ROTATION, SOWING, TRANSPLANTING. 37 



of the plant and the edible portion for which it is 

 grown, which is a good guide to its manorial needs. 



A small area might be worked in three sections : 

 all the green crops being grown together on one 

 section, and all the root and stem crops on another ; 

 the potatoes being all planted together, with the pod- 

 bearing crops adjoining. The following year the 

 green crops would be moved along to follow the pod- 

 bearers and to some extent potatoes; and the root 

 and stem crops would also follow potatoes and partly 

 also green crops ; while potatoes would succeed green 

 crops and root and stem crops. This is assuming 

 that a considerable part of the area is devoted to 

 potatoes, as is usually the case. 



A simple rotation of this sort, and which could 

 readily be varied to suit the different quantities of 

 particular classes of crops grown, would suffice in 

 small gardens and allotments ; but in larger gardens 

 a more extended scheme might be carried out, on 

 similar lines. 



Seed Sowing. To avoid failures and disappoint- 

 ment it is important that seeds of good quality be 

 purchased, and from a reliable source, so that they 

 will be true to name. The surface soil should be 

 made very fine with the rake for seed sowing, whether 

 in the seed-bed for transplanting later, or in the 

 open ground when sowing where the crop is to mature. 

 It is necessary to sow at the proper depths, placing 

 small seeds near the surface and larger seeds pro- 

 portionately deeper ; and in all cases to sow slightly 

 deeper than the average in a light sandy soil, and 

 nearer the surface in a stiff clay. Thin sowing should 

 be the regular practice, and afterwards early thinning 



