THE SEEDS OF VICTORY INSURE THE FRUITS OF PEACE 
cold-pack method as small a quantity as a 
single can or jar may be put up in a short 
time. With proper instructions it is possible 
for the housewife to dry a handful of peas or 
beans, sweet corn, a few sweet potatoes or 
turnips, or small quantities of many other 
vegetables with practically no expenditure of 
her time. Explicit and simple directions for 
canning and drying are given in the Manual 
issued by the National War Garden Com- 
mission. 
THE SOIL AND MANURES 
The back yard gardener must use the soil 
he has, but he can improve it if is poor, and 
he must do this as far as possible. Stable 
manure will help even the 
richest soil, and you are 
not likely to use too much 
of it. During a single season 
professional gardeners apply 
as much as six inches of it. 
From 400 to 600 pounds can 
be used to advantage on a 
plot 20 by 20 feet. Coarse 
manure should be applied 
and thoroughly plowed or 
spaded under in the fall. 
In the spring, fine, rotted Fi s- 2 
manure is applied, just 
before plowing or spading, 
preceding the planting of any crop. If the 
ground is fairly rich, and well-rotted manure 
is scarce, the manure may be scattered in the 
row only, and should be mixed into the soil 
before the planting of seed. 
Loam is the best garden soil. Sand, with 
manure, gives good results. Clay is hardest 
to work, but is greatly improved by well- 
rotted manure and vegetable matter — called 
humus. These should be well worked in 
with hoe and rake. Sifted coal ashes, en- 
tirely free from clinkers, will help loosen up 
clay when mixed into it, but will not remove 
an acid condition nor increase fertility. 
containing 3 to 4 per cent nitrogen and 8 to 10 
per cent phosphoric acid is about right for the 
average garden. Your dealer will inform 
you on this point. If the fertilizer also con- 
tains potash, so much the better, but this year 
potash is scarce and high in price. 
Where no manure is used the fertilizer 
should be spread over the surface of the finely 
prepared seed-bed at the rate of 5 pounds 
for a plot 10 feet square, just before planting. 
The surface soil should then be thoroughly 
raked so as to mix the fertilizer evenly to a 
depth of 2 inches. Never place seed or trans- 
planted plants in direct contact with fertilizer. 
Thorough mixing of the fertilizer with the soil 
is essential to prevent injury of seed or roots. 
•This shows the construction of an outdoor cold frame. A hotbed is 
built in the same way, except that for the hotbed a pit and manure are required. 
See page 7 for directions for making cold frames and hotbeds. 
Where manure has been worked into the 
soil, reduce the fertilizer application ap- 
proximately one-half. 
Tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, spinach and 
some other crops requiring rather long growing 
seasons, are materially benefited by a second 
application of fertilizer when half grown. 
Side dressings of this .kind should be scattered 
between the rows at the rate of four ounces 
(one-half pint) to 10 feet of row, when rows 
are spaced 2 feet apart ; and pro rata for rows 
spaced a greater or lesser distance. To insure 
even distribution mix the fertilizer with fine, 
dry earth just before spreading. 
Commercial Fertilizer 
Many gardeners experience difficulty in 
obtaining supplies of well-rotted manure. 
In such cases commercial fertilizers should 
be used. Even where stable manure has 
been secured and worked into the soil it is 
well to supplement with moderate quantities 
of quick-acting fertilizer in order to give 
plants an early start and hasten maturity. 
It is safest to rely upon the ready-mixed 
fertilizers usually obtainable at seed and 
hardware stores. Several specially prepared 
mixtures in convenient packages are now on 
the market. For large areas, 100 to 200- 
pound bags may be obtained. A mixture 
Compost 
Compost is especially desirable when 
quick growth is wanted. Compost is thor- 
oughly rotted manure or organic material. 
It is prepared from six to twelve months 
before being used, by putting the manure 
and other material in piles having perpen- 
dicular sides and flat tops. These piles 
are usually from 2 to 4 feet high and 6 to 8 
feet long. 
Besides the usual waste of garden rubbish, 
there is a large waste of leaves, weeds and 
the skins and other unused portions of fruits 
and vegetables. These should all be thrown 
on the compost pile to decay for use on the 
