The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-20

Philadelphia Record.
Even a small city lot may be made a source of
enjoyment if cultivated as q garden As rule,
the owners of small pieces of ground cultivate q
larger proportion, and more numerous variety,
of vegetables than the farmers. In a majority
OF cases the farmer gives his attention almost
wholly to the field crops, neglecting the garden,
and thereby depriving himself of a great many
luxuries that he could easily have if he made the
garden specially.
Gardens are usually rich and if not should be
made So Two crops, and sometimes three, can
be grown on the same ground, and as the work
is usually done with the spade hoe and rake,
the plants are grown closer together and the
ground made more productive Where no stock
is kept artificial fertilizers will give good results
ID place OF manure mixture OF two hundred
pounds superphosphate, 200 pounds guano and
300 pounds of crude sulphate of potash, making
an excellent application for one acre. Onions
are the earliest crop to go in, and for a garden
the sets are better than seeds In this section
the yellow Danvers is preferred. One quart Oh
sets are sufficient for small garden. though for
winter use larger quantity should be put In.
For early table use the potato onion Is BEST
growing quickly and getting out of the way in
time for some other crop Of peas the dwarf
kinds are the earliest, the American Wonder
having the preference. These varieties seldom
furnish more than one or two picKings, and
should therefore be planted at intervals for sue
cessive crops. OF the tall varieties the best
favored is the Champion of England The
more wrinkled the seed the better the variety, it
is said. but at the present time many excellent
kinds have been introduced that such a rule is
somewhat doubtful.
Beets, carrots and parsnips should go in early
but not until the ground is fairly warm. The
seeds of these vegetables are sometimes very
slow in terminating, and the gardener loses
considerable time on that account, while the
grass and weeds are always ready to spring up
in the rows and crowd out the desirable plants.
By sowing radish seeds in the rows the radish
plants will show the line of the rows and permit
the use of the hoe as we'll as yielding crop for
table use without interfering with the heets,
carrots or parsnips. The Student parsnip is
most generally used, and the Danvers carrot is
now afavorite, but the Egyptian and long blood
beets are considered the earliest for the garden.
Of cabbage the Early Wyman, Early York, and
Jersey \, ake6eld may be used for the early varl
cites, and the Drumhead and fat Dutch for the
late crops, The Acme tomato is one of the
smoothest and best, but is tore liable to rot
than other varieties. The Conguerer tomato is
the earliest, but is small and the Rochester and
Paragon are considered good varieties. Such
crops as string beans sweet corn, squash, egg
plant and lima beans cannot go In until the sea
son has SO far advanced as to preclude the posi-
bility of frost. Such crops as melons, pump
kins, etc. require too much space ie9r growth to
be given place in the garden. kae should be
sown now, and corner should be devoted to
herbs. h aas
In cultivating make the rows just wide enough
to admit of free working with hoe and do not
cover the large seeds deeper than one inch.
From nefourth to one-half an inch d sp is suf
ficient for the very small seeds Keep down the
grass and weeds when they are young and but
little labor will be required later By good man
agement crop of slow growing vegetable may
be placed between the rows of quicker kind,
which, being soon harvested, admits OF the cult
walton of the later kind. Successive planting
may be continued until quite late in the season,
finishing with turnips should such crop be de-
sirable while late cabbage may be planted on
the ground that has grown peas or kale Should
down will be beneficial; but when this is done
the garden should be hoed occasionally to pre-
vent baking of the SOIL Work done in a garden
viii Dc found to be profitable at all times of the
year; but the beauty of garden will consist in
freedom from weeds