234 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



goodness from the soil, but at first it seemed as if witch grass and stones 

 grew faster than crops. The small striped yellow bug that appeared on 

 the cucumbers and squashes I powdered every morning early, with bug 

 death. I found this made them grow as well. Cutworms troubled the 

 peas and flowers. Those I hunted and killed. 



In June an avalanche of rose bugs attacked us, doing great damage to 

 everything. We picked them off by hundreds. After a few days they 

 disappeared leaving the foliage of the beans a sorry sight. I made a mis- 

 take planting sunflowers with pole beans as the sunflowers took all the 

 richness from the soil. July 1 we ate our first products of the garden, 

 half a peck of peas, from then on every day we had some vegetables from 

 the garden, picking the last string beans on October 1, from a late planting. 



I used a coarse rake to hoe the peas with at first. When they reached 

 maturity I pulled up the vines, spread them on top of the compost heap, 

 turning it all frequently during the summer. The poorest land I used for 

 the potatoes. Next year I shall plant less corn and more potatoes because 

 they did well this year with so very little attention. 



I shall also plant chard as soon as I pull up the pea vines. 



BY FRANK E. GRIFFIN, AYER, MASS. 



Third Prize, 1905. 



My garden was 18 by 48 feet. First I had it plowed and then furrowed; 

 then I fixed beds for the lettuce and turnips and put some fertilizer on the 

 soil and mixed it in well; then I put four or five seeds in a hill or I scattered 

 them along in the beds; then I raked the seeds into the soil and fertilizer. 

 My beds and hills were about four or five inches above mj^ paths. 



I planted my garden on the 30th of May; being so dry it did n't come 

 up until about three weeks after, and my cucumbers had to be planted 

 again. I had a little difficulty in keeping the weeds out because they 

 seemed to want to grow better then they should. 



I had to transplant my lettuce, marigolds, and asters, and I also trans- 

 planted my poppies as I got the envelopes which the seeds were in mixed. 

 I had five dozen of corn, twenty heads of lettuce, twenty-four cucumbers, 

 one-half bushel turnips, and one bushel tomatoes. 



My flowers did n't need much care except a little weeding and watering 

 now and then. They were in the shade in the afternoon and got the morn- 

 ing sun. 



October 28, 1905. 



