t02 I*RlZE GARDENING 



tunity to manage a prize garden and to make a suc- 

 cessful and instructive tight against well-known gar- 

 den foes. The illustration shows Mr. Porter's resi- 

 dence and the family which provided him an excellent 

 home market for much of his produce. The extracts 

 describe his early garden work and his method with 

 squashes and strawberries : 



The first work done for the garden commences in 

 February as soon as seed catalogs arrive. I make a 

 rough plan where crops are to be grown, amount of 

 seed and fertilizer wanted and place orders for all 

 plants, trees and seeds. Nothing more is done until 

 the last week in March, when the hotbed is started. 

 I have a small one by myself. It is three by four feet, 

 two feet deep. Bought one-eighth cord horse manure 

 for generating the heat, making the depth of manure 

 one and one-half feet. Over this I placed four inches 

 soil that had been taken up with celery the fall before, 

 making soil fine and allowing to heat under cover of 

 the glass for a few days. When soil had got well 

 warmed I moistened it with lukewarm water, planted 

 radishes, lettuce, celery and covered with one-half inch 

 of sand, firming with a smooth board. 



For Winter Squashes, I took the worst piece of 

 witch grass that the meadow possesses, marked out for 

 hills six feet each way by throwing out a forkful of 

 earth. The fertilizer was then put in, two parts of 

 wood ashes to one of bone meal, one quart to each hill. 

 Then I took a fork, mixing the fertilizer with the soil, 

 shaking out all the witch grass, smoothed over the hill, 

 dropped the seed and covered about an inch deep, then 

 pressed well with the hoe. The first leaf that showed 

 was given a sprinkling of paris green to kill the black 

 and yellow striped bug. I keep the cultivator, both 

 horse and wheel hoe, going until the vines get to run- 

 ning and then they will keep the witch grass down. 



