Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/40

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A KITCHEN GARDEN

a furrow from one to four inches deep, for sowing peas, corn, beans, etc., and coming back alongside of the open furrow will cover them nicely, not taking one-quarter of the time necessary to make the drill with a hoc and cover with a rake, as it is ordinarily done. It is also very handy to strike out a furrow in this way when planting strawberries, cabbages, tomatoes, etc., especially where two are employed on the same work, as one can strike out the furrows, and drop a plant whore each one is to stand, while the other, following, sets the plant with one hand and with the other pulls in and places the loose covering dirt, and finally tramps the soil firmly round the new-set plants with his feet. These two last-mentioned tools are very useful in the ordinary small garden; they enable the work to be done much more quickly and very much more thoroughly than is often the case, the spring spading being generally the only good stirring the soil gets in the season.

A Seed Drill is a very handy tool, but it is quite expensive. In the kitchen garden there is seldom more than one or two rows across the garden to be sown with any one kind of seed, and this can be done almost in the time it would take to adjust the drill, although the drill works a great deal more evenly than the seed can be sown by hand. On a farm where root crops are raised for soiling, the drill will be a measure of economy, even for a single season, and can readily be used in the garden. The combined implements, with plowing and hoeing attachments, are “a delusion and a snare;” if you want a tool that will do good work, and will not get out of order