Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts Part 68

Collect ten different kinds of rock from the glacial boulders and drift,--there are more than one hundred kinds to be found,--and with the aid of some such book as "Rocks and Rock Minerals," by Louis V. Pirsson (John Wiley & Sons) or "Common Minerals and Rocks," by Wm. O. Crosby (D.

C. Heath & Co.) try to identify them.

All soil is composed of disintegrated or decayed rock. And it has been observed that the soil of northern North America is foreign to the bed-rock. Therefore it must have been transported from some other place.

The glacier did this huge piece of work. The soil of southern United States contains no boulders or cobblestones and has been formed by the disintegration and decay of rocks in place.

Observe glacial scratches and grooves on the bed-rock, those on Kelley's Island in Lake Erie are famous.

Aga.s.siz was the first to realize that it was a glacier that did this stupendous piece of work, and this conception or discovery greatly added to his fame. It is now easy for us to find the evidences and to enjoy their interpretation.

In fact, the Greenland ice-sheet is a remnant of this prehistoric continental glacier.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Muskrat fur is now also sold under its true name.

[7] Unfortunately in the Southern States there is an entirely different animal commonly called a "Salamander" which is in reality a pocket-gopher of the group of mammals.

SECTION XVI

GIRL SCOUT'S OWN GARDEN

BY DAVID M. HUNTER

_A Garden is a lovesome thing, G.o.d wot!

Rose plot Fringed pool, Fern'd grot-- The veriest school Of peace; and yet the fool Contends that G.o.d is not-- Not G.o.d! in gardens! when the eve is cool?

Nay, but I have a sign; 'Tis very sure G.o.d walks in mine._ --_Thomas Edward Brown._

A very old story tells us that when man was created he was put by the Creator into a garden to dress it and to keep it. He could not have been put into a better place nor could a more honorable and necessary occupation have been given to him. No doubt the woman who lived in the garden with him aided him in this work. Not having a house to care for or dressmaking and sewing to do, or cooking to take her attention, there was nothing to prevent her from helping in the dressing and keeping of the lovely garden. At any rate, that is what Milton thought, for he makes Adam speak to Eve of "our delightful task to prune these growing plants and tend these flowers."

Two persons would not need a very large garden, and I will commend this early example to the beginner in gardening and urge a very small garden to start with. For it is well to undertake only what can be easily handled or what can be done thoroughly. There is joy in the contemplation of a perfect work, even though it be on a small scale, that never comes from a more ambitious undertaking imperfectly carried out. Better six square feet of well tilled, weedless, thrifty garden than an acre poorly cultivated and full of weeds.

A Girl Scout who proposes to make a garden will naturally ask herself certain questions. If she has the ground, if she knows already where her garden is to be placed, the next thing, perhaps, that she will wish to know is, what tools will be needed. Then follows the way to treat the soil in order to prepare it for planting the seeds. After that comes the question of seeds and the way to plant them. Then the cultivation of the crops until they are ready to be gathered.

Here, then, we have material for short sections on (1) tools, (2) preparation of the soil, (3) selection of seeds, (4) planting, and (5) cultivation.

(1) Tools

Not many tools will be needed, but some seem to be indispensable. I would suggest: 1. A spading fork. Some like a long-handled fork, others prefer a short-handled one. 2. A hoe. 3. A garden or iron-toothed rake.

4. A hand weeder of some kind. 5. A shovel. In addition to these tools every gardener will find it necessary to have a line for making straight rows. This should be at least the length of the longest dimension of the garden and white that it may be easily seen. There should be two pegs to stick it in with. I should add a board about ten inches wide with straight edges and as long as the bed is wide, and a pointed stick.

(2) The Preparation of the Seed Bed

The first thing to do, after having determined the location of your garden, is to measure your bed. If you have a single bed, one twelve feet long by six feet wide is enough to start with. I should prefer, however, to have two beds, each three feet wide by twelve feet long with a narrow path between, say, twelve inches. The reason for thus laying out the ground in two beds is that it will be easier to reach the whole bed from either side without stepping or kneeling on the cultivated soil. All cultivation can be done from the paths.

_The soil_ for flower beds needs most careful preparation. The bed should be dug out to a depth of two feet, and if the soil is clay, two feet six inches. In the latter case, put broken stones, cinders or gravel on the bottom for drainage. The soil should be a mixture of one-half good sandy loam, one-fourth leaf mould or muck that has been left out all winter. Mix these thoroughly together before filling the beds, sprinkle wood ashes over the beds and rake them in before planting. 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.

_Manure._ Next in order will come the enriching of this plot of ground by spreading upon it a good coating of well rotted cow manure. In case barnyard manure is not available, a good mixture of commercial fertilizer consists of four parts ground bone to one of muriate of potash applied at the rate of four pounds to the square rod. This done, proceed to fork the whole piece over, thrusting the spading fork into the ground its full length each time, and turning the forkful of earth so that the manure will be covered and not lie on top of the ground.

When the spading has been done, then use your rake and spare it not.

Rake until the earth in the beds is finely pulverized and until the whole bed is as level as you can make it.

Now construct your central or dividing path, throwing the soil moved on the beds on either side. To do this you will need a shovel.

Next define or limit your beds, making the sides and ends as straight as possible. You ought now to have two rectangular beds, each three feet by twelve feet, with a narrow path separating them all ready to put in the seeds. It would be a good thing to have your beds raised a little, two or three inches above the general level of the surrounding earth. This will make them more distinct and will obviate the settling of water on your beds; in other words, will drain them.

Seeds

The princ.i.p.al counsel to be given here is to use great care in the selection of seeds because it is a bitter disappointment and a discouraging experience to find that after all your labor your seeds are worthless. It would be well to test a sample of your seeds to determine their germinating power. If you have a reliable friend from whom you can secure your seeds, you are fortunate, but if you must purchase at the dealer by all means patronize one of established reputation.

For the first garden I should plant lettuce, radishes, beets and beans in one of the beds. The other bed may be devoted to flowers.

Planting

Your beds are now supposed to be all ready for the seeds. That is to say, they are shaped and graded and raked fine. The next thing to do is to lay your board across the bed, with one edge six inches from the edge of the bed. Then stand on the board and with a pointed stick make a shallow furrow on each side of the board close to the board. Here I should put the lettuce. It is desirable to have the seeds evenly and not too thickly distributed in the shallow furrows. One way of accomplis.h.i.+ng this is by mixing your seeds with some very fine wood ashes in a bowl and spreading the mixed ashes and seeds along the furrows. A better way, I think, in the case of a small quant.i.ty of seeds would be to place each seed at a proper distance from the others. This distance will vary according to the size of the full grown heads of lettuce. The smaller varieties might stand six inches apart, while the largest ones would need to be twice that distance or more.

Having planted your lettuce seeds, turn your board over carefully twice.

That will bring it into position for two more rows of vegetables. Stand on the board again and proceed as before, making two shallow furrows with a pointed stick. Here I should put the radish seeds. These may be sown more thickly, for the reason that as soon as the radishes become large enough to eat they may be pulled out, leaving room for the rest of the radishes to develop.

Having planted your radish seeds, repeat the preceding operations, making two furrows again, this time for beet seeds. These may also be sown thickly. The plants may be thinned out afterward. The small plants that are pulled out will make excellent greens. When the thinning is completed the remaining plants should stand from four to six inches apart, according to variety; some beets are much larger than others.

The rest of the bed devote to string or b.u.t.ter beans. You will have left for these a s.p.a.ce of eighty-eight inches, or a little more than seven feet. The rows of beans must be farther apart than the other vegetables you have planted. Two feet between the rows is not too much. You will have s.p.a.ce enough for three rows. Measure from your last row of beets one foot six inches at each side of your bed. Now stretch your line across your bed at this distance from the beets, then with a hoe make a furrow close to the line. This furrow should be two inches deep at least. Much deeper, you see, than the shallow furrows for the smaller seeds. Having made this furrow, measure two feet from it on each side of the bed and place your line at this point and make a furrow as before.

Repeat the process for a third furrow. You should now have left a s.p.a.ce of eighteen inches between your last furrow and the end of the bed. Into these three furrows place the beans, s.p.a.cing them.

Your seeds are now all in. At this juncture take your rake and cover the seeds, leaving the whole bed level and smooth.

There is nothing more to be done just at present except to leave these seeds to the forces of nature, to the darkness and the moisture and the warmth of their earthy bed. They are put to bed not that they may sleep, but in order to wake them up. Soon the delicate shoots will begin to appear above the ground, and with them will also appear the shoots of many weeds whose seeds were in the soil. These weeds const.i.tute a call to your next operation which is

Cultivation

Declare war on the weeds. Use your hand weeder between the rows of smaller vegetables and let not a weed escape. If they are in the rows so near to the seedlings that you cannot use the weeder without danger to the delicate little plants that you are attending, then employ your fingers.

For a time you may use the hoe or rake between the rows of beans, but even here near the paths themselves the weeder or hands should be preferred.

There is one caution that old gardeners give which is not to work among beans when they are wet with dew or rain for fear of "rust." Wait till the sun has dried the foliage.

Frequent and thorough cultivation not only destroys the weeds, thus giving your vegetables a better chance and giving your garden a tidy, well-kept appearance, but it keeps the soil loose and forms a sort of mulch whereby the moisture is conserved. The dryer the season the greater the need of cultivation.