SB 321 .5 .T4 Copy 1 f Back Yard and City Lot Gardening ( ^. I -O-^fc-O- A Book Especially Adapted to Texas PRICE 25 CENTS Copyrighted by W. M. TEAL Palacios, Texas 1917 Back Yard and City Lot Gardening A Practical Book by a Practical Man Copjrrighted by W. M. TEAL Palacios, Texas 1917 T^ PREFACE People everywhere are trying to cut down the high cost of living. In this book I hope you will find it prac- tical as suggested by using wasted time on wasted space every one may find a great deal of information in this. book on such lines as will be of great value to those trying to interest themselves in such work. Growing a living at home is practical and it is hoped and begin the most fascinating study and work in the world, that of plant industry. Some of the suggestions how to interest the boys and girls after school hours to help provide a living for the family, how to use every inch of ground about your place to grow something useful on, how to have health and how to economize by using wholesome foods should appeal to every thinking person. A lot of experiment'ng and careful study has been done to get all the information in one small book, that any one may succeed with a home garden and orchard and that the price might be in reach of all. If you wish to help others help themselves will you not write at least a few post cards to those who might be interested in such work and call their attention to this book and where it can be gotten or place a few copies in the hands of those who need it. Also call the at- tention nf club leaders, editors, teachers, and city officials who might assist in getting it in- to the hands of the i^eople everywhere. PRICE 25c POSTPAID Address all Orders to ,^ Palacios: Texas OCU4G2106 Q^ R. F. D. 4, Dallas, Texas — 2 — APR 25 1917 >V0 ^ City Lot Gardening r~ — ^ The editors of some of the leading magazijies have torn their hair aaid spent large sums of money trying sto solve the problem o'f fhe high cost o'f living. Many c'f their theories are fine and "worthy of study, but come r^Jar short of a satisfactory solution . I propose to solve ^the problem in a most practical way by using wasted ^time on wasted space. There is plenty of information on gardening, bat it would require so much time and trouble with days of research of various publicutions to :get what you need, it is of little practical value to the :amateur gardner. Personal experience is what most people are interested in these days, so this book is largely based on my own experience and not theories of writers. A GardeJi For Every Home, The matter of supplying necessary food for the human body has always been and necessarily must al- ways be a question of the highest importance. "'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." In other words, he who eats must work. A journal of National fame is authority for the statement that one-third of the world feeds the other two-thirds. This carries us hack to the farm, the source of all our food supplies. Not only thousands of families, but hundreds of thousands in our cities cannot afford to buy any but the absolute necessities of life. Fruits and fresh vegetables, except in very small quantities and at long intervals, are beyond their reach. The economical and thrifty are al- ways rewarded and just how these may be able to enjoy their share is the object of this book. Sufficient to say that the man or woman who has a few feet of unoccupied ground about his place should get busy at once in preparing it for Garden Vegetables. If you are an ameteur gardener, just try a few of the more commonly cultivated vegetables the first year. Every home should have its garden and every home owner should have his orchard as well. After much experimenting I believe it is safe to say one-third of the grocery bill for the average family can be eliminated — 3— Ik on the products of one city lot. And the work can be done at odd times when not engaged in the regular daily routine affairs. Utilization of Waste Space. Under intelligent intensive cultivation the possibili- ties of a small garden are truly wonderful. I have traveled in Italy, France and Egypt where a man is counted fortunate if he owns a few square feet of ground on which to grow a living. He uses every inch to grow something on. Many grow more than a living for their family and have a surplus for sale. If you have only a few square feet, that is enough to start with. Spade it up now, and get it ready. You will be astonished at the amount of nice home grown vegetables to be had off a small space. Billie Minter of Austin, who took the premium in 1915 is said to have grown 573 pounds, or thirty-two dollars worth on 10 x 20 feet — the rate of six thousand dollars per acre. Many homes can find much more space which can be so utilized and every inch should be made to produce something useful, either in ornamental or edible vegetables, which looks better than grass and weeds. Wasted Profits. It is estimated that San Antonio has 8,000 acres of land in vacant city lots going to waste, when it might be made to produce over forty-million dollars worth of vegetables by intensive intelligent cultivation. Just think of this enormous waste that might be conserved and made to solve the food problem for one city at least. May it not solve the food problem for others, as well? Wasted Time. A few minutes each morning before breakfast or in the afternoon after business hours will be sufficient to till your back yard garden and supply your table with most of the ordinary vegetables in season. If you have a larger lot, interest your children in helping to make a living for the family. They have much time after school hours which could be directed in this way and the results would be of great value to the family. — 4 — ?;• 3 03 X . <-?0 — M 3 3 D O (J o 1 0) prj hx -^ 3. 3 9 P> 03 O 3a§o 3 « „ S « » B ^» hrf 03 /T\ g^ S r' ft) (t 3 ^ o cc 2 «— 3'< ap (t rt o O - 03 3 o CD C O 03 » cr; -1 03 (t «»»•-( i-< 03 2 03 W •- "1 ■^ — rr 03 O 3 -3 < 03 -• T3 S3 Pin Money For the Boy or Gii-1.. Vegetables will always sell readily in the city to people who do not raise them. The work is light and pleasant, and it starts the boy or girl on the road to prosperity. Children's habits are early formed, and there is no better way for them to start a bank account. Teach them some of the practical things in life as you go along, and doubtless they will be more practical when grown. For the Young Man or Lady. It matters not what you are or what your profession, select a good lot, set it out in fruit trees and interest yourself in them. While your trees are growing your lot is increasing in value. Only a small amount of cul- tivation is necessary, and in a few years you will be proud of a nice orchard and a place to erect a home on where living will be worth while. Recreation For the Business Man. Diversion is recreation for the city worker, be his vocation what it may. The close contact with nature which the cultivation of the soil gives, insures not only physi'cal and mental pleasure, but phycical and mental health as well. Both the importance of the food ques- tion and the response it gets from his own little garden give a pleasing diversion to his every-day duties. Entirely unlike and yet superior to many of the amusements usually sought by the man in the city. You cannot estimate how much longer you will live by getting out a little each day and really tiring your muscles by doing some real manual labor. Your brain would be clearer, and you would not need the usual summer vacation. I know some business men who are worth all sorts of money, whose little back yard gardens are their greatest delight — their "hobby," and every man needs a "hobby" to take his mind off his business occasionally. Try it for a change. Vegetables For Health. Many people think they must have meat every day. It has been demonstrated time and again that the veg- etarian has more endurance and better health than the meat eater, and that vegetables are just as nutritious as meat. With the exception of milk, butter and eggs, — 6— THE YOUTHFUL. GARDENERS. Eariiig pin money by selling vegetables. little meat is needed. In this day of high prices and high cost of living people cannot overlook the fact that vegetables come much cheaper than meats, and many times so when raised at home on your own yard and garden. Personally speaking, I believe a diet of say two- thirds vegetables and fruit would very nearly do away with so many dreadful operations, and would greatly lighten the labors of the physicians. Several years back I was effected like many of to- day. I had billious spells, headaches, frequent colds, with coaiea tongue, inc simple life on a diet of veg- taken no medicine of any kind for several years. I feel etables and fruit has done away with it all. I have [ have a new lease on life and fear none of the dreadful operations or large doctor bills that so many have to meet. The only thing that hurts me is that millions of others who put their trust in medicines will not do as [ have done — get close to nature and live in reality and not in dread as so many do. When you have health and know how to take care of it by correct living, there is happiness in such a life. Live on plain simple foods and leave off so much sweet stuff, pastries, etc^it will put you in an early grave. The value of vegetables in the diet is a great deal more than the mere food or money value, as they furnish a large part of the essential salts which are essential to the well-being of the human system. Mr. Floyd Star, who is at the head of an institution In Michigan which takes boys out of reformatories and provides work for them on a farm, recently made the statement that by reason of the simple life which they live, no physician has ever been needed to attend any one in the institution during its three years of existence. Try a garden one year and experiment to know for yourself. Small Farms vs. the City Garden. So many city people long to get out on a five or ten acre tract, and many purchase with that aim in view. This usually is a serious mistake. You would not be able to hold a position in the city, nor would you have suf- ficient knowledge and experience to make a success on the farm. You can make a success gardening in the —8— M ': iJ^X :A Mrs. Henry Pietsoh's garden, Dallas, Texas. Place was purcliased in August, a garden 15\20 feet, was ar- ranged at once. She lias lettuce, onions, turnips, ajid radishes, after two freezes. This view was taken Dec- ember 7tli. Garden is on black land. SALMON BROWN Last surviving son of John Brov,ii who went to the scaffold in 1859 because of his convictions on the sub- ject of slavery. Now 80 years old, lives near Portland, Oregon. ci'fy because you experiment '!n a small way and" leara how. You have water for irrigation in the city, ancE your location is ideal for disposing of your surplus products to the neighbors. Then those who are accus- tomed to the city would not enjoy the loneliness of the farm. One or two lots well fertilized and cultivated will give you all the farm work yon will liftely care to dov When you have read farm journals and experimented on lots for a few years,, then you could undertake larger things with suecesa. Cultivating a Taste For Vegetables, When city people raise their vegetables at home, they will be eaten with a relish. Shipped vegetables are very poor in quality compared with those plucked fresh from the garden, and for this reason, the taste for vegetables is not cultivated as it should be, especially with children. Agai'n, shipped vegetables come so h-gh that city people are forced to eat things less expensive. N'otwithstanding the high cost of shipped vegetables, by the time the wagon man, the commission man, the express company get what is coming to them, you must surely pay dear for eating such products. Why not save all this by putting your own little garden spot to work? Food Crops For the Fanner. Inconsistent as it may appear for any farmer to have to buy any staple article that can be produced on the farm, it is a well known fact that farmers have centered their energies upon the production of cotton and neglected to raise enough corn, potatoes, meat, eggs, milk, butter, and vegetables to supply their families. That farmers have to live out of t-n cans and paper bags from the city is an appalling fact. He is the one who should fill them. Traveling around over the country as I do and being interested in such work, I naturally take notice of every potato hill, turnip patch, garden, and orchard. I am so surprised to see so many farmers who do not have these luxuries. . The man who has plenty to eat is the man who ra'ses it at home. It makes me sick at heart to see so many people who have nothing to eat only as they go to the grocery for their daily supply and then pay two prices because of the — 10 — ! r» Ol cr 3- fi o rT 1 5 da '0 ■«> •1 ■»1 1 0) M t3 03 (0 3 a r* •a o M — < da ■S 3 5" re 03 s *^* r* a" • 3 re" CO H O J? 5' 3 re o re CO p 3* 3 rt .^ O" ft (t 71 n v> •• 2, Ol 3* ^^ c 1 •< ti t» re »■* 05 1-^ c rr 1—' 1 m re 7) re 03 rt> o small quantify in wliicii it is bouglif. Wake up to your opportunity in this day of high prices and high cost of living, change your plans and see how soon you will be rewarded with the kind of living that is worth while. WIio is at Fault? What do the public school graduates know about the science of agriculture, horticulture, or plant indus- try? Our schools are lacking in that they teach every- thing else except the most practical things of life. Child- ren grow up to be interested in that which they are tausrht, and that is why so few are 'nteres»ted in home gardening; they know nothing about it. I believe the day is not far distant when all such will not only be taught by theory but by actual demonstration. Text- h'lok teaching alrne cannot make a practical farmer or gardener any more than it could make a blacksmith, a carpenter, or sho-3maker. And by su>;h education, farm w^rk is be-'ng looked down on and our country being robbed of "ts best boys and gir'.s. They are seeking a p^ace in the already crowded cities. If fathers and mothers would educate their children in agricultural and industrial schools, the cities would have little fas- cination for them. Most always it's a sad day for the young man or young woman* who leaves the opportunities of the coun- try for the c'ty, though they seldom realize it until years of experience. They know not the struggles that come to the average city dweller for existence. Stay with the farm if you would be independent and happy. I wish to say to every man who has a family and farm; before you sell it and move to town or city, or if you are contemplating such, go in and look up some of the unfortunates who are working by the day to exist, who have lost all and you will count yourself • fortunate to own a home in the country and be more content to stay with it. I have met them, not a few, and it hurts me to see a man 40 or 50 years old who has lost out and can't even go back where he so much longs to be free again, on a good old farm of his own. My Experience With Poor L.and. In order that people might not say I had any advan- tage in growing stuff, I selected the most unproductive — 12 — soil I could find. Through thorough cultivation and application of barnyard fertilizer, I raise more vegetables and fruit on four city lots than some others raise on as many acres. Except for a very few items I could close my door to the commercial world and live were it necessary. Besides a bountiful supply of onions, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, peas, beans, beets, cushaws, cantal^^upes, pumpk'ns, and fruits of all kinds. I housed one season 30 bushels of sweet potatoes, 125 gallons kraut, fanned over one hundred jars fruit and vegetables, stored away several bushels of turnips and Irish potatoes. At this time I have canned goods nearly two years old which are used when needed between seasons. The Book My sole aim in putting out this book is not to see how much I can write on the different phases of the work, but that you may get enough information in a few pages to start you out and for you to be successful with a home garden. Write for Bulletins and good farm papers for more detailed information on any particular lines or on all lines, as for that. Reading such will soon make you an enthusiast on such work. Preparation of Soil. In countries where there is sufficient freeze to kill the grass, turn the land before the freeze, and let it lie until early spring. Then work it over again and go dOAvn as deep as possible with spade or plow. If you are in the rainy belt, thorough drainage means much. Make the ground into beds six or eight feet across and prit ditches from the end of your beds to the alleyway, then to the street, so as to carry the water away rapidly in case of long heavy rains. Large beds hold moisture in dry weather equally as well as flat land, and plants will not thrive in soggy land. If your land has bten soured from water standing on it, broadcast a liberal supply of lime over it before working it up. The deeper you work your land, the better stuff you will grow. Go down eight to twelve inches is possible. Never work your ground wet; it kills the land. Bermuda and Johnson Grass. Bermuda sod is easily gotten rid of if instructions are followed, otherwise you only set it out. Turn 1: —13— with a two horse ploy, (this applies in Southern climates more particularly) very deep, four to six inches, and turn it completely bottom side up. Then harrow down about two inches not disturbing the sod, so as to fill the cracks between the furrows and to make a loose mulch to plant seed in. This shuts down the grass air tight. It soon rots either in dry or rainy weather, if the top is green. When your plants are good size, you can work on down deeper. The sod will be rotten if the grass was green when turned. Plow up Johnson grass and keep it cut down continually; the roots do not spread If the top is not allowed to spread. If your plot is too small to plow, spade it up with a sharp spade, cutting the grass and dirt fine, work it all down in the ground so as to ventilate and fertilize the land, rake off the top good with rake after spading is done. Plant seed, begin to work as soon as stuff comes up to keep the grass out. It requires more work in this way to keep the grass down and to kill it out. In either method keep going down deeper every working as the plants get larger. Fertilizers.. Barnyard fertilizers are best if put on the ground broadcast early in the winter and plowed or harrowed in, and it is almost impossible to put on too much. Cow pen manure doesn't burn so badly and may be applied in the spring. Poultry manure is fine. You can usually get all you want from your neighbor just for the hauling of it. You can also rake up leaves, hay, and trash and let it rot. There is nothing better than this. Sow cow peas in the fall and turn them under when in full bloom and you will see a great improvement in the soil next season. Pea vines are rich in nitrogen which is an ab- solute necessity to most plant life. Black land pro- duces well without fertilizer, but there is little danger of getting it too rich. Sandy soil needs fertilizer in iabundance, but do not try to do it all in one year. It is better to apply some every year, so as not to fire the plants. If you cannot get barnyard fertilizer, you can use commercial fertilizer to good advantage, though it does not last so well. Have the German Kali Works, of New Orleans, send you their pamphlet on truck farm- ing. The agricultural department of the A. & M. College . ; ) ; i . J , —14— at College Station, Texas, will also send you pamphlets, showing the fertilizers needed for different soils. What to Plant. Conditions and circumstances largely determine what to plant. If your space is small, plantings must be limited to those vegetables which produce a large amount of edible products for the space occupied, such as lettuce, okra, radishes, beans, tomatoes, onions, and Irish potatoes. If your space is larger, you can add cab- bage, sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, corn, etc. Sweet potatoes do well on sod land the first year, and require very little work, if the land is well prepared. Peas can be sown after most other crops are gathered, and they make in dry weather when other things fail. They are also f ne for the land. I have yet to see the place where fruit and vegetables will not grow, if the varieties adapted to that locality are used. I have heard it said that sweet potatoes would not grow on black land, and yet I saw twelve bushels raised the past year on a space •'O X .50 feet of as black, waxy land as you can find. The reason so few people succeed raising either Irish or sweet potatoes on black land is they do not break the land deep enough. Merely turning it three or four inches will not raise fine potatoes. Then black land needs increased vegetable matter in it for truck farm- ing. When and How. Early vegetables are most profitable, and in order CO have them early, secure boxes or cheese hoops, which ran be easily handled. Fill with rich soil from the fence corners, or take one part sand and one part rich dirt and one part well rotted manure, and mix well. About five weeks before planting time in the garden, sow your seed in the boxes, such as lettuce, tomatoes, cab- bage, and beets. Set the boxes on the South side of the house in warm weather, or put inside by a window v/here they can get the sunshine a part of the day. A good plan is to make a bed on the south side of some building and cover with one or two window sash, sloping the sash so as to turn the rain, or cheese cloth. As soon as the frost is over, transplant to beds in the garden. In this way you can have plants coming on all the time, so as to grow several crops in one season, which you "—15— cannot do where you take time to germinate the seed in the garden. After your garden truck is all gathered, you can make a fall garden of Bermuda onions, turnips, spinach, etc., and the onions especially will be fine the next spring. Tools For Gardening. A good spading fork, a crooked digging fork is bet- ter for sandy soil, easier to use and more rapid work can be done. A good hoe, rake, and straight spade or shovel are all the tools required. A sprinkler, trowel, garden plow and dibble are helpful tools. Two or More Crops, It is even possible to grow two or more crops at the same time. For such select a short season, and a long season crop. For example, lettuce and radishes, lettuce and carrots, lettuce and onions, may be planted In rows between other long season stuff. When you have stuff coming off early, put out long season stuff between the rows and one or two weeks can be saved in this way. When you have plants in boxes or beds ready to put out at any time as you remove stuff of any kind fill in the space. Dcn't let any ground be idle; therein lies the success of a gardener with little space. Study how to follow up with later season stuff all the time as you remove your stuff. For the last crop in the summer you can plant peas, black-eyed, Crowder or some other variety. They will grow and make in the dry hot sum- mer months and at the same time improve your land. When peas are left on the land for the last crop it is much easier put in shape for the fall garden, as it is usually dry at the time the land should be prepared. The peas shade the land and help to keep it from getting so hard. Transplanting. Before drawing plants for transplanting, dampen your bed, so as not to break the small tender rootlets. Select the place to set your plants in the garden and make a small hole with a paddle or hoe and pour in water if the ground is not already wet. When the water soaks in, set your plant in the mud and press the soil well around the roots of the plant. Rake some dry dirt —16— o a i o" (5 1 £B ►1 lU (A 03 n 3 3 a ? 03 03 >1 3 C/3 3^ O i- 3 O o • a ■-1 a « t3 3- 3 7) M •O crq 3 «' * ■a X 2. S= 3 a g ? P^ » ft s n CO 03 03 «i a around it, so the ground will not bake. Put out as late in the evening as possible. In transplanting very small plants use a case knife and take up some soil with the plant and don't disturb the roots. Work shallow but frequently. The dust mulch holds the moisture. Stir the ground after each rain, and your ground will not form a crust or get hard. Sweet Potatoes. Bed out some good variety; the Pumpkin Yam is the sweetest and easiest to cook of most all varieties. The Vineless Yam is not nearly so good. Mr. C. L. Kidd, Teague, Texas, has the real Pumpkin Yam for sale; about the last of February. Best to put the bed on the south side of some building. Throw up the dirt two or three inches for drainage. Put down a layer of potatoes, cover with soil at least one inch or deeper. Better in colder climates to put six inches of dry stable manure under them to heat the ground. Keep dampened in dry weather and covered in bad, cold spells. When slips are large enough to transplant, prepare your land fresh and put in rows 2 1-2 to 3 feet wide, 18 inches in the drill. When the vines of the first planting begin run- ning, cut off and set out as slips. They make smoother potatoes, and are freer from potato weevils. You can set out very late in the spring and make potatoes. Break the ground as deep as possible for potatoes. Dig when the leaves turn brown; don't let the frost kill the vines, it hurts the keeping quality of the potato. Handle so as not to bruise or skin them. Bed up some dirt near the house, lay planks down, if in rainy climate spread hay on the planks, pile up the potatoes on the bed. Throw hay on them, stand cornstalks on boards around the hill, leaving an air hole six inches in the south side for ven- tilation, cover over with dirt to keep them from freezing. Pack something in the hole in cold weather. In rainy climates, better to cover the hills with boards. In this way I have potatoes almost the year around. In very cold climates spread papers over the hill before putting on the dirt. This keeps out the air. Oiiions. Plant multiplying sets for early use only. Ber- mudas are unequaled as they are sweet and grow most anywhere if properly handled. Plant the small onions — 18 — for quick growth in the spring. Sow seed in a broad bed in November in the warmer climates. When six inches high; transplant as any other plants five inches apart about December or January. You will have fine, smooth onions in March or April. Young plants will go through a good deal of freeze and come on early in the spring. See Hastings, Atlanta, Ga., for seed and book on growing them. No table should be without a good supply of fresh Bermuda onions in season. Other varie- ties are better for keeping after the season is over. In the fall in South Texas you can put them out after pota- toes are removed from the land. Further north they should be transplanted early so as to have good roots before freezing weather. They vi^lll stand hard freezes if put out early. Every garden can have onions the year around if properly handled. The hose should be used in the dry summer months to keep them growing. £t is important to take the dirt from around them when they begin to bowl. Keep the ground well pulverized. Onions will not grow well on hard ground. Onions are considered very healthful and a good preventive of many ills. Make it a point to grow them both wint(>x and summer. Irish Potatoes. Prepare the land well by ploughing or spading very deep. Put very little barn yard manure next to the potatoes, it causes warts on them. Enrich the land with well rotted manure. Plant in rows two or three feet wide, eight to ten inches apart in the row. Cut the potatoes into four parts rf large, two parts if small. The larger the pieces the better the young vines will grow off. Plant very early, about February or first of March. Cover very deep and rake off when time for them to come up. When six to eight inches high, broadcast leaves and straw or manure and straw over the ground if you have it, to hold the moisture. For fall crop plant last of August or first of September. Small striped bugs frequently bother the vines. A ten cent package of *' Par's green mixed with seven parts of flour and a little slacked lime will kill them if dusted on of mornings when the dew is on. Get the best varieties suited tc your sec.ttion of the country. —19— Squashes. There are a number of good varieties. Plant after the weather is warm. Make hills three or four feet apart, cover two inches deep, thin out to two plants when good size. Use tobacco dust on all vegetables to be cooked, when bugs or worms are bothering them. Turnips. Turnjips are easily grown if the land is rich. Turnips have a large amount of food value. For fall use, spade or plow the ground up in August, even if dry. Harrow or rake well to pulverize. Best to sow your seed in nar- row rows and work well to make large turnips. Thin as they grow for greens to two or three feet apart. Sow just before a shower if possible. Rake the seed in or harrow if a large plot. Throw loose hay over the ground for them to come through, the sun gradually hardens them so they don't die out so badly. Sow later for wiinter use. By having a bed early and using the hay and sprinkling every day very early greens can be had. White Egg and Flat Dutch are good varieties for early use. Purple top for later use. Everybody should raise Rutabagas for winter use, stand the cold better and are sweeter and better for late winter use. Sow very early in the fall, they grow slow, in rows and thin to four Inches apart. Okra. Okra will grow almost anywhere. If you will pour water around it every day or so, two stalk is all one family will need. It will grow all summer ^if watered and all the old pods should be kept cut off. In the fence corner or any old place about the yard will do for okra. The stalks will spread and often grow ten feet high in a season, producing some four hundred pods each. Learn to eat okra, it /is healthful and easily grown. Corn. Plant sweet corn as soon as the weather is warm, make successive plantings for later use until July. Plant in rows three feet wide, thick in the row, when five inches high thin to a stalk every twelve or fourteen inches. Remove all suckers from the base of stalks, — 20 — ^^ a no. H^ <- r to ^ ^ o S 3 5r <» 3 0) «»> «*^ Gardening Experiences of Others PREPARING TO LIVE AT HOIME. IMrs. Beatrice Riggan *^«' 1 herewith send my little plan of preparing vegetables Tor home use. First consider the kind of soil, next preparing the land, planting the seed and cultivating the vegetables. Sandy land fertilized well with barnyard manure is •suitable for all kinds of vegetables Plow land early and fertilize it, then harrow to get the benefit of all the winter rains. February plow again for potatoes, beets and peas, then plant from four to 10 inches apart. Use the new kind of scratch harrow made for garden purposes. In March prepare the land for beans, tomatoes, cab- bage, radish, lettuce, mustard and turnips. Make the hotbed for tomatoes and cabbage south of a building. It should consist of a wooden frame put down in the ground about six inches, but some higher on the north side and filled with good soil. Moisten soil and p'ant seed in rows. Cover the whole with window sash or translucent oilcoth. I have had some of the earliest tomaloes this way. After beets have formed a. bulb loosen the soil around them so they can enlarge, also treat onions in the same way. Have a frame for the English peas to support them. If the spring is late ond cold cover all vegetables with leaves or straw to keep the ground warm and prevent weeds and grass from growing. Keep the soil loose for all vegetables and plow after each rain to keep the weeds and grass destroyed. For a support for the pole beans use posts at intervals along the rows, then fasten hog or garden wire on posts for the runners. One can gather beans so much easier than on bushes. I had vines in the spring 9% feet high and would gather over a tubful every other mornin^?. When you transplant tomatoes and cabbage moisten the bed and run a knife blade between the rows before moving the plants. Before transplanting punch a good- size splace in the soil for plants, then pour in water. Put tomatoes 18 or 24 inches apart and cabbage 18 inches. When tomato vines begin to put on fruit put in posts at intervals and use hog wire for support. Keep all suckers pruned out. 37 To I'.repare for the table while fresh gather vegetables in the evening and stand over night in cool water. Cook them early in the morning in a quantity of water with lid off of stewer and season to suit the taste. To prepare vegetables for winter use in liquid form fill jars full and put in two tablespoons of vinegar and one of salt to half gallon of vegetables, also a little Witter except for tomatoes. Then put jars in cold water in a boiler, if you haven't a canner, and boil from 10 to 45 minutes, depending on kind of vegetables. After boiling the required time put rubbers in hot water, Chen put on jars and seal. For beets boil till tender, fill jars and pour boiling: vinegar and sugar over same, proportioned to two cups vinegar and seven cups sugar for each gallon of beets. To keep the vegetables for winter use, such as beets, turnips, onions, sweet and Irish potatoes and all kinds of dried peas and beans, put in sand in a barrel in a dry place. This is the way to cut out the high cost of living, — Farm and Ranch, GARDEIV SAVES LIVI.NG COST. Z. L. Evans. Will give our plan of gardening to help keep down high cost of living. In fall or winter we haul and scatter a liberal amount of rotted manure and break land six to 10 inches deep. A few days before planting rebreak and harrow to have a loose but firm seedbed. We find that a bed too loose is about as bad as one too hard. Begin by planting cabbage, tomatoes, etc., in hotbeds and as soon after February 14 t\s weather will permit we plant onions, radishes, turnips, lettuce, English peas, etc. We plant Early Alaska and large Marrowfat peas; the early peas if kept picked will last till the late ones begin bearing. As the season advances we transplant cabbage and plant beans, squashes, etc., and as we thin the radishes we resow the beds so as to have a succession, and by the time the first are gone we have new ones coming. Owing to small size of garden we plant orka, pole beans and late snap beans, Lima beans, cucumbers, etc., in the fall awiay from the chickens. Our plan is to plant at the end of cotton rows and as we plow the cotton; we plow on through the truck patch, thus in- suring a cultivation of once each 10 days. Our aim is not only to supply immediate demand, but for future use and a surplus to sell; by following one crop with another and continuous planting we have vegetables from April till frost. 58 We "begin caiiii'mg as soon as we have enough ot vegetables coming in that can be put up this way. Put up catsup, chow chow, pickles, mixed sweet pickles, Itrout, pickle beets, canned tomatoes, beans, okra, etc. We raise from tour to eight varieties of peas, two of lima beans and a small soup bean, of which we have 150 pounds threshed now, sweet potatoes, two crops of Irish potatoes, all crops for winter use; several hunches of onions; buy onion seed and raise the kind of onions we like; raise sets for fall use and plant seed for winter use, as they keep better. We have onions 12 months of each year. We plant White Elpaso onions and raise them as large as saucers. In spring and summer we always have vegetables to take to town. In winter sell onions, peas, beans or sets. For three years we have not bought anything in the way of peas, beans or potatoes, onions, cabbage etc. In planting a garden one should plant for winter use and be sure to plant enough and above all save it as it comes on, and then let those who did not, "howl" about hard times. I am called a crank. Perhaps I am. After livin*? three years in West Texas from paper sacks and tin cans. It is a pleasure here where one can raise the stuff to see it grow and know we are eating the best and freshest vegetables to be had. Aside from the garden we have about one-fourth acre of blackberries, dewberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and Giant Himalaya berries, all of which will bear next year. Franklin Co., Ark. — Farm and Ranch HOME GARDENING. Mrs. C. R. Stephenson. It is with a feeling of great satisfaction that I express TOiyself on the subject of gardening. I can conscientiously say the brightness of my life has been brought about by watching my garden grow. It has inspired me with a feeling akin to the sublime and beautiful, and placed me "nearer to Nature's heart." I am past 60 years of age and I believe outdoor exercise has been an elixir of life to me. It has prompted me to arise early with the distinguished bird, which has the credit of catching tiie worm. I have gardened all seasons of the year. In early spring I plant my lettuce inside of a frame sufficiently deep to allow full growth of the plants and stretch a canvass over the frame, the same canvas ufcd by paper 59 hangers. It serves to keep out the winter winds and lets in the sun and rain. It is surprising to see the rapid growth when it is cold enough to enjoy a fire. I have also had lettuce In mid-winter, planted in the open. There was a pest called "chick weed," which grew as a kind of protection to the lettuce. Such heads I never saw before. They were the size of a half- gallon cup; could be handled, in slicing, like cab- bage, and much tenderer. I am given great credit for being succescful with lettuce. Last winter I treat- ed it with canvas and planted a paper of cabbage seed with it In February I transplanted the cabbage, though it was not an early variety, but the heads were simply enormous. I like gardening and I am vsiy caieful not to treat it as some pfople jo their cLii'irtn- — plenty of food and watar, but lack of cuitivution. There is something fanciful about the work — the fasci- nation overcomes the irksome part of it. I seldon have a plow iii my garden. I begin early with a common pitchfork and use it as a spade, enough for each planting, and the results are charming. The cultivation of asparagus is both pleasing and profitable, as it comes in with the earliest vegetables. I confine myself to a small amount of ground and work it well. I get as much off of what looks like a miniature garden as others do off of twice the amount of ground. Experience leads deeper into the art of outdoor life. If the garden becomes tiresome change off to yard culture. I tie the tops of the young ever- green together and trim underneath with shears. On gala nights, hang Japanese lanterns in them. It is a reminder of the way the twig is bent the tree is inclined. Cedars with wild smilax make pretty yard growth ii trailed in the same way. I find the two extremes for planting vegetables — that is, very early and very late^— is the most profitable. At Christmas I try for the greatest variety. Curley must- ard and split radishes for garnishing. It is a great luxury. The advantage we have in this sunny Southern clime, a God-given privilege, to sow and to reap — what would be an endless expense — say nothing of the im- pcssibilities in other countries. I sow my seed by the daylight fair From Nature's generous hand ; I reap the harvest rich and rare In this glorious fertile land. Farm and Ranch. 60 THANKSGIVING FEAST COST 27C; GARDEN SECRET. Home-Grown Foodstuffs Solves High Price Problem for Dallas Man. To The Evening Journal: I have been reading with much interest the recent pro and con letters on the cost of living. It depends en whether what I write interests you, and if you will call en the Rev. G. W. Daniel at the Business Men's League, 908 Main street, he can personally verify the story of the back-yard Thanksgiving feast, at which he was the guest of honor. This feast, which fed two men, one woman and two hearty children, consisted of eighteen items and was produced with a cash outlay of 2 7 cents. There was enough left over to feed three more people. We have a back-yard garden, 50x60 feet, which pro- duced most of the things not purchased for cash. New potatoes of good size, dug the day before from two t.-st hir,s, were used. Baked sweet potatoes, turnips, lima beans, tomatoes, green onions and celery (yes, sir! celery, raised in Dallas black dirt) were on the bill of fare. The corn that supplied the muffins also was back- yard raised, and the meal ground on the grinding disc of a 5 cent food chopper. The flour which made the whole wheat bread and the fruit cake also was ground in like manner at home from Texas wheat. Also Raises Rhubarb. Then there were sweet potato pie and rhubarb pie from rhubarb also grown in our back yard. Although we are told you can't raise rhubarb here, it is a fact that we have gathered thirty-six pounds from twelve square feet of ground since July. They were from seed plants raised since May 1. At the present market price is worth 3 7 cents per square foot, or at the rate of — ? per acre. The turkey was hamburger roast made from one- quart pound of pecan meats, whole wheat flour and a few other ingredients. We use this often and find is absolutely satisfactory. Ask the visitor about it. Other things we had were rhubarb sauce, gravy, but- ter, native persimmons, grapes supplied by the visitor and a homemade blend of grain coffee which a visitor could scarce tell from genuine. There would have been strawberries, but the freeze of a few weeks ago killed the young berries. Yes. we can raise strawberries in our back yard — black land. In fact we gathered thirty-two quarts from fif- teen square feet from^April 3 to July 15, 1916. 61 Home-GroAvn Pigs. Oh, yes, I almost forgot: We also had fig preserves made from figs gathered from trees that were grown — every inch from the ground up — since May 1 this year from root cuttings which were set in April. The fruit began ripening in September. We are only poor tenants on a rented place and always have raised a garden. How we usually make $100 or more truck on 50x60 feet was told in The Dallas News over a year ago. Now the advice that is being given the poor man to raise a garden to reduce the cost of living would be excellent if some philanthropist would provide these would-be gardeners with the "knack" and knowleage for doing the right thing at the right time. Of those who made the earnest, honest effort in 1916, I dare say 90 per cent failed for want of knowing just how to suc- ceed. The general directions found in the garden col- umns of magazines and in seed catalogues or on seed packages may be all right in some cases, but for our local climatic and soil conditions nothing will do but ex- perience born of work at practical gardening. Dig, Gardeners, Dig! And right here, let me give those who want a 1917 garden a piece of sound advice: Did, dig deep, say twelve or fifteen inches and do it now. That is, do it this month. It may be true that you know of someone who had a good gaa-den on April-dug ground, but where one succeeds, twenty will fall. I have been at it over twenty years and have tested it thoroughly both ways all along, even this year, but henceforth I shall never make any more gardens on spring-dug or plowed ground. It seems to me that one of the mjost philanthropic and worthy things to be done would be, in some way, to devise a plan to correctly instruct the hundreds who might be willing to learn how to utilize their own back yard or near-by vacant lots. I myself am going to put in two or three vacant lots for 1917. THOMAS. GARDEN ON RENTED LAND. By Mrs. C. B. Beck. I live in a rented house, and have, perhaps, a fifth of an acre around the place that I cultivate. The land is thin sand, badly infested with nut grass, and not at all the kind of soil one would choose for a garden spot. Having no better, however, I determined to make the best of what I had. When I moved to this place in September, 1914, the garden spot was a veritable jungle of weeds. I set to work, and with the help of the chil- 62 drcn socn disposed of the weeds. I then had the land plowed and planted in turnips, but owing to a dry spell at that time my turnips did not come up and my fall garden consisted of a few rows of shallots. I started my spring garden on March 17th by planting in a cold frame my tomato seed, and a few days later I planted sweet pepper seed. I was obliged to depend on commercial fertilizers, but from a nearby strip of woodland I had my little boys, aged seven and ten years, bring leaves and pine straw and scatter over the garden before having the ground plowed. I had broadcasted over it 100 pounds of cotton seed meal and 100 pounds of 16 per cent acid phosphate. During the winter whenever I removed the ashes from the grate or stove I scattered them at once on my garden spot. During April I planted sixty hills of Kentucky Wonder pole bepns. planted Lima beans around all the fences, thirty-six hills of cucumbers, a dozen hills of squash, eight or ten rows of okra, and bedded a few sweet po- tatoes. On May 10th I commenced setting out tomato plants, Livingston's Magnus. Of course I had to do my garden work at odd times, as I had my house work to do, be- sides cooking and sewing for five children, doing most of the laundry work, looking after a flock of chickens, and running an incubator. On May 28th I planted my last tomato plants, 300 in all. I had about sixty Ohio Crimson sweet pepper plants. On June 10th I planted corn between each alternate row of tomatoes, for a few rows. On June 30th I planted sweet potato slips at random all through the tomato patch. My corn flourished beautifuTy, until July 2d, when we had a rain, followed by daily showers for some time. The corn was drowned and turned perfectly yellow. I scat- tered a handful of lime around each stalk of corn and it actually regained a nice green color, and I gathered over 100 ears of nice green corn for the table. I worked my garden entirely without help, using only a garden hoe and a rake. I gathered 964 pounds of tomatoes, eight bushels of sweet potatoes, fifty quarts of Lima beans. I had orka until frost, hundreds of cu- cumbers, and quantities of snap beans, squash and sweet pepper. I raised a nice shoat, that dressed about 60 pounds, entirely on scraps from the garden and sweet potato leaves, and finally fattened it on small sweet po- tatoes. Besides this I canned over 2 00 cans of fruit and vegetables and put up several dozen jars of pickles and preserves. I spent but little more than $5.00 in actual cash on the garden, and counting everything, including my own work at ten cents per hour, I cleared over $20.00 on my garden, and I am only a woman who weighs less than 100 pounds. Columbus, Ga. — Southern Ruralist, Atlanta, Ga. 63 T. D. Lemons, who lives at 5527 Oleander street, Park- view, says to The Evening Journal: "I am reading with much interest the articles and dicusssions appearing in The Evening Journal relative to the cost of living and what a person can live on comfortably per day. "I have a little garden plat on my home lot, where I this year raise an orka stalk that grew to be eleven feet eight inches high and that yielded quite abundantly. A second stalk did not grow quite so tall, but it put out more branches. From this stalk I gathered 420 pods of edible okra, cutting the pods each day, which I find the best way to get best results from okra. "My garden is but 40x40 feet, but on it I raised enough vegetables, tomatoes, peas, onions, lettuce and beets, be- sides the okra I have mentioned to feed my family the last spring and summer, there being six of us. We had some snap beans and some Irish potatoes, but these do not do well on black land. What I have done others can do if they will try, and a good garden is fully one- half the living for four or five months. In the fall the same ground can be planted to turnips, and this vegetable with the greens it affords supplies no small measures of the needs for a good dinner. "With a, little garden and a few hens we can become very independent of the grocery stores. The garden should be well fertilized and the hens will supply a good portion if not all of this. Then a few hours work at needed times and you have met and conquered to a large extent the problem of the hour. — Evening Journal. FALL IRISH POTATOES. Logan County, Arkansas. Farm and Ranch: It is not easy to germinate seed and make a fall crop of Irish potatoes with ordinary early crop seed. There are exceptions, but as a rule it is a waste of time to plant early crop varieties for fall crop. At least this is our experience. We plant an exclusive fall crop called Lookout Moun- tain Irish potatoes. These will not make the spring crops under any conditions, but seldom fail making crops in the fall. We prepare our land far in advance of planting time in order to insure at least some moisture. When we are ready and the time comes we plant about July 15. We dump a bushel or so at a time into a large tub partly filled with fresh well water; cut the potatoes out of the water same as for the spring crop. In the meantime we rub off any sprouts that may have started. After the potatoes are cut we sack them and 64 give the cut potatoes in tlie sacks several liberal shower- baths. This wetting process is solely for the purpose of tak- ing the wilt or shrivel out and to make the potatoes firm again, so they will come to a stand rain or shine. We do all the cutting in the afternoon and plant the next morn- ing in a fresh furrow rather deep. Cover at once with cul- tivator with 14-inch sweeps attached, a row at a time. We have tried this plan two years already and find it works like a charm. We never fail to secure good stands and excellent crops. This wetting process in con- nection wth the strictly fall-crop variety named is the secret of our success. To those in the South who would make fall-crop po- tatoes we say treat as above outlined. The wetting process is to take the wilt out and is very important. J. M. SUGG. VELVET BEANS IN COCO GRASS. Lamar County, Texas Farm and Ranch: I am using velvet beans this year to kill nut grass out in my m-arket garden where in some places it forms a dense sod. I also have a large part of my corn crop planted n velvet beans. They make a tremendous growth of vine so dense as to cause the nut grass to rot. They are much better than cowpea for pasturing in fall and winter and add a large amount of humus to the soil as well as a big store of nitrogen. I have been gardening here nearly 2 5 years and have tried a number of lima and butter beans and will say really every intelligent gardener knows the large limas are a failure in most parts of the South. Word's im- proved lima is about one-third or more larger than the Henderson and is one of the best for Texas. It is a bunch variety. The common small varieties of pole butter beans are best here. F. CLARKE. LATE GARDEN. A. A. Claud. Any one can have a garden in the late spring and early summei, but to have a garden in the summer and fall is not so easy. The great trouble is the lack of moisture. It requires moisture to insure summer and fall vegetables. To obtain it two things are required; some kind of water supply for irrigation, or a thorough and continuous cul- tivation fo the soil beforehand to hold the moisture in the soil for this purpose. 65 It requires frequent stirring of the soil to retain the water in tlie land; there must not be any vegetation grow to any length of time. Those who have not tned this continuous working of clean land will be surprised to find the moisture so near the surface. One deep plowing is sufficient, but a mulch must be kept over the sui lace. I will not attempt to advise what to plant. Everybody knows what he likes. The essential thing is, as before stated, moisture first, tillage before planting and after; next of importance is getting seed to germinate and live. Sometimes when it has been hot and dry I have run a very wide solid sweep shallow so as to push the soil back from the row, then make the furrow for planting with small plow or pointed garden hoe. Sow seed im- mediately and get on row with both feet, thoroughly tramping every inch, dragging in soil with foot. After- wards go over row with garden rake, leaving a light mulch to prevent baking or hardening soil. Another good way to get a stand of such vegetables as turnips, radishes and cabbage is to open with bull- loague and cover with same, furrow on both sides. Let stand only one day and two nights, then drag off ridge. Other kinds of seeds requiring longer time should not be dragged so soon. I produced turnips last year when there had been no rain for months when planted; had the only turnips on this market until after my crop was sold. Let everybody strive for all-the-year garden. It will be of immense value in this time of high cost of living. One more point and I am through, and that is, don't use any fertilizer on your summer garden, or fall garden either, if your land is average. If you do, put it on in January or February. City people do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. Meat, pastry and foods rich in spices, sauces, etc., are likely to be injurious when eaten to excess. The daily diet should have some fruits and vegetables for vari- ety and for efficiency. The high cost of marketing has caused the city consumers to reduce their consumption of fruits and vegetables. Yet the city consumer, perhaps more than any class connected with marketing produce, is responsible for higher prices. As a rule the city consumer expects too much service, much of which is unnecessary. — Farm and Ranch. 66 INDEX. City Lot Gardening 3 Utilization of Waste Space 4 W. M. Teal's Experimental Garden 5 Pin Money for the Boy or Girl 6 Youthful Gardeners 7 Earn'ng Pin Money by Selling Vegetables 7 Small Farms vs. the City Lot Garden 8 Mrs. Henry Pietsch's Garden 9 A Recent Picture of Salmon Brown 9 Cultivating a Taste for Vegetables 10 W. M. Teal's Back Yard 11 Who is at Fault? 12 Preparation of the Soil 13 Fertilizers 14 What to Plant, When and How 15 Tools for Garden'ng, Transplanting 16 W. M. Teal's Experimental Garden 17 Sweet Potatoes, Onions 18 Irish Potatoes 19 Squashes, Okra, Corn 20 W. M. Teal's African Pea Patch 21 Cabbage, Collards 22 English Peas, Beans, Beets 23 Carrots, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Kershaws 24 Pumpkin, Yard Peas, Tomatoes, Radishes 25 Asparagus, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Rhubarb, Peppers.. 26 Garlic, Kohl-Rabi, Celery, Strawberries 27 How to Bring Seed up quickly. Dust Sprays, For Citrus Trees, Canning the Surplus 28 Fruits and Vegetables 29 Peanuts, Miscellaneous Information 30 Growing Fruit in the Yard 32 Utilization of a Small Space 33 Orange Trees, Grapes 35 Jap Persimmons, Pears, Pecans 36 Plums, Figs, Peaches 37 Blackberries, Pruning Trees, Fertilizing 38 Economy in the Kitchen 39 How to Have Early Vegetables 41 Canned Fruits and Vegetables 43 Useful Recipes 44-54 List of Bulletins 55 Gardening Experiences of Others 57—66 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 000 916 148 n REEVES TERRELL