Natalie: A Garden Scout Part 13

"Yes, I see; but I have found three feet of soil to be uncomfortably wide to reach over when you wish to weed or dig about the plants. If the vegetables are bush-beans it is almost impossible to work in the middle of the bed without rubbing against the outside plants and breaking off branches. I should certainly plan to have my gardens but two feet wide, with a foot-path fifteen inches wide between every bed.

"Of course, where land is limited and costly, one cannot afford a wide foot-path; but we can, and it will make the weeding much easier. A ten or twelve-inch foot-path is almost too narrow to move about on without damaging the plants along its edge."

"Is our garden composed of clay, Jimmy, like it says in the next paragraph?" asked Natalie anxiously.

"Oh, no! Let me read what it says: 'The bed should be dug out to a depth of two feet, and if the soil is clay, six inches deeper than two feet.

In the latter case you will have to fill in the bottom with broken stones, or cinders, or gravel, for good drainage. The best soil is a mixture of one-half sandy loam, one-fourth leaf-mould, or muck that has been exposed all winter (to rot for this purpose), and then mix this thoroughly before filling it in the beds. Sprinkle wood-ashes over the beds next, and rake them well in the ground before you plant anything.

This is to sweeten the soil. Lime may be used for the same purpose; but in either case, get advice as to the amount needed for the soil in question.'

"That is plain enough. The soil on different farms differs as much as the people do, so that a careful a.n.a.lysis is needed to produce good crops," explained Mrs. James.

"I suppose there are soils that need next to no potash, and other soil that needs no ashes, or other chemical treatments," ventured Natalie.

"Exactly! So you see, if one added an extra chemical where enough of such was already in evidence, it would injure the tender plant as it sprouted," added Mrs. James.

"Jimmy, Mr. Ames told me to-day that good old leaf-mould was the finest of _all_ composts. But where can we get any, now?" asked Natalie.

"I have no doubt we can find enough down on the river banks to cover your garden beds this year. Then in the fall we can rake up the leaves and allow them to rot through the winter for next season," said Mrs.

James.

"Oh, I forgot all about the woodland down by the stream! I'll run down there in the morning to see if I can find any rotted leaves," said Natalie eagerly.

"Natalie, you should also hunt up some long boards in the barn, or cellar, to use when we plant the seeds," advised Mrs. James.

"Boards-what for?"

"Well, if we have the soil all smooth and fine for planting, our feet will trample down the ground wherever we walk. We must do our seeding by leaning over the bed and work down from each side of the two-foot wide s.p.a.ce. By placing a board on the foot-path between the beds, we can stand on it and keep the soil from becoming packed."

"I should think it would do the path good to be packed down good and hard."

"So it will, but the board will do that in an even manner. Our shoes will cut in and cause the packing to be done in an uneven way,"

explained Mrs. James.

"I suppose we will have to fill some baskets with any leaf-mould we may find in the woodland. But how can we carry them up to the gardens?"

Natalie now said.

"Maybe Mr. Ames can suggest a way to do that better than our carrying the heavy loads."

"Well, I'd willingly carry it, just to have the benefit of it on my garden. The vegetables will grow like anything,-Mr. Ames says they will," responded Natalie.

After a few moments of silence, she turned again to Mrs. James and asked: "Why did you just say that we might rake up the leaves in the fall and put them aside for the winter? Don't you know we won't be here when the leaves fall?"

"I'm not so sure of that, Natalie," returned Mrs. James. "I have been thinking matters out very carefully, and from present indications there will be a great scarcity of apartments, or rooms, to be had in New York this year. The rents will be outrageous for us to pay, and as long as we are so comfortably housed here, why try to earn the necessary income for high rents? The distance to the station is not long, and you can easily commute to the city to attend school in September. When winter weather really sets in, we can take a trunk and board in New York until spring.

That will overcome all financial worries about leases and rents."

"Oh, I never thought of that! But the girls wouldn't stay with me after September, I'm afraid," exclaimed Natalie.

"We won't have to plan or worry about that now," laughed Mrs. James.

"Maybe the girls will be so much in love with farm-life, they will beg their parents to permit them to remain longer than September! In that case, you will have no loneliness, I'm sure."

"No, that's so; and I suppose it is really up to me to make them so happy here that they will _want_ to remain," admitted Natalie.

"I haven't suggested this possibility to Mr. Marvin, as yet, but I know he will be tremendously relieved to hear of it, as he is wondering what can be done in the fall, with our income so limited."

"Well, let's talk about it the first time he comes out to see us. I am perfectly contented to remain here, if it is best for all."

After this digression, both amateur farmers turned their attention to the scouting manual again.

"It states here, Jimmy, that one must be careful not to allow the garden soil to run over boundaries, and spread out upon the foot-paths. This can be avoided by using a low length of fence made of a thin board about six inches high, or the beds can be walled in with field-stone which looks very artistic as well as useful. The plan of walling in the beds also helps to retain the moisture in the ground where the roots can drink it as needed."

"I'll make a note of that, Natalie, as it sounds practical," said Mrs.

James, writing down the idea on a paper.

"And it also suggests that the garden beds be built up from the pathway for about two or three inches, making a tiny terrace of each bed and sinking the foot-path below the bed. By so doing, any excessive moisture is drained out from the soil, so the roots are not kept too wet," read Natalie.

"Yes, I knew that before, and we certainly will follow that suggestion when we spread out our beds."

"Well, when we get as far as that in the work, our seeds ought to arrive," remarked Natalie, yawning behind her hand.

Mrs. James smiled at the yawn for it was not yet eight o'clock, and the previous evening Natalie had grumbled about retiring as early as nine.

But she said nothing about the yawn.

"Don't hold up the delivery of the seeds on the ground that we must finish all the garden beds first," laughed the lady.

"Mercy no! I am as anxious to see the seeds as I am to plant the tiny green shoots that Mr. Ames promised to give us." Then after another mighty yawn that almost dislocated her jaw, Natalie added: "Jimmy, I want to get up very early in the morning to plant those slips we got to-day. Mr. Ames says I must give them several hours in the ground before the sun is up, so they won't wilt and die. So I think I will go up to bed-if you don't mind?"

"By all means, Natalie. And I will follow, shortly. I just want to enter a few notes on our work in this diary, then I will retire, also; I think we can work better at dawn if we get our full quota of sleep during the night."

The next day was given to breaking up the clods of earth and raking out the smaller stones to clear the garden beds. The compost was well-mixed with the soil by Farmer Ames, while Mrs. James and Natalie went down to the woodland by the river and found certain places where leaf-mould was plentiful. It was as fine as gunpowder, and of an exceptionally rich quality. That morning, Mr. Ames had arrived, driving Bob and an old buckboard. When it was proposed that someone go for the leaf-mould, Natalie instantly suggested that they drive Bob to the woodland so the baskets could be placed on the buckboard and carried to the garden that way. This would save time and great exertion on the part of someone to carry them from the river to the beds.

Now the containers were lifted up and placed securely on the back and front platforms of the buckboard and the two hard-working companions gladly sat down on the seat and started Bob up the gra.s.s-grown road.

Soon they were helping to spread out the leaf-mould on the soil, and while they worked, Natalie asked: "Mr. Ames, how comes it that no one ever went to the river bank to get this rich mould?"

"Well, that woodland and the river banks belongs to this farm, so no one else would trespa.s.s on it. And the man who ran this farm had idees of his own about fertilizer. He placed no faith in Nature's work, but kep'

on buyin' and experimentin' with stuff what came from Noo York."

Mr. Ames stood up while delivering this explanation, then he added, winking wisely at Natalie:

"But he diden spile yer farm, fer all his foolin' wid Noo York stuff instead of goin' to Nature fer her goods."

His hearers laughed and Mrs. James remarked: "No, I should say not. And you said yourself that he managed to get the best results of any farmer round here."

When the leaf-mould was well spread over three garden beds, Mr. Ames made a suggestion.

"Now you two women-folk kin use my tape-line to measure off three beds as wide as yuh want 'em, whiles I goes down to the woods with Bob and brings up some more mould fer the other beds. When the marking is done, you kin begin to plant them termater plants I brought this mornin'. I left 'em in the cellar whar it was cool and damp."

This was encouraging, for it began to sound as if the garden was really a fact. Before the seeds or slips were in the ground, something might happen to change the plan, thought Natalie. So Mrs. James and she eagerly measured out the first few beds, and about the time Mr. Ames was ready to drive up his installment of leaf-mould, they were ready to get the cabbage and tomato plants.