32 Home Vegetable Gardening 



edge of the spade at each thrust cuts clean out to 

 where the soil has already been dug. The wide-tined 

 spading-fork is frequently used instead of the spade, 

 as it is lighter and can be more advantageously used 

 to break up lumps and level off surfaces. In most 

 soils it will do this work as well, if not better, than 

 the spade and has the further good quality of being 

 serviceable as a fork too, thus combining two tools 

 in one. It should be more generally known and 

 used. With the ordinary fork, used for handling 

 manure and gathering up trash, weeds, etc., every 

 gardener is familiar. The type with oval, slightly 

 up-curved tines, five or six in number, and a D 

 handle, is the most convenient and comfortable for 

 garden use. 



For areas large enough for a horse to turn around 

 in, use a plow. There are many good makes. The 

 swivel type has the advantage of turning all the fur- 

 rows one way, and is the best for small plots and 

 sloping ground. It should turn a clean, deep furrow. 

 In deep soil that has long been cultivated, plowing 

 should, with few exceptions, be down at least to the 

 subsoil ; and if the soil is shallow it will be advisable 

 to turn up a little of the subsoil, at each plowing — 

 not more than an inch — in order that the soil may 

 gradually be deepened. In plowing sod it will be 

 well to have the plow fitted with a coulter, which 

 turns a miniature furrow ahead of the plowshare, 



