Daily Kennebec journal., 1885-09-22

The Garden on the Farm.

The farm garden ought to be something
WORTHY the name of garden. but too often
| it is not. see patches OF weeds every
season. among which il you look sharp
Won may find few spindling, discouraged
looking vegetables. and these weedy
patches are called gardens by their own
ers. 1t is generally the owners OF such
gardens who say it isn't worth while to
putter with garden truck; it don't pay"
admit that it does not paw to have
garden full of weeds. but assert that it
does pay to have garden full OF vegeta-
bles. and claim that no part OF the farm
pays as we'll as garden does. il properly
cared for. It will not take care OF itself
Your cornield will not. no farm crop will.
You must keep the weeds DOWN. You
must make the soil rich enough to be pro
ductive. You must give what you plant
| in the garden such attention through the
season az it needs. If you do this you can
raise vegetables enough from small
piece of ground to supply an average sized
family the year round. know this to be
the case for have proved it year after
year And the best part of the family
lving-as well as the healthiest part
comes from the garden.
There need be no "puitering" about
garden. work If it is managed properly.
The ground should be plnwed early. and
left to dry out and become mellow. When
this has been accomplished. it is time to
make the beds, or. more properly. to make
the garden. for do not advise the culti
va,or to hold to or practice the old style
of gardening in which bed" was made
for everything. Sow in drills. Between
the rows you can run garden-cultlvator,
and thus abridge the work of keeping the
weeds down. Not only will the use of the
cutivator help keep the weeds down. but
it will stir the soil and keep it light and
open for the admission of air. warmth and
moisture, three things qnite essential to
the most successful growth and develop
ment of root-crups. There need be none
of the old fashioned hand-weeding OF rows
across bed in which it would be difficult
to use any garden implement. 1t was the
hand wedding, strongly suspect, which
created such an aversion to the cultivation
of garden in the minds of most farmers.
cannot blame them tor dislikingto get down
on their hands and knees. and spend hour
after hour in pulling weeds. But this is
unnecessary when a cultivatOr is used,
and much larger garden can be cult
waited in good shape in one-quarter the
time An hour day in the garden for
the first two weeks and an hour twice a
week after that. will keep it in excellent
condition if it is properly arranged and
labor saving implements are used, as they
should be. not so much because they save
labor. as because they perform the work
better and more thoroughly, thus making
it easy to raise large crops. Vegetables
are luxuries to many country families.
They ought not to be. They need not be,
if farmers will take advantage of the OPP
portunities at hand. The boys can be
taught to use the cultivator. and will take
pleasure in doing so. The practice will
be of benefit to them in more ways than
one. With dozen kind of vegetables in
the garden or cellar to chose from, no
housewife will be at loss to give her table
that variety of TODD which makes it attrac-
tive to the family. OF all people. the far
mer can have the greatest variety of food.
fresh and healthfu and home grown. but
his bill ofiare is generally the slimest and
most monotonous of any class. This should
not be so. II will not if he will have a
garden,-C COmntrv Home.