The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1896-07-18
WORK IN THE GARDEN.
Bill Arp Re commends 1t as ROM
edy for Indigestion.
The Value of Good Garden to the Fam
Uy-Makes Excellent Dinners for
Little Money-A Saving In
Doctors Bills.

Fate cannot harm mel have dned
to-day" That is the way we feel just
after a good dinner, especially if we
have earned it-worked for it bodily
and wanted it. But have heard folks
say they were never hungry and not
even the odor of eucumbcrs and onions
in the dining-room would excite their
appetite. j have heard others say that
they had the appetite, but were afraid
TO indulge it because of Indigestion.
Such folks are to be pitied. They have
my sympathy. But | sincerely believe
that work or physical exercise is rem
sdy for both. l suppose that Shakes
peare suffered in this way, for he says:
NOW let digestion wait on appetite,
and health on BOTH Certain it is his
death was sudden and premature, for
he lived only so years. Milton under
stood this trouble, too, for he says that
adams sleep was sweet, being bred
from pure digestion" That's the secret
working in the garden--1 inherited
that trait from the old man-Adam, |
mean-and / sleep sweetly too, after |
have worked in my garden. There is
no insomnia about me, but Mrs. Arp
suffers from it sometimes when / am
snoring like hippopotamus.
| was Illuminating about the value of
good garden to the family-we had
an excellent dinner to-day, and | count
ed up the cost. We have five in the
family, and the dinner cost lis only five
cents apiece, and there was enough left
for two or three more. We had small
piece of middling meat, about half
pound. that was boiled with the beans,
and there were seven different kinds of
vegetables from my garden. The but
ter and buttermillt were homemade.
The rice and cornmaal and hHcltleber-
ries cost little-not much. Every
thing was well-eooked, and all that was
wanted was an appetite and good diges-
ton.
am reasonably proud of my garden,
for it is all my own work. prepared
the ground and dressed 1t and opened
the burrows and planted the seed and
cultivated the plants and killed the
weeds, and it is my especial pleasure to
watch everything as it grows, and
gather the vegetables and wash them at
the back door and call the good wife
and children out to see them and listen
to their compliments. We have had
| long drought, but l had fortified
against 1t. Every hill was first spaded
out a foot deep and filed with water,
| I. L. a. 4
| filled up the hole with mixture of
top soil and barnyard scrapings and
sifted ashes and put on some more wa
ter. Every furrow / opened for beans
and peas and beets let water run into
it, and then put the fertilizer in and
| planted the seed. had 80 holes 10 dig
| for tomatoes and 40 for squashes, and as
many more for cucumbers, and, not
withstandlng the drought, everything
has grown vigorously. 1t is hard work
and takes patience to lay the foundation
in this way, but 1t pays. My squash
vines cover space of four feet square
to each hill, and my tomato plants are
five feet high and full of healthy fruit.
| Well, now, to tell the whole truth, have
a hydrant in the center Of the garden
| and when the dry, hot weather was at
Its worst / opened small trenches close
by the roots of the plants and turned
the water on and let 1t run slowly and
soak in and afterwards covered the
trenches with dry dirt. This, too, is
| trouble, but it paid well. Some folks
! sprinkle, but that does harm and no
good. 1t bakes the surface and never
reaches the roots-sprinkle nothing but
grass. Where water is plenty and con-
venient there is no excuse for poor
garden. 1t is better to dig deep and
| fertilize and cultivate square rod well
than to skim over half an acre "nigger
fashion, "and see it all dry up when the
dry drought, as CODE calls 1t, comes.
The intensive system is the best for
gardens, l know from long experience.
1t made me sa1 TO see the crops on the
railroad between Marietta and Atlanta
the other day. Acres and acres of corn
not six inches high and cotton almost
invisible. 1t did look like perishing to
death in the name of the Lord. 1t is a
poor country, | know, but they could
SOW it down in peas and gradually inn
prove il so that Georgian wouldn't be
ashamed for travellers to look out of the
car windows as they ride through it.
1t is astonishing how much influence
one good farmer has over the neigh
borhood in which he lives. They arc
very envious of each other and will try
to keep up with the best. l hear some
say that their oats crop is total fail
ure, and will not be fit to cut. / see
n few acres of oats in n field not far
from me that will make a good crop.
OF course there is something in the
land, but there is more in the farming.
Deep blowing to begin with is absolute
IT, necessary in farming. I don't mean
deep turning, but deep blowing. know
a farmer who always followG the turn
pillow with bull-tongue in the same
furrow, and he makes good crops
whether it rains or not. My good neigh
Dor, Widow Fields, has no hydrant in
her garden, but she always has the
finest garden in the town, and the secret
Is deep blowing and fertilizing. l can
overlook her work from my window,
and it eNcites me 10 keep In hailing dis
tonce. She has an acre in the highest
state of cultivation, and will make moro
OH it than will be made on so acres OF
that land below Marietta. Work or
the gardens must not stop. Keep plant
ing successive crops every ten days OF
two weeks, and have fresh supply