THE SEEDLINGS, OUTBOOBS 



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uprooting or covering them. It takes skill to do this, for 

 it is difficult not to go too deep, or not to throw the earth 

 toward the plants. As the plants grow the work is easier, 

 for the ground which they shade need not be cultivated, and 

 so there is less surface to work. Yet as the plants are 

 bound to grow irregularly, there will be many odd corners 

 to be cultivated which it takes skill to get at. That is why 



Fig. 149. — Corn is a summer delicacy. Plant plenty of it. 



the best gardeners, who take pains in working thoroughly 

 and well, prefer to use the rake rather than the hoe or cul- 

 tivator, and also a narrow rake rather than a wide one. One 

 advantage of the rake over either of the other tools is that 

 since the gardener works backward, no footprints are left. 



Once the garden is cultivated, — and well cultivated, with 

 a real dust blanket stretching into every odd corner, and so 

 thick that no moisture can evaporate through it, — it can be 

 left alone until the next rain, or until the weeds start. When 

 the weeds show, pull or hoe them. The push-hoe is valuable 



