56 PRIZE GARDENING 



the foot of the slope on nearly level ground. It was 

 in fair condition as to fertility, as each year previously 

 for five years some ten cords per acre of stable manure 

 had been applied, and on the greater portion there 

 had been used from six hundred to one thousand 

 pounds per acre of complete fertilizer. The usual 

 hand tools found on every farm were used and in addi- 

 tion a seed drill and wheel hoe. Not only were all the 

 commoner vegetables planted, but many of those not 

 usually found in farmers' gardens, such as egg plant, 

 cauliflower, kale, kohl-rabi, melons, and salsify, and 

 everything in great abundance and variety. Such 

 extensive plantings were made for the sake of succes- 

 sion and for testing the different varieties. Brief notes 

 were kept of everything, so that the test notes are of 

 much value for reference and as a guide for future 

 planting. 



No fancy business was attempted with this gar- 

 den. It was such as any farmer can have. It not only 

 returned a large amount of the best kind of food, 

 but a surplus for sale. P>om the time the first radishes 

 were ripe in early June there was never a day when 

 the garden did not give enough of something for a 

 meal for a large family. The work of caring for the 

 garden was done at odd spells, and it was done and not 

 neglected. An hour or two at morning or night with 

 the wheel hoe would cultivate a large space while the 

 weeds were small, and frequent cultivation kept the 

 ground clean and the crops growing in a season of 

 almost unprecedented drouth. 



A Practical Success. — A decidedly business-like 

 and profitable farm garden of one and five-eighths 

 acres is described by W. K. Cole, Middlesex county, 

 Massachusetts, eighth Rawson prize winner. His 

 idea, as he states, was to show from actual experience 

 what may be done by an ordinary farmer with the 



