Richland beacon., 1888-06-16
Management Of Il Garden.

The culture of a garden should be the
best tha' is possible. No labor or fer
t.lizeTS should be spared to make the
product as large a it Cain be maize With
liberal maluriug snd frequent wedding
the land in time viii he brought into a
high condition of productivcnc>s. and
he 20 f ce from weeds that the labor OF
wedding vii! be reduced to the smallest
minimum. 1t i scarcely pos -ibie to have
!aHd free from weeds seeds of the COM
mon weeds seem TO he everlasting, and
are % numerous tha, the plants still con-
tlnue to AZ" ear after many years of most
persistent de>tIuc ton. \ single p ant
of purSlane p:odUceS more than 2,O0c,-
seeds, and the seeds Of this trouble
some weed are practically indie tructible.
Soil taken trt N two feet below the level
of ground e-er p owed, in tren hing for
a lie / of asparagus. has produced a most
abundant crop OF this plant, along with
W II must ri, cinque foil, rag weed.
and several other weeds common
everywhere. Probably the scels had
been buried there for scores of years,
where they mad gradually sunk through
the soil, during its frequent expansions
and contractiOnS, by reason of alternate
wet and dry pe-iods. So tha: while
persistent culture and wedding will
greatly lessen the weeds and the work Of
destroying them in the course of eight
or ten years, there will still be some to
afford an excuse for working the soil
But this work should lie undertaken
systematically. 1t should not lie left
81 h.. .
sary. \ loose, mellow surface and sub
soil through which the air can pass and
circulate is indispensable for garden chi
ture, il winch every favorable condition
FOR quick and luNuriant growth should
lie pro ided. Weeds. hcwcver, cannot
be permitted, or should not be, however
rich the soil; they take mp a large share
of the plant food. which is not their
worst feature, for they abstract large
quantity of moisture from the soil, and
the growth of crop is always in ratio
with the supply of moisture up TO the
point when it becomes excessive.
The plant food supplied to a garden is
most useful when it is in thoroughly
soluble coalition There are some greedy
feeders so supposed which make
luxuriant growth upon rIw manure.
These are. however, the succulent vcgc-
tables, such as rhubarb which will thrive
in manure with very little SOL about it,
Any other plants will DO the same They
are all hungry and greedy for food But
it is difficult to supply all ike, and So
those which are ca I'D gross feeders are
furn shed with abundance, and the rest
al, III
plants will find foo | where 9th r. starve,
and have the habits of some animals in
this respect, finding nutrimeut in matter
which affords none to others; Just as
COW in pasture crops the tender herbage,
a sheep consumes the coarse weeds, and
hog digs up and devours the roots,
while the butterti es and bees take only
the nectar. Plants differ in the same
way, and compost of swamp muck,
spent hops, leaves, stable manure, and
other coarse vegetable matter. only half
decayed, will serve the eager appetite of
some, while Peruvian guFno, flour of
bone, superphosphate Of lime. nitrate of
soda, and other more soluble food but
especially the so-called complete or
5 ecial manures having precisely
the composition of the crop
they are intended to supply,
are the most effective with Others. The
flavor of fruits and vegetables depends
in great measure upon the food supplied
to them. A strawberry. an onion,
radish. or a potato is much Ikea fowl or
n pig or the milk and cream of COW in
this respect. \ pig fed upon barleymeal
or potatoes, with sweet milk, makes
delicious pork, very different from that
of one fed in a manure cellar or on filthy
garbage; a fowl is much like a pig. and
the eggs or flesh of a hen which feeds
upon manure heaps has a strong and
disagreeable odor and taste: every one
knows how milk &C iuires the odor of
garlic. onions, and turnips upon which
the COW feeds. So with vegetables and
plants We have had far more delicatcly-
lavosed strawberries grown with Peru
vian guano and oil manure from hot
bed which had lost all its odor; from as
paragus. peas, rhubarb, and cabbage fed
with fine bone -four and wood ashes. or
the common artificial manure prepared
for potatoes as a special fertilizer, and
potatoes thus fed have been incompar-
alb V finer in every way, freer from
diseases, and of higher flavor when thus
grown, or when grown with completely
decayed compost aad leaf mould, and
when fed with rank stable manure.
In like manner, frequent cultivation Of
the surface down to the roots but not
among or below them, is requisite for
the finest developments of the garden
ops. Onions, radishes, cab age, let
tuce. are especially improved by this
frequent culture, and strawberries and
the other small fruits yield much more
and finer fruit. The effects of frequent
cultivation upon plantation Of kitta-
tinny blackterries in our garden were
shown in a remarkable manner few
wears ago when some rows of the plants
were struck with rust. This variety is
quite subject TO this disease. but when a
portion of the rows was ke9t quite clear
of weeds and the soil made mellow by
working with a handwheel cnltivator
two or three times week, and was
fertilized with potash salts, lime. and
boneiust, the rust did not reappear after
all affected canes had been cut out. The
growth became remarkably vigorous and
the fruit much finer than usual and OF
greatly improved flavor. The rest of
the plants were oyerpowered with the
parasite, which weakened and stunted
them and rendered them fruitless.
Nep York Times.
lie Took Them All.