A CITY FRUIT garden: 



53 



CHAPTER IX. 



A CITY FRUIC GARDCn. 



i 



HERE are many small home 

 lots with excellent soil and 

 a good sunny aspect, where 

 the tenant or owner would 

 gladly have a garden were 

 there time to attend to it. 

 This spring work of plant- 

 ing, this weeding, raking, 

 re-planting and frequent 

 harvesting demands more 

 time than can be afforded. You are busy in town all 

 day, and it is only once in a while that half a day can 

 be spared for the garden. The 25x60 yard is there, 

 but it must be laid down to grass, because that 

 requires only one planting in several years, and the 

 mowing need only take an hour or so twice a month. 

 The grass is a cheap carpet on which to spread the 

 clothes, or it is the children's play-ground, and it is 

 not necessary to have it kept like a lawn. 



Still, if it could be made to pay a return, it would 

 help wonderfully in the little matter of living ex- 

 penses. There are crops that would just meet your 

 wants, crops that require only one planting in two or 

 three years, and some that will even last half a life- 

 time. There is asparagus and rhubarb, and perhaps 

 some of the small fruits. In such a small garden it 

 would not be well to plant all the small fruits, be- 

 cause some kinds require too much room and show 

 an unruly spirit in the matter of running about the 

 estate. The fruits for your purposes would be the 



