THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 119 



directions or these directions may be found in 

 their catalogues. The garden-beginner who 

 disregards such directions may miraculously 

 escape total failure, but he will do well to be 

 guided by experience in such matters for it is 

 of the greatest importance to plant seeds at 

 the right time, at a proper depth, and to put 

 them at distances apart which experience has 

 shown to prove the most satisfactory arrange- 

 ment. The planting table following this chap- 

 ter will serve as a complete guide to the home 

 vegetable garden-maker. It is only necessary 

 to add that all seeds ^planted must be firmed 

 in the soil — that is to say, pressed well into it 

 before being covered. Then, upon germina- 

 tion, the roots will take proper hold. 



Perhaps one of the commonest mistakes to 

 which the garden-beginner is liable, when lay- 

 ing out his first vegetable garden, is that of 

 not planning proportions properly, as a re- 

 sult of which he finds, when the season is half 

 over, he has planted too much of one thing and 

 not enough of another. To avoid this he must 

 take into account before a single seed goes into 

 the ground, to just what extent the demands 

 on the vegetable garden by the family table 



