EVEN THE HUMBLE CABBAGE MAY BECOME A DECORATIVE FEATURE 



Matlie Edwards Hewitt, Photo. 



Larkspur, Hollyhock, Roses, and other favorites of olden-time gardens seem comfortably to companion even such distant 

 kin in the world of plants as the Cabbage. There is, in fact, something remarkably friendly and quite charming as 

 well in this type of combination kitchen and flower garden. At the home of Mrs. Ernest Iselin, New Rochelle, N. Y. 



WHAT, WHY, and HOW MUCH among TABLE 



VEGETABLES 



ADOLPH KRUHM 



Planning the Seed Order Ahead to Meet Specific Household Needs — Dependable Varieties 

 of Good Quality Arranged for a Succession of Ample Crops with the iVlinimum of Labor 



| HAT'S the idea of that big row of Swiss Chard? What's 

 this? Something more grown because it looks pretty? 

 And who is going to eat all those Parsnips? Here we 

 are, with a big garden, in the midst of the season and 

 little to eat besides Corn!" Thus the complaining voice of 

 the housekeeper, one fine August day last year, while surveying 

 the garden. 



Summarizing, the lesson means: if you garden for sentimental 

 reasons, makea flower garden, but let the vegetable patch stand 

 for business, the business of providing, in ample quantities, 

 such food stuffs as the family likes best. 



But here comes the rub! Naturally, no two families like the 

 same vegetables equally well, nor would they be used in exactly 

 the same quantities by any two households. Therefore any 

 recommendations made must be subject to individual ad- 

 justments. 



The ReaUy Worth While Classes 



IN DETERMINING, in seemingly arbitrary fashion, the 

 relative usefulness of the different classes of vegetables, 

 1 have been guided not so much by their popularity as by their 

 actual household service values. Most readers will agree 

 that Tomatoes are more important than either Cabbage or 

 Peas; that Beans yield more food per square foot than Corn; 

 that Lettuce is more valuable to the table than Radishes. In 



every instance, the comparative food value of the crop from 

 soil occupied during a certain season has been given consider- 

 ation. On this basis the following classes of vegetables are 

 selected as being of primary importance for the home garden 

 in the order mentioned: 



i) Tomatoes 4) Cabbage 7) Peas 



2) Beans 5) Lettuce 8) Squash 



3) Corn 6) Beets 9) Radishes 

 Should the garden be very small, with space for only one 



vegetable, let that one be Tomatoes, provided always, of course, 

 that you care for them. Tomatoes will yield from each square 

 foot of space more of a crop serving a greater variety of purposes 

 in the household than is to be derived from any other vegetable. 



Beans have second place because there is absolutely no waste 

 to this vegetable. Any pods not picked while young, may be 

 left on the plants to yield shell beans later. The plants them- 

 selves, through their roots, enrich the soil with nitrogen. A 

 crop of Beans actually leaves the soil in better physical condi- 

 tion than it was before it grew the crop. 



Corn, although hardly a crop for the small garden, can seldom 

 be bought in first class condition in market. Therefore the 

 person who is fond of Corn will devote some space to it, even at 

 the expense of other things. Tomatoes, Beans, Lettuce, do 

 not deteriorate in quality on the market table as rapidly as 

 Corn. Cabbage, Beets, and Squash remain in palatable condi- 



230 



