n the acre far from
railroads or difficult of access.

While in quantity and quality the least favored acre could be made
to produce as much as one best situated, yet, almost none of its
production would be available to sell, while the product of the
favorably located acre could be sold as rapidly as grown.

CHAPTER VIII

THE KITCHEN GARDEN

The aim of the kitchen garden is to provide an abundance and variety
of food for the family. As the object of the cultivator is to get
the largest product for his labor, he ought to produce all that he
can consume on the least possible area. Though one may go into
mushrooms or frog raising as a money crop, the kitchen garden is the
first indispensable and should first be given attention.

For a garden choose a piece of land with a southern exposure,
sheltered on the north and west by woods, buildings, hedge, or any
kind of a windbreak. This arrangement will give the earliest garden,
for it gets all the sun there is. By running the rows north and
south, the rays of the sun strike the eastern side of the row in the
morning, and the western side in the afternoon.

The best time to take hold of a piece of land is in the fall,
because then it can be plowed ready for the spring planting. The
alternate freezing and thawing during the winter breaks up the sod
and the stiff lumps thrown up by the plow, so rendering the soil
pliable and easily worked. This is especially true of land that has
been reclaimed from the forest, or which has not been farmed for
many years.

Before the plowing is done, the land for the garden should be
manured at the rate of twenty-five large wagon loads to the acre. If
you can get a suitable plot that has been in red clover, alfalfa,
soy beans, or cowpeas for a number of years, so much the better.
These plants have on their roots nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which
draw nitrogen from the air. Nitrogen is the great meat-maker and
forces a prolonged and rapid growth of all vegetables.

After manuring and plowing, harrow repeatedly with a disk or cutaway
harrow until the soil is as fine as dust. Then you have a seed bed
which will give the fine roots a chance to grow as soon as the seeds
sprout. Too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of
thoroughly working the soil at this time. Every stone, weed, or clod
that is left in the soil destroys to that extent the source from
which the plants can get their food.

A quarter-acre garden, which is bi