76 HOEING AND WEEDING 



in soils that are badly drained. Reclaimed peat lands 

 benefit greatly by liberal applications of quicklime, as do 

 the black, soggy material that is often dredged from the 

 bottom of lakes, rivers, ponds or canals. Such stufF is 

 often rich, and if it is spread out half a foot thick over an 

 unused piece of land, then left over Winter for the frost to 

 act upon it, and is then coated with a good inch or more of 

 quicklime, and mixed, is an excellent top dressing material 

 for shrubs, fruit trees, poor vegetable land, or hardy flower 

 borders, and may be employed, albeit judiciously, for 

 adding to soil for a Sweet Pea crop indoors. Do not risk 

 using such material, however, on any large or important 

 scale, until its qualities (or the opposite) have been proved. 

 This leads us to remark that one can err as much on 

 the side of generosity as in niggardliness. Many a man 

 has seen his misspent labors come to naught through his 

 having dosed his soil too heavily with this, that, and the 

 other fertilizer, and when his plants assumed a sickly, 

 feeble appearance about the time they ought to come into 

 flower, has wondered why. The reason in some such in- 

 stances is that the system of the plant is surfeited and the 

 roots are poisoned or physically impaired for further healthy 

 action. Overfeeding, especially with nitrogenous manure, 

 predisposes the plants to disease. 



HOEING AND WEEDING 



In the early stages of growth the soil about the neck of 

 the plants and along the tops of the rows should be stirred 

 and hoed to keep the soil aerated. It is almost needless 

 to say that weeds should not be allowed to take possession 

 of any part of the soil, nor should pests ever succeed in 

 getting a foothold. Pods ought, of course, never to be 

 allowed to form on Peas for marketable cut flowers. The 



