Farmer's Kitchen Garden 21 



and prompt utilization of house slops, washing suds, etc., in the 

 garden, where they will add to the productiveness of the soil, 

 and may aid in doing away with the stagnant pools, rank sink 

 drains and offensive odors found near the kitchen door of many 

 people, and endangering their health and lives. 



Concerning composition, state of fertility and slope of the 

 ground, there is in many cases little latitude for choice. People 

 have often to take such as they find, and try to make the best of 

 it. A rich, warm sandy loam, naturally drained, should always 

 be given the preference, and if slightly sloping to the south, 

 south-east or east, all the better. If deficient in drainage, 

 thorough drainage must be provided ; if too heavy and cold, 

 applications of sand, coal ashes, sandy loam and plenty of stable 

 manure will make it lighter and warmer ; if too sandy, the addi- 

 tion of clay will improve it. Peat and other vegetable matter in 

 a state of decay will often correct either extreme, and good 

 compost will ameliorate any soil, both in point of fertility and 

 mechanical texture. It tends to make clay soil porous and 

 sandy soil retentive. 



The old-style gardens, as a rule, are not up to our modern 

 ideas as to size. Having in a measure discarded the use of 

 spade, and particularly that of rake and hand hoe, and substituted 

 horse-power and machinery for hand labor and hand implements, 

 we need room to work in with convenience and pleasure. The 

 farmer has no excuse to stick to his little corner lot. Throw 

 down the old fences, and enclose an acre or even two, in a field 

 long and narrow if possible ; then arrange it somewhat as shown 

 on opposite page. The whole field should be free from trees, 

 stumps, boulders and other obstructions, and enclosed by a tight 

 hedge or substantial fence. Neither pigs, hens nor dogs are 

 wanted in a garden. 



Commencing on one of the long sides we might have a row 

 of grapes, selecting varieties that are known to do well in that 

 locality, and training them to a suitable trellis or over an arbor ; 

 next a row of gooseberries and currants ; then a row or more 

 each of red and black raspberries and blackberries, and one of 

 asparagus, with a dozen or more rhubarb plants at one end, and 

 next a few rows of strawberries. Now we come to the real 

 (vegetable) garden, and this may be arranged as indicated in 

 diagram, or in any other order according to the fancy or conven- 

 ience of the gardener. The arrangement of the vegetable garden 

 proper in this fashion gives abundance of opportunity for rotation, 

 and the various vegetables may be shifted about as circumstances 

 demand, and the location of each changed from year to year. 

 The adoption of this plan gives us long rows which are easily 

 and cheaply kept under perfect tillage by horse and cultivator, 

 adjusting width of the latter to suit width of row. The .narrow 



