The Farm Garden
Categories: FEED STUFFSEvery farmer needs a garden in which to grow not only vegetables but
small fruits for the home table.
The garden should always be within convenient distance of the farmhouse.
If possible, the spot selected should have a soil of mixed loam and
clay. Every foot of soil in the garden should be made rich and mellow by
manure and cultivation. The worst soils for the home garden are light,
sandy soils, or stiff
intelligent culture, can be made suitable.
In laying out the garden we should bear in mind that hand labor is the
most expensive kind of labor. Hence we should not, as is commonly done,
lay off the garden spot in the form of a square, but we should mark off
for our purpose a long, narrow piece of land, so that the cultivating
tools may all be conveniently drawn by a horse or a mule. The use of the
plow and the horse cultivator enables the cultivation of the garden to
be done quickly, easily, and cheaply.
Each vegetable or fruit should be planted in rows, and not in little
patches. Beginning with one side of the garden the following plan of
arrangement is simple and complete: two rows to corn for table use; two
to cabbages, beets, radishes, and eggplants; two to onions, peas, and
beans; two to oyster-plants, okra, parsley, and turnips; two to
tomatoes; then four on the other side can be used for strawberries,
blackberries, raspberries, currants, and gooseberries.
The garden, when so arranged, can be tilled in the spring and tended
throughout the growing season with little labor and little loss of time.
In return for this odd-hour work, the farmer's family will have
throughout the year an abundance of fresh, palatable, and health-giving
vegetables and small fruits.
The keynote of successful gardening is to stir the soil. Stir it often
with four objects in view:
1. To destroy weeds.
2. To let air enter the soil.
3. To enrich the soil by the action of the air.
4. To retain the moisture by preventing its evaporation.
corn
corn
cabbage beets radishes
cabbage beets eggplants
onions peas beans
onions peas beans
oyster-plants okra parsley parsnips
oyster-plants okra parsley parsnips
tomatoes
tomatoes
strawberries currants raspberries blackberries
strawberries currants raspberries blackberries
strawberries currants raspberries blackberries
strawberries currants raspberries blackberries
This illustration shows that practically every garden vegetable and all
the small fruits can be included in the farm garden, and all the work be
done by horse-drawn tools.
[Footnote 1: The number of rows and arrangement of the vegetables in the
outline above are merely suggestive. They should be changed to meet the
needs and the tastes of each particular family.]
More
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... 1/2 Pounds Gain In Weight Per Day
... 10 Cents A Hundred For Crushing And The Hauling
... 18 To 20 Inches Above The Ground
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