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GARDEN GUIDE 



crop of sunlight, air and nourishment; to conserve the moisture in the 

 soil; to keep the soil open and aerated, and to pulverize the soil or 

 break up its particles and thus assist the chemical and bacteriological 

 changes in the soil. Cultivation brings these results. It also creates 

 what is called **a soil mulch," i. e., a layer of dry soil on the surface 

 which checks the loss of moisture from the lower layers to the surface 

 where it evaporates rapidly. 



The cultivation work required on any crop will depend largely on 

 whether or not you get the first hoeing and weeding done just as soon 

 as it is possible to do it, or let it go for a few days or a week later. 



A vegetable garden for supplying a large household. Here, as in the smaller gardens 

 depicted on other pages, cleanliness and careful cultivation are jfre-eminent. Ob- 

 serve the handsome pergola around the exterior 



Within a week or ten days the soil between the rows will have begun to 

 form a crust again, and new crop of weed seedlings may have sprouted. 

 This means another hoeing promptly. We do not think that it is any 

 exaggeration to say that eighty per cent, of the work in taking care of 

 gardens is due to the fact that these hoeings and hand weedings are 

 allowed to go for several days after they should have been attended to. 

 The tedious task of hand weeding may be lessened considerably by 

 using one of the small hand weeders. 



