No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 233 



in closer touch with the outside world. In short, educate the farmers 

 socially and our hills and valleys will be dotted with their pretty 

 homes, our markets will be filled with the choice products of their 

 labors, and their coffers will become plethoric with that for which 

 all mankind are so earnestly striving. 



If this short paper has failed to convince you of the truth of its 

 text, I trust some thought has been suggested that may encourage 

 you to put forth your best effort to aid in solving this great problem 

 that is of such vital importance to all. 



OUR FARM GARDEN. 



By R. J. WELD, Sugar Grove, Pa. 



In presenting this subject to the members of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, I wish to say at the outset that it is presented from the 

 standpoint of a practical dairy farmer who keeps a garden purely 

 for what there is to be gotten out of it towards making the family 

 table more varied and attractive. Farm gardens should be located 

 as near to the house as iDossible for two reasons, namely: So as 

 to be near at hand when the house-wife wishes to draw from them 

 for the table; and secondly, so that they may be seen every day 

 by the farmer, for of all the crops on the farm, none require closer 

 watching and more thorough cultivation, at just the proper time, 

 than does the garden crop. 



Our garden is only 80 feet from the kitchen door, and every part 

 of it can be seen from the house. It slopes to the southeast and 

 is of a gravelly soil, with a hard, stony subsoil. The soil is not what 

 we would consider an ideal soil for a garden, but location and soil 

 do not go together in our case. The garden must be well drained, 

 either naturally or with tile. Our plan is to manure the garden 

 heavily late in the fall, after everything has been harvested, and 

 then plow deeply, thus turning the insects which may be housed up 

 for the winter on top and leaving the ground in a condition to get 

 full benefit of the frost in pulverizing our stiff, tenacious soil. 



The turning under of the heavy coat of manure adds to the me- 

 chanical condition of the soil, which must be looked after where 

 the same plot of ground is used for a garden year after year. If 

 we had available ground, we would practice seeding down a portion 

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