492 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



may also be used in forcing crops to maturity during the 

 winter season. See Chapters XI, XII and XIII for in- 

 formation on these subjects. 



697. Management. High fertility and frequent tillage 

 are essential to success in home vegetable gardening. 

 The plot devoted to this work should receive annual 

 dressings of stable manure at the rate of 25 to 50 tons 

 an acre. Rotten manure will be most satisfactory, al- 

 though fresh manure may be applied before plowing, 

 except for tomato, pepper, eggplant, the cucurbits and 

 the root crops. If manure is used freely enough there 

 will be little necessity for the employment of commercial 

 fertilizers, although these can often be used advantage- 

 ously in home garden work. Nitrate of soda should be 

 kept on hand for topdressing about growing plants. A 

 complete fertilizer containing about 4 per cent of nitro- 

 gen, 8 per cent phosphoric acid and 10 per cent potash 

 will be beneficial under most conditions. 



Special attention is usually given to cultivation, hoe- 

 ing and weeding. A hard surface crust should not be 

 allowed to form, and tillage between the plants should be 

 so thorough that weed seeds will not be permitted to com- 

 plete germination. Fall plowing is an advantage in some 

 heavy soils. When deferred until spring, plowing should 

 be done at the earliest possible date, so that there will be 

 no delay in starting early crops. A soil deeply and thor- 

 oughly fined is essential to complete success. 



698. Plans. Economy of labor is one of the most im- 

 portant considerations in making plans for the home 

 garden. The old-fashioned garden, where everything is 

 planted in beds between boarded walks, requires a max- 

 imum amount of labor. This plan should not be used 

 unless in the very small plats of town or city. It is 

 much better to plant all classes of vegetables in rows, 

 running lengthwise of the plat. On farms, where there 

 is plenty of available land, the rows should be far enough 



