e-Ac RURAL NtiW-VORKER 
669 
The Home Garden 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
The garden work rests entirely on niy 
own hands, and digging is not easy work 
for one nearly ain)ro'acliing fourscore. 
Getting a laborer to help seems out of the 
question, and iny garden is (luite a good 
size. I/ust Winter a laboring nuni wbom 
I had long known begged me to lend bim 
money to buy a pair of shoes, and said 
that he would work the money out in the 
garden. I would i)robably have let him 
have the money without the promi.se, but 
was in hope of getting some help from 
him. Hut he has cons-tantly avoided me. 
(>{ cours(‘ his family needs every cent he 
can earn, but I like to .see a man manly, 
and would rather jtay for any help .and let 
the debt go if a frank statement of ina* 
bilily had been made. One would rather 
niak<‘ a iiresent to a man in need th.in to 
have him make a promi.se .and never try 
to fulfill it. 
Itut nevertheless my garden seems to be 
ahead of any I see around me. One man 
says that be cannot understand why his 
melons and cucumbers seem to dry ui) and 
f.ail. lie says, “I put .a big foi’kfnl of ma¬ 
nure in each hill and then a handful of 
fertilizer.” I replied that I never 
u.se fre.sh stable manure in the Spring for 
anything, and that I am not surpiised 
that his melons and cucumbers diy up 
with a i)ile of fresh strawy manure un¬ 
der the i>lants. The manure is not in 
cfuidition to feed jdants till well rotted, 
!ind while for the ordiiuiry farm croj) 
it is best to get the manure out and 
spread as fast as made, in the garden it 
is important to have it rotted down, since 
to be of value to such short-lived crojis 
it must be in condition to feed them. 
For general garden this can pretty well 
be accomi)lisbed by spreailing the fresh 
manure in the Fall and letting it act as a 
midch all Winter over the whole garden, 
Jitid between tbe rows of Fall-planted 
crops it can be more jterfectly done by 
composting it. My comi»o.st jtile for an¬ 
other year is now starting. It consists 
of stiible manure and sods. 'I’o these will 
be added all tbrough the Summer every 
scra|) of vegetable waste that is secured, 
refuse from the crops and weeds th.at 
have taken a chance to start, and are 
hoed out, !ind the idle turtied occasionally 
ft) bury fresh Jidditions. 'I’be i)ile this 
Spring was a huge one, for the weather 
last Summer was so continuously wet that 
th(‘ grass and weeds got the start on us 
and made a huge additir)n to tin* compost 
pile. Hut it was all fine .and rotten this 
Spring, and is now feeding tin? crops. 
'I’he Lima beans are luxuiriating in it, 
and it was used in the fr.tmes where the 
tomato plants were spotted out to harden, 
and, above all, it luis gone to make the 
hills for the srpiasbes, melons and cucum¬ 
bers in addition to tin; bro.nbr.ast manuring 
hast l‘’all. M’here this fine bl.aek mass of 
compost is userl theia* will be no drying 
out, for it will retain mol.sture ratber tb.an 
lose it. Our market growers of melons 
ami cucumbers know very well the elTect 
of fresh manure in the hills in Sjiring, 
and they usu.ally get the ni.anure in .Tanu- 
ary to give it some time to decay. Hut 
last .January there was no such thing as 
the plowing and preparing of the ground, 
.and nntre fresh manure has been used this 
Spring th.an (‘Vi'r befoia;. What the effect 
is gidng to be on tbe cucurbitaceoiis <aa)ps 
I'l'in.ains to be se<ui. J'or this <dass of 
jilants I have found nothing equal to the 
year-old compost. 
As is a])t to be the ca.se after a very 
cadd Winter, Spring is fairly early ; bril¬ 
liantly warm days, and nights just cool 
enough to keep the toin.ato j)!ants tough, 
and the cutworms happy. My compost 
probably carried a cutworm into a .''rame, 
for I found a <ait plant for the first time 
I can remember in a fi-aine. Some bran 
and lead arsenate powder was used, and 
no more plants were cut, 'I'oday f.\i)ril 
21) the Tama beans h.ave their true leaves 
well developed and will soon be luishing 
. runners. The earliest pea.s are about 
bursting into bloom and the Golden Han- 
tam corn has had its first cultivation to 
loosen the crust around it and prevent 
the wind from chafing the little stems. 
Melons and cucumbers have not yet ap¬ 
peared above the ground, but with jdenty 
of rain and cool nights the lettuce is 
growing wonderfully, and by tbe time 
that in the frames is u.s«k1 up we shall 
have .some ready outside. As the latest 
frame lettuce is being u.sed, we set two 
tomato plants to each sash. Then when 
all the tomato plants are out of the friinu's 
(for I keep quite a lot in resei vc* both for 
emergencies in my own giirden and for : 
the supply of those who dei)end on me j 
for plants every Spring) I set two egg- 1 
I)lnnts to each sash, and ketqi the sashes ^ 
f)ver them on cool nights, and in this way 
get Hlack Beauties before those in the 
open gi’ouml. ! 
A neighbor who s.aved his ('annas, while 
I lost mine, took them up yesterday fivun 
wln-re they were buried outside for jdant- 
ing, and kindly sent me .a couple of dozen 1 
King Humbert, the progeny of .a lot T 
sold him three years ago. \Vhile 1 have 
no trouble in carrying Dahlias tbrough 
the Winter burled in the g.irdeu and cov- ' 
cred with a lot of old news()apers and j 
earth, I have not been uniformly success¬ 
ful with Gannas in this way, and find ' 
that the b<‘st pl.ice for them is in the cel¬ 
lar, stored with all the .soil that adheres 
to them in lifting. 'I’hrough all tbe fear¬ 
ful cold of last Winter, tbe Nerines or 
Guernsey lilies held their green leaves, 
as also did the scarlet Anemones, and the 
old Anemone b<‘d is now the gayest thing 
on the lawn. The I'yrethrums are throw¬ 
ing uji their buds and tbe Oriental l)op- 
pies, too. The Hrince.ss of Wale.s violets 
came through tbe Winter unharmed and 
have given us a good supply of flowers, 
but the stems are shorter th.an when 
grown under gl.iss in the frames. They 
are so perfectly hardy that we can af¬ 
ford to wait fur the blooms to ,a later 
jjeriod tbiin under gl.ass. Sjtring is here 
and tbe weeds ai’e growing. 
w. J'. MASSEY. 
Onions Going to Seed 
Wby is it fbat some years my onions 
go to seed? Is it the fatdt of the set? 
Muncie, Ind. K. H. 
Onions grown from sets are md. likely 
to go to .ser'd if the sets have been jtrop- 
(?rly grown and stored. 'I'hose sets which 
are a half inch or more in diameter are 
far more likely to shoot to seed than the 
smalbu- sets .are. 'I'hi'refore, when .sowing 
the seed from which the .sets art? grown, 
have it thick enough so that the seedlings 
cannot make sets that are too large. Fur¬ 
thermore, when the sets have nicely de¬ 
veloped they should be gathered at once. | 
If they are allowed to remain in flu* | 
ground until the tops are .‘ill brown the 
root system will liegin a new development. 
This may cause the heart to start just 
a little, so that the sets will not keep well 
in storage, and if they do keep fairly well ! 
thev will have more of a tendency to! 
* ^ I 
shoot to si'i'd. Good commercial growers 
shake tluiir sets through sieves made of 
narrow slats. Those less than 'jjij-inch in 
diameter are (|uit.e .slow to start and sel¬ 
dom go to sei'd. 'I’hose less than 1/^-inch 
in diameter are al.so planted by them¬ 
selves !ind all those too large to go 
through a l/(j-inch sieve are planted in 
rows b.v themselves because thej' start 
most (piickly, are rea<ly to harvest very 
early, and have the greatest tendency to 
bolt to seed. 'I’hu.s, by having the large 
sets in a few rows the seed stalks may be 
more easily |>nined away. If large onions 
instead of sei*d are desired the.se seed stalks 
should have (he .seed bud idnched off close 
to the seed bud where the stalk is small. 
If tbe seed stalk is cut off in the middle 
or lower, it leaves a large open hole. It j 
is supposed that if water settles down in 
this hollow stalk it may cause the lu*art 
of the onion to decay. u. w. it. i». 
A crrY-iuiKi) young man went to the 
country to take a Summer job on a farm. 
'Phe morning after his arrival the farmer 
awakened him, saying: ‘‘Hustle out of 
bed there; it’s half-past three, and we 
must get the oats in.” After he was suf- 
fkqentl.v awake to talk, the «‘ity-bred 
young man inquired, with a huge .v.awn : 
‘‘.\re they wild oatsV” “No, they’re or¬ 
dinary tame oats, of course.” ‘“I'hen,” 
asked the young man, as he rolled over 
and preitared to go back to sleep, ‘‘why 
the deuce do you want to go out anil 
sneak up on ’em in the dark?”—Credit 
lost. 
19 
O 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
The Farm-Labor Crisis 
and My solution that will 
appeal to every Farmer 
This year my farmer friends are asked to produce more than 
ever before. And they are going to do it. But they are certainly up 
against it for help. Hired hands are scarce, hard to get, and expensive. 
That’s why I’m so glad to be able to make this announcement 
just at this time. I have a device that makes a giant, never-tiring, never 
complaining hired-man of the farmer’s car. 
Porta 
Powers 
Cheapest Belt Power in the World 1 
t 1 
It takes the wonderful power of 
your automobile, and gives it to 
you in a form that you can set to 
work at all the jobs around the 
farm. LAY Porta-Power, in¬ 
stantly slipped against the rear 
wheels of your car (any make) 
gives you the cheapest belt power 
in the world, a wonderfully sat¬ 
isfactory portable engine of 5-8 
H. P., that costs from $100 to 
$250 less than any comparable 
gas engine. 
It is all steel, and proof against 
wear ahd trouble. The Money 
Back Bond insures satisfaction 
or a refund after 30 days' trial. It 
pumps water, runs hay press, en¬ 
silage cutter, pea and clover hul- 
ler, rice and grist mill, corn shel- 
ler, fanning mill, elevator, buzz 
saw, milker, separator, cider press, 
washing machine, pump jack, ir¬ 
rigating pump, sprayer, concrete 
mixer. 
L. A. Young Industries, Inc 
Detroit. Mich.. DeoL 10 
Send To-Day 
for 
My Offer 
To earlu buyers in every 
community I have a Special 
Offer to make. Better write 
me now for all the particu¬ 
lars, so you can be the man 
to profit by this offer in your 
locality. Ask me about my 
plan, to-day. 
L. A. Young 
This Big BiOycJe Book Free 
Thia free bicy¬ 
cle book con- 
tains page 
after page of 
bicycles rang¬ 
ing in price 
from $18.75 to 
$38.75. Also 
hundreds of 
accessories at 
remarkably 
low prices. 
To get real 
enjoyment 
from bicy¬ 
cling you 
must have 
good tires. 
You will 
f ind this 
book filled 
with good 
tires at 
low prices. 
Send for it today 
and Bearn how to save money 
Before you buy a whocl pret tliia free 48-i)avro 
bicycle book. It will savo you money on any 
wheel you buy. It bHowh bicycloH in all models 
and all prices from $18.75 to $88.75. 
Why the prices are low 
Webuyin immenKO quantities, pay 
cash and ffct tho very bottom price-;. 
We can Kiveyou Iheselow price.-* Ix- 
cau.se you pay cukIi. If wo sohl on 
installments wo should be compelletl 
to charKO you more—just as other 
firms must do. 
Boys—look at this snappy 
roadster 
The Overland KoadstcrUIusl.rated 
here is an example of the 
exceptional 
bargains 
which we offer. This is one of the lowest priced 
dependable wheels mailo. It is a substantially 
built, handsome bicycle that will give you 
years of splendid service. It is made 
particularly strong where tho strain 
roinc.s. Both the handle bars and 
tho saddle are designcil to make it 
an especially comfortable wheel to 
ride. Comes in 20,22 or 24-inch frame. 
For rftnl you mu»t 
h'tva a cotiMlttr hrakti. Jt Battem 
half of the v^datino. tJuardm 
accid4tnlM ana pivee 
Bure control ov^r your hirycU. 
l*rice each ii.HS jdan the 
poataje, of othor fuiCBM- 
Bfpri^a at tno aavim/a in (h4 
free bicyele book 
Our guarantee protect* you 
Every wheel you buy from us ia abao- 
lijtuly guaranteed togivo perfect aatirfae- 
tiun. If there ia a aingle defect of work- 
iniinahip or material, send it buck and 
your money will bo refunded at once with¬ 
out (lueatinn. Send for thia bicycle book 
today. Compare the blcycleaahown there 
detail for detail with any othera. You will 
find that it eoets you much more money to get the aumu 
featuri;H elaewhere. If you expect to buy a bicycle now 
or in tho near future, fill out tho coupon below. 
Name. 
Town. 
State 
I 
Write US today to send | 
the new free Bicycle i 
Catalog. No.5fi(i,or use I 
this cuupon. | 
