, 1864-04-16
The Farm Garden.

Of o garden for convenience anu ease VI
cultivation.
In selecting location, choose one where
the rows of vegetables and small fruits
will be long enough to use tho plow and
cultiyator without too much loss Of land at
the end of the rows, as with those you can
render the amount Of hoe work very incon.
siderable. Be sure also to plant row or
two Of good strawberry plants. There is
nothing that pays so well for family use as
q bed Of Strawberries. There is no hocus
pocus" witchery necessary, either, in their
cultivation. Plant them, and, with one
half the work required for parsnips, the
first year, you will have crop the follow.
ing spring, Of the most wholesome fruit
On each side, too, of the central walk (for
there should be one) you can have border
for such flowers and small shrubbery as
your wife aud daughters may wish to plant,
and what they plant there don't you fail to
cultivate we'll:
It is often said by agricultural writers
that farmers do not bestow as much thought
and labor upon the garden as would be
profitable. We ebelieve farmers themselves
admit that their temptation is the other
way. The farm may be large it requires
attention all over. The garden is but an
insignificant patch, and they are apt to feel
that too much time must not DO spent upon
it.
We remember distinctly, that, when a
child, our mother and sisters would ask for
the services of the hired man to block out
the flower beds, and put in the seeds for
the garden vegetables. But our father, a
kind-hearted man as ever lived, and very
successful farmer, had an eye to the fields.
There were $50 acres to be looked after,
fences to be repaired, sheep were to be
sheared, the calves were to be killed and
carried fourteen miles and sold for two or
three cents q pound, IL not in cash, for some-
thing the family wanted; thirty head Of
cattle, halt Of them milch cows, were to be
taken care Of, the manure to be applied,
plowing, sowing, planting, how many things
10 DO done. Couldn't stop about flowers.
The garden was but one Eve hundreth part
Of the farm; It wouldn't do to stop about
IT. Flowers were oil very well, but God
gives rs fowers-seo the apple trees, the
ounce bushes, the very briars, the whole
face Of nature, redolent with floral beauty
--howers eveFywhere--no need Of stopping
70 cultivate them. As for good things for
the table, the garden afforded many, but the
folds, the pasiures, the dairy, afforded more,
and what wss most important must be at
tended 70 first.
Many . good farmer has failed 70 appre.
ciate the pleasure to his wife and daughters
Of succession Of flowers, cultivated mostly
BY their own hands, and blooming from
Nay to November; and what is more,
many have underrated the economical value
Of the garden. We look upon the garden
e indeed small but important palt Of the
hrm. Its delights for the eye, its delicacies
for the palate, its substantial food for the
family, II we mistake not, are undervalued
BY many q sterling farmer. Many farmer,
we believe, who seldom misiudges on other
points, fails to appreciate the esthetic and
the economical value Of the garden. We
long for the time when every farm will have
on It Q garden Of from q quarter of an
acre to an acre, which win bc the first thing
to SOC when you visit or pass BY it-a first
rate source Of enjoyment, and, at least
equally with other parts ofthe farm, a
source Of wealth.
The present Is q favorable seasou for col
lecting and preparing the ground for on
larging the old garden, il that seems best /;
for changing its location, II that Is better |;
and, wherever you will have IL hereafter,
or Of whatever size, for having the plot in
seadinsss 70 be worked early next spring.
a lightish loan Is on the whole most do.
sirnble. with reference TO oil fruits aud were.
tables, though loan might be better for
some, and sandy soil for others.
To have a ploto ground selected, under
drained, deeply plowed, with such addition
to the soil as 70 make il rich and feasible,
and IN al respects ready for an carly start
IN superior gardening this spring, seems
70 us an important consideration for every
farmer.
Do not say that fancy men can have q
good garden, but you cannot. You can
hardly afford not 70 have L. We want
you should have garden to be rroud Of.
it Is not wrong to be proud Of good thing,
created BY your own energy and sound
Judgment and good taste We will not
say that such garden as you can cultivate
viii certainly make you rich; but we are
quite sure Il will add to your wealth, and
70 the health and comfort Of your family.