The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-20
THE FARM AND THE GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO HOUSE
wIRE AND AGRTCULTURIsT-

-
mn-some Work TO he Done Now
Sow Grain-OverhnuI the Garden
Fire Blight of Pcars-ShreddinE
Fodder-POtntO Experiments.
At best it is not oftener than one
year in three that weather conditions
are as extensively favorable as they
have been this season for all that class
of work that the Southern farmer and
gardener Cor trucker) should have done
during the months of September and
October.
Except in d few instances, here and
there. there has not been too much
rain to injure the maturing and ma
tured crops, such as corn, cotton, hay,
sweet potatoes. Here in Middle Geor-
gia there has hardly been week since
the first Of August that land could not
be plowed and the crops appropriate
to autumn be put into the ground. The
late summer and autumn rains could
not have been better arranged for the
good of such crops as turnips, peanuts,
sweet potatoes, sugar cane, late corn,
hay and all garden crops. All of these
crops have been kept in "A Succulent
and growing condition, without inter-
ruption for six or eight weeks or more.
In fact, a good long period of rainless
wea ther would be very desirable for
sugar cane. potatoes and the like-the
limit of the growth of which being the
first hard frost-so that further growth
may be discontinued and matured
con dition be acquired.
a hard frost occurring when plants
are full of sap and in active state or
gro wing is more or less injurious to the
keeping qualities of nearly all of the
crops we have named. AT any rate,
it is very desira BILE that they be gath
cred in when the soil is fairly dry.
1t is an old saying in England that
it is a poor farmer that complains of
dry weather" and we long ago realized
that there is much truth in it.
But there are times in the South, es-
pecially when the farmer wants rain
and wants it badly. AS stated, it is
not Oftener than one year in three in
our section when the rains occur OPP
portunely for preparing the soil for
the fall crops, and then another suffi-
Gent to terminate them promptly, and
thus give them a good hold on the soil
before cold weather sets in.
We believe the main reason why
our farmers have not more generally
made fall sown grain and clover more
settled feature of their work is
from the fact that our autumns are
usually so dry it is not practicable to
get the crops established in proper
time. AS a consequence of these sow
ingS being made so late or on account
Of a lack of rain to bring them up in
time, many farmers have become set
against fall servings. Crops that
terminated only until November would
be Killed out by January freezes two
years out of three. whereas if the
same crops could be gotten up prior to
Oct 10 the January freezes would not
iniura them.
AS we have repeatedly affirmed in
these columns during the past twenty
years, the Southern farmer to attain
the highest success, must lay the foun-
dation Of his years work in the pre-
Vious fan. He cannot afford to neglect
the work that is appropriately done in
October and November.
Or the small grain, oats is the most
important crop, of course, to our farm
ers, but it is quite possible for every
one of them to grow their own wheat
If they would only cultivate it right.
Then there are barley and rye patch
es for grazing the mich cows and
calves, and there are clover patches
likewise to be had with little trou-
fall
The best part of any farm anywhere
is the part devoted to vegetables and
fruits. We call it the garden" 1t
should never embrace less than an
acre of good land. 1t should be made
good whether or no. The manure
should be piled on it without
stint and there should not
be a month in the year that the owner
of the garden could not Gull a very
good dinner from it. But allowing that
1t yielded nothing in January or Feb
ruary 1t should turn out a. host of
things for eight or nine months in the
year.
Unless man finds a real pleasure in
the work of farmer or gardener he is
not apt to get a fraction of what he
mig hit get. Farming and gardening is
by all odds the most interesting. in
structive employment that an intelli-
gent man can engage in, SAYS my
friend Martel of Downap. and l am dis
posed to agree with him. Martel has
ploWed and dressed his garden of one
acre for thirty years and as we stroll
ed through it last week, with the
CHEEKY nature-l0ving old man who left
his work of planting onions to show us
what man really loving the work of a
garden could do in October. We were
pleased; so much so that we will tell
our readers in the next issue something
we learned about how to grow onions
In the meantime we would advise our
readers to proceed at once to get the
garden in good order, to clean it of
weeds and trash, to pillow and lay it
or in three-foot rows and haul out the
manure and spread some of it along in
the burrows but the bulk of it spread
broadcast. The time is passing and it
Will be too late in a few weeks to plant
the onions and spinach and lettuce and
winter radish and cabbage and straw
berTies-ESsace.