188G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUIIE. 



iUS 



WHAT TO DO, AND HOW TO BE HAPPY WHILE DOING IT, 



Cnntlmtcd from April 15, 

 CHAPTER XV. 



A PLANT-GARDEN. 

 Whatsoever lie docth shall prosper. - 



-Psalm i:;{. 



That is a pretty broad promise, dear 

 friends, is it not V I do not know that tlie 

 Psalmist meant to say tliat we should never 

 have any bad hick, nor make any failures ; 

 but he meant that the man who is studying 

 God's law day and night, and who delights 

 to obey that law, would, as a rule, meet with 

 success and prosperity. It is in the same 

 line with the text that says, "• All things 

 work together for good to them that 1 )ve 

 God.'' Now, then, if I should tell you that 

 your operations in gardening and poultry- 

 raising would all prosper if you follow my 

 teachings, it would be a pretty strong state- 

 ment. Well, I do not intend to make such a 

 statement ; but I ck) mean to empliasize the 

 promises in the Bible, each and all of them ; 

 and if, while your work is carried on, you 

 are lifting your heart continually in love and 

 praise to God, and working diligently mean- 

 while, you will surely meet with prosperity. 

 You may have sickntss and death, and tor- 

 nadoes and whirlwinds, but there will ba 

 ( iiough besides these to give you a thankful 

 heart through all life's duties. Love is tlie 

 mainspring of success in any thing. If you 

 want to see [ilants grow, you must love them 

 in the truest sense of the word ; and if you 

 want to see i» )ultry do its level best, you 

 must love the poultry, and love God through 

 them, becau^jo they are his creation and his 

 gifts. 



It is now May, and we must move out of 

 tlie greenhouse, out of the cold frames, and, 

 in most localities, Fet aside the sash and oth- 

 er means of protection from the frost, and 

 move out into the opon field. ILand-work 

 must, in a great measure, be laid aside for 

 the cheaper and more economical labor of 

 horses. But befoie stepping at once out 

 into the open fields covering acres, we want 

 to consider a sort of intermediate plan cf 

 gardening, as it were. This garden is to be 

 an open field, only it is to be woik(d l)y 

 hand, horses seldom if ever going into it at 

 all, the ground being worked over by the use 

 of the spade or spading-fork. Now, spading 

 ground is very expensive compared with 

 turning it over with a plow, and therefore 

 we want the ground very rich, very soft, and 

 friable. We want it so it will spade up and 



tumble down line about as easily as yoil 

 would spade up the peat iii a peat-swamp. 

 )Ve want an admixture of sand and clay, 

 liowever, to make it heavier than peat, for 

 we can not well have it work quite as easily 

 as peat. This plnn of gardening is for c;ib'- 

 bage-plants, tomato-plants, lettuce-plants, 

 celery -plants, and all otlier plaiits that arb 

 called for, besides early lettuce to come first 

 into market, a few extra-early cabbages, a 

 few hills of cucumbers, to be forwarded by 

 means of hand-glasses, to be desciibed fur- 

 ther on ; early cauliflowers, beets, and on- 

 ions, and, in fact, a little of almost everj^ 

 thing that you have learned by experience! 

 will bring a big pi ice, or a price big enough 

 to warrant more expensive hand-work in or- 

 der to get it first into market. 



This plant-garden may occupy from one- 

 sixteenth to one-fourth of an acre, according 

 to your market and i-equiremcnts. It .should 

 be protected from winds by buildings, or tall 

 tight fences on all sides but the south ; then 

 it sliould l)e m st ])eifect]y unde](lr,iiiied,or, 

 better still, tixcd on the plan of tlie new ag- 

 riculture, as I have described in Chapters 

 v., VI., VII. The ground kIiouUI be ina- 

 nnred to a depth of two feet, or three feet if 

 you can manage it. It should then be work- 

 ed np so light and fine tliat, when you step 

 on it, your foot will sink in the soft earth ; 

 and when you get it just right you should 

 put some long boaids bstween the rows of 

 plants to walk on, to prevent tramping the 

 soil down hard while cultivating or gather- 

 ing the crop. You can easily tell when the 

 soil is in such a condition that it will be in- 

 jured by walking on it. The amount of rain 

 has something to do with it. Then, as soon 

 as you can, if you are not near a town or city 

 where water-works are accessible, you should 

 have a tank, with rubber hose attached, to 

 water your plants, or whatever el§e is in 

 danger of suffering from want of moisture. 

 As a rule, water is seldom if ever needed to 

 bring forward the crops where the ground is 

 in ])roper order, and sulliciently rich with 

 manure. But there are times when it is de- 

 sirable to set out plants, even during a spell 

 of dry weather. In such a case wo want to 

 take our rubber hose and saturate the ground 



