



There are also difficulties in the way of arranging a perfect 

 rotation arising from the fact that the gardener must grow the 

 various classes of crops in very unequal proportions to suit 

 the demand. Fortunately, whilst he cannot altogether ignore 

 rotations he is not bound to them to nearly the same extent 

 as is the farmer. By deep and thorough cultivation and by 

 systematically fertilizing the soil he can make it capable of 

 continuously carrying crops in a way which cannot be done 

 under shallow culture. A deeply worked and well fertilized 

 soil will yield good crops in any season, even if a strict rotation 

 is not followed, whereas a shallow soil in a dry season may be 

 frequently more or less of a failure in spite of a rotation. The 

 fact, however, still remains that the productiveness of the 

 soil and the health and vigour of the crops are better main- 

 tained when a rotation of cultivating, manuring, and cropping 

 is carried out 



This fact should be constantly borne in mind when planning 

 successional crops. By a carefully-arranged system it it quite 

 possible to secure the advantages of a rotation whilst escaping 

 any bad consequences which may arise from its omission. 

 This desirable result may be secured by dividing the vegetable 

 garden into three equal parts, each part to be bastard trenched 

 and liberally dressed with farmyard manure once every three 

 years. In the intervening years ordinary digging or ploughing 

 with a dressing of lime would follow the trenching, and similar 

 cultivation with fertilizers would follow the lime. 



By this arrangement the soil is kept in high condition on 

 the least expenditure of labour and manure. Every part of 

 the ground is deeply worked periodically, whilst the farmyard 

 manure which is given at the same time keeps up the neces- 

 sary supply of humus. Lime follows the manure because it 

 makes available the inert plant foods in the manure which 

 were left behind by the previous crop, besides keeping the soil 



