If the suggestions of former " Calendars," with reference to digging and trenching, have been acted upon, the soil will now be in the best condition for cropping; the ameliorating effects of winter will have left it in a state the most suitable for vegetating seeds. All that will now be requisite in preparing for such crops as carrots, onions, beets, parsnips, etc, is a slight turning up and breaking with a fork, and if done in a dry time, the soil will reduce to a powder. Avoid raking as far as possible. Draw slight furrows with a hoe, and cover the seeds with the same implement, leaving an open, porous surface that will not readily cake with rains until the young plants are above ground; afterwards, hoeing and surface stirring will prevent the formation of a caked surface. One of the disadvantages of a tenacious soil is this liability to harden on the surface after even slight showers; and it is also one of the principal features in the good management of these soils, to stir the surface after every rain. Everything, however, depends upon the time when the stirring is performed. Between the wetting and softening of the soil by rain, and its caking by sun and drought, there is a period when it is in the most favorable condition for hoeing.

This is one of those matters in horticulture upon which no definite rules can be given that will be applicable in all cases; the practice that would be suitable for one soil and situation, would be unsuited for another differently circumstanced. In view of the many conflicting opinions which are frequently given in the enunciation of mere practical rules (and which may be either right or wrong according to existing peculiarities), it is a question worthy of more than mere passing notice, whether more real progress would not follow from the promulgation of principles only, leaving every one to deduce the practice for themselves; for it is well known that no amount of explanatory information will compensate for the want of that discriminating knowledge which can only be obtained front practical experience.

Vegetable Garden #1

The great aim of all good cultivators is to maintain a continued healthy and vigorous growth from the time the seed vegetates until the plant arrives at maturity. This is, in fact, the true meaning of the word "cultivation." There is a wide distinction between what is frequently called a well kept garden and a well cultivated one. The former may be kept perfectly clear of weeds by the use of hoe and rake - every spot of surface smooth and highly polished. The vegetables may have a starved look about them, and languish and wilter after a hot day; yet, with many persons, such gardening would be considered perfection. This is not cultivation. Hoeing, as understood by the really successful gardeners, means something more than killing weeds, although it also necessarily involves their destruction. His crops are bo arranged on the drill system as to admit of deep working between the rows. This is performed with a strong scuffle-hoe, or a suitable broad-tined digging fork; in either case, the soil is deeply and thoroughly broken up, and left rough, loose, and not trampled upon. This is his criterion of beauty in a vegetable garden.

He sees no beauty in a smooth and finely raked surface.

Seeds of the cabbage family should now be sown for a winter supply of vegetables; the savoy, broccoli, and Brussels' sprouts, are useful sorts, and should not be overlooked. Cauliflower sown now, and the plants set out, when large enough, in a good soil, will perhaps form heads in the fall, before frost, if the weather proves favorable; and if they do not exhibit any symptoms of heading before frost, they can be lifted and laid in a cool cellar, or planted thickly in a trench, and covered with soil and litter; they will form heads tolerably well either way, and be available when such vegetables are scarce.

Vegetable Garden #2

There is always more or less green vegetable refuse in gardens during summer, such as potato tops, pea haulm, and similar matter, which is either allowed to remain on the ground and dry up in the sun, or deposited in a heap for the purpose of forming manure. A better disposition of such products is to dig them at once into the soil; there are always some spare corners, or uncropped spots, which may be enriched by becoming a place of deposit for rubbish of this kind Even the short grass from lawns may be covered at once, if no more useful disposition can be made of it: such as mulching between the rows of vegetables, or over the roots of recently-planted trees. There is much loss of enriching matters by allowing these incidental accumulations to lie on the surface; and even as a matter of neatness and regularity, they should be at once disposed of, and rendered useful for future crops.