VOL. LXVII
INDIANAPOLIS, MARCH. 30, 1912.
NO. 13
Get  Ready   for    Garden   Work
SUGGESTIONS FROM SUCCESSFUL,
PRACTICAL GARDENERS.
[Address given by Prof. J. vV. Lloyd,
of the University of Illinois, before a
meeting of the Illinois Horticultural
Society.]
The home garden should be planned
with a view of furnishing a large assortment and continuous supply of vegetables through the entire season. Its
size will depend primarily upon the
amount of land available. On the farm.
where any amount of land the owner
desires can be reserved for a garden,
vegetables to be stored for winter, as
well as the summer supply, should be
grown. On the village lot, space may-
lie insufficient to grow more than the
summer's supply, and it may also be
necessary to leave out certain vegetables that require a large amount of
space. On a city lot, the space available for vegetable growing is necessarily small, and plantings must be confined to those vegetables which produce a large amount of edible product
for the  space   occupied.
Plan the Garden Before Planting.
Much loss of time in the planting of
a garden can be avoided by making a
definite plan of the garden several
weeks before the planting is to begin.
After measuring the area that is to be
used for the garden, the next step is
to decide what vegetables are to be
Brown. If space is ample this will be
ti.-termined primarily by the personal
testes of the gardener and his family.
However, if only a limited amount of
time and attention can be given the
garden, it may be wise not to undertake the growing of some of the more
• xactlng crops, such as egg plant, cauliflower and celery, even though space
is unlimited. If on the other hand,
the space is limited it may
,Je necessary to leave out a
Part or all the vegetables requiring a
,ai"ge amount of room, such as potatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, squashes,
""•"■Ions and sweet potatoes. In extremely limited areas in the city there
'nay be room for only a small bed of
lettuce and radishes, to be followed by-
string beans, or a few tomato plants,
"hatever the space available, the crop
to be grown should be decided upon
lot>g before the time for planting.
What Crops to Plant.
T1*e next thing to decide is the
■J-nount of space which is to be devoid to each of the crops which are to
'6 ftrown. This will depend partly
tjPon the nature  of  growth  and   pro-
1(t'veness of the crops, and partly
ID°n the particular fondness of the
amily for the gIven product. a very
^mall area will  supply all  the lettuce
e family    can  use,    while the same
t*aee devoted to sweet corn would  be
er,?*y an aggravation.
arrn plann'ng the garden it is well to
range the vegetables in the order in
faclhh thpy are t0 be Planted- This
for 6S the Preparation of the land
Planting and makes it possible to
g "taln the unplanted portion In
exn "riabIe condition with the least
thg aiture of labor. In order that
eBetables may be so arranged,  it
i.s necessary to* know the proper time
for planting each crop. Failures often result from planting some crops
too early and others too late. Kach
crop has its own peculiarities as to
temperature and moisture requirements and planting should be timed
accordingly.
Two Classes of Vegetables.
Vegetables may be roughly divided
into two classes—cool and warm season crops. The former are quite hardy
Lima beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and squashes are planted from one
to two weeks later; while sweet potatoes and egg plants should be kept in
the hotbed until the last of May or the
first week in June.
Of the crops that are to be planted
at the same time, those that are similar in character of growth and cultural
requirements, or that occupy the land
the same length of time, should he
planted together, since such an arrangement forestalls the interference
of one crop with another, facilitates
the proper care of the various crops,
and simplifies the matter of clearing
the  land and  fitting it for later plant-
A Garden on  a City Lot.
and will stand light frosts without injury. They can usually be planted as
early in spring as the ground is in fit
condition to work. To this class belong onions, lettuce, spinach, radishes,
beets, parsnips, carrots, parsley and
peas. The normal season for planting
these crops is when the farmer is sowing his oats, though some of these vegetables will stand earlier planting than
others, and in many cases later planting may be made, for securing a succession.
The warm, season crops are subject
to injury by frost, and cannot safely
bs! planted until the weather is com-
parati'. ely warm. The different crops
in this group, however, differ
in respect to the intensity of heat they
require. Thus, sweet corn and string
beans are usually planted early in May;
ing in the case of short season crops.
Selecting SectI and Preparing Soil.
Having the garden definitely planned as to arrangement of the different
vegetables and the time of planting
each crop the only other arrangements
that need to be made in advance of the
planting season are the selecting and
purchase of seeds and the manuring
and plowing of the land.
As a rule it is more satisfactory to
select the seeds from the catalog of a
reliable seedman and order them by
mail than to depend upon the supply
of the grocery store. In any case, it is
wise to procure the seeds considerably
in advance of the planting season. For
an early garden it is advisable to manure and plow the ground in the fall,
since land so treated  will  usually  dry
out earlier in the spring, and be more
easily fitted for planting than land that
lies in a compact condition over winter. In addition, the time required for
the manuring and plowing will be saved, and the planting of early vegetables
completed before, the land could be
fitted for planting if no preparations
had been made in the fall. It often
happens that the soil is dry enough to
plant for a day or two at the very time
the early crops should be planted, and
then becomes soaked by excessive
rains, and remains too wet for planting until two or three weeks later. The fall preparation makes it
possible to plant early vegetables the
first day the soil is sufficiently dry, for
little time is lost in preparing the
ground.
If" worked when it has reached exactly the right degree of dryness, rich garden soil that has been manured and
plowed in the fall can usually be fitted
for planting by disking and harrowing,
and then following the harrow with a
planter. Careful work with these tools
will make a seed bed fine enough for
even onions and carrots, so that it will
be unnecessary to resort to the use of
hard tools in preparing the ground for
planting.
Much Depends on Tillage.
After the crops are planted, success
in the vegetable garden depends chiefly upon thorough and frequent tillage.
The tillage should begin as soon as the
plants can be seen, and should be repeated at intervals of about one week
throughout the season. Much labor
will be saved by substituting a wheel
hoe for the hand hoe for stirring the
soil close about the plants, while they
are small, and by using a horse for
cultivating between the rows wherever
there is sufficient space. If these methods are employed, the most irksome
features of vegetable gardening—the
weeding and tedious hand tillage—will
be largely eliminated.
PLOWING    AND     PLANTING    THK
GARDEN.
By   Prof.   LeRoy  Cady,   Horticulturist,
Minnesota University Farm.
A Well Tended  Truck Garden.
Plowing is one of the most important steps in the cultivation of a vegetable garden. The care and thoroughness with which a lot is plowed means
much when we come to work it. The
land should be plowed from 4 to 8 inches deep, depending on the soil. Usually we would prefer to plow in the
fall. The next best thing is to plow or
spade the land very early in the spring,
the earlier the better, to enable the
ground to settle before the crop is
planted.
After plowing, the land must be harrowed thoroughly. The more work
that is done before a garden is planted, the easier it will be to take care
of afterwards. If the garden was
plowed in the fall, nothing further
should be done to it until spring, whenl
it should  he  harrowed.
After getting the land thoroughly
prepared, the next thing is to line it
out and plant. The rows should be
straight; and, if the garden is to be
cultivated by a horse, they should run
the long way of the garden. Wherei
hand tools are used, it is very often
more   desirable to run the rows  the nar-