Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-10-07
department
Fall Work in the Vegetable
Garden.

The idea seems to prevail among
farmers that the vegetable garden is
quite an unimportant part of the
farm therefore it is not given the
care almost any other portion of the
place receives, and in consequence of
this neglect if fails to become the
profitable piece of the farm which it
can be made, and which it will be, if
properly attended to. The woman
who has family to care for appreci-
ates fully the benefit to be derived
from little garden, well-tilled, be-
cause the vegetables grown there rem
der it easy for her to vary the bill of
fare from day to day, in such man
ner as to avoid monotony, and there
fore to succeed in pleasing the pal
ates of the sTmen folks who, while
protesting against the bother of a
garden, do full justice to the vege-
tables grown in it. A good garden
is a vear-round source of pleasure
and profit to every member of the
family, and is an important factor as
regards health. The man who has to
buy all the vegetables used in his
family can understand quite well,
after trying his skill at gardening
with very ordinary success the amount
of money in it. If he improves on
the ordinary and secures, by care
and proper cultivation, really good
garden, he will be convinced that it IS
certainly the most "paying' portion
of his farm. Those who have good
gardens are those who have tried this
experiment fully, and nothing could
induce them to give the garden up.
This is not what set out to say,
but so much Importance do | place
on the benefits of garden that al
ways feel like saying something to
induce those who have none to try
the experiment for a year or two,
feeling sure that they will not willing
ly be without one after that. Es-
pecially would l urge this in the in
terests of the housekeeper, who finds
it an extremely perplexing thing to
try to esmake something out of moth
ing," as most housekeepers sometimes
feel they are obliged to do if supply
of vegetables are not at hand to draw
from in furnishing the table.
The garden ought to be MANFRED
in the fall. A good supply should
be given, for you must have a rich
soil if you would grow good vegeta-
bles. If possible, select that manure
which has lain long enough to become
thoroughly rotten; for in such fer
tilizer there will be but few seeds
which will grow, while fresher ma
nure will be quite likely to contain
the seeds of weeds in immense guam
titles. Spread it over the soil evenly,
and then pillow the ground to the depth
of at least foot. A foot and half
is better. / prefer fall blowing for
several reasons. 1t exposes the soil
to the action of frost; it makes the
ground mellow and dry much earlier
in spring than would be the case were
it not to be plowed until that season
thus enabling the gardener to make
his beds several days earlier. 1t
therefore greatly eXpediates ''spring's
work." which is likely to come call
in heap" in consequence of which
rush the garden is generally neglect
ed more than it ought to be. 1t has
a tendency to drive worms and insects
deeper into the soil, where it is more
compact, in search of winter quarters.
A fall-plowed garden can be narrowed
as soon as the frost is out of the
ground, because the water from the
melting SHOWS is not retained as it is
on land not broken apart and made
porous by deep blowing.
If you do not "get around to pillow
the garden in the fall, be sure to
clean it up out of regard for neatness.
Pull up the vines and burn them.
Remove all unsightly rubbish. Take
in the trellises on which you have
trained tomatoes. Put away tue bean
poles for another seasons use. Fix
up the broken fences, if there are
any. In short, make the garden as
tidy place as you have on your farm,
and in doing this you will increase in
respect for it's. z. Storm an eG-
change.