PART II 

 VEGETABLE-GARDENING CROPS 



CHAPTER VIII 



INTEODUCTOBY DISCUSSION 



In considering the culture of the various crops, it 

 is essential that one be able to distinguish principles 

 from mere details of practice. Gardening books and 

 essays are replete with rules and advice ; but after 

 one has read them he may still be ignorant of the 

 essential things that the given crop needs. The de- 

 mands which are essential or peculiar to the crop 

 should be presented at the outset ; thereafter the 

 details of practice — to show how these essentials are 

 secured — may be considered. From the mass of detail 

 and of special and local practice, one must pick the 

 kernel, — the little grain of truth that applies every- 

 where and always. 



A principle is a universal truth. Under similar nat- 

 ural conditions it applies everywhere. It expounds the 

 reason why. It explains. Merely telling how to do a 

 thing may be of little avail in a book, for if a book is 

 good for anything it is read in many places and must 

 apply to different conditions. One can never under- 

 stand a thing until he knows the reason why. Knowing 



(237) 



