HENDERSON'S GARDEN GUIDE AND RECORD. 



Garden Ground Preparation, 



DRAINING, FERTILIZING, CULTIVATING, Etc. 



LOCATION: Ckoose, 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 moisture- 

 holding, food-dissolving capacity of soil. Leaf-mold and rotted stable manure form ideal 

 humus, but where the former is not available, a crop of crimson 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 sanay — 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. "Where this is impracticable, the next best way to treat 

 clay subsoil is to break it up at least 6 inches in depth below the surface soil, care being 

 taken to bring as little subsoil as possible up into the top soil. This is best accomplished 

 with a "subsoil plow," but small gardens may be "trenched." This is done by remoWng 

 a strip of top soil, digging the subsoil below, recovering it with the top soil from the next 

 strip and so on. 



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 fertilizer 

 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 ferti- 

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



It is advisable to remember the functions of various plant-feeding ingrediants as a 

 guide in their use for various crop requirements. Nitrogen' is conducive to early, rapid 

 and succulent growth of plant. Potash hardens plant growth and throws the \-igor into 

 fruit or flower. Phosphoric Acid aids in nutrition, influences maturity and color. Lime 

 releases inert plant foods, rendering them available for feeding roots. 



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 form- 

 ing 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-hoe may be utilizeo 

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



FIRM THE SOIL over seeds as soon as sown and about plants when set out pro\'iding 

 the soil is mellow and dry, not when damp and sticky. This firming of the soil is very im- 

 portant, for it brings soil particles in contact with seeds and roots, prevents them from 

 drying out, and facilitates quick growth. The best way to firm the soil in gardens is with the 

 feet; tread every inch of the row, after wliich the surface soil may be leveled and "earth 

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

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



When plants are set out, whether vegetable, 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 nuich air to penetrate and dry the loose soil, wither the roots and cuuse the 

 subject to languish. 



