SIMPLE GARDENING METHODS 



a little early-morning energy with the hoe would bring him 

 better health and better roses. 



As to fertilizers, I think that soils should be prescribed 

 for by experts where practicable. In large cities and where 

 drainage has carried off component parts for years, artificial 

 fertilizers must be added from time to time, and because of 

 diversity of soils no general prescription as to kind, is practi- 

 cable except that where barnyard manures are used they 

 must be old and well-rotted. 



I took a lesson in "pricking out" one day. "Lifting the 

 plant," the English would call it, but most gardeners use 

 the phrase "pricking out" for describing the mode of trans- 

 planting the tiny seedlings from the flats in which the seed is 

 first sown. Now you old-practiced gardeners may laugh if 

 you will, at the idea of taking a lesson in so simple an opera- 

 tion, but like many another thing in life, it is simple — very 

 simple — after you know how, but I venture to guess that 

 about half the men you put to work in your gardens do not 

 know how to properly handle the delicate little lives of the 

 seedling plants. For instance, here is a flat with hundreds of 

 tiny seedlings — call them cauliflowers or pansies, as suits you 

 best. They are two inches long, or less, and you have in- 

 duced a fine growth of fibrous roots by keeping them close to 

 the glass, and not letting them get "leggy," but now as you 

 separate each plant from its fellow, do not take hold of it by 

 the stem, for you bruise it so and easily impair the vitality 

 of the plant. Take it by the leaves — the embryo or first 

 leaves, and handle it so, just as you lift a kitten by the nape 



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