I04 Home Vegetable Gardening 



able work. "A stitch in time saves nine!" Have 

 your thread and needle ready beforehand! If I 

 knew how to give greater emphasis to this subject 

 of thorough cultivation, I should be tempted to de- 

 vote the rest of this chapter to it. If the beginner 

 at gardening has not been convinced by the facts 

 given, there is only one thing left to convince him — 

 experience. 



Having given so much space to the reason for 

 constant care in this matter, the question of methods 

 naturally follows. I want to repeat here, my 

 previous advice — by all means get a wheel hoe. The 

 simplest sorts cost only a few dollars, and will not 

 only save you an infinite amount of time and work, 

 but do the work better, very much better than it 

 can be done by hand. You can grow good vegeta- 

 bles, especially if your garden is a very small one, 

 without one of these labor-savers, but I can assure 

 you that you will never regret the small investment 

 necessary to procure it. 



With a wheel hoe, the work of preserving the soil 

 mulch becomes very simple. If one has not a wheel 

 hoe, for small areas very rapid work can be done 

 with the scuffle hoe (facing p. 28). 



The matter of keeping weeds cleaned out of the 

 rows and between the plants in the rows is not so 

 quickly accomplished. Where hand-work is neces- 

 sary, let it be done at once. Here are a few practical 



