328 Transactions of the 



FARMERS' GARDENS. 



BY I. N. HOAG. 



There are many anomalous features and inexcusable defects in the 

 system of agriculture as practiced in California. We shall endeavor to 

 point out some of these defects and suggest the remedies, in hopes that 

 by so doing we may induce a better, more thorough, and economical sys- 

 tem of farming, and thus bring more profit to individual farmers, and 

 comfort and convenience to their families, as well as increased prosperity 

 to the commonwealth. 



One of the most striking of these features and one that requires 

 attention at the present time, is the almost entire absence of vegetable 

 gardens throughout the great grain districts of the State. In many of 

 these districts one may travel hundreds of miles through flourishing- 

 wheat and barley fields, passing the residences of well to do farmers, 

 and not see a solitary vegetable garden worthy of the name. 



Californians as a general thing are too apt to exert all their energies 

 in a single direction and trust all their chances of success, all their hopes 

 of a fortune, to the throwing of a single die. Greatly to the disadvan- 

 tage of our agriculture, this one idea system of farming has absorbed the 

 attention and'monopolized the energies of our agricultural communities. 

 Wheat and barley have been and are still too much the exclusive pro- 

 duct of the State. 



jSo agricultural country can be assured of an uninterrupted and con- 

 tinuous prosperity unless it produces as nearly as may be all the neces- 

 saries of life. As our agricultural industries are now situated, two or 

 three seasons unfavorable to wheat and barley would render by far the 

 larger portion of our farmers poor, if not completely bankrupt. As it 

 is with a State or large community, so it is with smaller ones or with 

 individuals and families. Those who depend for a livelihood upon the 

 products of the soil should endeavor to produce as near as may be all 

 the varieties of food they consume. Especially should no farmer in this 

 State be without a well tilled and well stocked vegetable garden. One 

 half acre well prepared, planted and cultivated in a good variety of gar- 

 den vegetables, will administer more to the real wants, comfort, health, 

 and happiness of a family and will saVe more money to its owner than 

 ten acres devoted to wheat, barley, or other ordinary field crops. 



Again, the garden is the place for experiments. It should be in minia- 

 ture an experimental farm. TJfe man who really becomes interested in 

 and cultivates a good garden, will become a better and more intelligent 

 and successful farmer. By degrees he is led to stud} r more closely the 

 nature and wants of the soil — the treatment adapted to different kinds 

 of plants, and by degrees he applies the lessons learned in the garden to 

 all his farming operations. 



