Newport daily independent., 1918-02-15
Utilize Space to Better Advantage.
By J. s. Knox, Horticulturist.


 It is estimated that the acreage de- voted to home gardens in 1917 was from 200 to 300 per cent greater than the average year. This increased acreage was doubtless due to the. fact that almost as soon as war was de- clared against Germany last spring there went out a request from the Washington office that the home gar- den be given especial attention. There is no easier or better way to get an abundance of fresh vegetables than to grow them on our own soils. We have again been asked during 1913 to grow all of the vegetables we can in the home garden during 1913. The prospects for shortage of cars to haul foodstuffs or even short age of the food itself during 1918 are. greater than they were last year. The South has been asked to grow it's own supply of food during the war, and this we can easily do. There are few of our states that can feed their population more easily than can Ark
 
 rainfall, and can grow almost any vegetable that will grow elsewhere.
 Must Have Garden Plan.
 Few of us appreciate fully the value of garden plan. A plan of the gar den will enable you to utilize the space in the garden to better advan- tage, and consequently give you al greater amount of vegetables from a given area. A garden planting pro gram telling what variety of the diff ferent vegetables to plant and when to plant them can be had free of charge by writing to the Extension Division, Old Statehouse, Little Rock, Ark.
 Companion Cropping Is an Advantage.
 It is to our advantage where the space for gardening is limited to prac- tice what is known as companion crop ping. That is, of growing one crop between the rows of another. For in stance, turnips, radishes, or lettuce can be grown between longer season crops, such as potatoes, etc., and may be set between these rows. Some of the market gardeners around large cities often have two or even three crops on the land at the same time.
 Succession Cropping Produces
 Results.
 Another system of cropping the home garden, and this is where most of our Southern gardeners fail, is the system known as succession cropping. That is, we plant numper of short season vegetables which occupy the soil for only few weeks. All of these should be grouped as nearly to- gether as possible, so that after their period of usefulness we can take them out and plant something else in their place. Radishes, lettuce, peas and similar early maturing crops may be followed by tomatoes. pepper, egg plant, sweet corn, or a second plant ing of beans, squashes or cucumbers, or whatever vegetables you may pre- fer
 Fertilizer and Good Soil Increase
 Quality and Yield.
 Remember that no vegetable will thrive on a poor soil and have the quality that it would have if it were grown on fertile soil with plenty of available moisture. We'll routed stable manure is possibly the best fertilizer that we could use, but since many of the gardeners cannot secure supply of this fertilizer it will be necessary to resort to com mercial fertilizers. Potash is too high in price for us to use it liberally, but We can apply equal parts of cotton seed meal and acid phosphate at the rate of 1000 to 1.50o pounds per acre and ordinarily get fairly good results. If this amount is used it would be best to broadcast most of it and harrow into the soil, saving enough to apply 300 to 400 pounds in the row. mixing it with the soil before sowing the seed or setting the plants.
 Care Is Necessary.
 Keep the surface of the garden soil we'll stirred. 1t is much easier to combat grasses and weeds by keeping after them than it is to delay the cultivation until these things get hold on the soil. It will require only few minutes each week to take horse and harrow and clean the weeds out of the garden. The ends of the garden fence can be made of woven wire or poultry wire and put up in sections so 1t can be taken down while cultivating the garden. Grass and weeds use plant food that the vegetables need for their growth. Keep them out
 Write to Division of Publications. Washington. D. C.. for Farmers Bul- Ietin No S56, which tells how to com bot diseases and insect enemies of |ehe r6g6eu