TRINCIPLES OF CULTIVATION. 



21 



of a stiff Kature, it will coalesce into a kind of crust, which 

 Avill greatly spoil its texture. 



Manuring may be done in early winter when the ground 

 is somewhat frozen ; as the material can then be wheeled 

 on with greater ease, and the ground and paths will be 

 less cut up. But the manure should be dug in directly the 

 frost is sufficiently gone, or it will lose much of its virtue 

 by the exposure. Digging should always be deep and 

 thorough, since it changes and incorporates the soil better, 

 and allows the air to pass among it more freely. "What- 

 ever ground falls vacant in autumn, ought always to be 

 dug up in ridges, unless it be very light and shallow, that 

 it may derive all the benefit of the winter frost and snow. 

 The difference in the ease of working, in the spring, soil 

 that has been thus exposed, and such as has been left 

 untouched, is most marked and striking. Hoeing, at least 

 among growing vegetables, should be deep, and stir the 

 ground well, this being quite as important as killing the 

 weeds. Raking is always bad, unless where wholly un- 

 avoidable, for it tends to encrust over the surface of the 

 ground, and render it hard and close. 



3. — Watering. 



This ought to be done with the spout of a can for indi- 

 vidual plants, or with a rose for a mass of them. The 

 watering-pot must be held as low as possible during the 

 operation, that the particles of the earth may not be 

 washed into a crust. When watering with a rose, too, it 

 w411 be necessary to stir the surface of the ground occa- 

 sionally, or it will become baked, and impervious to both 

 air and moisture. W^atering or syringing over the heads 

 of plants is an important part of the process. 



After watering has once been begun with any out-door 

 plants, it will be proper to continue it regularly until rain 

 occurs ; otherwise the plants will suffer almost more than 

 if they had been left entirely to themselves. If there is 

 no danger from frost, the evening is the best period for 

 watering plants, as it allows them the whole night for the 

 purpose of imbibing and profiting by it. The early morn- 

 ing is the safer time at other seasons. Plants in pots will 



