The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-09-15
Planning a Better Home. That Yard
of Yours. The Garden and How
1t Ought to be. The Problem Of
Chickens and Geese on the Farm.

The time is at hand when you
ought to be planning that better
yard of yours and getting things done
in the season when it will be the
most easily accomplished and bring
the best results. Spring setting is
all right for almost anything that
you are going to set in the yard,
but spring blowing and spring grad
ing are not all right. This part of
the work should be done in the fall,
and the fertilizing should be done
at the time of blowing. That does
not have to be done early in the
fall, but if there are weeds on the
ground they should be taken off be-
fore they get ripe. Get the tract
rid of all the weeds; pile them up
to dry and then burn them. Get
the ground cleared of all the OBJ
structions you can and when you are
ready to plow and grade, do a good
job of it. Pillow right up to the walls
of the house as close as you can,
and do not be afraid to burst up
that old burnt and packed dirt along
the caves and the path and where
you have thrown out the wash water
till it is parched and packed like
a brick. Don't entertain the idea
that it will ever grow anything with
out being ~pulverized and fertilized.
Don't hold the idea that you can
work your old yard over and leave
the old paths and the old humps
and bumps and make the job easier
by skipping some of it that looks all
right to you now. By the time you
get the rest of it fixed up right, the
part that has been the best will be
in the way and it will look like a
sore thumb IN a good hand. Burst
it up and make it like the rest. You
may have to just use one horse on
the plow to get at some of the
streaks about the building, and you
may have to use the pick and shovel
and use the scraper on the end OF
a chain, but the task is worth 1t.
Clear the decks and make a clean
job of it, and never mind the incon-
venience of the day. You have prob
ably gotten into a rut anyway, and
need to make as radical a change in
your surroundings as possible to let
your mind get a new grasp on what
is needed. You will find it will be
a rest to you almost as good as a
vacation, to find all the old stuff dis
appeared. Don't be afraid you will
not get it done in half a day or a
day. Remember you work for weeks
in the field to fix up a tract about
right, and when you concentrate on
the door yard it will be a compare
lively short job, and you can't afford
to slight it to save an hour or a day
and then have it imperfect. That
door yard will be the index Of the
kind of man you are, when you get
it done over to suit you. II you do
q good job of it you will rise in the
estimation of your fellow men, and
they will be making excuses for the
way your yard has looked in the
past. When you get done grading
put the water on and see II 1t is
perfect. If it is not, you will have
time to let it dry and finish the job
before it is too late. Then put on
a heavy coat Of we'll rotted manure
and pillow deep, Put on another coat
and let it lie for the winter. You
will probably have to mix it in ty
band close to the house, and If YOU
think it doesn't matter about it be-
ing done we'll right up to the house,
remember that the way to make
your place look good is to have things
growing that climb up the walls.
You can't set a climber of any kind
in a big bank of hardpan or adobe
and have it flourish. Neither can you
plant seeds of dainty little plants
for borders and have them grow well
unless there is a bed of deep loose
rich soil for them to draw upon.
Just unload plenty of the fertilizer
right up to the walls and spade 1t
over till you have it we'll mixed to
a depth of a foot or a foot and a
half all the way around. That is the
price you pay for having a beautiful
place, but you don't have to pay that
price over again each year. If you
do it right once it will be right for
a number of years, and by that time
you will feel so much pride and in