132 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Ap ri l, 1918 



sprayed as a protection against the potato 

 bug and the potato blight. I used three or 

 four pounds of arsenate of lead in fifty 

 gallons of bordeaux mixture. 



Parsnips, leeks, and onions being all season 

 crops, were tucked away on the outskirts of 

 the garden. 



Golden Self Blanching and Winter Plume 

 celery seed were planted the first of May and 

 were twice transplanted before being set 

 into permanent place. Celery requiring a 

 very rich moist soil, trenches were dug 12 

 inches deep, partly filled with old rotten 

 stable manure and covered with finely 

 pulverized earth to almost the level of the 

 ground. The plants with tap root and half 

 the top growth of leaves cut ofF, were set in 

 place six inches apart and rich earth filled 

 up around them as they grew. During hot 

 dry spells I flooded the trenches thoroughly 

 with water once a week. 



Eggplants, green and sweet peppers were 

 not set out until June the first when 

 all danger of frost was over. Two 

 dozen plants of each furnished our 

 family of eight with all we could use 

 during the season and left some for 

 canning. One prize eggplant from this 

 crop weighed six pounds. 



Plants of savoy and red cabbage 

 required more care than any other 

 one thing in the garden. Almost from 

 the first they seemed the attraction " 

 for all the eating insects known. 

 Constant spraying with bordeaux mix- 

 ture and wood ashes stirred in the 

 soil around the plants finally rewarded 

 us with some very fine heads. 



Bountiful, red valentine and refugee 

 beans were used for early planting 

 followed by later varieties for mid- 

 summer and fall use. 



Lima beans, both pole and bush, A plain 

 proved among the most desirable 

 products of the garden and were not 

 planted until the soil became thoroughly warm 

 in June. They will not give good results if 

 planted in poor soil. Burpee's Fordhook, 

 Bush Lima and Pole Lima varieties were 

 used. Beans should never be cultivated 

 after a ■ rain when the foliage is wet. 

 Whitloof the familiar French endive was 

 planted and grown to large-sized roots in 



the garden. In the late fall the roots were 

 taken up and planted according to European 

 methods. 



Beets and carrots for winter use were 

 planted in June. Cabbage and Green Pro- 

 lific cucumbers, for pickling, were planted 

 July 1st for late crops. 



The first spinach was ready for cutting the 

 fifth of June, and in the mean time the cold- 

 frames were furnishing a steady supply of 

 radishes, onions, parsley, and lettuce. 



June the 18th, the early peas being spent, 

 the vines were pulled up, the ground fertilized 

 with commercial fertilizer and the second 

 planting of corn put in. 



Even war gardens have their humorous 

 experiences and I must tell what happened 

 to my first planting of corn. Five rows of 

 Golden Bantam and Country Gentleman, 40 

 feet each, were planted in the usual manner. 

 After a few days, the corn sprouts popped 

 through the ground. Imagine my surprise 



chart such as this (made for a Yi acre garden) is a very practical aid in 

 planning for succession plantings 



and consternation, on going into the garden 

 the next morning to see all the green sprouts 

 lying along the rows and the seed corn gone. 

 My man of all work and general helper told 

 me that, when he went into the garden at 

 7 a. m., a great flock of crows flew up from 

 the corn rows. The greedy things had 

 stolen all my corn! What I cannot under- 



stand is why they left the green sprouts. 

 More corn was planted at once, after a bath 

 in tar to keep the crows from repeating their 

 first offense. Sweet corn may be planted for 

 succession up to July 15th or even later. 



Squash, Japanese pumpkins and Early 

 White Spine cucumbers were planted among 

 the corn. The Japanese cucumbers were 

 trained over a wire fence and made a very 

 attractive border for one end of the garden, 

 and at the same time furnished the most 

 tender, sweet, and delicious cucumbers ever 

 grown. 



The Pole beans were planted in two rows 

 along the western and southern border of 

 the garden and presented a most prosperous 

 appearance besides shutting in the garden 

 from the outside world. 



The Proof of the Pudding 



THIS garden furnished a constant supply 

 of fresh vegetables for a family of eight 

 from June the fifth throughout the 

 season, besides root crops and celery 

 for winter use. Three hundred quarts 

 were canned by the One Period Cold 

 Pack Method recommended by the 

 Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington, without loss of a single jar, 

 excepting a few jars of corn canned 

 by the old-fashioned methods. 



Twenty-one bushels of peas, nineteen 

 bushels of beans, sixteen bushels of 

 potatoes, four bushels of parsnips, six 

 bushels of turnips, five bushels of car- 

 rots, five bushels of tomatoes, and 

 thirty-five hundred stalks of celery 

 represented part of the reward for 

 our efforts. 



The coldframes were filled with 

 lettuce, radishes, and spinach enough 

 to last until Christmas and later. 



The entire cost of the garden 

 stood, as far as I remember, as 

 follows: 

 Cost of seed for garden, including seed 

 potatoes — #22.45. 



Commercial fertilizer #11. 

 Plowing, harrowing, #4.00. 

 Wheel hoe, #6.50. 



Rotten manure from our stables no cost. 

 No help was employed in the garden except 

 the spare time of my one man of all work. 



No Space for Fruits? — Nonsense! m. g. kaikts 



With Lessened Commercial Orchard Production Ahead, Now is the Time to Plant Trees for Home Insurance 



IN THE endeavor to meet the present 

 need for food many people seem to 

 have "gone off their heads," and to be 

 running to extremes. Even "noted 

 authorities" have lost their balance and seem 

 likely to lead others astray; for instance, my 

 college mate and long-time friend, Prof. U. P. 

 Hedrick — horticulturist of the New York 

 State experiment station, author of countless 

 bulletins and of four great tomes on cherries, 

 plums, grapes and peaches — if reported 

 correctly in the American Agriculturist, told 

 the Western New York Horticultural Society 

 that "ordinarily wheat should not be used as 

 an inter-crop, but we need bread, so stretch 

 a point and plant it in the young orchard. 

 Take the best possible care of existing or- 

 chards, delay new plantings, and raise more 

 important foods." 



T 



Nailing it Down 



GROW cereals and to "take best 

 possible care" of orchards involves a 

 contradiction of terms; and to "delay new 

 plantings" is far too sweeping advice, for, 

 coming from so prominent a man, it is likely 

 to be accepted and acted upon by the very 

 people who should disregard it; namely, the 

 small would-be planters and home fruit 

 growers. No greater mistake can be made 

 than to grow the small grains, unless it be 

 hay, among fruit trees because these crops 

 more seriously than any others rob the trees 

 of food and moisture. Similarly, for the 

 owner of a small area to postpone planting 

 until after the war will be to postpone gathering 

 the fruit for an equal number of years. Then 

 everybody will be in the same boat and the 

 advantage of planting now will have been lost. 



No Time for the Home Planter to Lay Down 



ET the commercial planter tremble if he 

 •'-*' will; but it's all nonsense to delay small 

 home plantings. Never in the history of this 

 nation has it been more important to plant 

 fruits for home use as well as for the local 

 market. Because of the shortage of labor 

 commercial growers will have greater difficulty 

 handling their acreages, but especially in 

 harvesting; and because of congestion of 

 freight and express traffic less fruit is likely 

 to reach the markets. Therefore the necessity 

 of planting fruits to supply the home and the 

 opportunity to make profitable investments 

 in small plantations to meet local demands. 



As I pointed out in The Garden Magazine 

 for January it is not necessary to wait weary 

 years before fruit can be gathered. Some 

 may be harvested the same year as the plants 



