138 PRIZE GARDENING 



Started in boxes April 3, sowing the seed, sprinkling a 

 little fine earth over it, wetting thoroughly and setting 

 under the stove with paper over the box to keep in the 

 moisture. Corn was started about the same time, plant- 

 ing hills in small rolls of oilcloth the size of a tomato 

 can, removing the roil when transferring to the field. 

 Melons and cucumbers were started in pans and trans- 

 planted to the field. By this plan good crops of the 

 tender vegetables were obtained before frost. 



Won a Prise. — A one and one-fourth -acre farm 

 garden kept by Mrs. H. R. Calkins, Plattsburg, New 

 York, received an Allen prize of five dollars. The 

 account is condensed, but very clear and legible. Soil 

 was clay loam fertilized with manure and ashes. Hand 

 and wheel tools were used. Many of the seeds were 

 home-raised. Supplies were valued at twenty-one dol- 

 lars and sixty-five cents ; labor at twenty-eight dollars 

 and fifty-three cents ; while the products were worth 

 one hundred and eighty-six dollars and eighty-six 

 cents; leaving a balance of fifty dollars and eighteen 

 cents. As appears from the account book, this lady 

 gardener was systematic in her work, never allowing it 

 to get ahead of her, and she seems to have had a splen- 

 did garden with comparatively little difficulty. 



My Flower Bed was a very satisfactory part of 

 my garden, writes Mrs. J. L. England, Maryland. I 

 think what time I spent in my garden, one hour after 

 supper three days in a week, was more pleasure than 

 work. After being in the house all day, it was a pleas- 

 ure to get out in the fresh air with a hoe, dress up my 

 garden and flower bed, cut a nice bouquet, pull some 

 fresh vegetables, or gather a pan of berries to tempt 

 the appetite at breakfast. 



The only tools I used were hoe, rake, shovel and 

 hand cultivator. I am a cooper's wife with eight chil- 



