Chapter 5 THE WORKSHOP END OF THE GARDEN

"Before we go to the workshop we might take up the methods of planting our vegetables. Then if any fellow has worked out a table, Peter, the star printer, may strike off copies for all of us," began Jay, after calling the meeting to order. "I'd be glad to hear from any of you fellows who have done anything on this matter."

All was quiet. Finally Myron arose and began to read from a paper covered with writing. "The carrot-common name of the Daucus Carota-a biennial, indigenous to Europe, believed by some botanists to have been derived from the common wild carrot."

"Where'd you copy that stuff? No table can be made from that! Imagine a fellow out planting carrots and reading before he sows: The carrot-a bi-bi what, biped, did you say, Myron?"

Albert chuckled away and Myron dropped into his seat saying angrily, "I tried hard, anyway. It took me a whole evening to copy just the carrot."

"I should think it might have. Has any fellow a really simple table?"

"I've worked at it," Peter replied modestly. "I think I have something here that will really be of use." At this Peter spread out on the big table a neat piece of work.

PETER'S OUTDOOR PLANTING TABLE

NAME DEPTH TO

PLANT DISTANCE APART

SEEDS FURROWS

Bean (Bush) 2 in. 12-20 in. 3 ft.

Beet 1? in. 4-9 in. 12-15 in.

Cabbage ? in. 20-24 in. 3 ft.

Corn 1? in. 3 ft. 3-4 ft. (hills)

Lettuce ? in. 6-8 in. 12-18 in.

Musk melon 1 in. 4-6 ft. 4-6 ft. (hills)

Onion ? in. 4-12 in. 10-12 in.

Parsley ? in. 6 in. 1 ft.

Pepper ? in. 18 in. 2 ft.

Potato 5 in. 12-18 in. 24-36 in. (hills)

Pumpkin 1? in. 8-10 ft. 8-10 ft. (hills)

Radish ? in. 3 in. 6-8 in.

Tomato ?-1 in. 3 ft. 3 ft. (hills)

Turnip ? in. 6 in. 12 in.

"That's all right," and The Chief laid a hand on Peter's shoulder and he smiled across at Myron.

"Each one of you boys ought to know how to make a working plan of his garden. I showed Jack how to make his coldframe plan. It is well done. Now gather about the table and I will make a plan of a supposed garden."

DRAWING I

DRAWING II

DRAWING III

DRAWING IV

This very simple plan of a garden, used by The Chief, has in it the essentials for all your garden plan drawing. Follow each step as the boys did and you will be able to make a drawing of your own garden.

"I will lend you mine and you might make a drawing of that," craftily suggested Albert.

"No, young man, you are to make your own. Let us suppose for the sake of an easy problem that we claim our garden is to be on a square piece of land, forty feet by forty feet. In drawing to a scale, one takes a certain small measure to stand for a foot. If we take an inch to be a foot, then the entire forty-foot length would have to be forty inches. That is a pretty good large drawing. Let us take something smaller and say one-eighth of an inch equals a foot, thus ? in. = 1 ft. So we shall have a length and a width of five inches.

"The first step in the actual drawing is to find the centre of your given piece of drawing paper. See, I just make short lines or portions of diagonals through the centre as shown right here in what I call Drawing I. Draw a vertical line through the centre extending to the top and the bottom of the paper. Now draw a horizontal line through the centre to the extreme left and right of the sheet. Now measure up from the centre on the vertical line the half width of the garden. If the centre is to stand for the centre of the garden, then the garden itself would extend up, down, and to the right and left of its centre, just 20 ft. or 2? in. in a plan with scale ? in. to 1 ft. So measure up from the centre along the vertical line just two and one-half inches and place a dot. Letter this dot A. Do this same thing down the vertical line and we have dot B. Also measure the same distance along the horizontal to left, calling the dot D and along the right calling the last dot C. Now draw a horizontal line 5 in. long through A with 2? in. either side of the dot. This gives you one side of your garden or a 40-ft. length. Do a similar thing through dot B. Through C and D draw similar lines. We now have the outline of our garden of 40 ft. square. We have on our paper, though, a square 5 x 5 in.

"I have decided to have a circular bed in the centre of the garden which shall be 10 ft. in diameter. Therefore, the radius of the circle should be 5 ft. or ? in. Get a pair of compasses for that, Jack. Now I shall swing the circle. But I wish a 2-ft. path all about this circular garden. If the path is 2 ft., then I must set my compasses on 2/8 in. more or now make the ? in. into ? in. Let us swing another circle with the same point as a centre.

"It strikes me that if I should lay my garden out into four squares, the combination of squares, central circles and straight main paths would look incongruous. So I shall cut the central points of the four square beds off by swinging circles. Have patience and you will see, for the general plan is in my mind just as it ought to be in the mind of any person who is to make a garden. Now swing another circle with a radius of 1 in., and still another the radius of which shall be 1? in.

"Now we come to stage two of this working drawing (Drawing II). I wish a 4-ft. path going down to the centre bed from the points A, B, C and D. Place your ruler, Jay, on point A, for you may draw now. Measure to the right of A ? in. and to the left ? in., and place dots at these points. You have the width of your 4-ft. paths. Do this same thing at points B, C and D. Number these points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. With very light lines connect points 1 and 3, 2 and 4, 5 and 7, 6 and 8. Where the line 1-3 cuts the second circle from the centre, letter the intersections E and F. The intersections of 2-4 mark G and H, of 5-7 I and J, and of 6-8 N and L. You now see the outline of these paths running through the garden. Let us border each path with two 1-ft. borders. So place the ruler at point 1 and mark off two ? in. spaces by dots. Do the same at points 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Connect the opposite dots by light lines.

"Now let George take the third stage (Drawing III). Go right over the inside circle so as to make it stand out boldly. Strengthen line 1 to E, 2 to G, 3 to F, 4 to H, 5 to I, 6 to N, 7 to J and 8 to L. Now these circles should be strengthened and lines erased that interfere. That leaves curve EI, GJ, LH, and FN standing out clearly. You see in the drawing one-half the garden plan erased and all right.

"After Myron has erased every line (Drawing IV), you will see the garden plan in all its neatness. Place the measurements on the drawing. It looks well, does it not, boys?

"These are the steps. Any of you can work out your plan if you have one to work out."

"Now boys, for the shop! Myron, Jay and Jack are to work on the coldframe. Peter will have an evening's work printing this planting table. Albert will tell us the use of the dibber and make you one each from all these old handles."

Albert, assuming a grand oratorical manner, gave the boys the benefit of his search for knowledge. "A dibber is a pointed tool, usually a stick, used to make holes for planting seeds, bulbs, setting out plants and transplanting of seedlings."

Off they all trooped to a little workshop back of the man's home. Soon the boys were hard at work, sawing, whittling, and setting up type.

A sturdy dibber. This needs no directions for the making. The cut tells the story.

Here are directions for what the boys made.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A COLDFRAME

Hemlock was the wood Jack used. The lumber for sides and ends is one inch thick while strips marked A and B are one and one-fourth inches thick. Cut out pieces 14 in. x 5 ft. 7 in., and 10 in. x 5 ft. 7 in., for the back and the front. Cut two pieces 14 x 36 in. and shape them according to drawing for the ends. Nail these four pieces together to form the frame. The sides should be nailed to the ends. Use ten-penny nails and drive them slantingly.

WORKING SKETCH OF HOTBED Jack's working drawing of his hotbed. This was to serve for a coldframe temporarily.

Saw out strips A two inches wide and as long as the slanting edge of the end of the frame. Be careful with this measurement not to measure the slanting edge of the end piece only, but to include with it the thickness of both front and back pieces. Saw out two more pieces two inches wide and as long as the frame is wide at the bottom. Make strip B 2? in. x 5 ft. 7 in.

Lay out notches marked A by dividing top and bottom edges of front and back into three equal spaces. Cut notches to receive strips marked A. Nail strips A in place, also B. To make a neat piece of work the ends of strips A should be planed slightly slanting to make them exactly even, or "flush" with front and back boards. The real object of strips A is to keep the frame from bulging at the centre.

Jack had three common single window sashes, 22-in. x 3 ft. which made an excellent cover for the frame. These should be placed in position and fastened to strip B with two-inch butts. Notice the sashes project over the front so as to carry the water away from the frame. The sash should be fastened to the frame, putty side out.

GARDEN STAKE

The stake may be made of soft wood or hard. It is a good one to use in staking off the garden. It is entirely a piece of knife work. The dimensions are clearly given on the working plan. If the stake is made 12 inches instead of 14 inches, it may be used as a foot rule in measuring off furrows.

A heavy stake like this one, Jack used in marking off his drills. It is adapted to just such work.

THE BOY'S GARDEN REEL

A piece of wood (ash is suitable for this work), 11? x 4? x ? in. is needed. Draw pencil lines lengthwise and widthwise through the centre of this piece. From the centre measure out one inch in both directions, placing dots. These give the central points for centre cut.

Measure from the four corners of the piece 3 inches along the length. Connect by line the opposite dots. This gives the line marked 4? in. in the diagram. It shows the beginning of the cut to the centre line. One inch above these lines draw other lines straight across the wood. Find centre of these. Place a dot one-half inch on both sides of each from centre. This gives the one-inch end cuts. Cut this up to one-half inch of each corner. This makes a large substantial garden reel.

Made of hard wood this reel will last forever.

A PLANT STOOL OR TABOURET

The materials needed are four pieces 18 x 3 x ? in. planed, for legs; one piece 14 x 14 x ? in., planed, top; two pieces 8? x 1? x ? in., planed, lower braces; one piece 8? x 8? x ? in., planed, upper brace. Use chestnut, white wood, white oak, mahogany, cherry or birch. You will need also 2-in. blued screws, round head, for fastenings.

This looks like a pretentious piece of woodwork for a lad to make. George did not think so. The construction is simple. Note the good lines.

To construct the stool make with the two 8? x 1? x ? in. pieces the lower braces, a lap joint. Find the mid-line of each piece by measuring 4? in. from the ends. From this line lay off two other lines parallel to it and at a distance of ? in. to the right and left. This makes a 1? in. square in the centre of each piece. Now transfer these lines down the edges of the lower brace pieces. Saw on the inside of the lines down one-half the thickness or saw and chisel down to one-half. It is necessary to saw on the inside of the lines or a loose joint will result. The joint must be exactly in the middle and all arms must be equal in length when completed. Brads or finishing nails should be used to hold the joint in place. This lower brace is 7 in. up from the floor or bottom of the stool. In the picture the screws, which hold the brace, show plainly.

Now lay off an octagon, with a diameter of 8? in. on the 8? x 8? x ? in. piece, sawing off the corner pieces so as to just fit the leg. Glue and screw this to the under sides of the top piece, placing the grain across that of the top wood. Warping is thus prevented. This brace acts as a support to which the upper ends of the legs are firmly screwed and glued. A 3/16 in. gimlet hole should be bored for each screw or the wood will split. The holes should not be deeper than 1? in. if the screws are to hold firmly. Try drawing the screws across a cake of soap and see if they will not be applied more easily.

To be sure that the legs go on exactly rigid it would be well to draw lines diagonally through the centre of the under surface of the top piece. The legs are to be attached at right angles to these diagonals. After the legs are screwed to the upper and lower braces sandpaper the entire stool. Do this lengthwise to the grain, never across. Then stain and wax.

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