The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1908-03-14
The Joys and Woes Of
Gardening
Mistress Mary. quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?

How does your garden grown"
When we determined on making
garden" in the very inviting plot that
lay to the west of the house, 1t was
with a calm confidence begot of read
ing such aphorisms as Tickle the
ground with a hoe and it will laugh
into harvest" and other such hand
made maxims. Our first investment
was in the services of neighboring
farmer who plowed and narrowed the
space Of about half an acre which we
intended to use in the experiment. 1t
was a good thing. Never listen to
anyone who tells you to spade up the
ground. Anyone who deliberately ad-
vises a man to spade up garden is
at for treason, strategems and spells.
1t would make graduate of West
Point hump-shouldered In half a day.
Hoeing is mere child's play compared
to spading up soil.
4 When this job OF plowng and har-
rowing was completed, the weeds,
which had lain dormant during the
winter, spraug forward with glad
shout and proceeded to preempt every
solitary square inch of territory avail
able in the garden patch, and Shout
der out of the way, or smother in pure
"cussedness" any lone volunteer veg
etable from the last years garden.
There is this to be said about weeds.
They know what they want, and they
go after it. You take bunch of purs-
lane, commonly known as 'pussley,"
and give it half chance and it will
go all over your garden in week, and
develop more, longer, and thicker ten
tacles than a devil-fish.
!. Meantime, we had sent on for our
garden seeds to Philadelphia, and
with true Quaker elaboration, they
were still considering the question of
forwarding the order. After couple
of letters, one imploring and the other
indignant, the seeds finally arrived on
the scene of action. A book which
accompanied them showed beautifully
colored half-tones of mammoth vege-
tables grown from that particular
brand of seed, and with the picture
went a grist OF directions as to just
how to prepare the ground so as to
attain the best results possible.
A careful scrutiny of the formula
laid down revealed the fact that the
best kind of ground for these unriv-
sled and carefully selected seeds was
q soft, warm, moist, loamy, rich. high
Hru trr;au
which must be kept constantly stirred
ND night and morning by systematic
hoeing, and which yielded best when
kept absolutely free from clods and
insects.
A neighbor of mine told me that he
planted onion-sets with a Winches-
ter repeating shotgun, as it saved
time. He planted them this way, six
at time. simply drawing the shot out
of each shell and replacing with an
onion-set, and firing the sets" into
the ground as fast as he could load
and discharge the weapon. He said
they never failed to come up. l rec
ommend this plan to anyone who Is
rushed for time, as my neighbor as
sured me it was one of the greatest
labor saving devices of the age. There
is a green joyance in newly sprout
ing onion bed that is enough to draw
tears from an enthusiastic amateur
gardener. Indeed, later on, they Otter
draw tears from those handling and
peeling them.
Cecile and I worked very diligently
at our garden. My attire was mainly
a hickory shirt, pair of brown over
alls, and a close-fitting mantle o.
logged determination. My better-hal
superintended the annoying details
rugged out as to headgear with blue
sunbonnet, and finding considerable
F. comfort in eating green curranti
which had been planted at the edg'
of the garden by the latest inhabitan
of the farmhouse. The baby rolled IL
the dirt and got cramps from eatinl
green gooseberries, and the neighbour
helped us with friendly advice ant
valuable. l was credibly informed
after planting lot of cabbage seed
that it would probably come up som
time in February, or maybe January
But that If 1 really wanted cabbag
during the summer or fall l woul'
have to procure young plants and Sc
them ont.
So / went to town and negotiate
for IS young and vigorous cabbag
plants and set them out with a hear
beating high with pictures of 'slaw,
'krout" and other delicacies in whic'
the meek and lowly cabbage plays
star part dug hole for every sir
gle one of these devoted plants. an
poured a generous supply of water i
each miniature cave in which the
were set. i think there was nearly a
much ceremony over every one G
them as there would be at the layin
of the cornerstone of million-dolla