The Springfield herald., 1913-05-23
BACK YARD FARMER
Interesting Pointers on Garden
ing for the City Man or
Suburbanite.
WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN
Advice by an Expert on Agricultural
Matters-care Of the Garden
Raising Sweet Peas-Hot
Weather Pointers.
BY PROF. JOHN WILLARD eoLTE.

BY PROF. JOHN WILLARD BOlTe.
Every man with, available land
should make some kind OF garden
on 1t. About one man In three who
could have nice little garden plot in
the city has one Almost everybody
in the suburbs has both lawn. flowers
and vegetable garden.
The fascination of this delightful
pastime is amply demonstrated by the
fact that so many people make gar
dens every year and yet the majority
of these gardens are failures to
greater or less degree. They start
out beautifully, with the warm, fresh
mellow earth turned over from its
winters rest, and the little delicate
seedlings following the warm rains.
The first crops. small things like
radishes aAd lettuce, develop fairly
well and the gardener puts in his
late crops with great expectations.
When the hot, dry weather of late
June and early July arrives the plants
begin to shrink and shrivel. They
turn brown and enter into kind Of
dormant state, neither advancing nor
retreating, worthless as food proyid-
ers and certainly unhandsome to view
This unthrifty summer condition
knocks out the most satisfactory
crops, corn, beans, tomatoes, cucum-
bers, etc. The worst of 1t Is that the
same thing happens to the same gar
dens, year after year, and the best of
1t is that 1t need not happen at all
If the gardener will use his head as
much as his back, and use both OF
them good deal.
The two great causes OF garden
failures are lack of proper cultivation
and lack of available plant food. In a
humid climate 1t should never be nee
essary to water the garden IL the soil
is in proper condition to hold the nat
ural rainfall 1t needs to be plowed
deeply. cultivated finely. firmed down
well to make capillary connection be-
tween the soil water below and the
plant roots above, and then the sur
face must be hoed, and hoed and
hoed. Never let up on the hoeing.
A single weed will evaporate many
times its own weight In valuable soil
water every day. II you permit the
top soil to bake or a crust to form.
direct means is established for the
soil water to evaporate and 1t will
leave the soil as rapidly as it would
an open dish and possibly more rap.
idly. Do your best to keep your gar.
den covered with an inch of fine, dry
dust all the summer through. The
roots will go deep and the plants will
get all the water there Is.
tain plant food and the best plant
food is rotten vegetable matter. Make
compost heap in some out-of-the
way corner or in large box. Here
throw your stable manure. grass clip
pings, leaves, waste vegetables. her
manure, in fact. anything that will
rot Keep it moist and keep flies
away from it. Grass sod is an excel
lent foundation for a compost hear
and 1t is extensively used by florists
Use plenty of the compost on youl
garden. plowing 1t under, and be care
full not to put in too much straw. as
that will dry out the soil. The com
post will increase the water-holdine
capacity of the soil, 1t will permit oi
better ventilation. 1t furnishes PLAN
food of all kinds. 1t lightens heavy
soil and stiffens sandy one.
II you wish to brace up weak
plants and force them this summer
fill barrel half full of manure and
cover with water. The liquid result
Ing Is the finest kind OF quick acting
fertilizer. Pour 1t about the plants
to be forced, and the effect will be
Immediately perceptible.