274 



THE BEGINNER'S GARDEN BOOK 



here, but in a large vegetable garden the worker may put the 

 hoes into the cultivator, and so cut off all the weeds, as he 

 cannot with the teeth of the rake. 



Fertilizing of the seedlings is done usually by either nitrate 

 of soda (sulphate of ammonia is just as good) or by liquid 

 manure. Scatter the dry salt lightly alongside the seedlings, 

 as close as you can without touching them. Then water the 

 plants, washing the fertilizer into the ground. If you sow 

 the salt before a rain, that is better still. Or if you wish to 



Fig. 150. — Lima beans are among our tenderest vegetables. Plant late. 



do otherwise, dissolve some of the salt in water, a level 

 teaspoonful to a quart, and pour it in furrows made alongside 

 the rows. In making the furrows, do not disturb the roots. 

 Fill the furrows full, and let them drain ; then cover with dry 

 earth. The same treatment is used with liquid manure. 



It will help your vegetables, and even your flowers, if in 

 early summer you scatter on the ground between the rows 

 the fertilizer that is proper for them. Cultivated in, and 

 carried down by, the rain, the food is found by the foraging 

 roots. See pages 101 and 102. 



Thinning the seedlings must be done as soon as they begin 



