Evening star., 1919-05-11
MAKING A VICTORY GARDEN


Results-that is what tho homo
food producer is looking for. What
is going to be the met profit? The
victory gardener. like the business
man. Is naturally interested in that
question. for, after all. 1t is only the
results that count.
But the victory gardener must re-
member that he is doing more than
merely raising food. He is fighting
the battle against bolshevism. Over
every garden in America this year
could be raised this sign: For Home
and Country" The soldier of the
soil belongs to the law and order
league, as opposed to those who
would overthrow the existing social
order and make the home insecure.
Therefore. in addition to caring for
his own garden. every home producer
should talk gardens and get as many
other people as possible interested In
this great patriotic movement. This
will be one of the big results of gar
dening. and certainly 1t IS worth
striving for. This should be one of
the biggest incentives in your work.
sane America.
Make it a point, therefore. to keep
all your garden working all the time.
You can do this by careful succession
planting. For instance. when early
cabbage comes off, plant late carrots.
beets or turnips. Follow the early
peas with late tomatoes. sweet corn
or celery. Follow onions from sets
with turnips or spinach. Early po-
tatoes may be followed by spinach,
late cabbage or other crops.
Did you get the early peas planted
on time? If not. get the ground
ready now and plant the midsummer
and late varieties like Gradus. Cham
pi9n of England, Motifs Excelsior,
Telephone and others These may
go in at one time. and they will be
usable at different times because some
lake longer to mature than others.
Prepare the ground in good shape.
working in some manure if possible.
Ma ke burrows about four inches deep
and scatter the seed along the bot
tom, using quart to 100 feet of row.
Cover the seed two inches deep, and
as the plants grow give frequent cul-
tivation to keep the weeds down.
These late varieties are rank grow
ers and will need to be supported by
strings to hold the plants.
1t is good rule to remember that
some other plants also grow better
if they are trained on poles or other
support. and, besides, they do not take
up so much room and you can prob
ably plant about twice as many
plants in the garden. For instance,
If you train your tomatoes TO a
single stem and tie them to stakes
they will ripen sooner; and by this
method it permits the planting of
such vegetables as radishes, lettuce
and beets in the rows between the
tomato Plants.
When your turnip plants are three
or four inches high thin out the
extra ones. leaving the others three
inches apart. The tops of those Thin
ned out make good green's. The
richer the soil the better the turnip,
because it must grow quickly to be
tender and sweet Begin using tur-
nips while they are rather small. so
as not to miss the best quality of the
crop.
Small cucumber plants are apt to
be injured by insects. and so should
be protected by covers of some kind.
4 light wooden frame with cheese
cloth tackled over il is excellent.
Small boxes without tops or bottoms
but with cheesecloth tackled across
the top also will keep the bugs out
How about stuffed peppers? Pep
pers are easy TO grow and will thrive
on almost any soil. They can be set
out any time this month. They will
stand a lot of hot weather II they
are cultivated thoroughly. AS they
require a long season to develop, IT
is not practical to make successive
sowings. but you should depend on
varieties maturing in succession TO
provide constant supply.
You have heard Of biting the hand
that feeds you" Well. that is about
what some plant lice. or aphids. do.
actually protect them. These aphids
gather on the under si6e of the leaves
and stick in their bills to suck out the
sap. This puncturing of the leaf
causes it to crumple up and roll its
edges together below so that the
aphids are comfortably housed and
protected.
In fighting these pests. therefore. it
is necessary to shoot the poison spray
up from beneath and hit the under
side of the leaves. The best remedy
called black leaf 40. Use half an
ounce with an ounce or two of soap in
three gallons of water. Strong soap
suds will Kill part of the plant lice.
and II used often enough hold them in
check so they cannot do much dam
age Other remedies, like kerosene
emulsion, will kill sucking insects.
but are rather dificult to prepare.
Nicotine sulphate is by far the best
remedy, and 1t may be added to Bor-
deaux mixture with or without poison,
and this you spray for disease and in