ii6 Home Vegetable Gardening 



dark green healthy growth characteristic of its pres- 

 ence, should be followed by a second application 

 after two or three weeks — care being taken, of 

 course, to use it with reason and restraint, as 

 directed in Chapter VI. 



Another method of growing good cabbages and 

 similar plants, where the ground is not sufficiently 

 rich to carry the crop through, is to "manure in the 

 hill," either yard or some concentrated manure being 

 used. If yard manure, incorporate a good forkful 

 with the soil where each plant is to go. (If any 

 considerable number are being set, it will of course 

 be covered in a furrow — first being trampled down, 

 with the plow). Another way, sure of producing 

 results, and not inconvenient for a few hundred 

 plants, is to mark out the piece, dig out with a spade 

 or hoe a hole some five inches deep at each mark, 

 dilute poultry manure in an old pail until about the 

 consistency of thick mud, and put a little less than 

 half a trowelful in each hole. Mix with the soil 

 and cover, marking the spot with the back of the 

 hoe, and then set the plants. By this method, fol- 

 lowed by a top-dressing of nitrate of soda, I have 

 repeatedly grown fine cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce 

 and sprouts. Cotton-seed meal is also very valuable 

 for manuring in the hill — about a handful to a plant, 

 as it is rich in nitrogen and rapidly decomposes. 



The cabbage group is sometimes hilled up, but if 



