A Complete Garden for a Family of Six 



BY TWO PROFESSIONAL GARDENERS. A PRACTICAL SCHEME FOR RAISING PLENTY OF FRUITS, 

 VEGETABLES, AND FLOWERS WITH A MINIMUM OF LABOR AND EXPENSE AND A MAXIMUM OF 

 BEAUTY— A PLAN FOR ONE ACRE, AND HOW TO ADAPT IT TO A HALF OR QUARTER OF AN ACRE 



[Editorial Note. — By reason cf the facts above stated, this plan seems to us the best we have ever seen, and to show our sincerity we offer a prize of fifty dollars for a better plan and 

 article, to be published a year from now. The new plan must actually be tested this year as to its main features. "Ideal" plans will not do. The planting suggestions reprefent, in 

 all substantial respects, what is done in the garden of Mr. Joseph Eastman, Tarrytown, whose estate superintendent, Mr. William Scott, has supplied the quantities given below, 

 after an experience of twenty-five years. The design and text are furnished by Mr. James T. Scott.] 



IN THE accompanying sketch (which is 

 planned for 200 feet square, or almost 

 one acre) we have endeavored to give as 

 concise and complete a scheme as possible 

 to supply a family of six grown persons with 

 fruit, flowers and vegetables throughout the 

 entire season, providing also for a well-filled 

 fruit room and vegetable cellar all winter, 

 and plenty of material for canning purposes. 



The ideal conditions for a garden are 

 these: The situation well sheltered from the 

 north and northwest winds, and sloping 

 gently toward the south. The warmth and 

 protection will advance the season by at 

 least two weeks, and there will be no need 

 of artificial drainage. 



Twenty-five team loads of well-rotted 

 manure is the minimum quantity for one 

 acre. Spread this evenly over the whole 

 area and plough it under as deeply as possible. 

 A man with a pair of horses should plow and 

 harrow this in one day. After harrowing 

 stake out the roads, dividing the garden into 

 four equal parts. Use a strong line or straight- 

 edge, and get the sides perfectly even and 

 straight. The roads should be at least eight 

 feet wide. Narrow paths not only look bad 

 but they also hamper all subsequent opera- 

 tions. 



Now grade off the ground at each side of 

 the roads until a perfect level or even slope, 

 as the case may be, is made. This done, it 

 is an easy matter to grade the rest of your 

 ground to them. 



Having got the grades and levels, it is time 

 to make the edging. There is room for 

 individual fancy here. It may be a six- or 

 eight-inch board one inch wide and fastened 

 securely to 2 x 4-inch posts, driven firmly 

 into the ground to within two inches of the 

 top; fancy tile, or ordinary brick, set on end, 

 leaving two inches above ground ; long pointed 

 stones, put down in the same manner; the 

 evergreen boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) 

 may be planted; or sod cut from old-estab- 

 lished pasture lots may be laid. Sod for this 

 purpose should be twelve inches wide, and it 

 must be perfectly straight on both edges. 

 It is a cheap edging, and looks as well as 

 any, but entails a good deal of work during 

 the summer in keeping it cut. 



Now for the road: Dig out the top soil 

 to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches, 

 carting "it to fill in any hollow places, or 

 spread it evenly over the surface to increase 

 the depth of the garden soil. Gather up all 

 stones that are larger than hen's eggs and 

 spread them evenly over the bottom of the 

 road bed. It is unlikely that enough stones 

 will be found to complete the bed, but coal 

 ashes can be used instead. Fill up this to 

 within an inch and a half of the top and 



finish off with gravel or pulverized blue 

 stone, roll down thoroughly, and you will 

 have a permanent road that will be both 

 hard and dry. 



If a hedge is planted on the east, north 

 and west sides it will certainly add to the 

 picturesque effect of the garden. Select 

 California privet (Ligustrum ovalijolium), 

 Japan barberry (Berberis Thitnbergi), or 

 hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis). The barberry 

 and privet bushes should be planted fifteen 

 inches apart, requiring 450 in all. Strong 

 plants of privet will cost from $6.00 to $10.00 

 a hundred, and barberry that will look like 

 anything will cost $25.00 a hundred. Hem- 

 lock makes a beautiful evergreen hedge, and 

 planted eighteen inches apart will require 385 

 plants. Well-grown hemlocks, bushy plants 

 two to two and one-half feet high, will cost 

 $50.00 a hundred. 



At the ends of the roads that lead to the 

 north, east and west sides, and on a line with 

 the hedge, are arches covered with climbing 

 roses. Crimson Rambler, Dorothy Perkins, 

 Lady Gay or Clematis panic itlala will add 

 considerably to the general effect. 



Around the garden, but inside the hedge 

 line, so as to shade the garden as little as 

 possible, plant fruit trees. The apple trees, 

 being the largest growing and requiring most 

 room, should be planted at the north end. 

 Eight trees will yield an abundance of fruit 

 for summer and fall use, as well as plenty to 

 store away for winter. When buying plums 

 secure extra large trees; it pays. The price 

 is from fifty to seventy-five cents each. It is 

 better to buy small peach trees, which can 

 be purchased for twenty-five cents each or 

 even less. In a table further on in this 

 article the seasons of harvesting the crops 

 are indicated. 



The fifty-foot-wide border on which these 

 fruit trees are planted may be cultivated 

 during the first few years, and small-growing, 

 short-season vegetables, such as lettuce, 

 radishes, etc., can be planted between the 

 trees. It would add much to appearances, 

 however, if lawn-grass mixture was sown 

 here and the surface kept mown. Of course 

 it would be necessary to cultivate a small 

 space around each tree, and also a strip about 

 one foot wide along the hedge. If the grass 

 is allowed to grow close up to either of them 

 damage is likely to result from the use of 

 the lawn mower, and again there is the 

 large question of whether there should be 

 grass at all. 



The plot marked No. 1 on the plan is 

 devoted to small fruits and permanent 

 roots, and has the lines running east and 

 west. Twenty-five feet distant from the 

 hedge (thus leaving ample room for the 

 265 



development of the apple trees) is a row of 

 grapes. The twelve vines are planted six 

 feet apart and are to be trained on a trellis. 

 Two-year-old grape plants cost twenty-five 

 cents each. Six feet from the grapes plant 

 one row of blackberries, allowing three feet 

 between the plants. These plants may be 

 secured at seventy-five cents a dczen. The 

 next row, still six feet distant, is for rasp- 

 berries, allowing two and a half feet between 

 the plants. These cost a dollar and a half a 

 dozen. Next come red currants and goose- 

 berries, the currants costing one dollar a 

 dozen and the gooseberries two and a half 

 dollars a dozen. Rhubarb and horseradish 

 are planted in the small-fruit section, because 

 they are permanent plants and must not be 

 moved every year. They occupy the next 

 row, leaving room for five lines of asparagus 

 (three feet between the lines and two feet 

 between the plants in the lines). Extra strong 

 four-year-old asparagus roots cost about three 

 and a half dollars per hundred. Six lines of 

 strawberries complete the fruit patch. Allow 

 two and a half feet between the rows and 

 eighteen inches between the plants in the 

 rows. This is the only part of the plot in 

 which rotation of crops is followed, potatoes 

 and strawberries alternating. 



Plots II., III. and IV. are devoted to 

 vegetables and arc to follow a sort of rotation. 

 For instance, next year plant the various crops 

 in the same relation to each other, but plot 

 number III. becomes number II., plot 

 number IV. becomes number III., and plot 

 number II. becomes number IV. When the 

 strawberry bed made on plot I. is to be 

 renewed potatoes may be put in its place, 

 the new strawberry patch taking the place 

 of the potatoes in any of the vegetable plots. 

 On the side of each plot and bordering the 

 road is a five-foot border for flowers — a small 

 pathway, one foot wide, is allowed at the 

 back of each border. This will be found a 

 great convenience for working the various 

 plots. It should be used for all necessary 

 traffic, and will prevent trampling and dis- 

 figuring the border by continual crossing and 

 recrossing. This path should be properly 

 made. Measure five feet from the path at 

 each end of the plot, stretching the garden 

 line from point to point, and with a spade or 

 flat shovel dig a small trench three inches 

 deep and twelve inches, wide, scattering the 

 soil evenly over the vegetable plot. By 

 having the walk a little lower than the sur- 

 rounding ground it will not be obtrusive, and 

 there will be less likelihood of encroaching 

 on either the flower border or the vegetable 

 plot when you have occasion to use the 

 path. 



The tables given later indicate the best 



