STIRRING THE SOIL. 



89 



will make tliem blister and become covered with brown 

 spots, wherever the water touches. If watering a plant 

 has been once commenced, keep on until the necessity 

 ceases, or more injmy than good will result. The use of 

 the hoe should always follow the water-pot, as soon as the 

 ground gets dry. 



The best water to use in the garden is rain-water caught 

 in open cisterns. It abounds in ammonia and fertilizing 

 gases. If spring or well-water must be used, a very little 

 guano, say one pound (or two pounds of fowl-manure) to 

 twenty gallons of water, will give it proper fertilizing 

 properties. Let it remain covered in the sun one or two 

 days before use. 



Cultivation with the Hoe. — If the ground be not of- 

 ten moved, it becomes so hard that the roots cannot penetrate 

 it to get their proper food. The rains flow off the surface, 

 without sinking into and moistening the soil, and the bene- 

 ficial influence of the atmosphere is excluded. A soil well 

 hoed has a new surface continually ready to absorb the 

 fertilizing gases of the atmosphere, and the manures ap- 

 plied are more thoroughly intermingled. 



" If I had to preach a sermon on horticulture," says 

 Downing, " I should take this for my text : Stir the soil." 

 The surface of the soil cannot be too frequently stirred. 

 As soon as the plants are well above ground, they should 

 be thinned out so as not to interfere with each other's 

 growth ; say to an inch in the drills. At the same time, 

 the soil may be loosened a little about them, so as to break 

 any crust that may have formed, without injury to the 

 young plants, and the weeds may be removed. 



A little later, stir the soil more deeply with a narrow 

 hoe, taking care not to cover the young plants. Every 

 weed should be cut down or pulled up, no matter how 



