HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, 
I 9 1 3 
141 
Barrel hoops nailed to sticks of proper height supported 
the tomato plants 
The eighty tomato plants, costing but a dollar, yielded a large surplus of fruit 
my seeds, describing how the seeds 
should be planted. A piece of cord 
twenty feet long was tied to two 
stakes with pointed ends. These 
were pushed into the ground until 
the cord was about one-half inch 
above the ground; then another 
pointed stick was pushed along the 
line on the ground, which left a fur¬ 
row about one inch deep and seven¬ 
teen feet long. Of course, my wife, 
who had been ready to plant our 
seeds for about an hour, then started 
to plant row after row of different 
vegetables, which the seed manual 
table directed us to plant on that 
particular date. From then on, each 
week we planted two rows of peas, 
two rows of string beans, bush lima 
beans, corn, etc. By this scheme, we would have these 
vegetables on the table throughout the summer until 
frost, from the time the first crop was ready to eat. 
After the first batch was planted, we watched the 
ground every day until the tiny leaves appeared above 
the ground; then my wife and children had to inspect 
them. Of course, we had to answer the innumerable 
questions my little boy and girl asked us about these 
tiny plants. Each day after this, the garden was the 
first place we made for in the morning. 
The following Saturday afternoon I brought home 
and planted my tomato and pepper plants. For the 
tomatoes I got barrel hoops and nailed them to two 
sticks about twenty inches high. After the plants 
reached the proper height, I tied each one to its hoop 
firmly with little strips of rag. I afterwards dis¬ 
carded this scheme for the better one of erecting an 
upright pole at the side of each plant, and, as the 
plant grew, I tied it to the pole at various heights with 
one-half inch strips of cloth. Each week all the side 
shoots were trimmed off so that all the strength would 
go into the tomatoes. All this trouble was rewarded 
by having the largest and most plentiful crop in the 
neighborhood. The pepper plants were thoroughly cul¬ 
tivated twice each week, and they grew very stocky, 
bearing innumerable peppers until the frost killed them. 
At the end of the season all the green tomatoes and 
peppers were picked off the vines; the small ones were 
cut up for mustard pickles, the large green tomatoes 
were wrapped up in newspapers and packed in a box 
and placed in the cellar to ripen. 
This scheme enabled us to have ripe tomatoes until 
the middle of December. During the season, when the 
tomatoes were ripening fast, my wife canned fifty 
quarts for winter use. When our first beans, peas and 
radishes were ready, everyone wanted to have the honor 
of picking the crop. Oh, but those meals with the 
first beans and peas were delicious! They tasted better 
(at least we imagined so) than any we had ever eaten, 
simply because they were our own garden products. At 
the beginning of the season, I started to water the plants 
each evening when I arrived home, but later on, after 
reading a book on how to take care of a garden, I fol¬ 
lowed the advice given in it and started to cultivate, or 
hoe around all plants at least twice each week. This 
last system seemed to give the best results. 
When the various plants reached a 
height of several inches, I started to 
thin them out, and tried to transplant 
some, but unfortunately none of the 
plants I had transplanted lived. This 
fact kept me guessing for some time, 
until by experimenting I finally solved 
the problem and transplanted them 
successfully. The scheme I adopted 
was as follows : First, take your dibble 
(which is a round stick whittled down 
to a point at one end) and make holes 
where you intend your plants to be 
placed. Then take a small trowel and 
dig up the plant, keeping a small quan¬ 
tity of dirt around the roots; next you 
pour water into the hole, filling it to 
the surface; place the plant in the 
(Continued on page 168) 
The grape trellis was on both sides of the path dividing the vegetable rows 
