20 VEGECULTURE 



germs, and no crop must be grown thereon for at least three 

 months afterwards. Lime, in very small quantities, may be 

 effectively used as a preventive of insect attacks. Salt is another 

 fertilizer for the kitchen-garden, and one not generally recog- 

 nized ; in fact, many of our vegetables are native to the sea- 

 shore, and even demand .the application of this commodity, 

 which is often denied them. Common salt, sea-sand, and sea- 

 weed may all be used for the purpose of keeping up the balance 

 of saline elements in the soil, not forgetting also its drastic 

 action upon anything in the way of unwanted vegetation, 

 weeds, insects, and decay. Soot and vegetable-ash form other 

 valuable manurial and insect-combating agents ; and no garden 

 should be without a liberal supply. 



One point connected with the selection of suitable seeds that 

 is provocative of much heartburning and disappointment with 



cultivators may be noted. There is, I admit, much 

 The seductive attractiveness in the offer of new, im- 



Selection proved, or giant strains of certain vegetables, and 

 of Seeds an almost irresistible impulse and desire on the 



part of the gardener to try " just one row " in order 

 to experience the delights of producing something large and 

 novel or super-productive ; and there are few who can resist 

 the temptation thus presented. Well, that is perhaps as it 

 should be at least, so the seedsman thinks ; but the latter 

 individual often has to alter his jubilant note into something 

 of a sad strain upon receipt of complaints that his new seeds 

 did not come up to the advertised mark in the way of expecta- 

 tions ! But the seedsman is often unfairly blamed. Let it 

 be noted, and treated as a maxim, that improved strains created 

 by intense cultivation and rigorous selection demand a con- 

 tinuity of such cultivation and selection to maintain the standard 

 of excellence which the strain has acquired. In other words, 

 when the gardener buys seeds of an avowed improved vegetable, 

 he also purchases the responsibility of maintenance of quality 

 by personal attention to culture and treatment of his purchases ; 

 the improvement is passed by the seller to the buyer on the 

 understanding that the latter affords the necessary essentials 

 to enable the improvement to be perpetuated. Otherwise, under 

 bad cultivation and indifferent care, the good work is lost, 

 and the vegetable reverts to its former low standard. Thus it 

 must be clearly understood that high-class vegetables, raised 

 to the highest pitch of excellence, size, and productiveness by 

 diligent cultivation, require a generous treatment from the 



