GARDEN TILLAGE. 33 



depth of four feet. It is probable that in good land almost anj^ of 

 our garden crops will send their roots eighteen or more inches 

 deep. 



Ridging the Land. — If the land is liable to be too wet for 

 planting in early spring, it is sometimes a good practice in plow- 

 ing it to turn several furrows back to back and thus leave the 

 land in ridges over winter. If these ridges or "lands" are made 

 fifteen or twenty feet wide, they may be dragged and planted 

 in the spring without further plowing. For some crops it is 

 often best to open the furrows again in the spring and thus leave 

 the land level. This method of treatment permits of working 



Fig-ure 4 — Cross section of ridged laud. 



the land much earlier in the spring than it otherwise could be 

 worked if plowed flat. It also leaves the soil in very good shape 

 for the action of frost on its particles during the vvinter. For 

 early crops on fiat or heavy soils it is a most desirable treat- 

 ment. The objection to it is that if not turned back in the 

 spring the dead furrows interfere with cultivation; if the land is 

 thus turned back in the spring, it may be left too loose. 

 But admitting these objections, even then there are often cases 

 where this treatment would be very desirable. It should be 

 borne in mind, too, in cultivating the garden that while the 

 soil in it may be too loose, it cannot be too rich nor too deep, 

 nor can the subscU. if not of too impervious a nature, be too 

 compact, and yet it must be loose enough to permit of the 

 roots entering it and the water percolating through it. 



General Cultivation of Garden Crops. — The methods to be 

 pursued in the general cultivation of garden crops vary some- 

 what according to the soil, season and crop. However, it is 

 very important to remember that the destruction of weeds is but 

 a small part of the work of cultivation. The most important 

 part in this section is to so fit the soil that it may best with- 



