GARDEN PLOT EXPERIMENTS 129 



17. Watering vs. Surface Mulch. — Two halves of a row 

 may be treated to show benefits of mulches. Water one half 

 often and the other half less frequently, but, with a rake, 

 ii:eep a surface mulch of fine soil on the last half. ■- 



18. Straw Mulch. — Some crops, such as late potatoes, are 

 benefited by a mulch of straw, leaves, stalks, or other litter 

 between the plants. This may be tried in hot weather. Mulch 

 one plot and leave the other bare. Try the experiment with 

 tomatoes, beets, lettuce and other crops. 



19. Inoculation of Legumes. — A good home project is 

 to grow vetch, alfalfa, soybeans, or other legumes with and 

 without inoculation, as suggested in figure 75. 



