CHAPTER III. 



GARDEN TILLAGE. 



By the proper cultivation of the garden we accomplish 

 three things: (1) The weeds are kept out so that they do not 

 shade or take away valuable plant food and moisture from the 

 plants which we desire to perfect. (2) The surface soil is 

 brought into best condition to resist drought, that is, into the 

 best condition to avail itself to the utmost of the stores of 

 water in the subsoil and to prevent the evaporation of this water 

 from the surface soil. (3) The inert plant food in the soil is 

 made soluble by cnemical action, which is increased by the 

 cultivation of the soil. 



Prevention and Killing of Weeds. — The methods best 

 adapted for keeping weeds out of the garden are many and 

 varied. They depend much upon the condition and kind of soil 

 in which the weeds grow, and upon the kind of crop and the 

 habits of the weeds themselves. The most important step in 

 making easy the prevention of weeds in the garden is the har- 

 rowing or other thorough cultivation of the land just before the 

 planting of the seed, to kill the young w^eeds. If this is done 

 thoroughly the weeds do not have any better chance than the 

 crop. If this is not done the weeds will be ahead of the 

 crop in growth, and if started ever so little when the crop is 

 planted the result generally is that the crop is seriously over- 

 grown by them before it is large enough to be cultivated. 



When garden seeds that require a long time to germinate 

 are sown, it is an excellent plan to lightly rake over the land with 

 an ordinary line-toothed rake even before the crop appears above 

 the ground, providing the work is so carefully done as not to dis- 

 turb the seeds. This is an easy matter in case of the larger 

 garden seeds, while it would be impossible with the finer seeds, 

 as they are invariably planted shallow. When the seed is 

 sown with a drill the line of the row may be plainly seen even 

 before the plants come up, thus making it easy to commence cul- 



