6 
WAR GARDENING 
garden next spring. Destroy all plants which 
are diseased. The compost pile should be 
built up in alternate layers of vegetable 
refuse a foot thick and earth an inch or more 
thick. The earth helps to rot the vegetable 
matter when mixed with it. The top of the 
pile should be left flat that the rain may enter 
and help in the process of decay. 
If the pile can be forked over once a month 
when not frozen and the contents well mixed 
together, they will decay quite rapidly and 
be in good usable condition in the spring. 
The compost may be either spread over the 
garden and plowed under or it may be scat- 
tered in the rows before the seed are sown. 
This is, of course, not as rich as stable manure, 
but it is a good substitute. 
Compost is also used as a top dressing dur- 
ing the growing season for hastening growth. 
In the cities and towns tons of leaves are 
burned every fall. This is a loss which ought 
to be prevented. These leaves properly 
composted with other vegetable waste and 
earth would be worth hundreds of dollars to 
the gardens next spring. 
In planning a permanent garden, a space 
should be reserved near the hotbed or seed 
bed, and in this space should be piled, as 
soon as pulled, all plants which are free from 
diseases and insects. This applies to all 
vegetables and especially to peas and beans, 
as these belong to a group of plants which 
take nitrogen from the air, during growth, 
and store it in their roots. When these plants 
are decayed they will return to the soil not 
only much of the plant food taken from it 
during their growth but additional nitrogen 
as well. Nitrogen in the soil is necessary 
for satisfactory leaf growth. The material 
so composted should be allowed to decay 
throughout the winter, and when 
needed should be used according to 
the instructions given for using 
compost. The sweepings of pigeon 
lofts or chicken coops make valu- 
able fertilizer. When cleaning roosts 
from day to day add X as 
much acid phosphate as 
sweepings. When needed 
apply 1 pound of this mix- 
ture to every 5 square 
feet of ground, mixing it 
thoroughly into the soil. 
Prepared sheep manure, where procurable 
at a reasonable price, is possibly the safest 
concentrated fertilizer. It should be used in 
small quantities rather than spread broad- 
cast. Scatter it along the row before seed is 
sown or apply by mixing it with water in a 
pail, stirring the mixture to the consistency of 
thin mush, and pouring it along the rows of 
the plants. 
Green Manure 
Green manure is useful as a fertilizer. It 
consists of green plants turned under by 
plowing or spading. Rye is the most satis- 
factory for this purpose. If planted in July 
or August the crop may be turned under in 
the fall if early spring planting is desired. 
If planted later, it is usually turned under in 
the spring. When not turned under until 
spring, the growth will prevent the leaching of 
soluble plant food or the washing away of 
rich soil. 
In sowing rye for this purpose, use at the 
rate of 1 pound of seed to a strip of ground 
50 feet long and 10 feet wide. If the ground 
is rough or hard it should be cultivated just 
before the seed is sown, and then cultivated 
again to cover the seed. Sow the seed be- 
tween the rows of crops not yet gathered. 
Rye is very hardy and will sprout even 
though there is frost nearly every night. At 
a cost of about 5 cents for a pound of seed a 
garden of 10 by 50 feet can thus be treated 
to an application of green manure. The 
green rye plants soon decay when turned 
under and answer the same purpose as a light 
dressing of manure. 
Green manure, however, should not be relied 
upon to do the work of stable manure, as it 
does not provide phosphorus or potassium. 
Lime 
Land which has long been unused, or 
land in lawns, is apt to be sour. To 
remedy this condition apply 
evenly 1 pound of air-slaked 
f r _» i lime or 2 pounds of ground lime- 
stone to every 30 square feet. 
The lime should be applied and 
raked in to a depth of 2 inches 
when the seed bed is being pre- 
pared in the spring. Instead of 
lime 2 pounds of unleached 
jv! 'v v '. v".‘ ■ 1 ' ' ( X" f'V/w'i 1 '*' ! " ''Vy 
•V ""'V 
Fig. 3 — Tools most commonly needed in a small garden. From left to right, between the balls of cord, they are: 
Trowel, weeder, spade, steel toothed rake, hoe, garden fork, watering pot and dibble. 
