Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1917-04-06
BACK YARD GARDENS
CUT DOWN FOOD COST

main articles of food-vegeta
has risen in price from sixteen to
siXty-five per cent. during the past
few years-We begin to realize the
possibilities for economy which lie in
the cultivation of our, for the most
part, unused back yard garden plots.
1t really takes only a very small
space of ground to grow enough
vegetables to supply the average
family, not alone for daily table use
during the summer, but also for use
during the winter months when
prices go so high as to be almost
prohibitiye.
The Importance of the back yard
as a garden has been emphasized in
Prussia since the war The cult
walton of every available spot Of
ground was made mandatory and the
increased production thereby proved
an important factor in Germany's
successful endeavor to feed herself.
The value of back yard gardening
in this country was emphasized by
the unique Pingree Patch Plan.
In brief, the plan was to utilize,
for gardening purposes, back yards,
vacant lots scattered about the city
of Detroit and the large stretches of
unOccup1ed lands in the suburbs.
Permission was obtained from the
owners of the land to allow men
who We're out Of employment to
turn this vacant property to cult
walton and thereby accomplish
two-fold object-give the idle labor
ers something with which to busy
themselves, and, at the same time,
viding subsistence for their families.
The seed was supplied free by the
committee in charge of the work,
but the crops were planted, cultivat-
ed and harvested by the laborers
themselves-and with remarkable re-
suits In 1894, the first year OF
the experiment, about $50 acres in
all were planted in this way, the
crops harvested amounting to thou
sands of dollars in value. Close to
thousand families were thus pro-
vided with provender to tide them
over the winter 1t was estimated
that the potato crop alone averaged
fifteen bushels per family, to say
nothing of the crops Of beans, tur-
nips and other vegetables which
were raised and consumed during
the summer
In 1895 the plan was repeated, lots
being distributed this time among
about fifteen hundred families. The
results the second year were even
more gratifying than they were the
first.
The work of laying out a garden
has been so much simpllfled dur
ing the past few years that garden
ing is now something which even
the most inexperienced can carry
out with an assurance Of success.
Take planting, for instance. Instead
Of planting seeds one at a time, as
we did few years ago, we can
now plant a whole row at a time.
The new way is to plant strip OF
seeds instead Of handful Of seeds.
This may sound queer If you have
not been following the recent de-
velOpments in the methods of seed
planting, but it is a fact just the
same. Instead Of buying a package
Of loose seeds, one now buys
roll of seed tape, so that all that
it is necessary to do is to mark a
row and then plant in it strip OF
tape. This new method enables the
novice to plant his garden quite as
properly and scientifically as the ex-
perienced gardener.
The advantages of this new method
of planting are that the planting
itself is so much easier, being rid
of it's back-breaking labor; no thin
ming out is necessary because the
seed is properly spaced in the tape
and the carefully selected seed prac-
tically assures full termination.
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