THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



pared by ploughing and dragging both ways 

 and floating off, or if spading is necessary, it 

 should be very thoroughly done, so that the soil is 

 entirely broken up and pulverised, and the steel 

 rake should be used to get the surface into as fine 

 a condition as possible. The lines for the plants 

 should be set and the distance apart the plants are 

 to stand in the rows indicated. Market gardeners 

 use a marker consisting of a long pole with a cross- 

 piece at one end of the length of the distance apart 

 of the rows and provided with a triangular piece 

 of wood, as a marker or peg, at each end. This 

 is drawn over the ground in each direction and a 

 plant set at each intersection of the lines. It is very 

 little more trouble to use a garden line and reel, 

 and the result is much straighter lines. A garden 

 tape, which has the feet marked in red numbers, 

 is handy in this connection, and as a hundred-foot 

 line is inexpensive, it will be found a very profit- 

 able thing to have about the garden. 



It will much simplify the planting to have the 

 rows marked out and the holes dug before any 

 plants are lifted from the beds. The hotbeds should 

 have been well watered the night before, and if the 

 number of plants is not large, planting may be 



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