March, 1 9 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



87 



Now-a-days the vegetable garden is made 



14 inches apart, may be inter-planted late in June, with car- 

 rots, skipping every fourth or sixth row so as to leave an 

 alley for weeds and the onions when pulled, which will be 

 ready to harvest from two to six weeks before the carrots. 



Corn, which requires little room near the ground, may 

 be inter-planted with sugar-pumpkins, Summer or Winter 

 squash, or cucumbers, all of which will do well enough in 

 partial shade. Beware of buys, however. The surest way 

 of making a success of this combination is to have the vine- 

 plants started in paper pets in a cold frame (as described 

 in the February issue of American Homes and Gardens) 

 before planting them among the corn rows. They should 

 be so spaced as to allow from 6 to 10 feet each way, accord- 

 ing to the variety. This enables the vines to get a strong 

 start, comparatively in the open, where they can be better 

 watched and cared for. 



Potatoes are another vegetable generally considered as 

 taking up too much space for the home garden. That is 

 largely because, in this country, we have been in the habit 

 of planting the rows three feet apart and hilling them up. 

 Neither of these practices is necessary or desirable for the 

 home garden. Twenty-four to twenty-eight inches between 

 the rows will give ample room for the development of most 

 varieties. And where cultivation is not done with a horse, 

 lettuce or turnips may be taken off between the rows, and a 

 small growing variety of sweet corn, such as Golden Ban- 

 tam, grown in the rows, planted between every third or 

 fourth hill, and in every other row if they art put in as 

 close as two feet. 



Tomatoes, if trained up to stakes, and kept closely 

 trimmed, as they should be, to produce the earliest and 

 best results, will occupy little ground space. They may be 

 planted in rows 4 or 5 feet apart and two to four feet apart 

 in the rows, according to how close they are to be kept 

 trimmed. This leaves room for cucumbers, one or two 

 plants ffrom seeds or pots) in the rows, so there will be 

 room to walk between. 



SOME FACTORS OF SUCCESS 



In taking pains to prepare for a highly successful garden 



a thing of beauty as well as one of utility 



this year, the very first thing to do is to select the garden 

 site, which should be in as warm, sheltered and well-drained 

 a situation as possible, sloping a little to the south or south- 

 east by preference. The soil should not be either wet or 

 gravelly; almost any other sort, from a heavy loam to a 

 very sandy one, will answer the purpose, especially where 

 water is to be had. Then measure off the garden plot, and 

 make a plant of it, to scale, on a substantial piece of paper 

 of convenient size. This simple precaution will make it pos- 

 sible for you to "lay out" your garden in advance with ex- 

 actness. It is necessary to do this early, in order that the 

 amounts of seed of various sorts which you require may be 

 determined as closely as possible. One of the causes of the 

 undesirable up-and-down garden is seed bought haphazard, 

 according to the enthusiasm aroused by the description in 

 the seed catalogue. After one buys it — at a good price — 

 there is of course a great temptation to plant it all, even if, 

 when the product comes to maturity, we have to throw half 

 of it away. There are two dangers in buying seed: First, 

 that of getting too much; second, of getting it cheap. Buy 

 the best; inferior seed is always the most costly. 

 A WORD ABOUT VARIETIES 



And right at this point of making out the seed order, the 

 important question of varieties must be settled. It is im- 

 portant, because the quantity, the quality and the evenness of 

 your garden products depend to a large extent on the selec- 

 tions you make from the long list of claimants for attention 

 to be found in any seed catalogue. Remember one thing at 

 the outset : the most desirable variety for the man w r ho grows 

 for market may be, in fact often is, the least desirable va- 

 riety for you. With him, table quality is not of prime im- 

 portance; with you it is, or should be, the very first test of 

 desirability. As a rule, one is tempted to try too many 

 varieties, in making out the order, especially of the novel- 

 ties. Get these latter by the packet only, if you would avoid 

 severe disappointment, until you have tested them for your 

 conditions. There are, however, many cases in which it is 

 better to have more than one variety of vegetable, because 

 different sorts are suited for different purposes, such as extra 



