Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-31
One More Garden Story
BY Frederic J. Haskin

Campaign. III mas peeil Will uo ~" ~
some four or five years, and its outbreak
has been each year more violent than
before. IL began BY pleading the necessi-
| ties of war. and now it pleads the necessity
for thrift. IL emanates pr'r'a-ily from
| the Department of Agric tur', but is
assisted by various worthy lay organisa-
tions. IL claims TO have converted ten
million Americans to the cult of the hoe,
and no one seems inclined to dispute the
| figures. II was a good deal laughed at
| i'm its early davs, but this happens no
| LONGER. Anvone can see that it has put
MANY thousands of acres that would
| otherwise be waste land under intensive
| cultivation: that il has implanted the
gardening habit in millions. and in the
| face of these great and undcniable achieve
| ments it behooves the scoffer to keep mum:
The difficulty which the evangelists OF
| this movement now encounter is that there
is hardly anything new to say about IT.
However, Mr. Edwin /. Meredith, the
| new Secretary of Agriculture. gives us an
exclusive interview on the subject IN
which he says that the professional
gardeners are buying only hall as much
seed this year as usual. therefore, ne
argues. it is going to be hard to buy vege-
tables The market gardeners cannot get
the ntcPtsSafN ilbti ~ Nob ""as' ''''''
vegetables. YOU must furnish your own
labor. Mr.. Meredith gives the following
realistic account Of how 10 go about It:
The steps in making garden vary
somewhat with conditions, but essentially
they are the same. Here is an outline of
what John Juniper, who lives IN suburb
of baltimore. Md, will do from the time
he gets the garden bug until that giad
and happy day when he begins to pull the
products.
PLANNING FOR 1T.
First. John goes to the kitchen door,
SURVEYS his 80 by 60 feet of backyard, and
then he sits down and draws himself
plan John is one of those systematic
fellows and he believes in knowing what
he is going to do before he docs it, He
puts down on paper the exact dimensions
of his available land. He assigns space TO
the vegetables he wants TO grow, giving
th, sunniest spots to the crops that re-
ouirc most sunlight He hears IN mind
that lettuce, radishes, carly heets and
some other crops can he grown In the
same rows with others and removed be
fore the main crop attalns sufficient size
10 REQUIRE entire space. He remembers
that carrots. beets, satisfy, early turnips,
parsnips and all crops of that type may
be grown in rows II to Is inches apart,
and will occupy comparatively small
snace if grouped together The taller
growing crops, such as pole beans,
tomatoes trained to stakes and sweet corn,
he plans to plant at one side Of the garden
where they will not shade the smaller
crops
John finds that he can nm his rows
north and south. which IS good method
from the sunshine standpoint, and also
that he can arrange the rows so that they
NAV be conveniently cultivated
The next thing John Juniper does-the
weather still being cold and the ground
hard is "a get his seeds and tools For
his seeds he goes to a dealer he knows TO
he reliable and buys varieties that are
guaranteed to produce When he buys his
tools nc feels the inclination felt by All
beginners in gardening, by the way-to
load himself down with enough toolsJto
cultivate a small farm But John checks
himself. and finds nc can get along with
few and cOmparatively inexpensive articles
of equipment lie learns that the only
essential tools are a spade or spading fork,
a hoe and a steel rake He adds two wood
en- stakes and = strong string TO serve as =
line IN making straight rows and later
on he buys a watering can.
John Is told by his wife that she wants
fresh vegetables just as soon as they Will
vcgetatc. 10 he gets a shallow box that
will Just fit in window. puts some rich
looking soil into the box, sows a lew seeds
Of tomatoes and cabbage places the box
in window where II viii be protected
from the cold and st the same time get
the benefit Of the sunlight, and allows |
nature to take her course Nature does,
the seeds gcrrninate, and when the wealth /
or gets warm John transfers these plants /
to his garden Because Of their head start /
these plants are first under the wirc and |
on the table.
real. WORK STARTS
Johns first real work comes when he |
starts preparing the ground OF his yard for
/ he reception Of his seeds. The ground is
new IN gardening. all the stones have to /
be pulled out and piled at one side and !
the same thing has to he done with wires
and everything else that is not soil Then
/ he ground must be spaded- plot IS
not large enough 10 Justify hiring a man
70 do a Job of plOwing and then IL is
raked John breaks the soil
UP into fine particles 10 a depth OF eight
inches By this time he has learned the
true and historic meaning OF the phrase
sweat of the brow. But he keeps going |
John suspects, and probably with
Justice. that his soil is not as rich as it
might be. 50 he fertilizes it. He is unable
to find the wagon load of manure that he
probably would need-blame the auto
mobile for that-so he buys enough com
mercial fertilizer for his plot He finds
that sack of commercial fertilizer would
be too much for his needs so he joins with
two neighbors and they buy the sack
together. Then John applies his fertilizer
BY scattering it broadcast over the land
after spading and raking The fertilizer
is thoroughly mixed into the soil by an
other thorough raking.
II seems 10 be almost time to be putting
the seeds in the ground, 50 John calls up
the Weather Bureau office and finds what /
is the average date of the last killing frost /
in his community Supplied with this
he is able to make his plant |
ing with comparative safety Some crops, |
such as Irish potatoes, smooth peas,
onions sets, kale, turnips, beets, lettuce |
and mustard. may be planted ten days TO |
two weeks before the average date of the |!
asst killing frost While the young plants !
are injured by frost. they require ten days |
10 two weeks TO come up, and by the time /
hey sprout, frost danger Is likely to be |
past Sometimes the first paintings are |
xilled, but it is worth taking a chance any,
way. Another group of crops, including |
;arrots. beets, parsnlps, radlshes, satisfy, |
rrinkled peas, spinach and early sweet
,orn, may be planted about the time of