January , 1918 
45 
GARDEN ADVICE frotn AN AMATEUR to AMATEURS 
Learning the Game from the Early Years when Enthusiasm Was Great hut 
Knowledge Small—A Plain Narrative of Actual Facts 
KATE ELLIS TRUSLOW 
T O my mind the usual gardening advice to 
amateurs has always seemed too expert and 
technical. So, in a high spirit of altruism, I 
determined to write this article for beginners, 
that they be not overwhelmed by sundry learned 
references to subsoil, drainage, nitrates, potash, 
fungi and aphides. 
The spring catalogs are already beginning to 
come, with pictures of flowers and fruit that 
never grew on land or sea! They always give 
me a bad attack of spring fever. To assuage 
its first violence, I always put' on “goloshes 
and a tippet,” and armed with garden shears 
go out to the garden, wading through the knee- 
deep snow. I gather a great armful of the dry 
branches of syringa, forsythia, plum, flowering 
currant, damson, cherry, apple and lilac. These 
I put in water in an old blue stone jar in a 
sunny window. My garden notes of last year 
set the date of this annual performance as 
February 6th. Within less than ten days all 
but the lilacs were in full bloom. Try it, my 
fellow amateurs—it’s real refreshment to the 
winter-worn soul! 
We bought an old Colonial house in 1908. 
It was celebrating its hundredth birthday that 
year and the fine old garden that went with it 
has been worked and enriched for at least sev¬ 
enty-five years steadily. The feel of the soil 
is a delight to any gardener—rich, friable, 
black as chocolate and moist. 
The vegetable garden covers about one-third 
of an acre, with a gentle slope to the west. The 
drainage is perfect. It has a windbreak on all 
four sides, with a fine sweep of sun all day. 
With the flower garden added, we have about 
one-half acre under cultivation. This gives 
us all the fresh vegetables we can use on the 
table, and I can a great quantity, too. I also 
have plenty to give to friends and the hospital. 
We do not try to raise more than eight or nine 
bushels of potatoes, for their cultivation takes 
so much time, and time is money, truly, when 
one employs a man two days a week at $2.25 
for an eight-hour day. 
This little garden, which I have learned to 
love so dearly, is situated in the western part 
of New York, and we occasionally have very 
severe winters, as well as days of terrific heat 
in summer. However, neither cold snaps nor 
dogdays ever linger long. The 
South wind usually brings us relief 
after two or three days. 
The First Years 
My husband, though a real gar¬ 
den lover, had to turn over the 
supervision of the place to me, as 
he is immersed in business all day. 
In 1908, I was long on enthusiasm, 
but extremely short on knowledge! 
In fact, I knew absolutely nothing 
about vegetables or flowers. I 
could not tell a potato top from a 
beet top; and as for the difference 
between annual and perennial flow¬ 
ers, biennials and bedding- 
out plants, I gave it up in despair. 
However, I set to work. I talked 
garden, I read garden, I thought 
garden. I was a pest to all my long- 
suffering garden friends—but I 
succeeded! I am now a member of that mystic 
fellowship which exists between all diggers and 
delvers of the soil. 
The first year we made an asparagus bed, the 
old one having died out. Of course, for the 
first three years we got very little results. 
Picking the asparagus tips is not good for the 
new bed. In the fall it should be covered thick 
with well-rotted manure, which in spring is 
spaded in. Several times during the spring 
and summer the bed must be covered with 
coarse salt to kill the weeds and also to benefit 
the plants themselves. 
I am not going to describe the making of an 
asparagus bed—it is too technical, and all the 
good seed houses give most explicit direc¬ 
tions. Remember as a general recommendation 
that the deeper the bed is dug, and the richer 
it is made, the better. I should never advise 
buying asparagus seeds; always buy plants. 
Palmetto is an excellent variety. 
One of the traditions of our garden for fifty 
years has been “new potatoes for dinner on the 
Fourth of July.” I really think my small sons 
associate new potatoes just as much as fire 
crackers with that great day. This tradition 
we have kept up. Many a gay potato-bug 
and his young love have died a keroseny death 
at my cruel hands, and many a pound of Paris 
green have I sprinkled in order that this 
record be not broken. 
After experimenting with various kinds of 
seed potatoes I have decided that the Irish 
Cobbler is the best. It is very early; a bushel 
is enough for all our wants. Our man, Jim, 
has taught me how to cut the potatoes for plant¬ 
ing. (No, gentle reader, you do not need to 
peel them! But you must always leave two 
or three eyes to each piece.) 
New Garden Worlds to Conquer 
After making such a fine record with early 
potatoes, we yearned for new worlds to con¬ 
quer. We found it in beating all our neigh¬ 
bors with early peas. “We will beat their 
records, and then magnanimously ask them to 
dine,” we said. Our peas are planted about 
April 28th. By May 10th they ought to be well 
up, by May 30th in bloom, and on June 17th 
ready for the table. I cannot lay too much em¬ 
phasis on the fact that after many experiments 
we find the Gradus pea the best—bar none. 
It is nearly as big as a Telephone, is a wonder¬ 
ful bright green when cooked, stays tender on 
the vines for days, and is valuable both for early 
and late planting. It is a joy forever, and I 
advise all beginners to pin their faith to it. 
When the plants are about 6" high, work some 
dry sheep manure into the rows. You will be 
surprised at the wonderful peas that result. 
In beets I prefer Crosby’s Egyptian and 
Crimson Globe as all-around sorts. 
Pole Beans and Corn 
For real downright satisfaction, after the 
potatoes and peas, comes our pole variety of 
green beans. I can never sufficiently thank the 
New England friends who first told me about 
them. They are called the Kentucky Wonder 
or Old Homestead. When growing, they give 
a fascinating irregularity to the prim rows. 
They look like a series of green tents, and how 
my small boys do love to play hide-and-seek 
in them! A center pole is set up; then around 
it and about 3' away pegs are driven into the 
ground in a circle. From these pegs, wool 
twine is stretched to the center pole. At each 
peg about six beans are planted in a hill, and 
trained to climb on the strings. You can 
imagine how fairy-like the effect is when the 
vines clamber up to the top. 
Because of the labor of setting these poles, 
I always raise bush limas. Two sets of poles 
and pegs would try even the patience of my 
angelic gardener. I always raise the same vari¬ 
ety—any good bush lima will do. Be sure to 
plant by June 1st, or the frost will nip the 
vines before the pods have matured. Plant 
six to a hill with a handful of sheep manure. 
Golden Bantam is the corn pur excellence, 
and like the Gradus pea is good for both early 
and late planting. After trying Evergreen and 
Country Gentleman and several others, I now 
concentrate on Golden Bantam. 
We always plant five cents’ worth of pump¬ 
kin seed in the pumpkin patch, so that our 
boys can have plenty of Jack-O’-Lanterns for 
Hallowe’en. You see, this garden is run more 
for pleasure than for profit! 
In lettuce, Henderson’s New York, Big Bos¬ 
ton, Mignonette, Hanson’s Im¬ 
proved, Black Seeded Simpson and 
Tennis Ball are all good, the New 
York being my favorite. 
Swiss chard Giant Lucullus is 
good. We are not very fond of 
chard, but the boys like it to feed 
to the “banties” and “bunnies.” 
The Danvers half-long carrot is 
very successful, and when picked 
very young is delicious. Early 
White Spine and Long Green are 
two satisfactory varieties of cucum¬ 
ber. Pick the little gherkins every 
day, and place in brine for pickles. 
In spinach, New Zealand is by 
far the best. It is very prolific and 
stands the burning sun of August 
very well. 
We always raise a little okra and 
have had great success with White 
(Continued on page 56) 
J. M. ROSE, 
