THE GARDEN PRIMER 



eradicate them thoroughly — for weeds are gluttons and 

 by virtue of this spirit in them are able to take the best 

 of everything from a piece of ground, starving out its 

 rightful tenants. 



Go over a garden — or a bed, or whatever you are 

 tending — at least twice a week with this gentle surface 

 "scratching." That is all that it need amount to, 

 really; the stirring need not be deep — an inch of loose 

 soil is enough — but it must be frequent, and only heavy 

 rain should be allowed to interfere with the semi- 

 weekly repetition of it. 



For small surfaces one of the small hand weeders 

 is excellent. For larger spaces a hand cultivator, made 

 purposely for tilling and used like a hoe, is better. 

 There is, too, a wheel-hoe, which is excellent in gar- 

 den rows, though it is not adapted to every sort of 

 location as the hand cultivator is. 



Deeper stirring of the ground has more marked 

 physical effects on the soil, hastening chemical activities 

 and making the stores of plant food available. Very 

 often soil contains all the elements necessary to support 

 plant life richly, but not in such form that the plants 

 can consume them. Therefore they go hungry in the 

 midst of plenty, even as a man might in the midst of 

 quantities of those elements which science has found 

 out compose man — if they were not present in forms 

 available to his teeth, appetite and digestive appa- 

 ratus. 



Remember always, however, that deep tillage is not 

 a conserver of moisture. On the contrary it lightens 



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