She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
485 
The Home Garden 
Working a Backyard Garden 
\V liat is tlift best method of jdaiiting 
my garden? I have a plot. 22xrt2 ft., 
one lOxlS and one ir»x2r) ft. I.a.st year 
the plot 22.\52 was a lawn, and I turned 
over the sod and planted potatoes. One 
experienced man told me T ought to get 
12 bushels of jmtatoes. I got three. An¬ 
other told me I would not get any. or at 
least enough to pa.v me for my trouble, 
.IS he said the gas from the factories 
would kill ever.vthing.' A great oil com¬ 
pany has }i large plant one mile from my 
place, and when we get an east wiml one 
can alwa.v.s smell the gases. However. I 
wish to plant potatoes again, so l.ist Fall 
1 spaded .in two loads of well-rotted 
manure, and now would like to know 
whether to plant potatoes in this same 
patch and wlien. as I want the late ones. 
I had the rows three feet apart and 10 
inches apart in the row and three inches 
fleep. 1 believe if T had good seed po¬ 
tatoes I could grow them here as the soil 
is very fine. I put 100 lbs. of .slaked lime 
in this iiatch. and with the two loads of 
manure I am anxious to tr.v again. I 
was not troubled with bugs and 1 cut 
off the tops. The most large potatoes I 
got at an.v one stalk was five, the average 
about three. T would like to raise .about 
two barrels of .yellow turnips, some beets, 
.about .^0 heads of cabbage (late variety), 
and a bushel cif red onions. Do you think 
I could get .all this? T have two loads 
more of fresh manure that I .shall spade 
in the rest of the ground when Spring 
opens. I also want wax be.ans, beets, 
lettuce, and Swi.ss chard. t. .t. a. 
Bayonne. N. .T. 
It is not at all likely that crojis would 
be affected by oil gas at the distan<‘e of 
one mile awa.v. That your potato crop 
was not large was no doubt due to .some 
other cause. This sod land should have 
prodiiced a gooil crop, under usual condi¬ 
tions. but it is scarcely jiossibie it would 
have j)roduct‘d as large a croji as you think 
you ought to have harvested. A plot of 
ground 22x.T2 contains 1.14-1 square feet, 
which is !i vt'ry small fraction over one- 
thirty-eighth of an acre. Tf it had pro¬ 
duced 12 bushels, you would have got 
at this rate 4.o0 bushels to the acre, 
which would be considered an extraordi- 
naril.v Itirge crop, even by the most ex- 
.(lerienced grower. n'he potato farmer 
considers himself fortunate if his crop 
will yield him .200 bushels per acre. Tt 
is usually much less, so if you got three 
Imshels the yield (when comparcMl with 
the maximum) was about one-third of a 
crop. Tt is not considensl good jtractice 
to follow jiotatoes with potatoes, nor to 
use stable mfuiure or lime on this croji 
as it hiis a tendency to produce scab. 
fTowi'ver, in this instance it will prob¬ 
ably be all right, as the land is Cfunpara- 
tively new, and the manure and lime 
being applied last Fall their injurious ef¬ 
fects may jmssibly be* dissipated. B.v the 
use of good seed, properly jilanted. fertil¬ 
ized and good, clean cultivation, it will 
be possible to increase this year’s cro|i 
considerabl.v over that of last year. 
1 ’reparation of the soil should be deep and 
I borough. On well-drained land a plant¬ 
ing depth of three to five inches is best. 
Xorthern-grown seed is usually preferred, 
though some growers claim to get cfiually 
good or bettor results from second-crop 
l<onthern-grown seed. In cutting the seed 
it is a common practice to leave two eyes 
to a piece, and to drop the pieces (two in 
the hill) about 18 inches apart, in rows 
three feet apart. A.s to the amount of 
fertilizer per acre, it is largel.v a matter 
of soil and circumstances. As little as 
><00 pounds can be made to answer, and 
as much as 2,000 pounds can be used 
with profit. In your case it will probably 
be well to apply it at the maximum rate. 
Vou will re<)uii-e about .20 pounds: buy 
only the high grade of special potato fer¬ 
tilizer, apply 2.') poumls liroadcast as 
evenl.v' as iiossible. after jilowing or sjiad- 
ing and while the ground is .';till in the 
rough, harrow or siiaile in thoroughly, 
and apply the other 25 pounds in the 
furrow at time of planting. The crop 
should be well cultivated three to five 
time.s. Buy your seed and fertilizer from 
a reliable seed house. 
T notice you speak of having 2.2 rows 
on this piece of ground. If it is only 
22x52 feet and the rows run the short 
w.ay. the space between the rows would 
be only about two feet three inches, which 
was entirely too close. Tt is a big mis¬ 
take to plant anything so it will be un- 
dplv crowded. The results are always 
bad : when plants have not suffici‘”’t rooni 
for development they aUvays produce a 
smaller and generall.v au inferior crop. 
Plant onl.v 17 rows this year, and allow 
a space of 18 inches between the border 
and outside rows fo''' cultivating. The 
other two pieces certain a total of only 
55.5 square feet, or i small fraction under 
one-seventy-eightb of an acre. That is a 
small piece of ground, and it will not be 
possible tc .raise so much stuff on it. It 
is doubtful whether you could rai.se two 
barrels of turnii^s on the whole of it. to 
sa.v nothing of the other crops you want 
to raise. .Tu.st how much can be produced 
on a jiiece of ground of a given size de¬ 
pends on the quality of the .soil, and the 
man behind the hoe; mostly on the man. 
Without expert knowledge of the business, 
which can only be gained b.v hard prac¬ 
tical experience, it will not be possible 
to get the maximum returns. 
You say you want to raise two barrehs 
of turnips, .50 heads of late cabbage, one 
bushel of red onions, wax beans, beets, 
lettuce and Swiss chard. As it will 
be impossible to occup.v all the ground 
with turnips, if anything is to be rai.sed 
for use in the latter part of Summer it 
will be necessary to reduce' the planting 
to one piece of ground ruily. which .should 
be the smaller one. As the turnips do not 
have to be sown before about tbe first of 
August, for Winter use. the ground they 
are to occupy can be planted with early 
maturing crops, such :is lettuce, early 
beets and beans, gauging the planting .so 
the early crops can be cleared off by the 
time the turnijis have to lie sown. Bi'ets 
may be sown as early as the ground is in 
good condition to work. Lettuce may also . 
be sown about the same time. Tioth will 
be ready for use in 70 to SO days. Early 
beans may be jilanted about the first week 
in May, and will be ready for use b.v fii'st 
to middle of .Tul.v. The.se three ('rojjs can 
occupy all the turnij) ground. 2'he onions 
should be jilanted as early as jiossilile in 
the other jiiece. jdanting three rows the 
long way at one foot apart. These .should 
be ready for harvesting about the middle 
of August, when they can be cleared off 
and the gi-ound jilanted t<i beans for late 
or I'^'aH use. One row of Swiss chard 
should be enough for your use. !ind may I 
be sown about May 1. i 
2 ’he remainder of the ground is to be | 
reserved f<ir second jdanting of beets, let¬ 
tuce and beans. 'I'lie lettuce should be 
sown about thri'c weeks after the first 
sowing, and tin* beets ami beans about 
four weeks after the first sowing, making 
the rows of beets aniT lettuce 1,5 inches 
ajiart, and the rows of beans 24 inches 
ajiart. Tiate cabbage plants can be set 
around the outer edge of the larger bed. 
,\t two feet apart, there will be room for 
about 40 jilants. Set these out about the 
end of .Tune. Spread tbe manure you 
ha\e on the beds as evenl.v as possible, 
breaking up all clumjis before sjireading. 
Sjiade the ground deeji, and tluiroughly 
incorporate the manure with the soil. 
Break up the clods, making the ground as 
fine as po.ssible, as your success will de- 
jiend to considerable degree on the me¬ 
chanical condition of the soil. After the 
ground has been sjiaded and before raking, 
ajijil.v about 25 jiounds of high-grade fer- 
'■.ilizer (jiotato fertilizer will answer), or 
(luh'erized sheeji manure broadcast, and 
then rake and smooth the ground for 
jdanting. T’lant all seeds to a dejith 
about e<|ual to four tiiiu's their diameter, 
and if tbe gi-ound is dr.v at time of sow¬ 
ing tread tlu'in in with the feet, and 
smooth with b;ick of steel rake. 2'his 
will jiack the soil around the seeds, jire- 
vent them from drying out. and thus in¬ 
sure a good percentage of germination. 
Sfion as Jilants are uji high enough to 
make the rows easil.v distinguishable cul¬ 
tivation should begin. W(*eds should be 
as carefull.v and as energetic.ally guarded 
against as we guard our liberty, and as 
eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so 
is it likewise the price of a good crop. 
If noxious weeds are allowed to gain ii 
foothold it means more or less damage to 
the crop, if not the total destruction of it. 
Whether noxious weeds are troublesome 
or not, the crop should be cultivated every 
week or 10 days until read.v for use, and 
always after rains, as «oou as the ground 
is dr.v enough to work, no matter how 
often that may l.e. re. 
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ENSILAGE 
CORN 
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D ent, Improved 
Learning and Early 
Yell o w D ent, in 
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Address: EDWARD F. DIBBLE SEEDGROWER, Box B, Honeoye FaMs.N.Y. 
