E heard re¬ 
ports of 
our first year — 
informally, o f 
course, this not 
being the regular 
annual meeting — 
at the year’s final 
Garden Club this 
afternoon ; a n d 
when wc look 
back, we are 
greatly enthused 
at what we are 
certain the future 
holds for us. For 
one thing, the 
idea of garden 
clubs is growing; 
how many we 
have heard of, 
and how many 
people have writ¬ 
ten to us con¬ 
cerning the or- 
ganization 
of such a body, I 
cannot begin to 
tell—but I know there are a pile of such inquiries in the club 
archives already. And so many friends of the members have 
written, in the course of casual letters, something about wanting 
to have such a club in their locality. Nothing like getting to¬ 
gether and creating a little competition ! 
After a good, general talk which reviewed our work — and 
play — for the year, we came down to business with a regular effi¬ 
ciency garden talk by a market gardener, on how to calculate the 
amounts necessary for families of a given size — in vegetables, of 
course. This man had given special consideration to that phase 
of intensive gardening, and worked out, in this connection, almost 
how many seeds of a given thing would need to be sown to provide 
as much of that particular thing as one human being could con¬ 
veniently consume during the season — or during the year, if it 
was an all-the-year vegetable. 
Really, the amount that is wasted, through over-calculation, is 
quite appalling! Two hills of pole string beans, for example, will 
bear more than one person can eat — unless they live on string 
beans! — during all their bearing period ; three hills of the same 
variety will bear all that two people will want. Six hills, planted 
all at the same time, are as much as the gardener who has only 
four to provide for ought to plant at any one sowing. And, as the 
best varieties of string beans will bear uninterruptedly for a fort¬ 
night at least — my “Kentucky Wonders” do better than this—it 
follows that the six hills required need not be planted oftener than 
every two weeks to provide string beans right along during the 
summer. Each hill is sown with perhaps six or eight seeds, these 
being thinned to five plants when they are well up and hustling. 
Bush beans standing in rows must be thinned to 4 inches apart in 
the row ; and this means that the thirty plants counted on as neces¬ 
sary for a “crop” will take up a distance of 120 inches, or 10 feet, 
straight away — a distance exactly the same as that occupied by six 
hills of my pole beans, the hills being two feet apart. Rows must 
be two feet apart; so, as far as area occupied is concerned, neither 
has any actual advantage over the other. Beginning to plant the 
first week in May, two sowings a month are to be calculated on 
up to and including August — eight sowings in all, requiring a total 
of about 400 seeds, to allow for thinning out. 
Peas need to be planted in much greater number to get the same 
results — for, of 
course, the loss 
in bulk through 
discarding the 
pods is great, and 
then peas do not 
bear as prolifical- 
ly, ordinarily, as 
string beans. Ten 
plants to a per¬ 
son, at least, at 
each picking will 
need to be gone 
over; which 
means forty 
plants for the 
family of four. 
At the same dis¬ 
tance apart in the 
rows — four 
inches—the space 
filled at a single 
sowing must be 
fourteen feet 
long and the next 
row when it is 
planted must be 
full three feet 
away. Allowing for the failure of some to come up to the mark, 
it is better to calculate on two ten-foot rows at a time of this 
vegetable than to depend upon one row 14 or 15 feet long. Sow¬ 
ings of the smooth kinds are to be made every fortnight from 
April first to August first. With the wrinkled ones, which are 
tenderer, the first and last sowing ought to be omitted. This 
means nine sowings of the former and seven of the latter. 
Radishes and lettuce are the next most important stand-bys, 
according to this man. Both of these are sown from the first of 
April on, twice each month. The latter is sown indoors, how¬ 
ever, the first time, and transplanted to the outside; and it is 
always better started in a seed bed and transplanted, through each 
successive sowing. One good head of lettuce a day is a pretty 
fair allowance to make for four people, although it might not be 
enough for a family that was especially fond of this delicacy. 
But it is easy to reckon, from this basis, just how much one wants. 
They may come in between a waning crop of peas which are to be 
pulled up in a few days, making a row of peas and a row of let¬ 
tuce, and a row of peas and a row of lettuce. Then a row of beets 
may be sown to take the place of the peas; and really, vegetables 
all summer from about a pocket-handkerchief’s space seems per¬ 
fectly feasible, after hearing this “conservationist” talk. 
Radishes depend upon how well the four people like them. If 
they dote on them, plant a lot; if they don’t, don’t! Even the 
doters will be satisfied, however, with three five-foot rows, sown 
every week and thinned to plants two inches apart—and there 
will be a good many left over. Such a planting, as a matter of 
actuality, will provide at least ninety radishes—which amounts to 
two bunches or a dozen a day every day in the week. The rows 
may be six inches apart; and he suggests alternate sowings, mak¬ 
ing the rows of the first sowing one foot apart; then the next 
week sowing between these, thus confining the whole radish bed 
to a very limited space. Where soil just suits this little root crop, 
it is better to fertilize it continually and use it over and over. 
So on through the entire garden list he went, showing how pos¬ 
sible it is to put the whole thing on a basis of intelligent and cal¬ 
culated reckoning, rather than letting it run away, hit or miss. 
Corn, of which we always have either a feast or a famine, he 
(Continued on page 392) 
Editor's Note: The garden club is a great factor in neighborhood betterment. Here is a true story of the work 
of a certain such club and its accomplishments, taken from the diary of one of its members. What this club actually 
did should be a stimulus to all who love gardens, and a guide to the ways and means of improving our towns and 
villages. These chapters began in the February issue, when the organisation of the Club was discussed. Each install¬ 
ment shows how the program of activities was followed out. 
37 o 
