Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-02-08

BOYS CAN MAKE GARDEN PAY.
NO Better Training in Soil and
Seeds Than This Work and
Good Profit Besides.
BY W, MILTON KELLEY, NEW YonK

o1 W. MILTON KELLEY, NEW YORK.
EVERY boy should have some way to
make his own spending money. Self
reiiahce Is one of the most noble traits
Vi character a boy or man may pos
sess. All boys would not make good
gardeners, hofsemen, cattle breeders.
SWINE breeders, sheep men or poultry
men, put each boy should have a pref
erelice Tor some one kind of farming
ana try to induce his father to LET
MN start in some kind of little bust
ness for himself.
For boy who has but a few dollars
10 invest and who is located close to
some large village, summer resort or
city well-managed truck patch can
be made profitable business and will
AFFORD him a good income during the
summer and fall
For a truck patch a warm, sandy
,oahl is the best kind of soil to select,
because II is easier to work, and, the
sou peihg loose, the roots of the plant
ma IL much easier to reach out in
search for their food.
AS soon as the seed sprouts the root
goes down into the ground and the stalk
comes upward into the air. The root
goes down because of the food of tho
plant being in the ground and If is tho
business of the root to suck up this
1000 SO that the plant may be no,1r-
lshed and grow. 1t is a Sort Of n
stomach for the plant.
IL 1t mad no root it would not grow
any more than a boy would grow If
ne mad no stomach in which to put his
1000. The root has numerous small
NOUNS or openings that resemble a
sponge, put as the plants feed by them
we cal them mouths, but do not think
81 tnem as real mouths. These are in
,he me parts of the roots that YOU see
hanging to the main branches.
"hen we transplant plant to an
otner part of the garden we must he
careful not to break off these tinv
roots' or the plant will die lust the
same as you would if you would ston
eating. ''op
The different plants grow in tho
ground just the same as the differe,t
people i've from a well-supplied table
11aeh plant chooses its own food Just
Tue same as a person.
sometimes one plant requires differ
ent 1000 than another and will not do
wen on the same kind of soil. When
.nls is the case we must feed the plant
py putting in the soil the. kind of food
.nat II needs, for all plant food must
oe hrst put in the soil to be acted
upon by the air and water before #
can be sucked up by the mouths of the
plant. ~ 'iie
mus we see that all plants require
iood just the same as we do and all
the Time they are sending OFF inv
roots In search of food. If we were
hungry and wanted a piece of meat
or bread we would go to the cunhoar I'd
ana reach in after it, but if q miami ;s
hungry 1t must send its roots after tic
food. 'ei 10
you want to make sure of this trv
ourying piece of meat or bread he
sue the roots Of plant or a. tree and
'heh notice in few weeks and see
nov the Tiny roots reach out in search
OF II as you would if you were hungry
ana went to your mothers cupboard
But instead of feeding plants VIII,
meat, bread and potatoes we find II
better to feed them with decomnosed
vegetable matter, stable n,annra
ground bone and other foods that arc
- 'iS utlloil Oh the Air and
water IN the soil to make available fo,,
the mouth of the plant to suck IN ,nd
use for food. Thus you NAV under-
STAND why we feed plants lust the
same as we feed ourselves.
Manure is the best and che.nee+
pant food, as it supplies the plant
with food and at the same time makes
the texture of the soil better, so that
II Will hold more moisture and ba
more loose and mellow, thus giving the
roots and fibers a chance to reach out
further in search Of food.
You have all seen a calf tied ont
with rope and all of the grass that
IL could reach eaten down close. What
would happen if it were left in that
one place? 1t would surely. die for
want of food
You have also seen plants that were
set out in hard, lumpy soil where
there was very little food They are
ike the calf that is tied with a short
rope They have exerted all of their
strength in reaching after food, and
unless we supply them with it or
transplant them to more fertile soil
they will die just the same as the calf
would if left tied with a short rome
80 you see. without an abundance of
plant food and good tillage we cannot
grow good crops or garden truck.