394 GARDEN FARMING 



purpose of supplying the soil with humus. Stable manure is the 

 main reliance of the truck grower for his supply of humus. His 

 crops are grown in succession and cannot well be arranged in rota- 

 tions which admit of the use of green manuring crops. In fact, no 

 successful truck grower would think of attempting to produce 

 remunerative crops on his soil without the use of from 25 to 

 75 cubic yards of manure per acre each season. For such crops as 

 the radish, coarse, strong manure should be avoided. Only fine, 

 well-rotted manure is safe for use with this crop. Strong manures, 

 which are going through the process of fermentation and decay, 

 are too highly charged with nitrogen and induce a leaf develop- 

 ment out of proportion to the development of the root, which 

 usually results in an unsatisfactory and unmarketable product. Well- 

 decomposed manure, at the rate of from 40 to 60 cubic yards per 

 acre, will not be too much upon soils of the texture above described. 

 At the North such soils should be cultivated deeply by plowing 

 late in the fall, leaving the ground in ridges or lists during the 

 winter and, as soon as condition will permit in the spring, breaking 

 down and cultivating the rough surface with a harrow, at that 

 time incorporating with the surface the well-decomposed stable 

 manure. This will leave the manure in the first 3 or 4 inches 

 of the soil, instead of deeper, as would be the case if it were 

 plowed under. The ground should be thoroughly worked to make 

 it as fine as possible and to get the manure as thoroughly incor- 

 porated with the surface of the soil as can be done with the best 

 soil-stirring implements. After such a preparation the surface 

 should be made smooth and comparatively compact by the use 

 of an implement like the Meeker disk harrow, which will accom- 

 plish practically the same work as the garden rake. The ground 

 should then be marked off for seed sowing. It can be laid off in 

 rows, or, if the area is to be devoted exclusively to radishes, it may 

 be bedded and the rows run crosswise of the beds from 6 to 

 1 5 inches apart, the distance depending upon the method of culti- 

 vation. If the crop is planted in beds with narrow walks between, 

 it will be convenient to have the beds from 6 to 10 feet wide and 

 the rows from 6 to 8 inches apart. If a more extensive system 

 is to be used, the rows should be from 12 to 18 inches apart to 

 admit of cultivation. 



