St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1911-01-14
~ Hoover heard of a lux
WI uriant garden fourishing
in the bowels of the earth
q subterranean paradise,

subterranean paradise,
where beautiful, sweet
scented flowers bloom and tasty vege-
tables for the dinner table mature
while icy winds and jack frost reign
with despotic power on the surface
above?
Whoever imagined that the soil OF
a dark, damp coal mine-after its
black treasures of carbon had been
exhausted to keep factory wheels in
motion and houses warm-could be
utilized for flower raising and truck
gardening?
1t has remained for an enterprising
Indianian-a Hoosier-to at least ex-
pertinent, with measure of success,
along Horticultural and horticultural
lines in the bowels Of the earth, at
depth where sunshine and rain never
pSpctrate. Frank B. Posey of Posey-
vile, Posey county, Indiana. is the
man who rivals Burbank the wizard,
and who has triumphantly realized a
lifelong dream. These names of city
dAO SOuASy AL kAO SASAShIV SSueA
western corner of the rich and fertile
Hoosier state, along the north bank
of the Ohio river, stand as the immor-
tai tributes paid to the Posey family
by the hardy pioneers who braved
the scalping redskins" to cultivate
the Indiana wilderness more than a
century ago.
Mr.. Posey is a worthy descendant
of that sire of mysterious lineage for
whom Posey county and Poseyville
were named. He has won renown on
his own account and accumulated ten
talents by judicious use of the one
his progenitors bequeathed him-fore-
sight.
The location of the Posey innova-
ton in Horticulture and gardening Is
between Poseyville and Boonville. 1t
Is an abandoned coal mine that had
been given up as serviceable only for
the habitation Of green lizards and
other Shiny denizens of dark, damp
recesses. During the winter of 1909
1910 the Posey plants thrived in the
old colliery. Did Mr.. Posey desire
tulip or a carnation with which to
add touch of nature to the decora-
lions of his drawing-room. he merely
went to the lift of his mine, decended
and picked the blossom. II his ap-
petite needed stimulant he brought
up radish, a green onion or a dainty
bunch of lettuce, endive or celery,
Grips, juicy and sweeter than any
ever grown in dollhouse. Does this
seem like an improbability?
Somebody living In Chicago heard
that Mr.. Posey was raising flower,
and vegetables in cavern hundreds
Of feet below the earth's surface. "Im-
possible" declared the Windy City
man. 1T requires sunshine and rain
to raise flowers and garden truck:
he can't do it,"
George AIDE. the humorist and pIay-
wright, and George Barr McCutcheon.
the novelist, friends of Mr.. Posey,
told the underground farmer about
the doubling Thomas"
"Humph." remarked Mr.. Posey. che
must be from Missouri and I've lived
close to the Missouri line too long not
to know what to do with him, I'll
show him!"
So Posey trudged through several
inches OF snow to the old mine shaft
and went down to the underground
spot where his blossoms were smiling
all oblivious Of the fact that it was
January. He pulled up some pink
radishes, dug up some lusty green
onions, picked handful of green
peas In pod, nipped off some lettuce
lunches. and several flowers. He mt
the collection in a box and shipped
1t to Col. ]. Ham Lewis, the "doubtin1
Thomas"
III you wish some more like these !"
wrote the Indianian in a note ba IN.
closed In the box, Il would be pleased
to help you, Ode or McCutcheon
gather them In my mine garden"
Origin Of the Mine Garden.
And how did the mine garden coma
about? It is an interesting lifts
story. Several years ago Posey. hav.
Ing arrived at the conclusion that
Asia Is for the Asiatics and China
Tor the Chinese" began to wonder II
Indiana should not be to the Hoosiers
II TOOK MIN only short time to de-.
eide that question for himself.
Then Posey got busy and soon wa !.
hard at work with some laborera II
cleared away the ruins on the sur.
race. erected a frame building over
the shaft and installed heating an.
paratus. He put in simple ventilatinp
machinery, constructed q small e,e.