420 AGRICULTURE. 



growth of many crops, during the summer months, can be main- 

 tained in a soil which is only one spade deep. Hence, we would 

 trench or subsoil-plough all kitchen-gardens (taking care, first, that 

 they are well drained), whether sandy or clayey in texture. We 

 know that many persons, judging from theory rather than practice, 

 cannot see the value of deepening soils already too porous. But we 

 have seen its advantages strongly marked in more than one instance, 

 and therefore recommend it with confidence. It is only necessary 

 to examine light soils, trenched and untrenched, to be convinced of 

 this. The roots in the former penetrate and gather nourishment 

 from twice the cubic area that they do in the former ; and they are 

 not half so easily affected by the atmospheric changes of tempera- 

 ture. 



Old gardens, that have been long cultivated, are greatly im- 

 proved by trenching and reversing the strata of soil. The inorganic 

 elements, or mineral food of plants, often become so much exhausted 

 in long cultivated kitchen gardens, that only inferior crops can be 

 raised, even with abundant supplies of animal manure. By turning 

 up the virgin loam of the subsoil, and exposing it to the action of 

 the atmosphere, its gradual decomposition takes place, and fresh 

 supplies of lime, potash, etc., are afforded for the vigorous growth 

 of plants. 



We have only room for a single hint more, touching the kitchen 

 garden. This is, to recommend the annual use of salt, in moderate 

 quantities, sown broadcast over the whole garden early in the spring, 

 and more especially on those quarters of it where vegetables are to 

 be planted which are most liable to the attacks of insects that har- 

 bor in the earth. We are satisfied that salt, spread in this way, 

 before vegetation has commenced, or the earth is broken up for 

 sowing seeds, at the rate of ten bushels per acre, is one of the best 

 possible applications to the soil. 



It destroys insects, acts specifically on the strength of the stems, 

 and healthy color of the foliage of plants, assists porous soils in 

 collecting and retaining moisture, and is an admirable stimulant to 

 the growth of many vegetables. In all the Atlantic States, where 

 it is easily and cheaply procured, it ought, therefore, to form an 

 annual top-dressing for the whole kitchen garden. 



