1890 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



•651 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



That art on whii'h a thousand millions of inon aro dependent 

 for their sustenance, and two hundred millions o( men expend 

 their daily toil, must be the most impoitant of all— the parent 

 and precursor of all other arts. In every country, then, and at 

 every period, the investigation of the principles on which the 

 rational practice of this art Is founded ought to have command- 

 ed the principal attention of the greatest minds. 



James F. W. Johnston. 



GAKDENING FOR :MAV. 



Wnv, friends, the very mention of the 

 matter fills me with energy and enthusiasm. 

 Talk of trips to foreign countries 1 talk of 

 holiday excursions I talk of entertainments 

 in the great cities 1 talk of concerts and dis- 

 tinguished musicians I I would rather have 

 a holiday to make garden in the month of 

 May, than any other enjoyment or pleasure 

 that this world has to offer. Of course, 

 now, I am not speaking or thinking particu- 

 larly of spiritual enjoyments—the thrill that 

 comes to one who sees his labor rewarded 

 in trying to save a soul from sin. In my 

 talks about gardening for May, I meant 

 particularly the harmless and innocent en- 

 joyments that this world can furnish ; but 

 at the same time my ideal garden would ul- 

 timately help to save souls from sin. 



Now, please do not misunderstand me. I 

 should not enjoy making garden as most 

 people do it. There are only a few gardens, 

 comparatively, that are up to the standard, 

 or that '■'■ fill the bill," if I may use the ex- 

 pression. That visit to J. M. Smith, of 

 Green Bay, Wis., was satisfying ; the mar- 

 ket-gardens round about Arlington, near 

 Boston, were satisfying ; but nothing short 

 of soil worked up to its highest condition 

 would ever satisfy me thoroughly. People 

 often come nowadays and look into our 

 greenhouses and at our plant-beds in the 

 open air ; and they usually break forth into 

 expressions of surprise at the crops, and 

 then they say, "(Jh! no wonder you get 

 great crops when your ground is manured 

 and worked up like that." I feel a little 

 sad sometimes to think there are so few 

 people who care enough about fruits and 

 vegetables to pay the price, or, if you 

 choose, take the pains to let Nature show 

 what she can do. Almost everybody admits 

 that it pays, and pays well ; but yet only a 

 few care enough about it, or have a love for 

 that sort of work. Quite a good many also 

 start out with enthusiasm, but ])retty soon 

 their energy wanes ; the garden is neglect- 

 ed, and then they become disgusted with it. 

 After one has succeeded, however, in getting 

 great crops, and has got his ground into 

 such trim as friend Smith and I have ours, 

 his enthusiasm rather increases. 



The purpose of my talk to-dav is to see if 

 I can not get some of you started so that you 

 will »o; " peter out " after awhile. If this 

 meets the eye of some one who has a real 

 love for these things, let me tell him how to 

 go to work. You can make the business 

 pay away out in the country, say two or 

 three miles from any town ; but the nearer 

 you come to some town or city, the better, 

 if you can not have a town or city, get into 

 a village (I hXe villages), and get right up 

 close to the stores and groceries, if you can. 



Find a vacant piece of ground that is not 

 obstructed by out-buildings on the south, so 

 as to cut off the sunlight, and you can pay 

 as good a price for the ground, almost, as 

 anybody can pay, for any other purpose. 

 Yes, it will pay you to take a building-spot 

 at the ordinary price that building-spots are 

 worth. Then if you can find some more 

 ground just back of this spot fronting the 

 main street, get that. If you can not buy it, 

 rent it and get the refusal of it, so that no- 

 body will get in your way when you need 

 more room. As soon as you get the land in 

 your possession, set up a sign of your busi- 

 ness in the shape of vegetable-plants. Get 

 some tomato-plants, and put them in boxes 

 or pots, and fix them up so nice and attract- 

 ive that everybody who goes by will stop 

 and look at them and want them. I never 

 saw a community or neighborhood where 

 handsome plants growing thriftily would 

 not command a big price. They are always 

 too scarce. Look out and have a good lot 

 of them ready the first time we get a sum- 

 mer shower. Put a good price on the best of 

 them, or you will find you are sold out slick 

 and clean before you know it. Now, then, 

 work early and late to get more plants. If 

 you haven't a horse, you can make quite a 

 start by digging up your ground with a fork 

 or spading-fork. But you will need a horse 

 sooner or later. I would not think of spad- 

 ing any thing unless it is plant-beds under 

 glass, or beds that are, say, six feet wide 

 and two or three rods long. Make your cal- 

 culations to move your soil by horse-power. 

 A great deal has been said about the char- 

 acter of the soil to begin with. My friend, 

 with plenty of manure and plenty of water 

 you can make your garden anywhere. A 

 nice sandy loam is a great advantage, but 

 you need not be troubled if you do not get 

 it. I do not believe that there is a reader of 

 Gleanings who has a worse clayey ground 

 to start with than we had. If there is a 

 sandbank, or sand of any kind, within half a 

 mile, it will pay you to cart it on to your 

 poor clayey ground. Then hunt up a peat 

 swamp, and get lots of peat to go with the 

 sand. If you can not do any better, you 

 can afford to draw peat a couple of miles. 

 With plenty of stable manure, however, you 

 can get along without any of these. Before 

 you commence doing any thing, however, 

 have your ground itHaei-drained and '•' over- 

 drained." For the plant-beds on the most 

 expensive ground I would have tile drains 

 every 15 or 20 feet. Where you work the 

 ground by the acre, a drain every 20 or 30 

 feet will do. Put them down at least two 

 feet and a half below the surface. Now go 

 for the manure. Buy it as cheap as you can. 

 If you can not get it cheap, get it any way. 

 AVe give a dollar a load for nice old fine ma- 

 nure, and I have seen loads that 1 would 

 give a dollar and a half for, without any 

 hesitation. Put on the ground as much as 

 you can iilow in. After it is turned under, 

 work the ground up fine, and then harrow 

 in a lot more of fine maimre. If your 

 ground is clayey, as I have been speaking 

 of, so that when it is plowed it turns over 

 in great big lumps (some of them almost as 

 large as a cooking-stove), do not be discour- 



