Show BACK Y A RD FA MER interesting pointers on gardening for the city man or suburbanite WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN i advice by an expert on ag agricultural ri cultural mattert matters how to plan the garden for the chicken ralser grow rhubarb by PROF JON JOHN WILLARD BOLTE we are frequently asked to give suggestions suggest gest ions regarding the best way to utilize tho od ordinary Inary city back yard for gardening purposes space does not permit ot of our answering such a comprehensive question que atlon for each inquirer and we take this opportunity to cover the subject in detail let us suppose that your back yard Is about 25 feet wide and 80 feet deep it la Is fenced in and Is pretty sunny most of the day there is a back gate and a walk leading from the house to the gate low how shall we lay out our garden to get the greatest amount of returns in fruit and at the same time secure the most beautiful effect in the first place placa give fruit and vegetables the right ot of way using grass and flowers to fill in the odd corners most of our fruit bearing shrubs and trees are as beautiful as any flow bring shrubs many of the fruits themselves are highly decorative and our anticipation of harvest time lends a very tangible interest which to is lacking in merely decorative plants plant a row ot of dwarf pear trees flat along the south side of at one wall and train them in the espalier vine like form on a trellis use dwarf and bartlett pears along the wall facing east plant dwarf peaches craw fords are fine and train them in the same way plant from four to six feet apart and allow from four to six main asia branches bran chea to grow dwarf cherries or dwarf apples may bo be planted against the other walls where they will take up very little room but care must be taken that plants near the north side of any wall are tar enough away to get some come sunshine A very satisfactory plan for the walk la Is to cover it with a latticed pergola and train grapes over it delaware grapes on the shadier side and concords concordi Con cords on the sunny grapes make a fine screen for any small buildings ash boxes etc in the yard A strawberry bed 10 feet by 20 feet close to the pears and three rows of 20 plants each of blackberries rasp berries and currants will fill up the halt of 0 the garden next to oni one long side and the balance can be devoted to vegetables and flowers we prefer dwarf fruit trees to tho tha full sized ones onea because they come into bearing very early require much less care and produce fined fruit in very good quantity dwarf pears are very satisfactory prune and fertilize and ifray properly and your dwarf fruit trees will bear heavily every year ily by planting them against the sunny side eldo of a wall and training like vines tho the fruit matures earlier tho the trees decorate the wall and they take up much less room than it if planted in the open the tha amount of edible fruit produced will be nearly as great try some dwarf fruit trees yourself this year 1 chicken farming there la Is no agricultural subject of greater interest to all classes of 0 people peaple than poultry keeping la in some form or other overy eighty out of a hundred farmers large and small the country over keep hens about forty per cent of the householders la in small towns and villages keep backyard nocks flocks and the number of flocks in the great cities Is positively astounding almost every man you know has at some time been possessed with tho the idea that the easiest way on earth to make a living is with chickens it ir you doubt it ask the next man you meet what he be thinks about the chicken business go to a few poultry shows next winter after having industriously read the monthly issues of a couple of good poultry journals this athla summer and by the time the incubator salesman gets geta in id his work it will take a straight jacket to keep you from starting to 10 keep chickens and really it la Is a very fascinating occupation no ono one need be ashamed ot at being a chicken crank in these days because the poultry industry ot at the ha la is assuming such vast p proportions that it bids fair to overtop any other single ongle agricultural product in at the time ot of tho the next census yur further ther than this no other product can equal it tor for not profits to the producer be cause tho the investment in stock and ana equipment is exceedingly small compared to tho returns the labor land and and building investment represented by ono one dairy cow would take care of 0 enough hens hena to bring 14 lj throe three times tho the profit now then can a man ot of ordinary intelligence telli gence no experience and a small capital hope to set get rich by raising chickens there la Is but one answer and that Is that he may hope to but ho he will not make good the writer la Is acquainted with prominent out poultry men in nearly every state in the union and while many of thero them are ara well to do not one la Is rich even from tho the farmers bland pint the poultry business offers tho the hard bard w working thoughtful man mail a good ltv ing a steady joy and an assured home the production of eggs 1 13 the safest and easiest field for or the beginner and where this Is to bo be the specialty the white leghorn breed la Is preeminent pre eminent for largo large flocks outside of at now new england and other districts demanding brown shelled eggs in order to be successful tho the start must be ba made in a small way and the ideal plan is for the prospective owner to work on some successful poultry plant tor for at least six months montha or preferably a year in order to learn tho tha bu business from the inside do not underestimate tho the importance ol of this as this business to Is the most detailed and intricate of at all the agricultural jn ln dus destries tries the returns are very satisfactory when the plant is intelligently handled thousand hen plants may be equipped with an investment of from tour four to six thousand dollars and the net returns aria are from a dollar per hen up to the high figures secured by the th fancy stock breeders bleeders bre eders we knew three men in southern new england one making from a thousand hens another making with only four hundred hens and the third spent a hundred thousand dollars on his poultry plant and lost it all the first two started small and grew slowly the last one started big and ended small rhubarb ilow how few rhubarb plants one sees growing and how nice alco that old fash toned boned spring tonic Is considering tho the fact that it costs coats practically nothing to plant it and the plants come coma up year after year there la Is no reason why we should not all of us have all ot of the pieplant pie that we can eat every spring half a dozen hills will supply sn average family harvest arTest Il time tor for rhubarb la is the spring and early summer but we frequently get a second crop la in therall the fall sandy loam la Is best beat for this plant but it will grow well in any rich warm moist soil you cannot get the soil too to t 0 rich tor for rhubarb and it 11 does not stand drouth very well do not try bogrow to grow the plants from seed it you can secure root cuttings from a good strong old hill bill cutting should have two buds buda or eyes plant them in rows three feet apart with the tha eyes an inch below the surface they will begin to grow at once and it if planted early a few stalks can be pulled the first year As aa fast as seed stalks appear cut them off if very fine large stalks are wanted and why not have hava the best thin out all but the center buds buda so BO that the entire strength ot of the pl plant an t will feed these after the leaves are cut back by frost in the fall cover the plants with four inches of straw or manure this Dr prevents events freezing and makes the next years crop earlier while tho the plants will start early at the same time the leaves will not push through this covering until after danger ot at spring frosts la is past benca it should not be removed too aron many commercial growers keep tile tho soil covered with straw the year round in order to keep weeds down and hold moisture without cultivation cover the plants in the winter anyway it will avoid disappointment and increase the plant food every three or four years it Is advisable to dig up the plants divido divide them and replant in another spot if 11 this Is not done the plants run out and the stalks grow small and pithy I 1 division and a new location itar them oft off again as good as new any surplus can always be sold to in the spring at a good price as wo we seem to have a natural craving for the fresh green acid of this old time pie fruit eat lots ot of it eat it raw and cooked in pies and out of plea pies put up all you yolk cannot eat and save it for winter but grow it yourself it if you have a 9 two by four patch of ground where the sun shines it costs nothing to raise and it tastes lots better when it comes out of your own patch and furthermore itla itis a much better spring conlo than sulphur and molasses or sassafras |