Lands for Vegetable-Gardening 



367 



other crops thrive, particularly on old and well-consoli- 

 dated mncklands, as spinach, carrot, horse-radish, pars- 

 nip and asparagus when the water-table is low enough. 



The land to avoid for vegetable-gardening is hard clay. 

 It is cold and late. Plants start slowly in it. It cannot 

 be worked when either wet or dry; and the period in 

 which it can be tilled is so short that much labor and 

 equipment are required to enable one to handle it quickly 

 and efficiently. Clay is excellent for some fruits (particu- 

 larly pears and plums) and for some general farm crops; 

 but it is not the land for vegetable-growing. However, a 

 friable clay loam may be excellent: this loamy condition 

 may be obtained from hard clay soil by judicious tillage, 

 the incorporation of humus, the addition of amendments 

 in special cases, and by underdraining. Clay loams are 

 good lands for main-season crops of many kinds, as cab- 

 bage, pea, bean. 



Vegetable-gardening land should be fertile. It should 

 contain much plant-food material ; and this material should 

 be quickly available, for on its availability depends the 

 earliness or " quickness to a great extent. The plant 

 should grow quickly and continuously. Slow-growing and 

 intermittent-growing vegetables may not only fail to reach 

 the market or the table at the desired time, but they are 

 usually poor in quality. To secure this quick growth, the 

 land should be thoroughly prepared before the plants are 

 put on it; and in most cases, an application of concen- 

 trated (or commercial) fertilizer will help. 



It is usually more profitable to secure land already in 

 productive condition than to take that of inferior quality 

 and to improve it. This is true of all intensive farming; 



