6O A MANUAL OF 



action, the loosening and lightening influence 

 which the vegetable matter has upon our 

 stiff clay soils particularly, is of the greatest 

 importance. The strongest commercial fertil- 

 izer in the world, on a stiff, heavy clay soil, 

 destitute of vegetable matter, will give very 

 meagre returns. Ploughing under clover and 

 other green crops must then be resorted to in 

 connection with special manures, in order to 

 make their use satisfactory to the planter. 



PREPARING GROUND FOR CABBAGE PLANTS. 

 From what we have written, the reader will 

 understand the reason for our now saying, 

 select for your cabbage seeds a spot as far dis- 

 tant from where they have been previously 

 grown as possible. There is scarcely any pos- 

 sible preparation, for either a field of cabbage 

 or a bed of growing plants, better than plough- 

 ing under a good heavy growth of large clover 

 the previous summer. The clover always leaves 

 the ground in a loose, light, mellow, healthy 

 condition for the following spring's work, so 

 that comparatively little stable manure will be 

 required. If it is desired to sow the cabbage 

 seeds early in spring, we usually plough the 

 ground thoroughly and leave it in ridges the 

 fall previous, so that it will more readily dry 



