The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1914-05-15
-aos FEET

under for our vegetable garden. In
this way the mulching material serves
q twofold purpose-a cover for the
vines and bushes during the winter
and manure and humus-making mate
rial for the garden the next spring.
In the vegetable garden, which is
60x2OS feet, We plant beans, peas,
tomatoes, early cabbage, peppers, car
rots, turnips, beets, and other veget-
Rb:es in long rows and cultivate with
horse. The only vegetables grown
in beds are radishes, lettuce, small
picking onions and various plants for
transplanting into rows.
Tomatoes are set three feet apart
and trained to barrel hoops fastened
to stakes. This takes little more
time and labor than to allow them to
spread over the ground, but the fruit
is of better quality and ripens more
evenly. We have found the Clark's
Early Jewel, Acme and Ponderosa the
most satisfactory varieties for home
use.
We grow cucumbers in rows and
find it the most satisfactory way for
small plot Early peas and string
beans are planted in rows "a inches
apart, but late peas are planted In
double rows with 30-inch chicken
wire between for the vines to run UP
on. We plant the Burpee Bush Lima
bean instead of the pole beans, be-
cause they are much easier to grow.
They are by no means as prolific.
but two rows halfway through the
garden gives us all we can use green
shelled during their season and enough
dry beans for winter. We grow pep
pers about the same as tomatoes, ex-
cept that we do not train the plants
to grow up on stakes or barrel hoops.
We have practiced intensive culture
, with the best of results. BY using
plenty of manure, fertilizers and
mulching material we have been able
to get good crops each year. We pillow
deeply and apply lime, wood ashes
and chemicals to the soil to keep 1t
sweet and kill various insect pests.
Such crops as onions, radishes, let
tuce, beets, peas and cabbage that a
light frost will not injure, are put in
as soon as the soil will permit.
AS soon as these early vegetables
are out of the way we replace them
with cabbage, tomatoes, turnips and
other late vegetables. We also plant
seeds of the same vegetables at diff
ferent times so that we may prolong
their seasons. In this way we can
have corn, tomatoes, peas, string
beans and other early truck until in
the fall. The surplus of beets, tur
nips, cabbages and other winter veg
etables make valuable supplement
to the fowls rations in the winter.
We have no permanent place for
our strawberry beds, as they are ro-
tated with the garden crops from year
to year. We usually put out 600
plants each year. We frequently re-
new an old bed IL 1t shows unusual
promise, or IL the newly-started bed
does not get well-started early in the
season. However, as a rule, believe
II pays best to start new beds each
year, because in rich garden soil the
old matted rows afford a fine breed
ing place for rank growing weeds.
We depend upon our own beds for
about one-half of the plants we put
out each year and usually buy from
200 to 800 plants of some of the
standard varieties. Our favorite ber-
ries are the Dunlap, Glen Mary, Clyde
and Marshall
The whole acre Is inclosed with
poultry-tight fence. This does not de-
prive the fowls of their liberty and
they cannot ,njure the garden. No
attempt has been made to plant and
arrange fruits and vegetables artis-
tically; and main effort has been to
get the greatest return for the time
and work expended. Ours Is simply
a farmers home acre.