INTRODUCTION. 9 



fashioned garden. Ifc is no worse than many others, and 

 better than some gardens. Trees that I planted with my 

 own hands are now fifty feet high. Rows of dwarf apple 

 trees, on each side of a twenty-foot walk, in spite of all 

 the pruning we could give them, interlock their branches. 

 I would not destroy the old garden. It has been a source 

 of much pleasure, and it is still not without its attractive 

 features. But there is not a crop in it that does not cost 

 more than it is worth. In spite of all the hoeing we can 

 give it, by the time we are through with the harvest the 

 garden is full of weeds, 



I have another garden, several acres in extent, with 

 only a fence between it and the old garden, to which it 

 presents a decided contrast. I will not boast, but I think 

 there are more weeds on a square rod in many parts of 

 the old garden than could be found on a whole acre of 

 the new. This is simply because we have room enough 

 for all the modern tools for preparing the land, drilling 

 in the seed, and cultivating the crops.- Wherever the 

 plow and the cultivator can be used, we get good crops, 

 and clean land, and if not, not. 



GARDENING FOB BOYS. 



I want to interest the boys in gardening. I would like 

 to have them start with new land and new methods. 

 Select the best piece of land you have. I do not care 

 how big it is. Three or four acres is none too much. 

 The amount of work required will depend on the kind 

 of crops to be raised ; you can raise an acre of sweet 

 corn, or an acre of early potatoes, or an acre of late 

 cabbages, with half the labor required to raise an acre of 

 onions. Let the garden be big enough, and if you fear 

 you can not command sufficient labor to grow the more 

 expensive crops, then devote the larger portion of the 

 ground to those crops which can be kept clean almost en- 



