Putnam patriot., 1911-04-28
How 10 Grow Vegetables.
BY F. ROCKWELL

Many family near small cities and in rural districts bug everything that they use in the way of vegetables, while in great number Of these eases vegetables should be supplied by the home garden. The actual cash outlay for such q garden need not exceed a | few dollars, and the saving in expenses will save not only that, but enough to repay handsomely all time expended t9 say nothing of the fun of making a garden, and the fact that you can grow bettcr vegetables than you can buy.
 Select a spot in as sunny a place as possible, sloping slightly to the south or east if you can find one, or sheltered to the north or west. Look for the kind of soil known as "light sandy | loam the sort that cfumbles up nicely in the hand without sticking to | It. But do not be discouraged if, from | the necessity of making the garden near home, you have to be satisfied with a different soil. If it is rather heavy, cultivation the year previous, or ploughing the fall before, will have helped 1t greatly. Such soil will be improved mechanically by the appli cation of stable and barn yard manure wood, or even coal ashes, or any routed vegetable matter.
 As soon as the frost is out, and the ground can be worked without beco m. ing sticky" operations should be toe . gun without moments delay. Every day missed means some garden oppor- tunity gone-lrreVocably. If the gar den is very small one, it may be broken up with spade or flat-tined fork, but if there is room enough for a horse to turn around in it, by all means have it ploughed. A plough will lift, turn up, and break tip the soil as no hand digging can. If the job has to be done by hand, see to 1t that the soil is dug as deep as possible, and each forktu turned completely upsidedoWu. It should be stirred, whether by plough or spade, down to the sub soii the layer of earth under. lying, and usually harder chan, and of a different color ta, the rich top soil. II the land is not naturally well drain- ed, and you can get a man who under stands the work, have il "suo sotledn al the time of ploughing. This breaks ! up the hard second surface, and pro- yides additional drainage and thor ough drainage k one ot the most lm- portant requirements of good garden
 When having the ploughing done, be sure to get someone who understands the work, even if at some inconveni. ence. If you begin operations with a
 poorly ploughed piece, you will work
 with very serious handicap.
 Before taking up the preparation of the seed-bed, The question Of fertilizers
 requires attention. If you want the ground to feed you, you must first feed
 Il, and in proportion as you do so are
 the results likely 10 prove satisfactory.
 And with such small family of vege-
 tables as you will have 10 feed in the
 home garden, there is no excuse for
 stinting. What will they need9 Nj frozen, phosphorie acid and potash;
 but you will have to supply them in one or more of many mixtures. Ii
 you can get it, rely principally on old,
 soeA rotted stable manure, preferably
 that of horses and cows mixed, and if
 pigs have run on 1t, So much the bet
 ter. With a layer of this three inches
 thick ploughed into your garden
 patch, you will be certain to raise a
 tremendous crop of something-wheth- CT tempting vegetables, or . forest os