BETTER GARDENS 



GARDEN GROUND PREPARATION 



Draining, Fertilizing, Cultivating, Etc. 



LOCATION. Choose, if possible, a level location, or if there be a slope, it should be 

 toward the south. A wind break — hedge, board fence or wall — on the north and north- 

 west, facilitates earliness of crops. 



SOIL. The soil for at least a foot in depth should be prepared so that it will be rich, 

 mellow and friable. This is accomplished by adding humus, which increases the mois- 

 ture-holding, food-dissolving capacity of soil. Leaf-mold an^ .ited stable manure form 

 ideal humus, but where the former, is not available, a crop o :nmson clover sown the 

 summer or fall before and turned under with manure in the spring, answers equally well. 



UNDER-DRAINAGE. This differs from surface drainage and is much better than 

 the latter, because it permits water to percolate through the soil, which absorbs the needed 

 quantity of moisture to hold the plant foods in solution and in assimilable condition for 

 the feeding roots, the surplus water being stored or discharged below. If the subsoil be 

 gravelly or sandy — nature's drain — no further attention need be paid to this question, but 

 if the subsoil is stiff clay, it should be drained either by placing continuous lines of drain 

 tiles or A-shaped board drains 3 feet below the surface and not farther than 18 feet apart, 

 all sloping slightly to an outlet. 



HOLE IN THE GROUND DRAINAGE. An effective makeshift for tile or other drain- 

 age for wet, low lying spots in a garden is made by digging holes 3 or 4 feet deep here and 

 there and filling half full with stones, then fill up with top soil, then there will be no inter- 

 ference with the crops. The size of holes and the distances apart will differ according to 

 circumstances. 



PLANT-FEEDING. To grow vegetables to perfection, a liberal quantity of plant 

 food must be incorporated with the soil. Both stable manure and commercial fertilizer 

 should be used, the manure to improve the mechanical condition of the soil, and the fer- 

 tilizer to supply any lacking essential in potash, nitrogen or phosphoric acid. On a quarter- 

 acre garden 10 to 12 cords of manure is not too much to plow or dig in with 100 to 200 

 pounds of a well-balanced, high-grade commercial fertilizer, harrowed or raked in. Rowed 

 crops may be further stimulated during growth by two or three supplementary side dressings 

 of fertilizer, applied at the rate of 100 to 200 pounds per acre at each application. 



CULTIVATION. Garden crops require frequent cultivation, especially in dry weather, 

 the object being not only to destroy weeds, but what is of more importance to conserve 

 the soil's moisture by keeping the surface crust broken and pulverized, thus forming an 

 "earth mulch" which checks evaporation. If the garden is planted in straight rows and 

 on the level — that is, no raised beds — a handpower wheel-hofe may be utilized in culti- 

 vation, thus reducing the work to a minimum of speed and labor. 



FIRM SOIL WITH THE FEET IN SOWING AND PLANTING. Firm the soil over 

 seeds as soon as sown and about plants when set out providing the soil is mellow and dry, 

 NOT when damp and sticky. This firming of the soil is very important, for it brings 

 soil particles in contact with seeds arid roots, prevents them from drying out, and facili- 

 tates quick growth. The best way to firm the soil in gardens is with the feet; tread every 

 inch of the row, after which the surface soil may be leveled and "earth mulch" formed 

 with a short-toothed rake. In larger operations, as in market gardens, truck farms with 

 field crops, the same results are obtained with a roller and smoothing-harrow. 



When plants are set out, whether vegttables, flower, shrub or tree, firm the soil over 

 their roots by thorough treading, without which they are liable to wabble with every wind, 

 permitting too much air to penetrate and dry the loose soil, wither the roots and cause 

 the subject to languish. 



To emphasize the importance of firming seeds and plants in the soil we quote from 

 the late Peter Henderson's article on the subject, viz.: "On one occasion as an experi- 

 ment, I sowed 12 rows of Sweet Corn and 12 rows of Beets, treading in, after sowing, every 

 alternate row of each. In both cases, those trod in came up in 4 days, while those unfirmed 

 remained 12 days before starting, and would not then have germinated had not rain fallen, 

 for the soil was dry as dust when the seed was sown. 



"The result was that the seeds that had been trodden in grew freely from the start 

 and matured their crops by fall; while the rows unfirmed did not mature, as they were not 

 only 8 days later in germinating, but the plants were also, to some extent, enfeebled by 

 being partially dried in the loose, dry soil. 



"This experiment was a most useful one, for it proved that Corn, sown in the vicinity 

 of New York as late as July, could be made to produce "roasting ears" in October, but the 

 crop would not mature unless the seed germinated at once, and which would never be cer- 

 tain at that dry and hot season, unless by this method. 



"The same season, in August, I treated seeds of Turnips and Spinach in the same way. 

 Those trod in germinated at once and made an excellent crop, while those unfirmed germi- 

 nated feebly, and were eventually nearly all burned out by a continuance of dry, hot air 

 penetrating through the loose soil to the tender rootlets. 



