April, 1915 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



99 



right angles to their original position ; 

 put on a four-foot handle of ash or some 

 other lighter wood if desired, and you 

 have a tool which will probably be found 

 more handy for a variety of uses than 

 any other in your collection. For loosen- 

 ing soil between cabbages, for breaking 

 over roughly dug ground ready for plant- 

 ing, or for seed sowing, for raking up 

 litter, and many other purposes, it is an 

 invaluable labor saver. 



Much labor may also be saved by us- 

 ing light tools. Unnecessarily heavy 



ones mean energy wasted and less work 

 done, whether the labor be one's own or 

 hired. How often are spades, forks, 

 etc., much heavier and clumsy than need 

 be ! In this matter the hardware dealer 

 is often at fault, for his stock is fre- 

 quently badly selected; some tools are 

 unduly heavy, some are weak and badly 

 made; still, satisfactory tools are to be 

 found for the seeking. 



Light steel hoes are very useful for a 

 free working soil, but on stiff land, es- 

 pecially when dry and hard, they are 



almost useless. Here the position is 

 reversed and a heavier tool is required. 



Many other cases of unsuitable and 

 labor-making tools in general use might 

 be cited, but I think enough has been 

 stated. 



To sum up — Get tools strong but 

 light, and such as are adapted to the 

 requirements of your soil and the 

 strength you may have to wield them ; 

 then not only will time and energy be 

 saved, but the pleasure of gardening be 

 intensified. 



Vegetable Gardening for Town and City Lots 



W. T. Macoun, Dominion Horticulturist, Ottawa, Ont. 



THERE is practically no part of Can- 

 ada in which there are settlements 

 where at least some kinds of vege- 

 tables cannot be grown. The great var- 

 iety which it is possible to grow suc- 

 cessfully, even in the coldest districts, 

 is a surprise to many. 



There is a growing demand for fresh, 

 well-grown vegetables, and a call for 

 them in greater variety, but in many 

 parts of Canada the people do not yet 

 get a plentiful and varied supply. 



If more vegetables were eaten there 

 would not be the same need for the more 

 expensive kinds of food, and if the vege- 

 tables were grown at home the saving 

 would amount to a considerable sum at 

 the end of the year. 



While this article is written mainly for 

 the use of amateurs, it may be that the 

 market gardener will find some informa- 

 tion that will be of use to him. 



While it is not jx)ssible for some per- 

 sons to grow their own vegetables, there 

 is a large proportion of the population 

 who could easily raise an abundance of 

 these palatable, delicious and nutritious 

 food products if they cared to do so. In 

 the country there is plenty of room for 

 a good vegetable garden, and even in 

 cities, towns, and villages there is usu- 

 ally a suflficient area on the lot at the 

 back of the house to grow enough vege- 

 tables to supply a large family during 

 the summer months and to give away 

 some to other people. 



eiTUATION OF THE GARDEN 



In cities and towns there is, of course, 

 no choice in regard to the situation of 

 the garden, as one has usually no alter- 

 native but the back of a lot. If large 

 trees surround this lot or are even along 

 one side of it, gardening will be more 

 difficult and much less satisfactory than 

 where there arc none. Trees exhaust the 

 soil of moisture and plant food, and their 

 shade often affects the crop adversely. 

 Even where there are trees, however, 

 fair success may be obtained with short 

 season crops, such as lettuce, radish, 

 and spinach, which can be grown early 

 in the spring or in the autumn when the 

 g[rowth of the trees is not very active. 



In the country the garden should be as 

 near the house as possible, and warm, 

 well-drained soil should .be chosen, if 

 there is such. It is usually the women 

 of the household who look after the gar- 

 den in the country, hence things should 

 be made as convenient for them as pos- 

 sible. However, it 'is better to cultivate 

 a few rows of garden vegetables in the 

 fields with the root crops than to have no 

 garden at all. 



PREPAKATTON OF THE SOIL 



To get the best results the soil should 

 be brought into good tilth. When begin- 

 ning gardening in cities and towns it is 

 often found that many difficulties have 

 to be overcome before the soil is in really 

 good condition. Old cans, stones, bricks, 

 pieces of wood, broken toys, and many 

 other things must be removed or buried 

 so deep that they will not be troublesome. 

 Then it often happens that the subsoil 

 from the cellar of the house has been 

 thrown over the yard in order to level 

 the ground. This is sometimes of great 



depth. This subsoil is usually either a 

 stiff clay or sand. Clay, while it will 

 give more hard work, is usually a much 

 better material to start with than sand. 

 If there is much coal ashes in the yard, 

 most of them should be removed alto- 

 gether or buried in one corner of the 

 yard. A little ashes mixed with the clay 

 will help to make it more friable or more 

 open, but there is little plant food in coal 

 ashes, and there should be a minimum 

 of them in good garden soil. 



A mixture of sand and clay will help 

 to make the soil of a better consistency 

 than is either one of these alone. An ap- 

 plication of lime to clay at the rate of 

 about two tons per acre or about one 

 hundred pounds to a garden twenty-five 

 by forty feet in size, or even half that 

 quantity, and thoroughly mixed with the 

 clay will help in breaking it up, but the 

 most important thing of all is the man- 

 ure, preferably rotted manure if it can 

 be obtained. Fifty tons per acre is none 

 too heavy a dressing. When spread on 



Product* of the garden of T. a. PHfTW. O&lf^y, Albert*. T»»t« tadic^t** ff*#^ tb* West oeM 4q, 



