THE THIRD TWENTY PER CENT—PART I, PLANTING THE EARLY VEGETABLES 
—THE VITAL OPERATIONS OF SOWING AND SETTING OUT PLANTS 
by F. F. Rockwell 
Note: Heretofore the home garden has been looked upon by many people as more or less of a hobby, deserving only as much attention as one usually gives to the pur¬ 
suit of recreation. That it deserves to be taken up seriously, studied in all its details and des-eloped to the limit of efficiency, is a new presentation of the subject. How to 
have the very best garden possible on a business basis, is the theme of the present articles although they arc also planned to aid those who can give but limited time to the 
garden’s cultivation. They take up carefully and practically one detail after another in natural succession to the completion of the hundred per cent, garden. The first and 
second twenty per cent, dealt with sowing seeds indoors and with solving the plant food problem, appearing in the February and March issues. Part II of the third twenty 
per cent, will deal with the raising of late vegetables. 
N O matter how carefully 
your garden may have 
been planned, how well the 
soil has been enriched or how 
thoroughly prepared, your ex¬ 
pectations of one hundred per 
cent, results will have been 
foredoomed to failure from 
the beginning in proportion to 
the number and the extent of 
the skips and blank places 
which occur. Nothing is much 
more disheartening than to 
walk through a garden where 
a strip or patch of brown and 
barren earth tells the story of 
some “might have been’’ vege¬ 
table or flower — if conditions 
had only been made right. 
One cause of these unsight¬ 
ly holes and patches in the fair 
vesture of the garden is poor 
seed. Poor planting, however, 
is a far greater cause. It is, 
of course, human nature to 
blame it on the seedsman 
when as a matter of fact one’s 
own ignorant or careless 
method of sowing or planting 
is responsible for the failure 
or the “poor stand’’ secured. 
This dual problem of getting 
a one hundred per cent, 
“stand” from seeds and 
NO. OF 
SPACE, 
VEGETABLE 
NOTE 
VARIETY 
ROWS 
FEET 
SATURDAY, APRIL 6TH. 
Swiss Chard.... 
Giant Lucullus. 
2 
1+1 V2 
Lettuce. 
B 
Grand Rapids, Wayahead. 
I 
I 
Peas . 
A 
Best Early. 
I 
I V2 
Onion Sets. 
A 
White or Yellow. 
I 
i Vi 
Turnip . 
B 
Early White Milan. 
I 
I 
Cabbage, Early.. 
A 
Tersev Wakefield. 
I 
i Vi 
Radish . 
C 
Crimson Giant. 
Spinach. 
B 
I V2 
8 
10V2 
SATURDAY, APRIL 13TH. 
Cauliflower .... 
A 
Best Early; Dry Weather. 
I 
1 Vi 
Radish . 
C 
White Icicle. 
Celery. 
D 
Golden Self Blanching. 
Leek . 
D 
Turnip . 
B-A 
Petrowski; Golden Ball. 
2 
1 Vi+i 
Carrot . 
A 
Chantenay. 
2 
I+I 
Beet . 
A 
I+I 
Onion . 
W-E 
White Queen (J 4 ), Prize Taker 
5 
1+4 
( 4 V2) . 
12 
13 
SATURDAY, APRIL 20TH. 
Salsify . 
W 
Mammoth Sandwich Island.. . . 
4 
1 J 4 + 414 
Parsnip. 
w 
Improved Hollow Crown. 
4 
1 / 4 + 4/4 
Potato, Early... 
A 
Irish Cobbler. 
2 
2+2 
Radish . 
B 
Crimson Giant. 
I 
Cabbage . 
A 
Glory of Enkhuisen- Succession 
2 
2+2 
Peas . 
A-E 
Gradus . 
I 
3 
Lettuce Seed.... 
B-D 
All Seasons; Iceberg. 
1 
2 
Peas . 
Boston Unrivaled. 
1 
2 
16 
27 
SATURDAY, APRIL 27TH. 
Peas . 
A 
2 
Radish . 
B 
Crimson Giant; White Icicle... 
I 
2 
Potato (sprouted) 
A 
Irish Cobbler. 
1 
2 
Onion (seedling) 
E 
Ailsa Craig; Gigantic Gibraltar 
1 
2+1 
Carrots. 
W 
1 +3 
Beets. 
W 
154+3 14 
Lettuce, Cos. ... 
A 
Dwarf White Heart. 
i /4 
Kohl-rabi . 
A 
y 2 
1 
Suggested Planting Plan for the Early Crops, to Take Four Saturday 
Afternoons’ Work. 
Note. — A—Crops that 
will be out of the way in time 
to be followed by 
others. B— Interplanted “companion” crops which will 
be out of the way 
before those next to them need all the room. C—Like 
above, except that 
they are planted between plants in the row, instead of between rows. D— 
Start in a special bed. for transplanting later. E— A good item to increase, 
as any surplus 
will find ready sale. W — May be stored for winter use. 
in detail in a preceding article. 
However, for the sake of those 
who did not read it or have 
forgotten the warnings con¬ 
tained therein, I want to say 
here that you absolutely cannot 
afford to take chances on seed 
procured from sources un¬ 
known to you or through any 
indirect route. No matter how 
small your garden or in how 
much of a hurry you may be 
in, order directly from some re¬ 
liable mail-order house in 
which you, or one of your 
friends or neighbors perhaps, 
has that confidence which is 
born of experience—and by 
seeds and not by words shall ye 
know them. The gaudily litho¬ 
graphed packets and the un¬ 
branded and frequently mis¬ 
named seeds displayed in water 
pails and washtubs at your 
hardware dealers or grocers, 
should be left there for those 
who are unfortunately less well- 
informed than yourself. 
I have already spoken of soil 
well enriched and thoroughly 
prepared. Such preparation, 
however, was preliminary. The 
two essentials of the good seed¬ 
bed are fineness and fresh- 
from transplanted plants 
has a triple-factored solu¬ 
tion. It is a matter of 
strength and vitality in the 
seeds and plants them¬ 
selves; of soil properly 
lotted to receive them, and 
of sufficient care and skill 
of placing the former 
within the latter. 
The necessity of secur¬ 
ing the very best seed pos¬ 
sible and the importance 
of having the best plants 
that can be growm, strong, 
stocky and well hardened, 
has already been taken up 
Drills for various seeds. From left to right: l/V to V 2 " deep for lettuce; 
l/o" to 1" for early beets; 2" for early beans; 2" double row for early peas 
ness. To do your plant¬ 
ing right, you should, im¬ 
mediately preceding it, 
rake with an iron rake the 
surface that has already 
been left fine and smooth 
after the harrow. With 
this the surface of the soil 
will be made still more 
thoroughly fine and 
smooth and all lumps of 
dirt and stones removed. 
Your object should be, 
however, to pick up just 
as little trash as possible. 
Rake lightly, taking a nar¬ 
row strip with the rake 
(290) 
