20 GARDENING FOR YOUNG AND OLD. 



or oats and peas. Four-fifths of our land will be used as 

 it is now, to produce such crops as good tillage will af- 

 ford, aided by the use of moderate dressings of artificial 

 fertilizers. Wherever profitable we shall increase the 

 use of lime, ashes and plaster, composted it may be with 

 muck from our swamps. 



There is nothing new in all this, for farmers are doing 

 the samo thing now. They make a little manure, and they 

 apply it first to one field and then to another. The change 

 I wish to make is to apply the manure to one field only, 

 year after year. I want to introduce the highest kind 

 of "high farming" on a small scale and for special crops. 

 I do not care what the crops are. Even tobacco may 

 be grown in "this way, but I do not want to have anything 

 to do with the article. There are better crops to grow, 

 and crops which require as much skill and labor and brains, 

 and which will yield larger profits. As a rule, the crops 

 which require the most labor must have the best land 

 and the heaviest manuring. This is preeminently so in 

 this country, where labor is high and ordinary land cheap. 

 At first it will be well to devote the field-garden to crops 

 which require comparatively little labor and manure. 

 Sweet corn is such a crop, and so are tomatoes, potatoes, 

 beans and late cabbages. The latter crop requires good 

 rich land, but it can be grown in ordinary seasons, with 

 little more than good farm management. If you have 

 any fears that the land is not rich enough to produce a 

 good crop of late cabbages of the large varieties, plant 

 such varieties as the Winningstadt about the middle of 

 July. 



Melons and cucumbers and squashes can be grown by 

 the use of a little manure in the hill, aided by a table- 

 spoonful of superphosphate. 



Onions must have rich land, and it will be well not to 

 go into this crop too extensively the first year, but I 

 would, by all means, sow some in order to get acquainted 



