Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

Excerpt: A WELL-EQUIPPED garden, of fair size, should have a building for washing, bunching, and packing vegetables in. This can also be used for storing lights, mats, and cloches when these are not in use, and for storing crates, empty baskets, and the like.

CHAPTER IX
Packing Shed

A WELL-EQUIPPED garden, of fair size, should have a building for washing, bunching, and packing vegetables in. This can also be used for storing lights, mats, and cloches when these are not in use, and for storing crates, empty baskets, and the like.

A small garden carried on successfully will probably call for enlargement after a few seasons. With this possibility ahead the shed should not be too small.

A shed of suitable size for a two-acre garden is 60ft. long over all, 15ft. deep, 8ft. to eaves, 12ft. to ridge. It should be partially open on the south side, and should be in direct com­munication with the garden--(see illustration and plan)--so that things can be carried easily in and out without loss of time. It should be lofty so that lights can be stacked to a good height, and floor space saved. Wires should be stretched across under the roof for drying mats. One-third of the length should be enclosed and fitted with locks. In this part all the more important and valuable articles would be kept; and there should be cupboards for seeds, string, stationery, paper, and such

Packing Shed 35

things. Tubs holding water for washing radishes, carrots, celery, turnips, etc., should be put in one corner of this enclosed part, so that bunching and packing can be carried on in comfort during cold and rough weather.

The front should be glazed from 4ft. above ground to the eaves. A bench for packing, 20ft. long, 2ft. 9in. wide, and 2ft, 9in. high, should be run below the glazed front. The floor should be concreted, and should have drains to carry away the dirty water from the washing tubs.

There should be a cellar, or cool chamber, underneath the concrete floor, for storing ripe melons when the weather is hot and it is impossible to despatch [sic] them to market at once.

The open part may have an earthen floor. Painting, glazing, carpentry, mat-making, and other work may be done in this building during the winter, when outside work is at a standstill.