PART V. 



GARDENING. 



FARM GARDENS. As a general rule, farmers do not appreciate as they ought the 

 value of a good garden, not only as furnishing the means of a choice variety of fresh 

 fruits and vegetables for the family table, but the sanitary effect of such food, as well 

 as the economy of raising it rather than purchasing. Farmers frequently purchase radishes, 

 onions, lettuce, beets, early turnips, strawberries, etc., that might better be raised at home, 

 since these things could be cultivated in abundance with but little labor and expense, and 

 could then be obtained fresh when wanted for use, which is not always the case when 

 depending upon a market. But there are many families among farmers that would be 

 deprived of the variety of vegetables and fruits commonly found in the markets unless they 

 raised them themselves, as their purchase would involve an expense which they did not feel 

 able to meet; consequently there is in far too many families needless deprivation of many of 

 the nutritious, healthful, and highly relished articles of diet, simply from thoughtlessness, 

 careless indifference, or the dread of the little extra attention and labor that would be neces 

 sary in the care of a good garden. &quot;We have known many hardworking farmers who would 

 expend an unnecessary amount of money and labor, toiling early and late upon some of their 

 field crops with the greatest interest, but who considered it a petty nuisance to be obliged to 

 spend half an nour each day in the care of a garden, which would probably repay them a 

 hundred per cent, more for the real labor and time expended than the former. As a rule, 

 the list of vegetables and fruits found in the farmer s garden is confined to potatoes, turnips, 

 beets, peas, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, cabbages, currants, and apples. The long list beyond 

 this, that is found in almost every village market, and frequently upon the tables of day 

 laborers and mechanics in large villages and cities, is wanting. There is no valid excuse for 

 this dearth of wholesome vegetables and fruits upon the farmer s table, where the materials 

 for manufacturing them the soil, manure, sunshine, rain, and dew are ever at hand in 

 such abundance. The farmer who goes without these things does so either from careless 

 indifference or sheer shiftlessness, while he is not only deprived of a wholesome and pleasing 

 variety on his table, but the most economic means of maintaining his own health and that of 

 his family. 



As a matter of economy, simply, every farmer should have a good garden ; for when 

 properly located, drained, fertilized, and cultivated, it will bring larger returns for the outlay 

 and save more money for its cost, by way of furnishing supplies for the family table, than 

 can be obtained from any of the farm crops, while it will contribute largely to the comfort 

 and health of the family. But little extra care and attention would be required to produce a 

 good supply of a variety of vegetables, while strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, cherries, 

 plums, peaches, pears, grapes, etc., might be grown in a garden in abundance for family use 

 with even less outlay of time and labor than that required for the cultivation of the 

 vegetables, while each would repay many times over for the trouble and expense of growing. 

 The sanitary influence of good fruits as a part of daily diet has already been noticed in con 

 nection with fruit culture, while that of nice, fresh vegetables is scarcely less so. The most 



(860) 



