210 
THE GARDEN M A G A Z I N E 
January, 1917 
elude commercial products used to increase 
the “plant foods” in the soil. .All growing 
plants take from the soil nitrates, phosphates, 
and potash. A “complete” fertilizer is one 
that includes all these things. The “analy- 
sis” of fertilizer shows the amount of 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash which 
it contains, on a basis of a percentage of the 
total weight— that is, a fertilizer containing 
4 per cent, of nitrogen, 8 per cent, of phos 
photic acid, and lo per cent, of potash, would 
have eight pounds of nitrogen, sixteen pounds 
of phosphoric acid, and twenty pounds of 
potash in each one hundred pound bag. 
I bis is referred to as a “4-8-10” fertilizer, 
and incidentally, is that recomrnended for most 
soils and crops and is sometimes called the 
“basic formula” or general analysis for a 
general fertilizer for vegetables. 
“Available plant food” is that in such a 
form that the plant roots can make use of 
it. .Most soils contain a good deal of “latent” 
plant food, which must undergo a gradual 
chemical change in the soil before it becomes 
available for plants to use. 
“Fertilizers” are of two kinds: “organic” 
and “chemical.” “Organic” fertilizers are 
derived from animal and vegetable sources, 
and include such things as guano, dried blood, 
cotton-seed-meal, and wood ashes. “Chemi- 
cal” fertilizers include such things as nitrate 
of soda, acid phosphate, and muriate and 
sulphate of potash. When fertilizers are 
used directly in the hill, drill or row, there is 
much less danger of injuring the plants or 
seeds if organic fertilizers are employed. 
A soil “amendment” is something added 
to the soil to improve it, without directly 
adding plant food. Lime is the most im- 
portant material for this purpose; and all 
garden soils should receive a generous appli- 
cation every two or three years. 
It may seem to the beginner that we have 
wandered somewhat far a%yay from his little 
garden plot. But a working understanding 
of manures and fertilizers is one of the first 
things he must acquire. To boil this in- 
formation down to fit the small garden patch : 
THE PRACTICAL LESSON 
U NLESS the ground you expect to plant 
was well manured and cared for last 
year, it will probably need a good applica- 
tion of both manure and fertilizer. I he 
manure should be put on before the ground is 
touched. Spread it on the surface two 
or three inches deep, and plow or spade it 
under so that it is completely covered from 
sight. See to it, however, that it is mixed 
through the soil. A layer of strawy manure 
betw’een the sub-soil and surface soil may 
do more harm than good. Fertilizers should 
be spread on the surface after the ground has 
been spaded or plowed, and tboroughly 
raked in, because the fine heavy particles 
tend to w'ork down through the soil during 
the summer. Ware/' passing through the 
soil also qgrries dowm the soluble plant foods. 
MAKING A SEED BED 
PREPARING the soil for seed sowing is 
^ “making a seed bed” and is usually done 
just before sowing the seed or 
setting out the plants. It is 
much easier to do this work on 
a freshly prepared surface. To 
make a good seed bed, rake 
over the soil, removing all 
small stones and trash, until 
the surface is as smooth and 
as well pulverized as you can 
51/SGLE DRILL FOR LARGE SEED 
the soil. .A mulch is an}’ covering of the 
.soil that checks this water movement. 
DOUBLE ROW DRILL 
SPADING UP THE GAR.DEN 
PREPARED HILL 
TRENCH FOR EKTILA DEEP 
PLANTING 
possibly make it. Furthermore, the soil 
below the surface should be broken up enough 
so that there are no large lumps and air 
spaces in it. A good seed bed is required (i) 
to secure a sure and quick “germination” or 
sprouting of the seed, and (2) to establish at 
the beginning of the season the all important 
“soil mulch.” 
WHAT IS A MULCH? 
T he “soil mulch” or “dust mulch” is a 
layer of pulverized dry soil an inch or 
tw’o deep, on the surface of the soil. Its great 
value lies in the fact that it prevents evap- 
oration from the moist soil just below it. If 
this “mulch” is not established, the soil will 
form a crust on the surface to w’hich the 
moisture from the lower layers, and even 
from the sub-soil, w’ill be drawn up rapidly 
by what is known as “capillary action” in 
the soil. The water in the soil is ahvays mov- 
ing downward during and just after rain; 
and then, as soon as the surface begins to 
dry off by ev’aporation, it is drawm upward 
in a continuous effort to keep the surface 
moist. The soil mulch checks this invisible 
but disastrous upward flow of water in 
tZ" 
■ -12 — — —.A 
PTtlLLS TOR SMALL SEED 
PLANTS UNPROTECTED 
AFTER TRANSPLANTING 
SHADED WITH 
newspaper- 
how TO PLANT 
'^HE directions on seed packets, and in 
the various planting tables, etc., state 
that some things are to be planted in “drills” 
some in “rows” and still others in “hills.” 
These terms are often confusing. “ Drills” 
and ‘ ‘rows” are used indiscriminately, and a 
hill is not always a hill, and may be a hole! 
In “drills” seeds are sown continuously, with 
no attempt at even spacing; in a “row’” the 
seeds or plants are put in at even distances, 
but cultivation as a rule is done only one way. 
In “hills” the plants are put at regular dis- 
tances both w’ays and cultivation is usually 
between the plants in the row’s, as well as 
between the row's. 
“Hills” especially for melons and other 
vine crops, are often prepared by digging out 
the soil a foot and a half to tw’o feet square, 
and mixing in manure or fertilizers w’ith the 
soil at the bottom, before putting in the 
plants, or seed. Where a seed drill or a 
machine is used in sowing the seed, the 
drill or “furrow” is opened up, the seed 
dropped and covered, the ground rolled, and 
the next row’ marked, all in one operation. 
When sowing by hand, the rows should 
be marked out straight by the use of a line 
and the edge of a hoe or a pointed stick, 
or a regular “marker.” 
“Single drills” or rows, for beans, peas, 
corn, and seeds of similar size, should be 
made two or three inches deep. “Double” 
rows or drills are often used for peas, sweet 
peas, and celery’, to economize space. 
“Drills” for small seeds, such as onions, 
carrots, turnips, etc., should be made very 
shallow', the seed being covered only a half to 
three-quarters of an inch deep. Such drills are 
shown in one of the figures. A “trench,” for 
planting peas, sw’eet peas, and celery is merely 
an extra deep drill or furrow’ from six to nine 
inches deep. The seed is planted, in the 
usual way, at the bottom, and covered tw’o 
inches or so deep; the trench being gradually 
filled in as the playits grow. The advantage 
is that in this w’ay the roots "are got down 
much deeper into the cool moist soil than 
w’ould be possible when planting in the 
ordinary w'ay; and with celery, the plants 
are more easily held upright than if set on a 
level surface. 
DEPTH OF PLANTING 
' I 'HE depth at which seed should be 
planted depends not only on the size 
of the seed, but also on the soil and the 
season. The depths suggested in the plant- 
ing tables refer to normal conditions. In 
very heavy soils in an abnormally w'et season 
and w’hen the ground is cold and w’et as in 
the early spring, the seed should be covered 
less deeply; w'hile in very light soils and in 
dry w’eather, it should be covered more deeply. 
The seed must come into firm contact with 
the soil on all sides. Neglect of this rule in 
dry weather often means the loss of a planting 
when a good stand might just as well have 
been obtained. When plant- 
ing by hand, the soil should 
be firmed down, after the seed 
has been planted. 1 his can 
be done by the back of a hoe 
or the sole of the foot. Or, if 
long rows are being planted, 
a broad tired wheel-barrow’, 
weighed down by a light stone. 
