The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-07-13
HOW FARMERS CAN AFFORD GOOD
GARDENS.

Farmers do not often have gardens
because they do not know how to
make and to keep them in an mex
.pensive manner. The following hints
may aid some to try making garden on
modern lines:
1. Lay off a piece of land as nearly
level as possible, but thoroughly we'll
drained, longer than wide. a half
acre garden my be Y feet wide and 800
feet long, or a quarter-acre IFS feet
long by 45 feet wide. If it lies toward
the south, and catches the morning
sun, so much the better. 1t should be
free from all overhanging trees. and
away from all buildings which will
cast shade upon it. 1t should be made
fit for planting by being plowed deeply
as possible. up to the beam of the pillow,
unless clay is turned up freely. If
plowed u or Is inches deep, as can be
done after a few years, it will with
stand dry spells as though it were irri-
gated. All the manure that can be
spared should be plowed under.
2. The first saving of labor is in
blowing the garden instead of digging
it. The second is in planting every
thing in straight rows, so that they
may be cultivated by horsepower or
by a wheel cultivator. There are alb
solutely no beds or paths" in a
modern farmers garden. Beans, peas,
beets, onions. cabbage, everything goes
into long rows, and these are worked
with a horse, just as potatoes are
worked. exactly so. and in no wise
differently
3. In the modern garden, where a
row has ripened it's crop. the ground
is at once cleared, the cultivator run
over 1t a few times, and another crop
planted. In my own garden l have the
crops growing until winter sets in.
One good blowing in late fall, or early
spring, does for whole season. As
rule 1 raise three and four crops off
the same ground each season. Seeds
of smaller plants are not saved when
this system is followed, because the
second and third crops will be worth
more than the seeds. OF larger plants,
like lima beans. corn, potatoes. etc.
the seed is saved, but of all the smaller
plants the seed is purchased In my
town 1 can buy seed 'in bulk and
for about 81 can buy all need for my
garden. This seed in bulk is not in
papers, but is weighed out to custom
erS like tea and coffee. For cents
enough of each kind can be had for
one season.
4. Gardens are VIGOROUSLY weedy
places. The weeds are overcome by
constant cultivation. The succession
of crops secures the necessary cultiva-
ton. The last thing in the autumn, be-
fore it freezes up, the garden is either
plowed or cultivated. This throws the
seeds and young plants out, exposed
to winters froSts, so that they are
killed. Then those parts of the garden
not planted uphill late in the spring
must be cultivated once a week, to
kill young weeds and to keep the soil
in good condition. If no weeds are al
lowed to ripen seed, in a few years but
few appear, the seeds of which are
carried into the garden by birds and
the wind. A kitchen garden can be
cultivated in an hour in the morning
before the team goes to the fields.
A good garden is not a luxury but
necessity. The garden of the wealthy
man with its expensive walks, its glass
sashes and its roses and beautiful
flowers, are 1uxuries. But a. good veg
etable garden, producing a succession
of fresh vegetables all the year, is no
| luxury only, it is a necessity to correct
living such as ought to be enjoyed by
every tiller of the soil. Vegetables pro
mote health. The Introduction of fresh
vegetables during nearly the whole
year is one of the great sanitary adj
vanceS of recent times.
On one side of the garden there
should be a row of currant and goose
berry bushes. Planted once. and the
grass kept down, these will last a life
time. A dozen hills of rhubarb plants
should be planted also. These produce
a healthful dish, the earliest in the
spring, and the plant requires no at
tention after planting, except an oc-
casional shovelful of manure. Nor is
row of asparagus plants to be for
gotten. These plants, cultivated the
same as potatoes for two years will
produce afterward for lifetime a
large amount of the most nutritious
food, very early in the spring, and
scarcely any attention is demanded
after two years. 1t should be placed
in a row on one side of the grader,
for it is not to be ploughed after plant
ing.-George G.. Croft in n. Y. Tribune