THE HOME LOT. 



naturally in the ground should be buried ; other 

 things, like wood, paper, leather, fabrics, etc., 

 should be burned and the ashes spread on the 

 ground. The learned writers upon horticulture will 

 tell you that these 



HOME-MADE FERTILIZERS 



Are not " complete fertilizers." They mean by this 

 that they do not contain all the materials plants 

 require. That is true, and still they do contain 

 some of them, and are therefore helpful. They all 

 help your home lot and are profitable, because they 

 cost so little and because all the garbage, paper, 

 ashes and other refuse from the house must be got 

 rid of in some way, and by burying it you " kill two 

 birds with one stone." In the spring it is very easy 

 to add a " complete fertilizer," and thus supply all 

 that your plants will require. The "last things" 

 in the home lot are the 



REMOVAL INTO THE CELLAR 



Of every crop for safe keeping. There are various 

 plans for storing celery, potatoes and roots out- 

 doors. This is not necessary or convenient for the 

 home lot garden, and the best plan is to put all the 

 things in a cool, light place, where they will not 

 freeze. Celery keeps best if pulled up by the roots, 

 and the roots covered with loam and sand in the 

 cellar. Potatoes and roots may be stored in boxes 

 or barrels, or heaped upon a dry floor. Squashes 

 and pumpkins are safer hung up in a cool, dry room. 



Last of all, when all the waste and rubbish have 

 been buried, have all the soil spaded up and left 

 loose and rough. Do not rake it down smooth. 

 Leave the surface open and loose, so that the frost 

 can get at it and break it up still finer. It makes a 

 wonderful difference next spring whether the soil is 

 left hard and smooth in the fall, or is spaded up 

 loosely. 



VERY LAST OF ALL. 



Be thankful you have a garden. There are good 

 people who have homes with a bit of ground, and 

 do not see why they should be thankful at all. 

 They see nothing in a home lot but an expense for 

 seeds and manure — nothing but a great deal of 

 backache, and only a few vegetables they could buy 

 with less trouble at the stores. 



THE OUT DOOR SEASON IS OVER. 



There is leisure now to think over this whole 

 matter of your home lot. Look at the picture at 

 the head of this department. On one side is a bit 

 of garden, on the other the dining room. Our arrow 

 flies straight from one to the other. At one end is 

 the source of all your food ; at the other is your table 

 that must be supplied with food from some piece 



of ground somewhere. Shall it be your own ground 

 close to your table, or shall it be some other man's 

 land ? Do you prefer to pay yourself for food, or 

 pay some other man for raising it, another man for 

 bringing it to your town, and still another man for 

 bringing it to your home in his market wagon ? 



You must answer these things for yourself. If 

 you are working for yourself and making a great deal 

 of money, it may not, in a strict money sense, pay 

 to run a home lot. If you work from eight to ten 

 hours a day for wages or a salary and have half 

 an hour to spare once a day for about four months 

 in the year, it will pay you to run a home lot. 



NOW IS THE TIME TO THINK 



About it. Now is the time to "read up" the sub- 

 ject. In eleven weeks from the first of the month 

 the new year of plant life will begin. On the 21st 

 of December spring will practically begin. Very 

 soon it will be time to talk about your plans for 

 next year. Very soon the mails will be burdened 

 with the seedsmen's catalogues. 



NOW IS THE TIME TO DECIDE. 



About your home lot. Do you intend to use your 

 land ? Do you intend to lend a hand to nature, that 

 she may put money in your pocket ? If so, now is 

 the time to ask for plans and suggestions, and to 

 ask questions. What is The American Garden 

 for ? To help folks. How can we do it unless we 

 know just what you want ? How big is your lot ? 

 What does it contain now ? What is the character 

 of the soil ? Is it wet or dry, thin or deep, rich or 

 poor? Have you any soil at all, or only a bare 

 space of gravel or clay ? Send in a plan of the 

 space about your house, with dimensions and posi- 

 tion of buildings and fences, and the aspect (north 

 or south) of the place. Do shadows of the build- 

 ings or trees on the next place fall on your ground? 

 The American Garden stands for help and advice, 

 and it can be of more use to you if it knows exactly 

 what you want and what you have. Then there is 



THE matter of TOOLS. 



Some people think a garden means hard work 

 with hoe, rake and spade. Nothing of the kind. 

 With the right tools the work is neither hard, diffi- 

 cult or tiresome. It all depends on this very mat- 

 ter of tools whether your home lot pays and is a 

 pleasure, or becomes a nuisance and an unprofit- 

 able bother. It is the purpose of The American 

 Garden to show from actual experiments the rela- 

 tive value of garden tools, and to show that this old 

 idea — that a home lot means a terrible lot of weary 

 labor — is a mistake. 



