POPULAR VEGETABLE SEEDS 
15 
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View of our Florncroft Trial Grounds, showing in the foreground two Planet Jr. Wheel Hoes. These implements make 
home piirdeninp 11 pleasant recreation lor the busy man from the city oflico, and are great labor-savers for the gardener who 
pursues it ns a business. See the third cover page of this catalogue for Planet Jr. price list. 
Directions for the Cultivation of Vegetables 
The exposure for a vegetable garden should be south or southeast, or nearly so. The soil should be 
naturally rich and friable, a sandy loam being among the best. If wet, or inclined to hold an excess of 
moisture, it should be underdrained, preferably by tile. 
To produce the best results, the vegetable garden should have at least one foot of good, rich soil. 
The roots of large trees should not be allowed to encroach on any part of the garden, though large trees, 
sufficiently far olf, afford a valuable protection on the north and west. 
Mark the garden off into squares or beds of convenient size, to facilitate the practice of a rotation of 
crops, which is an important matter. As a rule, never let the same crop occupy the same bed two years 
in succession. Potatoes, onions, and a few other things may form an exception to this rule, hut it is 
better to keep up rotation. Every year these beds must be warmed up by a liberal coat of manure, 
which should be thoroughly mixed with the soil. Grow everything in drills or straight lines. Larger 
crops from a given surface are grown in this way, and cultivation becomes simple and comparatively 
easy. The ground should be frequently hoed, to kill the weeds and keep the soil mellow ; proper time 
to hoe is just when the weeds appear above ground. Whether weeds appear or not, the ground should 
be frequently stirred. 
■¥T|"|rp fJirriC ^or earl y vegetables and flowers, provision for starting certain plants earlier than 
JL JDHiJLIij can be done in the open air is desirable; for this purpose nothing is better Ilian 
a good hot bed or even a cold frame, and its construction is so simple and the expense so slight that every 
garden should have one. A hot bed proper protects the plants from cold, and supplies bottom heat. 
THE FRAME should be made of one-inch lumber, the 
back twelve to fifteen inches high and the front ten to 
twelve, giving it the proper slope to catch the rays of the sun 
as much as possible. The sash should be fitted so as to leave 
as little opening as possible and yet allow the sash to be 
easily moved up and down. 
MAKING THE BED requires careful attention. Fresli 
horse manure, containing a liberal quantity of straw bedding, 
should be thrown in a loose pile and allowed to heat. It 
should then be forked over and allowed to heata second time, 
then trodden firmly into the bed. Six to ten inches depth 
of manure should be covered with a light, rich, friable 
garden soil to a depth of six to ten inches. The heat, which 
will be quite violent, frequently rising to 120 degrees, will 
soon subside, and when it recedes to 90 degrees, the seeds 
may be planted or the plants set in. 
MANAGEMENT OF THE BED. Great care should 
be exercised on bright, sunshiny days that the bed docs not 
get too hot, but is judiciously ventilated. On very cold nights, the glass should be co 
mats. These we can supply either of straw or of burlap, filled with cotton. 
WATERING. Water’should never he sprinkled over tlie leaves when they are exposed to bright 
sunshine. In cloudv weather a bed will go several days without water, or would dry up in an hour 
when exposed to strong sun. So that the details of management must he learned by experience, but 
are easily* acquired by parties who give the matter careful attention, and will yield them much pleasure 
and satisfaction. 
HOT BED HASnEH. 
We can supply the best quality. 
Size Each Per doz. 
Unglazcd . . . . 3 x 0 ft. 21.25 $11.00 
Glazed.3 x 0 ft. 3.00 32.00 
covered with 
