In thorough cultivation before the crop is planted, lies the secret of many a success, and in its neglect the cause of many failures.  Intelligent handling of crops is in a large measure knowledge of the influence of wind and rain, sunshine and darkness, on the particular nature of the plant Delicate plants, for example, ought to be grown where buildings or forests break the force of prevailing winds.  Sheltered valleys in irrigated sections have proved the best for intensive cultivation.  For thousands of years in China and Japan the conditions of successful intensive cultivation have been well understood, and to-day the most efficient gardeners are the Chinese.  In some parts of Mexico, for the same reasons, intensive cultivation has reached a high development.  In our own West we are catching up on vegetables and fruits.

CHAPTER X

THE ADVANTAGES FROM CAPITAL

We have seen what a worker with very little money can do and how he can succeed.  A small capital, however, can be used to increase the returns to as great advantage on a small farm as large capital can be used on a large farm and with much less risk.

Stable manure is still the favorite article with the masses of gardeners.  One ton of ordinary stable manure contains about 1275 pounds of organic matter, carrying eight pounds of nitrogen, ten pounds of potash, and four pounds of phosphoric acid.

When thoroughly rotted, the manure acquires a still larger percentage of plant food; it is more valuable, not only for that reason, but also on account of its immediate availability.  Further, the mechanical effect of this manure in opening and loosening the soil, allowing air and warmth to enter more freely, adds greatly to its value.

It is easily gotten and often goes wholly or in part to waste.  On the outskirts of some towns may be seen a collection of manure piles that have been hauled out and dumped in waste places.  The plant food in each ton of this manure is worth at least two dollars—­that is the least Eastern farmers pay for similar material, and they make money doing it.  Yet almost every liveryman has to pay some one for hauling the manure away.  This is simply because farmers living near these towns are missing a chance to secure something for nothing—­because, perhaps, the profit is not directly in sight.  But from most soils there is a handsome profit possible from a very small application of stable manure.

While writing this, I saw a man in New Rochelle, N. Y.; dumping a load of street sweepings into a hole in a vacant lot.  It would have been less wasteful to have dumped a bushel of potatoes into the hole.

Commercial fertilizers are coming more and more in use by market gardeners, and with reason.  If we examine a good fertilizer, analyzing five per cent available nitrogen, six per cent phosphoric acid, and 8 per cent potash, we shall find that one ton of it contains, besides less valuable ingredients:  100 lb. nitrogen, 120 lb. phosphoric acid, 160 lb. potash.