Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-04-28
Planning a Garden.

The kitchen vegetable gardens on
many farms, and even in village lots,
often becomes an unsightly and profit
less mass of weeds from lack of system
and intelligent forethought in laying it
out, and arranging the crops in such
manner as to be easily cared for, and so
that the early crops may be succeeded
by suitable later ones, leaving no time
or room for weeds to occupy the land.
In the first place, all crops that do not
require heavy manuring and very close
planting are most easily titled by horse
power, and should, if possible, be placed
where horse can be used in tilling
them. If the owner does not keep a
horse, it will pay him to hire one for the
purpose, if he tills only a one-fourth
acre patch, rather than to do the work
with fork and hoe. Such crops as can
be titled to best advantage by the horse
are potatoes, peas, corn, squashes, GU
cumbers, melons, celery, cabbages, as
paragus, rhubarb and some others.
Then remember that the early peas,
corn and potatoes, will come off in time
to follow them by squashes, celery, cab
bages or turnips, and make suitable
provision of plants or seed of later crops.
The early peas will usually be followed
with best advantage by squashes, cab
bage or turnips; the corn by turnips;
the potatoes by celery, squashes or cab
bage. Celery requires very strong, rich
land, which will be best adapted to po-
tatoes or onions as early crops. Let the
rows of these vegetables run about at
right angles with the roadway or head
land at one side of the piece, and let
this headland be either sod or else kept
thoroughly titled; otherwise it will be-
come nursery of weeds and nuisance.
There are, however, many garden
crops requiring close planting for profit,
and very heavy manuring. Such crops
should be grown only on soil free from
stones, so that the tfllage can be done
readily with scuffie- hoe, a tool that re-
quires tolerably smooth land. These
crops are onions, beets, radishes, let
tuce, garden greens, etc., followed by
celery, squashes, melons, or spinach.
Where this close planting is practiced, it
will pay to be very particular about
keeping the land free from seeds of
weeds. These seeds come from two
sources: LIST, those grown on the land
Or headland; I'd, those carried on in
the manure. The only way to be rid of
the first source is to destroy or carry off
all weeds before they go to seed. This
is easy enough with many of the COM
mon weeds, but purslane and chick
weed, like s'original SIM" demand con-
slant watchfulness, and if prayers are
not required to eradicate them, we must
at least assume prayful attitude and
90 down upon our knees to pick them
out clean. If this is done thoroughly.
there will be less work in after years,
,,I IL fnr Tho
ond source of weed seed, the manure,
can be avoided by composing the ma
nure and turning it over at least twice,
so as to effectually ferment the whole
and every portion of it; the heat of fer
mentation will effectually destroy all
seeds, if thoroughly done, and well
outside of the heap into the middle.
The strawberry bed, if over a quarter of
an acre, will be titled best by horse
smaller patches can be titled well enough
by hand, and may be placed in such cor
ners of the garden as are too small for
turning horse conveniently.
A few words as to the plan of the
flower garden will not be out of place.
failures in the attempt to produce a
want of attention to the simplest wants
of the plants, or bad Judgment in I'M
dertaking more than we have time to at
tend to. The common bed of geraniums
and colored-leaved exotics in the lawn
has, in my opinion, seen the days of its
widest popularity; when skillfully ham
died it is indeed very effective in late
summer and just before the fall frosts
suddenly quench its fiery colors; but it
is the luxury of the rich rather than the
comfort of the poor. The outlay for
plants is considerable, and the cost
of keeping out the grass from the
edges and the weeds from all the bed
is considerable, and until August there
is little to reward all this outlay. To my
mind, the Dutch bulbs, for early effect,
followed by some of the best ANNALS,
such as mignonette, larkspur, peunia,
phlox, and many others, are more likely
to give satisfaction to the average gar
dener. Unless considerable time is
easily to be spared for keeping the gar
den bed in order, avoid planting it in
the lawn; the grass will be constantly
encroaching, especially if couch grass
abounds, as is very often the case in old
lawns. The seeds of the ANIMALS, if start
ed in botbed, or in box of earth in
the window in April, will flower a month
earlier than when sown outside, and be
more sure of terminating beside. Ar
range to cover up any unsightly object
around the yard with q trellis covered
with morning-glory, honeysuckle, cobea
or some other of the rapid climbing
plants. Then shut up the hens.-W.
D. Philbrick, in NeW England Farmer.
An old man who has had much ex-
perience in handling and dealing in
horses for more than half century, said
recently that he had never known a
horse to get "tender-footed" that was
kept loose in shed and yard, or in q
box stall; that turning round and tread
ing with their forward feet in the ma
nure kept them constantly moist and
soft. His theory seemed perfectly rea-
sonable to me. 81 have no box stalls,