20 MAKKET GARDENING. 



oxygen, carbon and nitrogen ; ifc also warms the soils, 

 while poorly drained land, by the course of evaporation, 

 becomes cold. By deepening the soil, we make it tillable 

 soon after rain, early in the spring, and prevent it from 

 becoming sour, hastening the chemical actions so neces- 

 sary in promoting the growth of crops. 



TILLAGE AND CULTIVATION. 



These operations, often spoken of as the same pro- 

 cess, are distinct operations, tillage being the breaking 

 and pulverizing of the soil, a preparation of a seed bed, 

 the work preparatory to the sowing of seed. Cultivation 

 is that work done after the germination of the seed, 

 with the view of developing a rapid growth of the plant, 

 and, incidentally, the suppression of weeds. 



In tillage, the ground is broken by plow, spade, or 

 other implement, with a view of dividing the particles 

 of earth and increasing the internal superfices of the 

 soil, for the purpose of holding moisture and absorbing 

 nutritive principles from the air. Tillage is necessary 

 on land of any character, and the more tillage the better 

 the results, for delicate roots cannot take up nourish- 

 ment as well amid a rough, cloddy, undisintegrated soil, 

 as crops in close contact with a soil well pulverized, 

 which affords, within a limited area, a greater percent- 

 age of available air, moisture, organic and inorganic 

 matter. 



Tillage is best performed with a spade, but as this 

 is a slow, expensive, and exceedingly laborious process, 

 digging can only be pursued in small gardens. On 

 tracts of an area of one-eighth of an acre and over, the 

 plow, in this country, becomes a necessity, and this 

 implement has now been lightened and perfected so as to 

 do the work almost equal to digging itself. Plowing 

 twice over always pays, three plowings is said to be equal 

 to one manuring. A garden soil may hold plant 



