The Farm

IIow much has been said and ivritten, but how little, really, done about the farmer's garden! Wlien overworked men and women in the city begin to feel that life is becoming a bnrden, they resort to the country for liealth and quiet, and force an armistice with outraged nature. Here the air is pure, the food simple and healthful. The orchard is visited for its fruits, and the well-kept garden never fails to furnish the most tempting vegetables ; life upon the farm is a pastime. ïhat's the way it is in the books. That's the way the poor garden is dragged into publicity in its Sunday clothes, to furnish spice for some lovesick novel. It is all plausible enough and reads beautifully, but, in the generality of cases, is all untrue, and the farmer's garden is f ar f rom the orderly little paradise it is represented as being. That some larmers do have good gardens cannot be denied; but the average are, to say the least, very poor, and in most cases they are nurseries for all sorts of troublesome weeds. The thrifty pigweed bends to say "IIow d'ye do" to the sweet corn, and the onions, and the cabbages, and the beets, and the lettuce, are struggling in unequal conflict with the purslane and the ragweed, whieh latter, however, unlike most oonquerors, soon hide the shame of the former. INVESTIGATION PROFOSED. ïhere is, seemingly, no possible reason why every farmer should not be the possessor of a well-tended, productive garden. But he is not ; and a f act is a fact, no matter in what shape it presents itself, and that in spite of all speculation and theorizing. Believing that there are reasons for everything, we are tempted into an investigation, if possible, to discover and suggest remedies. Although I do not expect to say anything new, I hope to hear a full discussion of the topic by those who have had more experience. It were presumption in me to attempt to teil how to keep a garden, and I shall merely notice some of the reasons why farmers do not have better gardens, with a view to an answer to the question. EXCUSE NOT ACCEFTED. To this end, then, we look flrst to difficulties - both real and imaginary - that prevent the average farmer from having, throughout the whole season, a choice selection of vegetables, and, I mav add. smn.ll f mits. for thev suffer equaïïy with the vegetables at the I hands of the careless farmer. Want of land or room for a garden can be no excuse, for every farm, large or small, has its "garden spot," and it usually occupies enough territory for a really elabórate affair. Room, then, can be no excuse. The money required is of almost no account ; but time, or rather the want of it, is his great cry. Regardless of the fact that it takes but little work to keep his garden clean - but a great deal to get it so - he allows the weeds to come up, flourish and ripen to haunt him another year. He inay pull a few for the pigs, but that only gives the rest a better chance. I have no other argument upon the question of time, aside from that it requires but little time, if properly used, than this : farmers can never urge want of time as an excuse for the neglect of the garden and general tidiness of the place, as long as so much time is absolutely wasted by the farming class ; wasted both by squandering time, and, what is almost as bad, unnecessary labor, from the want of definite plans. Want of time, therefore, is not a real difflculty but an imaginary one ; let us see if there is one that is real. THE SUFFICIENT REASON. Now, there are two things in this world that a man always dislikes to own that he is possessed of. Those are ignorance and sin; and usually the more he has of either the less liable is he to acknowledge it. But if it comes to the scratch, as we say, he will link the two together and cali it the sin of ignorance, and thinks it ought to be winked at. Who ever heard of a merchant, or a physician, or a lawyer, or any professional man beginning his business without preparation, and succeeding ? Indeed, our professional men mostly believe that thorough fitting is a necessary antecedent to a successful business. Yet many a farmer begins his work on the farm without the le;ist bit of preparation, nor has he even acquired a disposition to experiment and to learn. He is not able to keep a good garden, simply because he does not know how. Working without a system, it takes all his time to supply the bare demands of a hungry stomach, and the finer tastes are not gratified. WORD OF CATTTIOÑ. Like all education, his must be a growth, and he must not reform too suddenly or he will very likely fail in many particulars, and it not meeting his expectations, he will quit in disgust and conclude not to reform at all. Let him begin with a few vegetables, well cared for, and increase his stock as he increases bis ability by careful attention, by experiment and by reading. Then, when he comes to appreciate the fact that a good garden is a luxury, and enjoyed but by few, he will take pride in devoting the little time needed, and derive much satisf action f rom a small outlay. SOME POPULAR DELUSIONS. Many notions, it seems to me, stand in the way of a good start in this direction from the fact that they have been handed down froru the remotest antiquity, and have become habits. One is, that a garden must be fenced henhigh and pig-tight. This leaves a strip around the edge of the garden that caimot be touched with the plow, and we have the pleasant alternative of spading it or leaving it as an eyesore all summer, where weeds will grow in spite of us. And what is all this for? Simply that a few troublesome oíd hens may enjoy a liberty that not another animal on the wliole farm possesses. If we cannot afïord to keep chickens and turkeys within proper limits, where they will not destroy more than they are worth, we cannot afford to keep them at all. Farmers are beginning to keep flne-blooded horses, and cattle, and sheep, and hogs, but the chickens must "rough it" and get their own living, which they continue to do remarkably well, owing to the hen's peculiar adaptability to eral destructiveness. Lot the poultry ( be kept properly conflned, and the gar{ dens, so f ar as unsightly, be hidden by í appropriate screens. { Again, the farmer has leanied to t make the liorse cultívate his corn al most exclusively, to sow his grain, to t reap it, and frequently to bind it, - to 1 do almost everytliing, - but has not yet, 1 in most cases, learned to make him 5 work his garden. As has been repeats edly said in this society, the garden, if ' disposed in rows and not in beds, can ( be almost entirely cultivated by a í horse very cheaply and very easily. s Market gardeners understand this, and ] why shouldnot the farmer? CONCLUSIÓN. i The question ís, however, "How : good a vegetable garden can the farmer ; afford to have?" As I have eliminated want of time from among the difficulties, the question is practically answered viz. : that as soon as he knows how to keep it he can afford an indefinitely good one, and can keep such an one cheaper and easier than he could a poor one bef ore. I believe that in this and in everything else our difficulties are mostly reminders of our want of knowledge. He can afford to raise any and all vegetables that suit his taste. But the question of how extenaive a garden he can afford to keep is still unanswered, and it is a point that I hope to hear discussed. It seems to me that its extent should be limited to the supply of his own table; that he can spend no great amount of his time in the garden ; that he can in no wise afford to become the market gardener. Let him make gardening his avocation, and not allow it to intrude upon his farm proper. He cannot afford to raise an abundance to sell, but he cai well afford to raise an abundance tq enjoy.