The Mena weekly star., 1918-02-28
GROW VEGETABLES
 1913 HOME GARDEN
Plan os Garden VIII Knable Yes ts Utilize Space to Better
 Advantage.
By J. s. Knox. Horticulturist.

By J. S. Knox. Horticulturist It is estimated that the acreage ds- ~sted to home gardens in 1917 was from 200 to 800 per cent greater thku the average year. This increased acrseSe was doubtless due to the fact
 that almost as soon as war was de-
 slared against Germany last spring there went out s 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 1918 to grow all of the vegetables we can in the home garden during 1918. The prospects, for shortage of
 oars 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 ars few of our states that can feed their population more easily than can Ark
 ansas We have the soil, climate. and rainfall, and can grow almost any
 vegetable that will grow elsewhere. Must Have a Garden Plan. Few of us appreciate fully the value of 6 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 a
 greater amount of vegetables from .
 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 Advantags. It is to our advantage where the
 space for gardening Is limited to prao-
 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 number of shor'
 season vegetables which occupy the
 soil for only few weeks All oI
 these should be grouped as nearly to gether as possible, so that after theil period of usefulness we can take
 them ont and plant something else fl
 their place. Radishes, lettuce, pea,
 and similar early maturing crops ma,
 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 1t would have if it were grown on a fertile soil with plenty of available moisture. Well
 routed stable manure is possibly the best fertilizer that we could use, but since many of the gardeners came. secure a supply of this fertilizer fl
 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 1.5O0 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. It is much easier ts combat grasses and weeds by keepins after them than 1t is to delay the cultivation until these things Ret . hold on the soil. It will require only q few minutes each week to take a 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' Bur. lctin No s56. which tells how to com
 bat diseases and insect enemies of the garden