PREPARING THE SOIL 



261 



where the witch-grass was thick. Each time the work was 

 easier, and since then no witch-grass has appeared in the 

 garden. And although I must have dug through every hill, 

 the potatoes yielded well. 



Fig. 144. — A seed bed nursing transplanted, tomatoes. 



The lesson of such an experience is that it pays to prepare 

 the soil properly. Few things are more important in garden- 

 ing. And when, with spade or fork, with hoe and with rake, 

 the garden has been worked over, there is great satisfaction 

 in the sight. After the waiting of winter, few things are 

 pleasanter to look upon than a garden ready for the seed — 



