Evening star., 1915-03-07
WHAT TO DO IN THE GARDEN.

Notwithstanding the fact that March
came in like a lion." in the matter
OF high, blustery winds. with a good
deal of chill to them, the clear skies,
lengthening hours of sunshine and
those same winds that brought more
or less discomfort have united during
the past week in drying the ground
to such point that actual preliminary
work may be done in the garden. The
frequent rains that during January
and February soaked the earth into a
slush of mud stored down under the
surface a plentiful supply of moisture
to be drawn up during the growing
season by the plant life of the garden.
They also sent abundant supplies OF
water fltering down through the earth
to renew wells that dried UP during
the drought of last summer and fall
The sun and wind of the last week
have taken the surplus moisture from
the surface. SO that 1t is possible to
''chore" around in the garden without
wearing rubber boots; and an hour or
SO a day devoted to getting the garden
into shape for the actual operations
that are to come later will be well
Overwinter accumulations of manure
from the stable or the henhouses,
piled in spots over the garden during
the cold weather. may be spread evenly
over the ground and plowed under
This will put it down to depth at
which 1t will be available for plant
food. forming, as it were, thin layer
of compost material six inches or so
under the surface. A March plowing
is also beneficial for the reason that
it exposes the roots or terminating
seeds of weeds. to the nipping frosts
and late breezes of the month. and thus
cuts down the summers weed growth
in the garden. The action of frost,
sun, possible snow. wind and rain on
the upturned soil all unite to make it
friable, conserve the soil moisture.
sweeten the soil and put it into fine
cultivable condition. A plowing in jan
uary would have been even better, but.
lacking that, an early March plowing
is a great help.
Bear in mind that no garden ever yet
this true of much
Heavy Manuring of the land in
Means Big Crops. Virginia " a II y anS aai ano u
cent to the District of Columbia. Much
of this land, in years gone by, was
cropped year after year to tobacco and
corn, with no effort whatever to renew
the fertility and productiveness of the
soil Robbed of humus and chemical
elements alike, a great deal of hard
work, and not a little expense, is
necessary to bring this soil back to
fair measure of fertility. The more
manure you place on it the better,
bearing always in mind that barnyard
manure with plenty of straw is better
than any chemical fertilizer that can
be bought. If possible, use it by the
ton. Twenty tons to the acre is not
too much; neither is forty tons, or
sixty tons. A layer of good stable
manure a foot and a half deep all over
the garden will not be too much. Such
quantities, however, are practically un-
available, SO the average gardener
must do with what he can get, eking
out the inadequate supply with chemi-
cal fertilizers, or, better yet, with
green manure crop plowcd under. Most
authorities agree, however, that the
full benefits of green manure are not
obtained until the second year
OF these green manures the one most
frequently used is rye, sowed in the
fall and turned under the following
May. The rye by that time will have
grown to the height of two feet OF
SO. and when turned under puts back
into the soil large supply of humus
all soils hereabouts need-and
other fertilizing elements. Sand vetch,
however. is even better. This plant.
belonging to the legumes. possesses
the characteristic of gathering nitro
gen out of the air and storing it up in
nodules on the roots of the plant.
Nitrogen is the most valuable ferti-
lizing element in existence. and the
supplies stored up in the tiny nodules
on the roots of the vetch are liberated
as the.plowed-up plants and roots de-
cay. and are made available for util
ization by other plant growths. Red
clover and crimson clover are also
largely used as green manure crops,
each of them being actually more val
liable than rye: but these have to be
sown in August or September for turn
ing under the following spring. Fair
1y good results may be obtained by
sowing rye as early as possible in the
spring, and then, in late April or May.
spreading on top of it all the barn
yard manure possible and turning all
under.