PREPARATION OF THE LAND II 



nent improvement. Reclaimed bogs and swamps are 

 excellent, when properly handled, for the production 

 of onions, celery, etc. 



W. W. Rawson, in his well-known book on mar- 

 ket gardening, says : "Sandy loam, with a sandy or 

 gravelly subsoil, should be selected. A clay subsoil, 

 at least until underdrained, will render any land 

 cold, as it retains the moisture." 



DRAINAGE. To do this subject justice would re- 

 quire more space than I have at my disposal. Suf- 

 fice it to say that most garden soils can be greatly 

 benefited by a system of underground tile drains, 

 and, also, that some soils are absolutely unfit for 

 garden purposes until they are underdrained. Tile 

 drains help to make wet soils drier, and dry soils 

 more moist. Write to the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and ask for a copy 

 of free Farmers' Bulletin No. 187, entitled, Drainage 

 of Land. 



PLANNING AND LAYING-OUT. Begin this prelim- 

 inary work early. Study the characteristics of your 

 land, its wet and dry places, its sandy or clayey 

 spots, etc. Measure it accurately. Then figure out, 

 on paper, a definite planting plan, showing just 

 where everything should go, the distance between 

 rows, and ideas about successional plantings. The 

 diagram of a garden, pictured in this chapter, may 

 give you some useful hints. It is a plan drawn by 

 John W. Lloyd for an Illinois Experiment Station 

 bulletin. No distances between rows are given in 

 this reproduction of his plan, for distances would 

 depend upon whether the garden is to be worked by 

 hand or by horse power. (The correct distances for 

 planting are given, either way, elsewhere in this 

 book.) 



