HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May, 1915 
337 
will be half won. And knowing what is to be done, of course, 
is a different thing from knowing how to do it. Simple as the 
jobs of hoeing and weeding may seem, there is a right way and 
a wrong way — usually one right and several wrong — of doing 
each of the several operations of cultivation. Perhaps the best 
way of explaining the various practical details is to select one 
particular vegetable from each of the several types grown, and 
to give its “life history" as far as cultivation is concerned. For 
this purpose the vegetable garden and crops may be considered 
as belonging to three groups: Those of which plants already 
started are set out; those sown in the drills; and those sown in 
rows in hills. The method of handling cabbages, for instance, 
well illustrates how plants in the first group—those set out — are 
cared for; while onions may be used as an example of drilled 
crops; and corn, of crops sown in rows. 
At the time of setting your cabbages, if you followed the sug¬ 
gestions given in last month's article, you had the ground raked 
smooth and level; and after planting, you went over it again with 
the rake attachment of the wheel-hoe to make the dust mulch 
over again where the ground had been trampled down in planting. 
No doubt that part of the garden, 
after you did this, looked as though 
it would be able to take care of itself 
for the rest of the season. And 
probably, if it had remained as 
clean as it then was, you would not 
have touched it again — with the 
result that your crop would have 
amounted to very little! If Provi¬ 
dence concerns itself with the af¬ 
fairs of amateur gardeners a gen¬ 
erous supply of weed seeds are 
sown to compel the lazy and un¬ 
trained gardener to cultivate his 
crops. If there were no weeds he 
would be likely to leave his crops 
until the ground was baked as hard 
as a brick walk and the chance for 
any kind of a harvest was gone 
forever. The prime object of cul¬ 
tivating is not to kill the weeds — 
it is to keep the crops growing 
lustily. But, incidentally, the weeds 
have got to be killed or they will 
succeed in killing the crop or ren¬ 
dering it worthless; 
and, therefore, the 
work should be done 
in such a way that 
the weeds are de¬ 
stroyed with the 
least possible labor. 
If two or three 
weeks after planting 
you look carefully 
at your cabbage 
rows, you will find 
that hundreds — you 
will be fortunate if 
there are not thou¬ 
sands — of little 
weeds have sprouted 
and are barely visi¬ 
ble. They don't look 
as though they 
After a rain go over the ground with a culti¬ 
vator to break up the crust before it hardens 
Furrows for the various vine crops should be dug out to a depth of several inches and 
from eighteen to twenty inches across 
would ever be big enough to get 
the best of a radish, to say nothing 
about the husky looking cabbage 
plants that you have set out. But 
“lay not that flattering unction to 
your soul." They can get the best 
of any crop which does not com¬ 
pletely cover the ground, although 
it may be half grown before they 
start. Don't neglect your sprouting 
weeds, to see how fast they can 
grow — but just take my word for 
it! The best time to destroy them 
is before you can see them without 
getting down on your hands and 
knees. In the case of cabbages and 
other plants which have been trans¬ 
planted to the garden this is very 
easy, provided it is attended to 
promptly. Go over the ground be¬ 
tween the rows with the cultivator 
teeth on the wheel-hoe, loosening it 
up thoroughly and breaking up 
every square inch of soil. Go twice 
in a row if necessary — it will not 
take a great deal of time, as you 
can do it as fast as you can walk. Then with the iron rake 
or a little hoe (one that you can handle easily and cut up close 
to the plants is much more convenient to use than the regular 
size) carefully pulverize each square inch of surface right up 
to the stem. If your patch is large enough it may pay to use 
the wheel-hoe across the rows between the plants as well as 
along them. 
This is all that will be necessary for another ten days or so, 
unless you want to hasten the growth of the crops by a very 
light application of nitrate of soda sprinkled about the plants 
and worked into the soil. One handful of this material, which 
is very powerful, will be sufficient for several plants — so that, 
although it costs a good deal per bag. it costs very little per plant. 
I would not think of trying to grow early vegetables without it. 
And I don’t think I have ever met a gardener who used it with 
reasonable care who did not get good results. If you put on 
(Continued on page 381) 
Crops sown by seed in a con¬ 
tinuous drill should be thinned 
out at the first weeding 
