The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-12-12
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
The Farm Garden.


The garden is the most profitable piece OF
land upon the farm or it may very easily be
made so. The total value that can be taken
from one acre in vegetables and small fruits
may be made at least equal to $500. Many
market gardeners surpass this yield by using
methods which may readily be used by any
farmer. But few farmers give much attention
to the garden, and grudgingly give the little
they do. The care Of it is left to the women
and children, and man is rarely seen at
work in it. This is neglect of ones opportu-
mites and loss of money. The garden
should be the best cultivated spot upon the
farm. 1t should be the best selected and the
best furnished. From one acre the larger
portion of the vegetable food of a family may
be drawn, and by having the product the
best possible, much of the frequently poor an
imal food may be dispensed with. A consid-
cradle portion OF the space allotted to the
garden should be occupied by small fruits.
This should be.the only permanently planted
par, land should be arranged so that it can be
MANFRED and cultivated with ease. The pillow
chosen for use in the garden should be speci-
ally adapted for this use. We recently exam
ined aSma one-horse pillow, with carbon steel
share and points which was exhibited at the
American Institute Fair by the New York
Plow Company OF Beekman street, New York
with much Satisfaction. 1t exactly met our
ideas of what pillow should be for use in the
garden, although we have never yet used one
for garden culture. We choose the spade
and the digging-fork for the garden in prefer
ence to the plow. One of the many hand cul-
tivators may be chosen for use instead OF the
laborious hand wedding The hand seed
driller, of which there are several kinds made,
are cheap and effective machines for sowing
all sorts of seeds. By the use OF these the
labor is made light, and many times as effec-
tive as by handwork.
The arrangement Of the garden as to crops
should always be made with reference to the
manner of cultivation. Level culture is the
best and most convenient. Raised beds and
drills may be well in low moist soil that is
undrained but to have an undrained soil. is
waste OF land, labor and time. On dry,
drained soils, it is mistake to have raised
Everything should be planted in rows,
so that the hand cultivator, or the horseshoe
il desired, can be used. A strip of grass wide
enough to turn horse upon should be left at
each end, and this should be kept moved
closely.
The preparation of the garden should be
done at once. The beds should be dug or
plow over so deeply as to bury all trash at
once. The ground should then be covered
with manure and left in rough condition for
the winter. The strawberry beds, rows of
cnrrant bushes, raSpberries and blackbefries,
should be dressed with manure. Heavy crops
OF fine fruit cannot be grown unless the soil
is made rich. When stable manure cannot
be spared, or is not TO be procured, very
good substitute may be made by taking one
twohorse load of good swamp muck or earth
from old woods, leafmold, or other such mat
ter, and adding to it one barrel of wood ashes,
$50 pounds of fine ground bone, aud $50
pounds of guano. This will make an equiva-
lent to double the bulk of the best stable
manure, and if kept 10 pile for a month, tor
thorough Incorporation. will be quite ripe and
ready for use. We have used this compound
with the best results on the garden. By well
mixing the ingredients together there will be
no loss of ammonia from contact of the ashes
and gnano. 1t would be well to keep COM
pound of this sort until the spring. and not
spread it upon the soil at this season.
The portion of the garden devoted to vege-
tables should be deeply dug and MANFRED
now, more especially if the soil is clay or
heavy clay loan. By leaving the ground in
rough condition it will be made fine and
well mingled with the manure by the Tina
spriug opens, and may then be raked down
and sown and planted very early in the sea-
son. By this manner Of preparation, upon a
warm, dry piece of ground well exposed to
the sun, we have planted early potatoes safe
ly before the snow had disappeared from 9TH
er parts of the farm. and have had the first
crop OF the season ready for market two
weeks before that of any of our neghbors.
The Fall preparation is thus seen to be very
important, and if properly made will be found
to be very profitable labor.-N. Y. Times.