The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1880-11-24
HOW TO HAVE AN EARLY
GARD EN-.
American Farmer.

our regular and very competent
correspondent, Mr.. Watson, we give
the following from one of our West
ern exchanges:
Thirty years experience as gar
dener has shown me that to be sue
cessful we must begin the work in
autumn. One essential of an early
garden, or I might truthfully say 8
profitable garden, is thorough
drainage; and as this work cannot
be done in winter, if you expect to
have an early garden next spring,
if not already done, it should be
thoroughly underdrained before
cold weather sets in. Fall plow
ing, particularly on upland soils, is
absolutely necessary if we would
have an early garden. For eight
years past I have practiced fall
plowing, and I have rarely been
less than two and often four weeks
in advance of my neighbors who do
not plow till spring, In order to
have our garden ready to plant
early the plowing must be properly
done, and you must not plow in
one wide fat land, but in narrow
lands with deep, dead burrows.
These furrows should run with the
natural slope of the land so as to
carry off the surplus water, and
then an open ditch orfurrow must be
opened across the end Of the garden
to receive and remove this water. It
is we'll in locating a garden to look
for land with slope enough to carry
of the water, and IF this slope is to
the south or southeast all the bet.
ter. It is too often the case that
the garden is covered with weeds
which have ripened their seed, and
in this case I would not plow them
under, but would put on liberal
coatinc of straw and burn It but
the good gardener will not allow a
weed to go to seed in his garden.
If your garden is not already rich,
give a heavy coating of manure be-
fore you plow it, and then top
dress again just before planting;
but if it is already rich the top
dressing will be sufficient. In No
vember. plow your garden in lands
twelve feet wide, putting the plow
down deep, and back-furrowing, so
as to leave the lands as high as you
can in the middle, and then go
through with the gra7el-shovel and
shovel all the loose soil from the
dead burrows on to your land, fill
ing up any depressions, so as to
have regular slope from the CEN
ter to the dead furrow. The cen
ter of the land should be at least
eighteen inches higher than the
bottom of the dead burrows, and
the grade should be such that no
water would stand on any part Of
the garden. Unless your land is
very fat it will not take more than
half a day to prepare fourth acre.
Either in the fall or early winter
you should prepare one or two
loads of rich manure, and make it
so fine that it can be spread like
sand, and have it ready to top
dress your early garden. There is
little danger of getting garden
too rich, and most vegetables will
be two weeks earlier on a rich soil
than a poor one. Any time after
the middle Of February, when the
land is dry enough to work, you
may plant early vegetables. Long
before the gardens which were not
plowed in the fall can be touched
you will find that your ridges will
be dry and mellow and merely
passing over them once with a one
horse harrow will put them in
splendid order. I plant at this
time peas, lettuce, spinach, radishes,
beets and onions; and no matter
how severe the weather afterward,
I have never lost any of them ex-
cept occasionally of the radishes.
I see by referring to my diary
that for several years past I have
planted these vegetables from
February "a to March 7, and
that often the mercury has been as
low as 100 and once down to %
above zero, and yet they have come
through unbart. Last spring we
planted February q, and were
using green peas from this plant
ing the 23d day of May. I plant