January, 19 14 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



221 



Here is one way out which will also be 

 found to count for higher efficiency: Cut 

 down all the weeds. Get four boards of 

 even length, not less than a foot wide. 

 Nail them together into a box-like struct- 

 ure — just as though you were constructing 

 a hotbed or coldframe. If your bare space 

 measures 6x8 ft., get two boards each 6 

 feet long and two boards each 8 feet long. 

 Within these boards you can have 48 square 

 feet of gardening space, built on top of 

 the ground. 



Into the framelike structure put manure 

 — any kind will do. Tramp it down tightly 

 until there is a solid layer of perhaps 8 

 inches of manure within your walled gar- 

 den. On top of this manure spread soil to a 

 depth of 3 to 4 inches; rake carefully, and 

 your garden is ready for the seeds. 



Lettuce, radishes, green onions, bush 

 beans, all vegetables of compact growth may 

 be grown with splendid success in this gar- 

 den, and it is surprising what quantities of 

 stuff 50 square feet will produce, in the 



course of a season. There is just one ab- 

 solute essential to success with a garden of 

 this kind, and that is an abundance of water. 

 A thorough soaking every other day is none 

 too much when rainfall is deficient. Care 

 should be taken that the hose does not wash 

 the soil, since in this type of a garden the 

 soil is neither as compact, nor has it as solid 

 a foundation as under natural conditions. 

 Use a fine nozzle to spray this garden and 

 soak it thoroughly at least twice a week. 

 Crops from it will be a revelation. 



Making Out the Seed Order— By f. f. Rockwell, 



Connect- 

 icut. 



A PLAIN EXPLANATION OF THE RIGHT WAY TO SUCCEED IN FIGURING QUANTITIES FOR 

 YOUR OWN NEEDS AND CONDITIONS — WHAT IS TO BE GAINED BY DOING ALL THIS NOW? 



MAKING out an order for seeds 

 may seem at first glance about 

 the simplest thing connected 

 with gardening which there is to 

 do. As a matter of fact, if it is to be done 

 properly it requires a good deal of thought, 

 and not a little careful calculation. Further- 

 more it should be done now, while the 

 ground is frozen so hard that you could not 

 make a drill deep enough to plant a row of 

 lettuce seed without using the pick. If you 

 order now, while stocks of seed are complete, 

 you will get the best seed and suffer no 

 danger of substitution of varieties on ac- 

 count of depleted stocks. If you wait until 

 planting time you will make out your own 

 order in a hurry; it will reach the seed 

 house when everybody is working overtime 

 and "rushed to death," and stocks of some 

 of the choicest varieties are exhausted. 

 Further your order may be delayed in ship- 

 ping, or transit, so as not to be on hand at 

 the psychological morning or afternoon 

 when planting should be done. 



Did your garden last year satisfy you in 

 every respect, or were some crops "bunch- 

 ed" so that you had more than you could 

 possibly use for a week or two, and then for 

 two or three months no more of that partic- 

 ular vegetable? Were you skimped on 

 some things and over supplied with others? 

 Were some vegetables stringy and tough, 

 and others especially susceptible to dis- 

 ease? All these things result more or less 

 from carelessness in making out the seed 

 order. 



Most people order seeds on a back-end-to 

 principle. They buy the seeds and plant 

 the garden to suit. It is only human 

 nature when you have once opened a pack- 

 age of peas or beans to keep on planting 

 until they are gone. It is also human nature 

 to buy largely of those things which on the 

 colored plates make your mouth water, and 

 of seeds which are relatively cheap. This 

 may be human nature; it is not wisdom. 



Let us consider for a moment what is to 

 be aimed at in a vegetable garden: First 

 of all, of course, table quality; then con- 

 tinuity of supply — you will want as many 

 things for as long a time each as possible — 



but you will need to guard very carefully 

 against getting any one of them in such 

 abundance at any time that it will go to 

 waste; and thirdly you want your garden 

 to go as far into the winter as possible — 

 to stretch it clear around the twelve months 

 if you can. 



Now, what is the way you, or any one else 

 for that matter, naturally figures up this 

 garden stuff? By the row; not by the ounce, 

 or pint of seed, not even by the number of 

 lineal feet of drill, nor the number of 

 square rods of garden. If last year you 

 planted four rows of early beans and had 

 more than you could possibly eat as soon 

 as they begun to ripen; and only two 

 rows of early sweet corn, and found that 

 there wasn't enough so that you could 

 have a third helping when any friends 

 came in to dinner — then you have got 

 something definite to work upon in figur- 

 ing out this year's garden. Probably two 

 rows of beans and four rows of sweet corn 

 would come nearer the mark. And using 

 two varieties of early beans and two of 

 early corn to furnish a succession from the 

 same planting, would be still more satis- 

 factory. 



Now take pencil and paper and write. 

 Thing number one to be done: After each 

 vegetable which you expect to have in your 

 garden, put down the number of rows 

 you think you will want, according to 

 your past experience. Then, knowing the 

 approximate length of your garden rows, 

 you can easily figure out about how many 

 lineal feet of row or drill of each you will 

 have to buy seed for. Most catalogues will 

 tell you how many feet of row a pint or 

 ounce of this or that seed will plant. It is 

 also set down in the table herewith. In the 

 column marked "number of rows," I have 

 put down what wouldmake suitable amounts 

 for an average sized garden for a family of 

 average taste ; but there is no hard and fast 

 rule about it. Alter the figures to suit your- 

 self. The rows are assumed to be 50 feet long 

 in this sample case. The vegetables are 

 divided into two classes which are marked 

 the "stayers" and the "repeaters." The 

 former are the things which will have to be 



planted only once in a season; the others, 

 being quick maturing crops which are in the 

 best condition for eating but a short time 

 only, will need to be planted several times; 

 and this, of course, will need to be taken 

 into consideration when ordering the seed. 



About one third of the task is now done. 

 The other two thirds are to buy good seed, 

 and to get varieties suited to your parti- 

 cular purposes. Where to get seeds which 

 will give you the best satisfaction must be 

 a matter depending largely on personal 

 experience. The result of my own exper- 

 ience of a good many years has convinced 

 me that no one seedsman has the best of 

 everything; even a seed expert cannot tell 

 good seed from bad seed in the majority of 

 cases, and no one can tell high-bred from 

 poorly bred seed by sight. The seed buyer 

 is dependent absolutely upon the seedsman's 

 honesty — therefore it pays to deal with a 

 firm that has a good reputation back of it. 

 If you buy your seeds, either in package or 

 bulk, at a local hardware store you take 

 chances. Above all, never let cheapness 

 influence the placing of the seed order; 

 the most expensive seeds are not necessarily 

 the best, but the cost of seeds in proportion 

 to the expense of planting and cultivation, 

 and the value of the crop, is, in most cases, 

 such an infinitesimal item that your sole 

 concern should be to buy the best seeds that 

 you know how, quite regardless of cost. 



Here is one suggestion that you will be 

 pretty safe in following. In buying any 

 variety which has won a good reputation 

 for itself, get it from the firm which intro- 

 duced it. It stands to reason that they, 

 more than any one else, will be interested 

 in keeping a pure, high-grade stock of that 

 particular thing. 



As to varieties: "Circumstances alter 

 cases." The variety that is best for the 

 market gardener may not be best for your 

 kitchen garden. A sort that is best for a 

 late, heavy soil may be quite the reverse 

 for a fight, sandy one. The kind that is 

 best for your neighbor Jones, living next 

 door, and with the same kind of soil, may 

 not be the best for you, because his tastes 

 are likely to be different from yours. 



