CHAPTER VI 
PLANTING 
It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill 
of beans thrusting aside the soil. — Hawthorne 
Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing 
seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the black earth 
and the result thereof. — Celia Thaxter 
In planting, the main thought of the gardener is how he 
may manage to keep the whole of his garden busy all the 
time. His object is twofold. He aims to get as large a sup- 
ply of vegetables as possible, but at the same time he is look- 
ing out for the welfare of the land. Leaving the soil idle for 
one short week means, of course, that the succeeding crop is 
retarded. More than that, it means that the effect of tillage 
is being wasted, and that a horde of weeds, not yet in sight, 
it is true, but surely advancing, has begun to claim the land 
for its own. The insidious drain made by weeds upon the 
moisture and fertility of fields is strangely enough not half 
realized. 
In the old days the season for outdoor planting in northern 
latitudes used to be considered as extending from March to 
August, hardly longer. But tactics have changed, and now the 
season may be said to last all the year round. Grass seed, for 
instance, is sown while the snow still lingers in drifts. Winter 
wheat started in September will have shoots all ready to send 
up as early in the spring as any spots become bare. 
Taking into account all these new possibilities does not, 
however, prevent the advisability of roughly mapping out a 
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