THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 147 



for marking the third row. Before running the wheel 

 on the third row from c to c, stake of line two at b 

 is moved to d, which puts line two in position for 

 the fourth row, etc. 



" For long rows we use one measuring stick at 

 each end of the rows and one in the middle. The 

 middle stick is pushed into the ground against the 

 line to prevent the wind from displacing the line. 

 When we plant day after day we do not take up 

 the lines at night, but simply loosen one end to 

 prevent their breaking from shrinkage. The time 

 to wind up the lines would cost far more than they 

 are worth. We can better afford to buy new lines, 

 say, every two years." 



CIRCUMVENTING WEEDS 



The long growing season of the south makes it 

 almost impossible, at least impracticable, to keep 

 the garden clear of weeds all summer. No matter 

 how clean the garden may be kept throughout the 

 earlier part of the season, the weeds creep in later 

 on, and in the fall the garden looks more like a 

 weed bed than anything else. 



" Last year," writes A. Jeffers of Fairfax county, 

 Virginia, " we adopted a new plan. We planted 

 watermelons, cantaloups, cucumbers, beans, sweet 

 corn, sunflowers, and several other minor garden 

 crops, all in one patch, and in long rows, to be 

 mainly cultivated with the horse. At the last work- 

 ing, which covered an area of little more than one 

 acre, we sowed cowpeas between all the rows, and 

 worked them into the soil nicely. 



" By the time the melons were ripe not a melon 

 nor a melon vine was to be seen, and yet the patch 

 was covered with them, hidden away under the 



