284 



THE GENESEE PARMER. 



Dec. 



Icrtimltral Departent, 



BDITBD BY P. BARRY. 



There can be no such thing as complete, satisfactory 

 success, in the culture of the orchard or the garden, 

 with a poor, shallow, ill prepared soil ; and very few 

 people, who are not familiar with gardening, or who 

 have had no opportunity of seeing good garden man- 

 agement, have a correct idea of what good garden 

 culture is, or ought to be. About this time of the 

 year, in passing around the coftitry, we find in the 

 neighborhood of most farm houses, a small plot of 

 ground usually called the garden ; but of all other 

 places on the premises, it looks decidedly the least 

 like one — during the last three months grass and 

 weeds have been allowed to grow unrestrained until 

 they have completely covered everything, and are 

 actually rearing their heads above the garden fence. 

 It seems to be the settled opinion, that such labor as 

 hoeing and weeding, though well enough and per- 

 haps necessary for the first three months of the sea- 

 son, while the crops are working their way through 

 the ground, are quite superflous in the autumn months. 

 Some of the crops have been gathered, the others are 

 nearly full grown ; and what good could hoeing or 

 weeding do ? These weeds remain, therefore, and all 

 dry stems, rubbish, fcc, tliat have accumulated in the 

 garden during the season, are left in heaps, so that 

 field mice are attracted there, to occupy themselves 

 during winter gnawing the bark of the trees, if there 

 be any. Next spring — say in the latter end of April, 

 when the weather has become warm and pleasent, 

 birds are singing and trees preparing to expand their 

 blossoms, the temptation to do a little gardening can 

 no longer be resisted — something must be done ; and 

 what is it ? Why, if manure be quite handy, a sprink- 

 ling is thrown over the surface, and the plow is intro- 

 duced, a part of the ground scored up until it has a 

 fresh surface ; perhaps half the trees in the garden 

 have been bruised or broken with the whiffle-trees, or 

 the tops eaten olV by the horses ; but it could not be 

 helped. This is, as near as we can describe it, the 

 routine of gardening practiced among a very large 

 portion of our agriculturists, even in some of the old- 

 est and wealthiest districts. We never ride a dozen 

 miles in the country, in any direction, without coming 

 upon many such gardens, the property of wealiliy 

 farmers, with large, well tilled, and profitable farms 

 paid for, and money, more or less, let out on inter- 

 est besides. The poor farmer who is struggling 

 under a heavy debt, wiih small stock and small means 

 every way, is excusable, if any body be, for owning a 

 garden of weeds ; but for those who are in easy and 



even affluent circumstances, there is no excuse what- 

 ever, and we always feel inclined in passing their 

 premises, to stop and lecture them a little on the sub- 

 ject ; but as that would not do, we take this means of 

 bringing it to the attention of some of them at least. 



We ask these farmers to take a look into some of 

 the little gardens in the nearest village, and see what 

 is going on there. At this season the ground will 

 be as clean of weeds as in July ; the crops will all 

 be gathered ; all the bean poles, pea sticks, k.c., will 

 be carefully put away ; dry stems of plants, heaps 

 of weeds and rubbish, will be snugly deposited where 

 they ought to be, in the manure or e^^mpost heap, and 

 preparations for another season, such as manuring 

 and trenching, will be already in progress. A gar- 

 den will be there next season, worthy of looking at, 

 and fruits and vegetables will be grown in it, that 

 will be the talk and wonder of the neighborhood. 



We have spoken of trenching, and it might per- 

 haps be well enough at this time and in this connec- 

 tion, to give a brief description of what wo mean by 

 trenching. In the first place, the object of trenching 

 is to deepen the soil, to enable the roots of plants to 

 penetrate it, and to increase its capacity for retaining 

 and furnishing the necessary food of plants that grow 

 on it. A shallow soil, however rich it may be made 

 with manure, is unfit for gardening. The roots of 

 plants in it are kept near the surface, and always 

 suffer in a time of drouth. In dry, mid-summer 

 weather, the crops on a thin, untrenclied soil, will be 

 completely scorched ; their stems will droop, turn 

 brown, and if the drouth .should continue a month or 

 six weeks, as is frequently the case, they die or be- 

 come a total loss ; while in a deep trenched garden, 

 where the roots can penetrate freely, in search of 

 food and moisture, the drouth is scarcely felt at all. 

 Tap-rooted plants, such as beets, carrots, parsncps, 

 &.C., can only be grown smooth and fine for the table, 

 on a deep soil. The highest culture that can bs 

 ffiven on a thin, hard soil, will only produce knotty, 

 forked, deformed things, neither fit to bo seen nor 

 eaten. There can be no good gardening witliout a 

 good, mellow soil, fit for the roots of plants to enter 

 to the depth of full eighteen inches — two feet would 

 be still better. Very few people are fortunate enough 

 to have a garden soil naturally fit for roots to this 

 depth ; hence the necessity for trenching. 



The proper implement for trenching with, is one 

 that some how or other seems to be very unpopular, 

 but one quite indispensable in the garden — the spude. 

 A plot of ground is trenched by commencing on one 

 side and opening a trench two feet wide, and as deep 

 as you wish to make your soil — say two depths of a 

 comm«n spade. The earth taken out of tliis first 

 trench, or opening, is carried on a cart or wheelbar- 

 row, to the rear of the plot where the trenching is to 

 terminate. The first trench being oi)ened, anil!ior 

 space of two feet is marked off, and the surface 

 spadeful of this thrown into the bottom of the trench, 

 if manure be needed, a layer of manure is thrown on, 

 and then the bottom spadeful is thrown on top of that. 

 Where this second course is hard, bad soil, it shoni 1 

 only be loosened up with the spade, or pick-axe if 

 necessary. To throw such earth on the surface, 

 would be ruinous to the ground for a year or two, 

 until it would be mellowed and enriched by amalga- 

 mation with the other soil and with manures. 



Where a garden is new, or even large, the subsoil 

 plow might be used, and will no doubt be much 

 cheaper than the spade ; but where a garden is small, 



