182 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



middle of June, about three and a half months before 

 killing frosts. This last planting often proves a failure 

 in the dry autumns of a Southern climate. It generally 

 will succeed in rich, fine soil. 



When the surface soil is rich and the bottom poor, it 

 will be difficult to make the beet, carrot, and other tap- 

 rooted plants produce fine, smooth roots. This difficulty 

 will cease if the ground be deeply and thoroughly worked, 

 mingling the soil and making it uniform throughout, and 

 taking care to place at the depth of one foot below the 

 surface a layer of good manure. 



The best beets grow in sandy bottom lands, but any soil 

 will answer for them if deeply and thoroughly worked 

 and well manured. This is necessary with all tap-rooted 

 plants, and especially with the beet. Beet seed is some- 

 what slow in vegetating, and the later sowings may be 

 soaked in water twenty-four hours before planting, and 

 the drills well watered upon the seed, which is then cov- 

 ered with light soil pressed gently upon the seed ; a good 

 method of planting all summer crops. Make the beds 

 four or four and a half feet wide, for convenience of culti- 

 vating ; spade them up at least a foot deep, — eighteen 

 inches is still better ; mix in a good supply of well-rotted 

 manure throughout, if the ground requires it. Rake the 

 ground even and smooth, and mark out the rows twelve 

 inches apart across the bed ; draw the drills an inch and a 

 half or two inches deep, in which drop the seed two inches 

 apart, and press the earth gently upon it. When the 

 plants are up, thin them to eight or nine inches apart, fill 

 any vacancies by transplanting, and keep the ground 

 around them loose and free from weeds until matured. 



In planting crops of beets, carrots, and parsnips, particu- 

 larly the two latter, sprinkle a few radish seeds, if you 

 like, and the ground is rich, in the rows to distinguish 

 them. The radishes will be up in a week, and the ground 

 can be hoed or weeded without any danger of destroying 



