The Garden Yard

Chapter Xiii.—Root Crops 90-105

Radishes 91 Culture 92 Enemies 93 Needs 93 Varieties 93 When to sow 92 Beets 94 As greens 95 Enemies 96 Fertilizers, special 96, 97 Marketing 97 Planting 95 Tillage 96 Where to grow 94 Yield 96 Carrots 97 How to sow 97 Soil preparation 97 Thinning 98 Types 98 Yield 99 Turnips 99 Easy to grow 99 Cowhorn turnip 44 How to plant 100 Root maggot 100 Soil 99 Thinning 100 Parsnips 100 Cultivation 101 Freedom from disease 102 Sowing 101 Thorough preparation 101 Yield 102 Salsify 102 Kitchen use only 102 Returns 103 Soil requirements 102 Types, modified 102, 103 Horse-radish 103 Grown from “sets” 103 How planted 104 Tillage 104 Yield 104

Chapter Xiv.—Tuber Crops 106-110

Potatoes 106 Early potatoes 108 Enemies and diseases 108 How to plant 107 Seed, potato 107 Soils, best 106 Spraying 108 Yield, average 106 “ good 106 “ phenomenal 218-225 “ possible 106 Sweet Potatoes 109 Home of 109 Climate 109 Cultivation 109, 110 Enemies 110 Soil 109

Chapter Xv.—Bulb Crops 111-118

How to propagate 111 Needs, their 111 Seed-bed crops 111 Leeks 111 How grown 111 Product 111 Storage 111 Ciboule 112 Cives 112 Garlic 111 Shallot 112 Onion, Welsh 112 Onions 112 Early crop 114 Enemies 118 Fertilizing 113 Growing 112 Handling and storing 116 “Multiplier” onions 115 New onion culture 115 Season, main 114 Selling onions 117 “Sets” 114 Sorting 117 “Top”-onions 114 Weeding 114 Yields 118

Chapter Xvi.—Cole Crops 119-133

Meaning of name 119 Why grown 119 Brussels Sprouts 127 Soil, food and tillage needs 127 Successful growing 128 Cabbage 119 Acre yield, an 121 Crops, two 120 Essentials for growing 119 Fertilizing 120 Field-grown 121 Hot-bed plants 121 Insects and diseases 122 Locality, effect of 122 Marketing 121 Planting 123, 124 Profits in cabbage 123 Protection from insects 125 Quick first crop 123 Second crop 125 Cauliflower 129 Good seed necessary 129 Growing seed 130 Tillage, right 130 Where it grows best 129 Kale 126 Better for frost 126 Collards 127 Cultivation 126 Enemies 127 How sown 126 Southern kale 127 Kohlrabi 131 Best varieties 131 How to thin 131 Insects, diseases and cures 131, 132, 133 Its family 131 “ uses 131

Chapter Xvii.—Pot-Herb Crops 134-140

Characteristics 134 Needs 134 What they are 134 Chard 137 Dandelion 138 Characteristics 138 Harvesting 139, 140 Tillage 139 Mustard 137 Where grown 137 Soil requirements 138 Purslane 140 Spinach 134 Forced spinach 136 How sown 137 How to sow 135 New Zealand spinach 136 Where and when grown 134

Chapter Xviii.—Salad Crops 141-160

What they are 141 What they need 141 Celeriac 159 How eaten 159 How to grow 159 Soil and tillage 159 Transplanting 159 Celery 150 Blanching 154, 155, 156 Care in tilling 153, 154 Diseases 158 Early and late crop 153 Fertilizing 153 How to sow 151 Loss in sprouting 152 Marketing 157 Seed-bed crop 150 Soil requirements 150 Storing 157 Thinning 152 Transplanting 152 Varieties 158 Where it grows best 150, 151 Chicory 145 How to grow 145 Salad plant 145 Use of chicory roots 146 Corn Salad 148 Cool-season crop 148 How and where to plant 148 Yield 149 Cress 146 How and where to grow 146, 147 How to plant 148 Varieties 146 Endive 144 Blanching 144 How to sow 144 Season, its 144 Soil and tillage 144 Use, its 145 Lettuce 142 Companion-crop 143 Culture 142 Growing in the open 143 “ under glass 143 Nature 142 Sowing and thinning 143 Succession-crop 143 Yield 143 Parsley 149 Easy to grow 149 Nature 149 Uses 149 Salad Chervil 149 Culture 150 Ready for use 150 Varieties 150

Chapter Xix.—Pulse Crops 161-172

What they are 161 What they need 161 Beans 166-172 Bush and pole beans 169 Enemies 171, 172 Lima beans 167, 170 Ornamental uses 170 Planting 170 Preparing the soil 167 String beans 166 Where they grow 171 Where and when to sow 166 Peas 161-166 Early crops 162 Enemies 163, 165 Pea values 162, 163 Planting 161 Soil requirements 161 Varieties 163

Chapter Xx.—Solanaceous Crops 173-182

Crops included 173 Nature and requirements 173 Eggplants 179, 180 Enemies 181 Harvesting 180 Marketing 180 Planting 179 Tillage 180 Transplanting 179, 180 Treatment required 179 Husk Tomato 182 Peppers 181 Cultivation 181 Growth of demand 181 Starting 181 Transplanting 181 Uses 182 Varieties 182 Tomatoes 173 Cultivation 174 Fertilizing 174 Harvesting 178 Racks, cheap 166, 167 Sowing seed 173 Tillage 174 Training and its value 175 Varieties 179 Where grown 173 Yield 179

Chapter Xxi.—Vine or Cucurbitous Crops 183-191

What they are 183 “ “ need 183 Why you fail 183 How to succeed 183 When and where to plant 184 Enemies 184 Cucumbers and Gherkin 185 Planting in hills 185 Uses 186 Varieties 186 Yield 186 Muskmelon 186 Enemies 187 Planting 187 Varieties 187 Where grown 187 Yield 187 Pumpkin and Squash 189 Differences 190 Enemies 191 Uses 190 Varieties 190-191 Watermelon 187 Cultivation 188 Enemies 189 Testing 189 Uncertain crop 187 Where and how grown 188

Chapter Xxii.—Unclassified Annuals 192-197

What they include 192 “ “ need 192 Martynia 197 Okra or Gumbo 196 Cultivation 197 Enemies 197 Nature 196 Uses 196 Where and why grown 196 Sweet Corn 192 Cultivation 193, 194, 195 Enemies 196 Important crop 192 Marketing 195 Preparation for planting 193 Where it thrives 192 Yield 196

Chapter Xxiii.—Herbs, Sweet and Condimental 198-200

Varieties 198 Classes 198 Growing 198, 199 Annuals 199 Perennials 200

CHAPTER XXIV.—PERENNIAL CROPS 201-215 What they are 201 “ “ need 201 Asparagus 201 Cultivation 201 Enemies 206, 207 Growing from seed 203 Harvesting 204 Marketing 205 Planting 202 Soil requirements 201 Tillage 202 Winter protection 205 Yield 206 Rhubarb 208 Cellar plots 210 Forced growth 210, 211 Nature, hardy 208 New culture 209 Planting 208 Profitable growing 209 Soil needs 208 Yield 211 Docks and Sorrels 211 Varieties 211 Artichoke 212 Jerusalem and French Globe 212 Sowing 212 Stock feed 213 Uses 214 Ways of the artichoke 213, 214 Winter mulch 213 Yield 214 Sea-kale 214 Blanching 215 Care 215 How it grows 214

Chapter Xxv.—Specialities 216-226

Asparagus 218 Celery 218 Chestnuts 217 Mushrooms 218 Onions and potatoes 218 300 bushels to the acre 218, 225 Other specialties 226 Specializing and profits 216, 217 Strawberries 225

Chapter Xxvi.—Watching and Spraying 227-236

Arsenical sprays 233 Bordeaux mixture, what it will do and how to make it 229, 230 Emulsions 235 Kerosene emulsions 234 Manufacture and use 234, 235 Need of watching 227 Paris green 232 Spraying as a remedy 228 Spraying mixture 228, 235 Uses 232 Value of spraying, the 235

Chapter Xxvii.—Fertilizers 237-249

Best are cheapest 241, 242, 243 Care of manure, the 240 Natural and chemical 237, 238 What each contains 238, 239 What fertilizer is 237 Wire basket, soil needs test 244, 249

Chapter Xxviii.—More About Fertilizers 250-257

Experiments show, what 250, 251 Growing crops and fertilizers 255 Manure contains, what 257 Potassium, kainit, wood ashes and lime 252, 253 Value of “check plats,” the 253, 254 Valuable elements 250

Chapter Xxix.—Root Houses and Vegetable Pits 258-259

How to build one 258, 259 Uses, their 258 Varieties of pits 259

CHAPTER XXX.—SMALL FRUITS 260-266 Cultivation 262 Currants and gooseberries 264 How to grow them 264 Enemies and their remedy 264, 265 Grapes 265 How to grow them 265, 266 Growing new plants 263 Labor and yield 260 Marketing 262 Planting 261 Preparing the soil 261 Raspberries and blackberries 263 How to grow them 264 Strawberry patch, the 260

Chapter Xxxi.—the Poultry Run 267-279

Branches of the business 272 Care and feed 269 Central hatching 273 Cleanliness 269 Colony plan versus yarded 274, 275 Effort and profit 278 How to succeed 279 Importance of incubation 273 Incubator hatching 271 Indian Runner ducks 277 Intensive hen, the 267 Location of house 270 Modern hen-house, a 270-271 Outdoor brooding 271 Profitable poultry 268 Small companies 269

Chapter Xxxii.—Organization 280-291

Agricultural colleges and books 281 New methods 280 Work of the months 282-291

CHAPTER XXXIII.—A FEW PRACTICAL “DON’TS” 292-298 Deep plowing 292 Department of Agriculture 294 Farmer’s life, the 292 Feed the soil 295 Making seeds comfortable 292, 293 Successful farmers 296, 297 Tools and their care 295

Appendix I. 299-300

Island of Guernsey products 299

APPENDIX II. 301-306 French Gardening, etc. 301

APPENDIX III. 307-317 Maylands Gardening Customs 307

APPENDIX IV. 318-321 Agricultural Courses 318

PREFACE.

An intensive farm is only an enlarged garden patch.

This book is not intended as a scientific book on agriculture; there are many such books which are out of the depths of everyone except professors and professionals. In a nice experiment station, nice experiments and scientific calculations are excellent; but I want to give the plain man or woman who has a back yard or back lot, out of which he might make part of a living or more than a living, a book that will show how to do it.

I want to help the man or woman who has to do the cultivation at odd times and who finds it hard to get the time for the work, even though this work enables him to do far more work of other kinds. I have had all sorts of experience with gardening, in spite of telegrams and people who want “just five minutes for some important business.” So if you have the same trouble getting the time, do not let that discourage you. We can get health, happiness and some profit in spite of the interruptions.

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