THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



13 



scarlet runners, making a gorgeous bit against 

 the street. At the front of all these beds was 

 a strip of moss, curled parsley — backed by 

 dainty Shirley poppies, making one of the 

 most beautiful combinations imaginable. 



There were enough vegetables of the kinds 

 planted (except corn; and in my estimation 

 it takes a large plot indeed to raise enough 

 corn) to satisfy a family of three. 



TWO CROPS ON THE SAME GROUND 



If you are wise you will plant late corn 

 after the lettuce and radishes are out, and 

 more lettuce, corn salad, or endive after the 

 beans are out. Then if you care to raise late 

 crops, cabbage, cauliflower or spinach could 

 go in w r here the early corn grew, and in this 

 manner make the small patch earn its living 

 and pay big dividends. 



Here is a plan for successional planting 

 (Fig. 12). We will consider annuals only, 

 the idea being to have the land in use all 

 season. The first sowing of each row may 

 be as follows : Row 1 is to have radishes and 

 lettuce, either one-half or one-third of the row 

 radishes, as you choose; row 2, beets; row 3, 

 green beans and peas; row 4, early corn; 

 row 5, tomatoes; row 6 (not shown), parsnips 

 and carrots. When the early crops are out 

 of row 1, it may be sown to middle-season 

 corn. When the earlv beets are out of row 2 

 (or perhaps you have sown one-half this 

 row early and one-half late beets), it may 

 receive egg-plant or cauliflower. Row 3 

 may have summer lettuce or kale; row 4, 

 lima beans ; row 5 may have cabbage planted 

 between the tomatoes, as the latter will be out 

 in time to allow the former a chance to head. 

 Carrots do not come out until late, and 

 parsnips must be frozen to be at their best. 



It is well to remember one thing in making 

 this layout — do not let two vegetables of the 

 same botanical family follow each other; for 

 instance, lima beans should not follow green 

 beans or peas, as these are all of one family 

 and draw about the same elements from the 

 soil. All members of the cabbage family are 

 likely to have the same insects and diseases. 



A VEGETABLE GARDEN ARRANGED FOR 

 BEAUTY 



There is another suggestion in regard to 

 planting I should like to make, and that is a 

 Japanese or "radial" garden. Take the 

 center of your garden, if it be not too large 

 and of the proper proportions, and run the 

 rows from this central point. This will give 

 a vast number of opportunities for combining 

 color effects, always considering relative 

 heights and methods of growth (Fig. 14). 

 The long rays must be spaced as close to- 

 gether to the central ring as the several vege- 

 tables will allow. I should think two feet 

 would be a good average. If the rays are 

 long, a wide divergence at their outer ends 

 will result; short rows could be planted 

 between for a part of the distance. 



The center of the circle should be occupied 

 by either a perennial or a plant that lasts late 

 in the fall. Cardoon, that beautiful, silvery, 

 cut-leaved plant, would be very handsome; 

 parsnips, rhubarb, kale would be good. 



The center or orb of this Japanese garden 



plan offers a capital opportunity for the exer- 

 cise of ingenuity and individuality. One or 

 more plants of broccoli surrounded by a 

 circle of beets would make a striking effect. 

 The tall, gracefully striped and variegated 

 kales might be encircled by parsley or a 

 large hill of corn, tall-growing, or the dainty 

 variety hedged in by cabbage. In this case, 

 the corn could be replaced by a transplanting 

 of Sakurajima radish. 



A lima-bean wigwam of poles, supported 

 at the base by lettuce or Pe-tsai (Chinese 

 cabbage), would please many. The com- 

 binations are endless, and a high or low center 

 effect could be obtained to suit one's fancy. 



Ray 1 could have lettuce and radishes (it 

 runs due south); ray 2, peas; rays 3 and 7, 

 corn; ray 4, beets; ray 5, scorzonera; ray 6, 

 beans; ray 8, onions or leeks. The inter- 

 mediate rows could be planted every other 

 one to celery, and the others to parsley, car- 

 rots, Sakurajima radish, and parsnips. These 

 all last well into the autumn, so that the 

 garden would always look well. 



THE FERTILIZER PROBLEM 



There is one thing, however, that must not 

 be forgotten, and that is the fertilization of the 

 soil after each crop has been taken out and 

 before another one has been put in, for you 

 can't expect to grow good cabbage when the 

 corn has taken sufficient food from the earth 

 to enable it to grow a stalk six feet tall and 

 mature two to six ears of corn! 



Suppose you have had a vegetable garden in 

 the same spot for many years, and have given 

 but scant fertilizer in that time, say, perhaps, 

 nothing but manure, and you. are wondering 

 why your vegetables do not grow as rapidly 

 and mature as perfectly as formerly. Could 

 you spare that garden for one summer and 

 sow it with cow-peas, soy beans or red clover, 

 and plow that crop under in the autumn ? 

 These three varieties of plants (and there are 

 many more like them) gather great quantities 

 of nitrogen from the air. They have very long 

 roots, and some possess little knobs, real 

 nitrogen reservoirs, that store away the nitro- 

 gen which the leaves draw from the atmos- 

 phere. Nitrogen is the most difficult and 

 expensive substance to obtain in fertilizer 

 form, and is greatly sought after; it is used 

 not only to develop quickly such crops as 

 lettuce, but to force for a more prolonged 

 period corn, beans, celery, etc. The readily 

 soluble chemicals, such as nitrate of soda, 

 are of course excellent, as they are quickly 

 utilized by the plants, but because of their 

 easy solubility they are soon washed away 

 by rains. Moreover, they require moisture 

 to render them available. The nitrogen 

 storers are utilized to a greater extent each 

 year. Their power is to absorb nitrogen 

 from the air and to distribute it throughout 

 the soil through the medium of their roots. 

 When the stalks of these crops are plowed in, 

 the nitrogen that they have gathered will be 

 released as the plants decay. It is the 

 cheapest way to buy nitrogen. 



"vaccinated peas" 



And as wonders never cease, the scientists 

 have now captured the bacteria that attract 



ifr-fr-ft fr ft ft ft 3 Qnrtriirtrtrif 



10. A suburban corner lot, the best feature of 

 which is the windbreaK of arbor-vitae that shelters 

 the garden. This garden will raise enough vegetables 

 for a family of three, except corn and potatoes 



fel ^ -msm f°^ imsm m-m§i 



11. Detail of Figure 10, showing vegetables in the 

 northern tier of beds and flowers in the southern 

 tier. The contents of each bed are given elsewhere 



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12. Two crops on the same ground. The vege- 

 tables ai the ends of the rows suggest the first planting; 

 those in the middle indicate the succession crops 



or urge the plants to draw the nitrogen from 

 the air through the leaf and stalk into the 

 root system. The bacteria trainer cultivates, 

 tames or grows these small creatures, dries 

 them, gives them to us to inoculate or vacci- 

 nate the seed or land, so that these plants will 

 draw more nitrogen into the soil than they 

 normally do, because, as in other manu- 

 facturing concerns, the supply keeps pace 

 with demand. The Government gives us 



