The Atlanta constitution., 1896-06-08
BILL IN The GARDEN
Arp Successful in Raising Fine Yege-
tables.
IT is PLEASANT AND HEALTHY
To Work in the Garden-How He
Managed During the Dry Spell
To Water His Plants.
ncnr The constitutional


But have heard folks say they were never
hungry and not even the odor of cucumbers
and onions in the dining room would ex-
cite their appetite have heard others say
tbev had the appetite but We're afralu
N indulge IL because of Indigestion. Such
folks are to be pitied. They nave my sym
nathy But / sincerely believe that WORK
or physical exercise is remedy LOT poti.
I suppose that Shakespeare suffered III this
way. for he says, "Now, let digestion wait
on appetite and health on both certain
II is his death was sudden and premature
for he lived only fifty years. Milton uhuer-
stood this trouble, too, for he says that
Adams sleep was sweet, being breu rom
pure digestion. That's the secret-WorNlnS d"
the garden-I inherited that trait from 'Ie
old man-Adam, l mean-and l sleep sweet
w. too after | have worked in my Sardeh-
There is no insomnia about me, but MIS-.
Arp suffers from it sometimes Wheh am
snoring like a hppopotamus.
/ was Illuminating about the value of
good garden to the family-we had an eX-
cellent dinner today, and / counted up the
cost. We have five IN the family. and the
dinner cost us only cents apiece, ana
there was enough left for two or three
more. We had a small piece of middllhg
meat, about half a pound, that was boiled
with the beans, and there were seven diteE-
ent kinds OF vegetables from my garden
1 ne DutteI anu bHlltiIillh NtAf ii'iii'
made. The rice and cornmeal and hucl1le-
berries cost a little-not much. Everything
was well-cooked. and all that was wanted
was an appetite and good digestion.
1 am reasonably proud of my garden,
for il is all my own work. | prepared the
ground and dressed it and opened the fur
rows and planted the seed ana cultivated
the plants and killed the weeds, and it is
my especial pleasure to watch everything
as 1t 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 70 their compliments. We have
had a long drought, but l had fortified
against it. Every hin was first spaded
out foot deep and filled with water and
after il had soaked into the ground | filled
up the hole with a mixture or top soil and
barnyard scrapings and sifted ashes and
put on some more water. Every furrow
! opened for beans and peas and bects |
let water run IN it, and then put the ferti-
lizer in and planted the seed / had
eighty holes to dig for tomatoes and forty
for squashes, and as many more for Gu
cumbers, and Notwithstanding the drought
everything has grown vigorously. IL is
hard work and takes patience to lay the
foundation in this way, but it pays. My
squash vines cover a space of four feet
square to each hill, and my tomato plants
are five feet high and fun OF healthy fruit.
Well now to tell the whole truth. I have
hydrant in the center of the garden
and when the dry hot weather was at its
worst l opened small trenches close by
the roots Of the plants and turned the wa
Ger on and let "a ~uu slowly ANA soak ln
aud afterwards covered the trenches with
dry dirt. This,too, is trouble, but il paid
well some folks sprinisle, but that does
harm and no good. IL bakes the
surface and never reaches the
roots-spriukIe nothing but grass.
vtrus &c ralfr a. nd rnn ffFnF
there is no excuse for poor garden. 1t is
better to dig deep and fertilze and cult-
vate a square rod well than TO skim over
half an acre ''n;gger fashion" and see it
all dry up when the dry drought, as CObe
calls IT, comes The intensive system is
the besc for gardens. / know from long eX-
perience. II made me sad to see the crops
on the railroad between Marietta ANA At
lan,a the other day. Acres and acres of
corn not six inches high and cotton almost
invisible. 1t did look like perishing TO death
I'm the name of the Lord. Ii is poor cOun-
try. ] know. but they could SOW il down in
peas and gradually improve il SO that
Georgian woulon'- be ashamed for travel
crS TO look out of the car windows as they
ride through It,
1t is astonishing how much influence one
good farmer has over the neighborhood IN
which ne lives. They are very envious OF
each other ana will try to keep up with the
best | hear some say that their oats crop
Is n total failure, and viii not be fit to cut.
! see a few acres Of oats in a field not far
from me that viii make a good crop. or
course there is something in the land, but
there is more in the farming. Deep plOW-
Ing to begin with is absolutely necessary
in farming. / don't mean deep turning,
but deep plowing. I know farmer who al
ways follows the turn plow win pull
tongue in the same furrow. ana he makes
good crops whether IL rains or not. aly
good neighbOr, Widow Fields, has no hy-
drant in her garden, but she always has
the finest garden in the town, and the Sc
crct is deep blowing and fertiiiZng. / can
rar14 La~ Nvn
it excites me to keep in hailing distance.
She has an acre in the highest state Of Cul-
tivation. and will make more on it than
VIII be mace on HIt$ acres OF that lahu re-
low Marietta. Work on the gardens must
not stop. Keep planting successive crops
cvcry ten days or two weeks. ana have
fresh supply. \ good, large family can live
well on an acre for five months in the year.
Raise your own Strawberries and raspber-
ries and buy wild berries enough for jam
and jelly. Then, If you have grapes and
peaches around, you can live like a prince
and always have something nice for COM
panY A few flowers in the garden VIII
help to make it attractive; and my wife
wants all the old-fashioned herbs like sage
and mint and balm and thyme and calamus
and camomile She has horse radish
enough for a hotel.
Gardening is the first work of which we
have any history, and it is the most
pleasant and healthy of all occupations. If
q man is n good gardener he win be a good
farmer. As you travel overland through
the country you can tell a good farmer by
looking at his garden. Just as you can tell
d
the flowers and vines in the front yard
They are sign of good taste and refine
ment and good housekeeping and content
ncut. They save doctor bills for half the
diseases come from diseased minds-lnental
misery-borrowing trouble and nursing it.
The cultivation of flowers is a good tonic
for indigestion. I have noticed that the
people who are most diligent in such occu-
patiOns are the least concerned about poll
itics and silver and gold and the next pres
idential election. The farm and the home
absorb them, and are a bigger thing than
the spOils of office. The average Ioliti-
clan wants something for nothing. As
Cobe says, "He is just sidewiping around
hunting the photography of an office" and
when he gets il the first lesson he learns
IS how TO lOg-roll. He will vote for any
bodys bill If they will vote for his. You
tickle me and I viii tickle you. is the mot
to and they call ii n compromise Of con-
voted every member a private secretary
When will this thing stop2 Now let them
apply for q receiver and sell out the con-
ceru.
But am off the subject, and will get in
a bad frame of mind and have fit Of indi-
gestou; and so ] viii quit and go to my
garden, where l am always calm and Sc
rene. BILL AltP
A Peoples Party Riot.
Chicago, June IA meeting of the coun-
" central committee of the peoples party