4. HENRY FIELD’S 

SORE! 
Grup lh Gurdon 
By Henry Field 
Yes, after I had that title written, I read it over and changed 
it. It didn’t look strong enough the way I had first written 
it, and I\thought you just as well know the whole truth. We 
are not children, who have to be talked to in Pollyanna style. 
We are grown men and women, beginning to see things soberly 
and sanely and we need to face the real facts—the whole 
truth. And that’s what I have tried to tell you in that headline. 
We’ve got a real war on our hands—a terrible war—one 
that will test the resources and staying power of the. whole 
‘nation and everyone in it, young and old. \ We’ll all have to 
do_our part—and then some. 
You say ‘‘well what can I do—they won’t take me for the 
army nor the defense factories, and anyway, I’ve got all I-can 
do to eare for my family and keep the home going while the 
younger men and women do the fighting, and I can’t go away 
from home to do war work. So what?” 4 
Pil tell you what. The big job you can do, and do well, is 
to grow food to keep the rest of them going. Food is becom- 
ing more and more the most vital element of the war. 
And, no matter where you live, or how old you are, or how 
young you are, or how: busy you are, you can grow food—at 
least enough food to feed yourself and your own family, in- 
stead of eating up the commercally prepared food that should 
go to the soldiers and the war workers. 
You can do it, and do it easy. There’s nobody too old or too 
young or too busy to make a garden—and it’s lots of fun, too, 
a lot more fun than Golf or Bridge. And much more profitable 
and patriotic. 
And besides—the time is coming, in all probability when if 
you don’t grow it yourself you don’t eat. And you’ll be in a 
bad fix when you can’t eat, 
I mean every word of that. There will be all kinds of food 
withdrawn from sale, as many things are now, and even if you 
have the money and the points it will do you no good. Ration- 
ing won’t help any when the stuff simply isn’t there. 
But you can grow it yourself. Easy. Even a small patch of 
ground will keep you in vegetables all summer, with plenty 
over to can and dry and store for winter. You can grow prac- 
tically everything you need. And, with a little hetp from pigs 
and chickens and rabbits, you can whip the meat question, too. 
We've been doing it in our own family for the last 50 years, 
So I know it can be done. And you can do it just as well— 
or better. 
How big a garden?—Well, not very big—certainly not so big 
that you can’t keep it well tended. A little garden well cared 
for is better than an acre of weeds. For the average family 
anything from one-twentieth to one-fourth of an acre—or say 
from 30x75 ft. to 100x120 ft. More if you can take care of 
it—and can get it. A whole acre wouldn’t hurt if you were 
sure you would really take care of it—and at present prices 
you can grow $1,000.00 worth of garden stuff on a good acre 
of ground. I know, for I’ve done it many a time. 
Where should it be?—As handy as possible, where you ean 
see it often or all the time, and can jump out and work it 
every time you have a few minutes to spare. But if you don’t 
have it handy, do the best you can. The walking back and 
forth will be good exercise. It wouldn’t hurt a bit to dig up 
a lot of your lawn. You’ve probably got more grass than you 
need, and the time’s coming soon when food will be a lot more 
important to you than grass. They'll all be digging up lawns 
to grow potatoes and carrots before this is over and you might 
just as well start the fashion. 
What shall I plant?—Plant everything. But especially 
plant what you like best, for you’ll take better care of that, 
and enjoy it more. But you’ll need everything before you’re 
done, so you might just as well plan to grow just about the 
whole list, especially radishes, lettuce, onions, peas, potatoes, 
cabbage, beets, carrots, beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, cucum- 
bers, butter beans, and late turnips. Lots more you can add 
to this list, but these are the ones you must have. 
How much seed will it take?—-Not as much as you would 
suppose. $1.00 worth to $2.00 worth of seed for a small gar- 
den and for a large garden maybe $4.00 or $5.00 worth. Then 
apart in the row. Don’t crowd. They grow fast. 
# 

A Portion of our pardon in wee Geaeks? falhout all we have — 
to buy is a little tea and coffee and salt now and then. 
iota een 
in addition buy what seed potatoes, onion sets, cabbage, tomato 
plants and onion plants you want. But these last three you can 
grow the plants yourself—the seed is cheaper. 
When should I buy my seed?—-Right now. The sooner the 
quicker. There will not be near enough seed to go around, and 
it will be a case of ‘“‘the devil take the hindmost.” Buy the 
seed first. You can do that before you can work the ground. 
Don’t wait until you are ready to plant. 
get it all then. 
When do I plant it?—Some things you plant very early, the 
earlier the better. This includes: radishes, lettuce, onions, 
peas, beets, carrots, potatoes and cabbage. (Plants, sets or 
seeds.) Get them in early. Then when the ground gets warm, 
say when the farmers start to plant corn, plant the beans, 
sweetcorn, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, late cabbage, and south- 
ern field. peas. Lots of these things can be planted following 
the early stuff—what we call double cropping—use the ground 
two or three times in one season. Plant late turnips about 
Aug. 1st, following early potatoes. Plant Chinese Cabbage 
then, too. 
How do I prepare the ground?—Just get it dug up and 
turned over and mellowed up. Plow and harrow it, or still 
better dig it up good and deep with a spading fork, and then 
work it down with a rake. A little slower, but really better 
than plowing, and you may not be able to get a team to plow 
it anyway. : 
What tools?—All you really need is a hoe, a rake, and a 
spading fork. Maybe a trowel or two.’ A wheel hoe (hand 
garden plow) is fine and dandy if you can get one, but none 
for sale now so far as I know. A garden drill is nice but not 
necessary in a small garden. Main thing you need is plenty 
of elbow grease, and a hatred of weeds, and a will to win. 
Appeasement don’t work with weeds any more than it does 
some other places. 
How do I plant the seed?—A bout all there is to it is to make 
a mark with the hoe, scatter the seed along—not too thick— 
tramp them in, and cover them up. When they come up, thin 
them out plenty. Most people leave things entirely too thick. 
Keep the ground stirred so the weeds never have a chance to 
start. That’s all. 
How far apart?—-Rows far enough apart to walk between. 
Small stuff 18 inch rows. Big stuff (cabbage, potatoes, toma- 
toes, pole beans, sweet corn, ete.), 30 inch rows: 
You probably can’t , 
Plenty far — 
How about bugs?—Nothing to get scared about if you Leon 
after them with Bug Dust. 
a cure. Go over the garden once or twice a week and give it 
a light dusting whether it needs it or not. 
How much stuff can I grow_on a patch like you talk about? 
Well, the sky’s the limit. It just depends on how much work 
and horse sense you put into it. I fed three or four families 
out of a garden 40x75 ft. (about one-sixteenth of an acre), 
Use it as a preventive rather than 
1 
and we’ve got enough stuff in the cellar from it to last us till 
spring. 
What about fruit?—Easy, if you have the ground for mong 
(Continued to page 13) 

SEED SENSE FOR MARCH, 1943—Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co., Shenandoah, Iowa 




