The Canadian Horticulturist. 



AMATEUR GARDENING. 



By W. S. Turner, Cornwall, Ont. 



THE size of my garden plot is 

 about loo feet square. I com- 

 menced work by ploughing the sod 

 under, and putting in corn and pota- 

 toes as a first crop. I saw there was 

 a goodly quantity of quack grass, and 

 having read of the experience of 

 others in the Rural New Yorker, 

 the Canadian Horticulturist, and 

 other journals of that class, I came 

 to the conclusion that my best part- 

 ners must be the hoe, rake and per- 

 severance. 



I used these three articles with 

 such good purpose that the following 

 spring I saw very little of my old 

 enemy the quack grass ; though I 

 was not quite so successful with the 

 nut grass, and which even yet 

 troubles me some. 



The second spring, having made 

 my soil a little mellower by cultiva- 

 tion and old manure, I put in ten 

 apple trees, some gooseberries, black 

 and red currants and raspberries. 

 I now began to aspire to a few vege- 

 tables, such as beets, turnips, man- 

 golds, sweet corn, peas, beans, toma- 

 toes, celery, etc. 



I cultivated between the fruit trees 

 just as if I did not have any. I soon 

 found that my family could not 

 begin to consume the good things I 

 grew, so I gave away some, and as 

 that did not pay very well, 1 began 

 to sell, so my little garden began to 

 pay expenses, and more so when my 

 celery began to be fit to sell, for 

 celery, as some of you are aware, 

 comes in as a good second crop. 



The third spring, my garden, being 

 in a proportionately better condition, 

 I aspired a little higher, and put in 

 one or two grapevines and a few 

 strawberries, more currants and 

 gooseberries. I find thejre are some 

 things I can grow to better advan- 

 tage than others, for I believe in mak- 

 ing use of every foot of ground and 

 taking out of it all I can get ; and it is 

 surprising what one can take out of a 

 small piece of ground, well cultivat- 

 ed, well manured, and well studying 

 the demands and requirements of 

 each variety of fruit or vegetable. 

 Now, for instance, take a tomatoe 

 plant, it will take up about the same 

 space as a hill of potatoes, and will 

 produce, on an average, three times 

 the value ; true, it requires a little 

 more care and cultivation, but the 

 potato bugs will not trouble it until 

 all the potato vines are dead. I will 

 just say here that it is necessary, if 

 you want extra fine tomatoes, to 

 train them to one or two stalks by 

 nipping off" the laterals or small 

 branches that grow out just above 

 the leaves, and tying the one or two 

 leaders to a stake, using a soft string 

 for the purpose. 



Some gardeners assert that poor 

 soil is best for tomatoes, but that is 

 not my experience. I give them 

 good soil, rotted manure, and a 

 sprinkling of wood ashes during the 

 growing season. 



I would here put in a protest 

 against our farmers selling their 

 wood ashes to enterprising Yankees 



