6 
n. M. FERRY & CO’S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE . 
w 
ORMPCTION HND VI HNKCEMENT 
M 
OF 
TZ* getabl 
e ® 
ardens ® 
SITUATION ANO EXPOSURK.-One of the most frequent causes of failure of the vegetable 
garden is the attempt to combine it with the orchard and small fruits. Good vegetables cannot be grown in the 
shade, and even if the space is limited, it is better to have a very small vegetable garden unshaded than to attempt 
to grow them in an orchard. A second cause of failure is so arranging the garden that a horse cannot be used in 
cultivation. On the farm especially, it should be placed so as to be easily reached from the barn. Abrupt slopes in 
any direction arc to be avoided. A gentle inclination to the south and east is the warmest, will give the earliest 
vegetables, and be best for Corn, Melons, Tomatoes, etc., but it suffers more from a spring or early fall frost, 
because of receiving the direct rays of the morning sun. An inclination to the north and west is later, suffers less 
in a drought, and is the best for Peas, Cabbage, Lettuce, etc. So it is an advantage in a large garden to have both 
these exposures, but for small gardens a gentle inclination to the south and east, or a level surface, is the best. 
SOI 1 ^.—A good garden can be made on any soi /, but that best suited to the purpose is a deep, rich, friable 
loam, resting on a sand or gravelly subsoil; and the more nearly other soils can be made to approach this, the better. 
This may be accomplished in tenacious clays (and must be for a good garden) by good drainage, deep and judicious 
cultivation, use of coarse manure, and liberal applications of leached ashes, sand, and in some cases of peat. If 
the soil is naturally too light and sandy, it may be improved by rolling and the use of large quantities of well com¬ 
posted manure and muck, and by dressings of clay. 
SI2SE ANI1 F'OR.JI.— A single bed ten feet square, well manured, well spaded, and thoroughly culti¬ 
vated and cared for, will produce more good vegetables, be more profitable, and give better satisfaction, than an acre 
unmanured, half prepared, and poorly cared for. Our golden rule for size is, make your garden no larger than you 
can prepare and care for in the best possible manner. If it all has to be done by hand, it will take the entire time 
of one man to keep in good orde; a garden of one acre, but if it is so arranged that the horse cultivator can be 
used, he can care for four times that area. In village gardens, the form is usually determined by that of the lot, 
but where there is a choice, a rectangle several times longer than wide, the sides running from north to south, is 
the most economical; if this can be so placed that a space of eight feet wide at both ends or along both sides can 
be left for a horse to turn in, it will be a great advantage. 
DRAINAGE*— Nothing is more essential for a good garden than good drainage. It is impossible to raise 
a supply of fine vegetables without it. If the soil is at all wet, it should be well drained with tile, but if this is not 
possible, something can be gained by ploughing or throwing the soil up into beds from six to thirty feet wide, 
with smooth bottom trenches between them to collect and carry off the surface water. 
ANURE)S. — For garden purposes there is nothing better than well rotted stable manure, with which 
tobacco stems, bones, leaves, or any refuse vegetable or animal matter may be composted with advantage. It should 
be applied at the rate of one ton or an ordinary wagon load for every 500 square feet. I his should be ploughed in 
unless the soil is quite sandy and the manure very line, when it may be applied on the surface, and simply har¬ 
rowed or raked in. Plaster, salt, wood ashes, guano, ground bone, all are valuable and can be used to advantage 
in connection with the stable manure. Plaster should not be applied until the plants are well up. Ashes 
should not be mixed with the other manures, and may be sown broadcast and raked in just before planting. 
Guano, ground bone, and superphosphate should be applied to the surface just before planting, spreading it about 
as thick as saw dust is usually spread on a floor, or using 1,800 to 2,500 lbs. to the acre, and carefully raked into the 
surface soil, for if it comes in contact with the seed or starting roots it will kill them. In some cases sand, leached 
ashes and peat on clay soils, and clay and muck on sandy soils, will prove as valuable as manures. Occasionally a 
spot which has been used fora garden for many years will become unproductive in spste of liberal manurings. We 
know of no other remedy than to abandon it fora garden, seed down to clover and allow it to remain two years 
when it may be ploughed under, and the garden will be found to have regained its original fertility. 
PREPARATION of THUS GROUND* — Thorough preparation of the ground is of vital 
importance in raising good vegetables; if this work is well done, all that follows will be easier. The garden should 
