| May, 1913 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
393 
the first lot is not so checked and set back by unfavorable condi¬ 
tions that the later planting will outstrip it both in earliness and 
yield. 
For reasons just the opposite you should not be too previous 
with your plantings 
of late crops such as 
fall cabbage and cauli¬ 
flower, or late peas. 
The last, for example, 
will not begin to 
thrive until the longer 
and cooler nights be¬ 
gin to return and little 
or nothing is gained 
by planting them 
ahead of time. On the 
other hand, however, 
too long a delay in 
either case will mean 
a shortening of the 
season or possibly a 
loss of the entire crop 
through lack of time 
in which to mature. 
There is another 
difference between 
most of the crops 
which you sowed in 
April and those to be 
planted during May. 
Under usual circum¬ 
stances, to obtain the 
results with the latter 
it will be necessary to 
give special enrich¬ 
ment to the soil in the 
“hill” or the furrow. 
And in passing, just a 
word of advice about 
“hills.” I have al¬ 
ready explained that 
this word gives rather 
a wrong impression to 
the uninitiated, as 
with modern methods 
of using level culture, 
almost without ex¬ 
ception the “hill” in 
the garden has practi¬ 
cally disappeared. It 
made much more 
work and wasted 
much more water 
than level cultivation. 
Furthermore, with 
modern tools it is 
much easier to care 
for a crop that is 
planted in rows than 
in hills, and for this 
reason potatoes, corn, 
cucumbers and even 
such space coverers as squashes and pumpkins which were 
formally planted in hills are now sown in continuous rows — all 
the cultivation except a little with hand hoes being given in one 
direction. 
Nevertheless, the term “hill” still sticks, and hereafter, there¬ 
fore, I mean to make use of it in giving directions for planting 
pole beans, corn, cucumbers, pumpkins, squashes and tomatoes 
and also late cabbage and cauliflower. Unless the garden is made 
very rich indeed, richer than most home gardens are, it will be 
very desirable after 
marking out the space 
for these crops to make 
results more quick and 
certain by giving an 
extra application of 
manure or fertilizer in 
the hills or to the row 
directly under where 
the plants are to go. If 
you elect to use manure 
for this purpose, select 
the most thoroughly 
rotted and pulverized 
that you can obtain. It 
will not do to have it 
green and lumpy, nor 
should it be too rich 
and strong—a mistake 
which over anxious be¬ 
ginners are very likely 
to make in preparing 
their soil for plantings 
of this nature. 
Hen manure, which 
is very rich in nitrogen, 
is a favorite material 
for this purpose and 
gives very satisfactory 
results if it is in proper 
condition, i. e., dry and 
well pulverized. If it is 
sticky and lumpy it 
would be better not to 
use it at all. I have 
found that the best way 
of using all animal 
manures of this kind is 
to reduce them by the 
addition of water to a 
semi-liquid state, in 
which condition they 
can be poured from the 
spout of an old water¬ 
ing can or from an old 
pail in small quantities: 
In this way they may 
be much more thor¬ 
oughly and evenly 
distributed. 
Formerly I used 
manure in this way 
quite extensively, but in 
place of it I now use 
altogether commercial 
fertilizers, because they 
are much more easily to 
be applied and obtained, 
and are much more uniform in their content of plant food. By 
“commercial fertilizers” I do not mean the kind that you can get 
ready prepared for any particular crop that grows, put up in 
hundred pound measures in bags. The employment of these 
(Continued on page 426) 
Beans need light and carefully trimmed poles from six to eight feet in height and with 
“arms” and crosspieces twelve to eighteen inches apart 
Brush can be dispensed with in the modern garden by substituting rows of chicken wire 
which are much neater in appearance, and more easily kept in order 
