The Delta independent., 1909-03-05
Professors of
Che State College
Hmpart Useful
@ m st Information
Preparing for the Home Garden.

J
Every year at this time comes flood
of seedman's catalogues, very be-
wildering in the wealth of materials
offered, and sometimes in the over
drawn descriptions and illustrations.
Fortunately the half-tone reproiuc
from a phoiogr raph is coming to be
used more and more by the better
class of seedsmen. AT the present
time, indeed, the use of cheap wood
cuts greatly exaggerating plants and
their products marks the fakir among
seedmen. The most notorious of these
offenders is located at La Crosse, Wis
consin The character of this firms
advertising would be very ludicrous
were it not for the serious fact that
many are taken in by this sort of yell
low journalism. Packages of beans
retailed by them under high-sounding
name at Is cents package Q9O8) had
by weight only about one-third as
many seeds as packages of the same
variety sold under their true names at
10 cents per package by reliable seed
houses. Moreover, the percentage of
viable seeds ran considerably lower.
The first duty, then, in the prepara-
your scotsman. TIE second is to plan
the garden itself. This does not mean
to do it haphaZard, but to draw out the
garden to a scale, for example, one
inch to ten feet, and indicate by lines
where each row of each vegetable is to
go. The third important thing is to
order as early as possible. You secure
much better seeds in this way, because
the dirt has a way of working to the
bottom, and late in the season if the
SEEDS are kept in bulk there is more
chance of getting a lot of chaff and
broken seeds.
Make hot bed and have some early
plants to set out when the proper sea
son comes. Beets, cabbage, caulifiower,
celery, egg plants, lettuce, peppers and
tomatoes are all best started in this
way. You will need some cold frames,
also, in which to harden off the plants
later in the season. 1t is absolutely
necessary that the soil in which egg
plants, peppers and tomatoes are started
shall be sterilized by baking in the
oven, or they will fail to produce much
fruit, because of the prevalence of
fusarium blight in Colorado soils. The
other plants, also, will be benefited
by this process.
Apnonn nther tbippc to rap,ar,hav
to plant succession of varieties, es-
pecially of those vegetables that are
sown directly in the garden tabbage
plants grown in the field can be used
for late varieties to follow those from
early varieties grown in the hot bed.
Sow some of the harder plants even
earlier than all your neighbors are
accustomed to do. You may lose them
one or two years and have to replant,
but the year you succeed in pulling
them through will more than repay the
losses of the other years.
If you have large garden, plan to
use as much horse work as possible
Set the plants little farther apart for
this purpose. Make the lines straight
and parallel for the better accomplish
ment of tillage. If the garden is
smaller use the wheel hoes. drills, etc. j,
(Planet, Jr.. Iron Age. New Model,
etc. as much as possible and save time
and backaches. They will pay for
themselves in this way in short time
At anv rate, have garden. if only
in the back yard of city lot. The
amount of good one can gain from it
cannot be measured in dollars and
cents.
LESLIE F. PAUL.,
Colorado Agricultural College, Fort