Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-04-11
Prenarinu the Garden.

Any one who has a little patch OF
back yard can have a vegetable gar
den this year. BY all means make the
effort. 1t can not only furnish you
with delicious, fresh vegetables, but
you will get health and pleasure out Of
its care.
II your soil is sandy 1t will produce
the early crops to great advantage, and
you can get radishes, lettuce, and sim
liar vegetables several weeks ahead OF
your neighbor with a clay garden, but
the sandy soil does not stand the hot
dry weather OF the summer months as
well as the clay or loan. For this
reason 1t is usually desirable to cover
a very sandy plot with several inches
of barnyard manure and loan or black
muck soil to give 1t some body and
moisture retaining power. This top
dressing should be evenly spread on
Just before blowing in the spring and
It should be thoroughly turned under.
A loamy soil is ideal for general gar
den crops, the sandy loan being lit
tie earlier, and the clay loan little
better in the hot weather Loan soils
do not need any other treatment than
manure, every other year, unless the
location is too wet II this is the
case, either surface or tile drainage
will have to be installed in order to
secure the best results.
Clay. either blue, yellow or red, is
about the toughest proposition the gar
dener has to tackle. II possesses plant
food In abundance and can be made to
bear profitably, but 1t will need lot
of cultivation and treatment of various
kinds before 1t can be handled with
ease. In the first place it must be
plowed or spaded deeply in order to
break up the solid texture of the soil.
Large quantities of well rotted ma
nure containing considerable straw
should be plowed under every year.
and at the same time 1t will be well
to pillow under about two inches of
sand, or sandy loan. After the last
crop has been taken of any portion Of
the garden in the fall, SOW the vacant
ground to some fast growing cover
crop and turn 1t under Just before frost
cuts 1t down. All OF these factors will
assist in loosening a heavy firm soil,
allowing better penetration of air and
water and reducing the tendency Of
the soil to form large hard clots.
Don't strip the soil from a new gar
den. Turn It under by all means, as
1t will make the texture of the soil
very much better. The greater the
amount Of decaying plant matter you
can incorporate in the soil, the better
will be your crop.
Pillow or spade your garden as, soon
as the soil is dry enough to "scour"
of the plowshare nicely. Flowing be-
fore this will leave the soil In a clod-
ded or puddled condition and 1t will
take a couple of years hard work to
correct this mistake, IL the soil il
heavy. With sandy or loamy soils the
time Of blowing is not so important as
they are not liable to form clods, and
they can be plowed when much drier
than a clay. The owner of the clay
patch or the muck garden, has to be
extremely careful regarding this i'm
portant feature, however.
After blowing, the treatment Of all
kinds of soil is practically the same.
Cultivate, rake or harrow the soil un-
til the surface, which is known as the
seed bed, is as fine as you can possibly
get 1t. The finer the better for all
kinds Of seed This is because the par
ticles Of soil can get into closer physi-
cal touch with the little seeds and
plant roots. They hold the soil water
closer, and make their food contents
much more available for the roots.