156 MAEKET GARDENING. 



phate of lime, potash, nitrogen and sulphate of lime. 

 After the application of the fertilizer run a subsoil plow 

 in the open furrows, breaking up the hard pan and dis- 

 tributing the manure. Deep culture is a necessity to 

 success, and the sub-soil plow the most important imple- 

 ment, as every inch the soil is deepened permits the 

 roots to draw nutriment from an additional hundred 

 tons of earth per acre. Next, split the ridges covering 

 the fertilizer, and, transposing the relative positions of 

 ridge and furrow, back down the new ridges nearly to 

 the level of the field, and drill upon the flat so formed, 

 the seed thus being placed directly over the fertilizer 

 and broken subsoil. If the weather be dry, a roller 

 should follow the seed drill, to insure germination. An 

 advantage will be found in preparing the ground, apply- 

 ing the fertilizer and splitting the ridges, a fortnight in 

 advance of drilling, that a portion of the fertilizer may 

 have assumed an assimilable form for the early subsist- 

 ence of the young plants. A light dressing of common 

 salt applied to the soil will be found beneficial to the 

 best crop, especially in dry soil. When the young plants 

 are half an inch high, they should be side-scraped with 

 steel hoes, and then cross-cut with four-inch hoes into 

 clumps of three or four plants, the clumps to be after- 

 wards reduced to one plant by hand- weeding as more 

 fully described under the head of Turnips. This process 

 will give about thirty thousand plants to the acre if the 

 stand be good. 



The crop should be kept free from weeds, and the 

 soil loose, that air and moisture may more freely pene- 

 trate to the roots. With thorough cultivation and sub- 

 soil breaking in mid-summer, the roots are not so liable 

 to suffer from variations of temperature and moisture ; 

 hence, the growth is more uniform, and the roots are 

 less weedy and distorted. During the entire culture 

 care must be taken not to injure the leaves of the plants, 

 as with impaired lungs, a healthy action is impossible. 



