VEGETABLES. Si' 



man^ who will exercise a like care, that his plants com- 

 mence well, will be so far a co-worker with God. 

 Plants should not be so puny for a month after they 

 are up, that, if a worm or a bug take a mouthful from 

 them, he will take the whole. By a prudent forecast, 

 in preparing the ground and the seeds properly, and 

 in selecting a suitable time for planting, w»e should en- 

 deavor to give them a good start. We should use fore- 

 thought, and take special care for their infancy. More 

 than is generally considered depends upon giving our 

 plants a good setting out on their summer's career. If 

 this is not the whole of the battle, it is certainly an im- 

 portant part of it. 



189. I do not mean to say that by due care of their 

 infancy you can make them so powerful that they will 

 compete successfully with poke and pig- weed for the 

 food of the soil ; or be able to resist the encroach- 

 ments of horned-cattle and swine ; but I will say, that 

 by starting them vigorously, you can make them put 

 forth brawny arms, long roots, and broad leaves, by 

 which to draw for their productiveness from sources 

 which cost you nothing — from the air and from the 

 subsoil. 



140. It should be remembered that a portion of that 

 which makes plants grow, is at our own disposal, as 

 our soils and our manures ; while another and about 

 an equal portion is in common stock, blown about by 

 the winds of heaven. Now if we work rightly that 

 which is at our own disposal ; if we make our soils deep, 

 mellow and friable ; if we put in the manures, instead of 



