164 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Plant vegetables that mature at the same time and grow to the same 

 height near each other. Rows 3 feet apart permit a horse to work be- 

 tween them. Some vegetables should be planted in rows only 14 to 16 

 inches apart. These require a wheel hoe or hand work. As I have 

 already stated, have perennial vegetables at one side or along the fence, 

 for this saves time in plowing the garden. 



The garden should be plowed in the fall. First clean up all dead 

 vines and rubbish and burn it. This will get rid of many enemies of your 

 crops. Spread about twelve to fifteen loads of well-rotted manure evenly 

 on the land. I have put as much as twenty-five loads to the acre of the 

 right kind of manure and have found no bad effect on the crops so long as 

 moisture is not lacking. 



Freezing and thawing of plowed ground during the winter settles 

 and pulverizes the soil and makes an ideal home for vegetables to grow 

 in. Fall plowing gets rid of many insects. Let the poultry follow behind 

 the plow; they will manufacture the insects into eggs. 



When the land is plowed late in the fall not much is gained by running 

 a disc or harrow over it; I would rather leave it rough to catch snow, 

 for there is not much evaporation going on during the winter months. I 

 often spread well-rotted manure over the rough fall-plowed ground, then 

 use the disc or harrow in the early spring just before planting. This 

 well-rotted manure worked in on top of the soil gives the young plants a 

 better start than the manure at the bottom of the furrow where the roots 

 are unable to reach it in their early growth. 



In planting a garden, attention must be given to the feeding capacity 

 of the plants, the time to plant, season's growth, and time to harvest for 

 family use or market. Any retarding of the growth during the growing 

 stage of most of our vegetables means poor quality, uneatable, woody bit- 

 terness, lacking in taste, toughness, instead of tenderness. The condition 

 of vegetables never improves after taking from the garden, although the 

 price increases as they pass from one hand to the other until they reach 

 the consumer. 



In the thorough preparation of the seedbed and its cultivation lies the 

 secret of success, and the neglect of these factors is the cause of many 

 failures. This is more true in this country than in Europe, where I spent 

 twenty years in intensive farming. Our soil is just as productive as the 

 European soils if we apply the same intensive system of cultivation and 

 give the same time to caring for the seedbed. 



The real value of our products, however, depends upon the market. 

 The farmers of this country would do well to study the cooperative sys- 

 tems of marketing, selling and buying that prevail in European countries. 



Fourteen years of experience in growing vegetables and fruit of all 

 kinds in southeastern Nebraska for home, market, and exhibition shows 

 me that I have to lay aside much that I learned from an experienced man 

 on the other side of the globe. In growing vegetables of good quality 

 the time to grow them is short because we have very abnormal condi- 

 tions to overcome. Even with the best of care, climatic conditions often 



