Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-02-01
Pennsyluauta Dutoh Oardeuine.

Pennsyfuauta Dutch Gardening.
= BY way Of variety and because 10
gives even some good points for gar
dening In the west, we give the follow
ing description by a Pennsylvania
Dutch woman Of her way OF managing
a garden. 1t will be interesting read
ing. She said:
II you want to have a good garden
You must have good soil. Our family
have titled this farm for over 100 years,
and the soil is growing richer instead
OF poorer. 10 is limestone land. We
give 1T plenty Of well-rotted barnyard
manure and lime. I never allow my
garden to run down. You can't take
everything of the soil, put nothing on,
and raise good crops. Besides barn
yard manure and lime, / fertilize my
garden with the ~sweepings from the
poultry house. / always slack the
lime before | put it on. You can't
make a garden too rich, and IL is a
great secret 10 thoroughly understand
the soil.
my garden is small. Many persons
would think IL was too small TO feed a
large family ont Of and to sell from, but
10 pays me better than a large one
would. The trouble with some people
is that they think they must have a
large garden, and they don't half cnl-
tivate it. IL you raise too much, a
great deal is apt to go to waste anyway.
Now | allow nothing TO be wasted.
The principal object of the garden is to
supply my own family. Again, ex-
perience has shown me exactly what
varieties Of vegetables suit this soil and
climate. ! never try TO grow fancy
varieties just for the novelty of the
thing.
Eve grow some Of our seeds. and we
know just what they are. What we
don't grow we get from our neighbors.
II is a good plan TO exchange seeds with
xour friends, for il the same seeds are
continually grown on the same ground
they are apt to degenerate. Our seeds are
all carefully selected in the fall, put up
in papers, labeled and stored away in
the garnet. ! never use seeds that have
been kept over for several seasons. /
never use hot beds for the reason that IL
doesn't pay me-. | plant the seeds in
crooks and boxes, and keep them in the
house, in the sun or by the fire. We
make garden in April, when | put the
young plants in the beds. II Is custom
among the Mennonites and the Dunkers
that the women, in addition TO attend
ing to the housework, shall take entire
charge Of the dairy, fowls and the gar
den. Ny girls generally spade the soil:
they dig 1t deep, rake and work il well.
You know that the neutrality-suspicious.
qualities are locked up in the clods
of earth, and we break them all
up fiGe, and after the plants are
set out the ground must be constantly
cultivated. Plants are like human be-
ings, they need plenty Of sunlight and
air TO thrive; | know that much. We
never let the weeds get the least start
of us, tne beds being kept perfectly
clean. There is a great deal in that.
We go over the beds nearly every day,
and we try not to have a single weed in
the entire garden. MY girls divide the
work. one taking charge of the c~urrants,
g~ooseberries and faspberries, including
picking the fruit; another takes entire
charge of the tomatoes, cabbage and
beans; another of the peas, beets, rad
ishes, onions, herbs, and so on. In this
way, il there is any neglect, / know
who is to blame. The garden is thor
oughly watered with watering cans.
The young children can help at this, 1
try to keep everything in as neat a con-
dition as possible. Yes, it costs a great
deal of labor, but in gardening, as in
everything else, you must take pains If
you want good results. work hard,
and my children must do the same.
During the harvest season the girls
assist at field work, and at that time
they work from sunrise to sunset.
what does my garden pay me? Well,
that is hard TO tell. 1t is something TO
supply a family of twelve persons with
vegetables, and besides this | sell every
year about $3.50 worth. That would
seem very little to persons who raise
tEuck on a large scale, but il is a great
deal from such a small patch. | pay
more attention 10 the dairy and the
poultry. What do they pay me a year?
Well, have six cows of common breed
and about $50 fowls, and l realize from
them about 5000 a year. ! could not
make this much IL | did not attend mar
ket twice a week in Lancaster. Market
is held before sunrise, and | can attend
and return home in time 10 do a days
work. have a light spring wagon, and
i drive there in about one hour: the
distance is seven miles.
"What do I sell? Well, in summer |
have butter, buttermilk, smearcase
(some people call it cottage cheese or
curdsl, poultry, eggs, maybe a lew
pigeon squads; then have a variety of
fresh vegetables and some fruit, like
raspberries and ~currants, a few pears
and some apples which the children
have picked up in the orchard"