The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-05-11
BILL ARP IN
THE GARDEN.
He IL Successful in Raising Fine Veg
ctableS-A Good Farmer Will Have
q Good Garden.

a Good Garden.
"Fate cannot harm mel have
dined to-day" That is the way we
feel just after dinner, especially If VIC
have earned it--worBed 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, out 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 q remedy for both. l suppose tnat
Shakespeare suffered in this way, for
be 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 cyears.
Milton understood this trouble, too, for
he says hat Adams sleep was sweet,
being bred from pure digestion. That's
the secret-working in the g%ardeu~-I
inherited that trait from the old man
Adam, | mean-and | sleep sweetly,
too, after l have worked in my garden.
There is no insomnia about me, but
Mrs. Arp suffers from it sometimes
when l am snoring like a hippopota-
mus.
was Illuminating about the value Of
u good garden to the family we had
an excellent dinner to-day, ana l
counted up the cost. We have five in
the family, and the dinner cost us only
0 cents apiece, n there was enough
left for two or three more. We had a
small piece OF middling meat, about
half q pound, that was boiled with the
beans, and there were seven different
kinds of vegetable, from my garden.
The butter and buttermilk were home
made. The rice and cornmeal and
huckleberries cost q little-not much.
Everything was well-cookod, and all
that was wanted was an appetite and
good digestion.
am reasonably proud of my garden,
for 1T Is all my own work. l prepared
the ground and dressed it and opened
the burrows and planted the seed and
cultivated the plants n 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
long drought, but l had fortified
against it. Every hill was first spaded
u q foot deep and filled with water,
and it had soaked into the ground |
filed up the hole with a mixture OF
top soil and barnyard %scrapings and
sifted ashes and put on some more
water. Every furrow | opened for
beans and peas and beets let water
run in it, and then put the fertilizer
in and planted the seed. | had eighty
holes to dig for tomatoes and forty for
squashes, and as nan more for Gu
cumbers, and Notwithstanding the
drought everything has grown vigor-
ously. 1t is hard work and takes pa
thence to lay the foundation in this
way, but it pays. My squash vines
cover q 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 trench
es close by the roots of the plants and
turned the water on and let it run
slowly and soak in and afterwards
covered the trenches with dry dirt.
This, too, is trouble, but it paid we'll.
Some folks sprinkle, but that does
harm and no good. 1t bakes the surface
and never reaches the roots-sprinkle
nothing but g"ass. Where water is
plenty n convenient there is no ex-
cuse for q poor garden. 1t is better to
dig deep aud fertilize and cultivate a
an acre nrsger fashion ana sec
- all dry up when the dry drought, &
. CODE calls it, comes. The intensiv
system is the best for garden | kno
from long experience. 1t made N
sad to SEQ the crops on the railroa
u between Marietta and Atlanta tn
other day. Acres and acres OF cor
no six inches high and cotton almos
invisible. 1t did look like pcrishin
to death in the name of the Lord. ]
1s a poor country, | know, but the
could SOW 1T down in peas and gradl
ally improve it SO that o Georgia
wouldn't be ashamed for travellers t
look out of the car windows as the
ride through it.
1t is astonishing how much inAuenc
one good farmer has over the neigh
borhood IN which he lives. They ar
very e~nvious of each other and will tr
to keep up with the best. ! hear som
say thai their oats crop is a total fail
ure, and will not be fit to cut. L see
few acres of oats in q field not far from
me that will make IL good crop. O
course there is something in the land
but there Is more in the farming
Deep blowing to begin with is abso
lutely necessary in farming. | dom
mean deep turning, but deep blowing
l know q farmer who always follow
the turn pillow with a bull.tongue il
the same furrow, and he makes goot
crops whether it rains or not. M,
good neighbor, Widow Fields, has nj
hydrant in her garden, but she Away.
has the finest garden in the town, ant
the secret is deep blowing and fertil
1zing. | can overlook her work from
my window, Inc it excites me to kecy
In hailing distance. She has an acre
In the highest state OF cultivation, ant
will make moro on it than will be
made on fifty acres OF that land below
Marietta. Work OF the gardens must
not stop. Keep planting successive
crops every ten days or two weeks, anC
have % fresh supply. A good, large
"a family ca live well on an acre for five
months in the year. Raise your owl
strawberries and raspberries and buy
wild berries enough for jam and jelly.
Then, II you have grapes and peaches
around, you can live like o prince and
always have something nice for com.
SSHpany. A few flowers in the garden
Twill help to make 1T attractive; and
E-my wife wants all the old-fashioned
herbs, like sage and mint and balm
and thyme and calamus an1 camomile.
She has horse radish enough for q ho-
Eel.
Gardening Is the arst work of which
we have any history, and it is the
most pleasant and healthy of all occu.