236 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



plied an abundance of potatoes all summer for a table of eight, with 

 a good deal of company, and quite a supply sent to city friends. 

 Two bushels of Burbanks (not in this half-acre, however,) filled 

 the cellar bin for winter use, so that practically three bushels of 

 seed potatoes planted will supply the house the whole year. 



Corn and beans are planted every two weeks, corn until the 

 first of August and beans until the last of the same month. This 

 year we had eight plantings of corn and had roasting ears until frost, 

 and the same can be said of the beans. These are two of a house- 

 keeper's main stand-bys for summer use, and are so easily grown 

 that they need never fail. For the first crop of corn we plant 

 'Teep 0' Day," a very early variety, and for our main crop 

 "Country Gentleman," a most palatable and toothsome corn. 



Tomatoes are another most satisfactory and reliable help to 

 the housekeeper, as they are used in such a variety of ways, both 

 raw and cooked. For this half-acre garden we plant from eighty 

 to one hundred plants, which give us an ample supply for unstinted 

 table use, with a surplus allowing from 125 to 150 quarts canned 

 for winter use. We plant them four feet apart each way, and tie 

 up to stakes or mulch with straw to keep off the ground. 



In addition to the vegetables previously referred to, we plant 

 all the others usually found in gardens, such as okra, lima beans, 

 sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, cabbage, cauliflower, squash, simlins, 

 cucumbers, cantaloupes, melons, onions, beets, eggplant, etc., so 

 that it is nothing unusual for this garden to be represented by* 

 seven or more vegetables on our table. 



As most housekeepers know, these vegetables have their special 

 seasons, and run from asparagus and pieplant in early spring to 

 such as afford a supply until terminated by frost. This year we 

 cut a beautiful head of cauliflower as late as the twentieth of 

 November. 



Another very necessarj^ attribute of a successful and profitable 

 garden, both from the standpoint of practical convenience and 

 economy, is a small and inexpensive hotbed. Ours is nine feet by 

 six feet, divided into three sections the nine-foot way, making three 

 apartments 6 by 3 feet. It faces southwestwardly and is sloped about 

 one foot in its six-foot length towards the sun for admitting the 

 rays of the sun its full length. It is covered with old sashes. 



To make a hotbed, buy one or more old sashes from any car- 

 penter shop. Make a topless and bottomless frame that will be 

 covered by the sashes. Make the. frames about eighteen inches 



