THE RURAI> N E W-YOR K E R. 
1133 
The Home Acre 
A Back-yard Garden. 
fThe picture at Fig 434 shows part of 
a New Jersey garden cultivated by Mr. 
II. II. Kiddulph who describes it as fol¬ 
lows. Wonders of crop producing are 
worked out on some of these commuter’s 
gardens. If acres were handled in this 
way it would be nearer “10 blades of 
grass” than two.] 
tory return. Then too, there is a lot of 
satisfaction in raising vegetables a lit¬ 
tle bigger, better, and earlier than one’s 
neighbors, as for instance, tomatoes for 
the table the last week in June and white 
Summer squashes 34 inches in circum¬ 
ference, the last of which were eaten in 
February. 
My present garden plot has been cul¬ 
tivated for the past five years; is 40 feet 
by 57 feet, on a terrace, the retaining 
wall of which is about 30 inches high; 
the inclination from front to rear show¬ 
ing a grade of about one-half inch to the 
foot. This grade proved to be quite a 
disadvantage, as the early Spring rains 
frequently carried considerable soil (al¬ 
though heavy) to the lower side of the 
garden, leaving the ground somewhat 
furrowed and the upper part impover¬ 
ished. This feature is mentioned to show 
Soil for Asters and Sweet Peas. 
If the soil from my garden is an¬ 
alyzed can I find out what fertilizer I 
should use another year on my garden of 
sweet peas and asters? c. H. b. 
Lake Placid, N. Y. 
Perhaps, but before you have one made, 
consider the matter a little. Asters will 
grow in any good garden soil that will 
raise corn and potatoes. Stable manure, 
if you can get it, and weeds and grass, 
well dug in this Fall, with some lime, 
A Backyard Garden in New Jersey. Fig. 434. 
how the difficulty was overcome, the so¬ 
lution of which, as given below, may, 
if applied even under normal conditions 
prove advantageous to those who wish 
to try it. 
My plan of preparing the ground is the 
following: The Fall vegetables are gath¬ 
ered early as practicable, barnyard ma¬ 
nure spread upon the ground, dug under 
and rye sown rather thickly. This ac¬ 
complishes a three-fold purpose, namely, 
the soil is held in place, a green lawn 
is provided (which in Winter is especial¬ 
ly attractive) and the advantage of being 
able to turn the rye under iu the Spring 
will be readily understood. To this is 
added a little general-purpose fertilizer 
applied directly to the rows or hills, but 
thoroughly mixed with soil at the time of 
planting. This latter I consider import¬ 
ant, as it prevents the ill effects of a 
possible over-generous application of the 
fertilizer, and my compost heap at the 
rear corner of the garden (protected on 
three sides by a frame painted green to 
prevent an unsightly appearance) furn¬ 
ishes the additional soil each year for the 
mixture. 
The planting and cultivating are done 
entirely by myself, a handwheel-plow be¬ 
ing an important implement in keeping 
loose the soil, which, as already stated, 
is quite heavy. It may be interesting to 
some of your readers to know what is 
produced on a plot of the size mentioned, 
in quantity and variety to satisfy a fam¬ 
ily of four or five, during the Summer 
and early Fall, and the following shows 
the plantings for the present season, all 
rows being 40 feet long. 
White onions (sets) three rows. 
Peas (dwarf) six rows. 
Beets one row. 
Lettuce one row. 
Corn (dwarf) five rows, 13 hills each. 
Beans (string) two rows. 
Beans, 2nd crop, (string) two rows. 
Limas (bush) two rows. 
Squash (Summer) one row, six hills. 
Peppers one row. 
Tomatoes (staked) two rows, 24 
plants. 
Parsnips one row. 
Cabbage (late) two rows. 
Rhubarb eight hills. 
Radishes (different plantings) one 
row. 
In addition to the above is a straw¬ 
berry bed covering a space 10x40 feet. 
This scheme furnishes a very satisfac- 
will fit the soil by next Spring, when you 
can add ground bone and any good fer¬ 
tilizer if you cannot get more stable ma¬ 
nure. Except for some of the aster dis¬ 
eases, which it is unlikely are present, 
failure with this plant is frequently due 
to the presence of gray root-lice, which 
are put on the roots and taken care of 
by ants. Clean out every ant nest by 
boiling water, kerosene, or, best, carbon 
bisulphide, and if any aster plant seems 
poorly, take it up and have a look at 
the roots, wash them off, and replant if 
worth while. 
The sweet pea is a different matter. 
In the first place the right bacteria must 
be present. The commercial cultures 
will frequently provide them, though 
sometimes even these fail. But a large 
factor is getting them started right, and 
I am sending you an article first print¬ 
ed in the Evening Sun by an amateur, 
F. II. Presby, who has found out just 
how. But if the garden is at your Sum¬ 
mer home, prepare a deep trench with 
plenty of manure before you leave this 
Fall, and put in the seed as early as you 
can in Spring after treating it with a 
culture, mulch and keep moist. If get¬ 
ting the soil in good'shape and full of 
humus does not work, it will be time for 
an analysis, as a starter the money is 
better invested iu stable manure. 
“In Canada and in Northern New York 
I have seen the vines full of blossoms in 
August, but in the vicinity of New York 
our Summers are so hot, and of late years 
so very dry, that with all the care of 
mulching and watering our vines wither 
up just about the time we should be able 
to pick all the flowers we want, so I 
am writing to tell you how to get ahead 
of the heat and the dry Springs and 
Summers. About the middle of February 
I planted six seeds each in 50 six-inch 
pots and put the pots in a sunny spot in 
my cold greenhouse. The seeds were slow 
to germinate, but the pots were full of 
roots and the little plants about four 
inches tall by the middle of March. Then 
I was able to have a 50-foot trench dug 
in my vegetable garden, with plenty of 
well-rotted manure placed in the bottom 
of it. The balls of earth were very care¬ 
fully knocked out of the pots without 
disturbing the roots, and set in the 
trench one foot apart. The weather was 
very favorable and I was able to pick 
a small bunch of flowers on the 17th of 
May, and since then have had them in 
abundance. Of course this is more or 
less trouble, and unless one has a good 
place to start the seeds, I am not sure it 
will work.” p. n. c. 
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