March, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE SUPPLEMENT 
5 
or commercial fertilizer, many 
sow rye or legumes and when they 
have attained the desired growth 
plow them under for the later 
planted crops. 
Where ground has been fertil- 
izer and plowed the preceding fall, 
all that is necessary in the spring 
is to thoroughly work the ground 
with a disc harrow followed by a 
smoothing with a spring tooth one. 
In the case of small gardens the 
same results may be obtained by 
thoroughly and deeply hoeing 
then leveling with the garden rake 
And now that we have our ground 
in shape let us consider the prob- 
lem of sowing the seed. Of 
course, long before it was possible 
even to get into the garden for 
any work, the professional grower 
had long since planted seed for his 
early vegetable plants and they 
are now also ready for setting 
out. 
The amateur grower also has 
made his attempts in this direc- 
tion but usually with less fortu- 
nate results than in the case of the 
former, owing to his not being 
properly equipped. It is very 
necessary in order to produce the 
earliest vegetables, and from a 
monetary standpoint the best pay- 
ing, to have proper equipment 
for the propagation and growth 
of good plants, ready for the gar- 
den at the earliest possible mo- 
ment when danger of frost has 
passed, and as the small or ama- 
teur gardener cannot thus equip 
himself my advice is that he ar- 
range to purchase his wants in 
this direction from some reputable 
grower as it is essential that he 
have at least a few of each var- 
iety, whether it be for profit or 
for the pleasure of his own table. 
For the plants of the later vege- 
tables, where out of door seed 
beds can be used, any one can suc- 
cessfully grow with the same re- 
sults as attained by the profes- 
sional grower. Now as to the 
sowing in the garden or field. 
Many mistakes are made in sow- 
ing, with the result that the seeds- 
man is often blamed for supplying 
seeds that fail to germinate, when, 
as a matter of fact, in a large pro- 
portion of cases, the failure is due 
to the lack of understanding a 
few fundamental principles in 
seed germination. Three condi- 
tions are necessary, namely : mois- 
ture, air and warmth, for proper 
germination. Frequently the 
cause of failure is due to sowing 
too deep, which either causes the 
seed to lie dormant or rot in the 
ground. 
The approximate depths at 
which to sow are as follows : peas, 
corn, beans and seeds of similar 
size : two to three inches ; beets, 
cucumbers, melons, etc., one inch ; 
carrot, cabbage, parsnip, lettuce, 
turnip, tomato, pepper, etc., one- 
half inch. Very small seeds 
should only be pressed into the 
soil and slightly covered with sift- 
ed soil. While I advise the ama- 
teur not to attempt the growing 
of plants indoors, for the earliest 
vegetables, this advice is not ex- 
tended to the production of plants 
for the later or main crops. My 
principal reason for advising 
against trying to raise plants for 
the earliest vegetables is that 
these require sowing indoors dur- 
ing February or first of March 
and with improper top light, a 
condition most prevalent in ordi- 
nary homes, the plants become 
drawn or leggy and thin, long be- 
fore the weather is suitable for 
transplanting them to the garden, 
with the result that even if they 
survive transplanting, they never 
obtain perfect shapes or yield as 
they should. 
However, for the production of 
plants for the later or main crop, 
select a warm sunny corner sliftlt- 
ei’ed at the back by a fence or 
wall, if possible, secure an old win- 
dow sash and fit it to a shallow 
frame and use as a seed bed. The 
sash is a great protection to the 
young plants during the cool 
nights. In such a bed, early cab- 
bage, cauliflower and celery 
plants may be successfully grown. 
If the soil is dug out for the frame 
and fresh stable manure is tightly 
packed in the bottom of the frame 
sufficient heat will be generated 
for starting the seeds of such ten- 
der plants as tomatoes, peppers 
and egg plants, or these may be 
started in the house during the 
first part of April and transplant- 
ed to the frame when the early 
cabbages, etc., have been set out. 
Never seed while the ground is 
wet as, during rapid evaporation, 
the ground will bake and retard, 
if not entirely stop, the growth. 
And now to an all important 
procedure to ultimate success : 
Cultivation. During the past sea- 
son I inspected many gardens 
where this action was almost en- 
tirely neglected or superficially 
done. In the former, weeds were 
choking the plants while in the 
latter, they were dwarfed and 
stunted from lack of moisture. To 
obtain the best results keep the 
soil loose and fine by frequent 
workings, as deeply as possible, 
without injury to the plants. 
Keep up this thorough cultiva- 
tion throughout- the season never 
allowing the soil to become hard 
and baked. A mulch of dusty 
surface soil, even to the depth of 
two or more inches, is preferable 
to a hard baked surface, as this 
kind of cultivation tends to con- 
serve the moisture so necessary in 
time of excessive drought. I also 
