44 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



becomes crusted over so completely as to prevent the smaller 

 seedlings from pushing through. For such land it is desirable to 

 use rather more seed than would be needed in more porous soil 

 for the reason that while a few plants could not push up the 

 crusted surface yet the many can do so; and while thick seed- 

 ing increases the total cost of seed, yet the certainty of thus 

 securing a full stand is so great an advantage as to well repay 

 this additional outlay and the expense for thinning, if it has to 

 be done at all, is about the same for thick as for thin seeding. 



Sowing Seed With iVIachine. — When the soil is prepared for 

 best work with a garden drill it is generally in the best condition 

 for the germination of seeds. The whole surface should be 

 fine, mellow and even. There are only one or two garden seeds 

 that cannot readily be sown with an3^ of the half dozen good 

 garden drills that are offered in the market. Garden drills when 

 properly used will sow and cover seed much more uniformly than 

 it can possibly be sown and covered by hand, and they are a 

 necessity in any well-managed garden. It is of the utmost im- 

 portance to have straight rows in the garden, for they are more 

 economical of space than crooked rows and are more perfectly 

 cultivated with the wheel hoes and cultivator, besides, crooked 

 rows are unsightly and slovenly. It is generally desirable in 

 using a garden drill to mark off the first row with a line to get 

 it straight. If this is done to begin with the subsequent rov/s 

 may be kept parallel by using the marker always found on such 

 machines, providing constant care is used. Some growers 

 prefer to mark out all the rows with a marker and then run the 

 seed sower in the marks, but for a careful workman this is 

 useless labor. Seed drills are made with a point to open fur- 

 rows, a coverer for filling in after the drill, a wheel for compact- 

 ing the soil on the seed and a marker for the next row. To use 

 a garden seed drill most successfully requires good judgment, 

 but a little careful experimenting will soon enable any one ac- 

 customed to tools to handle these most useful implements to good 

 advantage. Sometimes it is desirable to sow seed when the 

 ground is so wet that it is not safe to firm the soil over it. 

 When such is the case the rear wheel is removed in sowing. 

 In other cases when it is desirable to firm the soil more com- 

 pactly, the press wheel may be used for this purpose, by going 



