No. 4.] THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN. 301 



Seed-catalogues are usually published in January. It is well 

 to order as early as possible, to insure prompt service, and also 

 to make sure that a shortage of stock, which occurs almost 

 yearly in some kind of seed, will not cause disappointment. 



Early ordering also gives time for testing any seed of which 

 for any reason the buyer is suspicious. If proved to be of 

 poor vitality it can be replaced. 



In the winter all necessary tools should be bought. The 

 beginner at hand culture needs at least a spading fork (be sure 

 to get one with a strap ferule), a hoe and a rake; line, stakes 

 and labels; a trowel; and if not a wheelbarrow, at least a 

 basket. He should have a wheel hoe if he can afford it. If 

 his ground is free from stones, and his garden large, a planting 

 machine will probably pay for itself. For horse culture, be- 

 sides these tools the gardener will need a cultivator and pos- 

 sibly a seed drill. If he does not wish to buy the plow and 

 harrow he can hire them once a year. 



Fertilizer should also be ordered in the winter. When planted 

 in large fields, vegetables properly require a different mixture 

 for each crop; but in the vegetable garden this is not practi- 

 cable. They are therefore best divided into two classes: those 

 which are used for their stems or leaves, as spinach, chard, let- 

 tuce, cabbage; and those which are grown for their seed or 

 root, as beans and peas, potatoes, turnip. The first of these 

 should uniformly be treated with a nitrogenous fertilizer, say a 

 reliable high-grade top-dressing; the second should be given a 

 similarly good potato fertilizer. The reason for this difference 

 is of course simply because nitrogen, when given in large pro- 

 portion, stimulates to top growth instead of to blossom or root 

 growth. But nitrogen, in the form of nitrate of soda or sul- 

 phate of ammonia, should always be on hand to give in very 

 small quantities, to struggling young seedlings, or to plants 

 when just set out. It should be given as a top-dressing and 

 washed in with water (manure-water is just as good); the 

 other fertilizers may be given in the same way, or sowed be- 

 neath the plants in the drill or hill, to give a good start. 



No one will garden for many years in succession without 

 some attempt to lengthen his season by the aid of glass. If 

 the tomato and lettuce plants are started in the south window 



