The Garden Magazine, February, 1921 
319 
part of the former to three of the latter by measure. The 
mixture has been carefully handled for some ten days now and is 
about ready to go into the cellar, in a dark corner, where planks 
two feet high partition off a space four by six feet. After the 
initial heating drops off, the bed will be spawned and later 
cased with more soil. Then about January fifteenth we will 
begin to gather Mushrooms. Two years ago that bed pro- 
duced thirty pounds of Mushrooms, and we became so tired 
of them that last year we didn’t bother to make a Mushroom 
bed.” 
“Tired of Mushrooms!” 1 exclaimed, thinking of the times 1 
had gone nearly broke trying to satisfy my appetite for this 
delicacy. “ But then 1 suppose if one had a lobster farm one 
might even grow tired of lobster, too. Guess I will leave 
lobster farming and Mushroom culture alone.” 
“ You had better,” was the reply, “ because Mushroom culture 
is more a laboratory process than a matter of gardening, and 
temperatures must be carefully watched and degrees of moisture 
as well. But, here comes Friend Wife, and perhaps she will 
initiate you into the secrets of preserving summer garden pro- 
ducts for winter consumption.” 
The lady of the house greeted me by saying, “ Your place has 
been set at the table and dinner will be ready soon,” at the same 
time giving our gardener and his dirty clothes a look which 
suggested he had something else to do than stand around talk- 
ing about the garden. As one of her famous dinners was the 
real object of my visit I nodded a combination assent and 
thanks. 
“Come and help me cut some roses for the table,” she con- 
tinued, as she led me to a long row of bushes along the lawn 
fence, some of which were still blooming. “These are the most 
wonderful Roses. We have been cutting their blooms since 
early June.” 
I bethought me of the gardener’s parting suggestion and in- 
quired how successful the lady of the house had been in “ putting 
up” vegetables. 
“Come and I will show you,” she replied, leading me into the 
cool cellar and back into what she termed the cold storage closet. 
This was about eight by ten feet, brick lined, with a double- 
boarded door, and a small window opening under the front 
veranda steps. It was lined with shelves. Even in the semi- 
darkness 1 could see hundreds of glass jars and bottles along one 
side. 
“This is an Indian relish, made principally out of raw cab- 
bage, with red and green peppers. Here is the result of my first 
venture in preserving green string beans, and 1 do hope it turns 
out well. These are whole, ripe tomatoes, for soups principally, 
and there are a hundred and ten quart jars of them. Here is a 
conserve made of rhubarb with lemons and walnuts, and here a 
jelly of rhubarb and apples. Our small, green tomatoes with 
onions made this pickle, while those reddish bottles up high are 
ripe tomatoes made into ketchup and chili sauce.” 
As 1 made my way out of that cellar and around the veranda 
to await the call for dinner, 1 wondered what terrors, if any, the 
high cost of living or scarcity of food products could have for 
such a household as this, which made real use of the bounty of the 
earth by a good beginning in spring, sowing and planting with a 
vision ahead, and with systematic regard to succession and 
rotation on the same plot of ground. How much space of 
this sort is annually wasted? 
FACTS FOR READY REFERENCE 
— Legumes may be grown in any soil that is sweetened and 
contains sufficient mineral elements of plant food. 
— Legume bacteria give us nitrogen from an inexhaustible 
supply. These bacteria do not thrive in acid soils. 
— Every rotation should be planted so that one or more le- 
gumes will occupy the land one or more times during four years. 
The legumes will enrich the soil in nitrogen making it more 
productive. 
— Clover cannot be successfully grown on acid soil. 
— Red Clover does best in a well-drained good clay loam soil. 
— Alsike is the best Clover for wet lands and should be sown 
in mixtures for moist land. 
— Cowpeas occupy an important position in agriculture. 
They are especially suited for building up land rapidly. 
— The power of Cowpeas, as well as Soy Beans, lies in their 
ability to gather nitrogen from the air, and in the large amount of 
organic matter they are capable of producing which has 
a beneficial effect upon the tilth of heavy soils. 
— Buckwheat thrives on poor soil, grows rapidly, smothers 
out weeds and leaves hard soils in a remarkably mellow condi- 
tion. When plowed under as green manure it decays quickly. 
— By commercial fertilizer is meant that which contains 
nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid. 
— Commercial fertilizers do not permanently benefit the land. 
They help to produce larger crops, but do not make the land 
richer. They do not add humus to the soil and neither do they 
compensate for lack of moisture. 
— Constant feeding the soil with commercial fertilizer 
gradually sours the land. 
— Before commercial fertilizers are used, the soil must be put 
in a good mechanical and physical condition. They cannot take 
the place of good preparation and sufficient cultivation. The 
fertilizer should be applied broadcast. 
— It must not be forgotten that in using commercial fertilizer 
nitrogen stimulates the growth of foliage and tender branches, 
and adds thrift to succulent vegetables, making them grow 
rapidly. The tissue of the plant is built up by phosphoric acid. 
Potash is needed for rigid stalks, roots, and stems, as well as 
flavor, color, and quality of fruit. 
— Well-rotted barnyard manure is the best garden fertilizer. 
— Barnyard manure returns to the soil nearly all the elements 
taken by the crop, by making available the surplus plant food 
existing in the soil. 
— A ton of stable manure contains about io pounds of nitro- 
gen, io pounds of potash, and 5 pounds of phosphoric acid. In 
other words, 25 pounds of plant food. 
—There is considerably more water in cattle manure than that 
from any other domestic animals. It ferments and heats slowly 
and is known as cold manure. 
—The garden could not exist without phosphorus. The 
theory is that phosphorus is supplied to plant life directly 
through the earthworm. 
— The liquid portion of manures contains most of the potash 
in animal excrements. Except in the case of pigs, the liquids 
contain five or more times as much potash as the solids. 
