THE HOME LOT. 



743 



The roots of the tree come close to the surface, for 

 which reason grass does not thrive so well in its 

 shade as it does under most other trees. 



As a young tree, the beech is not a very rapid 

 grower, being in this respect about equal to the 



sugar maple. After it has attained a height of 20 

 or 30 feet, its growth is more rapid. Still, good 

 cultivation is appreciated by the beech, and if the 

 soil be kept tilled over the roots for a number o£ 

 years, it makes very satisfactory progress. 



THE HOME LOT. 



WHEEL TOOLS VS. BACKACHE IN THE GARDEN. 



ECEMBER is none too early to 

 think what we shall do next for 

 the garden. Now is the time 

 for reading and for making 

 plans for another season. Now 

 /ps^^^ ^ time to sum up the results 



— ^/^.."P^^^^^^ °f season. One of the 



most interesting of these re- 

 sults, to the writer, was the 

 discovery that entire crops can be raised in a home 

 lot without once stooping down, except to pick the 

 crops from the ground. Though the papers are 

 full of advertisements of improved tools, for various 

 reasons he had not tried such tools until last season. 



A "Planet Jr." seed planter, plow, hoe, rake and 

 cultivator combined, was purchased. The entire sum- 

 mer's work was done with the new tool. No doubt other 

 implements equally good are in the market. 



The entire half-acre garden was spaded or forked up 

 in April as fast as needed. This was done by hired 

 labor, and lasted about five days. No further help was 

 employed, as the work was performed by the writer after- 

 noons, in the midst of pressing business cares in the city. 



For instance, a new strawberry bed was wanted. The 

 ground was spaded up. Then the plow attachment was 

 put in the machine, and a furrow struck twice. Then 

 strawberry plants were gathered in a basket and dropped 

 by hand into the furrow. A touch of the foot set them 

 in place, and then the plow was used to strike a furrow 

 along the plants, throwing the soil over the roots. Of a 

 hundred plants thus planted in less than twenty min- 

 utes, without once stooping over to set them in place, 

 not one died ; and in September they had made a fine 

 matted row, ready for fruit next year. 



Fertilizer was sown on the soil, and then the culti- 

 vator was run along the row on each side to cover it. 

 This work was done three times in the course of the 

 season. To keep the weeds down, the ground was cul- 

 tivated with the machine once a week at about the speed 

 of a moderate walk. The entire garden (half acre) was 

 cultivated, or hoed, or raked, in about two hours each 

 time at a rapid walk, and it was the cleanest garden the 

 writer ever took care of. It was only a pleasure to push 

 the machine through the soil, and by doing it often, the 

 weeds were kept under control perfectly. 



Another instance — potatoes. The ground was well 



fertilized before spading, and then furrows were struck 

 by the plow (going twice in the same furrow) at three 

 feet apart. In this furrow the seed potatoes were 

 dropped, and then the plow was run along once to cover 

 them over. When the plants appeared, the cultivator was 

 used once a week till they began to grow tall, when the 

 plow attachment was used to throw the soil toward the 

 plants. This earthed them up sufficiently to keep the 

 weeds down. The crop was excellent — large handsome 

 potatoes, with a good yield in the hill. Not till the 

 potatoes were dug was a hoe used or the back once bent 

 to the ground, and only then to pick up the tubers. 



Peas, beans, radishes and beets were sown in rows by 

 the machine and cultivated with the machine. Corn 

 was also planted in rows (not hills) with the machine, 

 and cultivated with the plow. The crop was as large 

 and fine as if raised in hills with hoe and backache. 



Currants in the spring were plowed by turning the 

 furrows toward the plants, and afterward using the hoe 

 or the cultivator, and sometimes the plow. The old^ 

 strawberry beds were kept clean with the hoe or the 

 rake attachment. Raspberry bushes were cultivated 

 first with the plow, then with the cultivator, and the 

 young shoots kept down with the hoe part. In short, 

 all the work of the garden the entire season was done 

 with the machine, excepting a few moments' work in. 

 cutting out an occasional weed between the currant 

 bushes or the raspberry canes. All the work was done 

 at a smart walk, without special fatigue, done complete- 

 ly, thoroughly and quickly, and without once stooping 

 over, except to clear the teeth of the rake or the points 

 of the cultivator. 



Of course, the ground was absolutely free from stones, 

 was all underdrained, was level and dry. Gardening 

 ceased to be a back-breaking labor, and was only a sort 

 of athletic record-breaking, with more fun than work. 



Some such wheel combination tool will make the home 

 lot pay. It saves time. That's the great point. A man 

 with ordinary hoe can cultivate a row of small plants at 

 about one-tenth of a mile an hour. With a good ma- 

 chine on wheels he can hoe, rake or cultivate a row of 

 small plants at about one mile an hour. In the writer's 

 experience, with a clean, dry soil, a strip twenty inches 

 wide can be cultivated at the rate of two-and-a-half 

 miles an hour, or at the speed of an easy walk ; not con- 

 tinuously all day, but at that speed for an hour on a 

 stretch. This seems to point to a solution of the labor 

 question in the home lot. Charles Barnard. 



