12 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



Vegetable Forcing. Vegetable forcing is carried on in 

 cold frames, hotbeds, and greenhouses, and has become 

 one of the important branches of vegetable growing, 

 especially in the vicinity of large cities. Lettuce, radishes, 

 tomatoes, and cucumbers are the crops commonly grown. 



Kitchen or Home Vegetable Gardening. By the term 

 "kitchen garden" is meant the large or small tract of land 

 needed to grow vegetables for home use. This should 

 be one of the most profitable parts of the farm, if well 

 taken care of. Large returns may also be obtained from 

 city lot gardens of small area, if a careful succession of 

 crops is followed. 



THE HOME GARDEN 



If one were to figure the actual value of vegetables 

 that may be raised on a half -acre plot of garden, it would 

 amount to at least $100 ten or fifteen times what any 

 common field crop on the farm will produce on the same 

 area. Besides, there is the satisfaction of having vege- 

 tables fresh, and of much better quality than can be bought 

 in town or from a neighbor, unless it be a very near neigh- 

 bor. Vegetables lose their freshness and character when 

 much time elapses between their harvesting and use. 

 Furthermore, not one-quarter as many will be used if 

 they must be purchased; hence more money is spent for 

 high-priced meats and staple groceries by the man who 

 has no garden. Caring for the garden is a bugbear of 

 many farmers. If properly laid out and managed, the 

 labor required for a half-acre of garden, after it is planted, 

 will not be much more than that for a half-acre of corn. 



Location. The garden should be near the house. It 

 may be that much of the labor of planting and care will 

 fall upon the housewife and children ; although this ought 



