EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.
What, When ana How to Plant and
Cultivate.
Name One Oood and Rare Vegetable
1st Premium.—Raised partially as a
gardne: above JeflersonvUle, before th9
L. A N railroad was in operation, and the
shipment of southern vegetables, I think
I may do justice on -what the boys call
pa's farm. Hence shall say I do so and
go. Invariably) my garden ls manured
and broken in"the fall. Two rows of potatoes planted at this time (tubers -whole)
seven inches deep, and mnlched. Winter
onions and spinach also for early nse. A
permanent hot bed has been made as follows: A hole two feet deep dug, oak
frame made of two Inoh stuff set above
and banked np. A sash to fit, the glass
that will slide for drainage and warmth;
four inches fall to the sonth; wind break
on the north. February the hot bed Is
prepared as follows: New horse manure
two-thirds, forest leaves one-third, thoroughly incorporated, and stirred daily,
three times to temper, placed in bed and
tramped, five inches of good soli placed
thereon. Will be ready fo plant in three
days Sow seed as follows in drill: cabbage, celery, cauliflower, bell peppers tomatoes and onion seed, if you wish.
Spread a piece of carpet over all to keep
moist, till cabbage, tomatoes and onions
show signs of sprouting. Weather favorable open to glass. When sun is hotslide
glass to ventilate. Usually first garden
is made in March or early in April. First
planting, take from strawberry bed:
Plant one row of plants 3}_ feet, another
two feet apart in the row, between the
berry rows 12 inches apart in the rows-
tiro of onions. In^cultivatfng the onions
you cannot negleot the berries, whioh is
usually done in the farmer's garden
Gather the onions and let berries cluster.
Take two crops and break the gronnd.
At thi3 time plant peas, radishes, beets,
spinach, lettuce, parsnips and spring
turnips. May planting: - Lima but
ter and Kentucky Wonder beans, four
feet eaoh way. Stick and unite the poles
with binder twine at top, thus giving
more space for vines, and strengthening
poles. Wax beans in drill 20 inches apart
thinned to 12 inches in the row. Cabbage
may now be transplanted, and tomatoes
in cold frames to harden. To economise
room the above are a hoe orop, as they
are too olose to use a horse for cultivation. If rain falls before plants are np,
break the crust and firm down. Cultivation: Use hoe or rake, no weeds are allowed to grow, but some will come from
the manure; immediately after each rain,
when the ground will crnmble, firm down
with broad hoe, making a dust bath to
hold the moisture. Use level cultivation
no ridges, melons, cantelopes and cucumbers now are planted. With the seed or
immediately above, I thoroughly incorporate with the soil, tobacao crumbs and
"•ems. This is a good fertilizer and a sure
Preventive against the squash bug. Melons 9xio feet and between the melon
rows two rows of early oorn. The potatoes were planted in the fall. The corn
and potatoes are gathered before the
vine meet Cucumbers and cantelopes
■"X7 feet in the row. Cultivate deep, first
and second plowing, shallow thereafter,
•nd at the last working sow to turnips.
No harm is done the vines and usually a
'nil crop is obtained. A part of the garden is not broken, as it was and is occupied by celery, parsnips, salsify, and as
|ne old women say, "orbs." After a frost
we hot bed is cleaned out and celery
wenched therein for winter use. Some
immediate use'goes to cellar. Parsnips
*nd salsify remain in gronnd to be used
M wanted.  When the berry patch has
passed over the garden I start new. I
matured ootton last year that grew five
feet high from seed sent me by a comrade, a Johnny (on the other side). A
vegetable that was rare in our bovhood
days is the tomatoe, if I may be permitted
to call it a vegetable. Its many uses, its
canning properties, its medicinal value,
should entitle it to be classed at the head
of all garden prodnots. V. M. Carr.
' Decatur Co.
2d Premium.—There is no spaoe of the
same size as the garden so valuable to
the farmer and his family.
A large garden is much better than
a small one, because in a small one the
truck will be crowded too muoh. I prefer a garden large enough so that the
rows can be far enough apart to plow between them. Too many people plant
their garden truck so as to have to hoe it
all.
Suoh things as peas and lettuce can be
planted in February it the ground is in
the proper condition; they are hardy. I
never had peas hurt by the freeze but
onoe. I plant the May peas, and they are
climbing the sticks now, April 15, nicely.
Many people plant the bnnch peas, but
I prefer the stick varieties, as the bunch
peas will fall over on the ground and
many rot.
Beans, beets, parsnips, peanuts, early
oorn, and many more suoh things, will do
better I think if not„.planted until the
gronnd is warm, they will come on
qnloker.
Tomato, pepper, oelery and egg plant
seed should be planted in a hot-bed, and
not transplanted in the open ground
until all danger of frost is over, which
with us is not until about the middle of
May.
Squashes, cucumbers, watermelons, and
muskmelons should not be planted too
early, for if the ground is too cold the
seeds will rot. They should be planted
in flat hills four feet apart or more both
ways, as vines need plenty of room.
Cucumbers and muskmelons should
not be planted close together, as they will
mix.
The garden must contain some potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, rhubarb,
asparagus, and some of the many useful
herbs, along the fence, in addition to the
above-named vegetables.
As to the cultivation of garden truck I
think it should be shallow and often.
The ground should be stirred often to
prevent the weeds growing and also to
conserve moisture in a dry time.
Asparagus and egg plants are two good
and rare vegetables that are hardly ever
found in the garden, but I think they
shonld have a place In every garden.
Asparagus comes so early In the spring
and are better than peas to my taste, bnt
a great deal like them, and is cooked the
same as peas.
I have had egg plants of the large purple variety in my garden with eggs
hanging on them as large as a good sized
bowl.
Slice the eggs about half-inch thick
and lay in salt water for one hour or so,
and then dip the slices in a batter as for
pancakes, and fry as you would [meat,
and you have a dish good enough for any
body. O. N. T.
Washington Co.
3rd Premium.—The vegetable garden
should be well drained and made rich
with well-rotted manure. The ground
should not be worked until sufficiently
dry to pulverize nicely and be perfectly
free from lumps or olods.
All varieties of vegetables that will
stand a frost should be planted as early
as the ground will permit. Peas, parsnips, onions, radishes, lettuoe, early cabbage, salsify and beets are of a better
quality when planted early.
• Plant the seed with a garden seed drill
in long rows instead cf in little four by
six foot beds. They are more easily cultivated. Never let a ornst form ln your
garden. As soon as dry enongh after a
rain cultivate. Don't be in too big a
hurry to plant tender vegetable seed, as
they will do no good until the ground is
warm and remains so. When you buy
seed never buy by the packet; buy by
the ounoe or pound; it is more than half
cheaper, and a packet of but few varieties is sufficient for a family. Anyhow
don't waste mnch money on novelties or
seedsmen whose seeds produce such extraordinary results — on paper. The
printer's ink wasted you pay for when
you bny of them.
The egg plant is as easily raised as pepper, and is a rare plant in farmers' gardens; sols the cauliflower. Both are excellent vegetables. Salsify and celery
are comparatively rare yet In farmers'
gardens, but are as easily to cultivate as
a crop of onions. Celery, especially,
should be raised in every garden, but is
not raised in one-tenth of the farm gardens of Indiana. W. H. P.
Carroll Co.
The first thing to consider in making a
garden is its shape and its position. It
should be level as possible, yet the water
should not stand on it. The garden
should be as long as possible, not to be inconvenient, and then everything should
be planted in long rows, wide enough to
be tended with a horse. Do all the work
possible with'the horse, and shorten the
hoeing. My garden has two flower beds
running lengthwise through it, and one
across the end next to the house. Our
peas were planted in February and are a
foot high and climbing the sticks now,
(April 15). We have lettuce big enough
to eat. We have lettuce, asparagus,
rhubarb and hot-beds along one side of
the garden next to the fence. As soon as
I can get the truck off of the garden in
the fall I cover It with manure very
thick and plow It under. After I have
plowed and worked the garden down
fine, I plant a few rows of potato-onions,
and a few medical herbs will be found
along next to the fence. Early in the
spring I drill a sack or two of fertilizer
on the garden. In planting onions get
the gronnd fine and stretch a line and
stick the onions about two inches deep,
then cover with a shovel plow. Early in
the spring drag down the ridges, and the
ground Is in nice fix to cultivate. We
sow a few cabbage and tomato seed in a
box in the house, for early truck. On St,
Patricks' day we sow some cabbage out of
doors. I make my hot-bed about the first
week in April and plant sweet potatoes,
tomato seed, pepper seed, etc.
As to the time for planting beans, early
corn and cucumbers, that depends on the
season. We do not plant the same time
every spring, but when we think It will
do. Celery U a plant that is needed by
every family and is recommended by
our physicians, as being among the best
nerve foods; yet it Is seldom or never
seen ln our country gardens. Celery
should first be started in a hot-bed, and
then transplanted in rows about two feet
and a half apart and six inches apart In
the row, and boards about 18 inches wide
should be used for bleaohlng.
Peanuts are also very rare in these
parts and nothing nicer or that will
please the children better can be grown
in the garden. The garden truck should
be changed about from one side of the
garden' to the other, and do not plant
onions and cabbage in the same place
every year but give the garden a rotation
and it will do better.      . N. B.
Corydon.
throngh the middle. I think recently
these flowers are nsed more about the
lawns and In the houses, and gardens are
devoted to vegetables and fruits.
Let me tell you what makes me Jnst
plum mad: To have all the crop I can
handle and then have to stop and tinker
ln a garden. Some years ago I had teams
handy and plenty of help, and then I delighted to work in the garden. We now
grow potatoes, sweet* potatoes, cabbage,
tomatoes, peppers, pickles, beans, turnips
and such things ln the corn field and cultivate them with the corn.
Our small fruit we mulch heavily with
straw and don't onltivate after one year.
Our little truck, radishes, onions, etc., we
mostly buy of a neighbor who lives within a stone's cast
The writers are surely praotlcal when
they propose to tend the garden with
horse power. Old Sam pulls well enough
but he ain't broke to the single line.
I speak of my peculiar arrangements
for garden because there are so many
gardens that are planted and neglected,
since the good man is rushed with work.
Muoh of the garden can be in a field close
by, and fruit mulched with straw; then
you don't have any big job Intending the
vegetables. One can even hoe a few beds
of little stuff. We buy all plants from
-neighbors'hotbeds.
Our "post" number two weeks ago
brought out considerable comment. WiU
say to i.qulrles that more will be said
shortly about posts, cost, eto. We are
looking it up.
The printer mixed up my statement of
cost, etc , in the U .view. I meant to say
that 300 oak (not cedar) posts will cost
$45, and putting them in $45 more, making
$00; and to replace them three times in
the life of one cedar post will cost $270.
That I would be $200 better off now if I
had bought red cedar posts at first.
The post and root topics are furnishing
information worth many dollars to
farmers.
BKVIBW.
' "It pretty near takes a Dutchman" to
have as nice a garden as friend N. B. describes. When I was a small boy my five
slaters, older than myself, kept a garden
with tlower beds on each side of the walk,
No. 60, May 1—Taste and beauty abont
the home outside the house. Inoludes
painting, lawn, flowers, fences, eto.
No. 61, May 8—Give experience in
spraying fruit trees, formulas and effect.
No. 62, May 15.—Soiling crops.
No. 63, May 22—Hatching and care of
tnrkeys.
No.6_, May 29—What causes soil to be-
come hard, eleddy and dryT The remedy.
In writing don't fall to note new points
not generally known; also other points
of real experience. Address all copy 10
days before publication.
Let subscribers write experience only
on practical topics. We do not desire
essays but a pithy, chatty experience. A
sort of heart to heart talk, such as you
enjoy with a neighbor.
Carmel. E. H. Collins.
Vztzxirmxvi gzpixxtmznt.
Edited by W. B. Craig, If. D. V. 8., as Monument
Place, Indlanapolla.
Bloody Milk.—We have a 3-year-old
Jersey cow, (second calf, 20 days old)
that gives bloody milk. The first milk
taken is all right, but the last is very red,
seems to be caused by a ruptured blood
vessel,   ls there a remedy?
Pittsboro. V. D. Richardson.
This is a very serious condition, and in
some cases, doesn't yield readily to treatment. In the case you mention it is like-'
ly due to the rupture of some small vessels ln the gland. The milking should be
done with great care, so as not to manipulate the ndder more than is absolutely necessary. Local treatment to udder is of
little value. Internally give an ounce of
this mixture three times a day: Fluid
extract prgot 2 ounces; bicarbonate potash 3 ounces; water to make 1 pint. This
may be made stronger by increasing the
ergot if renewal is necessary. We take
it for granted that cow isn't with calf.