$2 Download. The Gardenette and City Backyard Gardening by the Sandwich System. 1915 – 186p

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION

The favor with which The Gardenette has been

received has exhausted the first and second editions.

It has been thought best to enlarge and improve

this edition in accordance with the wishes and

advice of many readers.

Therefore, much of that part of the book which

relates to vegetable growing has been rewritten,

some new and very successful methods have been

added, together with some useful tables of ref erence.

This part of the volume is styled "The

Vegetable Garden."

As there is an urgent and increasing demand

that the culture of flowering plants should receive

more attention, we have prepared a complete de partment

which is called "The Flower Garden."

New illustrations have been added, and the

presswork and binding have been greatly improved.

The author desires to express his gratitude for

the many kind and appreciative words from

readers.

To the author, the work has been a labor of

love, and he will feel well repaid for his efforts,

if this humble volume is found helpful in the laudable

work of "making desert places to blossom

like the rose," for few things in life are more

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION

conducive to health and real happiness than a

successful garden, which is the direct result of

our own labor and planning.

The Authok.

Covington, Ohio,

January, 1915.

THE GARDENETTE

OR THE CITY BACK YARD GARDEN

THIS little volume is not designed as a guide

to those who have large areas to cultivate,

nor is it intended for the use of professional mar ket

gardeners, but it is arranged to meet the

needs of the beginner, or amateur, and especially

for those who have limited areas that are avail able

for this purpose.

Pew persons realize the possibilities of the

small piece of ground represented by the back yard

of the ordinary city lot — that part which

is not occupied by buildings. Too often this part

of the yard is made the depository of garbage

and useless trash of all kinds.

Such accumulations are unsightly and unsani tary.

The Sandwich System herein described is

not an idle theory but a successful, solid fact, the

result of six years of careful, painstaking experi ments,

and highly successful efforts in practical

vegetable growing.

This peculiar method was first suggested by

noticing the marvelous growth of weeds, etc.,

about the base of an old, decaying strawheap,

where some stable manure had been dumped on a

thin layer of straw. On this more straw was

scratched down by poultry. Lastly on top a few

wagon loads of street-scrapings, containing weed

seeds, were dumped. The growth of these weeds

was something wonderful. With this hint for a

beginning, the marvelously successful Sandwich

Bed was developed.

The surpassing vigor of growth, the earliness,

large size, and superior quality of the products

grown by this method, make gardening a very

fascinating employment, for it cannot be denied

that the ability to greatly surpass "The Other

Fellow" gives especial gratification to those en gaged

in this line of work.

Where the space is limited, only a few articles

should be attempted. It does not require a large

area to grow a few fine tomatoes, muskmelons,

cauliflower or egg plant. Or a bed of lettuce,

spinach or green onions.

If only one square rod is available, it will pay

to have a "gardenette."

SPACE EEQUIEED

Three square rods or a space of ground, say

eighteen by forty-five feet, can be made to pro duce

a large part of all the vegetables needed to

supply the table of a family of five or six persons,

throughout the season.

The author has repeatedly produced on such a

plot, but containing four square rods, about the

following

:

30 Dozen Green Onions 25 Choice Egg Plant Fruits

1 Bushel Dry Onions 25 Extra Fine Squashes

10 Messes Green Peas 50 Messes Lettuce

15 Dozen Beets 20 Messes Endive

22 Dozen Eddishes 10 Messes Kohl Rabi

200 Heads Fine Celery 8 Dozen Sugar Corn

VEGETABLE GARDENING 15

10 Messes Green Beans 50 Fine Muskmelons

25 Heads Finest Cauliflower 200 Pickling Cucumbers

25 Heads Cabbage 10 Slicing Cucumbers

20 Messes Spinach 5 Bushels Tomatoes

10 Messes Chard 2 Bushels Early Potatoes

20 Messes Asparagus 8 Quarts Lima Beans

10 Messes Salsify 3 Bushels Turnips

10 Dozen Carrots 3 Quarts Okra

10 Dozen Parsnips 3 Dozen Sweet Mangoes

At a low estimate these are worth $40. Often

they would cost much more to buy. But it is not

only the market value of the vegetables, but the

freshness and fine quality that should be considered.

Green onions, radishes, green peas, beans,

lettuce, spinach, and especially celery, rapidly

lose their crisp freshness when gathered and ex posed

for sale a few days before they are used.

When grown in the home garden they come to

the table with all their fine flavor unimpaired.

Then, for the business or professional man,

who toils all day in office, bank, factory or shop,

the change to the light physical labor in the open

air and bright sunshine, gives just the needed

change necessary for health of both body and

mind. Such employment will be found restful

and soothing to the overtaxed and wearied mind

and nerves.

A love for digging in the soil seems inherent.

Try it, and you will soon learn to look forward

with pleasurable anticipations to the hour before

breakfast, in the cool, dew} 7 mornings, and the

hour after supper, when the heat of the day is

over, that you may spend in the light, delightful

work of planting, hoeing and watering.

Watching the growth and development of the

plants is a constant source of joy and delight.