Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-11-20
THE STORY OF MY GARDEN"
Prize Essay Of the York County Girls
Canning Club.

Prize Essay OF the York County Girls
Canning Club.
When the members of the York
County Girls Canning Club began
work the first Of the year, the authori-
ties announced that handsome prize
would be given the girl submitting the
best written report Of the years work.
At the York county fair in Rock Hill,
last month, nearly every member Of
the canning club submitted a report Of
the methods used in the cultivation Of
their respective tomato gardens. The
I essay Of Miss Hannah Stephenson Of
Hickory Grove, was adjudged to be the
best Following is the text Of Miss
Stephensons paper.
The Story of Ny Garden and Work.
By Hannah Stephenson.
This is my first year in the Canning
club. l Joined 1t for the purpose Of
| helping to provide for the home folks
and learn to prepare purer and better
| food, and also earn money for my per-
sonal needs and perhaps win some
county prizes and help York county.
|
| head, the hand, the heart and the
health-our motto Is Ito make the best
| better
Description Of My Garden.
My garden contains one-tenth Of an
acre. 1t is thirty-three feet wide and
| 1872 feet long, My garden was located
on a sloping hillside with ditch cut at
| the upper side TO prevent washing. My
soil is deep, sandy loan. 1t Is about
| fourteen inches deep. The subsoil Is a
yellow clay. This soil was selected be-
cause 1t was we'll drained and also
because tomatoes had not been grown
| on 1t the previous year, and the crop
that was grown on II In the previous
year was not injured by any disease
and thought this more suitable soil
| to grow tomatoes. The soil was broken
up early in the fall with a .two-horse
plow, and in the spring 1t was re-plow-
ed. On April 20, my garden was meas
| ured off and broad cast with horse
manure, and cut up with the disk har-
row. Then the rows were laid off. /
had ten rows, 1872 feet long. Then fer
tilizer was drilled in the rows and ridg-
ed on, and boarded off, Then ! was
ready to set my plants.
Fertilizers Used.
only used 100 pounds Of 16 per cent
phosphoric acid and so pounds Of 1922
Ashapoo guano and two tons Of horse
manure. My fertilizer did not cost IS.
How Raised My Plants.
first selected good rich soil and put
it in a box, then the soil was sprinkled
and the tomato seed were planted in
rows, two inches wide on March 80.
And then l pressed boards upon the
soil to hold moisture until the little
plants began to come up. Then / re-
moved the boards from the plants. l
sprinkled the bed late every evening to
keep the plants growing. did not re-
move the plants from the box to trans
plant them. l only applied more rich,
loose, fresh soil in between the rows.
This transplanting was done April 80.
How Cultivated My Garden.
Part Of my plants were put out May
and the rest were put out May 8. /
set them good and deep down in the
soil and covered them with brush to
keep the hot sun from killing them, al
though had to replant some anyway.
set my plants three feet apart, and
my rows were three feet wide, three
feet each way. On my ten rows I had
440 plants.
| After the plants were put out and
began to grow, the first work did was
to hoe them, and then after a nice
shower Of rain / raked them. After
few days they were hoed again and
plowed with three burrows, and on
June %, sprayed my plants with Bor-
deaux Mixture. Then my plants were
hoed again. pruned few of my later
plants. On July 9, my plants were
hoed and layed by.
| l noticed my first bloom June 6.
| n orc
way ILLUSTRATION here). / only put
narrow strips Of plank on each side OF
the row. OF course / did not pole all
of them. l put cane pummies in the
middles to keep the tomatoes off the
ground to prevent rotting and / just
| let some Of them lie on the ground.
But the rows that l striped made
larger yield Of tomatoes than the other
vines did. No insects bothered my
plants but tomato worms, and picked
them off.
| picked my first ripe tomato July %.
| gathered my tomatoes every day and
sorted them, put the large ones togeth-
er and the small ones so that when |
packed them the tomatoes would be the
same size in each can-as near as l
could get them.
| did not grow any other vegetables
on my one tenth Of an acre except to-
matoes.
Now l am going to tell you about
such a good time l had at one OF our
meetings. We had canning demon
stration meeting. Miss Garrison was
with us. We had to do our canning
inside the house because it was rain
| ing. We first sorted the fruit, and then
we began our work. We canned ap-
pies, peaches and tomatoes. Miss Gar
rison taught us how to can In tin and
glass cans.
1t had stopped raining by this time,
and we went outside and had nice
watermelon feast. We also had some
nice music by Miss Garrison, and one
of the club girls. l think the day was
very much enjoyed by every one.
What | have Learned About the Use
of Vegetables.
Vegetables are baked, roasted, fried
or boiled and are used for making
great variety Of dishes Tor the taple.
They are also prepared in many other
ways.
The simpler the methods Of cooking
and serving vegetables, the better. A
properly grown and we'll cooked vege-
table is more readily digestible. All
green vegetables and roots should be
| firm and crisp when ready to COOK. IL
they have lost their crispness and firm.
| ness, they should be soaked in cold
water until they become crisp. To Sc
cure the most appetizing dishes only
fresh and tender vegetables should be
used. If the vegetables have grown
| until they are a little tough, a Inch OF
soda should be dropped in the water In
which they are cooked to make them
| tender.
Some of the Recipes have Used.
Tomato sauce recipe, tomato soup
recipe, green tomato pickle recipe, ripe
tomato pickle recipe, vegetable soup
recipe.
| Yield of Ny Garden.
The whole yield from the crop or my
garden was only 1.049 pounds and IL
pounds for home use. l did not sell
any fresh tomatoes. l canned 211 cans:
NV work and cans cost me S19.95i. L
charged myself ten cents per hour for
NV work and seventy-five cents per
hundred cans. The value Of my can
ned tomatoes was estimated at $21.lO.
I only used a small amount Of vege-
tbles from my garden for home use.
Their value was II 81 cents. The pro-
fit from my tomatoes was only 1872.
Profit would have been larger, but my
tomato plants were put out too early
and drouth struck them and they
tbrau off all of the first CROP