142 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



crooked row was apparent to the eye. The owner 

 knows the width of the farm in inches, and even half- 

 inch spaces are taken into account in making the rows. 

 That is, with many crops the distance from center to cen- 

 ter of rows is i2 l / 2 inches rather than 12 or 13. This 

 example is given to show how very particular the owner 

 is as a garden mechanic. Although often 20 to 30 men 

 are working on the farm, every row for every crop is 

 marked by the owner. The seed drills are then guided 



FIG. 31. POPULAR MARKER 



FIG. 32. HOMEMADE MARKER 



over the shallow marks, or the plants are set in them. 

 All the small crops are cultivated with hand wheel hoes 

 and inter-cropping is practiced extensively. The second 

 crop is often well started before the first is harvested. 

 At such times the rows are only 6% inches from center 

 to center. The reader can readily see how difficult, if not 

 impossible, it would be to use a wheel hoe if the spaces 

 between the rows were not uniform in width. The 

 marker used on this farm is shown in Figure 31. It may 

 be purchased of seed-supply houses. The teeth are 

 easily adjusted, and the scale on the bar to which they 

 are attached makes it possible to space the rows as may 



