162 GARDEN PROFITS 



wait a little longer before you plant, especially the 

 strawberries. 



APRIL 



The Value of Manure. It must be remembered 

 that the garden cannot be planted in a few minutes; 

 gardening requires patience, a strict adherence to 

 small details, and also considerable foresight. 

 Try to have your garden a little better than your 

 neighbor's. Feed your ground; there is no use 

 trying to grow crops on poor, impoverished soil 

 on which chickweed could hardly exist. Some 

 soils respond readily to fertilizers, but in most cases 

 well rotted farmyard manure proves the best tonic. 

 Don't feed in spoonful doses, but give liberal appli- 

 cations. 



One of the chief values in manure lies in its ca- 

 pacity to catch and store moisture; lack of manure, 

 and therefore lack of moisture, causes more poor 

 vegetables than anything else. Vegetables are quick 

 growers, of a succulent nature, and are curiously 

 affected by a lack of moisture. With carrots, 

 for instance, the core gets very hard and dry and 

 the outer part peels off. In beets it will be shown 

 by white, hard lines; in peas by small size; in beans 

 by the pod being curved and very stringy. In 

 celery the stringiness is, in nine cases out of ten, 

 the result of insufficient manure, which will also 

 cause peppers to become very strong and cabbages 

 to form stubby roots. 



Repeated Advice. If you have new ground to 

 break for a garden, have it well plowed, using a 



