Daily Kennebec journal., 1893-05-29
GARDEN AND FARM
Al Insane Hospital are Models
Of Their Kind.
500 Acres Under Cultivation liable
Vegetables by the Ton.
,,sssssiss Figures Shelving nassitsss Il lii
sists's Asfiesttsrai Operations.

The Whole farming community Of Maine
tnos, Of the good work being done at
o,ooo on the States farm there, but, few Of
oar agriculturists appreciate the fact that
Maine is a practical farmer on a large
scale.
Eves people living in Augusta do not
,e,lise the nagnitude Of the farming opera
,ioos a, the insane hospital. despite the fact
,ba, |, il located in their midst. A JorK-
Nal reporter, who recently made thorough
Investigation Of tbis aide Of the work at the
institution, came away surprised at what he
had seen.
The responsibility for looking after the
material needs Of the officers, attendants
and pa;isnt. falls upon Mr.. Manning s.
Campbell, the treasurer and steward, and
hi. efficient corps Of assistants When II il
known that about 800 people are TO be fed
daily at the hospital the verify of his
lsbor. may be understood. II has always
been the policy Of the trustees to produce
a. mach as possible iu order to save the
proat on the supplies and for this reason
the extensive garden and farm have been
creats,i.
While Mr.. Campbell has the responsi H.
ity and supervision Of the agricultural oper-
atjon. at the hospital, he is assisted in the
OUTSIDE work by Gardener w. II. Allen, and
Farm Superintendent Horace Is. Cony, the
fret having charge Of the garden and the lat
ter Of the farm.
Under the head of the garden is included
the conservatory, flower beds, lawns. rais-
ing Of smalI fruits and table vegetables.
Mr. Alien has to aid him three employees
and about dozen patients for whom out
.tle work has been prescribed.
Although the season is about a month
late Mr.. Allen has the greater part of
bi. garden in seed and the rest
is only awaiting a rainy or cloudy day
to be planted. The Journal man gathered
the following interesting figures from Mr.
Allen while making the tour of his domain
but 1t must be remembered that the yield is
only estimated. but with decent weather
will probably prove approx imately correct
a. they are based on the experience gath
cred from Mr. Aliens many years connec.
ton with the garden
The first place visited was the onion
bed, about one acre in size and from
~hch il u expected will be raised abou,
5O bushels Of onions. The bed was planted
by machine and the rows are noticeable for
the cscnncss of the sowing and the regular
ny OF the drill On account Of the use of
the machine the plants are just thick enough
to e, full benefit from the ground and to
avoid overcrowding. This ent is true
OF all the seed crops inspected.
Near his bed lies one devoted to sweet
corn. to which popular vegetable an acre
and half IL devoted.
Next to this Hes the celery bed ready
Tor the plants which will be transplanted in
June. TN account of its value in treating
nervous diseases much celery is raised for
the patients and this year 10000 head is
the estimate made of the crop.
The tomato plants to the number of
1900 are all ready for transplanting when
the weather permits.
The holes are dug and the poles set ready
eor the planting Of GOO hills of pole beans.
of which II l. expected to harvest 100
bushels
Near this is the early cabbage bed in
which 2"00 heads of cabbage are to he set
out. In another part of the grounds is
late cabbage bed where TOGO heads will be
put in.
in acre snl half of dwarf peas are now
well under way and "a, bushels is what the
crop will amount to.
great he'd is that devoted to cuoumbcrs
of which loo bushels ill be pickeled besides
tho large amount used fresh on the tables.
1t was while examining this he'd that Mr..
Allen told the reporter of his method of cult
vstiou. In the fall the ground is manured
and plowed up and the dressing is allowed to
rot all winter. In the spring it is narrowed
and cultivated for whichever crop is to be
put IN. MIR Allen is firm believer in the
rotation of crops and one year puts in root
crop. such rs peas, beans. etc. in a piece
OF ground and the next year a bulb plant.
such as the onion. turnip, psrsnip, etc.
Rapidly growing are the string beans of
which it is expected to raise $50 bushels.
The squash is popular vegetat lie at the
hospital and - tons of it are being raised.
one-thirtl of an acre in the garden proper,
lying west and south of the buildings, is de-
voted to the early turnips, of which it is
expected to pull four and one-half tons.
North of the new buildings two acres or more
have been devoted to the late variety and it
il thought that 80 tons will be harvested for
winter use.
Near the early turnips lies an acre Of
hcets, which when grown will probably
amount to Is tons for table use.
N'"N' WV VI du aStt VI Feir
nips II is thought seven and half tons will
be raised and it is estimated that half Of an
acre devoted to carrots will yield five tons.
Not far from this he'd is the vegetable
cellar which has saved about $1,000 dur
ing the two winters it has been
in use-not a bad return on the $1,000
cost. The building is the model vege-
table cellar in Maine. II ia 100 feet long
by ~ feet wide and has cellar proper
~ feet deep, store room above and dry
ing loft of generous dimensions over that.
Last year quarter of an acre Of straw
eerries under Mr.. Aliens care yielded 10
bushels. This bed and another of the same
Hre which comes into harvest this summer,
will make the 93 crop of these delicious
berries reach the great figure of 100 bushels
or 5000 boxes.
Besides the ground devoted to straw
oe'ries total of two acres is given up to
The cultivation of raspberries, blackberries,
currants and rhuharh.
Mr. Allen lief, the reporter and Mr.. Camp
bell at the large greenhouse. for flowers
are cultivated on large scale as their sooth-
ing presence in the wards always proves
beneficial to the patients during the dull
And drcary days of winter.
The next department visited was the
stock stables, which, however, did not re-
feet as much credit upon the State ss what