The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-05-15
The Vegetable Garden.

Too many seem to have the impression
that horticulture is antag0nlstic TO agrl-
culture, considering it a petty business
beneath their notion, or fancy Occupa
| ton, we'll enough for women, but inter
fering with the regular routine Of farm
work. The gardens too often seen around
farm-houses, We are ready to grant, are
petty affairs, reminding Us Of the six by
eight lights Of glass in old fashioned
houses, having little area and much fence.
Many Of them also are too fanciful, be-
ing laid out in circles, squares, triangles,
crescents, and every other conceivable
form for flower beds, which are hanked
on all sides with potatoes, tomatoes, etc.
This is IN king things which have no at
hnity for each other
Flowers have 10 business in the vege-
table garden. They are as much out OF
place there as a diamond hanging from
ones nose. Flowers are handsome and
worthy Of culture, but their proper place
IS on the lawn in simple beds, each con
tanning cluster Of one variety. Whoever
undertakes to cultivate flowers among
vegetables will find SolomOh's proverb,
''In all labor there is profit, inappiicable
to his case As John Chinaman says,
There is too muchee labor and not
muchee profit" in laying out walks and
alleys that are nothing but nuisance in
a vegetable garden We verify believe
that farmers prejudices against gardens
have arisen in part, from this unnatural
union of flowers and vegetables, and if
the good housewife will be content with
cultyating her posies in little beds Cd
the lawn, where their bright colors show
to the best advantage, with the green
grass for a setting, she will not only have
her flowers better tended, but will have
garden sauce IN greater abundance and
greater variety.
Another mistake often made in garden
ing is to fence in a little six-penny plot
near the house in which to raise a feg
early potatoes. catbages, beets, etc. The
excuse for this is the necessity of fencing
out the hens; but on a farm there is no
necessity Of the gardens being 50 near
the barn as to tempt the hens to scratch
in it. II the garden is located 10 or a
dozen rods from the hennery, with a
grass plot intervening, and the hens are
well fed, they will seldom, if ever, dis
turb the peas and corn. We speak from
experience on this point. Possibly Leg
horns might wander into the garden, bat
Brahmas and Dominiques never trouble
Us in this way. Even if it is necessary
to shut up the hens for a few weeks in
the gardening season, it is better to do
this than to be at the expense Of fencing
the garden, with all the Inconvenience
which a fence includes. la little pent-
up, six-rods square garden the labor of
cutivating is threefold what it is in the
open field, and we do not wonder that
farmers say, as we have heard them in
excuse for neglecting their gardens, that
bushel of potatoes or beets or any other
Vegetables raised in the garden by hand
power costs more than double Of one
raised in the field. For many years we
have cultivated our garden by horse |
power, just as we do any field crops. |
The vegetables are planted in long rows,
and the rows are far enough apart to |
allow the horse hoe to run between them. |
If we do not desire to plant or sow a full |
row of any one vegetable we splice it out /
with another, and often put two kinds, |
which mature at different times between |
each other in the same row. Thus let |
tuce, radishes, and other early maturing |
can be grown between cab |
Dages, as they will gel out Of the way |
before cabbages begin to expand