176 AGRICULTURE 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Value of Farm Garden. The farm garden should always be 

 one of the first considerations. It provides for the table, and per- 

 haps for market also, the vegetables and small fruits which those 

 who live in cities have to obtain at much greater expense from the 

 market and green grocery. 



The garden should be plowed arid planted at the proper time, 



and tilled so as to produce the best 

 results. It should furnish a succession 

 of seasonable vegetables, supplying 

 HAND WEEDER wholesome and palatable food. In 



no other way can the same outlay of time, labor, and money 

 give greater returns. 



Location and Cultivation. The garden should be convenient 

 to the house. It is better to have the beds long and narrow, rather 

 than short and broad; thus more work can be done by horse and 

 by wheel tools. By frequent cultivation under proper conditions, 

 its soil should be made a fine deep seed-bed. It should be thor- 

 oughly fertilized. For most vegetables the soil cannot be too rich; 

 usually, the more rapid their growth, the better their texture and 

 flavor. 



No untilled corners nor hedgerows should be left in a garden to 

 shelter and breed weeds and insect 

 pests. Nor should the soil be left idle 

 to waste plant food, grow up in weeds, 



and infest the land with weed seeds. 



WEEDING OR THINNING HOOK 



As soon as early vegetables are gath- 

 ered, their rows or plots should be planted in late ones or 

 seeded in some crop, such as clover or rye, to turn under in the 

 spring. 



