24 PLANNING THE HOME GARDEN 



or raked. This practice prevents the water from running 

 off and aids in the breaking down of the manures which 

 makes them more available to the plants the following 

 season. When fall plowing is not practised the manure 

 should be spread out evenly on the ground during the autumn 

 or winter and then turned under as early in the spring as 

 the ground can be plowed. 



Commercial fertilizers are valuable in certain sections of 

 the country either to use alone or in combination with barn- 

 yard manures. When commercial fertilizers are employed 

 alone some means of adding humus or organic matter to the 

 soil must be provided. Green manure crops, such as clover, 

 cow peas, soy beans, rye and several more are usually grown 

 and^then plowed under to add the needed organic matter. 

 As a rule it requires some experience in handling commercial 

 fertilizers to receive the most good from their use. When the 

 use of commercial fertilizers is considered a very important 

 item to investigate is the relative cost of the materials. 

 During the past few years the ingredients which make up a 

 complete commercial fertilizer, namely, nitrogen, phosphate 

 and potash, have been very high and in many cases they 

 have been prohibitive. The nitrogen and potash are the 

 most expensive, although phosphates are relatively inexpen- 

 sive and in many cases phosphates can be used. 



There can be no definite rule given as to the amount of 

 commercial fertilizer that should be applied. This varies 

 with each crop and every type of soil. The amount of water 

 available also determines the amount of fertilizer that can 

 be used. In most cases, however, it is usually safe to apply 

 from 1000 to 2000 pounds to the acre, providing plenty of 

 humus is present and good cultural methods are practised. 



Succession, Companion and Rotation Planting. — To make 

 a garden yield the maximum quantity of vegetables it is 

 necessary to have the land occupied practically all of the 

 time during the growing season. This practice is made pos- 

 sible in vegetable planting because we have in this group 

 short, medium and long season plants as well as cool weather 

 and warm weather plants. It therefore becomes an easy 

 matter to select certain plants and so group and arrange 



