72 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



THE farmer;s garden. 



A Paper Read before the Stormont Farmers' Institute by Mr. John Croil, 

 Director for Division No. i. 



I MAKE no apology for being on 

 your platform to-day other than 

 to say I am asked, as a director of 

 fhe Fruit Growers' Association of 

 Ontario, to make a few remarks on 

 gardening as connected with farming. 

 We think they should go hand-in- 

 hand. A good farmer is a poor 

 gardener, so it is often said, but why 

 should it be so ? The thorough 

 farmer is, of all others, the best 

 qualified to be the best gardener. 

 One reason for this idea is, we think, 

 the belief that there is no mone}' in 

 the pursuit. Cheaper, you say, to 

 buy vegetables than to raise them. 

 But do you buy them ? The farmer's 

 table, as a rule, isn't half as well 

 supplied with vegetables as the town 

 man's. We don't advocate, in all 

 cases, a large garden. The size of 

 it will be best regulated by the facili- 

 ties you have of disposing of the 

 surplus after the wants of your family' 

 have been supplied. Let it be situ- 

 ated convenient to the dwelling. 

 Your wives and daughters will, in all 

 likelihood, have more to do with it 

 than you. Don't tell them you will 

 plough or dig it for them 



AS SOON AS ALL YOUR CROP IS IN. 



Your wives should make the house 

 too hot for their liege lords till you 

 get this done. If possible, let there 

 be no trees to shade your garden. 

 Plant seeds of the best kinds and of 

 the best quality you can find as soon 

 as the ground is in good working 

 order, and not sooner. Don't wait 

 for the moon ; I think this is an old- 

 fashioned idea. " He that observeth 

 the wind shall not sow." I think the 

 same may be said of the moon. It 

 is economy to use the best known 

 kind of seeds at any reasonable price. 

 Last spring I had some of Burpee's 

 New Express Cabbage ; it matured 

 about the time some were thinking 



of planting, and sold readily for eight 

 cents a head, not large ones either ; 

 while large heads of the late kinds 

 were sold freely at from two to three 

 cents a head. 



FIGHT THE WEEDS. 



You are sure to have them ; kill them 

 in infancy. If you have not learned 

 the truth of the Bible words, " Thorns 

 also and thistles shall it bring forth 

 to you," you will before the season is 

 far advanced. Supply yourself with 

 the best tools. None better that I ' 

 know of for keeping down the weeds 

 than the Dutch or flat hoe. Use it 

 as soon as you can see the seed rows, 

 and use it often. A lively man will 

 go over a good-sized garden with it 

 in a day. A wheel cultivator works- 

 well in mellow soil. I prefer the 

 hoe in stiffer soil. Sowing in beds, 

 I think an old-fashioned system and 

 a waste of time. Run your line the 

 length of the garden with the assist- 

 ance of a smart boy — better if the 

 man is smart too ; you will be sur- 

 prised how much ground you will 

 plant in a day. 



GIVE YOUR GARDEN ACRE EQUAL CARE, 



and I think it will pay you as well, 

 or better than any of the others. I 

 claim to be one of yourselves, having 

 for the last forty years employed all 

 my time in your profession, and gar- 

 dening as well. We are often advised 

 to profit by our failures as well as 

 our successes. I have had a goodly 

 share of the former, and hope I 

 in some measure learned wisdom 

 from them. Let me give you a few 

 figures from my own experience. 

 This last year my garden occupied 

 a space of measured ground 2,478 

 square yards, a little over half an 

 acre. Besides having a bountiful 

 supply for household use, I sold off 

 this: 



