250 GAKDENIWG FOK THE SOUTH 



plants themselves by mulching, top-dressing, or sun 

 shades. Seeds will come up much more satisfactorily in 

 the open ground if shaded, than if one depends upon 

 watering. If watering is resorted to at all, it should be 

 given copiously and the supply kept up until the plants 

 are established. After watering, the ground should be 

 stirred about the plants, if up, as soon as it is sufficiently 

 dry, and never allowed to become hard. A mulching of 

 leaf mould is desirable, to keep the surface in a proper 

 state, and if applied when the surface is wet, it will pre- 

 vent the necessity of repeated waterings. (De Candolle, 

 Lindley, Mcintosh.) 



Summer Cultivation. — If before seeds are planted, 

 the soil be deeply moved and finely pulverized, the labor 

 necessary in the subsequent culture of garden crops is 

 greatly diminished. Still, the hoe cannot be dispensed 

 with, and the soil is stirred therewith among our growing 

 crops, in order that the earth may be kept in a light and 

 permeable slate, so that the roots of plants may extend 

 freely through it in search of food. If kept in this condi- 

 tion, water deposited by rain and dew is imbibed more 

 readily and sinks more deeply into the soil, supplying 

 plants both with moisture and ammonia. Moisture from 

 beneath is also more freely supplied by capillary attrac- 

 tion from the subsoil if the earth is kept in a light, porous 

 state. The atmosphere, laden with nutritive gases, freely 

 penetrates the soil and deposits nourishment within reach 

 of the young rootlets of plants. By the same process 

 weeds are destroyed, their growth prevented, and there 

 is also a thorough pulverization and intermixture with 

 the soil of the manures which have been applied. 



Judgment as to the time and manner of hoeing must be 

 exercised. Even hoeing may do harm — but there is more 

 danger that it will not be done sufficiently often, than per- 

 formed imperfectly. In a hot and a dry climate, hoe less 



