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Show QUALITY OF THE VEGETABLES Largely Dependent on Amount of Moisture Available Mulching or Cultivating Is Favored. The quality of fresh vegetables Is determined by the variety, the character charac-ter of the soil, the amount of moisture, moist-ure, the temperature and the degree J af ripeness and freshness. It mat-I mat-I ters little how ideal all the conditio: s are, if the variety selected is of poor quality, the other conditions will not make up for it. As a general rule the varieties of vegetables most popular pop-ular among commercial growers are of line appearance, but of poor quality. It is often the best looking variety that Is most popular, while the varieties varie-ties of finest quality remain untasted, people becoming prejudiced because of their appearance, says a recent station bulletin. There are some crops that are ol vastly superior quality when grown on some kinds or soil. When raised on a commercial scale only those vegetables vege-tables that are best adapted to the soil should be raised. Celery does best on a comparatively small variety of soils. Root crops ,:rov.n in sandy soils are always mo:e smooth than those grown on the heavy soils. How-sver, How-sver, these vegetables can be raised very successfully for home use in the home garden with a comparatively small amount of special care, on almost al-most any type of soil. Practically all of our vegetables consist of over SO per cent water, with some having almost 95 per cent of water. wa-ter. The quality of fresh vegetables is largely dependent upon this large amount of moisture. With crops such as lettuce, celery and cabbage, where the leaf parts, that contain a very high per cent of water, are eaten, it is very important to have an abundant abun-dant supply of moisture. With insufficient insuffi-cient moisture these crops are stunted stunt-ed and have a very inferior flavor. The rapid growth resulting from an abundant supply of moisture produces the very delicate leaf tissues which are characteristic of vegetables of best quality. Some vegetables, such as tomatoes to-matoes and melons, need a very abundant abun-dant supply of moisture early in the season, but produce vegetables of best quality if the soil is comparatively dry during the ripening season. Soil moisture moist-ure can be conserved by frequent aad continuous cultivation during the summer. sum-mer. In the sections having light soils, or soils deficient in moisture, a very satisfactory plan during dry seasons sea-sons is to cover the soil with a mulch of straw manure during the early 'part of the summer, instead of cultivating. |