1910. 
A HOME GARDEN. 
Situation and Treatment. —In this 
article on a home garden it is not my 
intention to emerge from the small era 
lit by my own personal experience, but 
rather to stay within the narrow circle 
of actual practice and relate what is 
found there. The first duty was to select 
a plot of ground which was to be used 
permanently for the garden. This 
should be convenient to the kitchen, and 
on well-drained soil. We began our 
future garden in the Fall, and pinned 
our faith to wood ashes and manure, 
which could be had cheaply in our 
neighborhood. This was applied liber¬ 
ally on top of a Red-top sod, and im¬ 
mediately turned under to decay until 
Spring. During the Winter additional 
manure from the stable was scattered 
over the ground to leach out and be ab¬ 
sorbed by the soil. In the Spring this 
ground was again broken up and the rot¬ 
ten sod. manure and ashes became thor¬ 
oughly incorporated with the soil. The 
ground was well harrowed and then 
dragged to make it level. We began 
our garden by planting two rows of Car¬ 
man gooseberry along the eastern side. 
We were particular to get the rows 
straight and evenly spaced in this as 
well as the remainder of the garden. To 
do this a heavy cord was used, long 
enough to reach across the plot and 
stretched tightly. It is desirable in lay¬ 
ing off a garden to get the rows all an 
equal distance apart if large enough to 
admit of horse cultivation. This ob¬ 
viates the necessity of re-adjusting the 
cultivator to different width of rows. 
Planting. — The gooseberries were 
planted in rows six feet apart, and the 
berries set five feet apart in the row. 
In the center, between the two rows of 
bushes, was planted a row of potatoes. 
As the ground had been pretty well 
manured we were afraid of scab, so after 
the tubers had been cut to the proper 
size they were sprinkled over with sul¬ 
phur as a preventive. This sticks nicely 
to the freshly cut potato, and I believe 
is a benefit, as no scab was noticeable at 
digging time. Three feet from the sec¬ 
ond row of gooseberries was planted the 
first row of our home garden collection 
of strawberries. This consisted of 600 
plants from early to late as follows: 
Climax. Chesapeake. Fairfield, New 
York, Marshall and Gandy. They were 
planted 18 inches apart, and cultivated 
m the lull system, rows three feet apart. 
Aot a runner was allowed to set, and 
not a weed allowed to grow. Out of the 
600 plants we only lost two. one by the 
horse breaking off the crown and the 
other from the white grub. Probably 
the wood ashes had something to do 
with keeping out the white grub The 
Gandy outshines them all so far as ap¬ 
pearance is concerned, and there is no 
doubt that this variety is at home on a 
clay soil. The Marshall seemed to 
suffer more from dry weather than the 
other varieties, and was less inclined to 
make runners. The plants will fruit 
this Spring, and here we shall see issue 
the transmitted substance of last Sum¬ 
mer's sunshine and toil. 
Vegetable Crops. —Following the ber¬ 
ries were planted four rows of pole 
beans in hills three feet apart. Be¬ 
tween every second and third hill was 
set a tomato plant. This was done to 
save ground and at the same-time place 
the tomato plants where the bean vines 
would not shade them later on By 
sticking a pole to each hill of beans 
and bending them over and tying at the 
top they were securely fastened for the 
Summer. 1 his also placed the arched 
po es parallel with the rows, and admit¬ 
ted ot easy cultivation. In setting the 
poles care should be taken that they are 
firmly placed in the ground in order that 
the wmd will not blow them over later 
on wit.n their weight of vines. We did 
this by driving large stake deeply 
into the ground and making a hole about 
18 inches deep, and large enough to ad¬ 
mit the pole freely. Next were two 
rows of Golden Bantam sweet corn 
p antco in hills about two feet apart, 
ah rows in the garden being three feet 
apart, i hen followed a ridge for sweet 
potatoes, and lastly a space about 40 feet 
■wide for melons. In making the ridge 
tor sweet potatoes we did not use extra 
care to get a high wide ridge, as I 
S'- 1 } hat the g rou nd was loose and 
nc! lv V f° r seve L aI tttches, and there was 
plentj of room for the potatoes to grow 
downward, and they would not be so 
from n S m ffer fro , m dry weathcr as 
from he ridge method. I do not see 
ut what the yield was as good with 
the additional labor saved. 
Melon Crops.—O ur cantaloupe and 
aboutTh ° n / eeds Were P lanted tn hills 
berwL fn feet apart ’ and six ^et apart 
down tl hC r u WS i S0 that once «P and 
pi''" through the middle with the 
Imiet Jr., 12-tooth cultivator set at 
ree feet all the space would be culti- 
T HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
vated. This width of ground left plenty 
of room for the vines to spread Horse 
cultivation was given them till the vinco 
Began to interfere with the cultivator in 
passing. Then the ‘‘man with the hoe” 
came on the scene and kept out all weeds 
and grass between the hills. The culti¬ 
vator and hoe was kept going in the 
garden till late in the Summer and espe¬ 
cially after a shower, to break the crust 
and conserve the moisture. Some of the 
melon seed failed to germinate while 
others were taken up ‘by the cutworm, 
and in these vacant hills tomato plants 
were set, thus utilizing all available 
space. . A remedy for the cutworm was 
found in wood ashes; with a small quan¬ 
tity sprinkled over each hill their work 
was not so noticeable. This is the 
worst enemy of the melon grower eariv 
m the season, and frequently an entire 
field must be replanted. Our neighbors 
told us that melons were adapted to 
sandy land, and they had never been suc¬ 
cessful with them on clay, and we ama¬ 
teurs from the city were wasting our 
time. However, when fruiting time 
came and the melons were passed 
around, all declared that they would 
save the seed and try it themselves. 
After our seed was all in the ground 
and everything looked favorable, several 
hard, beating rains came, followed by a 
coo! spell, and it was evident that we 
would at least have to plant part of our 
garden over. Some of the melon seed 
soured in the hills, and the beans were 
planted too deepiv. Here and there we 
could see the sticky soil cracked, and 
get a peep at a white neck with a yel- 
low leaf struggling to reach the air 
and the light. The weed seeds, how- 
(\ cr, were germinating, nicely, and soon 
there was to be a battle royal. A mis¬ 
take was also made in planting a row of 
sweet corn too near a furrow, and after 
getting about three inches high it stood 
there sickly and yellow, plainly showing 
that the water in the furrow was shut- 
ting out the air and our corn was 
slowly dying of strangulation. 1 >We 
were not discouraged by these few 
mistakes, but as soon as the ground 
was fit began replanting. 
Intensive Culture.— At the north¬ 
ern end of the garden was reserved a 
space tor smaller vegetables, which we 
planted in beds and cultivated entirely 
by hand. Along the garden fence we 
had prepared a place the previous Fall 
for svveet peas. A space about one 
foot wide was spaded deeply along the 
fence, and the ground worked up in 
good shape. 1 he sweet peas were sown 
in drills and covered with one inch of 
dirt. 1 hen some fine manure was light¬ 
ly sprinkled over the top and a mulch¬ 
ing of straw added. In the Spring the 
straw was carefully removed, and we 
found our sweet pea vines several inches 
long. We were rewarded later on with 
a wealth of blossoms and a pretty fence 
as a border to the garden. The beds 
for the smaller vegetables were spaded 
and thrown up so as to leave con¬ 
venient paths around them. Here were 
planted onions, lettuce, radishes, bunch 
beans and cucumbers. The lettuce was 
sown .broadcast in a small V-shaped 
bed in one corner of the garden. In 
planting the onion and radish seed we 
took a board about one foot wide and 
placed across the previously prepared 
bed. With a stick a small furrow 
was made along the edge of the plank 
and the seed sown in drills and lightly 
covered by hand. By turning the board 
over the next row was made, thus 
planting the entire bed in straight rows 
one foot apart. The bed of bunch 
beans was planted in similar fashion. 
When the onions got large enough we 
began using them for the table, thus 
thinning them for bulbs later on. The 
radishes and lettuce furnished a liberal 
supply as long as we cared for them. 
.x llI,s of cucumbers furnished us 
with enough pickles to last till next 
season The hills were made about 
18 inches across, and raised above the 
surrounding earth four inches. Care 
was taken to get a liberal amount of 
rotten manure and wood ashes in each 
hill, and the way those cucumber vines 
grew reminded one of “Jack and the 
Beanstalk. The watermelons were 
smaller but much finer flavored than 
those raised on the sand, both varieties 
much later in maturing. A great deal 
ot pleasure and satisfaction, together 
with some profit, is derived from a 
well-cared-for garden with its wealth 
of fresh vegetables and fruit, but one 
should not try to overdo it by planting 
more than can be successfully taken 
care of. A keen enjoyment is derived 
from gardening, and we all more or less 
love t° cultivate, the primeval instinct 
of tilling the soil. 
“Not wholly _ within the city, nor 
quite beyond, lies the garden that I 
s. H. BURTON. 
Indiana. 
307 
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