90 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. . 



CROP RIDGING. 

 Ridging for crop is performed in tlie preparation of the land 

 for sowing or planting by first opening a fuiTOW with the plow 

 or spade, in which the manure intended for the crop is spread 

 thickly, whereupon the two fuiTows, as in ordinaiy ridging, 

 are thrown over it ; the ridges being then partially flattened 

 by ninning a rake or hook along each, or passing over them 

 the back of a wide, light harrow, or a mere bar, or a roller, if 

 the natm-e of the manm-e seem to require it, the seed is sown 

 or plantei.l along the centre, and covered in one of the ordinaiy 

 modes. In ridging potatoes the seed is usually laid immedi- 

 ately upon the manure, and then covered and finished as above 

 directed. Ridging for crop is often found economical and ad- 

 vantageous in mild, moist climates or on wet soils, but under 

 all ordinary circumstances " flat cultm-e" is preferable. 



HILLING. 



In agriculture, hilling is, like ridging, opposed to flat cul- 

 ture, liut diifers from ridging in that the hill is formed by 

 throwing fm'rows together both ways hj cross plowing. 



When the crop is to be manm'ed in the hill, deep furi'ows 

 are run each way at suitable distances, and the manm-e, being 

 carted on, is dropped into the fm'row at the point of intersec- 

 tion. The planting of the crop is then completed either by 

 dropping the seed directly upon the manm-e, as for potatoes, 

 or by first hoeing over the manm-e a slight coat of earth, upon 

 which the seed, as in corn or pole beans, is dropped, and the 

 covering of both seed and manure completed with the hoe ; or 

 the manm-e, if coarse, is first covered by throwing together two 

 fmTOws over it, as in ridging, and then planting the crop upon 

 it with the hoe or other implement, the hills proper being 

 f :>rmed in the after cultivation of the crop. 



In gardening, and to some extent in farming also, the term 

 " lulling" has become so far modified in its meaning as not 

 necessarily to imply that the earth is materially gathered 

 around the plants, but simply that the plants themselves are 

 set, or the seeds planted in small clumps of three, or fom-, or 



