ties because tliey afford an opportunity to study and enjoy their beauty 

 for a long time. 



Now I pro})ost' that we have a vegotaljle garden in connection with 

 the fiowei-s, because, while we all love flowers, I am sure there is not 

 one of us who does not enjoy nice, crisp vegetables as they are pre- 

 pared for the table fresh from the garden. And then you know they 

 always taste so much better when we have planted the seeds and cared 

 for them all l)y oursehes. 



There are four things necessary to make a successful vegetable 

 garden; 



1. A suitable soil. 



2. Pure seed. 



.'i. Clean cultiAation. 



4. A good supply of fertilizer or plant food. 

 If one of these is omitted, the garden will not be the success that 

 it ought to be. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



Almost any kind of soil will grow some kind of cro]), because plants 

 have a way of adapting tliemselvcs to circumstances, and will gi-ow 

 under vci'v discouraging conditions; but if you expect to gatlier a 

 bountiful harvest, the soil must be of the very Ijest. It souu^times hap- 

 pens, however, that the soil contains enough plant food, but it is not 

 in the proper condition for the plant to make use of it. It may be due 

 to a lack of moisture. The soil may he baked so hard that the rain can 

 not get into it, and instead all runs off into the ditches and streams just 

 -as it run> oft' the roof of the barn into the gutter. AYlien this is the case, 

 this hard crust must be broken up by diM'p plowing and thorough cul- 

 tivation. This will allow the rain to soak into the soil and dissolve 

 the plant food so that the young growing r(iotlets can make use of it. 

 When soil is prepared in this way there will be no need of carrying 

 water for the ])lants, for if the top soil is kept stirred, as it must be 

 in keeping out the weeds, there will be no time during the driest sea- 

 son when there will not be moistru-e for the plants. If you have read 

 Leaflet No. h on "A Children's Garden," you have learned why this 

 is so. 



If the soil is naturally so poor that it will not grow a satisfactory 

 crop of coi'n, then it should have a good dressing of well rotted stable 

 manure, ph:iwed under and well mi.\ed with it. I wonder if any of you 

 know how much manure the large market gardenei's put on an acre 



