400 



G LEARNINGS IN UEE CULTUilE. 



May 



them. Our cold-frame cabbage-plants that 

 have stt)od heavy freezes over and over 

 again will stand drought, insects, and almost 

 any thing else, in a way that plants not so 

 hardened can not do. The same is true of 

 letluce-plants. The hardened cold-frame 

 lettuce-plants are ready to boom when plants 

 taken out of the greenhouse would shrivel 



up and die. It is true, plants may be taken, 

 out of the greenhouse, and hardened olT in 

 cold frames, say in February ; but we think 

 It a good deal less trouble to get good 

 strong stocky plants in the fall, and keep 

 them so all winter. Xow, then, let us re- 

 member that this plant garden is to be made 

 to work every week in the year. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Whatsoever a man sowetli, that shall he also reap— Gai-. 0: 



We are now ready to consider the grooving 

 of crops on a larger scale than lieretofore ; 

 and as these papers are written mainly for 

 those of but limited means, as I have re- 

 marked before, they may not, perhaps, ap- 

 ply to all of you, although the general prin- 

 ciples are the same, whether you work on a 

 large scale or a small scale. Many who are 

 out of employment have no ground of their 

 own, not even a little patch big enough for 

 a plant-garden ; but it seems to me one of 

 the first things I would aim at, if I were so 

 situated, would be to get a little piece of 

 ground of my own. I would cut off some of 

 the luxuries in the way of food and clothing, 

 in order to save enough to buy a little piece 

 of ground. And now I hope you will not 

 tliiidf I am striking off suddenly into a piece 

 of eccentricity when I say that this piece of 

 ground should be in the form of a long strip. 

 It is true, it takes more material to make a 

 fence to inclose a Icuig strip of land than it 

 does to inclose a square lot ; but for all that, 

 we want the long strip. If you can get a piece 

 of ground for a plant and vegetable garden 

 half a mile long, you are a lucky fellow : if 

 you can make it a mile, you are still more 

 lucky. Do you want to know whyV Well, 

 read the following extract from Landreths' 

 price list : 



IMPOKTANCIC OF HAVING YOUR GARDEN 

 LAID OUT IN LONG ROWS. 



The old style of gardening, laid out in 

 squares, to be dug and cultivated exclusively 

 by hand, is becoming a thing of the past. 

 The vegetable-garden is now laid out in par- 

 allel rows, or drills, ranging from two to 

 three feet apart, and the cultivation of the 

 greater part is done by horse power, as has 

 been so frequently taught. The site should 

 be the best obtainable with reference to the 

 soil, exposures, and topographical features; 

 the area should be large, aiul every thing 

 done upon liberal and practical principles; 

 the seeds should be all sown in drills, or 

 rows, so as to be adapted to horse culture. 

 Hand labor is the dearest of all, and should 



be avoided. The land, if circumstances will 

 permit, should not be of a less length than 

 75 yards, and may with advantage be ex- 

 tended to 200, according to the quantity of 

 vegetables required. Long lands, where an- 

 imal power is used, are much to be prefer- 

 red to short fields, as much time is saved in 

 turning; for example, a plow team in a 

 journey of eight hours, plowing land 78 

 yards long, will spend -1 hours and 89 min- 

 utes on the head lands; if the furrows were 

 274 yards long, the time spent in turning 

 would be but one hour and nineteen min- 

 utes. The tillage of the garden should be 

 the most approved labor-saving implements, 

 wlu'el-hoes for hand use, scarifiers and cul- 

 tiva'ors for the horse. Tlie seed should be 

 sown with hand-drills, and fertilizers of the 

 guano class applied with a similar appara- 

 tus, and, Avithout interfering with the la- 

 lior of the farm, be made to yield vegetables 

 in j)rofusioj), when, if the spade and hoe are 

 relied on, they are produced in stinted quan- 

 tities. The amateur gardener, and expert 

 as well, should make out a list of the varie- 

 ties of vegetables he desires to have, and 

 then lay off on paper a diagram of his gar- 

 den, assigning certain rows to each sort. 



Just think of it, friends ! Four and a half 

 hours out of eight may be spent by an 

 expensive man and team in simply turning 

 around his horses ; whereas, by a little dif- 

 ferent management, these four hours and 

 more of the hardest and most fatiguing 

 part of the work may be reduced to one hour 

 and nineteen minutes ! Do you know why 

 everybody hates to plow a gardeji? It ia 

 because there is so much turning around to 

 be done. This turning around is so trying 

 to the teamster that he loses his temper, and 

 calls his horses ''fools" or worse names, 

 The horses doubtless lose their temper be- 

 cause they can not see any reason for so 

 much pulling and hawing about ; being 

 called fools and idiots because they do not 

 understand nor comprehend, and like 

 phrases. I once heard a man complaining 

 that there was not a teamster in Medina 

 who would plow a garden for less than $1.50. 



