HARPER'S A-B-C SERIES

A-B-C OF VEGETABLE GARDENING. By Eben E. Rexford

A-B-C OF CORRECT SPEECH. By Florence Howe Hall

A-B-C OF ARCHITECTURE. By Frank E. Wallis

A-B-C OF HOUSEKEEPING. By Christine Terhune Herrick

A-B-C OF ELECTRICITY. By William H. Meadowcroft

A-B-C OF GARDENING. By Eben E. Rexford

A-B-C OF GOOD FORM. By Anne Seymour

16mo, Cloth

HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK

A-B-C OF VEGETABLE GARDENING

BY EBEN E. REXFORD

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK & LONDON

A-B-C of Vegetable Gardening

Copyright, 1916, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America Published February, 1916

CONTENTS

A-B-C OF VEGETABLE GARDENING

A-B-C OF VEGETABLE GARDENING

FOREWORD

Not everybody has a garden. Some deny themselves the pleasure and the profit of one because they have never had any experience in gardening, and have somehow got the impression that special training is necessary to make a success of the undertaking. Here is where they make a mistake. There is no special "knack" about it. Any one who owns a bit of land, and has some time that can be given to garden-work, and an inclination to do so, can make a gardener of himself in a season—and a successful one, too—if he allows himself to be governed by the advice of some one who has had some experience along this line. After the first season he will not be likely to ask or need advice, for the practical knowledge which comes with one season's work among vegetables will not only be sufficient to enable him to go on with his gardening operations on his own responsibility, but it will have made him so enthusiastic over them that he will be eager to enlarge his knowledge of "the green things growing," and in doing this he will find a pleasure that will make him wonder how he ever came to consider gardening something to dread.

Others, who have but a small piece of land, may think it not worth while to attempt to grow vegetables on it. They labor under the impression that a garden, in order to prove a success, requires more land than is at their disposal. Here is where they make a mistake. Of course one cannot grow a large quantity of vegetables on a small piece of ground, but the one who undertakes to make the most of a small piece will be surprised at the amount that can be grown on it. In a garden that is not more than twenty-five feet square a friend of mine grows all the summer vegetables required by his family of four persons. This calls for what the scientific people call "intensive gardening," and makes it necessary to plant and plan for a succession of vegetables; but that twenty-five feet square of ground enables him to get a good share of the summer living of his family.

Another notion is, that in order to have a good garden a large amount of time and labor must be expended on it. Not so. A very small amount of systematized labor will be demanded by even a good-sized garden, if it is planned in such a manner that labor-saving tools can be used in its cultivation. If we look back to the gardening days of fifty or even twenty-five years ago, when everything was done at the hardest and the hand had to do a good share of the work that we now do with helpful implements, it is not to be wondered at that the old-time care of a garden discourages many from undertaking to have one. Happily those days are over, and with the gardening facilities of the present it is an easy matter to accomplish more in an hour than could be done then in a day. There is really no drudgery in gardening as it is done to-day. On the contrary, there is positive pleasure in the operation of the machinery which inventive genius has furnished for the up-to-date gardener's use.

Those who have never had a garden of their own, but have bought vegetables in the ordinary market, are not in a position to understand the wide difference between the article we buy and the one which is taken directly from the ground and eaten at once. While it is possible to keep most vegetables looking fresh for a considerable time by the use of water and ice, it is not possible to make them retain that delicacy of flavor known only to those whose vegetables go straight from the garden to the kitchen. If you want any vegetable at its best you must grow it in your own garden.

The general impression seems to be that gardening is essentially man's work, and that women and children are not equal to it. This is another mistake that will rapidly be done away with, for the woman of to-day is no longer a housed-up woman. She is rapidly learning the value of fresh air, and the tonic of outdoor life is fast taking the place of the doctor's prescriptions. The writer knows of many women who have found work in the garden not only a healthful occupation, but one so delightful that they look forward to spring with most pleasurable anticipations, and long for the time to come when they can get to work out of doors. When we have tried both we learn that work in the vegetable-garden is no harder than that in the flower-garden, and that neither demands more strength or time than the average woman is able to give it if she makes use of labor-saving tools. What is true of the woman is equally true of the children. A child ten years of age can do a good deal of the work that a good-sized garden calls for.

I would not be understood as advocating the giving up of garden-work to women and children. I would not deny man the pleasure of sharing in it. But I would urge the importance of interesting women and children in it, and of encouraging them to take part in it from the viewpoint of health. Benefit in other respects will become so apparent, after a little, that further encouragement will not be necessary. Most women who have some leisure—especially if they are of the housewife class—will be so pleased with the results of gardening that they will be glad to supplement the labors of the man of the family by what they can accomplish in it, if he is employed in work that will not allow him to devote much time to the garden. And they will find that the boys of the family—and the girls as well—can be made to take an active part in the good work with but little encouragement from their elders. It is natural for both boys and girls to dig in the soil, and it is well to encourage them to dig to some purpose. It is natural work, and healthy work, and work that will do more to keep the average child out of mischief than any other influence that can be brought to bear on it. But I would not allow the child to get the impression that I gave it garden-work to do as a mischief-preventative. That would spoil everything. Aim to interest the boys and girls in the mysterious processes of nature. Encourage them to plan and execute as much of the work as can safely be trusted to them. In a short time you will find that most of them are equal to all the requirements of the ordinary garden.

I have often been told by those who have had years of experience in garden-work that at least half one's living for half the year can be obtained from the garden, even if it happens to be a small one, and my own experience bears out the truth of this statement. If we grow our own vegetables we are quite sure to have a greater variety to add to the daily bill of fare than would be the case if we were to buy them. We have them when we want them without making a trip to the market for them, or depending on the uncertainties of telephone orders which grocers so frequently fill by sending vegetables of a quality that would not satisfy us if we gave them personal inspection before purchasing. The entire family will be delighted with the frequent changes that can be made in the bill of fare, and no one more so than the housewife who often finds it a difficult matter to plan for a variety of food when the family income does not warrant a liberal outlay.

No owner of a bit of ground that can be made into a garden can afford to let it remain unused. If he does so he does it in disregard of the economy which most of us are obliged to consider and practise in these days of high prices and the increasing cost of daily living.

Have a garden if you can.

GETTING THE GARDEN READY

The amateur gardener will almost invariably be in too great a hurry to begin gardening operations in the spring. But a few warm days are not sufficient to put the ground in proper condition for seeding, or even for plowing and spading. The frost must be allowed to get out of it, and after that an opportunity must be given for surplus water from melting snows and spring rains to drain away before work can be done to any advantage. As a general thing not much can be done in gardening at the North before the first of May. It is an old saying that "haste makes waste," and the gardener who is in too great a hurry often learns the truth which underlies the saying by the failure to germinate of the seed he puts into the ground very early in the season.