October's Work in the Garden 
John Johnson, Massachusetts 
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TRENCHING.— I doulit not that my treatment of 
this subject will meet with some discussion 
among readers since many gardeners have a 
strong aversion to deep cultivation. A pity indeed it is 
that in nine cases out of ten exception to this practice is 
taken because of the extra labor involved. To say that 
deep cultivation is of primary importance and the basis 
of successful gardening is bold, but we are truly staunch 
in our belief that no treatment of the soil will promote 
greater fertility than trenching judiciously practiced. 
The best British gardeners are persistent in their 
methods of trenching. In past years, exhibits staged in 
the vegetable tents at the great summer shows held in 
that region would bespeak the previous autumn's hard 
fought trench battle. This assertion is neither illusory 
nor imaginative, but tribute alone to deep digging and 
forethought. Vegetables of the quality to which we 
have reference, mark with emphasis the one great dif- 
ference between farming and gardening. Success in 
farming lies mainly in the discovery of the crop or crops 
for which the land and climate are adapted, and a ready 
market for all farm products. The gardener, too, must 
necessarily recognize what the soil and climate particu- 
larly favor among garden crops and, moreover, he must 
make the soil productive of more or less of all vegetables 
and fruits and flowers required by the household. This 
renders almost unlimited the aims of the gardener, and 
a study of the relations of plant to the soil is constant. 
No matter how exhaustive this study may be, failure in 
some particular will be inevitable. 
Our earliest relations with gardening teaches that a 
naturally deep, loamy soil is the most productive and 
best for ordinary garden purposes, although almost any 
soil will acquire the consistency of loam after long cul- 
tivation. The subject then is vast and withal debatable, 
and it might be well to here admit that the deep loam 
of an old pasture is the ideal. Such land could be plowed 
in autumn, and after suitable manuring excellent results 
be guaranteed for the following year. Seldom, however, 
does the gardener find himself so fortunate as to have 
at his command a change of ground suitable for garden 
purposes, and it therefore behooves him to make 
amenable by intelligent cultivation the soil at hand. 
The scarcity of labor will this autumn doubtless im- 
pede otherwise good intentions, but wherever possible an 
efifort should be made to "tame" at least a small portion 
of the unwieldy subsoil, and for the benefit of the in- 
experienced we outline briefly the methods of procedure. 
Where the subsoil is of very poor quality it would be 
folly to begin trenching in the ordinary way. The cul- 
tivator would be well advised to first resort to the method 
known as "bastard" trenching. By this method open a 
trench 30 inches or more wide and a good spade deep. 
Haul the soil thus removed to the farther end of the 
plot for filling in when the work is finished. Put a good 
layer of manure into the trench and work this in with 
the subsoil. Another layer of manure should be placed 
over this and the top spit from the adjoining undug por- 
tion used for filling tip to the ground level, and so on. 
The deported soil, of course, being used for filling in the 
last trench at the end of the plot. 
Ordinary trenching is practiced by digging a trench 
three feet wide and two or three spits deep. Remove the 
soil to the opposite end of the plot as before. Measure 
out another trench of the same width and fill the bottom 
of the first trench with soil from the top of the second, 
and so on. Green refuse or coarse manure may be 
buried at the bottom of the trench, and a layer of good 
rotten manure should be worked in with every spit 
nearer the surface. Leave the ground rough and ex- 
posed to the ameliorating influence of the weather. By 
affording the natural activity of rain, frost and sun full 
sway, the latent constituents of the staple are made 
available to plants. In this way and by the addition of 
such fertilizing elements as are suited to supply natural 
deficiencies of the soil, any ground may be rendered 
highly productive of almost any garden crop. 
War Gardens and Exhibitions. — ^Vast corporations, 
the industrial workers of our cities, and individuals of 
variable standing, each and all inspired by a keen sense 
of patriotism, entered with enthusiasm the war garden 
project earlier in the year. With the end of the growing 
season at hand and the keenest interest in conservation 
of food sustained, we anticipate greater public support 
at our horticultural shows. Indeed, this "new crop" of 
gardeners of themselves are planning, and in some cases 
have already held, fairs and competitive exhibitions for 
the produce of their own gardens. Surely this universal 
activity and upheaval of vegetable gardening marks an 
epoch which gardeners may view with pride. Unan- 
imous we are in our acceptance of the expression of the 
poet : 
"A man is a man if he's willing to toil. 
And the humblest may gather the fruits of the soil." 
In view of the display of greater public interest it 
might be fitting to review the definition of terms as rec- 
ognized by gardeners in connection with horticultural 
shows. The distinguishing terms as sometimes used in 
schedules — genus, species, kind, variety, sort, and so on, 
are very abstruse to the novice; for general purposes 
two of these terms amply sufifice, viz. : kind and variety. 
Rigid adiierence and use of these terms would obviate 
the confusion often caused by the employment of others. 
In the horticultural sense, "kind" would imply for ex- 
ample, carrots, turnips, cauliflower, string beans and 
lima beans. Stringless Green Pod, Black Valentine and 
Bountiful are distinct varieties of string beans. It is 
generally customary to regard all natural genera as 
kinds, and varieties within a genus as varieties.- Notable 
exceptions to this rule would be the Brassica family, 
cabbage, cauliflower, kale, etc., also string and lima 
beans. 
Another source of misapprehension to the exhibitor of 
vegetables seems to be the employment of the term ar- 
rangement. When points are awarded for the arrange- 
ment of a collective exhibit, it would seem to the writer 
what is sought is an articulate display of each specimen 
or dish of vegetables, efl:"ectively arranged. Not a wild 
conglomeration of greenery, sometimes employed as dec- 
orations of some vegetable or other. This fantistic ar- 
rangement of vegetables, even though carried out with 
honest intentions, befits a Grange fair rather than the 
exhibition tent. The principal aim of the exhibitor will 
he to win, naturally: but why not adopt rational methods ? 
Size, uniformity, smoothness of quality and freshness are 
(Continued on page 342.) 
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