The Old Time Farm Magazines: Orchard and Garden Tips, Bridal Trees and Root Rot

Image Gallery From root rot to sagging gates, these old farm magazines have advice on a little bit of everything. ILLUSTRATION: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

Reprinted with permission from The Farm Journal, copyright 1929, Wilmer Atkinson Company 

Orchard and Garden Tips

A ten-year study of gardens from Oklahoma to Minnesota, from Idaho and Washington to West Virginia and Pennsylvania, convinces me that the average garden produces only about 50 per cent of the assortment of high quality vegetables within the range of its capability. A few gardens are mighty good, running up toward the 100 per cent mark, but a lot more of them are complete failures, not paying for seed and an honest rental on the soil. — J. P.

Buy your spraying materials not merely on the basis of price per pound or per gallon, but on the basis of effectiveness and coverage as well. Higher percentage of kill of insects and greater coverage sometimes go with higher price, with the result of lower cost per tree for spraying.

The secret of getting a good yield from sweet peppers is to start them early indoors. Peppers, originally a tropical product, thrive best in hot weather. Sown in the outdoor garden in April or May, they mature too slowly to bear well before early frosts.

If planted inside in boxes about March 15, or a little earlier, transplanted once, and again to thecold frame, and finally set out about June 1, they will soon blossom and will bear steadily until frosts overtake them. — J. E. T.  

Sweet peas should be sown early. They can be started indoors in four-inch pots. After the seeds have started, keep them in a place that is not too warm. The plants can be moved outdoors when severe weather is past.

Flowers such as dahlias, chrysanthemums, hardy phlox and the like need stakes to keep them from falling over. Now is a good time to get the stakes ready for next summer. Chances are, harvest will be in full swing when the stakes are needed, and the menfolks won't feel then that time can be spared for the work.  

Corn and Root Rot

For three or more years, root-rot had seriously cut corn yields for Thomas McCormick, Gallia county, Ohio. Beginning with the 1928 season, he used entirely new seed, limed the soil, broadcast an 0:14:6 fertilizer and used a 2:12:6 goods in the hill.