Making Home ProfitableSaint Maur, Kate V. (Kate Vandenhoff)
Science
Making Home Profitable
Saint Maur, Kate V. (Kate Vandenhoff)
Agriculture; Country life
Harrow to smooth the surface, and repeat the harrowing about every
three weeks until October, when it should be ploughed again to the
depth of six or seven inches, manured and left until spring. After
the spring harrowing the rows must be marked out five feet apart and
running from north to south. Use the plough back and forth in the same
furrow to make a wide trench, which should be six or seven inches deep
and about a foot wide. If much of the soil falls back into the trench,
remove it with a spade or broad hoe, then plant seed about three inches
apart. Keep the rows free from weeds all through the season and the
ground loose around the plants.
It is desirable to utilise the space between the rows, as it insures
the ground being well cultivated. Each space will accommodate two rows
of carrots, onions or lettuce, or one row of cabbage. In the fall,
when the tops of the asparagus begin to die, they must be cut off and
burned.
The following spring the ground between the rows should be manured and
ploughed, or spaded if the place is an inclosed garden and a plough
cannot be used. Strong roots may throw very good-sized sprouts, but
don’t be tempted to gather them, for their removal will stimulate the
plant to throw up more stalks than its age warrants, and the result
will be either death or a weakly, unprofitable existence for several
seasons. Not more than one row of carrots or onions should be grown
between the rows the second season, and, unless space is of great
value, it is as well not to use it at all.
Cultivation must be kept up all through the growing season, to destroy
weeds and keep the ground in condition. Many amateurs have an idea
that hoeing or cultivating of any sort is solely to destroy weeds,
which is a great mistake. Stirring the surface soil breaks the crust,
and the powdered earth forms a mulch which keeps the lower soil moist,
a condition which liberates the mineral qualities which constitute
plant-food.
The second spring after sowing seed a light crop of stalks may be
gathered, say two or three from each hill, but not more. Then allow the
stalks to grow and feather out until they assume their full fern-like
form. In June apply a moderate quantity of barn-yard manure between
the rows if the ground is not being used. If it is occupied by a crop,
use commercial fertiliser composed of equal parts of nitrate of soda,
sulphate of potash and wood-ashes. Scatter each side of whatever
vegetable occupies the space between the rows and work the fertiliser
well into the soil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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