The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-07-03
Bill Arlp'S Letter.
Arp Talks of His Garden and Of Jack and the
Po9ccfa.k
ReanStaik.

This is the first bright genial sunny
morning that we have had III three
veeks-for twenty-One days IL mas
rained every day save one. h crops
are in a bad fix; the corn and cotton
are hidden by Grass and WeeGs, ana
labor is scarce, tor the negroes are
wanted in the mines. Most OF the
wheat has been cut, but how II
Of it will be saved cannot yet be told.
Within mv recollection OF hftE years
| do not recall 50 much rain n mar
vest time According 10 scripture. II
seeing to be the same old story. 10Y
Solomon says, "As r3n IN harvest 5"
K honor nugeeulv in a fool They
had too much rain and too many fools
then lust as we do now. Maybe Prov
idence sends the rain to try the far
= mers-to make them diligent and
shiftv. I travelled on the East and
West railroad last week for sixty
miles and | noted some farms that
were clean and nice-the corn amt
cotton chopDed ont and the wheat
shocked in the field: one OF these De
longed to a widow. n she and her
three girls and one boy were just i'm
ishinC the cotton. Markham didn't
write anything about the woman with
the hoe. nor the girls, but one of these
girls was merry enough to wave her
bonnet at somebody on the tram be
sides me. Some farnlers sit down and
wait for tomorTow'S sun to drv OH
the ground but tomorroWs sun didn't
shine. and SO they wait till next day.
Others slap in every chance INK do
something. ! know one who began to
cut his wheat Monday morning, just
as soon as Sunday was gone, for Sum
"a l.. In
cut half that night and al day Mon
day and got through with his thirty
acres. and he says he Will make 100
bushels. Another diligent farmer
made 400 bushels last year on twenty
acres, and soved it right away to COW
peas and sold his pea vine hay for
more per acre than ne got for his
wheat. That is business, and SOLO
mon says: "Seest thou q man diligent
in his business; he shall stand before
kings" | am no braggart, but let
me say thai if | had waited for the
rain to quit [ would be singing that
old song, "A man of words but not
of deeds is like a garden full OF
weeds ! worked between showers.
and sometimes when Mrs. Arp called
me to come in out Of the rain | pre-
tended I didn't hear her, and struck
a few more licks for Mr.. Markham.
/ wish you could see my bean arbor-
not butter beans. but the best md
most prolific bean | have ever plant
ed; | had them last year IN my corn
patch, but they do better on poles
or over . cane arbOr. Plant two rows
of beans five feet apart, and when
they are we'll up stick them with
canes Lap the small ends of the
canes together on the ground. and get
your wife " daughters to tie them
i'll three or four places-ail Of uniform
length, then arch them over the beans,
and nature viii do the rest. I never
saw half as many beans az hang from
my vines. OF course. the rains have
stimulated the growth Of everything,
and it's lucky the vegetables grow up
ward instead Of outward. l planted
my potatoes in a trench that was
shoyeled out and manfred with
ashes-wood and coal mixed, then
covered with pine straw and some
earth on that. They are the finest
ever grew, and come out of the straw
almost clean enough to cook without
washing. Pine straw is very valuable
in a garden and is cheap, costing only
80 cents for a good load. 1t is a good
mulch for strawberries, and | am ex-
pS1iliitlillIS Will IL ultttI a lew W
matO plants: most Of them | have
trained TTD 10 stakes, but / saw q, mar
ket garden near Memphis and al the
tomato vines had tumbled over @,
wheat straw. and made more fruit,
though not 50 large and fine as when
stabel. A garlen IS a small expert
mental farm, and Is OF SO much con
sequence and more pleasure, especial
" if you mix flowers with it. Dom
throw away your coal ashes; mixed
with wood ashes, they are = fine fer
tliizer. Mr.. Eerkm0ns says that ashes
produce fruit. while stable manure
produces vine and foliage. Ashes will
double the orantity of Strawberries
Bets generatiy ONE uo too thick
Thin them out and transplant; cut OF
part cf the tops, and the transp'ents
Will make the best beets. Just so with
celery. But | don't propose to teach
old gardeners, for some OF them can
teach me. My ~neighbor, Mrs. Fields
IS the best gardner I know OF. and
am satisfied If I can keep up with her
/ have some Of my wonderful beans
planted to poles. The poles are from
eight to ten feet high. and it interests
me to see the bean vines reaching ur
to find something higher to cling to
The tendrills are now two Or three
feet higher than the poles. and still