THE PATRIOTIC GARDEN 
SOMEBODY HAS TO RAISE EVERYTHING YOU EAT 
July Planting forjuccisf'ibn and Win ter \ upolu 
JA m II II ■ Hi HHI 
Y Directions as to time given in these columns apply generally to 
ifically otherwise mentioned allow a difference of about a week 
the latitude of New York as a standard. Except where spec- 
earlier or later for each hundred miles south or north, as the case may be 
J ULY is truly the turning point 
in the campaign of the garden. 
Nearly everything is then 
either at its best, or is ex- 
hausted and ready to make room 
for other crops. Much space is 
really available — between the rows 
of crops now reaching eatable size — for further 
P lanting. Look at the early rows of beans, 
eets, carrots, lettuce, onions from sets, rad- 
ishes, etc.; some will soon become exhausted. 
Why wait? Transplant plants from crowded 
rows into the paths between the rows. By 
the time these transplanted plants have taken 
root and begin to spread those of the old row 
are “gone” and you have new rows developed 
in position. 
Bringing Up the Supports 
Onions growing from seeds require special 
care. Keep the rows free from weeds. Once a 
week scatter wood ashes or a “complete fer- 
tilizer” along the rows and work it into the 
soil. If rain is lacking, irrigate ! Onions are one 
of the most profitable of garden crops. At pre- 
sent prices, a crate of onions stored for winter 
use is worth all the work required to grow them. 
Beans planted last month will be ready for 
the first “hilling” this month. Do not work 
over the young plants when the leaves are wet 
with rain or dew. It spreads blight and cur- 
tails the crop. 
If cucumber vines run rampantly — pinch 
back. It does not curtail the bearing power 
of the vines, but encourages more rapid de- 
velopment of fruits already “set.” 
The tomato is really a rank growing weed. 
Plants need staking and pruning luring the 
first part of July or when about two feet high 
and two feet across. For full directions as to 
staking and pruning, consult The Garden 
Magazine for July 1912. Splendid plants may 
yet be made from branches and “suckers” 
removed in pruning. Just stick a cut-off 
branch in the ground and it will root promptly. 
Very profitable crops may yet be secured from 
plants started thus, of early kinds like Earliana, 
June Pink, Chalk’s Jewel, Bonny Best, Globe, 
Magnus and Beauty. Later varieties are apt 
to be caught by early frosts. 
In starting and managing the July garden 
two things are of paramount importance, viz.: 
induce prompt germination by firming the soil 
well over seeds; and encourage rapid growth by 
frequent cultivation and seasonable irrigation. 
July Garden — A Goldmine 
f I 'HESE things there are tobe done:(i) Start- 
A ing a mid-season garden at the beginning. 
(2) Continuing the early garden by making 
succession sowings. (3) Coaxing all the crops 
The Seed Necessity for 1918 
We have given most of our attention to discussing the 
present production of food. There is another vital neces- 
sity — seed for next year. A critical situation has devel- 
oped for the seedsmen of America — and consequently for 
the world. For the world war has made us the world’s 
custodian of these precious germs. 
Following the President’s appeal and the subsequent 
nation -wide movement for more gardens, an unprece- 
dented demand arose for seeds of all kinds. There were 
enough seeds of most vegetables to supply the demand. 
But a shortage akin to famine in seeds of biennial vegeta- 
bles developed. 
Biennial vegetables are those that require two years to 
produce seeds from seeds sown. From seeds sown this 
year, the vegetables are harvested by fall, stored in pits 
or cellars, planted again the next spring, and the"seeds are 
gathered late in the summer or in early fall. This group 
of vegetables includes such staples as beets, carrots, the 
entire cabbage family (brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauli- 
flower, etc.), leeks, onions, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, 
and some others of less importance. 
Up to fall of 1914, Europe supplied us with nearly 75 
per cent, of the seeds of all these plants excepting onions 
and beets. Carrot seeds come from France and Germany; 
cabbage and cauliflower seeds from Denmark and Hol- 
land; turnips, rutabagas, etc., from England and other 
countries. Suddenly in the spring of 1915, the seed grow- 
ers of those countries found themselves confronted by the 
necessity of conserving their seed stocks, and even of 
securing additional supplies from elsewhere. Many of the 
roots stored to produce the seed crops of the following 
year were used for food, or destroyed. 
It is to the credit of American seedsmen that they did 
their “ bit ” three years ago to offset the situation now 
confronting us. In August, 1914, a group of wholesale 
seedsmen gathered in New York City to " take stock ’* 
of the Nation s needs. Supplies of all biennial vegetable 
seeds were immediately supplemented by contracts abroad. 
In the fall of 1914, America had a three-year seed supply 
of all the important vegetables of this kind. 
In the meantime, values of American farm staples — 
corn, potatoes, wheat, etc. — soared, and so did the aspira- 
tions of the American farmers who grow the seeds of these 
crops. The ever-present temptation to sacrifice future 
rewards and ideals for the sake of immediate returns 
proved too great anc^the seed stock dwindled. 
With farm products selling at highest prices ever heard 
of. and his mind full of speculative ideas, Mr. Average 
Farmer does not care to consider seed contracts that fix a 
price in advance for the seed crop to be harvested a year 
hence. Yet, with France clamoring for tons of carrot and 
beet seeds and our own needs greater than ever before, 
American seedsmen and seed-growers have to assume the 
responsibility of providing seeds for the world. 
In attempting to do this, the leaders of the movement 
may find themselves handicapped by the lack of in- 
terest and knowledge — lack of interest on the part of 
capital, whose aid is required to see the country through 
the crisis; lack of knowledge on the part of the farmer 
who is willing to undertake the work. 
A proper meeting of this situation would help Amer- 
ica a long way toward fulfilling her obligations to her 
allies and the world at large; it would also help her along 
the road to that leadership in seed production for which 
her natural resources are unrivaled. ' As to “ skill avail- 
able ” let the seedsmen call on those most expert seed- 
growers in the world — the American market gardenersl 
An Eleventh-hour Call 
July presents the last chance in 1917 to market garden- 
ers to rally to the flag, to perform a patriotic duty by 
coming to the rescue of a precarious situation. All space 
available this month should be sown to early maturing 
kinds of beets, carrots, turnips, and any other “ biennial ” 
crops that will produce roots large enough for planting 
out next spring. Sacrifice immediate returns on these 
crops; store them to be planted in spring for seed crop. 
Few investments will bear bigger interests, few things 
that our market gardeners can do will benefit the country 
more. Unless all signs fail, the prices obtainable in 1918 
for skilfully grown seeds of the kinds of vegetables named 
above will reach just as high new levels as food products 
maintain at present. 
to quicker maturity and heavier 
bearing by frequent cultivation, 
timely fertilizing and occasional 
irrigation. 
Everything planted in any early 
garden can still be started in the 
July garden (except late limas and 
pole beans, sweet corn requiring longer than 
eighty days to reach roasting ear stage, late 
sorts of eggplant, pepper, pumpkin, and squash. 
You can still grow lots of ripe tomatoes if 
you secure May-started plants of Sparks’ 
Earliana, Chalk’s Tewel, Livingston’s Globe 
or Red Sunrise. 
I he coming of cool nights in August and 
cool days in September makes practical July 
planting of such “ cool ” season crops as lettuce, 
peas and spinach. The very varieties that were 
planted in early spring are again the order of 
the day, because weather conditions in early 
fall and spring are similar, with the compara- 
tive results from spring or fall gardens strongly 
in favor of fall gardens! 
The Way to Start the New Garden 
S UCCESS or failure with July planted gar- 
dens is largely determined by the condition 
of the soil, and the method of sowing the seeds. 
In most cases the soil is in ideal condition — 
warm, mellow, with all the annual and sur- 
face weeds killed by previous cultivations or 
spaded or plowed under so deeply that they 
have no chance to do further harm. 
If the soil is dry (as is usual, soak thoroughly 
with water the day before you expect to plant. 
If time or circumstance do not permit this, the 
handicap may be partly overcome by sowing 
seeds deeper — twice as deep as before: or say, 
beets and radishes one half inch; lettuce, en- 
dive, carrots, and other fine-seeded classes, one 
quarter inch; beans, peas and corn three to 
four inches. It all depends on the nature of 
your soil, of course; the lighter the soil the 
deeper to sow. 
Decide which vegetables you want from 
August first until frost. For sowing early in 
the month are beans, beets, carrots, endive, 
kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, 
turnips and rutabagas. By setting out plants, 
you can provide cabbage, cauliflower, celery, 
celeriac, and tomatoes. 
GATHERING THE HARVEST 
Supposing you sow, during the first week of 
this month, two fifteen-foot rows each of the 
dozen vegetables that will yield crops from 
seeds before frost. Here is the way in which 
returns should come in: 
Beans. Red Valentine, ready between August 25 th and Sep- 
tember 1 st; Bountiful, between September 1 st and 5 th. First 
picking per 30 foot of row should yield two quarts of pods. 
Beets. Faust’s Early Crimson ready in fifty-five days, 
Eclipse, 60 days, Crosby’s, 62 days; Detroit Dark Red, 65 days. 
Carrots. Oxheart, 55 days; Chantenay, 60 days; Danvers, 70 
days. 
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