Evening star., 1914-07-11

garden. Also there have been several
requests for tender young carrots, to be
stewed and creamed. About one bunch
of carrots year is all my family has
ever used. so l planted none. l am told.
though that carrots are about the most
healthful vegetable that grows. so next
year we will try to learn to like them.
am going to have plenty of corn. toma-
toes and beets. and am hopeful of a sur
plus Of lima beans. I planted limas lib
orally enough to supply score of fami-
lies. but because of poor seed or the
weather or both only about one bean in
twenty sprouted. and even the plants
that did come up do not seem to be as
thrifty as they should be. ! am told there
hasn't been enough hot weather to make
lima beans come along properly.
Hunch on Lima Beans.
I have a big hunch on lima beans
which I am going to put in operation
next year. l got it as a result of this
years poor stand. The plants in sew
eral rows were so thin that I decided to
double them up by transplanting. though
I had understood the transplanting of
lima beans was not considered feasible.
] did the work one evening during that
spell of daily rains. which may account
for my success. Out of more than fifty
died. and those which I moved from one
location to another appear to be doing
well as those which were undisturbed.
Now. here is where the hunch comes In:
If lima beans can be transplanted in the
open. why cannot they be started in hot
beds in paper pots long before the sea-
son for outdoor planting and transferred
to the open when settled warm weather
comes? am going to give it trial next
year. and n succeed I'll have lima
beans to sell when they are bringing -
cents and 81 quart box in market.
] also have succeeded in transplanting
cantaloupes. though that is not done ac-
cording to the books. I did it merely as
an experiment when forced to thin out
the plants in my hills. and while the
transplanted ones are not growing as
apidly as those remaining in the hills
from which they were taken. they ought
to make melons almost as soon. So next
year I'm going also to try starting can
taloupes in hotbeds. I read in a farm
paper recently that sweet corn. too. could
be started in this way. giving corn for
the table weeks earlier than it could be
had otherwise doubt if this would pay
as business proposition. but there is al
ways rivalry among gardeners to see
who can have the first mess of corn, and
if a man could start few dozen stalks
of corn this way he would have his
neighbors beaten mile.
Plan for Six-Acre Garden.
My idea. though. In planning for hot
bed is mainly utilitarian. I want to grow
my own tomato. cabbage and lettuce
plants not so much to save the cost OF
buying them. but because better and
sturdier plants may be had by growing
them at home neighbor of mine
started tomato plants in a box in the
kitchen. transplanted them into pots and
placed them under glass out of doors in
March. and hardened them off in the
open air when the weather got warmer.
The plants were almost ready to bloom
when he set them out, and as the roots
didn't have to be disturbed they began
to grow almost at once. In consequence
he has been using ripe tomatoes for some
time while mine Just beginning to
show color It's about the same with
lettuce. 1t is almost impossible to get
lettuce to head up unless the plants are
started in a hotbed and transplanted.
Seed dealers will get lettuce plants for
you if you place order. but the plants
are delicate it is necessary to replant
them almost soon as they are taken
from the hotbed
My experience this summer has taught
me that gardening is mighty hard work,
and if I am going to do that hard work
want to get the maximum of pleasure
as well as pIoIt OUT Vi H. lie carrier
can have vegetables and the more per-
fectly l can grow them the greater will
he my pleasure. and certainly. my profit
will not be less.
If I had a full sized farm with an ade-
quate working capital would like to
raise live stock. hogs and cattle but on
small place market gardening IS un-
| doubtedly the most profitab BILE and the
safest line. l know that market garden
ers have their bad years and that almost
every year one or more crops are partial
or complete failures. but in diversity
there is the maximum of safety. 1t
would have to be bad year. indeed,
when intelligent gardening of good land
could not be made to pay. If one crop
fails something else can be grown in its
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