January, 1913 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



237 



The experience has been valuable to me, 

 as I can see where I could have made much 

 more by planting some things closer, and 

 more of those that were in demand and less 

 of those that were not. The dates of trans- 

 planting, planting, thinning, gathering, 

 selling, etc., are taken from my garden 

 diary. 



This is the first season that I have kept a 

 complete diary of my garden work. I do 

 not see now how any one can get along 

 without keeping such a book as there are so 

 many important items to be remembered. 



Keeping in mind the old adage "Culture 

 is manure, " I always endeavor to get as 

 much manure as possible out of the wheel 

 plow, rake and hoe. In our variable sea- 

 sons, with no method of irrigation at hand, 

 save that of frequent and shallow culti- 

 vation, we can do much toward conserving 

 moisture by spreading a dust mulch evenly 

 over the soil. If all the rows are made per- 

 fectly straight and running the entire 

 length of the garden, the space between the 

 rows exactly the same, cultivating is an 

 easy and pleasant job. I kept this dust 

 mulch in good shape at all times during the 

 short drouths by using a sharp toothed 

 rake, going backward and raking and 

 smoothing the soil after each cultivation 

 with the wheel plow. 



The three barrels of poultry manure and 

 the commercial fertilizer was scattered 

 broadcast over the soil after it was broken 

 and then worked in with a disk harrow. 

 The soil from the hotbed where I grew my 

 early plants was saved to put in the celery 

 row just before the plants were transplanted 

 to it. The manure that furnished the 

 bottom heat in the hotbed, was scattered 

 around the tomato plants just about the 

 time the first fruit began to ripen. I then 

 hauled three barrels of liquid manure which 

 had drained from a pile of manure at one of 

 the livery stables, and poured this around 

 the tomatoes. On October 5th, am picking 

 nice, well shaped and fine flavored tomatoes 

 from vines that reach above my shoulders. 

 The vines are still setting fruit and are 

 filled with blossoms. Chalk's Early Jewel 

 and Godden's Early Pink are two of the 

 best varieties of tomatoes that we have 

 here. 



At the first of the marketing season, I 

 sold vegetables by weight; but as soon as 

 there was plenty of everything on the mar- 

 ket, I was not so particular. A i-gallon 

 bucketful of string beans sold for ten cents; 

 a 5-pound basket of tomatoes, brought 50 

 cents up to the middle of July, later 25 

 cents, and when the main crop was on 10 

 cents. Sweet potatoes averaged 4 cents a 

 pound, lima beans 10 cents a quart, mango 

 peppers, $1 bushel, turnips $1 bushel, 

 squashes (Hubbard), 25 cents each, and 

 egg-plant 5 cents to 10 cents each, accord- 

 ing to size. No account was kept of the 

 number of bushels or pounds. For several 

 seasons I have been growing a few thousand 

 sweet potato plants and some cabbage 

 and tomato plants, which I sold to the 

 neighbors. I never have had sufficient to 







5 VI -**" ** 



3L J*£ *-*C~£3 





July 19th. in J. Wesley Griffin's Kentucky garden. The long continuous rows make cultivation easy 



and inexpensive 



supply the demand; even this summer I had 

 to disappoint many who wanted plants. 



I had three hot beds and made two more. 

 The sizes of these beds are given in the 

 drawing on page 238. I used four of the 

 beds for potato plants and the other for the 

 other vegetable plants. 



I only had one notice of plants to sell in- 

 serted in our country paper, which cost me 

 25 cents. The material from which I made 

 the frames for the hotbeds came from an old 

 lumber yard, and cost only the hauling. A 

 neighbor lent me three glazed hotbed sash, 

 3 x 6 ft. The other hotbeds and the cold- 

 frames were covered with muslin. 



VEGETABLE PLANTS SOLD 



Tomato plants, transplanted ones, sold for 15c. 

 doz; 2 doz. 25c. Cabbage plants, 25c. per 100. 



Sweet potato plants, 30c. per 100, $2.50 per 1000. 

 Mango Pepper plants, 10c. per doz. Celery plants, 

 40c. per 100. 



May 9 — Transplanted tomato plants . $ 3.00 

 15 — Transplanted tomato plants . .25 



" 17 — Transplanted tomato plants . . 40 



" 20 — Transplanted pepper plants 

 20, $2.40; sweet potato 

 plants, $5.45; cabbage, 25c. 8.33 



" 22 — Transplanted tomato plants, 

 S4.65, sweet potato plants, 

 $4.85, celery plants, So; 

 cabbage, 50c.; pepper 

 plants, 10c . . . . 1 1. go 



" 23 — Tomato, 65c; sweet potato 



$3-6° 4-25 



" 27 — Sweet potato 1.55 



" 29 — Cabbage plants, 25c; sweet 



potato, 95c .... 1 . 20 



" 31 — Sweet potato, $2.35; pepper 



plants, toe 2 . 45 



June 3 — Tomato, 10c; cabbage, 20c; 



August 30th, in the garden shown above. Six weeks' growth has sufficed to put a different 



complexion on the view 



