OCR Text |
Show HAVE LONG ROWS IN YOUR GARDEN Plan Will Not Only Save Labor but Will Prevent Injury to Tender Plants. Arrange the garden In long rows and cultivate the crops with a horse whenever this is possible, suggests the United States Department of Agriculture. Agricul-ture. Horse cultivation can be practiced prac-ticed where the rows are as narrow as 24 Inches, but as a rule it does not pay to have the rows closer than 30 or 3G Inches. One good arrangement Is to have the crops grown In three-foot rows occupying oc-cupying the major portion of the garden, gar-den, with a narrow strip along one side laid off In small beds or narrow rows In which all the smaller crops cun be grown. One farmer near Washington, Wash-ington, D. C. who Is noted for having a good garden follows the practice of cultivating with a horse every Saturday Satur-day afternoon, provided the soil Is not too wet from a recent rain. It takes only about one hour to go over the garden with a cultivator and then with a little hand hoeing he Is able to keep his garden In perfect condition. While It may not always be convenient to cultivate the garden at a specified time as does this farmer, yet there ore often short periods In farm work (luring which the garden can be cultivated. cul-tivated. The long narrow garden Is easier to plow than one that Is more nearly square and requires less turning In cultivation. If less than a full row of any one vegetable Is desired, this will not cause any Inconvenience, as two or three different kinds of vegetables may be planted In one row. The kind of cultivator to use In cultivating the garden does not matter greatly, but one having a number of fairly small teeth that will pulverize the soil. There are two types of one-horse cultivators on the market, one having five teeth with various sizes and shapes of points that can be changed to suit local conditions and another which Is an "A"-shaped cultivator and having about 13 small teeth or shovels. The wheel hoe Is a desirable, tool for use In the garden, mainly for finishing up the cultivation close to the rows of plants after the rows have been gone through with a horse cultivator. This applies especially to onions, beets, carrots, parsnips, celery and several of the low-growing and compact types of vegetables. The rows should be perfectly straight. It Is better not to depend upon a horse-drawn horse-drawn marker for laying off the rows, but to use a line. |