IS'.i-J 



t;i>KANINliS IN HKK CULTURE. 



423 



High-pressure Gardening. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



JIDW TO SIIM'OHT A FAMILY ON ONK-FOUHTII 

 ACKK OF (.KOUNn. 



I prcsumo likoly a groat iiumy of tlio friends 

 will tluiil< that I iiavc started out in a very bis 

 undertaking this time. Well, perhaps I have; 

 init may be yon will think difTerently after you 

 liave gone over the ground with me. Vou see. 

 if there is only one-fourth acre we can go ()V(>r 

 it (luite ofteii. and not get very tired either. 

 Ana. by the way. I shall expect the proiJiielor 

 of this oni'-foui'th acic to see ev»>i'y footof it. 

 not only tnn'C n ditij. but. if practicable, scvcnil 

 times a day. If he loves ulants and sunshine. 

 and the great (iiver of all tliese things as I do. 

 I think he will enjoy looking over this place of 

 beauty, not only the very first thing in tht> 

 morning when he op(>iis his eyes, l)ut the last 

 thing at night before he goes to bed. In fact, I 

 ratlier suspect he will be found there at work 

 sometimes when everybody else has tjoiic to bed. 

 Well, let us get at it. The tirst thing vvill be 



LOCATIO.V. 



May be you will think I am particular about 

 the location. Most books on gardening direct 

 that you select good soil. ^ow. I shall say that 

 soil is one of the iant things to be considiM'ed. 

 Of course, we want and expect the very best 

 soil that the world knows any thing about: but 

 the greatest part of it is to be ■" made to order." 

 I think I should put the tirst essential, •s'n/i.s/k'mc. 

 You want your quart(>r of an acre wheic it can 

 gel the sun the tirst thing in the morning, and 

 continue to receive its direct rays all day long 

 until the last thing at night. There should be 

 no buildings nor trees, nor rocks nor liills. nor 

 any thing eL-^e to cut off (rod's sunlight. Almost 

 every thing else you can furnish or get a sub- 

 stitute for. But there has been very little 

 progress made as yet in artificial sunshine. 

 The electric lights may. it is true, give the 

 light, but we want light and heat combined: 

 and I believe the natural sunlight is the cheap- 

 est and best. Therefore, my friend, if yoti own 

 a quarter of an acre of siiitshine I think you 

 ought to be happy, even if you have not much 

 else. If the soil is also good, it will save us 

 considerable money. But there are other things 

 that need to be considered. I have already 

 said, or intimated, that this quarter-acre should 

 be your own property. Of course, you may rent 

 it for a term of years, and under some circum- 

 stances perhaps this would be the best way. 

 But I would tiy very hard to buy it right out, 

 some way or other. After you consider sun- 

 shine. I think I would put nearness to market 

 next. You ought to be inside of the corpora- 

 tion of some town or city: and if the family you 

 wish to support from your iiuarter-acre is a 

 pretty good -sized one. you ought to have a 

 pretty good-sized town, say .5<XK) people for a 

 family of five children: ItXK) for one child, or 

 10,000 for ten children. And. by the way. there 

 should certainly be sonic children. I do not 

 see how a man can succeed, in the best sense of 

 the word, in any thing, without a family of 

 children. One reason why I love this matter of 

 intensive agriculture is. that it furnishes so 

 much irark for children, and woik that children 

 as a rule enjoy. It may be a little inconvenient 

 to find a place inside of a city corporation where 

 there an; no trees nor buildings to cut (jtT the 

 sunshine. But come as near to it as you can. 

 Either have as few buildings and as few tre<!s 

 as possible, or else get a little outside of the 

 corporation. Now. besides being near the town 

 or city, you want to be on the noi-tli xiile of a 



street running east and west; and you want 

 your premises to come clear up to the street. 

 iSli-eets running in other directions will answer, 

 and a locatimi on the south side instead oi the 

 nort h will also do in a pinch ; but it is not nearly 

 as good, as you will i)resently see. We want to 

 be in town, to save carrying stuff so far to 

 market. We want to be close to the street be- 

 cause we expect to sell a great amount of stuff 

 to the passi'isby : for this fourth-acre is to be 

 so handsome aiui attractive that every one will 

 stop involuntaiily as he goes by. Now, this is 

 iKtt theory, by any m(>ans. I enjoy seeing peo- 

 ple stop as they pass by our fourth-acre (that 

 is right befor(! ine as I write), every day of my 

 life. Farmers in coining to town and going 

 home usually bring their wives too. and the 

 women always stop and look, turning their 

 h(>ads as the buggy pas.ses on, fixing their gaze, 

 seemingly oblivious to every thing else. An- 

 other thing that has taken attention for three 

 or four (lays back is the; fact that a neat, newly 

 planed hoard, about 10x18 inch(!S. stands in a 

 bed of Jersey Wakefield cabbage-plants, with 

 an inscription on it something like this: "2.5 of 

 these nice plants for only 10 cents.'" You see, 

 the good wife not only sees the plants, but she 

 gets sight of the little board, and, catching her 

 husband by the arm, says, "O John! •.'.") of 

 those beautiful early cabbage-plants are only 

 10 cents. See what it says on that board. 

 Surely we can afford 10 cents. Let us stop and 

 get some." Not far from the sign is a man en- 

 gaged at work among the plants. Near him 

 are some stout paper bags, and a watering-pot 

 full of water. He gives the cabbage-plants a 

 sprinkling, pulls up 2.") with great bushy roots, 

 taking some of the rich black soil along with 

 them, squeezes the roots all together, and pushes 

 the whole 2.5 down to the bottom of one of the 

 paper bags, hands it over to the people who are 

 passing by. and receives his dime. I mention 

 this part a little ahead of my story, to show you 

 how important it is that you locate on a well- 

 traveled public road. It is not absolutely 

 necessary that the fourth-acre should have 

 very much front. In fact, it may be a long 

 narrow strip, only one end of whch reaches out 

 to the road. But the broader a front you have, 

 the more room you will have for display; and 

 in this business we are going into, there is no 

 sign that can be produced by all the combined 

 arts of the painter that can for a moment com- 

 pare with the fruits and vegetables themselves, 

 fresh from Cod's o\\ii hand. If it were not for 

 putting in so many wants I would also urge you 

 to locate near a rdllroad depot. This will be 

 very desirable if you can make it. for. sooner or 

 later, you will be .sending plants by both mail 

 and express, and it will not be veriy strange if 

 the crops vou receive from this quarter-acre 

 will be shipped hy freUjht as well as by express. 

 Beiore we go further we should consider the 

 (juestion of water. The man who gardens on a 

 quarti'rofan acre should know no such thing 

 as a drouth or lack of water. In fact, his great- 

 est income is to be during drouths, and unfa- 

 vorable seasons for working in the soil ordi- 

 narily. If your quarter acre is a square plot, 

 you want either a well or hydrant right in the 

 center. If it is oblong you will need two 

 hydrants— one in the middle of each end or 

 toward each end. There is no objection to 

 having a irell in the center; but where large 

 quantities of water are to be used we want a 

 windmill, tank, or reservoir, and these large 

 objects must be out of the way somewhere, 

 where they will not shade the garden. In fact, 

 there should bi' no structure nor object in this 

 whole quarter- acre that comes up inore than 

 two feet high. If it does it throws a shade, and 

 we can not afford to have "shadows" work- 



