THE „ 



GARDEN YARD '" 



soil and the sort of cultivation you give it. All 

 these help the crop to withstand disease. On 

 the big western wheat fields, it has been found 

 that drainage has a most marked effect upon 

 blights, wilts and rust. Undrained wheat sec- 

 tions suffer greatly from rust. 



Just how diseases are caught by one plant or 

 section of a garden from another, is not fuUy 

 known, but we know that insects often carry in- 

 fection from one to another, as in fruit trees to 

 which bees go for honey. The bee, coming from 

 an infected tree to a perfectly healthy tree, may 

 bring with it the germs of the disease or the eggs 

 of the pest. Many scientific men now hold that 

 plant diseases are transmitted by germs, which 

 are carried not by insects only but also by the 

 wind and the water in the soil. 



The wrong use of fertilizers or barnyard 

 manure may often induce disease, simply be- 

 cause the unbalanced food supply causes ir- 

 regularity in growth, which weakens the plant's 

 resisting power. What is called a "balanced 

 ration," is of the utmost importance to plants. 

 It is not enough that the soil contain an abun- 

 dance of some of the elements of plant food, but 

 that it contain aU of them in nice proportion, so . 

 that the plant can draw all it needs, and not be 

 overfed in some ways and underfed in others. 



