There are germs in the soil which change the nitrogen into nitrates, the form in which nitrogen becomes the real plant food, and drainage favors the development of these germs. You see how important good drainage is. Get the tools you need. You cannot afford to be without implements if you are cultivating intensively. That does not mean that you must get all the advertised garden tools, or even all that your neighbor has. Although a tool may be the best of its kind, that is not reason enough for buying it. You must have a use for it on your plot. Get whatever you have a use for, and get only the best. It pays in the long run. A list of tools and costs is given in “Three Acres,” and in “A Little Land,” so it is necessary only to note here that the spading fork is a far better tool than the spade; some gardeners never use a spade. The spading-fork is easier to use and breaks the soil much better. The seeder, attached to the wheel-hoe, is also a saver of labor and of seed: it makes the rows quite straight, so that they are easy to keep free from weeds; it drops the seeds at even distances and if your soil is as fine as it should be, it covers them all just deep enough—provided you have learned to fix the gauges right to start on. Combination tools, those that do several different things, sometimes work well, but they usually get out of repair quickly, and are apt to puzzle the beginner. Get the best and simplest form of the tool you want, and keep it always in condition for use. Tools that are not cleaned after use are spreaders of disease. Cleanliness prevents and cures. See to it that your cultivating tools, your harvesting baskets and bags, and your storage bins are thoroughly cleaned, and you will soon discourage the bugs. They will regard you as cold and unsympathetic, and your garden as a place to be avoided. Don’t be afraid to use manure, both stable and green, and when you must, use commercial fertilizer. But this is expensive and is only profitable under particular crops. You won’t need it, if you keep the soil supplied with humus. Don’t waste kitchen slops or any other waste water. It all has fertilizing qualities that will help your garden. Even in the winter it is a good plan to pour your slops on the ground, choosing a different spot each day so that no one place may get too wet and leave surface pools. Mankind in the lump is stupid, so stupid that we drain our fertilizing matter into our harbors and then dig it out again at the cost of four dollars the yard.