The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-06-25
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
i. PHILOSOPHERS EXPERI-
ENCE AS A GARDENER.
Tells of His Success in Raising Fine
Vegetables.

today" That is the way we feel just
after 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 cucumbers and onions
in the dining room would excite their
appetite. [ have heard others say
they had the appetite, but were afraid
to indulge it because of digestion.
Such folks are to be ptied. They have
my sympathy. l ut l sincerely believe
that work or physical exercise is
remedy for both. I suppose that
Shakespeare 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 prema-
ture, for he lived only fifty years.
Milton understood this trouble too,
for he says that Adam sleep was sweet.
being bred from pure Indigestion.
That's the working in the gar
dem inherited that trait from the
old man-Adam, [ mean-and l sleep
sweetly, too, after have worked in
my garden. There is no insomonia
about me, but Mrs. Arp suffers from
st sometimes when l am snoring like a
hippotamus.
was Illuminating about the value of
good garden to the family-we had
an excellent dinner today, and I
counted up the cost. We have five in
the family and the dinner cost US only
cents apiece, and there was enough
left for two or three more. We had q
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 butter and buttermilk were home
made The rice and cornmeal and
huckleberries cost little-not much.
Everything was we'll cooked, and all
that was wanted was an appetite and
good digestion.
I am reasonably proud of my gar
den, for it is all my own work. I pre-
pared the ground and dressed it 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 il
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
had fortified against it. Every hill
was first spaded out foot deep and
, filled with water, and after it had
; soaked into the ground I filled up the
hole with mixture of top soil and
barnyard scrapings and sifted ashes
and put on some more water. Every
furrow I opened for beans and pea.
, and beets let water run in it, and
:. then put the fertilizer in and
= planted the seed. Ihad eighty hole.
to dig for tomatoes and forty fol
). squashes, and as many more for Gu
! cumbers, and notwithstanding the
! drought, everything has grown vigor
:. ously. It is hard work, and takes pa
p tience to lay the foundation in thi
g way, but it pays. My squash vine
e cover space of four feet square t.
i each hill, and my tomato plants ar
q five feet high and full of healthy fruit
= Well, now, to tell the whole truth,
have hydrant in the center of tn
garden, and when the dry, hot weathe
was at its worst I opened small trenche
w close by the roots of the plants an,
x turned the water on and let it ru1
d slowly and soak in, and afterward
N covered the trenches with dry dirt
l. This too, is trouble, but it paid well
r. Some folks sprinkle, but that doe
9. harm and no good. It bake
,e the surface and never reaches tn
a roots. Sprinkle nothing but grass
" Where water is plentiful and conve1
s lent there is no excuse for poor gal
Or den. 1t is better to dig deep and fel
ts tilize and cultivate square rod we
at than to skim over half an acre "nigge
ID fashion" and see it all dry up when th
t. dry drought, as Cobe calls it, come
a. The intensive system is the best fc
ls gardens, I know from long experience
d. It made me sad to see the crops on tf
- railroad between Marietta and Atlant
the other day. Acres and acres
corn not six inches high and cotto
almost invisible. It did look like pc
ishing to death in the name of I'll
Lord. 1t is poor country, I kno,
\ but they could SOW it down in re
Il and gradually improve it so that
II Georgian wouldn't be ashamed fl
II travellers to look OFT of the car windc
II as they ride through it.
II 1t is astonishing how much inf
! ence one good farmer has over t
q neighborhood in which he lives. Th
are very envious of each other and W
try to keep up with the best. [ he
some say that their oats crop is to
failure and will not be fit to cut.
see few acres of oats in a field 7
far from me that will make good crc
Of course there is something in
-. land, but there is more in the farmi1
he Deep plowing to begin with is alb
he lutely necessary in farming. I do
ins mean deep turning, but deep plowi
I. know farmer who always folk