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LIBRARY OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

634

L23

MARKET GARDENING

AND

FARM NOTES

Experiences and Observations

IX THE GARDEN AND FIELD, OF INTEREST TO THE

AMATEUR GARDENER, TRUCKER
AND FARME

Chief Bureau of Agriculture Centennial Inter-National Exhibition,
Officier clu Merite Agricole de France.

NEW YORK
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

1893

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Page.

Market Gardening 1

CHAPTER n.
Location and Soils 17

CHAPTER III.
The Science of Gardening 22

CHAPTER IV.
Chemistry of the Garden 30

CHAPTER V.
Stable Manure, Compost and Commercial Fertilizers 35

CHAPTER VI.
Sowing Seeds 41

CHAPTER VII.

Germination 44

CHAPTER VIII.
Transplanting 61

CHAPTER IX.
Succession, or the Rotation of Crops 64

CHAPTER X.
Garden Insects 57

CHAPTER XI.
Diseases of Garden Vegetable 65

IV MARKET GARDEI^'ING.

CHAPTER XII.

Heredity in Plants 69

CHAPTER XIII.

Saving Seed "^^

CHAPTER XIV.
Seedsmen's Novelties and Responsibilities 78

CHAPTER XV.

Weeds 82

CHAPTER XVI.
Hotbeds and Cold Frames 84

CHAPTER XVII.
Market Gardening Under Glass -. 94

CHAPTER XVIII.

Celery 113

CHAPTER XIX.

Onion Culture 125

CHAPTER XX.

Mushroom Culture 1B5

CHAPTER XXI.

Roots for Stock Feeding 140

CHAPTER XXII.

Packing and Shipping Vegetables 164

CHAPTER XXIII.

Implements for the Farm and Garden 169

CHAPTER XXIV.

A Half -Acre Garden 182

CHAPTER XXV.
Calendar Indicating Operations for the Northern and

Southern States 185

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Grass Question 198

Index 214

MARKET GARDENING.

CHAPTER I.
Market Gardek"i:n'G.

Though this volume is written for the amateur,
or family gardener, indeed, to be more precise, for the
novice in gardening, it ma}^, however, fall into the hands of
more experienced persons, inclined to make a venture in
gardening for profit, and, according! v, it may not be
out of place to make some remarks upon subjects con-
nected with growing vegetables for sale. The last
United States Census Bureau has issued a bulletin on
Truck Farming, from which the writer makes the fol-
lowing extracts. Upward of 8100,000,000 is invested
in this industry, the annual products reaching a value of
$75,000,000, the product of 534,440 acres of land.

The annual expeiulitures for fertilizers being $10,000,000

The cost of seeds used amounting to $1,420,633

The niunber of men employed being 216,705

The number of women employed being 9,254

The numljpr of children emiiloyed being 14,874

Tlie number of horses and nudes employed being 75,800

The value of the implements used being §8,971,000

For convenience of tabulation the States are divided
into districts. The following is a summary of the num-
ber of acres under cultivation for truck farming pur-

MARKET GARDENING.

poses, and the value of products raised, given by dis-
tricts, is as follows :

Districts

Jfew England

Fhiladelphia

Peninsular

Norfolk

Baltimore

South Atlantic

Mississippi Valley

Southwest

Central

Northwest

Mountain

Pacific Coast

Acres.

Value of
products.

6,838

§3,184,218

108,135

21,102,521

25,714

2,413,648

45,375

4,692,859

37,181

3.784,696

111,441

13,183.516

36,180

4,982,579

36,889

4,979.783

107,414

15,4.32.223

1,083

204,791

3,833

531,976

14,357

2,024,345

534,440

.$76,517,155

In the Philadelphia district, which includes Penn-
sylsrania. New Jersey and New York, there are employed
69,000 men at an average cost for daily wages of 11.19 ;
the annual production being of the value of $21,000,000.

The next district of importance, extending over
the State of Ohio as far as Wisconsin, is known as the
Central, wherein are employed 34,000 men, at an aver-
age wages cost of $1.16 per day, and producing an an-
nual valuation of $15,500,000.

The South Atlantic district is tlie third in import-
ance, having an output of $13,000,000 and employing
31,000 men, women and children at an average daily
wages of eighty-five cents.

As an exami:)le of the market gardening output at
Norfolk, Va., it may be interesting to note the extent of
some of the shipments made from that city in one year.

Cabbage 347,000 barrels.

Kale 178,000

Onions 4,800

Radishes 4,200

Irish potatoes .325,000 "

Sweet potatoes 255,000 "

Spinach 123.000

Beans 80,000 boxes.

Cucumbers 46,000

Tomatoes 350,000 "

MARKET GARDENING. 3

In addition to the above there were shipped from
the same city almost 1,000,000 watermelons. And yet
it was considered a poor year.

From the city of Mobile, in the next year, the
shipments were :

Crates of cabbage 58,309 •

Boxes of beans 46,178

Boxes of peas 1,278

Boxes of tomatoes 2,695

Barrels of potatoes 78,924

Other market garden products 8458,000

The Philadelphia district, the Central district, and
the South Atlantic district are only three of twelve dis-
tricts as laid out by the Census Bureau, that of Califor-
nia giving an annual production of over $4,000,000, and
yet there is room for the productions of all, amounting
to $76,000,000, and no doubt in a few years that sum
will be doubled, for everything soon doubles in this land
of phenomenal progress.

The unprecedented development in the Carolinas
and Gulf States of the business of growing vegetables
for autumn and winter shipment to the cities of the
North, to be from those active centers more widely dis-
tributed among the densely populated districts of the
Middle, Western and New England States, has been one
of the surprises in modern agriculture.

Formerly esculent vegetables could be divided into
classes, and a period named coyering the time of sale of
each class — as, for example, peas were only offered dur-
ing May, June and July, and so with cucumbers, toma-
toes, egg plants and beans, they all had their seasons,
and, when they were past, only those people who had
greenhouses could expect more until the return of the
corresponding season the following year, but now tliat is
a condition of the past, for Georgia and Florida, with
their evergreen productiveness, have been able to revolu-
tionize the old conditions, by sending to the northern

4 MARKET GARDEl!^II^G.

cities, even when snow clad and ice bound, the fruits of
balmy summer.

From such a perennial field there are now offered,
at all times, yegetables which at first surprised the ob-
servers and were only used by epicures, but which now
have become a necessity, not only on the table of the
rich and well-to-do, but of every hotel and restaurant.

Thus, thanks especially to Florida, the general pub-
lic of the whole country have luxuries at their command
which their ancestors never even hoped to obtain, and
the now familiar products of Florida have brought that
State more j^romineutly to the notice of the Northern
peoj)le than has the wheat and corn of any Western
State made its name known, for grain products do not
carry with them their own identifications as do cucum-
bers in March, egg plants in December and January,
tomatoes from January to March, cauliflower in March
and April.

The value of the output of winter vegetables from
G-eorgia and Florida, and the value of the quantity con-
sumed by the winter guests of the hotels, tips the scale
at a valuation of several millions of dollars, a large sum
considering that the cultivation is yet in its infancy, for
the production of vegetables, in Florida especially, is
certain to develop to an immense degree, as no competi-
tion can come from a more southern district. The
profits of the Norfolk truckers were cut by the Charles-
ton and Savannah market gardeners, and they, in turn,
by the Florida cultivators, but the Gulf is south of
Florida, so competition stops, or becomes merely inter-
state, there being no neighbors southwardly to compete
with earlier productions.

Market gardening may be termed commercial gar-
dening, as the operator must, to a certain extent, be a
merchant, fully alive to the import of fluctuating prices,
and quick to change his point of shipment or his
consignee.

MARKET GARDENING. 5

Tlie market gardener, filling a mnltiform position
as a cultivator of the soil to an intense degree, as a care-
ful packer of products in such a manner as to make his
goods attractive and saleable, as a shipper and a close
reader of market intelligence, must have the best agri-
cultural appliances and commercial aids, none of which
can be procured without money, consequently the sub-
ject of capital is one of considerable importance.

Capital. — The capital of a market gardener should
be estimated by his available cash, compared with the
number of his acres, and, as, in other things, opinions
vary, so do the estimates of practical gardeners, some
being satisfied to live on inexpensive land far removed
from market, and use what otliers would term an incom-
plete line of implements, and be satisfied with what
nature develops in the ordinary routine of their busi-
ness, while others, more progressive, locate in the out-
skirts of great cities, consequently upon high-priced
land, and have everything new in the way of labor-saving
appliances.

The first class of gardeners may be termed e,xperi-
mental farmers, men tired of the humdrum rotation of
farm processes and small profits, men looking for a pay-
ing diversification of their agricultural interests. Their
expenses for appliances are not great, as they have
already on hand the usual stock of farm tools, requiring
only one or two seed drills, a small addition to their cul-
tivating implements, and a few tons of fertilizers.
Their laborers and teams are always on hand for the
working of moderate areas. In addition to their usual
expenses of the farm, they would not need to have
a cash capital of beyond twenty to twenty-five dollars
per acre for the area in truck. Other men, in ordinary
farming districts, purchasing or renting land, especially
for market gardening, taking only improved land of
suitable aspect, soil and situation, and counting in cost

6 MARKET GARDENIKG.

of building, appliances and labor, would require a cash
capital of eighty to one hundred dollar^? per acre. For
example, a beginner in market gardening in South Jersey,
on a five-acre patch, would need fiye hundred dollars to
set up the business and run it until his shipments began
to return him money. "With the purpose of securing
information on this interesting point, the writer asked
for estimates from market gardeners in different locali-
ties, and the result has been that from Florida the reports
of the necessary capital per acre in land or its rental (not
of labor), fertilizers, tools, implements, seed and all the
appliances, average ninety-five dollars, from Texas forty-
five, from Illinois seventy dollars ; from the Norfolk dis-
trict of Virginia the reports vary from seventy-five to
one hundred and twenty-five dollars, according to loca-
tion, and from Long Island, Kew York, the average of
estimates at the east end are seventy-five, and, at the west
end, one hundred and fifty dollars.

Market gardeners, living ten miles out of Philadel-
phia, on tracts of twenty and thirty acres, devoting all
their land and energies to growing vegetables, sometimes
paying forty dollars per acre for rent, estimate that the
necessary capital averages from two hundred to three
hundred dollars per acre, according to the amount of
truck grown in hotbeds. These same men calculate the
profits to be from one hundred and fifty dollars to two
hundred and fifty dollars per acre.

Very different is the case on the immediate outskirts
of Pliiladelphia, and other large cities, with the five and
ten acre gardeners, employing several men to the acre,
sometimes a larger force, where high rents, high wages,
intense manuring and expensive forcing-houses combine
to swell the expenses to an astonishing degree, often over
six or seven hundred dollars per acre being absorbed the
first year, and without which ready capital at command
the suburban cultivator would be driven to the wall

MARKET GARDENING. 7

before the close of the first season, as he works under heavy
expenses, and he must have ready cash to meet them, es-
pecially if the first season be an unprofitable oue. Of
course, the six or seven hundred dollars i)er acre which
may be exjiended tlie first year by a gardener having forc-
ing houses, with all the entailed expenses, need not be
repeated the second, not more than one-half of it, and,
indeed, it is absolutely necessary to reduce expenses, as
the profit in trucking would not warrant such an annual
cash outlay ; but what would, be thought of an annual
rental of six liundred. dollars per acre, which is tlie rate
charged for a market garden which the writer visited in
the outskirts of Paris, France.

Location. — Alluvial soils with gravel subsoil are
best for garden vegetables, but one finds many excep-
tions, as nearly pure clays, on the one hand, and white,
apparently inert, sands, on the other, have been made to
yield a satisfactory return for labor and time put upon
them. Of course, a light soil means early crops, and a
clay soil later ones. It may be said that in the South
early crops always pay the best, but in the Xortli late
crops are often the most profitable, as they come in after
the market has ceased to be glutted. Location is of the
utmost importance, as, evidently, it would be idle to
expect success where the means of regular and prompt
shipment to market are not within reach, hence location
may be looked upon as an indispensable preliminary.
But it is not all, for the nature of the soil is an even
more important one, as without a soil, productive nat-
urall}^ or with artificial stimulation, it matters little
what the transportation facilities may be.

Transportation. — From many communications
which the writer has received, he gathers that the in-
quirers imagine, because they arc on a railroad a few
hours or a hundred miles or so from a shipping point,
that they are well placed for market gardening. This

8 MARKET GARDENING.

is a grave mistake. True the railroad car or the steamer
which is to receive articles so perishable as fruit and
garden vegetables for transportation, should be near at
hand, as hauling over rough country roads should be
avoided as much as possible, and transshipment from
cars to boat, or vice-versa, is to be dreaded, as every dis-
turbance is promotive of decay, and attended by expense
in some shape or other, as well as liable to caase delay.
The writer would impress upon all not to embark in the
business of market gardening and small fruit growing,
however much they may be tempted by ready transpor-
tation, unless they are, themselves, favorably located for
such pursuits ; for a good location means not only trans-
portation, but condition of soil, and availability of labor.

There are other crops besides garden vegetables and
fruit which will, in many locations, pay more certainly,
and, as a necessary result, more fully, in the end — just
as the moderate man, who is content with six per cent,
well secured on land, fares better, finally, than he who
grasps at two and one-half per cent, a month on
doubtful paper.

Where transportation, climate, soil, ability to com-
mand labor and manure, unite to point out any special
spot as well adapted to the object, the next point of
inquiry is, which crops are the best to grow ? This is,
also, an all-important subject to be considered, inasmuch
as the facility for shipment may be all that is desirable,
but the distance from market too great to. afford hope
for the successful transportation of the more perishable
class of products. AYithin fifty to sixty hours of market
by rail or boat, delicate fruits and comparatively perish-
able cnlinary vegetables may be moved successfully, but
beyond that distance danger of decay increases, and the
business assumes too much the complexion of a lottery,
where the blanks far out-number the prizes. A ship-
ment, eighty hours on its travels, may occasionally reach

MARKET GARDENING. 9

its destination and pay largely, l)ut the loss on otlier
shipments which may arrive at destination heated and
decayed will more than absorb previous profits.

Much, however, depends on the season, as, for ex-
ample, a shipment from Florida to the North during
the winter months will, if not frozen in transit, carry
twice as long as in spring or autumn, and three times as
long as in summer. Hence it will be seen that not only
must there exist certain conditions as respects facility
for shipment, but the adoption of the locality, with ref-
erence to distance from market, must be carefully con-
sidered, before deciding as to the crops to be grown.

With such a location as Burlington county, New Jer-
sey, where the writer has a farm, and where have congre-
gated so vast a number of ''truckers," as they are pop-
ularly called, and small fruit growers, attracted by the
light kindly soils, admitting of tillage early in the
spring, and the markets of New York and Philadelphia
in close proximity, where gathering of perishable vege-
tables and picking of fruit may be pursued till sunset,
and the next morning find them in market, everything
which the climate admits may be successfully produced.
Still further south, as in the vicinity of Norfolk, Wil-
mington and Savannah, other cultivators are pursuing
market gardening on a larger scale, and, although the
transportation is more expensive and of longer duration,
these points are still within easy reach of market, while
the earlier season in which crops are produced is a
compensation for increased expenses. It may not be
fully realized by all persons into wiiose hands this work
may fall, that the time or season in which a vegetable
delicacy or choice fruit is placed in market has an
important influence on the price. In our large commer-
cial and manufacturing cities where wealth has concen-
trated, and where abound families who live regardless
of expenditures, fabulous prices are freely paid for vege-
tables and fruits to please the palate or adorn the table.

10 MARKET GARDEN'IN'G.

Products. — At IS^orfolk are grown extra early peas
in great quantity, string or snaj) short beans, early cu-
cumbers, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, spinach, early squash
and early potatoes, and other articles of minor import-
ance. Berry culture is also pursued there, and large
quantities of strawberries reach the Northern markets
from that quarter, and several weeks before those grown
near Philadelphia are ripe. Melons also find there a
congenial soil along rivers and water-courses, and wliere
ready means of transportation admit of carriage of bulky
articles at reasonable rates. To illustrate the extent to
which tracking at Norfolk is pursued may be cited the
spinach crop grown there, which annually takes one
hundred thousand pounds of seed to sow the land.

Still further south, from the ports of Charleston
and Savannah, come to us in advance of those of Nor-
folk, peas, beans, asparagus, cucumbers, cabbage, pota-
toes and berries.

But is it necessary to profitable gardening that
there should be great variety ? On this subject
there are two distinct views, one set of men directins:
their energies to the production of a limited variety,
aiming to grow and ship those well. Such a system
affords a longer time for planting and culture, the mind
not being harassed by the conflicting claims of many
crops, the few which grow being harvested, affording
an opportunity to plan for the future and rest from the
labors of the past. A second set of cultivators planting
more or less of everything, at every season, always plant-
ing, seeding, marketing, a never-ceasing round of labor
and anxiet}'. This system, however, seems to be one
which, by its very diversification, offers the best hope of
profit, as the cultivator does not carry all his eggs in
one basket, nor in several, but in many.

With the seven millions of people of Philadelphia,
New York, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago, and the many

MARKET GARDENING. 11

millions more in other cities and towns which look to
these great distributing markets for supplies, there is,
at seasonable seasons, little fear of gorging the markets
of the country if the fruit and vegetables be well chosen
and well packed. The reader will observe the cautious
use of the expression seasonable season, as, of course, no
Southern grower of tomatoes, cucumbers, egg plant or
other garden products would expect to find a market for
his goods in Northern cities when those markets were
in receipt of the same class of garden truck from terri-
tory adjacent, the products of which would be freslier
and cheaper tlum those from distant points. The ship-
per of fruits and vegetables from the South, attempting
to cope witli the garden States of New Jersey and Dela-
ware, when their products are being sent to market,
would only liave his trouble for his pay

It will be perceived, from the reference to the great
distributing markets, that they must be reached by sev-
eral channels or lines of transportation. In the East
along the seaboard by steamer or coast railway lines from
points as far south as Key West, inland up to St. Louis,
Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Cincinnati,
Cleveland, by the various railways of the Mississippi Val-
ley, from gardening sections of Louisiana, Alabama, Mis-
sissippi, Tennessee, further west still on north and south
lines from Texas and Arkansas. In continuation of the
remarks on the limited or comprehensive systems of
cropping, it may be added that there are two extremes.

First: — That of too fine a concentration, tlie
reduction of tlie varieties to a very few, tlie carrying of
all of the eggs in one basket, a glutted market of such
fruits and vegetables, sweeping away all hopes of profit,
with no resources in otlier crops. If the cultivator is at
a distance, requiring over a day or two to reach the
larger markets, then four or five varieties which develop
well should be planted. The nearer the cultivator is to

1^ MARKET GARDEXIXG.

market, tlie greater the range of varieties liec|in.«lnp
successfully.

Second : — That of too great diversification and the
undertaking to grow too many kind^ of vegetables,
requiring widely different conditions of soil and climate,
the land, perhaps, being very favorable to some, and to
others not adapted at all.

If growers in the Southern States would continue to
raise, each year, such varieties as have proved adapted to
their soil and location, and avoid overcropping with such
sorts, which, by accident, paid the largest return the pre-
ceding season, their average yearly return would certainly
be better. To illustrate this more clearly, it may be
well to note a circumstance which occurred during the
spring of 1890. The spring before, Philadelphia received
a limited supply of from one hundred to two hundred
quarts per day of strawberries from Florida, very early,
and very good, and they found ready sale at from sixty
cents to one dollar per quart, the consequence being the
setting out in Florida of a very largely increased acreage
of strawberry plants. Isow, w^hat was the result ? The
receipts from the same section the spring of 1891
ran from one thousand to two thousand quarts per day,
and they were retailed through the streets by hawkers
at fifteen to eighteen cents per quart, the results of
over-2)roduction.

Large quantities of new potatoes reach the markets
of Kew York and Philadelphia from Berm.uda, Charles-
ton, Savannah, Florida, and, still later, but before North-
ern crops mature, from Virginia and Maryland, and
there is room for more, at paying prices, and they who
present them early, of good sorts and in good condition,
need not apprehend a want of customers.

Florida, however, seems to be destined to be the
market garden of the Atlantic States, as the gardening
year there is one of almost continued sowing and har-

i MARKET GARDENING. 13

vestingiv^o unusual are the conditions that they have
upset all the usual gardening records of the seasons, for
tlie Florida trucker, working throughout the length of a
peninsula of two hundred mileS; is sowing nearly every
kind of seed in every month, and marketing crops out
of their usual seasons. For instance, egg plant is sown
in Aufjust, onion seed in October, tomato seed in Novem-
ber, and so on. The ordinary routine of sowing has been
disturbed, and yet everything appears to grow in profu-
sion and to perfection.

Fertilizers. — The subject of fertilizers is one which
looms up boldly and expensively when considering the
culture of garden products, especially those designed for
early maturity. The writer is asked every day what
kind of manure is best for this or that crop. Is guano
good ? Do you use superphosphate ? He can only
answer in general terms. Yes, they are all good, if made
by reliable parties ; but which is most valuable in respect
to cost and effects produced will depend, in no small
degree, on each particular snrrounding. In localities
where horses and cattle abound, stable manures will usu-
ally be attainable at moderate prices ; especially will this
be the case where gardening is not pursued to a large
extent, and the sale of manure is mainly to ordinary far-
mers, who are not accustomed to paying high prices.

On the other hand, around Philadelphia, for
instance, the charge for the article in question is fear-
fully exorbitant, the price it generally commands at
that city is seventy cents per small cartload, delivered
on board boat or car. Eight such loads can readily be
drawn by two good horses, as has frequently been done
at Bloomsdale. Under such conditions of expense, the
gardener must resort to all the fertilizers within reach,
hoping to find something less expensive, but all are gen-
erally quite costly.

To give an idea of the expenditure for manure when
intense effects are to be produced, the writer will add

14 MARKET GARDENING.

that one year the order for Bloomsdale and Eeedland
Farms, six hundred and fifty acres, reached the sum of
twenty thousand dollars. When stable manure cannot
be had, as in a sparsely settled country, wood ashes may
play an important part, and, if artificial fertilizers need
to be hought, superphosphate and Peruvian gnano will
come in as useful adjuncts to home manure, compost
and green crops, plowed under. Bangh's superphosphate
is in good repute in Philadelphia, and we feel warranted
to say, from our own experience, that it is reliable. In
short, all organic matter, and nearly every substance
that decomposes, is ahle, if rightly applied, to stimulate
vegetahle growth. But let it be observed, for on this
fact much depends, the product, in respect to earliness,
is influenced in proportion to the quality and quantity of
manure aj^plied. The truck gardeners of Philadelphia
understand this well, and place in market, by the aid of
excessive apj^lication of excrementitious matter, cabbage,
lettuce, radish, beets, long before they are fit for use in
private gardens, where such rank manures w^ould not be
countenanced, and, of course, wdth extra early products,
they reap large profits.

It is a good plan to prepare manure in advance of
the season of demand, by making compost heaps, as they
are called, which can be drawn upon as needed, without
having to look up fertilizers at a busy time, and when
crops may be delayed, awaiting their arrival. The expe-
rienced cultivator understands all this equally Avell with
the writer, but he is advising the inexperienced, those
who inquire of him the why and the wherefore, and to
such only, be it understood, is he addressing himself.

Another point of important consideration and of.
interest to those wdio design embarking in the business
of gardening, whether for market or private gratifica-
tion, are the implements best adapted for such work.

Implements. — If the operations are designed to

MARKET GARDENING. 15

embrace several acres there will be needed a good two-
horse steel plow, costing, say ten dollars, for breaking
up the soil to a proper depth in spring, and whenever
the land is recropped ; a light one-horse steel plow, cost-
ing five dollars, for drawing open furrows, closing them,
earthing up such crops as are benefited by such culture ;
a harrow, best of iron, as it is lighter than wood ; an
Iron Age cultivator, with a full set of movable teeth,
price three dollars, for pulverizing the soil between
drilled crops ; a clod crusher, or leveler, readily made
of three boards nailed together to form a triangle, to be
drawn from either angle ; a seed drill, the Matthews or
the Model, costing six to eight dollars, both being used
on Bloomsdale with satisfaction ; or, still better, a Keeler
seed drill, price $9.00, ^vhich will sow continuous rows,
or drop the seed in hills, from ten to thirty-six inches ;
a Lees wheel hoe costing five dollars ; a full set of hoes
of various sizes and shapes for side scraping and cross
cutting. With these simple implements nearly all the
necessary appliances will be at command ; others, if need-
ful, may be procured at the hardware stores.

Crates. — The boxes and baskets in which garden
products are to be transported to market, are of great
importance ; for it is self-evident, unless proper precau-
tion be taken, perishable articles may reach their desti-
nation so badly damaged as not to be worth the freight.

For strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, very
light boxes are manufactured by parties who make a
business of it, and sell them at low prices. Some of
these are made at so slight a cost as to be given away to
the i^urchaser of the fruit ; others are expected to be
returned to the commission merchant, who, in turn,
dispatches them to the grower from whom they came.
Others are made with a view to greater ventilation, and
that is of special importance when the point of shipment
is distant from market. Peas, beans, cucumbers, can be

16 MARKET GARDEis'i:N"G.

shipped iu ventilated one bushel baskets made for such
purposes.

Potatoes usually reach the Northern markets from
the Soutli packed in second-hand flour barrels, but it is
questionable whether it would not pay to put them up,
especially those barely ripe enough to ship, in half bar-
rel or one bushel pea baskets, so as better to adapt the
quantity to family wants. But few private persons wish
to buy a whole barrel of rare-ripe potatoes, but many
families could consume a bushel before they would grow
stale, which immature ones are liable to do. Thus, with
smaller packages, a direct domestic market could be
formed for vast quantities, and not, as now, have the sale
confined to provision stores and other retail dealers, each
partv, through whose hands they pass, adding a profit
until they reach so high a price as to deter purchasers
from buying liberally.

Pea baskets are gotten np of thin stuff, slatted op
all sides, to admit air. There are sometimes rims, or
projections, so as to obviate compact storage of the bas-
kets while in transportation, thus securing a sure circu-
lation of air.

Large quantities of potatoes reached the Northern
market in former years from Ireland, put up in cylin-
drical wicker-work hampers, and they came in excellent
condition, and it is probable such hampers could be
made in the South very cheaply. Oranges and lemons
from Florida might also reach the North in the same
form, as there are thousands of families who would buy
a small hamper of fruit, who now purchase only a
dozen at a time. It is not simply the interest of the
producer to transport his crop in market, but to do so in
a form that will entice customers, by giving them the
least possible trouble and inconvenience when supplying
their wants. The writer is merely throwing out hints,
practical minds will work out the problems themselves.

MARKET GARDENIIS'G. 17

There may be some people with but little experience
in tillage, who imagine the conduct of a farm or garden
is like that of a manufactory, where the amplification
and extension of the business is only limited by the cap-
ital at command ; and when they hear of certain large
sums being realized from a small plot of ground, argue
that the same ratio of profit may be extended over an
indefinite area; this is a great mistake, as they are posi-
tively certain to realize, if they undertake to prove their
theory ; and hence we recommend all readers who incline
to start in the enterprise herein discussed, to feel their
way. One season's experience may enlarge their confi-
dence, or it may teach them without serious loss, that
either they or their locations are unfitted to the business.
Undoubtedly the greater profit will be found in doing a
little well, rather than in imperfect efforts to accom-
l^lisli more than the facilities at hand warrant one to
undertake.

CHAPTER II.

Location and Soils.

As a rule, the best ex2:>osure is a gentle slope to the
south, but in hilly countries such cannot always be
obtained, and good gardens are often seen facing to
every point of the compass. The site, face which way it
may, should preferably be an even plane, be it level or
sloping ; that is to say, a table-like surface, without
dish-like hollows, on the one hand, or knolls, on the
other ; but even an inability to meet these latter condi-
tions need not deter an active worker, for frequently the
best gardens are met with in localities anything but cor-
responding to the requirements of theory.

18 MARKET GARDENIKG.

As sunlight is the great factor, in the growth of
vegetables, too much attention cannot be given to afford-
ing uninterrupted access for every ray of sun to the grow-
ing crops, hence no houses, barns, sheds, fences or trees,
should be allowed to cast shadows at any time upon the
garden surface ; and trees, even so located as not to cast
a shadow on the crop, may be robbing them both of
their moisture and fertility by their wide-reaching roots,
which should be cut off by sinking a deep trench between
them and tlie garden.

Soils. — The soil may be anything but brick clay,
theoretically a light sandy loam is best, but here, again,
astonishing results are often obtained on forbidding
soils ; for instance, on sticky red clays and sands, the
latter seemingly no better than those of the seashore.
No soil should be considered entirely bad until it has
been proven so.

So much of success or failure in garden operations
depends upon the natural character of soil, that tlie
composition of each field of a farm should be closely
observed, if not in the scientific view of geological
formation and chemical composition, then in the more
ordinary view of the meclianical conditions, as respects
texture, weight, porosity, adhesiveness and aeration.

Soils may be divided into three divisions, as respects
their origin :

1st. Sedimentary — A soil formed entirely out of
the local rocks.

2d. Drift — Soils formed out of divers materials,
irregularly mixed and deposited without stratifio-atiom.

3d. Alluvial — A soil of flood deposit by water,
the finer particles being on the toj^.

This soil is the only one, as a rule, of any agricul-
tural value, and it may be said to be derived from
broken, pulverized, decomposed rock brought by water
from many and far distant parts and deposited in layers.

LOCATIpK AND SOILS. 19

the heavier being at the bottom and the lighter at the
top. An alluvial soil may be divided into four distinct
classes :

1st. Gravelly — So styled from the abundance of
small stones or pebbles of granite^, slate, feldspar and
limestone.

2d. Sandy — So styled from its composition of
small grains of rock. Coarse sands are generally unprof-
itable, while finer sands are more fertile.

3d. Loamy — So styled as being between the poros-
ity of sand, and the tenacity of clay.

4th. Clayey — So styled from its fineness of texture
and retentive power of water. A soil drying and crack-
ing under the effects of hot sun.

A soil, to be fertile, must contain a sufficient quan-
tity of the ash ingredients of the plants to be cultivated,
and these must be in such soluble condition as to be
taken up by the growing plants. Soils once fertile are
said to be exhausted when deprived of such food as is
required for plant nutrition, but rest and meliorating
treatment will, in time, restore such soils to a fertile
condition.

DRAINAaE.

A soil has good drainage when it is of such compo-
sition that the rain filters away without flooding the sur-
face, and when, in time of drouth, the evil effects are
lessened by the ability of the soil particles to absorb
moisture from the air and raise it from the subsoil.

A soil, to be adapted to gardening purposes, must
have fair drainage, either natural or artificial, and it is
the wisest course to select land naturally possessing these
desirable conditions, as the construction of artificial
drains is an expensive operation, often doubling the
original cost of the land.

Good drainage, like tillage, has a vitalizing effect,
admitting of the entry of air and the deposition of its

20 MARKET GARDENIl^G.

oxygen, carbon and nitrogen ; it also warms the soils,
while poorly drained land, by the course of evaporation,
becomes cold. By deepening the soil, we make it tillable
soon after rain, early in the spring, and prevent it from
becoming sour, hastening the chemical actions so neces-
sary in promoting the growth of crops.

Tillage a:s'd Cultivation.

These operations, often spoken of as the same pro-
cess, are distinct operations, tillage being the breaking
and pulverizing of the soil, a jDreparation of a seed bed,
the work preparatory to the sowing of seed. Cultivation
is that work done after the germination of the seed,
with the view of developing a rapid growth of the plant,
and, incidentally, the suppression of weeds.

In tillage, the ground is broken by plow, spade, or
other implement, with a view of dividing the particles
of earth and increasing the internal superfices of the
soil, for the purpose of holding moisture and absorbing
nutritive principles from the air. Tillage is necessary
on land of any character, and the more tillage the better
the results, for delicate roots cannot take up nourish-
ment as well amid a rough, cloddy, undisintegrated soil,
as crops in close contact with a soil well pulverized,
which affords, within a limited area, a greater percent-
age of available air, moisture, organic and inorganic
matter.

Tillage is best performed with a spade, but as this
is a slow, expensive, and exceedingly laborious process,
digging can only be pursued in small gardens. On
tracts of an area of one-eighth of an acre and over, the
plow, in this country, becomes a necessity, and this
implement has now been lightened and perfected so as to
do the work almost equal to digging itself. Plowing
twice over always pays, three plowings is said to be equal
to one manuring. A garden soil may hold plant

LOCATION AKD SOILS. 21

food enough for five crops, but be practically barren if
the fertilizing materials are locked up in impenetrable
clods. In tillage, the plow is followed by the harrow,
the clod crusher and the roller. Frost is one of the best
pulverizers, and it is a well recognized fact that we gen-
erally have poor summer crops succeeding mild winters,
a consequence of a want of frost action on the soil.

Cultivation is the breaking and working of the soil
whilst the crop is growing; the tillage had previously
loosened and divided the particles of soil, but during
that period of time between the cessation of tillage and
the germination and vegetation of the plant the soil, in
part, reverts to its more natural solidity, and it is then
that cultivation comes in, as an endeavor to retain that
friability so necessary to the extension of the roots and
their ready nutrition ; thus, tillage must always be sup-
plemented by cultivation. To cultivate a crop means
to pursue that course with the soil which hastens the
develo2:)ment of the plants, and incidentally with this
comes in the destruction of weeds, which, allowed to
grow, starve the sown plants by robbing them of nutri-
ment. Labor given to tillage, except preparation for
broadcast crops, will be, to a large extent, wasted, unless
supplemented by such culture of the growing crop as
will preserve the eartli in a loose and fresh condition.
Jethro Tull, a well known agricultural writer, many
years ago said, ^^ Tillage is manure,"

CHAPTEE III.

The Scie:n^ce of Gahdexixg.

Gardening, as pursued in its higher sense, is both
an art and a science. It has arrived at this estate by
slow gradations, compared with the development of
many other- pursuits, but that is consequent upon its
complex nature. The develo23ment of a knowledge of
geology, chemistry, meteorology, vegetable j^hysiology
and botany, indeed, something from all branches of
human knowledge, has gone to joerfect the science of
agriculture and horticulture ; pursuits affording as wide
a range of research in their ramifications as any subject
engaging the mind of man, and fully as important in
their results. Agriculture, though practiced in early
days without any correct knowledge of cause and effect,
was always held in high esteem. Columella, contempo-
rary with Virgil, wrote, ^^The art of husbandry is so
necessary for the support of human life, and the com-
fortable subsistence and happiness of mankind have so
great a dependence upon it, that the wisest men in all
ages have ascribed its origin to God, as the inventor and
ordainer of it, and the wisest of civilized nations, who
have best understood their true interests, have always
endeavored to promote and improve it, and have never
failed to acknowledge and honor, as public benefactors,
all such as have contributed anything towards the same."
In colonial days onr forefathers were almost entirely
dependent upon agriculture. Washington, in his agri-
cultural correspondence with Sir John Sinclair, wrote,
**It will not be doubted that, in reference either to indi-

THE SCIENCE OF GAEDEKING. 23

Yiduals or to national welfare, agriculture is of primary
im])ortance." Webster, of our own generation, Avrote,
''Agriculture feeds us, to a great extent, clothes us;
without it we could not have manufacturers, and we
should not have commerce. These all stand in a clus-
ter, the largest in the center, and that largest is agri-
culture." Agriculture is, indeed, the most fruitful
source of the riches of a country, and of the welfare of
its inhabitants, and only as the state of agriculture is
more or less flourishing can we judge of the progress of
a people.

Gardening, which is agriculture upon circumscribed
areas, has ever sliared with the latter the esteem of man-
kind. Socrates said, ''It is the source of health,
strength, plenty, riches and honest pleasure; and an
eminent English writer said, "It is amid its scenes and
pursuits that life flows pure, the heart more calmly
beats."

Agriculture refers to the tillage of the earth over
broad fields, as for the raising of cereals, grass or tubers.
Gardening, on the other hand, refers to the culture of
small inclosed areas. This application of the latter term
was quite correct originally, but it is now common for
mere vegetable gardens to equal the area of ordinary
grain and grass farms, requiring, in their cultivation, a
degree of skill and an amount of activity, implements
and labor, exceeding that expended upon large farms.

Gardening again differs from farming in the range
of varieties cultivated. The farmer may devote his acres
to those crops to which his land is adapted, but the gar-
dener is expected to grow the entire list of vegetables,
without reference to the composition of the soil. Such
cultivation, to be successful, must be, to some extent,
scientific. The cultivator must possess a knowledge of
the facts and principles which underlie his art, or he
will certainly fail.

24 MARKET GARDEKIiTG.

Viewed in the light of the present age, how ridicu-
lous the directions of the ancients apj^ear ! Take Vir-
gil's Georgics, for instance ; he, the prince of Latin
poets, possessing at once the highest intelligence of his
day, experience as a husbandman, and with the stimulus
of a royal commission to revive the decaying spirit of
husbandry by the insinuating charms of poetry ; how
crude his teachings pertaining to the laws governing the
development of nature in the vegetable and animal
kingdoms ! Charming to read, even now, and correct
still in many practices, yet we are continually jarred by
directions the opposite of scientific teaching and experi-
ence. The ancients were ignorant of vegetable lohysiol-
ogy. Virgil, Pliny and Columella taught that any cion
might be grafted on any stock ; Pliny mentions the
effect of grafting the vine on the elm, and other ridicu-
lous unions. Notwithstanding the numerous supersti-
tions of the Romans, they had acquired many facts per-
taining to husbandry; they pruned, watered, fenced,
forced, and retarded blossoms and fruit much as we do.
Cato, in the second century before the Christian era,
writing upon agriculture, said, ''What is good tillage?
First, to plow ; second, to plow ; third, to manure.
The other part of tillage is to soav plentifully, to choose
your seed cautiously, and to remove as many weeds as
possible in thiC season." Thus, it will be perceived,
quite a practical view of agriculture was taken two
thousand years ago.

Despite the teachings of the ancients, agriculture
has for centuries been weighed down by ignorance, prej-
udice and imperfect action. The force of custom in
every country has held the farmer in chains; and such
still is, alas, too often the case, even in this land of
progress. But to what better pursuit can an able mind
turn than to agriculture ? Without it men would live
wandering lives, disputing with each other for the pos-

THE SCIEKCE OF GARDENIKG. 25

session of such animals as they could catch, and for the
spontaneous fruits of the eartli. AVithout agriculture
there would he no hond of security or love of country ;
it is, in all countries, the purest source of public
prosperity.

One of the greatest of all the sources of enjoyment
resulting from the possession of a garden, is the endless
variety which it affords, both in the processes of vegeta-
tion as it goes forward to maturity, dormancy, or decay,
and in the almost innumerable kinds of plants which
may be raised, even in the smallest garden. Add to it a
small greenhouse, what a source of pleasure and instruc-
tion does it not hold out to the amateur ? Exactly in
proportion as the outdoor work becomes less urgent the
indoor operations become more numerous. The amuse-
ments and the products which a small glass house affords
in the hands of an expert or an ingenious amateur are
almost W'ithout end. Labor in dealing with inanimate
objects has not that enticement and recreation about it
which is ever present to him who, aiding nature, wit-
nesses the results of daily toil in living plants changing
their forms and colors day by day. Thus, there is a
deal of enjoyment to be derived from the different oper-
ations of gardening, independently altogether of the
health resulting from the exercise.

Investigation into any one of the principles of vege-
table growth will develop another, and they, in time,
will be found so intimately connected with all the allied
branches of natural science as to create a desire for fur-
ther knowledire of what before were mysteries, but which
the intelligence of the present age has developed into
science. A well-cultivated garden will awaken inquiry,
and start trains of thought and study which otherwise
would not be pursued. The close observer will desire to
make microscopic observations of the germination of
plants, of the growth of fungi, of insect life ; and here

26 MARKET GARDENING.

we pause, for there is opened a volume of nature new to
most men, and a source of unexpected pleasure. At the
beginning of this century any investigation into the
agency of insects, for good or evil, in connection with
Yegetation, was scarcely considered as belonging to gar-
dening ; their eggs passed unnoticed, and the ravages of
the larvse were looked upon frequently as atmospheric
blights beyond control, l^ow the entomologist is con-
sulted every day by the agriculturist and gardener, and
no section of the museum of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture is more interesting than, that
devoted to entomology. Countries of temperate climates
in an undeveloped condition support a limited number
of species of insect life, and they are generally harmless
to vegetation, but, under culture, conditions favorable to
their increase are presented. One of these conditions is
the wanton destruction of birds, after which follow the
myriad tribes of insects which feed upon vegetation ;
species not alone native to the country, but brought in
the course of commerce from all parts of the world.
For example, the Hessian fly is supposed to have been
brought here in the straw used by the Hessian troops
during the Revolution. The cabbage butterfly was
brought first into Montreal in cases of crockery from
Holland. In ten or twelve years it has extended from
the St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande.

The intelligent culturist will be brought to notice
the effect of various forms of potash, nitrogen and lime ;
he will gradually be drawn into geological research, for
he must study the peculiar features of the soil. Finally,
he will find that the birds are his co-partners in the gar-
den, and the common tomtit or sparrow will no longer
be looked upon with a careless eye by reason of his dull
colo-rs, but each one welcomed as the destroyer of mil-
lions of injurious insects. Even so the bat, ugly and of
nocturnal habit, will no longer be driven away or looked

THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 27

upon with disgust, but regarded as a most useful ally.
Of what does gardeiiiug consist ? Of obtaining from the
earth vegetables and fruits for man and domestic ani-
mals ; and the perfection of the art is to obtain the
greatest possible product at the least possible expense.
From the earliest times gardening has advanced^ and
receiving always the first attention, it has, in each suc-
ceeding generation, become more perfect than in the
one preceding.

The development of field and garden culture to its
present condition is the result of the union of theory
and practice. The greatest expansion has been in a
chemical and physiological point of view, and this devel-
opment, strange as it may seem, dates back not farther
than forty years. Agriculture and horticulture before
that time may be said to have been conducted under a
Virgilian system ; cultivators adhering more to blind
custom than to reason. In the year 1795 the first book
in English upon the relations of agriculture and chem-
istry was published, and, though containing some truth,
its teachings are ridiculous under the light of the
present day.

The first accurate analyses of a vegetable was not
made till the year 1810, and so late as 1838 the Gottin-
gen Academy offered a prize for a satisfactory solution
of the question Avhether the ingredients of the ashes are
essential to vegetable growth. The last forty years have
placed agriculture upon a scientific foundation, and the
strides of development have been wonderful. The inves-
tigations of all scientific men, in their particular pur-
suits, have served to dispel ancient theories and develop
the intricate system of germination, subsistence and
growth.

It is, fortunately, the case that every soil holds
more or less of the inorganic parts essential to vegetable
growth. They may be briefly enumerated as sulphates.

28 MARKET GA.RDENING.

phosphates, nitrates, chlorides and carbonates of potash,
lime, magnesia, iron and ammonia. Those ingredients
that are deficient in quantity can be readily added by
the application of stable manure, which contains eyery-
thing desirable, or by si^ecifi-^ application of the constit-
uent wanting. The time has come when every farmer
must j^ossess some knowledge of natural history ; he
must prepare himself, if he expects to follow his pursuit
successfully, as much as does the mechanic or the pro-
fessional man. Why should not the national govern-
ment establish at frontier army posts agricultural experi-
ment stations ? This nation is eminently agricultural,
and it is within the province of the government to
develop its resources in every practical way.

The war department and the agricultural, working
in connection, could, in a few years, establish a series of
exj^erimaent stations, at once of national importance
and of hygienic advantage to each garrison. A j^ost
garden is practicable at any military station ; of course,
under so great a variety of conditions as presented to
the soldiers of an army, each garden would differ from
the other in some particulars ; some upon mountain
slopes, others in valleys, on plains both fertile and arid ;
all influenced by meteorological conditions of widely
different effect. Such gardens would have to conform
to circumstances, and the more difficult these circum-
stances may be to surmount, the more pleasure in the
results, both in a gastronomic and scientific view.

In Europe they do some things better than we, not-
withstanding our boasted practicabihty, and foremost
among their advances is that of public instruction. To-
day, in Austria and Sweden, there are many thousands
of public schools having gardens attached, where are
taught botany, vegetable physiology, and sometimes the
whole range of science and art so necessary to a thorough
understanding of vegetable growth and development.

THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 29

Sweden alone possesses two thousand public school-
gardens, and there, as in Austria, the system has become
so popular that all new school buildings have one room
set apart as a school-garden room, where are assembled
herbariums, works on agriculture, geology, agricultural
chemistry and physiology, and apparatus used by the
teachers in their lectures upon plant-life. The public
school law passed in Austria in 1869, provided that ^'In
every school a gymnastic ground, a garden for the
teacher, according to the circumstances of the commun-
ity, and a place for the purposes of agricultural experi-
ment be created." The school inspectors of each dis-
trict are instructed **To see to it that in the country
schools school-gardens shall be provided for agricultural
instruction in all that relates to the soil, and that the
teacher shall make himself skillful in such instruction."
The general law declares, ^^Instruction in natural his-
tory is indispensable to suitably established school-gar-
dens. The teachers must, therefore, be in a condition
to conduct them." Contrast this thoughtful care with
the system, or rather, w\ant of system, for the finer
instruction of the mind pursued in the public schools of
our rural districts ! The time will come when, in this
country, as in Europe, more practiced attention must be
paid to the practical instruction of the masses in our
country districts than now ; our boasted public school
system, though not retrograding in our cities, has, in
the country districts, been far outstripped by that of
Germany, Sweden and Scotland, where technical educa-
tion is now given, fitting the pupils, as men and women,
to deal with the affairs of agricultural life.

CHAPTER IV.

Chemistkt of the Gaeden".

The chemistry of the garden is that science which
attempts to define the action of plants upon the chemi-
ical constituents of the soil and air ; consequently
includes the studies of garden geology, the nature of
minerals com23osing the soil, yegetable physiology and
plant nutrition, each indicating how the chemical sub-
stances are made use of by the vegetable world. The
subject of agricultural chemistry is a Yoluminous and
intricate one, and only a very brief reference can be
made to it here. JS'othing more can be here attempted,
than to lead the reader to desire for further information,
obtainable from the writings and reports of men like
Lawes and Gilbert, of England, Samuel W. Johnson,
and others, of this country. All garden and farm plants
may, as respects their food, be divided into three classes :

First: — Those requiring an excess of potash, as
peas, beans, i)otatoes, clover, flax.

Second: — Those requiring much nitrogen, as beets,
cabbage, oats, wheat, barley and hemp.

Third: — Those requiring large amounts of phos-
phoric acid, as radish, turnip and corn.

Plants draw some food from the air by their leaves,
but most from the earth by their roots. The composition
of the air is quite constant, but the character of the soil is
exceedingly vai'iable, and crops grown continuously upon
a soil draw out one or more of its nutritive principles ;
consequently, it can only be reinvigorated by returning
to it those elements removed in the crops.

CHEMISTRY OF THE GARDEN". ^31

In general, the method of maintaining fertility of soils
is by tlie application of stable or barnyard manure, which
may be termed the king of manures, as it can be pro-
duced upon every farm, and contains, when good, all
the ingredients needed to make a complete and assimila-
ble manure. Most prominent among these ingredients
are nitrogen compounds, phosphate of lime, potash and
lime. All soils, however, do not need the addition of
all four agents ; nitrogenous fertilizers are often not
needed for peas, beans and clover, leguminous crops.
The nitrogenized matter, on the other hand, is often
applied to wheat, barley, oats, beets, turnips, and it may
be said to be necessary to every crop.

The potash, the active principle of wood ashes, is a
suitable fertilizer for peas, beans, clover, flax and pota-
toes. The phospbate of lime is largely drawn upon by
corn, turnip and radish. The cliief supply, in a com-
mercial way, is from bones which contain phosphate
of lime, carbonate of lime, a little gelatine, albumen
and oil.

The lime, ordinarily in the form of carbonate or
sulphate, is not so pronounced in its effects, but lime
must always be present to produce the best results. The
question may occur, where can these concentrated ingre-
dients for the manufacture of a complete manure be
obtained ; and we meet the query by saying, assimilable
nitrogen may be had, to the extent of twenty per cent.,
in sulphate of ammonia, fifteen per cent, in nitrate of
soda, fourteen per cent, in nitrate of potassa, or in dried
blood or flesh from slaughter houses or fish factories.
These nitrates, preferably that of potassa, are best for
vegetables, especially root crops ; the sulphates for the
cereals. Phosphate of lime can be had, to the extent of
fifty per cent., in bone dust, seventy per cent, in bone
ashes and bone black, and in superphosphate of lime,
which is phosphate of lime treated with sulphuric acid.

32 MAEKET GAEDENIXG.

and which, when properly done, should contain forty per
cent, of soluble phosphate.

Potash is contained in wood ashes, but is obtainable
in larger quantities in nitrate of potassa, commonly
known as saltpeter, which salt should contain forty-five
per cent, potash, with the valuable addition of fourteen
per cent, of nitrogen. Lime is found chiefly in the car-
bonate of lime, as chalk or limestone, and in the sul-
phate of lime, as gypsum or plaster of paris. The sul-
phate is best, as most soluble. The aA^rage prices of
these four m an u rial substances named are :

Bone pliospliate of lime li cents per pound

Nitrate of potassa 6^ " " "

Nitrate of soda 2^ " «' "

Sulpliate of ammonia SJ " " "

Sulphate of lime h " " "

Bone phosphate varies in commercial value just as
it is derived from native phosphates, such as South Car-
olina or Florida rock, or from animal raw bones. It
is, therefore, difficult to fix a value for bone phosphate
of lime.

Application of Chemical Manures. — Chemical
manures should be distributed as regularly as possible,
hence the work cannot be done on a windy day. If time
permits, it is well to double the bulk by a mixture of dam-
pened loam, and this addition to the bulk insures a more
even distribution. In a s^eneral way, we recommend the
following application to the crops indicated. For beanSy
carrots, cucumbers and general garden culture,

Acid, bone phosphate of lime 300 pounds

Nitrate of potassa 100 "

Nitrate of soda 150 "

Sulphate of lime 150 "

Costing about sixteen dollars. ■

For potatoes we recommend :

Acid, bone phosphate of lime 250 pounds

Nitrate of potassa 150 "

Sulphate of lime 150 "

Costing about fifteen dollars.

CHEMISTRY OF THE GARDEJ^. 33

For turnips, rata baga, corn, sorghum :

Acid, bone pliospluite of lime 300 pounds

Nitrate ol' potassa lOo "

Suli^liate ol" lime 200 "

Costing about thirteen dollars.

For beans, peas and clover :

Acid, bone pliospliate of lime 200 pounds

Nitrate of pot assa 150 "

Suli^hate of lime 200 "

Costing about fourteen dollars.

For wheat, barlej^, oats and jiasture :

Acid phosphate of lime 100 pounds

Nitrate of pbtassa lOO "

Sulphate of ammonia 100 " \

Sulphate of lime 100 «'

Costing about twelve dollars.

The unexampled collection of wheats shown by Lan-
dreth & Son at the Centennial International Exhibition
of 187G, were grown on Bloomsdale Farm, fertilized by a
preparation made after the last named prescrii)tion.

The writer has said stable manure is king, but it
cannot always be obtained in quantity, nor at the desired
periods; failing to obtain it for present use, we recom-
mend chemical manures, which, used in seasons not too
dry, may do equally well at less cost ; but if time jjermits,
green manures will be found the cheapest.

Nitrogenized matter in the soil is absolutely neces-
sary to the growth of vigorous crops, and the fact cannot
be too strongly impressed on every gurdener that nitro-
gen and phosphoric acid are the leading manurial ad-
ditions required, and a cheap and efficient method of
application should occupy his constant attention. Ni-
trogen, in the form of atmospheric ammonia, is largely
obtained by plants through their leaves, but to an equally
large extent does the soil get it by absorption, and, if
covered, it holds it, and in this simple fact is one of the
secrets of gree7i manuring. Any cover, whether of
boards, hay, straw, or uncut grass, renders the soil
quite as fertile by the retention of nitrogen as by the
3

34 MARKET gakdeni:n^g.

direct value of the constituent parts of the hay, straw,
or green matter u^Don the surface.

That the soil becomes of higher fertility when cov-
ered by matter, inert or otherwise, so that the air is not
excluded, cannot be denied. A case is known to the
writer where a remarkable fertility was shown by a soil
which had been covered two years by a board floor on
the surface of an open field, the explanation being that
the soil daily absorbs ammonia from the air, from rain,
dew, and decay of organic matter, while, on the other
hand, if not covered, these absorptions are as ra^^idly lost
by volatilization.

Of course, the most natural and cheapest covering
for the soil is a green crop, and if the green manuring
is to be done between spring and autumn, experience
points to corn as the best crop, two half-grown crops
being better than one allowed to reach such a develop-
ment as to be difficult to plow under, the first crop being
planted at the usual season, and the second sixty to
seventy days subsequently, the latter crop being plowed
under after frost checks its growth.

On Bloomsdale Farm, this system has been pursued
with profit, but, better still, rye sown in the October
following the corn. Eye has proved to be the best green
manure sown in October or November, and, when prop-
erly put in, will produce a sponge-like mat of from four
to five tons of root fibers and fifteen to sixteen tons of
green herbage to turn under in April or May, and early
enough, except in the far South, for crops of potatoes,
onions, melons and corn. Rye, grown during autumn
and winter, only occupies the ground during a season when
no other crop except wheat would be standing out, and it
covers the soil during a critical period. The cost of a
green crop of rye should not be over four dollars to the
acre, say one dollar for seed,- one and a half dollars for
the preparation of the land, one and a half dollars for
turning under.

MANURE AND FERTILIZERS. 35

Four crops of green manure can be turned down in
seventeen months, by seeding rye in October, corn in
April, a second crop of corn in July, and rye again in
October, to be plowed under in April. This rotation
will surprise the experimenter, who will see his soil
made fertile, friable, and in general vigor far beyond its
previous condition, all due to the valuable component
parts of the vegetable matter plowed under, and to the
absorption and retention of nitrogen by the soil conse-
quent upon the extended covering of the surface. From
the earliest agricultural records green manuring has
been practiced, and whole districts of country in Europe
have been rendered fertile by such practice. A large
district in Germany, once a barren, is now most fertile,
all due to the use of the lupine, which plant, howeyer,
does not offer such good results under the hot sun of the
American climate.

CHAPTER V.

Stable Manure, Compost and Commercial
Fertilizers.

Stable manure of good quality cannot be obtained
in every locality, and it may be practical to consider,
first, how poor stable manure can be improved, and,
secondly, how a poor grade may be mixed with other
materials to form a compost. Stable manure, in its gen-
eral designation, indicates all the refuse from the stall
and barnyard, and. consequently, includes good, bad
and indifferent. Of course, the prominent material in
stable manure is straw of wheat, rye, oats or barley,
with smaller proportions of hay or fodder— these mixed
with the droppings and urine of cattle. The quality

36 MARKET GARDEN^ING.

varies with the proportion, in the mass, of the excretion
of animals. Stable manure is best applied when well
broken up by fermentation. If not decaj^ed but in long
strawy condition, or otherwise green condition, it should
be piled till fermentation sets in to reduce it, or it
should be composted.

In strong fermented stable manure there is often
developed an immense number of insect larva, the rich
mass attracting the mature insects, in which they lay
their eggs ; which dung also frequently developes many
varieties of fungous growth, ready to effect lodgment on
such crops as may be naturally fitted for their further
development. The best stable manure is that exclu-
sively from the stables of well fed horses, as such is com-
posed only of hay, straw, urine and horse dung, digested
and half digested food of forage and grass, the richer the
food given to the horse the better the excrement. This,
as taken from the stalls, is known as fresh manure, and
is slow in fertilizing action. To render it active agri-
culturally it must be piled, that fermentation may pro-
ceed to break down the component parts and bring them
into condition to afford quick nutrition to growing
plants. The fresh manure is suitable for application in
winter, or to a crop requiring a slow fertilization, but to
spring and autumn crops in the garden it is too slow,
consequently if we use stable manure to develop an early
effect it must be rotten, or short, as it is termed.

The value of stable manure, of course, varies in
every locality. Farmers in New York, Pennsylvania
and Delaware pay for stable manure delivered on railroad
cars eighty to one hundred miles out from the city, from
New York and Philadelphia, 82.00 per ton including
freight. The cleanings from stalls should be piled as
taken out, and this is best done under a shed, as too
frequent rains wash out a portion of the most soluble
ingredients, though a limited amount of water must be

MAKURE AND FERTILIZERS. 37

present in the pile all the time or the manure will burn
or grow white within the pile, and its value be injured
as much as if subjected to too much water; thus, as in
all things, there is a happy medium. Stable manure of
indifferent quality, strawy, not rich in dung, containing
little digested or half-digested grain, not putrefactive,
may be started into more rapid fermentation by densely
piling it, and, as it is piled, watering it with a ferment-
ing solution.

Fermenting Lye. — The solution, or lye, may be
compared to horse urine, and will exert the same effect
in starting a like fermentation. To every ton of crude
stable manure apply the lye as the manure is corded up
in ten inch layers. The ingredients necessary to make
the lye to test a ton of crude stable manure need not
cost more than one dollar, and are: Two bushels of
pulverized quicklime, one bushel of land plaster, one-
fourth bushel of common refuse salt, three pounds of
saltpeter, three pounds of muriatic acid, stirred in Avith
three barrels of rich barnyard water. The lye can be
made in oil or whisky barrels, and, after making, should
stand several hours before application. Barnyard water,
the drainage from manure, is almost as important as
the solid parts, as, to a considerable extent, it is a
diluted solution of urine, the very agent which the
preparation is intended to represent in its action. Tlie
larger the bulk the more perfect will be the action
of the lye.

Compost.— Compost, in an agricultural sense, is
understood to be a compounded manure of the varied
collections of the garden, as crude stable manure, swamp
mud, leaves, weeds, swamp grass, sea grass, old sods,
king crabs, jelly fish, fresh or salt fish, tobacco stems,
pumice from cider mills, waste wool, refuse from soap
factories, tallow waste from slaughter houses, and any
vegetable or animal product. The compost pile, if made

38 MARKET GARDENIKG.

of good materials, should be a Avell disintegrated mass of
equal quality, throughout, in fertilizing substances, in
ready condition for quick assimilation by plants. The
process of fermentation and disintegi'ation may be has-
tened in compost piles by the same application of a fer-
menting solution as described for coarse stable manure.
For one ton of compost we recommend two bushels
of powdered quicklime, one bushel of land plaster, one-
half bushel of refuse salt, ten pounds of saltpeter, ten
pounds of muriatic acid, all mixed in three barrels of
barnyard water. This mixture, costing about two dol-
lars and a half, will weigh about thirteen hundred pounds,
and, if further diluted, as would be advisable, the ton
of compost, when treated, will weigh two tons. In the
application of the lye, the comj)ost should be worked,
and packed up in a square, round, or other compact
form, applying the solution to every layer of five or six
inches, that the lye may dampen every j)ortion.

Commercial Fertilizers.

A commercial fertilizer is an article of concentrated
strength, and adapted to transportation, storage and
easy application. These fertilizers may be divided into
three classes. First, articles found in natural deposits,
as Peruvian guano or Chili saltpeter. Second, articles
resulting from a manufacture or process, as fish chum
from the oil works, dried blood from the slaughter house,
graves from tallow works, or odorless phospliate from
the basic process of making Bessemer steel. Third,
compounded materials, those requiring manufacture, as
suj^erphosphate, and the various combinations of potash
and soda. While commercial manures were used in
England fifty years ago, they did not become common
in the United States until about 1844, when Peruvian
guano was introduced, and this, then as now (more so
then than now), was a complete manure, the early ship-

MANURE AND FERTILIZERS. 39

ments sometimes containing as mucli nitrogen as phos-
phoric acid, and also a large percentage of potash.

The chief merit of Pernvian guano is due to the
fact that it has been accumulated in a region where it
never rains, as upon the Chincha IsUmds, or only occa-
sionally upon the Labos Islands, and though fifty per
cent, of Peruvian guano is soluble in water it thus
remained intact, and did so remain for ages, until
the deposits, in some places, accumulated to one hundred
feet in thickness, the droppings from birds, and other
materials, all derived from the weeds and fish of the sea.
There are other bird guanos collected from various
islands in other seas, but having been subjected to rains,
have lost most of their nitrogen and potash, the phos-
phoric acid being retained ; these have been termed
phosphatic guanos, while the Chilian grades are termed
nitrogenous guanos. The natural sources of phosphoric
acid are the rock phosphate, extensively used by the
superphosphate manufacturers, large quantities being
brought from the island of Navassa, near St. Domingo,
and from the South Carolina and Florida phosphate
beds. The artificial sources of supply are the vast plains
of South America, from whence have been collected and
exported the bones of innumerable herds of cattle slain
for their hides, and millions of others dying from nat-
ural causes, during the past one hundred and fifty years.

Potash, used commercially as a fertilizer, was at first
derived from w^ood ashes, and often from feldspar, and
the supply was long insufficient ; but about 1860 the
salt miners of Prussia discovered large deposits of potash
salts, which have since been the main supply for the
manufacture of fertilizers the world over, the damaging
chloride of magnesium being first removed. These
Prussian mines are vast deposits of saline matter, evi-
dently crystalized out of sea water. Before crude salts
can be advantageously sold and transported they have to

40 MARKET GARDENiN^a.

go through a course of preparation which, according to
the nature of the deposit and the process, develops sul-
phate of potash and muriate of potash.

Nitrogen, as an article of commerce, has been
obtained in large quantities from Peru and Chih, in the
form of Chili saltpeter, found in the interior of those
countries in vast quantities, sometimes many feet in
thickness. As much as four million tons have been
exported annually, but the Peruvian government has
now reserved these deposits for domestic use. Of course,
there are other sources of nitrogen, especially in the by-
p»roducts of manufactures, for example, sulphate of
ammonia, from gas works. Animal nitrogen is largely
obtained from fish scrap, of which sixty thousand tons
are annually produced on the Atlantic coast. Of course,
the raw or fresh fish will furnish this same ammonia.
The writer has plowed under, on his firm's farms in
Lancaster county, Virginia, from seven to nine millions
of fish annually; the fish being menhaden, a species
slightly smaller than herring. Cracklings from the tal-
low works, dried blood and tankage from slaughter
houses, are valuable sources of supply for agricultural
nitrogen.

By the introduction of commercial fertilizers farm
operations have been freed from the restrictions and
limitations imposed by the deficient sources of home-
made manures, and the intelligent farmer may vastly
extend his operations, while the scientific one turns his
farm into a factory, where he endeavors, sometimes, with
the aid of climatic influences, and sometimes defeated
by such influences, to manufacture his products.

The world-wide use of commercial fertilizers has
served to establish a standard of agricultural value of all
the ingredients, and their high price has stimulated the
inquiring gardener to a closer scrutiny into the entire
subject, not only of plant nutrition, but as respects

SOWING SEEDS. 41

human foods. He is tlms lifted above the laborious
routine of digging, plowing and harrowing, nnd becomes
a student of nature. By the application of commercial
manure the gardener has an advantage over the use of
stable manure in the avoidance of adding to the stock of
weed seed natural to his land, stable manure always con-
taining more or less seeds of grain or weeds. The use
of commercial fertilizers, on the other hand, while rais-
ing agriculture to a higher level of intellectual thought,
has made a large class of farmers indifferent, if, indeed,
not strangers, to the old school methods of farm recu-
peration, a condition much to be regretted.

Commercial fertilizers will always be in demand, and
much of the success of our agriculturists depends upon
the capital and talent of the manufacture of such ma-
nures. A fair amount of confidence can be placed in
well made fertilizers, due princii)ally to the enactment
of laws by several of the State legislatures requiring from
manufacturers sworn statements of analysis, and also to
the very critical investigations and comparisons made at
the various State experiment stations.

CHAPTER yi.

Sowing Seeds.

In this we refer to the sowing or planting of the
seeds of vegetables or flowers in the oj^ten garden. Every
sane man knows that a preparation of the land is neces-
sary, but when and how to make the preparation can
only be learned by reading, observation or experience.
Experience in the garden, like experience in all matters
of life, is the most practical teacher ; when and how to
dig or plow, when to harrow or rake, to clean the

42 MARKET GARDENING.

ground, to fertilize, to open trenches, or cast up ridges,
whether to drill in long parallel rows, or across narrow
beds, all of which operations are preliminary to the
actual operations of seeding. The practice of seeding
differs on the part of equally capable men ; the conditions,
the quantity to be grown, and whether for family or
market garden, leading to variations in processes.

Much disappointment in the garden often results
from ignorant practices, as from unseasonable sowing,
as from too deep or too shallow covering, from injudi-
cious selection of varieties, from inefficient thinning out
that the plants may have room to properly develop, from
want of preparatory tillage and subsequent cultivation.
Of course, the amount of seed properly sown to the acre,
or to the row, by persons of equal experience, differs as
much as does their process of sowing or method of culti-
vation. It is generally considered, however, that it is
unwise to spare the amount of seed, as the difference in
cost of a thick seeding, compared w^ith a thin one,
amounts to little as compared with the disappointment,
and, still greater, the loss resulting from a deficient stand
of plants. Ordinarily the quantity of seed to be sown is
said to be so many bushels or so many pounds to the
acre, but this does not, by any means, indicate to the
gardener, who may only have one acre on which to plant
all his crops, the amount he should obtain to meet his
necessities. It is better, in such cases, to indicate the
quantity of seed required to sow one hundred yards of
continuous rows, as the gardener, measuring the length
of the rows intended to be devoted to various kinds of
plants, can calculate exactly how many ounces or quarts
he should procure. Such a ready table for reference
will be found in the following :

Seeds Required for a Row One Hundred Yards Long.
One ounce of cabbage, cauliflower, coUards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts,

egg-plant, kale, kohl-rabi, pepper, squash, pumpkin, tomato,

turnip.

SOWING SEEDS. 43

Two ounces of onion, leek, lettuce, endive, parsley, canteloupe.

Three ounces of carrot, cress, celery, chervil, water melon, parsnip,

herbs.
Four ounces of cucumbers, nasturtium,
Five ounces of l)eet.
Six ounces of radisli, spinach.
Eight ounces of corn salad.
Twelve ounces of okra, asjjaragus.
One pint of field corn.
One quart of sugar corn.
Three quarts of bush beans, peas.

In a country of sucli diversity of soil and climate as.
the United States, it is difficult, indeed, impossible, to
advise, except in a very general way, as to processes uf
tillage, seeding and culture. With sixteen hundred and
fifty miles of territory north and south, three thousand
five hundred miles east to west, a surface level in some
places with the sea, in others four to eight thousand feet
elevation, some districts having an annual rainfall of
ten to twenty inches, others of one hundred and twenty
inches, soils differing with varying geological forma-
tion on two thousand milHons of acres, an acreage nearly
equal to the entire continent of Europe.

In correspondence the writer accordingly adopts the
"policy of advising inquirers to observe the practice of
successful gardeners in their respective localities, and
follow that system as a far safer practice than anything
he can advise from experience, necessarily limited to
the Middle States. In the Northern and Middle States
the average season for open ai'r seeding may be indicated
by the blooming of well known trees and shrubs, though
seeding may be made with profit, both before and after
such periods, as it is a safe rule, in gardening, to divide
the risks. For instance, when the peach is in bloom
sow those seeds which will germinate in cold soil, resist
slight frost, as peas, spinach, onion and leek. When
the oah bursts its leaf buds, sow beet, carrot, celery,
lettuce, parsnip, radish, salsify, turnip, tomato. When
the blackberry is in bloom sow those seeds which will

44 MARKET GARDEKIKG.

thrive only in warmer soil, as the bean, corn, encumber,
cantelonpe, watermelon, pumpkin, squash, okra.

No occupation of business, no occupation of pleas-
ure, affords so much for interesting study, as the growth
and treatment of vegetables, and the study of their soils,
their fertilizers and tillage. It must be borne in mind,
however, that those who would avoid labor should leave
gardening alone, because it is a perpetual combat with
enemies, rain, drouth, frost, heat, weeds, insects, and
the unexpected from every quarter.

CHAPTEE VII.

Germikatiok.

The process of germination may be said- to cover
that period of time from the moment of planting the
dry seed to the appearance of the new plant, and con-
tinuously on till the young plant, exhausting the food
stored in the mother seed, is capable of sustaining itself
by attachment to the soil. Very few garden seeds will
start at a lower temperature than 50°, many requiring a
warmth of 70°. On the other hand, too much heat
dries up the germ, few kinds resisting a temperature
above 120°. The moist, rapid germination of seeds in
general is at a temperature from 70° to 90°. Under low
temperature root growth is very slow, while under high
temperature the development of roots is far in excess of
a counter-balancing leaf development.

Moisture is indispensable to germination, but the
amount most favorable varies with different plants ; for
instance, son.3 seeds will only start when in water. Gar-
den seeds will do best when the land is moist, but not
wet; too much moisture causes decay; and they

GEKMINATION. 45

may be divided into two classes, as respects their ger-
mination, viz. : Cold soil and warm soil seeds, the first
class comprising peas, onions, lettuce, radish and spin-
ach ; the second class includes the greater number,
sprouting freely by the aid of much solar or artificial heat.

Time for Germination. — The time required in
germination greatly varies, dependent upon tlie species
of plant, the age of the seed and the surrounding condi-
tions of soil and atmosphere. Under favorable circum-
stances, peas, beans and corn should sprout in three
days ; cabbage, turnip and radish in four days ; vine
seeds, such as melon, squash and cucumber, in five or
six days. Germination, however, does not guarantee
vegetation, as seeds showing a germ may never appear
above ground if physically weak, if too deeply covered,
or if the soil is hardened by rain or heat. As a rule, the
depth for covering seeds should be three to four times
their diameter.

Rapid Growth Desirable. — The great principle
conducive to quick, healthy germination and rapid veg-
etation is a fine seed bed and good tillage. A ra])id
growth 01 garden plants is much to be desired, as they
then outstrip the weeds, and, to a degree, get beyond
such dangers as floods, grubs and insects, which play
havoc with young seedlings, especially those of delicate
structure. Healthy, uniform germination requires
Avarmth, moisture, and air, as climatic accessories to a
finely pulverized soil, which preserves the moisture
longer than rough land. Seeds, on the other hand, sown
amid clods and crevices, are, many of them, lost by de])th
of covering, while the rougli surface of such land quickly
bakes and cracks and offers shelter to annoying vermin.

Vitality of Seeds. — The time during which vege-
table seeds retain their vitality is very variable, depend-
ent, first, upon their chemical composition ; second,
upon the climatic condition under which they were har-

46 MAKKET GARDENIKG.

vested ; third, upon the greater or lesser moisture of the
air in which they are stored ; and, fourth, upon proper
ventilation of the bags or packages. On the southern
seaboard, and in the Gulf States, where the air is very
moist, at times, perfectly fresh seeds frequently lose
their vitality by the end of the first year, while far inland
and in dry sections of the country, and especially in
high latitudes, they may, with few exceptions, be safely
used the second season. The primary cause, however,
of difference in period of duration of the growing powers
of seed, depends principally upon difference in their
chemical composition.

All seed may be divided into two classes, those in
which oil predominates, those in which starch predom-
inates ; and it is the first which most rapidly change by
decomposition, the starchy seeds, with the exception of
corn, being least subject to chemical change and most
tenacious of life.

Testing Seeds. — When it is desired to determine
the vitality of a seed, the test should always be made by
counting out lots of one hundred seeds. Just as they are,
good, bad and indifferent ; better still, to take several
lots of one hundred seeds of each variety, that one lot
may serve to prove the other. In all such cases the
exjDerimenter sliould have a sample of another lot of the
same variety of seed from a distinct source, of which he
already knows the true vitality, this to serve as a proof
or standard in estimating the accuracy of the test. The
test of vitality may be made in a number of ways, the
most reliable, of course, being in earth ; sandy loam in
broad pots or trays, well placed as respects heat and
moisture, or, better still, the seed sown in earth on the
benches of a greenhouse.

A second method of testing seeds is by germinating
them in flannel cloths suspended over water trays, from
which the flannel becomes damp by capillary attraction.

GERMINATION^. 47

By this process, excepting for egg plant, pepper, and
such other seeds as require heat, a higher test can be
made than by the earth test, but the flannel test is decep-
tive, as many seeds will start and show a sjorout, while
unable to make further growth for want of vital force.
Such seeds, under the flannel test, are counted as good,
while under the earth test they never Avould be counted,
as they never woald appear above the surface, being too
weak to force their way through the soil.

A test of somewhat similar character to the flannel
test can be made by placing the seeds between two bats
of cotton, each one inch thick and three to four inches
wide, kept constantly wet and near a stove, or in the sun,
that the water may not become cold. Seeds of the oily
class, as cabbage, cauliflower and turnips, should have,
when first harvested, if gathered under dry conditions,
and if well cleaned, an average vitality of eighty to
ninety-five per cent. The second year the percentage
falls to seventy and eighty per cent; the third year to
sixty and seventy per cent., and so on in a declining
scale to nothing after seven or eight years.

Carrot, parsley, spinach, or parsnip seeds are much
affected by harvest conditions, and as respects cleaning
or the separation of the good from the bad, after thresh-
ing. The first year they grow from seventy to eighty
percent., the second year fall to fifty and sixty percent.,
the third year forty to thirty per cent., and the fourth
year may be considered valueless.

Cucumber, canteloupe, squash, pumpkin and water-
melon require cautious harvesting and washing to pre-
vent sprouting during the process, and, when well
w^ashed and dried, have a vitality the first year of eighty
to ninety per cent., the second year seventy to seventy-
five per cent., the third year sixty to seventy per cent.,
decreasing over a period of five or six years.

Pepper, egg plant and okra seed are especially weak
in vital force, seldom showing over seventy per cent, of

48 MARKET GARDENING.

germination the first year, and often not half that the
second, and sometimes less. Beet seed containing from
three to fiye germs to the single capsule will often
develop three hundred shoots to a hundred seeds, but
after a period of four years the percentage of yitality
will fall to twenty-five per cent., though the writer has
now growing a ten acre crop from a lot of select seed of
Bassano beet eight years old. American grown onion
and leek seed varies from seventy to ninety per cent, in
vitality the first year, falling to about sixty the second
year and thirty the third. These seeds of English and
French growth, wlien brought to the United States, sel-
dom have a vitality of two-thirds of the percentage of the
American. Frequently the best English leek seed can-
not be found to shoW' over twenty-five per cent. Radish,
if of American growth, should have a vitality of ninety
to ninety^-five per cent, the first year, and will diminish
ten per cent, for four or five years. Of European growth
it seldom has over seventy per cent, vitality the first
year, ofttimes not more than fifty j)er cent., and the
second year frequently falling to twenty-five per cent.,
and sometimes less, by reason of the conditions of exces-
sive moisture undei" wiiich it is harvested and cured,
and the moisture absorbed during the ocean voyage.

Lettuce, endive, celery and tomato being seeds dif-
ficult in the separation after threshing of the good from
the bad, seldom have a vitality of over eighty per cent.
Lettuce and endive, however, are very retentive of ger-
minating quality, falling not more than ten per cent.
per annum, annually, for three or four years, after which
they decline rapidly to nothing, celery and tomato being
least vital.

Peas, w^ell riddled and hand picked, should have a
vitality the first year, if harvested in dry weather, of
ninety-five per cent., the second year eighty per cent.,
the third year sixty per cent., after which they will

GERMINATION. 49

deteriorate so rapidly as to be of no value. Beans are
much more liable to injury than peas, ripening during
later and less favorable weather for drying, and encased
in more succulent pods. Wax pod beans are especially
delicate, but when harvested under good conditions and
hand picked, should have a vitality of ninety to ninety-
five per cent. They, however, deteriorate rapidly, to
eighty per cent, the second year, to sixty per cent, the
third, and the fourth to twenty per cent.

Corn varies greatly in germinating force, the flint
varieties being the most vital, the dent sorts, the gourd
seed sorts and the sugar varieties following in the order
named. Hard, flinty corn, grown under good condi-
tions, and well cured, should germinate the first year to
the extent of ninety per cent., the second year to eighty
per cent,, and the third year to fifty per cent. Sugar
corns, on the other hand, are very delicate, their vitality
being affected by the conditions under w'hich they are
matured, husked, cured and packed, and, even after
seeming hard and dry, they often become damp if kept
in Inilk or in bags piled up. So delicate are sugar corns
that they should never be continuously kept in bags or
sacks till the January following the harvest, and often
not that early.

There are unauthenticated records of mummy corn
from South America having germinated, but the writer
doubts the accuracy of the statements. He has an ear
of mummy corn from Peru, said to be seven hundred
years old, but it is entirely dead, having been subjected,
as all otlier mummy com has been, to the heating effects
of hot pitch and similar mixtures used in embalming.
The claim that corn of vital force has been found in the
Egyptian tombs is positively false, as small grain w^as
found. Maize was entirely unknown on the Eastern con-
tinents before the discovery of America. Credulous tour-
ists visiting the Nile regions can always be accommodated,
4

50 MARKET GARDENING.

by obliging native guides, with maize said to be from the
tombs, but it is of recent growth.

in making comparisons of the vitality of vegetable
seeds, it must always be borne in mind that English,
French and German seeds are never as vital as American,
consequent upon the excessive humidity of the seed-
growing regions abroad and the injurious effects of a sea
voyage. The European crops are never ripened in the
field as thoroughly as the American, and before and after
threshing are never in as bone-dry condition as crops
ripened under semi-tropical heat ; consequently Eu-
ropean seeds do not sprout as qnickly, do not develop
the same large percentage of vitality, and do not hold
what they have so well as seeds of American growth.
A low percentage of vitality, either of European or
American seeds, does not necessarily indicate age, but,
frequently, that the seed w^as matured under unfavorable
circumstances, conditions beyond the power of the seed
grower to avoid. No seed grower could undertake to
guarantee the vitality of the seed sold by him, for he
cannot control the conditions of the sowing as respects
nature of soil, preparation of seed bed, previous condi-
tion, present manuring, time and manner of seeding,
immunity from fleas and larvae at time of sprouting,
conditions of moisture and temperature. The seedsman
who guaranteed his seed would either be a fool or a
knave.

While vitality is of much importance, it is less so
than purity. An apparent want of vitality is often
wholly due to some unfavorable condition, as one planter
frequently succeeds while another fails with the seed
out of the same bag. Again, a low^ vitality of a newly
harvested seed, the result of climatic conditions, is a
matter beyond human control, and, occasionally, seed of
such defective vitality has to be accepted by both seed
grower, merchant and planter. Not so with impurity ;

TRANSPLANTING. 51

for if seed prove nnvital a new purchase can be made,
and a new planting follow within a few days ; but im-
pure seed is more deceptive, as its very vigor secures the
crop, attention and labor to be subsequently found
wasted. Of the two evils, un vital seed or imj^ure seed,
the first, by all odds, is the least.

CHAPTER VIII.

Transplanting.

Many seeds of garden vegetables, and of nearly all
garden flowers, are first sown in beds, to be afterwards
transplanted to permanent positions, with the object.

First : — That by their concentration more thorough
attention can be given them as respects preparation of
seed bed.

Second : — Because the space in which they ulti-
mately stand may be occupied by an immature crop.

Third : — That delicate plants might be lost if sown
in permanent positions and subjected to the attacks of
insects, or overgrown by weeds.

Fourth : — To save labor, as one thousand small
plants in a bed can be cared for at one-tenth the cost of
time and money a.s the same number in open ground.

Fifth : — To induce productiveness, as plants set out
from beds to the open ground are checked in their vigor
of leaf growth and a clearly indicated disposition devel-
oped, in the direction of blooming and early maturity.
The beds in whicli delicate, slow m-owins: vegetable
plants are grown may be hotbeds, intermediate beds,
cold frames or out door border beds, but from all or any
of them the plants must be moved with equal care, for
transplanting is an operation so delicate as not only to

52 MARKET GARDEXIXG.

determine whether a crop be secured or not, but to grade
the productiveness and time of maturity. Beets, car-
rots, parsnips, radish, turnip and all other fleshy tap-
rooted plants are best grown on permanent positions,
as they do not transplant well, but many fibrous-rooted
plants, as cabbage, tomato, egg plant, pepper, lettuce,
are most safely started in beds, and really do best after
transplanting, as they then are afterward more deeply set
in the soil and start off upon fresh tilled land as well as
while growing in the bed, giving the gardener ample
time to make all desirable arrangements for transplant-
ing, while, on the other hand, if he sowed the seed in
permanent position at the same earl^^ date he might fail
to secure good plants.

The process of transiolantation should be performed
on soils properly tilled ; that is, thoroughly plowed or
dug, harrowed or raked, and marked off in rows at
proper intervals for hand hoeing, or wider for horse cul-
tivation. While transplantation by thoroughly experi-
enced persons can sometimes be done under unfavorable
conditions of soil, it is, as a rule, only safely undertaken
when the soil is damp or wet, when the rain is falling,
or the air charged with moisture, otherwise the plants
may succumb under hot sun or drying winds.

In setting the plants in the row, space should always
be allowed between them greater than the extreme diam-
eter of the fully developed plant. For instance, if a
certain variety of cabbage will produce a head and out-
side leaves of a space of fifteen inches, then that variety
of plant should be set at eighteen inches ; or if one vari-
ety of lettuce plant grows twelve inches in diameter and
another variety only five inches, they should be set
accordingly.

In taking plants from seed beds they should not be
pulled up, to the destruction of the rootlets, but lifted
with a trowel or similar tool, and when out of the ground

TRAXSPLAXTIXG. 53

should be protected from sun or air, as eitlier influence
Avill dry up those tender fibers ui)on which depend its
earlier or later connection with the soil. The coarse
roots may be looked upon as so many anchors ; they
do not sustain the life of the plant. The plants dug
from the seed beds and properly protected, the next
operation is to set them, which may be done with a
dibble or trowel. The dibble is a long, pointed, cone-
shaped tool, wiiich, from its form and rotary motion
when used, generally smooths the sides of the hole, both
bad features, while a trowel is a digging implement,
leaving the soil mellow.

The plants should be set deeper than they origin-
ally stood, but as a rule, not deeper than the 2^<^iiits of
attachment of the lower leaves. None of the root fibers
should point upward, be all turned downward, and the
more widely spread the better. The soil should be
pressed down with the hand or foot after the plant is
set, that the earth and rootlets may be brought into
intimate contact, otherwise the time required to bring
about this contact is so much lost time. It is a good
practice to hoe a transplanted crop just as soon as the
plants recover from the setting, as hoeing mellows the
soil and has a vitalizing effect.

Mulching. — In small gardens the practice of mulch-
ing after transplanting is often pursued with marked
advantage. This operation is the covering of the soil
around freshly set plants, vines, shrubs and trees, with
three to four inches in depth of litter of any kind, long
manure, dry hay, dried leaves, green grass from the
lawn, green weeds from the field or garden, any of them
preventing, during dry weather, excessive evaporation
from the soil.

Crops well mulched are comparatively free from
Aveeds, and such as do push themselves through it can
easily be pulled up, while the moist, mellow condition

54 MARKET GAKDEXIKG.

of the soil under a mulcli renders ordinary cultivation
unnecessary. Every cultivator not familiar with the
merits of mulching should make some experiments, tlie
material always being cheap, indeed, often in the way,
and presenting a problem as to its disposition.

CHAPTER IX.

SUCCESSIOX, OR THE ROTATION" OF CrOPS.

The gardener, whether an expert or amateur, must,
like a general in the field, have a plan of operations
upon which to conduct the campaign of the summer,
and, while the expert may not commit his plan to paper,
the amateur certainly should, otherwise he will more
than double the number of the errors which he is sure
to commit, plan he ever so well.

Gardening, it is true, is often successfully pursued
by seemingly ignorant men, and they truly may be
ignorant of literature and polite accomplishments, but
they are, nevertheless, specialists, and if successf al oper-
ators in the advanced system of gardening, may prove
themselves to have acquired a technical knowledge which
is as much a profession as any other occupation which
develops looked for results.

The amateur has everything to learn, and must
commit his plans to i^aper, or he will be certain to run
everything into disorder, and, before the season is well
started be disposed to give up in despair of ever getting
things into order by strawberry time. With a clear,
systematically managed garden, his is the envy of all
neighbors, while with a weedy and clearly unprofitable
one he sets such a bad example that it would have been
better he had not attempted anything. The gardener

ROTATlOi^ OF CROPS. 55

must do a little engiueering, he must have a plan of his
garden drawn to a scale, say one-third of an inch to the
foot, and on three distinct sheets lay out the plans for
spring, summer and autumn. As to the nature of these
plans, the reader may get some hints from observation
of the practice of good market gardeners in his vicinity
or elsewhere. Now, presupposing that the spring plant-
ing of the private gardener comprises every thing season-
able, the question naturally arises what shall he sow as
a succession to his spring planting; for be it clearly un-
derstood, it is only by keeping up in the garden a never
ceasing course of sowing of seed, gathering of matured
crops, and re-sowing on the same ground, without any
waste of time, that tlie garden can be practically made
to pay its cost in dollars and cents. With a less intense
system of administration and culture it may pay well,
in the pleasure derived from the contemplation of rural
subjects and in increased health consequent upon inter-
esting and moderate outdoor labor, but unless tlie course
of rotation is well thought out and practically put into
effect each fruit or vegetable will cost double its price
in the stores. Of course the climatic location has every-
thing to do with the policy adopted, as in the Gulf
States the practice is quite distinct from that of the
Carolinas, and in the Carolinas equally distinct from
that of the corn and wheat growing districts of the East
and West. In fact, in each section of each State dis-
tinct policies are pursued as to periods of sowing, and as
to choice of varieties.

As an aid to the amateur in the Middle and West-
ern States we will say that peas may be followed by cab-
bage for early autumn use, also by beans, tomato and
celery plants. Onions by kale, turnip and winter rad-
ishes. Spring spinach by beans and tomatoes. Spring
radishes by cabbage, for early autumn use. Lettuce by
beans and tomatoes. Beans by kale, turnip, Avinter rad-

66 mar]b:et gardenikgi.

ishes, autumn lettuce and celery. Early carrots by
autumn spinach, kale, turnips, winter radishes. Sum-
mer squash by kale, turnip, winter radishes. Cucumber
by autumn spinach, turnip and winter radishes. Early
beets by spinach, kale, turnips and winter radishes.
Early sugar corn by a second crop of the same kind or
by autumn spinach, beans, tomatoes, celery.

There are some late maturing varieties of garden
plants which seldom afford the cultivator an opportunity
to sow anything else as a succession ; among these are
late sugar corns, parsley, parsnip, leek, pumpkin, mel-
ons, winter squarsh, tomatoes, okra and pejipers.

Thinking Out.

It takes a determined conviction of necessity to thin
out young plants in the vegetable or flower garden, that
they may have full S23ace to properly extend their growth.
Among vegetables of large leaf development, as cabbage,
lettuce, spinach and parsle}', the sj^ace necessary for
growth without crow^ding, may be found by marking
round the plant a circle on the ground equal to tlie
diameter of a fully developed specimen, and those plants
■with large roots, such as beets, radish and turnip, must
be allowed room in proportion to their usual size.

Do not hesitate to thin out, no matter how sturdy
and attractive the plants may be, for the plant which
crow^ds another is simply a weed. This thinning should
be done before the plants be drawn or elongated in their
stems or leaves, or they will ever afterward show the
injurious effects of crowding. It may be done by cut-
ting out with a hoe or knife of those plants which are
not needed elsewhere, or, if considered worth transplant-
ing, they should be carefully dug up, that the finer roots
be preserved. No vegetable or flower will properly
develop if crowded ; certainly one symmetrical plant is
worth a dozen sickly ones, not only for market, but
in effect.

CHAPTER X.
Garden Insects.

Owing to the depredations of sparrows, blackbirds,
chickens, and other feathery thieves, moles and mice
underground, squirrels, woodchucks, cats and dogs
above ground, the painstaking gardener will find many of
his labors frustrated by an iunumerable host of enemies
coming and going throughout the season. Among these
may be included slugs, grubs, cutworms, caterpillars,
sap suckers, plant lice, the larva of day butterflies and
night moths in various stages of transformation. Some
seasons they all appear to be present and combine in an
attack to defeat every operation of the gardener. At
other times they most graciously absent themselves;
but the gardener is never without a sufficient number to
keep him well on the defensive.

Insecticides. — The subject of insecticides and traps
is one to which is now given much attention, and
country stores in every district are all well sui:>plied
with preparations and apparatus without number, all
offered as the best, however poor.

An unscientific description of a few of the common
destructive insects in the mirden, with suirsfested reme-
dies for destroying them, may not be out of place.
Insect preventives may be said to be of two forms of
application : Steeps, in which the seed, before sowing, is
soaked, and dressings, with which the plants are covered.
These may again be divided into two classes : Repellants,
as gasoline, tar, kerosene, sulphur powder, which act by
overcoming the natural odor of plants attractive to cer-

58 MARKET GARDENII^TG.

tain insects, and poisons, generally arsenical compounds,
applied with the direct intent of killing the insect eating
the foliage.

In nothing is the saying that ''An ^mce of preven-
tion is worth a pound of cure," more exemplified than
in the advantage derived from destro3'ing flying insects
before they deposit their eggs. Every one living in the
country is familiar with the habit of night moths and
bugs to fly into lamps or other lights, and that the incli-
nation has been used as a means of inviting them to
destruction by night fires on the borders of the garden,
or by placing in the midst of the garden a large tub of
water, over the center of which is placed a square lantern
against which the insects fly violently and are precipi-
tated into the water.

Asparagus Beetle. — The asparagus beetle, often
called the asparagus fly, is an oblong, hard-bodied, quick
motioned insect, about one-third of an inch in length,
its head black, its thorax tawny red, and wing-covers
blue-black, ornamented with six small yellow spots,
appearing in large numbers during the season of aspara-
gus cutting ; the soft larvae, or slugs, are most ravenous
destroyers of the cuticle or outer bark of stems, twigs
and leaves of the asparagus plant, attacking it from the
first peeping sprout in early spring till the plant has
reached its full development. These insects, maturing
early, develop a new brood in August. Nothing can be
done to destroy the asparagus beetle upon the market-
able shoots, as mineral poisons would be destructive to
human life, and offensive applications would destroy
the value of the crop.

On beds not old enough for cutting, and on beds
past prime condition, mineral poisons may be used, and
none have been found better than Paris green, mixed
with forty parts of flour. Sometimes the beetles appear
in such numbers and are so voracious that asparagus

GARDEN INSECTS. 59

shoots for market require to be cut when just peeping
through tlie ground, otherwise in a day nothing would
remain to be collected.

Asparagus beds past the marketable condition of
growth can be dressed advantageously with a solution of
a tablesj^oonful of Paris green in four gallons of water,
which will be generally found to kill the slugs. Some-
times effective results ensue by the application of freshly
slaked lime while the dew is on them, for the least par-
ticle of lime touching the skin of a slug is certain to
kill it.

White Grub. — The white grub is the larvce of the
familiar June bug, or, more correctly. May beetle, which,
in the early spring months, enters dwellings in the even-
ing, swarming about the lights, buzzing loudly and vio-
lently, knocking themselves against the walls and ceil-
ings. The perfect insect feeds upon the foliage of trees,
and is more or less destructive. The eggs are deposited
in the earth, and hatch in about a month. The grubs
remain in the ground, doing little injury till the second
summer, when they attack the roots of plants. They
remain as grubs in the earth for nearly three years, by
which time they reach a length of two inches, and often
appear in such great numbers as to do immense damage.
The body of the grub is soft and of a dirty white, and
its head is of red and l)rown, and its habit, like the cut
worm, is to coil into a ball when disturbed. Like other
grubs, they are difficult to poison, the best plan being
to endeavor to destroy the beetles in early spring. This
worm is eaten by skunks, coons, moles and birds. Dogs
can be trained to eat it, and when so trained will follow
a plow^ all day long.

Wire Worm. — The wire worm is a long, yellow,
slender-bodied grub, with exceedingly hard' and tough
skin. These worms destroy the seed and young plants
of squash, pumpkin, melon, and often potatoes. They

60 MARKET GARDEKING.

are the grubs of snap-beetles, brown-black insects which,
when laid over on their backs, have the singular power
of snapping and springing violently to their feet. The
writer has frequently seen grains of corn a week after
planting, bored out to a shell, and containing as many
as a dozen worms ravenously finishing the remainder of
the grain.

Cut Worm. — Cut worms are the larvae of various
species of night moths which de2:)osit their eggs late in
the summer. When hatched, the worms enter the
ground and remain in a torpid state all winter. In the
spring they appear as naked, greasy, smooth caterpillars,
ravenously attacking the seed, roots and stems of almost
any young vegetable, and wdien disturbed, coiling
quickly into a ball. The best method of killing them
is to catch them by digging. Tbey are sometimes
destroyed by Paris green sprinkled on small bunches of
freshly cut grass laid upon the surface of the soil where
the worms are known to be. White hellebore has been
found effective in the destruction of this pest.

Colorado Potato Beetle. — The Colorado potato
beetle is, perhaps, one of the best recognized of insect
pests, being large in size, and found in every locality.
Its favorite foods are the leaves of the jDotato, tomato
and egg plant. But it is readily destroyed with Paris
green.

Squash Beetle. — The striped squash beetle, prey-
ing upon cucumbers and melons, is an insect a little
over a quarter of an inch long, with a black and yellow
jacket bearing three parallel black bands. The full
grown beetle appears in the middle of spring, just in
time to catch the plants as they sprout, eating the young
leaves as they develop, so that the gardener almost gives
up in despair of ever securing plants with too well devel-
oped leaves, at which stage they are usually considered
proof against the beetles ; but this is not always the case,

GARDEN INSECTS. 61

for in some seasons plants of squash, encumber, melons,
pumpkin, having six or seven leaves large as a man's
hand, are completely eaten off in a single day. Appli-
cations of Paris green, land plaster, slaked lime, must
all be so applied as to reach the under side of the leaf as
well as the top.

In gardens an effective way to keep off the mature
flying beetles is to cover the seed hills at once, after
planting, with square or circular frames, covered with
mosquito netting, that the young plants may be protected
from the beetles. The gardener may conclude he has
conquered, but not so always, for the eggs of the same
beetle, deposited in the earth, now hatched by the heat
of the sun, develop larvae, a little white worm, which,
commencing at the vines under ground, pierce the stems
through and through, to their utter destruction, and to
the gardener's dismay. AVe recommend Hammond's
slug shot to destroy the first brood of beetles which ap-
pears. This done, no larvae will follow.

On Eeedland Farm the Landreths, cultivating large
breadths of watermelons and canteloupes, always have
to replant, more or less, on account of the ravages of
this troublesome insect, sometimes replanting five or six
times, using an aggregate of nine or ten pounds of the
seed to the acre before obtaining a complete growth, a
very expensive process, increased cost of labor, of seed,
and the risk of a delayed crop. On large areas the best
remedy against this pest is slug shot, or Paris green,
mixed with forty parts of land plaster or flour, and ap-
plied as often as it is w\ashed off. Experiments made
at Bloomsdale Farm have conclusively shown that
various vine plants have different degrees of resistance
to the noxious effects of Paris green, squashes being the
strongest, pumpkins next, then cucumber, water melons
and canteloupes least of all.

As the French wine growers kill the phylloxera
insect feeding on the roots of the grape by the poisonous

62 MARKET GARDEN^ING.

fumes of carbon bi-sulpliide injected into the earth, why-
should not this same application destroy the white grub,
wire and cut worm, squash beetle, and others ? A spoon-
ful of the liquid, injected by a syringe about the roots of
the plants to be protected, might work wonders.

The Harlequin Cabbage Bug. — The harlequin
cabbage bug is a very demon among garden pests, the
perfect insect one-half inch long, somewhat resembling
in shape a terrapin, having a hard shell brilliantly spot-
ted. It is a sap sucker, puncturing the stalks and leaves
of cabbage and other plants of the cabbage family, suck-
ing out the sap and poisoning the entire plant. Turkeys
and chickens decline to eat them, poison will not kill
them, as they do not eat solid matter ; they must be
picked off by hand. This Mexican insect has repeatedly
presented itself to the observation of the writer in such
innumerable numbers as to obtain for itself a record of
first place among destructive bugs. It is particularly
fond of cabbage and turnijo, attacking both in autumn
and spring, and is especially destructive on those plants
when shooting to seed. His firm has lost, on several
occasions, sixty to seventy acres of cabbage, and still
more of rut a bagas, even after weeks of labor and efforts
to remove the bngs by hand picking ; all being insuffi-
cient to check their numbers, and no poisonous applica-
tion being effectual in checking their voracity. The
most reliable method of meeting the ravages of this bug
is to destroy the first brood at any cost, even of the crop
itself.

Cabbage Worm. — The cabbage worm is a green
caterpillar, feeding on nearly all broad-leaved vegetables,
especially cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce. It is the
larvae of a white butterfly of European origin ; Paris
green will poison these caterpillars, but, except in the
very early stages of cabbage growth, it is unsafe to apply
so poisonous an article to a plant which might enfold

GARDEJS INSECTS. 63

the poisonous compound within its leaves and kill those
who afterwards ate the plant. Pyrethrum has been
found excellent as a destroyer, but probably Hammond's
slug shot is as effective. Sometimes good results follow
the application of white hellebore mixed with land plas-
ter, four parts to one. In other cases a solution of one
quart of powdered alum to twelve quarts of boiling
water is effective. Sometimes good effects result from
an application of a tablespoonful of pyrethrum mixed in
tw^o gallons of w^ater, and applied forcibly with a spray
syringe. The writer's experience with the cabbage worm
dates from the period of its southern raid from Canada,
where it was first established as an emigrant from
Euroi:)e. He has had annoyance from it in variable
degrees every year, but never to that serious extent as
reported from localities where it has occasionally de-
stroyed entire crops of cabbage.

Cabbage Louse. — The Downy cabbage louse is a
mealy, soft-bodied insect, sometimes appearing in thou-
sands, swarming like bees upon the leaves of young cab-
bage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. It can be driven
off by ai)plication of Hammond's slug shot. Personal
experience should always enable one to express opinions
on a subject, and the writer, having had years of com-
bat with this ph;nt louse, looks upon it as a pest to be
dreaded, difficult to kill, and destructive in its work.
He has seen, upon the seed farm of his firm, as much
as one hundred and fifty acres of otherwise healthy tur-
nip plants, and one hundred acres of cabbage in the
seed producing condition, entirely destroyed within
three weeks. It is especially fond of the tender seed
stems of the ruta baga, and in nearly all seed-growing
districts where ruta baga seed-growing has been pursued
twenty years, the cultivation has ceased entirely on ac-
count of the great increase of this insect. On young tur-
nips the louse can be destroyed by dusting witii ParivS

64 MARKET GARDEIs-ING.

green, hellebore and slug shot, but as the insect enters
the most intricate folds of the leaves of cabbage, cauH-
flower and Brussels sprouts, the poisonous apj)lications
cannot be used. An effective remedy, on small garden
plots, is kerosene emulsion, made as follows : One part
sour milk, two j^arts kerosene, thoroughly mixed by
rapid agitation till the combination forms a creamy
liquid. To this add fourteen parts water, and apply by
an injector, or dash over the vines with a broom ; or
the emulsion may be made with : One quart soft soap,
one quart kerosene, two quarts water mixed by forcible
agitation, and diluted with sixteen quarts of water
applied forcibly with a syringe.

Onion Fly. — The grub of this insect attacks the
bulbs of onions, the tops of which grow yellow and soon
die. There is no stopping its ravages, but prompt action
should be taken to destroy the larvae, as a preventive
against a like attack the succeeding year. All sickly
onions should be removed and burned, and from four to
eight bushels of salt applied to the acre.

Turnip Fly. — The turnip fly, or flea beetle, is a
jumping insect about one-twentieth of an inch in diam-
eter, feeding on lettuce, radish, turnip and cabbage, as
soon as they break through the ground, often destroying
an entire crop, acres in extent, before the planter
knows the seed has sprouted. Equal parts of wood ashes
and land plaster dusted very thoroughly on the young
plants Avill generally drive them off. An application of
some efficiency is, one part of Paris green, mixed with
forty or fifty parts of land plaster or flour. Some of the
State legislatures have very admirably passed laws mak-
ing it obligatory on farmers to destroy the Canada this-
tle, and other weeds dangerous to the interests of agri-
culture. No less caution should be observed with
respect to certain insects, as, for instance, the potato
beetle, multiplying by hundreds of thousands on the

DISEASES OF GARDEN VEGETABLES. 65

land of a slovenly farmer, infests the entire district next
yeai*, no matter how diligently other farmers apply
themselves to its eradication.

Insects attacking garden plants may, in a slight
degree, compensate for their injuries, by the agreeable
study they afford to one of an investigating turn of
mind. The eggs can be gathered and hatched under
glass, or, better, under wire gauze, and the larva? of
many species observed passing through the various
transformations to the fully developed winged insect.
Flying insects can be caught in a scoop net placed on
the end of a pole, and, when caught, can be killed by suf-
focation by the fumes of ammonia, or, more promptly,
by chloroform or ether. Beetles can be killed by fumes
of cyanide of potassium in a corked bottle, but this is
recommended cautiousl}^, as its fumes are a deadly poison.

CHAPTER XL

Diseases of Garden Vegetables,

How^ever much insect depredations may be dreaded
by the gardener, he, at least, lias some recourse against
the grubs, worms, snails, caterpillars and bugs, by de-
stroying them after some trouble, or by holding them in
check by poisonous applications, so as finally to secure a
crop. Not so, however, w^th fungous growths, which,
intimately connected with the structure and circulation
of the host plant, cannot always be destroyed by solu-
tions poisonous to vegetable growth, for, with the fun-
gus, the supporting plant may suffer equally with the
parasite.

The Legislature of the State of New York has set a
good example by the passage of a law authorizing the
5

66 MARKET GARDENING.

officers of the State Agricultural Society to enter upon
farm lands of citizens of that State, where new or dan-
gerous parasitic plants are found upon vines, or other
plants, and to destroy the crops by fire, the State assum-
ing the loss to the farmers.

The reader of this little yolnme may conclude that
the author has adopted a singular method of promoting
amateur gardening, by presenting to the beginner all
the evils which can j^ossibly occur to crush the ardor
and forestall the labors of the young gardener. Xot sat-
isfied with dwelling on insect ^ests infesting gardens, he
must here present a dissertation on diseases.

The observing man already knows that all vegetable
life, like the animal, is subject to disease and decay.
He has seen strong forest trees with lifeless branches,
and fruit trees, as the peach and pear, cease to be pro-
ductive. Garden vegetables of weaker development can-
not be expected to be exempt, and a very brief survey of
the prevalent diseases of a few varieties of field and gar-
den plants may be instructive, and lead to such subse-
quent critical observation as may be of profit ; as, for
many of the diseases of vegetables, there are treatments
which may be termed preventive, palliative or curative,
and their proper use may, in time, reduce what is now a
serious loss in garden products.

Many of the diseases are the result of unclean soil,
which, like an unclean house, is a hotbed of infection;
some are of a foreign origin, brought to this country
with seeds and plants, and, as in the case of certain
people, flourishing with double vigor under new condi-
tions of life. Other diseases, again, of American origin,
are carried, like certain insects, from one region to
another by our transportation lines ; as, for instance,
the Colorado potato beetle, Avhich has flourished for
hundreds of years in Colorado and on the plains of Ari-
zona, and southward into Mexico, but it never escaped

DISEASES OF GARDEK VEGETABLES. 67

from its natural habitat till our cultivated frontier
reached its home, and then it spread East and North by
easy stages on the potato fields.

Potato-Vine Fungus. — The potato is subject to
the attacks of several parasitic fuugi, two or more of
which attack clover and lettuce, appearing as patches of
white film, which, in a few weeks, spread over the entire
plant, extract the juice and reduce the vigor of the plant
so that growth of tubers ceases. There is no remedy for
this disease, and to prevent its spread exceedingly great
caution has to be observed in burning all tlie stems of
the infected crop. To dress the land with lime and to
cease to raise potatoes on the same ground for two years
is the best system to pursue. A second fungus growth
to which the potato is subject also attacks tomato and egg
plants, on each of which it is equally injurious. It ap-
pears about midsummer, and flourishes most vigorously
during close humid weather. It is first seen as a
fine white bloom, accompanied by darker spots on the
leaves. It is to be found mainly beneath the leaves,
and if the temperature continues moist it rapidly dis-
tributes itself over the entire plant, the darker spots,
increasing in number and size, indicating the joresence
of mycelium within the tissues soon ready to develop a
white material on the surface. An offensive odor is an
accompaniment of this disease. The fungus, under con-
ditions favorable to its growth, develops rapidly, some-
times appearing and destroying a crop in two days, but
always the germs of disease have been present before-
hand, possibly for weeks. The stems of the entire crop
should be burned, the land should be limed, and any
succeeding crop planted with seed from a district not
infected with the fungus, and the crop planted wide
apart between rows to admit of a thorough circulation
of air.

Cabbage Fungus — Club-root in cabbage is a
name applied to the outward results which appear on

68 MARKET GARDENING.

cabbage,, turnips, mangels, carrots, as a distortion and
enlargement, in spindle form, of the main root stem and
rootlets, occasionally to ten times the normal size of the
roots. This ugly growth is due to the attack of a fungus
which usually fastens itself upon the plant at an early
stage, and when once present remains permanently.
The sj^ores seem to form a connecting link between the
vegetable and the animal kingdom, for though entirely
vegetable, they have tail-like appendages which, by
vibration, cause the spores to move over wet surfaces in
quite a life-like manner. Cabbage Avith club-root — and
no one can mistake the disease — should at once be burned,
and no attempt made upon that land to grow cabbage
for at least a year.

Pea Fungus. — A fungus attacking peas, espe-
cially late varieties, or early ones sown late, and known
as pea mildew, is developed by decaying material of weeds
or rubbish, and is forwarded, especially, under conditions
of moisture and heat. When a crop is once attacked
there is little hope of arresting its ravages, and the best
course is to pull up the plants and use the ground for
something else.

The Bordeaux Mixture, used to destroy fungus
growths, as scab and mildew on grapes, apples, pears,
and other fruits of hard wooded plants, is valuable also
in the treatment of garden vegetables and flowers suffer-
ing from fungus. To make the mixture, take four
pounds fresh unslaked lime, six pounds copper sulphate
powdered, forty-five gallons of water, or in same j^ro-
portion ; slack the lime, making a creamy mixture. Pour
into a barrel, straining it through a sack. Fill up with
water and stir. The mixture will cost about one cent
per gallon.

The mixture must be applied in the form of fine
spray, applied with force by an effective pump or syringe.
For fruits it will be safe to make four sprayings.

HEREDITY IX PLAKTS. 69

1st. Just as the flowers are opening. 2.1. Ten days later,
and so on at intervals of ten clays. Sometimes six or
seyen sprayings are beneficial.

CHAPTER XII.
Heredity in Plants.

Breeders of horses, horned cattle, sheep and swine,
acknowledge that merit or demerit is inherited, and it is
the same with plants ; they can be improved by selection
and cross breeding, as the sexes are almost as distinctly
developed in vegetables and flowers as in animals, and,
with a few exceptions, present themselves to our notice
in three forms, viz. :

Sexes in Plants. — First — Bi-sexual, in which both
sexes are i^resent as part of the flower, as seen in the
fully developed pistil and stamens of the apple and pear,
the cabbage and radish.

Second — ^lonoecious, in which the sexes are fonnd
in distinct flowers produced by the same plant, as in
corn, melon, cucumber, squash.

Third — Dioecious, in which the sexes are borne on
distinct i)lants, as asparagns and spinach.

Remote Parents of Cultivated Varieties. — The
cabbage grower of to-day would scarcely recognize, in
the coarse wild cabbage of the seashore of Denmark, the
parent of our improved varieties ; nor the celery lover
the bitter plant, as found in its native habitats; nor
the epicure in watermelons the bitter, indigenous melons
found covering whole districts in Africa. Tlie present
development in plants is the result of heredity in selected
specimens. The original individuals of every garden
vegetable and every garden flower were caught, tamed

70 MARKET GARDEiq-ING.

and improved through cultivation and selection, cover-
ing longer or shorter periods of time. The same work
of selection and improvement of good qualities in vege-
tables is yet going on, and more earnestly than ever
before. The seed grower of to-day is doing the work,
the only fear is he is going too fast, introducing many
variations of little merit, rather than devoting himself
to the selection and preparation of varieties of suitable
q-uality.

Selection of Varieties.— Were it not for hered-
ity the seed growers' labors would be in vain, but, fortu-
nately, the man who finds a good thing in the green-
house, flower garden, vegetable garden, or in the field,
can seize upon it, and, by the aid of heredity, fix, after
a time, its valuable qualities for the benefit of all. But
it may be well to say he meets with many, instances of
curious reversion to original types.

Change of Seed.— It is quite possible to grow the
same crop on the same land for successive years, but it
is a ruinous policy. AVe own a plantation in Virginia,
upon a field of which, it is said, corn was grown succes-
sively and uninterruptedly for ninety years, but the pro-
duct had fallen to ten bushels per acre. The avoid-
ance of such a course of seeding is known as the system
of rotation of crops, that is, such an alternation of seeding
as to complete define a cycle of cropping in a term of
years. Now, no less important is a rotation in the seed
itself. The vegetable gardener generally purchases his
seeds from various sources, but the grain farmer some-
times blindly adheres to his own stock of wheat, rye,
oats, till it has lost its original character, and run down
in productiveness for want of healthy stamina.

Much is gained, then, by a change of seed of any
family of plants, by seed grown on a different soil ; and
we urge our readers to make trial every year of a limited
quantity, be it only a few papers, or pounds, of old or

HEREDITY IN PLANTS. HI

new varieties from localities ditfereut from their own in
soil and climatic conditions. Many fungus growths in
cultivated plants are superinduced by a weak physical
development, so that everything points to the advantage
of a change of stock if a cultivator wants, to make either
a reputation in the community for good crops or a profit
on his product.

The gardener cannot change the climate of a local-
ity, but he can transport plants from one end of the
earth to the other and, subjecting them to new condi-
tions of climate and soil, thus bringing about a variability
which, by selection and continued culture, can be per-
petuated, the new quality becoming hereditary. This
process of selection has given us our best types of vege-
tables and flowers.

Man can do little to cause variability, but he can
seize upon good forms when they do appear, and, by
annual selection in fixed lines, secure important results.
No doubt the edible plants of the older forms have been
handed down from days of barbarism, when man was
forced, at times, by hunger to eat almost anything he
could swallow, but their qualities have been improved.

At this day we can hardly believe that the wild
species of carrot, parsnip and cabbage were the progeni-
tors of our cultivated varieties. Several years ago the
wild carrot of the fields was experimented with at Blooms-
dale Farm, and, after seven years of high culture and
careful selection, it had developed a root quite soft, juicy
and palatable. The writer has grown quite good-sized
and fairly edible tubers, after five years of cultivation,
from the wild potato of Mexico.

The work of selection and the results of heredity is
in no plant so clearly shown as in the cabbage, every
one of the two hundred, or more, forms being developed
from one original, — the wild plant of the sea coast of
western Europe, now developed into plants of many dif-

72 MARKET GARDEKlXa.

ferent characters, as kale, when the terminal and lateral
leaf buds are active and open ; as Brussels sprouts, when
each leaf bud forms a head ; as cabbage, when the ter-
minal leaf bud alone is active, forming one head ; as
cauliflower, when the terminal flower bud is checked,
producing a mass of succulent, edible, and, to a large
extent, abortive flowers.

The occasional appearance of the so-called pod corn,
otherwise primitive corn, developing among cultivated
species, may be the result of heredity, as it is quite pos-
sible the original maize was of this character, every
grain being covered by a distinct husk. But it is in the
*' melon family" that the greatest variations occur; pos-
sibly there are four thousand varieties known, compris-
ing great variability in size, form and color of vine,
and color, shape and size of fruit and form of seed, one
variety being two thousand times larger than another.
Nearly all of this family will interbreed ; the canteloupe
and cucumber have been hj'bridized on Bloomsdale
Farm and grown there for several years as an interest-
freak of nature.

While heredity is a well marked principle in vege-
table life, there is a constant tendency to depart from
established forms, sometimes for the better, oftener for
the worse, for reversion is generally downward in the
scale of excellence. The reversion may be in the form
of a wild sport, or a distinct reproduction from a late or
a very remote ancestor.

Every ex])erienced seed grower knows that the
purest crops will sometimes develop the wildest sports, for
instance, a crop of cabbage of apparently absolute purity
may produce a few plants like collards, the result alone
of reversion. The seed grower is powerless to prevent
this natural physiological freak, and the gardener who
knows anything of seed production and vegetable varia-
bility deals more rationally with the seedsman than he

SAVIKG SEED. 7B

wlio knows nothing of such matters, but thinks nature
should produce plants all as much alike as nickels from
the mint.

CHAPTER XIIL
Saving Seed.

Gardening at the present day is quite distinct from
that of the past, for, while it has been, from ancient
times, termed an art, it may now, in its advanced condi-
tion, be termed an art supported, explained and digni-
fied by nearly every science, all being called upon to
account for the natural phenomena of plant germination,
vegetation and nuiturit}^

Though very few market gardeners are scientific
men, still, the progressive one nowadays gives consider-
able thought to matters truly scientific. For instance,
the chemical results atfecting plant development through
the application of salts, of potash, soda, and other chem-
ical substances used as fertilizers, upon soils of sedi-
mentary, drift, or alluvial formation. For example, green
sand marly soils, requiring distinct applications from
soils of decayed red sandstone, and again, scientific, as
respects botanical and physiological differences, plant
subsistence, pollination, reversion, etc.

Systematic results, as affects species, can now gen-
erally be accounted for by the thoroughly intelligent
student of plant life and culture, and if system is pretty
well assured and the causes of such results fairly under-
stood, gardening is on the direct road to become a sci-
ence, and is cert'ain to be so classed by the end of the
century, though of course, in its higher walks, having
but few practitioners amid the nations of the earth.

74 MARKET GARDEKIKO.

Few farmers or gardeners have the patience, the
inclination or the training, to be close observers of the
habits of plants under different climates and soils, fre-
quently so modified as to appear in new forms, the mod-
ifications covering all the results of pollination and
selection ; consequently those who have acquired this
habit of observation are marked men in their respective
communities.

The variations in cultivated plants, due to the fancy
or caprice of the seed grower, is not the only difficulty
experienced by the purchaser of seeds who desires par-
ticular qualities ; but equally difficult is the identification
of fruits, flowers and vegetables under the various names
by which they are sold, some particular varieties having
a dozen names in as many locations, indeed, as many in
the same locality. Of course, this can only be corrected
by the natural determination among seed growers and seed
merchants to refrain from the manufacture of names to
advance the sale of their stocks in hand, but this is not
likely to be soon realized, as there is no court or author-
itative bodies to forbid the mnltiplication of names.
Nevertheless, an effort is now being made to have estab-
lished by Congress a national plant register, which, it is
designed, shall give the description and history of every
newly introduced fruit, vegetable, grain, flower or fiber,
the record being official and authoritative. The bill,
however, if passed, will not prevent Tom, Dick or Harry
from introducing a plant by whatever name, good or
bad, old or new, and the utmost that can be expected is
that honest orio-inators will reo-ister their introductions,
and even some of these may not, through studied pur-
pose or caprice.

In England an official record has been keY^t for years
by the Royal Horticultural Society, which issues certifi-
cates to the exhibitors, for the first time, of new plants
of merit. The introducers of good plants thus get a

SAVIKG SEED. 75

society notice, which is generally copied in all the agri-
cultural or horticultural journals, but the plant is very
likely to appear the next year under a halt' dozen new
names, though of course it can never again be registered.
However, this renaming does not prevent it from being
sold at very high prices, for the more extravagant the
name and the higher the price the more dupes to buy it.
Every gardener can save seed by permitting certain of
his plants to stand long enough, but usually such a
course does not pay, for the reason that garden space is
generally so valuable that crops reaching edible condi-
tion must be cleared away to make room for others in
their season, and again, that on fields of limited extent,
crops of various sorts of peas, beans, corn, melons,
squash and cucumber become each within its own family
hybridized, or interbred, so that crops grown from seed
raised in the garden present in one lot all the qualities
of the various crops of the preceding year, and alwa3^s
the poor qualities will be found to jDredominate, as with
vegetable, like animal life, the coarse, ill bred types are
the most precocious and prolific. Still, it is occasionally
worth the time and labor of the amateur to experiment
in seed saving, for it certainly affords interesting instruc-
tion, whether the return be profitable or not, and it can-
not be doubted that the very cross-fertilizing, consequent
upon the crowding of crops in gardens, has been the
origin of many valuable h3^brids. This cross-fertilizing
occurs during the flowering season, and results from the
pollen, a light powder, produced by the organs of the
male flower of one sort of bean, corn, melon, or other
plant, falling upon the female organ of the flower of some
other variety of the same family. The pollen, carried
by the wind, or borne on the bodies of insects, may be
carried for miles. Corn has been known to intermix
when planted hundreds of j'ards apart, or on opposite
sides of a dense woodland, or on opposite sides of a river

76 MARKET GAKDEKIKG.

a mile in width. This natural disposition of established
sorts to cross-breed has been taken advantage of by
expert gardeners desiring to unite in one individual the
good qualities of others. For instance, a very early
pointed cabbage may be crossed with a very late flat one,
with the view of producing a variety, uniting the good
qualities of both ; or with canteloupes, a poor variety
with a showy netting may advantageously be crossed with
a rich flavored sort without netting, and the result be a
very desirable development, and so on with other plants
without limitation.

The gardener, possessing a greenhouse, can conduct
experiments in hybridizing witli more convenience and
certainty in results than in the open garden, as inclem-
ent weather will not interfere with his labors, nor insects
defeat his purposes by crossing his selected plants from
unknown sources.

Seed Growers. — The professional seed grower
aims to produce his general stock of seed without hy-
bridization. He starts with approved forms and, grow-
ing them apart, endeavors to strengthen or extend the
desirable qualities of size, color, flavor, hardiness, or
time of maturity. But all seed growers do not look
upon a vegetable or fruit with the same eye and mind,
consequently their conceptions of merit vary, and so do
the plants which they pick out for select stock for the
ensuing year. Thus it comes that seeds sold under the
same name produce very different types of plants. One
sugar corn grower may select his Evergreen, with short
jointed stocks, having ears near the ground ; another
may pay no attention to the position of the ears, but
select his seed alone for the size and shape of ear and
depth and lightness of grain ; or one squash grower may,
for years, choose his from which to save seed as respects
closeness of setting upon the vine, outward shape and
color of fruit ; while another may dwell principally

NOVELTIES AKD RESPONSIBILITIES. 77

upon thickness of flesh texture and flavor. With this
variability in the wliims of seed growers, it cannot be
wondered at that seeds sold under the same name pro-
duce widely different results as to development.

CHAPTER XIV.

Seedsmen's Novelties axd Responsibilities.

There cannot be any good reason advanced why the
seed grower should not seize upon and perpetuate vege-
table hybrids or sports whenever they present new and
desirable features, even though the plant, on the wdiole,
is no better than some other well known sort. Novelties
may often show no practical improvement, in any sense,
being simply a variability of questionable utility in form,
size or color ; nevertheless, the effort to develop novelties
has resulted in an improvement in vegetables and flow-
ers to such an extent that, in the manner of general
excellence, the cultivated plants of the present day are
far in advance of those of twenty years ago.

Demand for Novelties. — Novelties in vegetables
and flowers are all right, so far as they are true novel-
ties, and selected by practical seed -growers, but, unfor-
tunately, many so-called novelties are not the result of
culture or selection by practical workers in the field, but
altogether the product of the sensational seed merchant,
who does his farming at his desk, his plow being his
pen, drawn by an imagination so fertile as to have ex-
hausted the vocabulary of the English language, to
which he adds pictures and illustrations, ofttimes por-
trayed in such an undignified and offensive manner as
to bring his business down to the level of the mounte-
bank. In no business of the present day is there so

78 MARKET GARDEI^I^G.

much disguised Immbiig and open misrepresentation as
in the seed business, — misrepresentation in description of
color, form and merit of vegetables and flowers, due, on
one hand, to ignorance, and on the other, to design, by
illustration or pictures of monstrous and impossible veg-
etables and flowers ; also in the illustration of seed stores,
offices, seed-packing rooms, and published statements of
sales, all schemes to catch the eye and take the money
of the confiding gardener.

This reprehensible practice, originated by English
seedsmen, has been adopted in this country, and, as
Americans do not like to be outdone by Britons, they
have gone, not one better, but advanced by strides and
jumps, till the Englishman hides his head in abashment
at his own insignificance.

It will, however, remain for the planter of novelties
and specialties to determine for himself, whether they
develop features of superior excellence upon his soil and
under the conditions of his climate. On some soils they
may possess very desirable qualities, and entirely fail on
others. Merit in vegetables covers a wide range of char-
acter. It may consist of coloring, form, size, texture,
flavor, precocity, productiveness, or freedom from dis-
ease, sunburn or decay, resistance to insect depredations,
and excessive heat or cold, wet or drought. All these
qualities are subjects for study in the field by the ob-
serving seed grower, market or private gardener, for
these cannot be determined at the desk of the modern
catalogue manufacturer. So much humbug has been
thrown into the seed catalogues of the past ten years,
that the intelligent gardener has had his eyes opened,
and he is now discriminating between those dealers who
can advise technically and those who have no training
in the field.

novelties and responsibilities. 79

Seedsmen's Responsibilities.

A review of the seed catalogues, price lists and pub-
lications of American, English, French and German
seed merchants and seed farmers, will reveal the fact
that they all disclaim responsibility for the consequences
of planting seed obtained from them. They emphatic-
ally declare they cannot, and will not, be held responsi-
ble for the varying results of seed sold by them and
planted by tliQir customers, consequent upon influences
of soil, rainfall, drouth, periods of sowing, inexperience
of sower, and the many other causes which produce con-
flicting results in the germination of seed, development
of plants, and in the perfection of growth, fruit or flower.

To clearly convey the position taken by European
seed merchants uiwa this subject of resj^onsibility, four
forms of disclaimer, as published by as many well-known
foreign seedsmen, are here given, all others using the
same or similar forms :

1st. '^ We herewith desire to remind our customers,
tliat whilst using our utmost care to supply seed only
of such quality as to insure entire satisfaction, we give no
warranty as to description, quality or productiveness,
there being too many causes, known and unknown,
which prevent good seeds from germinating."

2d. *'We wish it to be distinctly understood, that
while we exercise the greatest care to supply all seeds
pure and reliable, we are not, in any respect, liable or
responsible for the seeds sold by us, or for any loss or
dama.2:e arising from any failure thereof."

3d. '^ We send out only seeds that will, to the best
of our belief, give entire satisfaction ; it must, however,
be expressly understood that immunity from error being
unattainable, and success more often dependent on cli-
matic or local influences than is generally supposed, we
warrant neither description, growth nor productiveness
of any goods we sell, nor will we hold ourselves in any
way responsible for the crop."

4th. '" We give no warranty, express or implied,
as to descrij)tion, quality, productiveness, or any other

80 MARKET GARDEJ^IXG.

matter of any seeds we send out, and we will not be, in
any way, responsible for the crop. If the purchaser does
not accept the goods on these terms thej are at once to
be returned."

No seedsman with any security to his property rights
could conduct a business where he would be subject to
suits at law by every merchant and gardener who might
be inclined to lodge at his door the material results of
croi^s. Every obrserving worker in the garden can recall
most contradictory experience in the s^iroutiug and grow-
ing of crops. For instance, in April, 1890, the writer
drilled, on Bloomsdale Farm, many acres of bush beans of
yarious sorts, and in the trial grounds planted samples of
these and many other lots. These field crops and the
trial ground plantings were repeated in May. The
spring temj^erature was cold and the earth kept con-
stantly cold and damp by frequent rains ; the results
were so contradictory as to be beyond explanation. For
example, a special variety, doing well in the field, did
badly in the trial ground; or the same variety, doing
well in trial grounds, did badly in the field. In every
case the highest results were accepted as indicative of the
percentage of vitality, though the same lot of beans may
have exhibited the wide range of from twenty-five to
ninety-five per cent of germination.

The same irregular results are obs3rvable, not only
in germination, but in subsequent growth, and all the
way to maturity of form, size and quality of vegetable,
fruit or flower from seed out of the same bag, all conse-
quent upon natural or artificial condition of soil, tempo-
rary influence of temperature by day, and quite as often
by night ; sunlight, rainfall, favorable influence to urge
into rapid growth, or unfavorable conditions to check
progress often occurring at that period of the plant's
development, determining its merit for excellence, medi-
ocrity or inferiority.

NOVELTIES AND RESPONSIJilLITIES. 81

Irregularity in sprouting is often observable with
seeds just harvested, particularly so with corn and beans,
as it would seem nature intended they should become
dry or dormant before sprouting into new life. Seeds
of cabbage, turnip and radish are liable to grow moldy
if kept in bags without ventilation, and often the seed
merchant is blamed for the inattention of the consumer
himself.

The writer has known of many instances where
freshly harvested, and, consequently, soft seeds of turnip,
cabbage and radish, shipped because the consumer
insisted upon having fresh seeds, proved, upon examina-
tion later on in the season, after having been kept in
bags as shipped, to have taken on a moldy smell and, on
trial, to have fallen from ninety or ninety-five per cent,
vitality to fifty 2:)er cent. Sugar corn is very liable to
injury when stored in bags, and new beans shipped early
in autumn are almost certain to sweat.

In the United States the leading seedsmen publish
a disclaimer to the same effect as their brethren in
Europe, the phraseology, in general, being about the
same. No sensible gardener would take exceptions to
this, as it is only such a precaution as he himself would
take, knowino: full well the variable results of climate,
soil, rainfall, and variations in the action of manures.

CHAPTER XV.

Weeds.

An old adage among the English wheat growers is,
"that the greatest weed in wheat is wheat/' implying
that a plant of wheat properly developed must have
room, that crowding by another, even of its own species,
is injurious, and that a plant so crowding another is a
weed. . A weed, then, is a plant out of place, not neces-
sarily a noxious plant, or a wild plant.

The ordinary understanding adopts the term weed
to designate an unattractive plant, without special value.
On the farm the term weed is used to designate an
intruder among cultivated crops, an uninvited guest.
As a rule, those plants recognized as weeds are of foreign
origin, the seed being brought to this country through
commerce, transported here with other seeds, or in pack-
ing material of hay or straw. As an example may be
cited the one hundred new plants which appeared and
were scattered all over Fairmount Park after the Cen-
tennial Exhibition, which were mainly from the forty
countries represented. The delicate ones succumbed
under our cold winter; many of the hardy ones still
exist, spreading far and wide over the surrounding
country.

It is a curious fact to note that foreign weeds have
taken a firmer i)lace in our own garden and field than
our aboriginal weeds, which have disappeared before the
march of the invader as native tribes have succumbed
before the descendants of the Europeans. All of our
cultivated plants have their wild originals, and many of

WEEDS. 83

our most ornamental flowers have been discovered away
from the haunts of man, but whatever the form, color
or habit of plants, injurious to other crops or exhausting
the soil without profit, they are designated as w^eeds.

Classification of Weeds. — These pestiferous
plants may be divided into three classes : Annuals,
developing seed and dying : ;e same season ; biennials,
taking two years to perfectly develop and produce seed,
and then die ; perennials, covering several seasons of
growth and seeding. These three classes may be di-
vided as respects the character of underground growth,
some producing surface roots, as rag weed, easily
pulled up, others producing rod-shaped roots, as wild
carrot, which can be extracted entire ; other bulbs, as
buttercups or garlic, very difficult of eradication, while
others are tubers, as coco grass, a troublesome class, and
still others, producing subterranean root-stems, as Can-
ada thistle, having numerous buds, each capable of
developing new plants.

Destroying Weeds. — All these weeds, M'hen in
their first stages of growth, may be kept in check, if not
entirely destroyed, in the garden, by plucking them
when an inch or so high, or with a hoe or knife cutting
them off, or by disturbing the soil with a cultivator, by
turning under with a plow, or by smothering with mulcli
or waste material. Noxious weeds never should be per-
mitted to mature their seeds; if not destroyed they
should certainly be so cut down and kept cut down as to
prevent seed development.

State Laws Respecting Weeds — In some
States there are legislative enactments requiring the
destruction of the Canada thistle, recognized everywhere
as one of the most persistent and dangerous of encroach-
ing weeds. It would be well if a similar statute was
adopted by all the States, and applied to other weeds,
as mustard, ox-eye daisy, wild carrot, which careless

84 MARKET GARDEKIKG.

farmers allow to propagate on their lands, to tlieir own
disgrace and to the manifest injury of their neighbors.
A very intelligent French agriculturist, once visiting the
writer, after making a tonr of the United States, said
the American farm was the most slovenly he had ever
looked upon ; and it is quite true, for, as a rule, every
farmer in this country has more land than he can prop-
erly attend to, and, at the best, bnt few have bad that
education in the economy of space which has been so
intently studied in Europe.

CHAPTER XVI.

Hotbeds ahd Cold Frames.

The ordinary size of a convenient hotbed, may be
ten feet, by six or seven feet wide, or it may be only
of the dimensions of a common window sash, three feet
by four feet, more or less. The shape has nothing to do
with the definition, which may be to the effect that a
hotbed is a box covered with glass, the whole placed
upon a bed of soil resting on a bed of fermenting stable
manure, the heat from which, rising in the form of
vapor, warms and moistens the soil within the box,
while, at the same time, the sun's rays, passing through
the glass, are retained to warm and vivify the surface.

Seeds sown within such a box will germinate in less
time than without such protection. As an illustration
of the varying forms which hotbeds may take, the writer
may say that he once saw an efficient hotbed full of vig-
orous vines of egg plant, made of a large oil or whisky
barrel, with the head and bottom knocked out, and then
let down half way into the earth and banked up all
around with soil. In tlie bottom, six inches of stone
were placed for drainage, and then eighteen inches of

HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES. 85

rich, unfermented horse manure, six inches of fine ricli
earth, rising to within ten inches of the top of the bar-
rel, the open top covered with a discarded window sash.
We do not recommend such a hotbed, but it is an exam-
ple of the simplicity with which one can be made. Witli
a full understanding of the cardinal principles of so
applying the manure as to make it hold the heat of fer-
mentation, to handle the sash so as to collect and accu-
mulate tlie sun's heat, it matters little what form tlie
box assumes.

The location of the hotbed has much to do with its
success or failure. It should only be placed on land
always free from flooding, preferably on a declivity, with
good subsoil drainage, sheltered from cold winds, and
facing south or southeast. As an example of a hotbed
frame, we will describe it as a box for one, two or four
sashes, each seven feet long by three and one-quarter feet
wide. This dimension of sashes is given because it is
easy to handle. The width named will allow for four
lengths of 8x10 glass placed lengthwise. Whatever the
dimensions of the sashes, all should be alike, so as to
be interchangeable. The frame may be permanent, of
brick or stone, or, temporary, of boards. The frame
may be regularly built by a carpenter, with strong cor-
ner pieces, or the gardener can do all the work himself
and attain just as practical results. Doing the work
himself, he may proceed as follows : The length and
breadth of the bed having been decided upon, excavate
a space two feet wider and two feet longer than the indi-
cated dimensions. After the excavation is completed,
drive down at the four corners, and at intervals between
the corners, posts of proper lengths, four by four inches
square, to which nail the side boards ; the posts on the
back of the frame rising twelve to fifteen inches above
the surface level, and those in front of the frame six to
eight inches, nailing the boards only to those portions

86 MARKET GARDEKIlifG.

of the i:)Ost wliicli are above the earth level, the boxes,
as it were, standing on stilts, it being desirable to use
as little lumber as possible. The excavation is for the
purpose of keeping the material and contents of the bed
as much removed as possible from frigid air currents,
and thus economize manure.

Into the excavations of eighteen or twenty inches
in depth tbrow one foot in thickness of cornstalks,
leaves, half rotten straw and coarse manure, these princi-
pally for preventing dampness or facilitating drainage ;
on top of this coarse strata spread a layer of three to
four inches of good horse-stable manure just beginning
to ferment, avoiding pig and cow manure, as they do
not heat. The manure for hotbeds must be well manip-
ulated, that the fermentation may be prolonged, and
this is best done by shaking out the manure loosely with
forks, and, if exceedingly rich, mixing it with some
poorer material, otherwise the fermentation will be too
fierce and of too short duration ; indeed, to secure thor-
ough mixing, it is well to turn the manure intended for
hotbeds at least three times, at intervals of two days,
and, when transferring the manure from the pile to the
bed, it should be done quickly, that the manure be as
little exposed to the chilling influence of the air as
possible.

Tramp the manure down and spread it evenly from
end to end and side to side ; when done repeat with a
layer of three or four inches, and when this is spread
and well tramped down, add a third layer of the shortest
and best unfermented manure, as this subsequently will
be a feeding ground for plants, the various layers of
manure making twelve to fourteen inches in total depth.
If the spreading and tramping and quahty of material
be not regularly distributed in the bed, it will be irregu-
lar and the plants the same. For early beds use the
manure liberally. Very late beds can be made without

HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES. Si

any, as the sun, in late spring, will give sufficient heat.

Manure for Hotbed. — As fresh horse-stable ma-
nure, when used alone, is very heating and soon subsides,
it is best to mix it with leaves or half rotten straw, as
seed may be burned over manure of too high temperature.
Of course it is impossible to indicate fixed dates for sow-
ing, over a country so broad as this, and with such a
variety of climatic conditions. The beginner can get
his best hints for procedure from a gardener resident in
his district, or others not far removed from it. Any
recommendations here simply apply to the Atlantic
Middle states, and even there the practice is very diverse.
Tomatoes and egg plants are best sown from the first to
the fifteenth of March, otherwise they attain too large a
size before a right opportunity for transplanting may
present itself.

The writer, and all others of experience, find it
always best to make two sowings. Cost of seed is a mat-
ter of little importance, as compared with securing a sat-
isfactory stand of plants. A gardener had better pay
three dollars per pound for good seed than one dollar
for seed that will not germinate, or, still worse, to prove,
after germinating, to be of inferior quality, as thus his
time and labor would be wasted. As it is always desirable
to have the crop started ahead of the weeds natural to
the soil, the writer suggests the soaking of the seeds
before the bed is made, that when the bed arrives at the
proper condition the seed may have germinated and be
ready to sow.

Sowing Seeds in Hotbeds. — With either tomato,
egg plant or cabbage, mix the seed with three times its
bulk of sifted sand, white sand preferred, that the seed
may be better distributed ; soak in tepid water for one
hour and place the mixture of sand and seed in shallow
boxes or pans, carefully labeled, and kept in a warm
place till the seeds show signs of germinating. Some

88 MARKET GAllDEis^lNG.

varieties will take longer than others, and different crops
of the same variety will take different periods to siDrout.
Seed thus treated and sown on a properly prepared bed
will often show a green line tweaty-four hours after sow-
ing, and thus be several days ahead of the weeds. If
the bed is ready before the seed can be prepared, as
described, then sow the dry seed and trust to sun, ma-
nure and water to hasten the process of germination.
After sowing keep the surface moist. Seed started in
pans may not need more than one watering previous to
showing above ground. Dry seed may require three or
four waterings, but the gardener must judge oi this for
himself, keeping the soil moist, but not wet, to the depth
of one inch.

Care of Hotbeds. — Hotbeds should be covered
early in the evening, to retain their heat, and in the
morning uncovered when the sun rests upon the glass,
as every effort should be made to give the plants all the
sunlight possible, as its rays are vivifying to a degree
beyond the amount of its heat, it having a chemical and
physiological effect beyond explanation. Even dull
light is better than no light, consequently it is a bad
plan to cover sashes with mats, except for the direct pur-
pose of keeping out cold.

If the box should be much charged with steam
from the manure, let it off at the high side, otherwise
the vapor may cause the plants to damp off. This
damping off is a very serious matter, usually due to a
want of ventilation, and it will occur whether there be
steam or not in the box, unless the air be changed, as it
really seems, to become poisonous ; consequently the bed
should be aired, even in cloudy and cool weather. The
amount of air should be regulated by the amount the
crop will stand without injury. By such proper treat-
ment the plants will be short, scockv, with broad, srreen
leaves ; with too little air the plants will be long-legged,
yellow and sickly.

HOTBEDS AKD COLD FRAMES. 89

Do not endeavor to obtain, by the exclusion of the
outside air, that heat which the manure and sun should
supply. By close attention to watering, airing and
early afternoon closing, the development of hotbed
plants may be advanced ten days over others not so care-
fully looked after. It may be in place here to observe
that much trouble may be saved by having all the sashes
of uniform dimensions, as, if interchangeable, by a little
good management a few sashes will often serve twice the
number of boxes ; for, by moving the sashes along as the
sowing progresses, their places being supplied by board
coverings, much can be accomplished.

After hotbed plants reach from two to three inches
in height, they may be transplanted to other boxes or
frames. These frames may be filled with good soil,
heating manure being unnecessary, as the sun's rays in
April or May should afford sufficient heat to advance
them to a healthy growth. The soil in these frames
should rest on a ten-inch drainage bed of rough manure,
cornstalks, or trash, and should preferably be of two
layers of distinct consistency, one a heavy soil on top of
the drainage material, with three inches of light sandy
soil on top of it. By this means the plants can be taken
up for setting out in the open ground without injury to
their fiber, which would be the case if the surface layer
was of compact loam. The experienced gardener collects
in the autumn the soil for his hotbeds, well knowing
that Jack Frost, at the time he wants his hotbed soil,
generally has it tightly locked up in an icy embrace.

Transplanting Tender Plants. — Do not trans-
plant to the field too early. It is best to cut tomatoes
back to two inches when four inches high, which opera-
tion makes them stocky, new buds will appear at each
leaf stem, while the root will become more fibrous.
Indeed, tomatoes well cut back and given plenty of air
need not be transplanted from original beds, but can go

90 MARIiET GAUDENlJ^a.

directly into the garden. Eighty feet square of hotbed
surface drilled in rows at five inches apart should pvo-
duce enough plants to cover one acre of ground. Toma-
toes grown in open air outside beds should plant one
acre to each one hundred and fifty square feet. Seed-
lings grown in outside beds need not be transplanted
before removal to a permanent position in the field. At
Bloomsdale^ plants set out May 10th to 20th ripen fruit
by July 4th.

Daring the operation of transplanting, the newly
planted bed should be shaded and watered as the work
progresses, keeping the shade on for two days, removing
it in the evenings or during rainy weather, after which
the plants may have tlie full benefit of the sun's rays.
In the evenings water sufiiciently to keep the soil moist,
and give plenty of air, while avoiding chilling them,
and in a couple of weeks the plants will be ready to
remove to the field. Egg plants take more heat than
tomatoes, but they need as much ventilation and should
have more room.

Cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce sow broadcast, firs/";
raking the surface soil to the finest tilth, distributing
the seed so that about ten seeds will fall to the square
inch ; this many, to allow for unvital seeds, for too deep
or too shallow covering, and for insect depredations.
Rake as liohtly as possible, so as not to cover more than
one-eighth of an inch ; water, using a watering pot with
a very fine rose nozzle, or dash on water with a broom,
and put on the sash.

Tomatoes, egg plants and peppers should be sown
in rows, raking the surface soil to the finest tilth, and
with a triangular stick of a length equal to the width of
the box, press the sharp edge down into the fine soil,
making straight parallel rows, or trenches, three inches
apart, and not over one-half inch in depth. Drop the
seeds in the row, five to eight seeds to the inch, of egg

HOTBEDS AHD COLD FRAMES 91

plant or pepper, and of tomatoes quite ten to tne inch,
cover over oiie-tliird inch deep with light soil from both
sides of the trench, gently tapping the soil down with a
shingle or light board, so as to bring the seed and earth
into intimate contact. If the seed has been soaked and
is mixed with wet sand, mix with soine dry sand to make
the mass friable. Sand Avill rather aid the germination
than hinder it. When sowing germinated seed it must
not be exposed to dry soil or wind, or it may be destroyed.

Stable manure hotbeds will, it may be presumed,
continue to be used, in spite of the cheapened construc-
tion and completer development of beds and glass houses,
heated by fire, cheap as they are, for they are too costly
for some, take too much time to erect, and require early
preparation.

Forcing beds for hot air heating may have much
the same appearance as manure hotbeds, and may be
cheaply made by excavating a pit, or trench, a foot
deeper than described for the making of manure hotbeds,
and laying in the pit a double line of iron or terra cotta
smoke pipe leading from a furnace placed in a deeper
pit at one end of the line to the extreme end of the
excavation, and back to a chimney built alongside or on
top of the furnace, that the heat from the furnace,
warming the cold air in the chimney, may drive it out,
and thus, creating a partial vacuum, start a steady cur-
rent throughout the entire length of the hot air flues.

Nearly fifty years ago this arrangement was in use on
Bloomsdale Farm, though some people think it is a new
idea. The smoke pipes in the bottom of the trench
are covered over by a floor of boards to support the
earth, the floor at the end next to the furnace being
twelve to fifteen inches above the pipes, but at the other
end approaching to within six inches, because of the
loss of heat at tVie extremity.

Intermediate Bed. — The term "intermediate
bed" may be applied to beds or frames used in the au-

92 MARKET GARDEHI15"G.

tumn for the propagation of lettuce, parsley and other
croi^s intended to mature during winter. In sash bedsf
two crops can be grown, first lettuce, again lettuce, with
radish between the rows. The boxes should be on a dry
piece of land and well sheltered from fierce blasts of
wintry air.

To make the frame, drive or set posts into the
ground, projecting above the surface, twelve inches on
the back and eight inches on the front, the distance
between the front and back lines being three inches less
than the length of the sashes, so as to admit of an over-
hanging at both ends, to cast off water. Board up the
two lines and the two ends, and the skeleton is com-
pleted, ^'ext put in cross pieces at proper distances for
the sash to run on ; these can be mortised in at both
ends. Next dig out the interior of the frames to a depth
of ten inches, preserving the good top soil, and fill in
the excavation with drainage material of trash, dead
leaves and vines, strawy manure, or even shavings,
well pressed down. On top of the filling of the pit place
four to five inches of good surface soil, and on top of that
a couple of inches of soil still better if it can be had, if
not, work in some fine compost and some sand, raising
the surface to within eight or nine inches of the glass.
In sowing intermediate beds, proceed the same as in sow-
ing hotbeds. If old hotbeds are used the prei^aration for
the seeding, consists in turning over the surface soil,
and possibly adding two inches of fresh sandy compost.

Cold Frame. — A cold frame is a winter storage
box containing plants to be transi^lanted into hotbeds,
or in the field in spring. It is always made without
manure, and may be made without underd rain age,
though such drainage always has its advantages. If
made for merely temporary use, the front and back
boards may be held by stakes driven down on each side
of the boards to hold them in place. The cross pieces

HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES. 93

used in hotbeds and intermediate beds are not needed in
cold frames, which are intended to be kejDt in a dormant
state ; therefore no warmth is necessary, and no glass is
needed except in extremely cold weather. Sometimes
the plants are started in the frame in the early autumn,
other times they are taken from other localities and dib-
bled in, or laid in or bedded very closely, the aim being
to suspend or retard growth. Plants in cold frames,
when frozen, must not be exposed to the sun, but on
mild days plenty of air should be given to keep them
sound and healthy.

Plant Pit. — A pit for plants is used for housing or
protecting during winter half hardy plants, many of
which, in a well constructed pit, blossom during winter
and will all be well advanced in spring. In general
principles a plant pit is similar to a cold frame bed,
made more durable, and also set deeper in the earth.

To construct a cheap plant pit, select a dry location
and mark off the length desired, and of width equal to
the length of sashes used. As the contents of a cold
pit are intended to stand from autumn to spring it,
should be placed on land not likely to be flooded by
rain, melting snow or back water. Plant pits may be
for permanent or temporary use, and of either brick or
wood. If of wood, a solid frame may be used, made by
setting or driving posts in two parallel lines, the back
line twenty inches higher than the front ; or dig out the
earth to a depth of two feet and set square sided posts at
the corners, and along the sides to which nail on boards,
making a box without a bottom or top within the exca-
vation. The posts on the back should be three and one-
half feet long. On top of the frame place six covered
bars, at proper intervals, for the sash to slide upon the
ends of the bars mortised into the back and front boards
of the frame. Pack the earth tightly in the cracks
beneath the surface around the outside of the box, and

94 MARKET GARDESTXG.

above the surface bank up all around with the excavated
earth. The pit is now ready for the reception of potted
plants of primulas, pelargoniums, violets, wall flowers,
begonias, heliotropes, fuchsias, abutilons, lilies or roses,
the tallest plant being placed on the back, where the
elevation is three and one-half feet.

CHAPTER XVII.

Market Gardening Under Glass.

So many and so radical have been the changes in
modern commercial gardening during the last twenty-
five years that a practical market gardener, of a quarter
of a century ago, who, like Rip Van Winkle, should have
taken a sleep from 1870 until the present, on awaking,
woukl find that his profession, as he understood it, had
passed away, his old-fashioned and pet methods having
been so altered that he would neither recognize nor under-
stand the ways and means in practice by his scientific
successors. Similar improved methods and appliances
run through every branch of horticulture, but there is
no branch where there have been more innovations made
than in that of forcing vegetables under glass. These
various changes in modes of culture are the result of a
rapidly increasing demand in large cities and towns in
the north and west for lettuce, radishes, cucumbers and
other esculents for winter and early spring use. To
meet this constant, ever-broadening and profitable branch
of gardening, new and improved systems had to be de-
veloped. As long as the art of gardening has been prac-
ticed,, both for private advantage and, in a limited ex-
tent, for commercial purposes, forcing certain vegeta-
bles in winter has been customarv, but the old methods,

'' . r

MARKET GARDENING UNDEB GLAS^ .05 /pj^

entailing a great amount of manual l^bor, were expen-
sive, the cost, if taken into account, being often greater
than the value of the articles produced. Every reading
gardener knows that lettuce, asparagus, radish and
cucumbers have, for a century, been grown during win-
ter by bottom heat in glass covered hotbeds or in cold
frames, which slow methods are in use yet by private
gardeners for home consumption ; but with the commer-
cial market gardener, who aims for the largest net re-
turns from his capital and labor, the old style hotbed
and cold frame no longer answer the purpose, for they
are expensive, as compared with returns, and do not
enable him to meet the enormously increased demand
for crisj:) winter-grown vegetables. In changing from
the old to the present system, mistakes were made in
the construction of the early forcing-houses, which time
and practical experience have modified and corrected.
Accordingly, such structures, built during the last
eight or ten years, are very different in appearance and
interior arrangements from those erected a dozen years
ago. At that time the ordinary greenhouse form was
imitated in constructing vegetable forcing houses. These
were usually built eleven feet wide and as long as neces-
sary, with side walls four feet high, the top roofed with
movable sashes three by six feet. In such houses there
were two tables three and one-half feet high running
the whole length, with a narrow passage-way in the cen-
ter. On these wooden tables, or benches, prepared soil,
to a depth of twelve to fourteen inches, was placed, and
made ready for the process of culture. The heating was
done by hot water, the same as now. The water used
was lifted by hand-worked force-pumps, and applied
sometimes by hose, but generally by the expensive sys-
tem of hand-pots, entailing a great amount of labor, a
slow and expensive method compared with the system
now practiced,

96 MARKET GAEDEKING.

As stated, the form of houses and interior construc-
tion of those built recently are different in appearance
and more economically arranged for the specific purpose
of raising winter vegetables ; the changes are but the
results of practical experience in this branch of horti-
culture by some of the most thrifty and prosperous mar-
ket gardeners in the vicinity of Philadelphia, where this
system of market gardening is carried out on a most ex-
tensive scale. It may be of interest to briefly outline
the construction of four distinct styles of forcing houses
for vegetables, which may bo designated as systems num-
bered 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th.

In reference to system Xo. 1 a progressive and suc-
cessful market gardener in New Jersey has said: ^^I
have built, in all, fourteen large vegetable .forcing-
houses, and the one that I have just completed I con-
sider as near right as it is possible to get it, and that
after an experience of twelve years in this branch of gar-
dening." In this connection the fact may be mentioned,
incidentally, that the gardener referred to is both thrifty
and prosperous, the result of skill in conducting a busi-
ness requiring a keen, practical and observing mind,
with the energy and cash to carry out his plans. His is
the kind of experience that is of real value to beginners,
and my aim is to give, as concisely as possible, the sub-
stance of such experience, gathered from those who
bought it dearly by hard work and disappointment in
their first efforts. Facts, when gleaned from such
sources, are of value to those who are about to embark
in the same line of business. To be able to avoid the
stumbling blocks and steer clear of the mistakes likely
to be made in a new undertaking is of the utmost
importance, as saving time and cash, two important
considerations.

The forcing house recently constructed by the mar-
ket gardener referred to and which may be designated aa

MAKKET GARDENIIS'G UNDER GLASS. 97

plan N"o. 1, is thirty-one feet wide, outside measure, two
feet less inside, and two hundred, and fifty feet long. The
house is set down in an excavation, partly below the sur-
face, the footwalks being thirty inches below the outside
level. The exterior walls, four feet high, are built of
brick, thii'ty inches below the surface and eighteen
inches above it on the outside. The top of these walls
is finished to receive a jilate. The top of the house is
a lean-to span with a hip-joint. The ridge-pole is eleven
feet above the floor, and jointed. The pine strips run-
ning from the plate to the ridge-pole are one and one-
half by two and one-half inches, made fast to a cross-
piece at the hip-joint and ridge-pole, and are ten inches
apart. Heavy French glass 8x10 is glazed on the out-
side of the strips. It is economy to use the best quality
of glass for this purjiose. Every twelve feet on both
sides there is a hinged sash, running from the plate to
the hip-joint. By this means the house can be aired
when necessary, an operation of the utmost importance.
Witli this exception the roof structure is made fast,
avoiding the use of movable sashes entirely. The water,
falling upon the roof, is all saved and led by gutters into
a cistern at the end of the house, to be used for watering
the plants when needed. As the rain falling upon the
roof may not be sufficient, a well and pump are provided
to meet cases of emergency. There are three tables, or
beds, running the length of the house, and tw^o narrow
passage-ways. The center bed, which is eighteen feet
wide, is made by erecting two parallel walls of brick,
running through the length of the house to within six
or eight feet of each end. These walls should be eight
inches thick and three and one-half feet high. In digging
the excavation for the house, the space designed for the
center bed may be left intact, excepting the remoyal of
the upper half. This block of natural soil is walled in,
forming a solid bed distinct from the side beds, which
7

98 MARKET GAEDENIKG.

are open beneath. Upon the bank of natural soil is
placed well-rotted manure and garden soil preparatory
to culture. Elevated beds (the exponents of this system
claim), are more desirable than those sunken to the
level of the floor, in the economy of heating, as well as
in working, elevated ones being credited with producing
more uniform crops than the others, at less expense.
The use of brick instead of wood for the center table is
an improvement in the method of construction which
will strike CATry practical gardener favorably. In a
house that is kept damp and warm several months of
the year, wood will rot out every five years, and it is the
experience of every gardener that the wooden tables have
to be removed every five years, a very considerable item
of expense in a large house. As a matter of fact, the
first outlay, for brick and building the walls, is much
more than wooden benches would cost, but the brick
lasts as long as there is a roof kept over the house.
Many instances may be cited where gardeners have been,
and are now, making the change of substituting brick
for wood on the basis of economy. As already stated,
the side beds are not solid, as is the center bed, but are
open for the location of hot and cold water pipes, it
being very desirable, if not necessary, that these pipes
be accessible at all points. The supports for these side
tables, which are three and one-half feet wide, may be
brick columns or wooden posts, with slate or boards for
the sides and bottom. The same depth and quality of
soil should be placed on the benches as on the center
table. The roof of the forcing house is supported by
three lines of iron rods, or pipes, one and one-half inches
in diameter, and set about ten or twelve feet apart. One
of these lines of support runs from the ridae-pole to the
center of the middle bed, and. the other two from the
hip-joint to the edge of the side beds, thus holding
the roof of the house. In the construction of vegetable-

MARKET GARDENING UKDER GLASS. 99

forcing houses the cost must naturally vary more or less
in different localities on account of labor and material,
the method of building and the finish put upon the
houses. Estimates for the construction of such houses
are within the reach of every gardener, including all the
appurtenances to make the houses complete for use.
Every horticultural journal gives, in its columns, the
addresses of persons whose business it is to build houses
of this description, and all other designs now in common
use by practical, commercial gardeners. In the same
journals can be found advertisements of all the leading
manufacturers of heating apparatus.

The approximate cost of a vegetable forcing house,
erected upon system No. 1, dimensions 30x250 feet com-
plete, will not exceed $4,500. This comprises cost of
boiler, hot and cold water pipes, about $1,700, and the
pipes and cocks for watering about $100 more. Such a
house may be heated by hot water carried in three lines
of three-inch pipes running around under the side tables,
or it may be heated by steam, the water being forced by
natural circulation. This amount of heating surface is
quite sufficient to keep tlie house at a temperature rang-
ing from 40° to 50° during .the most severe weather of
mid- winter. In fact, all that is really necessary the
coldest nights is to have heat enough to keep frost out
of the house. In growing and forcing vegetables in
winter there is nothing gained by having the tempera-
ture higher than here indicated. It is, on the contrary,
detrimental to the healthy and vigorous growth of
plants. In the latitude of Philadelphia it will take
about fifteen tons of coal to heat a house of the size
described during the cold months. The aim, in past
days, to get a high temperature in forcing houses, was
one of the serious and expensive mistakes made by gar-
deners when such structures were first substituted for
hotbeds and cold frames. The want of success and, at *

100 MAKKET GARDEIS^IXG.

times, the loss of all or a portion of the crop was, in the
estimation of the more practical gardeners of the present
day, often owing to overheating. A reduced amount of
heat is less expensive, and, at the same time, the results
are more satisfactory. In following the system of mod-
erate heating there is less loss among soft-leayed vege-
tables from what gardeners term '^^ damping off." This
dreaded disease comes like a thief in the night, and
works destruction with the crop. Instances are well
known where one-half to two- thirds of a crop of lettuce,
in large houses, has been destroyed by this ^* damping
off" before the plants were half grown. It seems to be
the fashion nowadays to attribute all obscure cases of
mortality of j^lants under glass to ^^ fungoid growth."
A little science is a dangerous thing, and it would often
be more practical to attribute it to a want of physical
strength consequent upon unfavorable conditions.

The modern method of watering forcing houses is
very different now from what it was formerly. In fact,
the present system entails little labor; a half-grown boy,
with good sense, can perform the work without difficulty.
A pipe one and one-quarter inches in diameter connected
with the steam pump and cistern, and then laid under
the side benches with screw-tipped faucets arranged at
intervals of twenty feet, so that a rubber hose may be
attached, is the present form of apparatus. To the end
of the rubber pipe should be fixed a rose, or sprinkler,
twice or thrice as large as the rose on a large watering-
pot ; with this the watering can be done with ease and
rapidity. The holes in the rose, or nozzle, should be
small, so as to throw a large and fine spray of water over
the beds. The frequency of watering depends altogether
on the condition of the atmosphere. There are times
when the beds should be watered daily, and, again, wdien
once or twice a week will be quite sufficient. This is a
matter that every practical gardener exercising common

MARKET GARDENING UKDER GLASS. 101

sense will soon settle in his own mind. The beds should
be kept moist, without beins^ soaked and soggy. As a
matter of course, towards spring, -when the sun is warm,
the beds will need more moisture than in mid-winter,
wdien the weather is cold and cloudy.

The estimate for labor for a house of the size de-
scribed can only be approximately stated. Of course,
there is nothing to be done inside of the house from
June until October. Allowing a liberal compensation,
the labor should not exceed three hundred dollars, and
this may be considered an outside figure. With intelli-
gent management and sufficient capital there is always
sure to be a handsome profit realized on the investment.

Among the many successful market gardeners in
the vicinity of Philadelphia, may be named Messrs. Mab-
bit & Wiles, Camden, N. J. This firm has a tract of
six acres, nearly one-half of which is under glass, and so
worked as to illustrate the profit which can be had by
systematic management and practical experience. The
style of construction of the houses of this firm may be
designated as system No. 2.

The greater portion of these houses have surface
beds, but some are fitted with elevated tables, these
being the best for lettuce, cress and radish, which, grown
in midwinter, require to be near the liglit, but, as cauli-
flower, a very important crop, a later and taller plant,
does best on surface beds, much of the lettuce and cress
has to be grown on the level.

These houses, built upon the natural level, are
erected in blocks, the largest block covering a space of
solid glass surface of about 200x100 feet. This block is
composed of thirteen parallel sections, the continuity of
the beds being broken only by an openwork of support-
ing posts and foot walks. The w^dth of the houses in
this block is sixteen feet, elevation at the ridge eight
feet, the ridge timbers being supported by a line of light

102 MARKET GARDENIKG.

center posts, the side sills by heavy posts four feet high
and five feet apart. These jDosts rest on brick founda-
tions. At one end of the line of houses is a glass-roofed
cross-section covering a footwalk of thirty inches, and
covering also a plant bench forty inches wide set against
the wall ; on this bench may be raised any of the small
crops. Under the bench mushrooms are successfully
grown, the light being excluded by cloths hanging in
front and reaching to the ground, the mushroom spawn
pricked out on a level surface, the earth and manure
mixture being first proi3erly compounded, and upon the
degree of its i3roper pre^^aration much depends the
measure of success.

The ventilation is, of course, a most important sub-
ject. As a rule, plants do not get enough of it, but of
this experience alone can be the only guide. The glass
is thick, 10x12, put on w^ith oil and lead mixture, the
panes lapping and fixed in place by S hooks. The glass
selected is free from blisters. The cost of such houses is
estimated at three dollars per running foot.

For houses where the operations are sufficiently ex-
tensive to warrant the employment of a night engineer,
steam, as the heating agent, is found to be more efficient
than hot water, as by steam perfect control of the tem-
perature can be had, but, in houses so small as not to
profitably sustain the expense of a night engineer, hot
water is recommended ; as the water Avell heated up at
bed-time may, with banked fires in the furnace, be relied
upon to sustain a safe temperature till morning.

The heating system in the houses under considera-
tion is by four six-inch steam pipes passing through each
house, of sixteen feet in width, such pipes carried about
eight inches above the level of the surface beds. Pro-
tection from wind is a valuable factor in the economical
heating of a forcing house, as in bleak situations more
than double the coal is required than is consumed in shel-

MARKET GARDENING UNDER GLASS. 103

tered situations. The plant beds are watered by a liose
which is attached to a three-inch supply pipe rnnning
along the passage at one end of the houses.

The soil used in these houses is removed every year
and spread in extensive chicken pens, where it is
scratched over and worked up by the fowls, which ex-
terminate all insect life, while at the same time fertiliz-
ing and ameliorating the mass. TKe plant beds, after
being excavated, are filled in with earth from the chicken
pens, where it has already been worked over by fowls.
The manure used is finely decayed stable manure or
compost, the elements of which are of little consequence,
so that they be thoroughly decayed and in fine condition.
Of course, the usual precautions are taken to keep in
subjection lice and other insects. Fumigation by burn-
ing tobacco stems is cheap and efi'ective if not overdone.

Three good paying crops raised in glass houses are
considered a full success, often only two are really prof-
itable. The rotation of crops is, first, lettuce, which,
when removed, is followed by radish, and, when an inch
high, if on the level, may have set out among it cauli-
flower plants. The variety of lettuce found most relia-
ble Is Boston Market, which has a good leaf and carries
well ; of radish for shipment, the Carmine Globe is of
good form and color, though there is a large demand in
Philadelphia for a small early white turnip radish. Of
cauliflower, the extra early Erfurt is a quick and reliable
variety. Other crops are grown in considerable breadth,
water cress, parsley, French sorrel, mint and tomatoes,
often bringing sixty to seventy-five cents per pound.
The laborers required in a house covering a square of
twenty thousand feet is from five to ten men.

The commercial gardener who has the capital and
ability to carry on an extensive system of vegetable gar-
dening under glass, thoughtfully secures a line of direct
customers for his products by making contracts with

104 MAEKET GARDENIis'G.

hotels, restaurants and club houses, not depending upon
the chance sales of commission merchants. Such con-
tracts as referred to cannot be obtained by a small pro-
ducer, as his crop is too limited and too transient to
command the confidence of a large daily consumer who
cannot afford to run any chances of su]3ply.

The highest price obtained for head lettuce is gen-
erally in the month of March, when they sometimes
bring seven dollars per one hundred. Small red radishes
sell highest in January and February, when they often
bring forty cents per one hundred, put up in bunches of
twelve. Cauliflow^ers are most profitable in March and
April, and they frequently bring fifty cents each. Of
course, it is understood that all vegetables, especially
those forced under glass, are in best condition immedi-
ately after pulling or cutting, but it may be profitable to
know the maximum extent of time during the cool
months, during which hothouse vegetables can be trans-
ported in satisfactory condition. This period for lettuce,
cauliflower and radishes, from two to three days, pro-
vided they are carefully packed.

Plan No. 3. The style of construction of houses
under system ISTo. 3 is the design of a market gardener
of Camden, N. J., Mr. Rodolphus Bingham, who has
built a very cheap forcing house for vegetables, the
framework of which any farmer can erect. The house
may be single, or better, double. The sills are laid
upon the natural earth thirteen feet apart, kept from
spreading by stakes driven on the outside, the rafters
and ridge erected, the sash laid on, and the work is
done, except placing boiler with furnace and fitting hot
water pipes. The advantages claimed by Mr. Bingham
for this plan are :

First — A saving in cost of construction by doing
away with all supporting posts or walls.

Second — A saving of heat by placing the furnace

MARKET GARDEKIKG UNDER GLASS. 105

and boiler in a pit in the center of the house, so that all
radiated heat may be utilized.

Third — Carrying the smoke flues from the furnace
the entire length of the house, and beneath one of the
beds if the house be a double one ; then carrying the
smoke beneath the middle sill, provided the length is
not more than one hundred feet in each direction, so as
to get all the heat out of the smoke which otherwise
would pass out of the stack.

Fourth — By keeping the glass down near the beds
the volume of air to be heated may be reduced to a
minimum.

Fifth — By carrying hot water pipes, in large air
flues, twelve or fourteen inches below the surface of the
plant beds, the tops of the flues planked over with open
joints, so that a large volume of warmed air may pass
upward through the soil. By the several plans of under-
ground heating Mr. Bingham claims that fifty per cent,
of the heat wasted in other houses is saved, and in the
health of the plant is found a practical application of
the rule relating to human hygiene — that to most fully
preserve health it is best to keep the "feet warm and
the head cool."

For ventilation, one or all the outside sashes may be
pulled down, or off, that on warm days the plants may
be literally turned out of doors to free air and direct
sunshine. The rafters and caps are of original design,
and the entire arrangement is claimed as a combination
of many of the best principles of forcing house construc-
tion. The joints are so made as to be very thoroughly
air tight. The surface of tlie beds is nearer the glass
than in other plant houses, tlu roof structure being set
down upon the natural surface of the earth ; the house,
in fact, being nothing but a roof or combination of
roofs, the paths under the ridge being excavated twenty-
four inches deep in the solid earth, the plant beds being

106 MARKET GARDEKING.

upon the surface near the glass, at a conyenient distance
for working, and all within an arms length.

The mechanical work, except boiler-setting and
pipe-fitting, may all be completed in the sash factory,
and readily set up or taken down by any farmer. The
beds are five feet six inches wide. The entire structure
map be taken apart in summer and stored away. In the
autumn the sills may be laid, the roof-frame erected,
the sash put on, and the house used for j^lants till early
spring, when the beds may be set full with cauliflowers,
tomato or egg plant, and six weeks earlier than would
be safe outside, and after all danger of frost is past, the
sash, caps and rafters may be removed, and the crops
cultivated and matured far in advance of any in the
garden.

Mr. Bingham has now two houses 26x250 feet which
he erected in the middle of January over ground frozen
seven inches deep, in which he set many thousands of
plants as fast as the ground was thawed. These he has
carried through severe weather, ranging down to zero,
with less than one-half in cost of coal used in other
houses of the same surface. From the 1st to the 9th
and from the 13th to the 15th of February, when the
thermometer ranged down as low as 20° Fahrenheit at
sunrise, he had no fire in the furnace, the warmth in
the ground, with the sunlight, being sufficient to keep
the plants growing and in healthy condition. Such a
house is more simple to work than more expensive struc-
tures, and costs 30 per cent, less to build and requires
but 50 per cent, of the heating power.

Farmers who have ordinary hotled sashes may use
them on the frame of such a house, but, as a rule, such
sashes are made of glass far too small, the many bars and
joints arresting too much sunlight. The best modern
sashes are made with glass not less than 12x16 inches.
The sash bars should be narrow, the glass not put in

MARKET GARDEKIKG UNDER GLASS. 107

with putty but with white lead and oil mixed to a syrupy
consistency and applied witli an oil can. Those who
use long broad glass will all testify to the very great
advantage of doing away with all possible obstructions
to light.

In the most rudimentary work as well as in higher
class gardening, a house of this design will be found
practical for efficiency, cheapness, easy heating, and, to
the farmer accustomed to the inclement work of manag-
ing winter and spring hotbeds, it will be found to save
much uncomfortable exposure. The maximum of eleva-
tion is six and one-half feet from the bottom of the foot-
walk, which is a trench two feet deep cut out of the
solid earth, this reducing the volume of air to be heated,
as many houses have too much overhead space, and
therefore are very expensive to heat.

Novices in gardening under glass cannot expect to
immediately gain a knowledge of the processes practiced
by professional men who have given years of close study
to the development of the best methods of forcing plants.
In order to reap the largest returns from vegetable forc-
ing houses the beds should be ready to plant by the end
of September, not later than the first week in October.
The soil for the beds should be naturally of good texture,
and incorporated with a liberal amount of short, well-
rotted stable manure that has been composted and thor-
oughly worked over, so that the coarser fiber of the
straw or litter has disappeared. To get this condition,
which is very essential, the manure will have to be in a
fermenting heap for nine to twelve months before it is
thoroughly fit to use. Garden soil, or old sods, still
better, a good percentage of peat, mixed in with the
manure, will add to its value for the purposed needed.
Gardeners located near large cities obtain street sweep-
ings from the streets where horses stand ; this they mix
in with the short stable manure, the mass forming, when

108 MARKET GAKDEKIKG.

thoroughly decomposed, a rich black mold, an excellent
fertilizer. Some gardeners make use of a light applica-
tion of superphosphate of lime and of nitrogenous fer-
tilizer, as dried meat and blood, before planting the
beds. But the main reliance is best placed upou the
compost heap. Those who water with enriched water
find one ounce of sulphate of ammonia to five gallons of
water to be an excellent application for lettuce, while
for radishes, two ounces of dried blood to five gallons of
water produce the best results. Before planting, the
soil on the beds should be worked over and pulverized,
the surface made smooth and level. Lettuce is gener-
ally the first crop, and set with a dibble at seven to
eight inches apart each way. This part of the operation
requires no great skill, outside of getting the lines
straight and setting the plants at proper depth and at
proper distances apart, the lines being parallel to each
other in both directions. This is essential, so that at
times when the surface crusts, it can be loosened each
way by the use of small scuffle hoes. This operation
maybe found necessary two or three times during the
growth of the plants.

Practical gardeners know that none of the curled-
leaved varieties of lettuce will stand forcing under glass.
This is so well understood that those having any experi-
ence never plant any of the curled sorts in a vegetable
forcing house. The varieties which will succeed best
for these purposes are Forcing, Tennis Ball, Silver Ball,
Bloomsdale Eeliable, Boston Market and Big Boston.
The first two kinds are compact in growth, while all
make good heads under glass, and they are, without
doubt, the most profitable sorts to grow. The experi-
enced gardener purchases his seeds only from seed
merchants of established reputation.

To secure plants for the first crop the seed should
be sown in a sheltered space in the garden, say six weeks

MARKET GARDENII!TG UNDER GLASS. 109

before the time for planting, Angiist 15th or September
1st, for example. For the second and third crops the
seed may be sown under glass in a corner of one of the
houses a month before the plants are wanted for setting
out. It is always a safe plan to sow an abundance of
seed, for very often a portion of the plants in the seed
bed meet with some mishap, cutting the supply short
when it is too late to replenish the stock in good time.
If the houses are kept at the proper temperature, the
first croi> planted, say October 1st, will be ready for
market in seven to eight weeks from the time of plant-
ing. This will give an abundance of time to raise three
crops of lettuce between October 1st and the latter part
of March. This is allowing considerable margin for
harvesting each crop, and to make the necessary prepa-
rations for planting. This preparation of the beds for
the second and third crops is similar to the first, with
the exception that, if manure is applied freely for the
first, the soil will be rich enough to mature the three
crops without any addition, except, perhaps, a little
ammoniacal fertilizer as a stimulant. This should be
scattered on and raked in during the preparation for the
second and third crops. The rapid and uniform growth
of lettuce depends largely on the quality of the soil in
which it is set, and the judicious management of the
house, in heating and watering. There is no use in
starting a crop under glass with poor, hungry soil ; there
should be no doubt on this question of fertility, for with-
out it all efforts at culture will fail. If the gardener has
a number of forcing houses under his control, he should
not plant too much of one kind at a time, but at inter-
vals of one or two weeks, so that his whole crop will not
mature at the same time, as it throws too much work
upon him at once, and possibly at an unprofitable period.
Instead of a third crop of lettuce, some gardeners sow a
crop of radishes. As a rule, the receipts from a crop of

110 MARKET GARDEIS'IKG.

radishes will amount to about the same as from a third
croD of lettuce, which, of course, is always less than the
first or second crop.

A week or two before the last crop of letture is
ready for market, hills for cucumbers may be made six
to eight feet apart in the beds, and the seeds planted.
The lettuce is out of the way long before the cucumbers
bedn to run and need room. Cucumbers planted in
this manner come into market at the same time others
arrive from Florida and Charlestown. The forced cu-
cumbers sell freely for twice as much as those coming
from the South, being fresh and crisp, while the others
are not. When the cucumbers are taken off, the houses
are given rest for the balance of the summer, unless the
market is such as to warrant those usually less profitable
crops, such as asparagus, egg plant, tomatoes, rhubarb,
parsley, sorrel, chives and strawberi'ies.

Aphis, or Green Fly. — x\mong the most serious
annoyances to the indoor gardener is the ''green fly."
Fumigating with tobacco leaves is the most general rem-
edy. This operation has to be repeated twice a week as
long as any flies remain. The most simple, and an
effective method of fumigating, is to have a number of
small sheet iron cones, from fifteen to eighteen inches
high, and eight to ten inches in diameter, each having
a grate near the botton, an opening to give draft, and a
damper to regulate the draft. In each place a charge of
damp tobacco stems and wood shavings, and set them in
different parts of the house, igniting all at the same
time. This will be found the best and most effectual
way to apply the tobacco, using about two pounds of
dry tobacco to every one thousand feet of glass.

Profits from Forcing Houses. — The profits from
this branch of market gardening depend largely upon
the skill and intelligence of the gardener. The first
and second crops of lettuce, if planted at the dates

MARKET GARDEI^TKG UNDER GLASS. Ill

named, and well grown, with crisp, solid heads, may
sell at wholesale at from seventy-five cents to a dollar a
dozen, or from four to five dollars a barrel. The third
crop sells for less, say from fifty to seventy-five cents a
dozen. Clean, perforated barrels are best for shipping
lettuce, and when carefully packed the lettuce will keep
fresh for a week. There are times when general business
is dull and prices fall below these figures, and, on the
other hand, times when there is a good demand; then
prices are higher than those named.

The house under system No. 4 may be of the same
construction as either Nos. 1, 2 and 3, but differs from
them in being without any apparatus for heating. It
may, therefore, be properly termed a sun house. It is
an improvement upon the ^^cold frame" long used for
growing vegetables for early winter and spring use. By
the old system of cold frames, only one crop of lettuce
could be grown. The plants were set late in autumn,
and the crop so handled as to be ready for market early
the following spring, a month or six weeks before crops
are produced in the open garden. But now, in sun
houses, modern practical gardeners have a new and im-
proved method of raising lettuce under glass without
artificial heat. This new method, although more expen-
sive for the first outlay and construction, has, after sev-
eral years of experience, proved to be more certain and
profitable in the long run than houses provided with
artificial heat, and it is asserted, by those who have such
houses in full operation, that, considering the difference
in the first cost, they are more profitable than those
equipped with the most modern heating apparatus. In
these houses three crops of lettuce can be grown in a
season, while with those furnished with artificial heat
only two, often only one, additional crop can be grown
with profit.

Sun houses may be built on the same plan and of
the same dimensions as any of the forcing houses de-

112 MAEKET GARDENIK'G.

scribed, the only difference being that there is no method
of heating introduced, and that the phint beds are all
on solid earth, never on raised benches; the only ex-
pense over construction being the introduction of labor-
saving methods for watering with rubber hose. This
watering apparatus may be identical with that recom-
mended for forcing houses.

Before setting out lettuce, of course it will be nec-
essary to have the soil in the beds worked u]1 to a rich
and mellow condition. Every practical gardener knows
full well that this is of the utmost importance to insure
success ; if neglected, or but half done, faikire is almost
certain to follow. To the intelligent market gardener
this hint is superfluous, but it is a subject of primary
importance to be impressed upon the mind of the begin-
ner. The same preparation and proportion of soil and
manure recommended for beds in the forcing house
should be used for plant beds in sun houses.

Market gardeners, as a class, are just awakening to
the fact that there is more money to be made in working
these sun houses than the more expensive heated houses,
furnished with modern heating furnaces, boilers and
pipes. Owing to this fact, a very large number of sun
houses have been built during the last three or four
years in the vicinity of Philadelphia. It seems, also,
needless to say that these houses are profitable, and in
every respect more desirable than the old-fashioned cold
frames or boxes. Truckers, or market gardeners, operat-
ing on the northern, line of the cotton belt will, no
doubt, find in that comparatively mild section a favora-
ble location for sun houses, while, at the same time,
near enough to the northern cities to be able to deliver'
their vegetables in good condition.

CHAPTER XVIII.
Celeey.

The best soil for celery is mnck. Sandy loam is
also very good, but requires heavy fertilizing, as celery
is a rank feeder. A swamp, well drained and in good,
tilth, will grow strong celery. Muck soil, that will grow
a crop of onions or potatoes, will grow a succeeding crop
of celery the same season. On sandy loam the same
tiling can be done, with the addition of a good dressing
of stable manure. Celery is usually grown as a second
cropy after early peas, beets, onions, early potatoes, tur-
nips, and sometimes cabbage ; the ground, for" these
crops should always be heavily dressed the previous
autumn with good barnyard manure. Celery plants are
often set out on potato ground before the potatoes are
dug, every third row of the potatoes being omitted.
The cultivation of the ground for potatoes is good prep-
aration for celery. In hoeing, a trench is made at the
place of the omitted rows, in which — about the middle —
a double row of celery plants is set. Market gardeners
generally confine themselves to growing one or two vari-
eties' proven to be profitable and salable, their object
being to put on the market an article pleasing to the
eye, tender, crisp and solid. The dwarf sorts are now
more extensively raised than the large, for the reason
that, in quality, they are every way as good, and require
less field space, besides being easier to work.

Years ago, under the laborious and expensive method
of cultivation, celery was not a very profitable crop ; but
within the past twenty years the acreage and profits

113

114 MARKET GAEDEXING.

have increased, under tlie new and improved system of
^^flat culture," the old method of deep trenching having
been discarded. A brief description, in way of history,
will suffice for the old system, which enlightened gar-
deners now never follow :

The seed was sown in a hotbed in March, and the
plants pricked out into temporary beds before final trans-
planting to give them greater strength. In June and
July, as needed for successive ci'ops, trenches were dug
five feet apart, about eight to ten and fifteen inches
wide. The soil in the bottom of each trench was thor-
oughly and deeply mixed with manure forked in. The
plants were set out in the deep trenches at distances of
five to six inches apart in the row. The earthing up
was much the same as now practiced.

There can be no fixed date for sowing, which is now
done in the open garden or field, the time depending
upon the state of the season and location of the planter.
Usually, in the latitude of Philadelphia, the ground is
fit to receive the seed about April 1st. There need be
no particular hurry to get it in very early, except to get
the start of weeds and the benefit of spring showers.
The seed germinates slowly, is one of the smallest the
gardener uses, and the plant, at the beginning, is a frail,
tiny little thing. Even small lumps of earth resting
upon seeds or plants, at this stage, will certainly retard,
if not effectually prevent, growth. For these reasons
the preparation of the ground, previous to sowing, should
be done in a more thorough manner than for larger
seeds. The soil should be rich from heavy manuring
the previous year, or from thoroughly rotted dung,
spread over the land to the depth of about an inch.

The work of preparation and sowing of a celery bed
is best done at a time when all the operations will be
completed in one day, the manure being spread and
w^orked under before the sun has dried it, and the seed

CELERY. 115

put in while the earth is in that state of moisture imme-
diately following plowing. It is best sown in rows, a
quarter of an inch deep and ten inches apart, and dis-
tributed thinly. If the weather is damp the seed should
not be covered ; if dry, the bed should be gently patted
with a piece of board, to solidify the soil and hasten ger-
mination. If sown in beds broadcast, the seed should
be mixed with dry sand in the ratio of one to five, facili-
tating evenness of distribution. Transplant when three
inches high. When in rows, as soon as the young plants
appear, caltivate between the rows with a narrow garden
rake at least twic'e a week, weeds or no w^eeds. When
well established, the plants should be thinned to one or
two inches, or all taken up and transplanted in rows ten
inches apart, two inches between the plants.

The ground, having been heavily manured in the
spring for early crops of cabbages and other vegetables,
still contains a large percentage of plant food, which is
available for celery at the time of transplanting. In
gardens in the highest state of cultivation an extra ma-
nuring is not necessary, for, although celery is a rank
feeder, there is generally enough fertilizing matter left
from the preceding manuring to grow the crop. When
the celery field is j^lowed and harrowed, thorongly, the
rows should be marked ont ; for the large kinds five feet
apart, for the dwarf three feet, and for that portion of
the crop which is to be stored in trenches for winter use,
distances are narrowed about a foot, as this celery will
not be earthed up.

Ill small fields the rows are best made by stretching
a cord across the field. A stick is then drawn alono- the
line to mark the row, or, if the ground is in nice order,
the line may be patted v/ith a spade, the impression of
the line being left in the soil. On large fields the mark-
ing out is best done witli a horse marker or sled. A
marker can be made to draw three rows at a time, teeth

116 MAEKET GAKDEKIKG.

or runners V-sbaped, three feet long, twelve inclies deep,
and four o"r five inches wide at the Year end. The driver
rides, and the rows, when opened, are about two inches
deep and four inches wide.

Before a crop of celery can be expected to grow lux-
uriantly, the land must be prepared thoroughly. This
previous cultivation for celery must include deep cul-
ture. Celery roots demand plenty of room. The writer
has walked over a celery field after potatoes, where plants
had been set out four weeks, and, by digging down
twelve inches, found celery roots filling all the soil.
Get the cultivation deep ; carry the manure along and
keep weeds out of sight, and, where possible, irrigate
during dry seasons.

Transplanting may be done in the latter part of
June for early crops, but celery grown in market gardens
as a second crop is not usually put in until the ground is
entirely cleared of the preceding crops. Tha cabbages and
other vegetables being disposed of early in July, the
celery planting can then begin. It is not desirable to
forward celery for marketing in the early autumn, be-
cause there is not much demand for it until poultry
appears in market. About the 15th of July to middle
of August is usually, in the latitude of Philadelphia, the
season for transplanting out in the field ; but the first
weeks of July give best results, the plants having the
help of July rains in their new position, while later set-
ting must sometimes be followed by irrigation.
• The transplanting may be all done at once, or in

two or three successive crops. In midsummer there is,
as a rule, but little rain, while wet weather is desirable,
for the planting can be not only better done in rainy
weather, but the plants need the excess of moisture to
enable them to take root during a season of heat. Every
arrangement should, therefore, be made beforehand, so
that a seasonable rain may be taken advantage of. In

CELEEY. 117

fact, the whole business requires, and should receive,
much thought and judicious management, and all the
operations should be conducted in a thoroughly sys-
tematic manner.

When transplanting time is decided upon the plants
have to be dug with spade or trowel, and trimmed, root
and top, before they are set out. The digging and trim-
ming is an operation taking time, and, before planting
begins, enough plants must be got ready to start the
planters, and the work of trimming" keep pace with the
planting. Have ready a large pail of mud, earth and
water, stirred to the consistency of cream ; in this dip
the roots, using only large strong plants. Drop the
plants in the freshly opened row, six inches apart. If
the ground be in good friable condition, and moist, a
quick man following a boy to drop, will set ont eight
thousand plants a day and do it well. One quick move-
ment of the two hands will draw moist earth about the
roots of a plant lying in the row, and, at the same time,
set it upright. Another brush of the hands will cover
this moist earth with loose, dry earth, to level the
ground. Attention is called, at this point, to double
rows, which are grown at less expense than two distinct
single rows. Double row culture gives good results, as
to the quantity of product, affording place for double
the amount on an acre, but, of course, is never to be
undertaken except in ground fully able in richness to
develop such a crop. In double rows the plants are set
six inches apart, and the two rows six inches distant
from each other, with four feet between each set of rows.
Thus, in an acre of 43,560 square feet, with equal sides,
there is place for fifty-two row spaces, and each single row
will contain 416 plants ; a double row 833. ; 832x52=
43,264 plants per acre, set as above described. On
muck, two acres, the writer has known 75,000 celery
plants grown successfully year after year. Hot south

118 MARKET GARDENING.

and west winds have to be guarded against, because,
under their influence, moisture disappears from the soil
as rapidly as from a burning brick kiln, and all surface-
rooted vegetation comes to a complete standstill. To
guard against injurious winds a tight board fence eight
feet high can be erected with profit. The preparation
of celery ground should always include some plan for
providing moisture, especially if in a section of country
where dry weather prevails in August.

A row of tanks, each thirty-six inches wide, thirty
inches deep and fourteen feet long stands at the head
or most elevated portion of a profitable celery garden,
known to the writer. The tanks are connected at the
ends by short tin spouts. They are set on trestles, the
first twenty inches above the ground, the second two
inches lower, and so on to the last. A windwill, erected
over a large well close by, pumps water into the highest
tank, and, when full, it overflows into the next, and on,
until all are full. On the side of each tank, close to the
bottom, a one and a half inch hole is bored opposite
each row of celery, and tight plugs inserted. When the
celery begins to show signs of suffering, for want of
moisture, the windmill is set to work and the tanks filled.
At sunset the plugs are knocked out, the waters gush
forth, striking on pieces of board, and flow down the
celery trenches. This is repeated the following et^ening.
Every third evening is passed and the harrow run
between the rows. Irrigation is continued wiiile the
drouth lasts, and the celery invariably makes a splendid
growth.

About the 10th of September begins the handling
of that portion of the crop intended for the early mar-
ket. One man drawing the loose soil toward the plants
with a hoe, another grasping the entire plant with his
right hand, holding it straight up, the stalks close
together, drawing the earth against it with his left, then

CELERY. lid

holding the plant in liis left hand, packing the earth
around it with his right. With a little practice, this
operation is performed very rapidly. A double shovel
plow may be profitably run between the rows a few
times, to loosen up the soil, which is drawn toward the
plants as required. The finishing touch is given with
the spade, the earth being banked clear to the top of
the plants.

That part of the crop intended for the winter mar-
ket is handled the same as the other, but is earthed up
only with the hoe, the blanching being done in the
trenches in which it is stored for winter. In handling
and earthing up, the main point is to keep the stalks of
the plant so close together that no soil can get between
them. After this '' handling" is done, the plants are
left to grow two weeks, and are then further earthed up.
The bank must be made broad at the base, and the side
sloped up, so that they will not cave or slide. As the
plants grow higher the earth is dug from the center of
the row with a spade, and banked up against the celery.
The celery will be blanched in about four weeks. Cel-
ery can be successfully blanched in the field, between
boards, by adopting the following process : Tie up the
plants with yarn or other convenient material, and, tak-
ing common boards twelve inches wide, place them on
opposite sides of the row three inches apart, fasten them
there with stout pegs driven on the outside of each
board. The celery leaves projecting out of the top will
exclude the light, and the stems become white and
remain free from rust. The plan is the same as is pur-
sued in blanching endive, sea kale and asparagus. Un-
der this system the plants should stand close in the
rows, say six inches, and the rows may be closer than
where banking is practiced, say three feet. Celery
should not be banked up while the stalks are wet with
rain or dew. A large grower, well known to the writer,

1,20 MAEKET GARDENING.

cultivates flat into August, then banks at the rate of five
thousand per man per single day's work, and once again
early in September, then covers it from frost in the row
or removes it to the trench or other storing place.
This work must be well done, even if it is rapidly done,
but practice makes light fingers. Boys must be watched,
or, better, not employed ; as the strength of a mature
hand is needed. After the first banking, and new stalks
start, one will soon learn to have a few rows ripe and
ready for market or home use every day, until cold
weather requires the removal of the plants to the stor-
ing place.

Storing trenches should only be dug in dry soil,
well underdrained, or where water does not stand.
These trenches are made the width of a spade, and as
deep as the celery is high. Just before frost the celery
is dug up and packed in an upright position in these
trenches. No covering is put on until cold weather sets
in. It will stand light frosts. Finally the trench is
covered with hay, or other litter, the earth rounded up
along and over the trench. In the latitude of Philadel-
phia celery is stored away in this way, beginning the
last of October, and finishing by November loth. The
first in, is first blanched ; the last keeps till February
and March. A covering of boards over the litter will
keep the rain off, and is to be recommended. The win-
ter storage of celery is a matter of the deepest import-
ance, as, if not properly done, all previous efforts go for
nothing. The novice will do best by trying several
systems, and subsequently adhering to that which proves
the best in his climate.

Celery can be stored by burying in the row where it
grew, by removing to trenches^ to boxes in the cellar, or
to a temporary pit specially prepared for large quanti-
ties. The first method is often practiced with double
rows in muck ground, and during warm winters has

CELERY. 121

proved quite successful. The object of any method is
to protect from, frost, and maintain plant life, for the
celery is most healthy when it continues to grow, or, at
least, draw moisture through its roots, till it is mar-
keted. It is an easy matter to secure growth in good
ground, with sunshine and wind and rain, but with the
coming of frost the celery must be removed to close
quarters. If buried in the row it must be where water
will not collect, but where good drainage can be relied
upon. With the stalks banked their entire length, a
few leaves are left as long as possible exposed, but finally
these are covered with straw or manure, at first lightly,
then heavily, and then again very heavily, so as to shut
out hard frost for a long period. This can be managed so
as to allow the celery to be taken out for use from the
under side in very cold weather. This method has risks ;
one must assume them and trust each night's cold will
not freeze the celery, or a day's warmth smother it under
too much covering. Another way is to dig a trench one
or two feet wide, as deejD as the stalks, and on loose
earth, scattered in the bottom, place the celery as close
together as possible, wetting the earth about the roots.
Begin to cover with manure, and increase with frost.
But now the celery must be watched, every week it must
be examined. If, after a time, leaves lose their green
color, wet the roots without wotting the stalks, and
watch for rust, dark brown spots, a fungus growth,
quick to spread throughout the whole mass of plants.
iSuch stalks must be immediately removed and sent to
market; if allowed to remain they will entirely decay
and breed disease among all the rest. Absolute protec-
tion is claimed against fungus growth by spraying the
celery plants with Bordeaux mixture every second day
during four weeks preceding their storage. A method
of winter storage, by which the risks are largely removed,
is to provide boxes twelve inches deep, fill them half ful]

122 MARKET GARDEKIKO.

of good earth, in which set out the celery, closely
packed, the first week of October, and carry the boxes
into tlie cellar. If there be room enough the cellar can
contain many boxes and many thousand plants. Have
the earth moist in the boxes, and watch for the need of
water ; get water in at the roots, a little only at a time,
to promote growth. The stalks will stand high up
about the sides of the boxes, and as the nights become
cooler the cellar doors must be closed. Carefully pull
out any dead or dying stalks, and watch for rust, also.
In this manner celery is easily kejDt, and the method
is advised for the small operator.

The last method is that of a temporary outdoor
cellar, built for the purpose, in or near the celery
ground. A sort of jAt or dug-out is made on dry upland,
twenty-four feet wide, and as long as needed, each foot
in length holding one thousand celery plants. Dig the
sides straight down, and cover with sixteen-foot boards
for a roof, meeting over the center. Provide fine earth
in the bottom and set out the celery just as described
for cellar boxes, then water the roots as may be needed.
The structure must be made frost proof. Examine the
whole stock every week. A storm door is required at
the entrance, also a window with shutter to admit light.

If the distance is short and the celery carried in
wagons, it can be placed in barrels, the bunches resting
on the roots, the tops upright. Some precaution against
frost is necessary. Chests are made for packing pur-
poses, and lined with straw. The bunches are carefully
protected from bruising by skillful packing.

As celery is generally a second crop, the cost is
reduced to a minimum. It is planted and cultivated at
a season when other things are not demanding much
attention, and the crop fills a gap in the garden, when,
if not grown, the land might be unprofitable. But the
preparation for market, if time is considered, costs

CELERY. 123

nearly as miicli as the growing. Enough plants may be
sold, in planting season, to pay for seed and summer
cultivation — that is, in some gardens. These things
taken into consideration, the cost is probably two hun-
dred dollars per acre. The cost of the crop varies,
rarely being the same two successive years. Manure is
comparatively cheap, but labor is dear.

Celery has been grown and marketed for one dollar
and fifty cents per thousand plants, but the explanation
must be added that only in rare instances of exceeding
good fortune has this been done — where, from the seed
to the selling, everything was remarkably cheap, labor
at twenty-five to forty cents per day, by German women,
who had become, by long practice, expert at the work.
The safer figure to give is from fifteen to twenty dollars
per thousand, especially for amateur efforts, and, while
writing, distant growers are offering celery ready for
shipment at the station for sixteen dollars per thousand.
The reader can estimate for himself how small the mar-
gin of profit may be. For the rare instance : It is
claimed, by one man, that he prepared, in one day,
three muck beds, and sowed three dollars' worth of seed ;
it gave one hundred thousand plants, from which sev-
enty-five thousand were selected. With a boy to drop
the plants in the row, and a woman to set them out,
fifteen such couples, with one man to dig plants from
the bed, will set out seventy-five thousand in muck in
one day. This, it is claimed, has been done repeatedly.
Banking is done at the same rate ; so that after the sec-
ond banking the celery has cost less than seventy cents
per thousand. A grow'er, who had sold seventy-five
thousand, stated he did not think the crop had cost him
one hundred dollars on his muck ground.

On sandy loam the cost is much greater, and the
yield less bulky. Heavy manuring, frequent cultivation
and much less rapid handling of plants in such ground,

124 MARKET GARDEiq"Ii^G.

change the figures. From some grounds the writer has
seen celery plants, each having fifty stalks by actual
count. Such yigorous growth takes the lead in the
market and fills the purse, but the average celery plant
only numbers five to eight stalks. When one has, by
long experience, and the use of proper seed, learned to
grow such thrifty plants, their relative cost will be
small. To prepare a muck field from the rough swamp
is sometimes very costly, but on such ground celery
grows luxuriantly with a minimum of cultivation, and
the markets of the country are most largely supplied
from such sources. Plants have been grown for three
cents per thousand, and have been set out for fifteen
cents, but the average price, if one buys plants, is two
to three dollars per thousand, and in other than muck
ground the setting out costs as much more. The ama-
teur must grow celery one year, at least, to learn how,
and to find whether it can be made profitable on his
ground and in his market. The work may be done at
less expense than the following estimate:

Interest on §150 @ 10%, Slg. Manure, 40 loads @ .?2=S80 $95.00

Plowing, harrowing and marketing, 1 man and team 1 day 3.00

Planting, 1 man 4 days a $1.50:=§6; cultivating, 1 man and horse

3 days a 2$, .§6 12.00

Hoeing twice, 1 man 3 days @ $1.50=^4.50; handling or tying, 1

man 10 days (a S1.M)=.S15 19.50

Banking, 1 man 15 days @ S1.50=.?22.50; trenching, $10; Avater

and watering, 86 38.50

13,000 plants :a 85=S65 ; preparing for market, $40 105.00

Total cost for one acre $273.00

In preparing for market, the outside green leaves
should be removed, leaving none but the blanched or
edible part, with its green tops, roots nicely trimmed off
and washed. Pack in neat round bunches of twelve
stalks each, tied tightly at top and bottom ; or inquire
what is most favored in each market, and tie up in the
acceptable form ; don't attempt to develop many new
ideas. For some distant markets it will pay to wrap

ONION- CULTURE. 125

each stalk separately in brown straw paper, and pack in
boxes with slatted top. Any rusty or decayed spots on
the celery can be quickly removed with a shaip, thin-
bladed knife, which greatly improves its appearance.
Prices range from twenty-five cents to two dollars per
dozen, according to size and quality. Good celery will
average eight cents per stalk, or, in round numbers,
one thousand dollars per acre. Frequently the whole of
the expense of manure can be covered by raising a spring
crop on the ground, before planting the celery.

As an example of profitable celery culture, it may
be cited that on a certain farm three hundred bushels of
early potatoes were grown one season on two acres of
muck ground, and brought one dollar per bushel ; five
thousand dozen celery were set out just before digging
the potatoes, and became well rooted in the shade of the
potato vines. The celery sold was shipped in many
directions, and retailed at eight and ten cents per bunch.
The celery brought the grower seventeen hundred and
fifty dollars, and the crop cost him less than one hundred
dollars as it left his hands.

CHAPTER XIX.

Onion Culture.

A strong, deep, rich, loamy soil is most suitable for
an onion crop, and where very large bulbs are desired, it
is indispensable. New land is especially adapted for
the growth of onions. On ground of this character they
can be raised at less than one-half the ordinary cost,
little or no manure being necessary, and it is usually
nearly free from weeds. Very dry, light or sandy soil is
unfit for this high-feeding crop. The chief reason why

126 MARKET GARDENING.

SO many are not successful in raising onions, is because
they do not attach enough importance to the selection
of their seeds ; they start wrong, by buying cheap seed.
This not only lessens, or loses the crop, but is a source
of vexation, extending through the entire season.

'No previous preparation is required with virgin soil.
If old ground is to be used, manure heavily and plant to
corn ; cultivate thoroughly four or five times ; do not
permit weeds to go to seed ; go through the field after
the last cultivation of the corn ; cut off the weeds, carry-
ing away all likely to ripen seed, keeping a sharp look-
out for purslane. Cut the corn early, and plow deeply
in the fall.

As a manure for onions, well-rotted stable dung is
the best. Artificial manures are uncertain, especially in
dry seasons. Stable manure reserved for an onion crop,
should be stacked up in summer, and left until autumn
for processes of fermentation to fit the material as a
plant food, and late in the fall it should be spread evenly,
and twenty to twenty-five loads to the acre, and imme-
diately plowed under. "When possible, the ground should
always be plowed in the autumn, again in the spring,
and harrowed until the ground is thoroughly pulverized.
No pains in tillage should be sjoared.

Various growers succeed best with different varie-
ties, as have proved best adapted to their respective soils
and markets. Among well established varieties there
are the Yellow Globe Danvers, Extra Early Red, Large
Red Wethersfield, Red Globe, AVhite and Yellow Globe,
Strasburg and Silver Skin.

Red Globe has the color and general quality of the
Large Red Wethersfield, is round, is as hardy, keeps
well, and rivals it in weight of crop.

Extra Early Red is a selection from Large Red
Wethersfield, which, in color and form, it closely resem-
bles. It is the earliest of all red onions^ close grained,

ONION CULTURE. 127

mild, a good keeper, and two or three weeks earlier
than the Large Red. It is liable to degenerate, or revert
to the Wethersfield, unless very careful selections of
bulbs are made for seed, and the experienced grower will
only buy this from experienced and trusted dealers.

Large Red Wethersfield is a broad, flat onion, bulbs
often growing to five inches in diameter, and two and
a half in depth, skin purplish-red, flesh purplish- white,
moderately fine-grained and of strong flavor. There
are several types of Wethersfield, some early, some
medium, others late ; the early form is best.

Yellow Globe Dan vers, of the pure type, is inclined
to be half globular in form, that is to say, flat on the
bottom and round on top ; it is above medium size, skin
yellowish-brown, growing dark by age, flesh white,
sugary, comparatively mild and well flavored, and ex-
ceedingly productive. There is a form of so called Yel-
low Dan vers known as Flat Dan vers, somewhat resem-
bling the Strasburg.

Silver Skin produces bulbs medium in size, flattened,
average specimens three inches in diameter, and one and
a half to two inches thick ; neck small, skin silvery
white, after removal of outer envelope, top of bulb often
veined and clouded with green, while that portion below
ground is usually clear white. Flesh white, fine grained,
and quite mild in flavor.

Yellow Strasburg is an old variety, still of high
repute on account of its long keeping qualities and mild
flavor. The bulb is somewhat larger than that of the
Silver Skin, the flesh being equally white. It is the
variety from which the best sets are grown.

Among other varieties not so well known are the
Extra Early Yellow, the earliest of that color ; Extra
Early Pearl, the earliest white; Autumn White Wax, a
choice early waxy variety, Bermuda White and Red.

Small patches of onion may be sown by hand, or
through a long tin tube. Large breadths should be

128 MARKET GAEDEXIlirG.

sown by a garden seed drill. Such can be purchased
according to design at from five to seven dollars cash.
There is no perfect seed-drill ; all have faults. Possibly
the Keeler is now the best form. It is light and easy to
run, and distributes the seed evenly. The seed is best
drilled in straight rows, one foot apart, six pounds of
seed being sown to the acre. One acre can be sown in
four hours with the Keeler drill, machine, weather, land
and man in perfect working order. The seed should
not be buried over one-third of an inch deep, and tightly
rolled in by the roller attached to the drill. After sow-
ing, a wooden garden roller should be used to level and
solidify the land.

The best time to drill onion seed is as soon as the
frost is out of the ground, and the soil dry enough for
preparation ; then set all hands to work and rush it
through. No matter if light sj^ring frosts are not all
passed, don't be afraid of after-freezing, it won't hurt
the crops. The reason for early planting is obvious,
when it is known that onion seed will germinate at a
lower temperature than most other seeds, while weed
seeds require a much higher temperature ; consequently,
the onions will make their appearance ten days before
the weeds, enabling the gardener to commence early cul-
tivation, and thus keep weeds in check. Fall plowing
facilitates early spring preparation, making early drill-
ing practicable.

Salt is sometimes broadcasted upon an onion field to
destroy the onion maggot, and its application is believed
to hasten the maturity of the crop. It seems to keep
the soil from drying out. Near the sea coast seaweed
or sea grass is used as a fertilizer for onions, maggots
or weeds seldom injuring a salted crop. Two bushels
of salt to the acre is sufficient, more is dangerous.

In the cultivation four hoeings and three weedings
are usually necessary ; the last weeding must be done

ONIOi^^ CULTURE. 129

before the bottoms begin to form, or before the middle
of July, as they often ''blast" if worked when forming
bnlbs, many of them failing to make bulbs, and becom-
ing "scullions." The season for hoeing and w^eeding
covers about two months. After July 20th the crop
should be safely under Avay. One man can tend two
acres, and have time to spare, but in the weeding time
he will need a helper, as the whole field, be it large or
small, must be cleaned within a few days, as, when
weeding is necessar}^ it is always pressing. Hand hoe-
ing and hand weeding is more eflBcient than work done
with scuffle hoes, which do not do the work thoroughly.
Flat hoeing is all that is necessary, no effort being made
either to draw the dirt up to the onions, or away. Purs-
lane is the most troublesome w^eed, usually appearing in
abundance at the last weeding. It must be carried o2
in baskets or sacka. The time occupied in cultivating a
crop of onions covers from two to three months.

In the latitude of Philadelphia harvesting is com-
menced about August 1st, or whenever two-thirds of the
tops fall and begin to turn yellow ; pull them by hand,
when seasoned so that the juice cannot be squeezed from
the neck, rake in heaps, and pull or cut the tops off.
Place in heaps of twenty-five to thirty bushels each, on
the field ; cover with straw or tarpaulin, so as to keep
dry. An itemized estimate of the cost of growing an
acre of onions may be drawn as- follows :

Use of land for twelve months §20.00

Fertilizers apiilied 30.00

Fall plowing under 2.00

Spring preparation of ground 6.00

Cost of seed, six pounds Tr ^2 12.00

Drilling in 2.00

Top-dressing 1 barrel saU 1-^

Cost of eultivation until pulled.. 50.00

Topping 420 busliels onions 12.00

Hauling the same four miles 12.00

Total cost $U7.00

Cost per busliel § -35

130 MARKET GARDEN^IKG.

Some onion growers have found it profitable to drill
winter rye in September, and in March plow it down as
a green manure, the mass of rye tops and root fibers fur-
nishing a vast amount of j^lant food. Of course, after
such a mat of green herbage is plowed under, it is abso-
lutely necessary to roll it down hard, otherwise the cavi-
ties would cause a drying out of the soil, and the onion
plants would suffer more than they gained.

There are several insects that do damage to the
onion crop ; one, a large white grub, eating the leaf
stalks off beneath the surface of the ground. Manure is
the best remedy, stimulating the plants to resist attacks.
Another is a louse. The first indication of the presence
of the louse is a moldy appearance of the stalks, and,
upon examination with a glass, myriads of microscopic
insects are revealed; these cause a stunted growth, if
not resulting in death. The only remedy is to change
the location of the next years crop. Another destruc-
tive insect is a maggot, or small white worm, half
to one-third of an inch long, which bores to the heart of
the bulb in the latter part of the season. The writer
has seen twenty in a single bulb. They are very trouble-
some in some years, and salt is believed to be the best
remedy.

A fungus growth known as smut works great injury
to the onion, and it sometimes appears on the plants
even when but one or two inches high, and covers the
green stems with a red and black substance, coming off
upon workmen's shoes, implements and tools. The
spores may thus be carried from one part of the field to
another, or from one patch to another, and spread the
disease, as every spore is capable of multiplying itself a
thousand times. The only remedy for this disease is to
change the location of the crop. All tools which have
been used on a suiutty onion field must be carefully
washed and soaked in hot water, or they may re-establish
the disease the succeeding year.

OKION CULTURE.

131

Duration of Culture on the Same Land.

Onions have been successfully raised on the same
ground for twenty-five years in succession, but, of late
years, the smut appears in about ten or twelve, and a
new tract has to be taken more frequently than formerly.

The conditions of weather have much influence
upon the onion crop. Extremely dry weather hinders the
growth and makes the bulbs small ; wet weather makes
top, and delays ripening. The yield per acre varies with
the cultivation, soil, and other circumstances, from 200
to 600 or 1,000 bushels; 350 bushels is considered an
average yield. To illustrate the crop returns on large
fields it may be interesting to note the results of seven
years of culture by an expert grower :

Acres.

Bushels.

Amount of Sales.

First yeai"

10
10

11
11

3,081
3,124
3.159
3,(5G0
2,890
3.053
2,340

11,059.00

Second vt'iir

981.00

Third year

894.00

Fourt h ve.'ir

639.00

Fifth vc'iir

1,656.00

Sixtli year

Seventli year

2,344.00
2,463.00

Total,

21,307

$10,036.00

The last year this grower cultivated thirbeen acres ;
the aggregate yield was 2,340 bushels ; the aggregate
receipts were $2,463. The expenses were : Land, 1130 ;
gathering and marketing, I2G0 ; seed, $215 ; weeding^
$275 ; manure, $50 ; preparing land and planting, $100 ;
total expense, $1,030; net profits, $1,433. These fig-
ures also show an average of 284 bushels per acre, at an
average price of forty-seven cents per bushel. Of course,
there are records that far exceed this ; for instance, last
year, one and one-half acres, in one case, yielded 600
bushels, and brought $780, which must have given over
$400 per acre net profit. The records above given show
the result of a series of years where onions have been
made a specialty. The example being taken of a man
who began in poverty twenty-four years ago, to-day

132 MAKKET GARDEKIKG.

wortli twenty-thousand dollars ; but right here the
reader must remember that at least sixty per cent, of his
expenses came back in the shape of the earnings of him-
self and family.

Storij^g akd Keeping Oxioks.

Half the secret of keeping onions well, is in housing
them in a perfectly dry, sound condition. If they are
to be disposed of before cold weather, they can be kept
in any dry place where they .can have plenty of air, the
best place being on a loose lioor, where the air can pass
up through them.

Onions, to be preseryed through winter, should be
kept at a low temperature ; if kept from actual freezing
there is no danger of the temperature being too low ; they
should be kept dry, but if, by any chance, they get
frozen, they should not be handled, merely covered and
kept in the dark till the frost gradually leaves tliem.
It is not the freezing which does the mischief, but mov-
ing them when frozen, and repeated thawing and with-
drawing of frost. Wherever the essential conditions
prevail of uniform low dry temperature, absence of light,
and not too severe frost, they may be safely stored for
winter. Above all things, moisture and heating in balk
should be guarded against. If these conditions are to
be obtained in a cellar or a room above ground it may be
used for winter storing. To avoid gathering moisture
and heating, the bulbs should not be over two feet deep,
better less. If too warm they grow and rot.

If they are to be kept through the winter, store
them in a building with tight floors, under which the
frost cannot get. On such a floor place scantling, upon
which lay narrow boards, half an inch apart. Upon
this drying floor build up a false partition one foot within
the outside walls. Arranged in this way, they have a
free circulation of air all around and under them.

ONIOK CULTURE. 133

When the temperature sinks to 20° it is well to fill in
the space with straw, to stop the circulation of the cold
air. They can be put in bins of tliis structure, from
two to three feet deep. It is well to cover them over
with hay or cornstalks sufficiently to protect them. If
they should freeze, allow tliem to remain covered until
completely thawed. Alwa3^s handle them as carefully
as apples, as even slight bruises cause them to mold
or rot.

If there be no convenient structure suitable for the
winter storage of onions in large quantity, one may be
erected somewhat after the following plan : If to store
twenty-five hundred bushels, erect a building twenty by
thirty feet, with sixteen foot posts. It should stand the
longest way north and south, with doors twelve feet
wide, and high at each end. It should stand one foot
from the ground, to admit of free circulation beneath,
and be sided with matched boards lined with tarred
paper. The floor should l^e of two-inch plank laid loose,
and well supported. On this floor place blocks five feet
apart, about five inches square, and twenty inches high;
cover the floor with onions to the top of the blocks ;
place on these blocks timbers as large as three by four,
and on these narrow boards for flooring one inch apart.
On this floor place blocks, the same as before ; fill in
with onions, and so on as high as convenient. The
blocks should be placed exactly over each other, as there
will be a great weight on the lower boards. During the
fall, when the weather is dry, open the doors at each
end ; this will give the air free circulation through them.
They will bear the .temperature down to twenty-five
without injury. On the approach of cold weather, bank
up the sides of the building to keep the frost from get-
ting under. On warm, clear days, open the south doors.
AVhen it is desired to take out the onions commence at
the south doors, by taking out the floor boards, and let

134 MARKET GARDENING.

them roll down to the first floor, for topping. If they
get frozen they will generally come out sound, if left
undisturbed till the frost is out.

The vitality of onion seed should always be carefully
and thoroughly tested before sowing. The best way is
to count out two or three samples of one hundred seeds
each, and each separate sample place between two layers
of cotton batting, resting on saucers, each containing a
quarter inch of water. Put in a warm j^lace, and keep
water at same level. The seeds will sprout in a few days.
Find the general average of percentage that will develop
shoots of half an inch in length, and plant accordingly,
assuming eighty-five per cent, a standard of highest vital-
ity. If, with seed of eighty-five per cent, vitality, six
pounds is proper to sow an acre, then with seed of only
sixty per cent, vitality, nine pounds should be sown.

Be not deluded into the purchase of cheap seed,
such is always questionable, always suspicious. In the
first place, it may not grow at all, or not over fifty or
sixty per cent. ; and, secondly, and more damaging to
the planter, it may be from common mixed stock, or
prove late and staggy. This the grower only discovers
after a loss of a season and expensive labor.

CHAPTER XX.
Mushroom Culture.

Before considering the subject of mushroom culture,
it may be well to make some reference to this edible
fungus, a genus much larger and more important as a
food than generally supposed.

Dr. Badham, an English authority upon fungi,
states that hundreds of tons of rich, wholesome food
go to waste daily in England, because of ignorance
and superstition.

In England there are, at least, forty species of edi-
ble mushrooms, and in tlie United States many hun-
dreds. In the State of North Carolina alone, there are
one hundred and twenty species of fungi, many of them
obtainable over a season of nine months. Mountain and
plain, valley and forest, are swarming with a pi-ofusion of
nutritions food going to decay because of the ignorance
of the public.

The soil for earth fungi and the wood for forest
fungi, however, has much to do with flavor, as occasion-
ally a most excellent variety proves to be unpalatable,
and even offensive. Of forest or tree fungi, those grow-
ing on the mulberry and on the hickory are generally of
the best flavor. Dr. Curtis, of South Carolina, is, per-
hajis, among Americans, the most venturesome in tast-
ing wild fungi — beginning with a single mouthful, the
next day two or three mouthfuls, and the next a full
meal. It takes a braver man than he who first swallowed
an oyster to make experiments like this for the benefit
of botanical science. Though sick stomachs and some

135

136 MARKET GARDEKIKG.

inflammation have frequently resulted from eating poison-
ous or unwholesome mushrooms, it is rare to hear of an
authenticated record of death from such causes. Mush-
rooms, which are safe with some persons, often disagree
with others; indeed, it seems the stomach may be edu-
cated to bear most noxious species, as there are records
of highly poisonous varieties being eaten with impunity
by mushroom tasters.

As before remarked, soil and circumstances cause
fungi to assume different properties, and the novice,
when uncertain as to the merit of an unrecognized
species, will find it a good plan to try the new sort
with great caution. In no garden process is there
such contradictory practice as in mushroom culture,
and, while generally considered a subject requiring much
experience and skill, the diyersified system of cultiyation
would seem to point to simplicity in the requirements.
For instance, one successful grower will gather dry drop-
pings from horses, and still further dry them, by spread-
ing and frequent turning under cover. Another, equally
successful as a grower, dispenses with all this trouble,
taking stable dung fresh from the stalls, and mixing in
a fourth part of good friable loam, piling it up for a
week, then turning it over, and, if fermenting too strongly,
adding more loam. This mixture, made into beds, is
immediately charged with spawn.

A third grower takes his manure from an ordinary
barnyard pile, and mixes in a fourth part of loam.
Other growers will not use manure which has been fer-
menting, claiming that it will not produce mushrooms
or a continuous crop. Another system is to take any
good stable manure, and, removing sticks, stones, very
long straw, or other coarse material, thoroughly mix
and pile it in beds two feet high, thoroughly wet with
water and stamp down. After a week or ten days, by
which time it is quite hot, the pile is re-worked and left

MUSHROOM CULTURE. 137

for another ten clays, then it is in condition to be made
into beds of the proper form and seeded. Sometimes
four to six weeks are taken in the preparation of the
manure, a leading object with most cultivators being to
have it half decomposed, completely mixed, but not wet.

Mushroom Beds. — Possibly the best system for
the amateur to pursue is to prepare his manure pile
under cover, as in a shed or cellar, making his pile one-
fourth loam and three-fourths of the best stable manure
he can get, horse dung predominating, which should be
piled first, to allow it to lose its fiercest heat, the loam
helping to solidify the mixture. At spawning time the
heat in the beds should range from sixty to eighty
degrees, never above eighty-five. The heat of a bed
may be reduced by opening holes with a crowbar, forc-
ing it down to the very bottom. Of course the heat can
be taken with a thermometer.

Spawn, as sold, may be looked upon as the seed used
by mushroom growers, though it is a compounded article.
That part of the mushroom appearing above ground, the
part eaten and best known to the public, is what may be
termed the flower and flower stem, the spores or trae
seed, being produced upon the gills of the flower, which,
under natural conditions, falling to the ground, germin-
ate, and produce a fine underground mat of filaments.
This underground growth being the true and perfect
plant, the edible portion, as previously remarked, being
the flower, or seed-bearing stem. It is not necessary
here to describe how the spawn is made commercially,
except to say that the English spawn comes in the form
of light, dry, brittle bricks, wdiile the French comes in
the form of light flakes, resembling half-dried stable
manure.

In seeding a bed with English spawn, one bushel
should suffice for an area of one hundred square feet of
surface, the bricks being broken into pieces the size

138 MARKET GARDEXIXG.

of a walnut^ and placed as hereinafter directed. The
English spawn is the most reliable when the work is
performed by amateurs. With the French spawn the
flakes about the size of a silver dollar should be inserted
edgeways into the beds, the outer edge just covered from
sight. The operation of spawning is a very important
one, the aim being to secure a u inform development of
spawn filaments throughout the bed. When this growth
of white fiber fails to appear after three weeks' time, the
bed should be broken up aud remade with an addition
of one-third unfermented dung to give it heat again.
Any good loamy soil is suitable for covering the beds
after the spawn has started to grow. In Paris the
beds are generally covered Avith two inches of white lime-
stone soil, not through choice, but through convenience,
and it does as well as anything else.

Location of Mushroom Beds. — Mushrooms may
be grown in greenhouses any month of the year, and in
graperies, pits, sheds, cellars and stables from April to
October. They may also be grown on shelves or on the
floor of any of these places. A novice in mushroom cul-
ture may, with little trouble and comparatively no ex-
pense, try his apprentice hand at cultivation iu half bar-
rels kept in a dark shed or cellar, and we would advise
the following course for such a trial : Procure an empty
whiskey or vinegar barrel with a firm head and bottom,
and saw it in half. Pick out the best quality of unfer-
mented stable manure obtainable, and thoroughly mix
with one-fourth part good friable loam, pile the mass
compactly, and tramp down and cover with ordinary
stable manure for a blanket. At the end of a week
remove the covering and turn the mixture, pile it up
again and blanket for two or three days, then half fill
the tubs or barrels with the manure. Upon the top
surface lay pieces of spawn the size of a walnut at inter-
vals of three inches apart, and add sufficient of the

MUSHROOM CULTURE. 139

manure mixture to build up a cone-shaped elevation of
twelve or fifteen inches. In ten days the spawn should
have sprouted and filled the whole mass of manure with
white thread-like filaments. When these are seen run-
ning through the entire pile, cover it with two inches of
fine loam, through which the mushroom buttons will
develop, and from which the cultivator should be able
to get a fair supply covering a period of from two to
four weeks.

Mushrooms in the Garden. — Near London and
Paris considerable quantities of mushrooms are grown in
the o})en garden. . In London ordinary manure is used,
and before it has time to heat is made into long narrow
beds. Wlien the temperature reaches eighty degrees it
is seeded with spawn, covered with two inches of any
good soil, and blanketed with mats or tarpaulins. In
Paris, the outdoor cultivator generally lets the manure
ferment, and after frequent and thorough working,
makes beds thirty inches wide and two feet in height,
•which he covers with mats.

When the temperature falls to eighty degrees he
spawns the bed, inserting pieces of spawn the size of a
walnut, placing it in three lines, one near the bottom
edge of the bed, the second ten inches up along the side,
and the third ten inches above the second. He next
covers with mats or cloth. After ten days, if the spawn
has started, he covers with two inches of soil.

The writer had the pleasure, a few years ago, of vis-
iting the mushroom caves of Paris, the extent of such
cultivation being measured by the daily product of four
tons of buttons. The work is done in the underfrround
caverns and galleries of the old limestone quarries, from
which was taken the stone to build the city.

The manure is mixed upon the surface, lowered
in large buckets, and in the same manner returned to
the surface for remaking. Of course, all the work has

140 MARKET GAEDEXI^s'G.

to be done by candle ligbt, and, being done in narrow
passages, the operation covers many miles ; the beds of
one French cultivator, if placed in single line, would
reach about twenty-six miles. The beds rest upon the
rock bottoms of the galleries, and are built in the form
of a rido-e, two to three feet wide and two feet hiofh.
The limestone formation beneath Paris seems to be more
especially adapted to mushroom culture than the rock
formation in many other districts, coal and iron, in the
rock soil, for instance, preventing the best growth of
the mushroom.

CHAPTER XXI.
EooTS FOR Stock Feedixg.

This chapter is written in the hope of diffusing
information inducive to greater attention to a most val-
uable adjunct in husbandry, and, if more widely re-
garded, calculated to increase, not only the quantity,
but the quality, of our food ; the tender, luscious mut-
ton of the English, being attributable not alone to their
cooler climate, but to the turnip, and, we may add, other
succulent roots on which the sheep are fed and fattened
for the butcher.

The value of succulent food, in a hygienic or san-
itary view, to man, and also to the animals which min-
ister to his wants, need not be commented on. All who
have paid attention to the subject agree in opinion as to
its advantage, indeed, its absolute necessity, if the preser-
vation of health be properly studied. The long winters
of our country, which arrest vegetation, and oblige us
to provide green food to be stored up in anticipation of
the severe season^ have necessarily induced inquiry and

ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 141

examination as to the class of vegetables which can be
l^roduced in greatest abundance, at least cost, with least
exertion in the shortest space of time, and with least
liability to failure of the crop under unfavorable atmos-
pheric conditions, and also as of primary importance,
with capability for preservation during winter months
with slight danger of decay.

In Great Britain the culture of roots, round tur-
nip, ruta baga and mangold has assumed gigantic im-
portance, and it was estimated by writers on political
economy, years ago, when the turnip product was much
below the present, that its annual value was much more
than the equivalent of the sum represented by the interest
on the National debt, no inconsiderable amount, as
everybody knows. Until the culture of roots, as they
are termed, was extended and enlarged, in England,
animal food was a luxury seldom within the reach of the
operative classes, with whom vegetables and farinaceous
compounds, not always of the best quality, were the
main sources of sustenance. Now English fattened
meats, even of American origin, are, in some shape,
within reach of all, the factory operative, the mechanic,
the tradesman and the landholder alike i:)articipating ;
and this change has grown out of, not so much national
prosperity or increased wages, though both are indirectly
affected, but the greater breadth of land in root culture.

American corn, with us the great meat producer,
Avhich has played so important a part in the development
of our country, enabling the hardy emigrant from the
older settlements to Avrest the wilderness from the sav-
age, and overcome the forest, is not grown in Great
Bi-itain or any portion of the north of Europe, there
being known only as an import from our country. In
this particular, Americans have an advantage impossible
to estimate ; but, great as it is, it should not lessen our
exertion to produce succulent food, which augments the
value of the farinaceous.

142 MARKET GARDENING.

The principal succulent and saccharine roots, besides
the turnip, raised for cattle feeding, are, it is almost
unnecessary to observe, mainly comprised by the tribes
of beets, carrots and parsnips. There are some others,
but they are hardly of sufficient importance to occupy
space in limited pages.

In this country the turnip and the ruta baga, or
'* Swede," as it is familiarly called, is more generally cul-
tivated for stock-food than any other root— not that it
is the best, but because it can be so readily grown, and
at small cost. While beets, mangold, carrots, kohl rabbi
and parsnip demand an entire season to mature, the
turnip is of so quick growth in our climate, that within
a few weeks only after sowing abundant supplies may
be in hand.

The writer cannot, however, but maintain that,
though at some increase of labor in the production, no
expenditure on the farm may, in the long run, pay bet-
ter than an annual crop of mangolds and carrots, even if
raised only in sufficient quantity to alternate with the
ruta baga, and thus the food be varied ; a change which
the milch cow, the stall-fed ox and the sheep crave
equally with man. At the present tune, when foreign
demand for American beef and mutton has assumed
gigantic proportions, the subject of stoch feeding pre-
sents itself with increased force.

The subject is one which concerns the Union ; our
prosperity cannot advance faster than our progress in
agriculture, whether as planters, grain producers, stock-
breeders or dairymen. When they prosper all industries
participate. The railroads, the mills, the forges, the
shipping, find profitable employment, all are subordinate
to the farmer's industry.

The Turnip.— That turnips, singly and alone,
will secure health and strength and rich milk, the writer
is far from maintaining ; but he does contend that, in

BOOTS FOB STOCK FEB^KQ. 143-'

proper proportion, in suitable conditi^oi, at prope^^ffimes, ^
mixed Avitli corn meal, shorts, oil cj^ike^^r other rich '- "
food, they will produce valuable res ult^-v. -'^Jb feC'd roots
of any kind in imprudently cold stables, or, as may
sometimes be seen, in the open air in inclement weather,
the roots, perhaps, partially frozen, and expect favoraljle
results, argues, to say the least, want of reflection ; and
where we find people say, as we sometimes do, they
*^can see no good in roots," we are sure to find, on
inquiry, that some of the obviously rational and neces-
sary rules of procedure in feeding have been disregarded.
The experience of such people should never be taken as
safe guides ; but rather let us pin our faith on the sys-
tematic and successful, who use the right means to the
right end. One such practical, observing, methodic
man in a neighborhood, is worth a dozen who make no
progress.

The writer should here refer to the value of turnips
in another view, as a vegetable manure ; most valuable
will they be found for plowing under after the first
killing frost of autumn. Sown thickly broadcast in
August or September and allowed to cover the ground,
they gather from earth and air a mass of fertilizing
agents which will, the succeeding spring, astonish the
experimenter.

Nothing we know^ of is so efficient, considering the
small cost of time and money. Seventy to eighty days
will make the crop, and at a cost not exceeding three
dollars per acre. The preparation of the soil and cli-
matic adaptation of the locality is an important pre-
requisite to success, both as respects the productiveness
of the crop, and its cost, for it is manifest that, however
valuable and desirable may be any object we seek, the
cost of obtaining it may be disproportionate to its value ;
such is especially the case with ail products of the soil.

144 market gardexixg.

Time of Sowing Turxips.

In the latitude of Philadelphia farmers besjm to
think of sowing rata bagas about the 1st of July, and,
if everything is in readiness, complete their sowing by
the middle of the month. Their process is as follows :
Plow the land level, harrow crosswise and lengthwise,
getting it into fine tilth, then with the plow draw shal-
low furrows two and one-half feet apart ; in these furrows
the manure is spread ; it may consist of any fertilizing
material within reach. Of course, decomposed matter
is the best, whether it be vegetable or animal ; and here,
we remark, it is a good plan to prepare, in advance, a
compost which will readily disintegrate when spread.
Where such is not at hand, any of the approved com-
mercial fertilizers may be resorted to, but buy only from
parties of good repute. When the fertilizer, if a super-
phosphate (or other commercial manure at about equal
cost), at the rate of five hundred pounds per acre, has .
been spread, it is a good practice to remove the hind
teeth from an ordinary cultivator, so as to adapt it to
the width of the furrow, and pass it over the fertilizer,
thus incorporating it with the soil. That done, the soil,
divided in forming the furrows, is returned by splitting
the ridges. This process will be found to form a ridge
over the fertilizer some inches higher than the level of
the general surface. As that is not desirable in our cli-
mate, where heat and drouth prevail, rather than excess
of moisture, as in England, from wdience the practice of
ridging is derived, back down the ridges until they are
nearly level, w^hich brings the seed, w^hen sown, near the
manure, so important to stimulate the young plants.

Manivter of Sowing Turnips.

Everything being now ready for sowing, with an
approved drill, and the writer recommends the Keeler,
sow the seed, and follow with a light roller if drouth

BOOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 145

prevail. The drill should be adjusted to sow not less
than three pounds of seed per acre if in rows, two and
one-half feet apart, — not that so much seed is necessary,
if any considerable percentage vegetates and escapes the
fly, the scorching sun, and other unfavorable influences.
It is probable that, if eight ounces of seed could be
evenly distributed, each grain germinate, and Anally
produce a healthy plant, there would be a sufficient
number of plants to the acre ; but it would be a very
unwise procedure to stint the seed to save, for the present
moment only, the pocket. The English, to whom we
look for instruction in root culture, use seven to eight
pounds per acre, but the turnip has been so generally
grown in their country for generations, that the fly, fed
and pampered, has become a most formidable pest ; so
much so that great difficulty is sometimes found in
securing a *^ stand."

The Turnip Fly.— The ''turnip fly" just referred
to is a jumping beetle, of greenish-black color, and
about the tenth of an inch in length, sometimes so
destructive as to devour every plant before the farmer is
aware that the seed has sprouted. This active little
insect hibernates in protected places, and from eai-ly
spring to autumn produces a rapid succession of genera-
tions. The mature insects apparently reveling upon the
marrow-like material of the cotyledons and first two or
three pairs of leaves of the turnip and other cruciferous
plants, deposit eggs upon the leaves, which, in a few
days, suffer as much from the attack of the unseen larvae
as from the parent.

The remedies, which are only palliative, are thick
seeding, dashing with sulphur or plaster, light applica-
tions of carbolic or whale oil soap, etc., and when all
have failed or about to fail, re-sowing in fresh ground.
A wet season is prejudicial to the rapid growth of the
fly, and, with a rich soil, the young plants soon acquire
10

14:6 MARKET GARDEI^rXG.

the third pair of leaves, which, with those succeeding,
are proof against further injury.

If the sowing just described should, by the ravages
of the fly or other accident, have failed, pass along the
ridges with a spike-tooth harrow, to destroy any weeds
which may have sprouted, and re-sow, as before. If,
from the time lost, it may be deemed too late to perfect
a crop of ruta bagas with certainty, it may be better to
make the re-sowing with round or flat turnips, which
mature in a shorter season. Supposing the sowing a
success, allow the plants to reach the rough, or second
leaf, then proceed thus : Taking a light steel hoe in
hand, and standing so as to bring a corner of the hoe in
an oblique direction with respect to the line of plants,
and near to them, the operator walks backward, drawing
the hoe gently, and lightly skimming the surface of the
soil, and with it all young weeds which may have sprung
up contemporary with the crop ; returning, the opposite
side of the row, or drill, is taken, thus leaving only a
narrow line of turnip plants, nearly free from weeds.

Thinning Out. — After a few days, when they have
grown somewhat stronger, and are too rank for the fly
to injure seriously, they may be ''clumped," which is
performed by taking a sharp, light, steel hoe of suitable
size, say three inches wide, and, standing facing the row,
cut crosswise, so as to leave clumps of plants at intervals
of five inches. At first the operator will cut timidly,
fearing to destroy too many ; but in a little while he
will have gained courage, and proceed with increasing
speed. It is surprising with what celerity such work
may be performed by an expert, which any one may be-
come with an hour's practice. When the plants left in
clumps have fully recovered from the disturbance, which
is unavoidable, and again stand erect, the process of
''singling" commences; this is simply pulling out with
the finger and thumb and casting aside all but the most

ROOTS FOR STUCK FEEDIISTG. 147

promising plant in each group or clump. After the
lapse of a few days, when the selected plants have be-
come upright and self-sustaining, a very shallow furrow
may be cast from each side, the earth thus removed
meeting in a ridge between the rows. If the weather is
damp they may stand thus a few days, each day adding
greatly to their strength ; but if the weather be hot and
dry, it is better to proceed at once with the hoeing,
which done, the ridge of earth is to be leveled down by
a spike-tooth harrow, or, in its absence, a cultivator
with well-worn teeth, taking care not to cast the earth
upon the young plants. This process of plowing from
the plants, and cultivating immediately after to return
the soil, will need to be repeated several times during
the season of growth ; indeed, it may be practiced with
great advantage, so long as the space between the rows
is not obstructed by foliage, on each repetition inserting
the plow deeper than before. Thus the crop will at
length stand daily increasing in vigor and bulk, until
the time arrives for placing it in winter quarters, in the
latitude of Philadelphia not later than the 20th of
November.

Method of Saving for Winter Feeding.

The English, who are our instructors in this branch
of husbandry, and have taught us most of what we know
on the subject, have some advantage in climate over
Pennsylvania, though not over the South, which admits
of feeding the bulbs as they stand in the ground, as well
as under cover, the stock, especially sheep, being grazed
upon them, using hurdles to confine the flock to a lim-
ited space. A flock destined for the butcher are first
turned in, where they may feed upon the better portion,
then moved into a fresh inclosure, thus exciting the
appetite. These are succeeded by a store flock, which
picks up the fragments, so that nothing is lost. This

148 MARKET GARDEi?i:N'G.

process corresponds with that of some of our prairie
farmers, who turn their beef cattle into the standino-
corn (a bad practice on the Atlantic coast), and follow
by hogs, which find every half digested grain passed
through the cattle, and fatten sooner than on dry corn.
In America, wdiere a five-acre patch of ruta bagas
cannot be found within some of the counties, to say
nothing of States, the statement may excite surprise that
a hundred acres in that root on the lands of a single far-
mer of Great Britain is by no means unusual ; and
recently the writer entertained an English farmer and
stock-breeder, making a tour in this country, who, him-
self, cultivated two hundred and fifty acres in roots
annually.

HaRVESTIN^G TURI^IPS.

Of course, such large breadths demand every me-
chanical device and appliance for saving the crop, and
instead of, as with ns, each root destined to be stored
beinf pulled up singly by the hand and cast into a heap,
then ao*ain taken in hand and topped, again cast into a
heap preparatory to being hauled awa}', they, on the
contrary, top with a hoe. A light, sharp steel hoe is
held perpendicularly in hand, and, with a quick action,
drawn horizontally, thus decapitating each root in suc-
cession as it stands in the ground. This done, they are
drawn out and into windrows by a chain-harrow. It
can be readily seen with what celerity this labor may be
performed, and the great saving in cost. AYith our
small patches we can get along, hoAvever, by the old
time-honored practice ; with increasing breadths of land
in roots will come improved methods. Some growers
have already adopted new systems ; instead of topping
all the roots of tlie crop, they haul a portion, just as
pulled up, top and root, to a convenient position near
the stables, j)lace them in a narrow, ridge-like form, and

ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 149

cover with straw, corn-fodder, or any liglit, trasliy ma-
terial which may be at liand. Thus they are preserved
until New Year, or longer, using from one end, and
covering up after each removal. The Avriter has pursued
this plan for many years. It is true, in warm, damp
weather, the tops partially decay, and become somewhat
slimy, but the roots do not take harm, and cattle feed
on them, and the tops, also, with much avidity. Per-
haps a little salt sprinkled on each mess would be an
advantage. For milch cows it is recommended to give
salt when feeding turnips, and the better time is imme-
diately after milking.

Pitting Turnips. — The main winter and spring
stock of roots are preserved in j^its, not mounds, as
made in gome localities, narrow pits, after this fashion :
Select a suitable spot, near the stables if practicable, but
surely where the drainage is good, an indispensable pre-
requisite ; dig a trench sixteen inches wide, and as many
or more inches in depth, the length as convenient or
necessary. In this deposit the topped roots, and cover
with the earth dug out of the trench, using a little more
in addition as winter approaches. If cold may be ex-
pected in severity, place over all long stable manure, or
anything which will impede the entry of frost without
creating warmth. Thus the writer has found roots of
all descriptions — ruta bagas, common turnips, carrots,
beets, parsnips — to keep well. They are accessible at all
times, and may be removed in larger or smaller quantity,
as needed or desired. Altogether, it is better than
mounds, which, being elevated, are exposed to frost,
and require care in construction. In the pits described
the writer annually keeps beets and carrots far into the
spring, indeed, he has fed working oxen with beets, to
their great delight, up to July 1st.

From what has been said, it may be seen that theory
and practice should go hand in hand ; the writer is sim-

150 MARKET GARDENING.

ply describing his own operations at Bloomsdale, not
telling what may possibly be done, and satisfied with
the utility of his practice, confidently recommends it
to others.

Ok the Varieties of Tur:n^ips.

In England turnips are divided into two distinct
classes, those designed for stock feeding, and those for
table use. They are also divided into rough-leaved and
smooth-leaved. The smooth-leaved embrace those of
which the ruta baga, or "'^ Swede," is the ty|)e, and of
which the purple-topped, yellow-fleshed variety may be
taken as the best representative. The rongh-leaved
sorts are generally white-skinned and white-fleshed, some
purely white, others with green or purple crowns ;
though there are also several rough-leaved varieties with
yellow flesh. These rough-leaved sorts are again sub-
divided into cattle and table turnips ; in the usually
limited culture in this country such distinction is of
little consequence. The leading varieties for cattle feed-
ing are here described in the order of their maturity.

Large Early Red-Top Globe. — A variety of
white turnip of comparatively recent introduction, of
large size, and rapid growth, unusually attractive, ap-
proved and admired by all. It is recommended mainly
as a valuable acquisition for feeding cattle.

Pomeranian White Globe. — This is a free grow-
ing rough-leaved sort, useful for both table and stock,
and may be highly commended for both purposes. Tur-
nip cultivators need not hesitate to sow it, whether for
stock, market or family use ; it is not quite so rapid in
growth as the flat varieties, may be expected to come in
as a succession in autumn, and is admirable for table
use in early winter. In short, the ^'Pomeranian Globe"
is eminently valuable, and supplies every want of a
white-skinned variety. This is used by stock-breeders

ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 151

for early feeding, also for sowing at seasons too late to
secure a croiD of ruta bagas. It is productive, hardy,
and eclipses the "White Stone."

White Norfolk Globe. — A very desirable variety,
rapid in growth, globular in form, large, and an admir-
able keeper, recommended especially for stock feeding.

Amber Globe. — Is an Americanized foreign tur-
nip, almost indispensable on every farm. The flesh,
when the turnip is growing, has a very slight tinge of
yellow, which becomes darker as the root matures ; it is
as solid as a ruta baga, and, if topped very closely, so as
to effectually arrest sprouting, it may be kept until late
in spring as good as when first gathered. The flavor is
milder than that of the ruta baga, therefore by some
highly esteemed for table purposes. On the whole, this
is the best type of the yellow, rough-leaved sorts, and
fills every want in that direction. The foliage of this
variety is strap-leaved.

Yellow Aberdeen, or Yellow Scotch.— It is a
highly approved cattle turnip, attains a large size, is
solid, nutritious, a good keeper, and is, in every respect,
reliable. There are several types under distinctive
names, without much variation in qualit3\ Full justice
to this variety has not been done. Observations and
experiments with the Aberdeen, raised from seed pro-
duced from American bulbs, clearly shows that it is a
variety of highest merit. It is well-adapted to cattle-
feeding, and for table use also, late in winter and far
into the spring, when the earlier ripening varieties have
grown pithy.

A friend exhibited; at mid-winter, a sample of but-
ter made by him, which he assured us was the result of
Aberdeen turnips and corn fodder only, no grain or oil
food whatever having been fed. The butter was of a
deep lemon tint, sweet, well-flavored, and would have
commanded, at that time, eighty to ninety cents per

152 MARKET GAEDEXIKO.

pound in the PhiladeliDliia market ; we must not, how-
ever, fail to add, his stock was the Guernsey. His
method was to feed the roots, well salted, immediately
after milking, as many as each animal felt disposed to
eat. Thus treated, there was no turnip flavor percepti-
ble, either in the milk or butter.

The Swede, or ruta baga is, perhaps, the most impor-
tant root cultivated for stock food ; its rapid maturity,
large bulk to a given area, nutritious quality and sani-
tary properties commend it as eminently worthy of cul-
ture. It has become a practice, in the sale of ruta baga
seed, to create varieties ; some actual, some fictitious,
but it is best not to be misled b}' new names.

The Bloomsdale Swede is the result of Ions:
years of patieut, critical selection, and, on comparison
carefully made with intent to determine and secure the
best, it was proved to be unquestionably the most desir-
able. The foliage is not super-abundant (as in the
imported), the shape is nearly globular, the crown deep
purple, the flesh a rich yellow.

Beets for Cattle.

Under this head American farmers embrace all beets
with certain characteristics, whether they be for stock-
feeding or sugar-making. What principally interests at
present is the question, which is best for stock food ; as
preliminary to further remarks on beet culture, the first
question to be solved by every farmer is as to his com-
mand of necessary force to accomplish, with reasonable
prospect of success, what he may desire, and wdiether he
can devote a full season's attention to the crop, or can
more profitably use the time in other directions, relying
on a crop of ruta baga and other tnrnips for succulent
food, which, though not as nutritious, may be raised at
less cost of time and labor.

It is emphatically with root culture as it is in all
other operations on the farm, a simple question of dol-

ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDllS^G. 153

lars and cents, and if food less nutritions may be vobtained
in quantity to compensate for deficiency in quality, the
inferior may be preferable. Ruta bagas, judged by that
rule, may be most profitable. Each one must decide
the question for himself. Where circumstances admit
there need be no doubt, the greater advantage will be
found in possessing both, as affording variations of diet.

Varieties of the Beet.

Long Blood Red. — This is a valuable winter
table beet, and has been brought to its present state of
perfection by successive yearly selections. It is prefer-
able to the Rochester, or Radish beet, which grows above
the surface and is liable to be fibrous. It is held to be
as rich in saccharine as either the sugar or the mangels,
with the further highly important advantage from its
habit of growth, wdiich all avIio, as husbandmen study
our climate, can readily perceive, nameh^, of withstand-
ing drouth. In our climate excessive heat, accompanied
b}^ prolonged drouth; is a usual accompaniment of our
summers, and all who have cultivated either the mangels
or sugar beets have observed the entire suspension of
growth at such periods, the foliage drooping, frequently
falling entirely, and followed by an elongated crown or
a growth of woody, or, at least, fibrous matter. This
substance is of little, if any, value ; rejected by the
stock, it simply goes to make manure. On the contrary,
the long blood beet grows mainly beneath the surface,
and is, on that account, less exposed to heat, and enabled
to resist drouth. The writer has never failed to secure
a satisfactory crop, even nndor adverse circumstances,
ten to twelve tons can be grown to the acre — besides, the
Long Blood is unquestionably very rich — the percentage
of sucrose being as great as in the White Sugar.

Silesian Sugar Beet — This is the old, well-known
form of sugar beet, long raised in this country for feed-

154 MAEKET GARDENING.

ing, and is one of the varieties cultivated abroad for
sugar. Heretofore the great effort has been to obtain
the largest bnlk of root food from a given area, and
where a primary object is to supply merely succulent
food as distinct from dry, there is great gain in quantity.
Recent chemical analysis has demonstrated that the per-
centage of saccharine in the large roots falls below that
of the smaller, and, where the primary object is sugar,
cultivators no longer aim at large roots, but rather those
of medium size, well matured ; hence, it follows that in
feeding for flesh or for butter, the smaller roots, in j^ro-
portion to the weight fed, will accomplish greater results.
The beet owes its fattening influences principally to the
saccharine matter contained in it. This varies accord-
ing to variety, manure, soil and climatic influences.
The production in Germany averages one ton of sugar
to each eleven or twelve tons of roots. When fed to
animals, the entire proportion of sugar is realized, and
produces w^onderful results.

Imperial Sugar Beet. — This, it is claimed, is the
most profitable of the sugar varieties, being richer in
saccharine qualities than the preceding. It has a smooth
skin, and shows the results of careful selection and
breeding.

Mai^gel Wurzel.

There are several sub-varieties of the Long Mangel,
known as the Mammoth Long Red, Long Yellow, Long
Oxhorn, Long White Green Topped ; but the writer will
here confine his remarks to the first, inasmuch as it
embraces all the good qualities of others, and there can
be no advantage in dividing attention between it and
other sorts of similar shape and properties. The one
referred to has long been cultivated as the mangel
wurzel par excellence. In England, eighty tons have
frequently grown to the acre ; in this country, thirty
tons may be considered a good crop.

ROOTS FOB STOCK FEEDING. 155

Red and Yellow Globe. — There are two round
types of mangels, each possessing very similar qualities •
indeed, the distinction is mainly in color, and, hence.^
simply a matter of fancy in the cultivator. For facility
of harvesting the crop the globe form has an advantage
over the long, as is evident at sight ; and a further, and,
possibly, more important advantage, is the smaller waste
in fibrous neck, and there is less liability to suffer, in
extreme drouth, an important consideration, in our cli-
mate. Seventy tons to the acre is not uncommon in
England.

Yellow Oval, or Intermediate. — This variety,
having much to commend it, commands a large share of
favor. It is a productive variety, raised with great suc-
cess on any good soil.

Golden Tankard. — A heavy producer. The rich-
est colored and smoothest skinned of the family of man-
gels, and the most nutritious in its albuminous com-
pounds, proving forty per cent, higher than the long
red mangel. The roots of this variety are perfect pic-
tures. It is distinct in every particular, even to the
color of the leaves, the ribs and leaf stems being quite
golden.

CULTIVATIOls".

The soil selected should be a light loam, free from
hard clay, and if of a slightly calcareous nature, so
much the better ; plow deeply, when the apple is in
blossom, as a guide to the season ; later the crop may be
overtaken by drouth. Harrow thoroughly, furrow out
to a depth of eight inches with a double mold board
plow, if such can be had, or, if not, with an ordinary
plow, casting the earth both ways. Apply in the furrow
a liberal dressing of well-rotted stable manure, or about
twenty dollars' worth per acre of commercial fertilizer,
the component parts of which should be soluble phos-

156 MARKET GARDENIKG.

jDhate of lime, potash, nitrogen and sulphate of lime.
After the application of the fertilizer run a subsoil plow
in the open furrows, breaking up the hard pan and dis-
tributing the manure. Deep culture is a necessity to
success, and the sub-soil plow the most important imple-
ment, as every inch the soil is deepened permits the
roots to draw nutriment from an additional hundred
tons of earth per acre. Next, split the ridges covering
the fertilizer, and, transposing the relative positions of
ridge and furrow, back down the new ridges nearly to
the level of the field, and drill upon the flat so formed,
the seed thus being placed directly over the fertilizer
and broken subsoil. If the weather be dry, a roller
should follow the seed drill, to insure germination. An
advantage will be found in preparing the ground, apply-
ing the fertilizer and splitting the ridges, a fortnight in
advance of drilling, that a portion of the fertilizer may
have assumed an assimilable form for the early subsist-
ence of the young plants. A light dressing of common
salt applied to the soil will be found beneficial to the
best crop, especially in dry soil. When the young plants
are half an inch high, they should be side-scraped with
steel hoes, and then cross-cut with four-incli hoes into
clumps of three or four plants, the clumps to be after-
wards reduced to one plant by hand-weeding as more
fully described under the head of Turnips. This process
will give about thirty thousand plants to the acre if the
stand be good.

The crop should be kept free from weeds, and the
soil loose, that air and moisture may more freely pene-
trate to the roots. With thorough cultivation and sub-
soil breaking in mid-summer, the roots are not so liable
to suffer from variations of temperature and moisture ;
hence, the growth is more uniform, and the roots are
less weedy and distorted. During the entire culture
care must be taken not to injure the leaves of the plants,
as with impaired lungs, a healthy action is impossible.

KOOTS FOll STOCK FEEDING. 157

When the roots are fully developed, and ripe, which
will be about tlie first of October (and may be known by
the stoppage of circulation), they should be taken up;
if they make a second growth, under certain atmospheric
influences, a large portion of the saccharine matter goes
to form new leaves. On the other hand, they should
not be disturbed before maturity, as the formation of
saccharine matter is most rapid at that period. Tlie
roots can be taken out by passing a subsoil plow under
them, which, if run deep enough, will escape all but the
extreme points, and the saving in time more than com-
pensates for the loss of product.

Care must be taken in harvesting the roots, that
they be not bruised ; those thus injured are apt to decay.
The tops should be cut so closely as to remove all leaf-
buds, as the dampness of the pits may cause the embryo
buds to burst forth, and thus exhaust nutritious quali-
ties. The roots, when pulled, should be pitted without
delay, as described for ruta bagas or '' Swedes." The
European growers of beets have a proverb, ''Out of the
earth into the earth," and with care they may be kept
till the first of July.

And here, to avoid the necessity of repetition, we
will say that the foregoing remarks apply equally as
well to the culture of the carrot and parsnip. Every
stock breeder should grow the beet, in some of its varie-
ties, as he may lay up for winter a valuable supply of
this food at times Avhen Swedes or turnips have failed,
by reason of the fly or dry weather. The beet, though
requiring earlier planting, is for that reason more relia-
ble in vegetating, and is well established before the blaz-
ing days of July, when the turnips are just breaking
ground, perhaps to be devoured by the fly. The beet
leaves may flag at midday, but next morning the cells
are distended, the leaves crisp and full of vigor. Exten-
sive breadths of sugar beets are grown in Southern

158 MARKET GARDENIl^G.

Europe, where the Swede is seldom seen, at least, never
raised for cattle, because of the hot sun and dry soils.
The beet, for feeding market cattle, is unsurjDassed, and,
by deep pitting, can be kept from season to season. By
the practice of deep pitting the writer was enabled, at
the International Centennial Exhibition, May loth to
June 1st, to exhibit twenty varieties of beets, one bushel
of each, preserved in perfect condition, as sweet and
crisp as when taken from the field in November, also
carrots in equally good condition. Southern readers are
advised to try the beet, believing that they will realize
a profit.

Estimate of Cost.

A crop of ten tons of beets can be produced at an
expenditure varying from thirty to forty dollars. The
following estimate may be taken as an approximation,
soil, situation, cost of labor and fertilizers, all having,
however, an important bearing upon tlie cost :

Rent of land ^ 7.00

Plowing, harrowing and rolling 3.50

Ridging, application of manure and subsoiling 3.00

Manure 18.00

DriUing 50

Thinning, weeding and hoeing 4.OO

Three cultivations 3.OO

Two hoeings 5.00

Subsoiling between rows 2.00

Lifting the crop 3.OO

Total $49.00

The ten tons, under this estimate, would cost less
than five dollars a ton, or about twelve cents a bushel,
and in the cultivation of large breadths the cost per acre
can be reduced, while the production may be increased
twenty-five to fifty per cent.

The Carrot.

To the dairyman whose object is gilt-edged butter
during winter^ commanding readily double the price of

BOOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 159

the ordinary market grade, carrots may be considered
indispensable. They not only give the richness of sweet
vernal grass to the milk and cream, but coior the butter
naturally, beside which all artificial methods are imper-
fect and unsatisfactory. To the country family, which
can afford the higher comforts of life, and with whom
butter is not simply something so-called, irrespective of
quality, perhaps lard-like in substance, flavor and color,
the carrot need not be commended ; it sj^eaks its own
praise.

To the dairyman, whose object is simply milk, and
milk only, the ruta baga and the beet may supply his
wants ; they can be, especially the former, produced at
less cost than the carrot, and will yield as great, or even
greater, flow of milk, an advantage which need not be
enlarged upon, and it is certain where either is fed in
connection with only a moderate addition of farinaceous
food, as Indian meal, in preference to all else, butter of
prime quality may be obtained.

The Varieties. Orange Danvers, Half Long. —
A valuable sort of the Half Long type, admirable in
color, fixed in habit, a wonderful producer, the best of
all for the stock breeder, and valuable to the market
gardener. With this variety the planter secures the
largest return to the acre with the least difficulty of
harvesting.

Long Orange, or Long Red Surrey. — The Long
Orange carrot is an old standby for winter use. Eaise
more than needed for table use and share with the cow,
she will make ample return for the kindness, filling the
pail with rich milk, and giving the butter the color and
flavor of that from grass.

Long White Belgian and Large Yellow Bel-
gian— These vary, principally in color, and produce
a larger return than other Carrots. To the milkman
and to the stock-feeder they are worth much more

160 MARKET GAUDEN^llS'G.

than the cost of culture, promote liberal secretion of
milk of improved quality over that from dry food,
and may be fed alternately with ruta bagas and beets,
with the best results. The stock-feeder will find them
of high value. Fed to the stalled ox, or the wether,
being fattened for the butcher, or the ewe strengthened
to nourish the early lamb, succulent food, just sucli as
the carrot gives, is indispensable. The experienced
feeder will be cautious lest he overdo the thing, and
on the first evidence of failing appreciation of the special
food supplied, will substitute some other; hence, the
importance of providing variety ; and just here comes
in the opportunity to recommend a portion of each, ruta
bagas, beets and carrots, so as to alternate as needed,
each heavily dusted with Indian meal and bran, and a
proper portion of salt, the roots, of course, previously
prepared by washing and slicing.

CULTIVATIOI^.

The field culture of the carrot is identical with that
prescribed for the beet, in every particular; the pro-
cesses are the same, and the time of sowing, also. Crops
of eighteen hundred bushels have been raised to the acre,
and one-third of that quantity may be confidently looked
for under proj^er conditions of soil, culture and season.

Cultivators are advised to run a subsoil breaker
upon both sides of each row at least twice during the
season of growth, especially if drouth prevails, that the
fibers may be better enabled to extend, and for the pro-
motion of subterranean circulation. This process is rec-
ommended for the culture of the beet and mangel. The
cost, per acre, of i:)roducing a crop of carrots (allowing
twenty dollars for manure, and twenty dollars for prep-
aration and culture) should not exceed forty dollars ;
which, at four hundred bushels, would be ten cents a

ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 161

bushel, and at six hundred bushels, less than seven cents
per bushel, for a crop, the profits and advantages of
which need not be enlarged upon.

Preservation of Carrots.

The carrot does not keep well, except in cool
weather, and even in Avinter more care is requisite than
with either the ruta baga or beet. It is, therefore, well
to so adjust the consumption of the crop, that it be used
up in season. The narrow trench method of storing
beets for winter use, is emjihatically the one for this
root, above all others ; do not trust them in a cellar,
even, though it be cool, nor in mounds piled two or
three feet high, as was, and is still, practiced.

The methodical farmer will not be alarmed at the
injunction of caution ; he knows it is better not to
attempt anything which cannot be done well, and, hav-
ing once commenced a job, the only economic course is
to see it effectually finished.

Kohl Rabi, or Tlrxip-Rooted Cabbage.

This plant is a variation of the cabbage family,
fixed in character by long years of selection. The stem
above ground grows into globular, or olive-shaped form,
and possesses features common to both cabbage and tur-
nips. It is used both for table use and stock feeding,
and in parts of England, where turnips can no longer
be produced, it has widely taken their place, yielding
from twenty-five to thirty-five tons to the acre. Only a
few localities are suitable to its growth, the requisites
being a moist atmosi)here and soil. In this country
success can only be assured on the seacoast or on damp
lowlands.

The seed, two pounds to the acre, should be sown
five to six weeks earlier than Swedes or ruta bagas. The
land should be furrowed out at two and one-half feet,
11

162 MARKET GARDENING.

and dressed with an ammoniacal fertilizer, dried fish,
marl or guano, the furrows closed and the seed drilled
on top after smoothing down. The young plants should
be cut out to ten inches apart. The plant is quite
hardy, the roots resisting the effects of frost for a long
time ; very useful for sheep feeding in winter. There
are three leading sorts, viz. :

Purple. — A variety having a blue purple skin.

White Vienna. — Very choice— smooth light green
skin. Very few and very small leaves.

Large Green.— Large bulb, green skinned. Leafy.

The Parskip.

The original of the cultivated parsnip is found
growing wild in England, the root white, aromatic,
mucilaginous, sweet, and possessing a degree of acridity
which it loses by cultivation.

In our experiments in search of facts to be used for
our own advantage in stock feeding, and to be commun-
icated for public good, we have, from time to time,
raised the parsnip for the purpose of feeding to a herd
of Channel Island cattle, but the results have not con-
vinced us of the economy, in comparison with other
roots, for horned cattle. There is this advantage, how-
ever ; the parsnip never rots when stored, and if work
presses, may be left out over winter so far north as Phil-
adelphia without loss, thus reserving this special crop
for spring feeding.

Bloomsdale. — A selection from the Hollow
Crowned, shorter, thicker, easier to take all out of the
ground, and producing more tons to the acre.

Sugar, or Cup. — An old variety, longer and slim-
mer than the Bloomsdale, the variety usually sold. It
is said that the excellence claimed for Cuernsey hams is
attributable to the parsnip, which is a prominent food
for the hog of that island ; it may be well for some one

ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 163

among ourselves, who has the opportunity, to test the
fact. In sections where frost does not interfere, a por-
tion of the crop may be left over winter and the hogs fed
upon them as they stand, the proportion of saccharine
matter being increased by frost, and the roots rendered
still more palatable. It seems practicable, by this
method, for breeders of swine to accomplish, in the
Southern States, results highly profitable, in comj^arison
with cost of culture.

The writer desires, with this in view, to urge the
culture of parsnips in all swine-breeding sections, the
cost of the crop being simply the culture and manure,
while production can be made to reach ten tons of roots,
possessing nine per cent, of sugar.

Time of Sowing Parsnips. — The seed of the
parsnip, though vegetating freely under favorable condi-
tions, not infrequently fails when sown late, when heat
and drouth prevail ; hence, it should precede the carrot
and the beet by some days ; a good guide to time of
sowing being the blooming of the cherry. The direc-
tions for the culture of the beet apply to the parsnip.

In conclusion, the writer will observe that the cul-
ture of roots entails trouble and expense, and that no
one should attempt it unless determined to succeed.
Farming is, with Americans, in by far too many cases,
a slipshod business. The merchant, the manufacturer,
the master-mechanic, who should conduct his affairs
with careless irregularity, inditferent to cost as compared
with compensation, who should be found unprepared at
the moment of pressing demands upon him, surely could
not expect a successful issue to his efforts ; and why
should the tiller of the soil expect exemption from
results almost inevitable ? Farmers, as a class, are
laborious enough — in many cases, far too plodding-,
thought and reflection, united with physical exertion,
would accomplish more. A fruitful source of disap-

164 MARKET GARDEIS'ING.

pointment proceeds from our attempting too much in
proportion to our means ; not infrequently, larger
breadths of land are designed for crops than the capital
at command warrants. With the farmer, capital means
laborers, manure, working stock and numerous incident-
als, and the land marked out for cropping should ever
be subordinate to these. In tillage it is, by far, better
to do a little well ; there may be profit in that ; the
reverse is certain to result in loss.

CHAPTER XXII.

Packin^g and Shipping Vegetables.

As a rule all the products of the garden, not grown
on trees and hardwooded vines, are usually called vegeta-
bles, but at least one-half are really fruits. A bean, pea,
tomato, eggplant, melon and squash, is as much a fruit
as an apple or peach, for their enlargement is subsequent
to flowering. They are borne on the flower stems and
are the results of fertilized flowers. That kind of garden
plant alone is a culinary vegetable which develops tissue
under ground, as in the turnip, carrot, onion, parsnip; or
above ground as in the leaf-stalks of celery, or leaves of
the cabbage, lettuce and parsley. All these growths are
independent of sexual results, and as a rule these plants
require cooking to prepare them for food, although there
are a few exceptions.

These distinctions, however, do not bring cash to the
market gardener. He must, after growing the articles,
look for liis profit in good packing, quick transporta-
tions, honest commission agents and a judicious selection
of markets.

The 23rices obtained by southern market gardeners
shipping truck to Philadelphia, 'New York and other dis-

PACKIITG AKD SHIPPING VEGETABLES. 165

tant points, depends so much upon the manner of pack-
ing that it is a subject to which too much attention can-
not be given.

To ilhistrate : Florida egg plants sent to Philadel-
phia about May 1st command 17.00 per barrel-crate, but
later on in the season, as the temperature increases, they
arrive, often due to bad packing and slow transportation,
in such decayed condition as to be worthless. Cucum-
bers, in the Philadelphia market about the last of May,
are usually worth $1.00 per dozen, but as the warmer
weather of June approaches many arrive in such bad con-
dition as often to remain unsold. Beans in this market
command in April about $5.00 per crate, but in May are
often unsalable on account of bad i3acking, insufficient
ventilation in cars and the holds of steamships. Such
perishable articles should be shipped only in crates liold-
insr not over one bushel, better one-half bushel, as beans
and peas when discolored are unsalable. Forty-eight
hours in early spring is as long as peas Avill safely carry,
sometimes one day is more than they will stand.

Tomatoes sent to Philadelphia from the far South
in March and April are worth $3.00 to $5.00, but are so
likely to decay during the warm weather of June as to be
unprofitable, or perhaps because they come into compe-
tition with the new crop from Maryland and Delaware.
Tomato crates should not be over one-half bushel in
capacity, and the fruit when picked not be over half ripe.
Two days' carriage is as much as they will withstand.

Ventilated Packages. — It cannot be doubted that
the shipping season for vegetables could be much pro-
longed by the use of better packages and better freiglit
cars, the sound condition being prolonged in proportion
as the packages are well ventilated, and, on the other hand,
the rotted condition increased in the proportion of non-
ventilation.

All vegetables and fruits generate heat and moisture,
and to an increasing extent as the temperature rises. A

166 MARKET GARDENING.

rapid removal of these exhalations, as they are in the open
air while the fruit or vegetable remains growing, pre-
serves them in good condition, but to keep the vegetables
in a close, confined atmosphere hastens fermentation and
decay. The packages should be small, as bulk is a hin-
drance to ventilation. Barrels are bad packages ; better
use double sized flat crates, with a partition. Costly
refrigeration is not necessary if thorough ventilation can
be obtained, and it cannot be doubted that ice cold refrig-
eration ruins the flavor of fruits and vegetables. Also
fruits of hard- wooded plants, as peaches, grapes and
pears, and, we may add, strawberries, require more care-
ful handling than vegetables, but no fruit will require
more careful treatment, critical sorting and packing than
tomatoes, egg-plants and cucumbers. These the trucker
should pick when of full size, and just as the ripening
process is about to set in, which condition is indicated by
a distention of the tissues and a disposition to change
color. No trucker who expects to make a reputation
should ship small or defective stock ; in fact he should
put himself in the place of a city purchaser, and consider
what he would buy from a green grocer or provision
dealer, and ship only such quality.

Crates and Packages. — When packing vegetables
or fruit for market, do not use close boxes, or even ordi-
nary slatted boxes. Well-made ventilated fruit and veg-
etable packages can be purchased in every section of the
country where market gardening is pursued. Of course,
some forms of packages are better than others. Light
packages save freight and insure more careful handling.
Sorting for Packing. — The sorting of vegetables
or fruits for shipment demands so much care that every
imperfect specimen should be rejected. The packing
should not be done under a broiling sun, but under a
shed or tree, so that the goods may be cooled off by every
passing breeze, for, if packed in temperature of 00° or

PACKING AND SHIPPING VEGETABLES. 167

100°, they will, when put into close cars, soon develop a
temperature 20° or 30° higher consequent upon a fermen-
tation which might otherwise be avoided, or certainly
deferred.

Pack snugly, using just enough force to place them
sufficiently tight to prevent shifting. Avoid baskets, as
top weight injures specimens at bottom. See to it par-
ticularly that every package contains uniform specimens.
Do not mix culls or second grade stock with first class,
for by so doing the contents of a full package is rated at
the market value of the lower grade which it contains.

Outwardly, packages should be neat and attractive,
as first appearances influence values. Every thoughtful
shipper of vegetables or fruits is not only led to pack uni-
formly throughout his crates, but to ship in crates bear-
ing his name, so that what reputation he makes for him-
self may benefit him through dealers knowing his name
and address. Oranges and vegetables from certain par-
ties in Florida have brought much better prices and met
with quicker sales than equally good products from other
parties, simply because the brand on the package was a
positive guarantee of quality.

The market is seldom broken in prices by good fruits
or vegetables ; it is the misshapen, unripe and badly
selected products which injure the sale of a better article.
The inexperienced grower of vegetables or fruits does not
have a conception of how the crates are handled before
reaching the possession of the retail dealer. Depot por-
ters, freight handlers, expressmen, draymen, storekeep-
ers, all working in a hurry and doing their share to shake
up and crush the contents, if not to break the package.
It may be safely estimated that an ordinary crop is han-
dled fourteen or fifteen times before reaching the con-
sumer.

The shipper must not imagine that Ms goods are
to receive special attention from transportation compa-

168 MAKKET GARDEKTN^G.

nies or from commission men. The companies care little
for his individual interest, and the commission men, if
doing a business of any volume, have no time to look to
special cases, but endeavor to deal equally with all who
look to them as agents.

Early Shipments. — Early shipments are always
profitable when the fruit or vegetable is properly devel-
oped, but quality should be aimed at by the grower,
rather than eai-ly, large, or extensive shipments. As an
examj^le of the evil effects to produce quantity at the
expense of quality, notice the result of the introduction
of the Kolb Gem watermelon, an early, reliable sort, a
good shipper, showy outwardly, but in quality only third
class, so poor in texture and flavor that the consumption
of early watermelons by people of discrimination has
fallen off to over one-half, because it is impossible to
obtain anything but a miserable Kolb Gem until Northern
grown watermelons come into the market.

Quality Most Important — Quality should never
be sacrificed to quantity, either in the production of enor-
mous yields to the acre or in the production of monstrous
specimens, as so often is the case in cabbage and cucum-
bers.

Market Quotations. — Truckers to be successful
salesmen should be subscribers to one or more of Produce
Journals, that they may familiarize themselves with the
wants and conditions of the various markets, sending
their products where they are most likely to bring the
best prices. Supplies and prices, however, vary in noth-
ing so much as in fruits and vegetables. Cities like
Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, may take at a good
price a thousand crates of cucumbers in one day, and the
next day decline them at any price.

Freight Cars. — However cautious the shipper may
be, his care and labor is defeated if the railway com-
panies do not furnish freight cars of such design as to

IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AKD GARDEN. 169

keep a steady stream of outside air passing through and
over the load, thereby insuring good ventilation. It would
seem that it is the railway companies which are respon-
sible for dumping upon us, in the months of May and
June, such quantities of half diseased green fruit and
vegetables.

The grower of garden vegetables for shipment
should plant a variety and not confine himself to one, as
cucumbers, cabbage or tomatoes, for he never knows
when the market will be glutted, and if it be of that sort
on which he has built his expectations of profit he may
be sadly disappointed. In shipping, it is better to ship
continuously to three or four established markets than to
attempt to follow high quotations from various sources,
as the conditions which regulate the prices may change
daily, and points offering highest prices one day may be
lowest the next.

It is a mistake to divide a limited quantity of fruit
or vegetables between many commission merchants, as
the returns in small consignments are eaten up by the
expenses of cartage and handling.

CHAPTER XXIII.
Implements for the Farm and Garden.

The improvements in the design and practicability
of farming and gardening implements and tools, during
the last fifty years, has fully kept pace with the mechan-
ical development in machinery used in other arts, and it
may not be out of place to make a brief reference to the
leading mechanical contrivances used for vegetable gar-
dening. •

Plows. — The prices for the ordinary wood or iron
beam plows range from five to twenty dollars, and for the

170 MAKKET GAKDENING.

sulky plows, on which the plowman rides, from forty-
five to sixty dollars. In these different makes are varia-
tions in the arrangement of the handles and beams, but
the principal difference consists in the length, angle, twist
or curve of the mould-board, the adjustment of the share
or point, and the ease of draft. It sometimes happens
that the plow most popular or which seems to be adapted
to one particular section does not have the same reputa-
tion in another.

This sometimes arises in a great measure from local
fancy or prejudice, sometimes from different conditions
of soil.

A good plow is a necessity to good farming, and the
farmer will do best to select one that has proved to be
adapted to his locality and is known to his plowmen.

Hillside Plows. —Besides the ordinary farm or
level land plow, is the hillside or swivel plow, arranged
to have the mould-board and point swing on either side
of the beam, so that the furrow slice may be turned
down hill and all the furrows lap in one direction, to pre-
vent washing. This form of plow is sometimes used for
level land plowing, as it leaves the field without a center
or dead furrow, and for that reason the small sizes are
often preferred by market gardeners. The sizes made
are adapted to one, two, three or four horses, and ju'ices
range from five to twenty-five dollars.

Subsoil Plows. — These are used to follow the fur-
row made by the surface plows. The object of the sub-
soil plowing is to open and loosen the strata beneath the
furrow of the ordinary plow, that the soil may be deep-
ened, drained, and consequently made warmer. As a
rule it is desirable to simply open the soil, as stirring up
and mixing the upper and lower strata generally proves
injurious, except when done with great caution. The
depth of oj^ening attained by subsoil plows varies from
fifteen to twenty inches. Sizes are made to suit one to

IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AKD GARDEN^. 171

three horses. The smallest size is mostly used for gar-
den culture.

Ridging or Double Mould-Board Plows are
useful for opeuing furrows to receive manure, and for
closing the same, forming alternate ridges upon which
to drill, and for j^lowing or hilling uj), for shallow
ditching, and for listing corn.

Sod and Subsoil Plows are those in which two
plows follow each other on one beam, one plowing the
sod and the other the lower soil. Too heavy for ordi-
nary use.

Cabbage Plows are small, one-horse plows, made
with a low and short mould-board, so as to plow close to
the row without disturbing the plants.

Potato Plows, made for plowing out potatoes, are
constructed with high standards to prevent clogging,
have double mould-boards, from the rear of which prongs
or fingers extend, which separate the potatoes from the
soil.

Potato Diggers are machines made with a wide
shear or scoop in front, running under the potato hills,
raising the potatoes to a large sieve or grate in the rear,
from which they are carried over and deposited in con-
venient position to be lifted. Capacity with two horses
said to bo four to five acres per day.

Harrows. — The harrow is the next important im-
plement in the preparation of the soil ; the old style
heavy wooden beam harrows are being superseded by the
lighter iron and steel frame harrows. Many of these are
arranged so that the teeth may be changed from a per-
pendicular to a slanting position ; they then constitute
what is called smoothini? harrows. The wooden frame
harrows are made square and double, with steel teeth.

Disk Harrows. — In addition to the harrows with
teeth, others are made with revolving disks. In tearing
old unbroken sod, hard baked or crusted land, black

172 MARKET GARBENIKG.

bottom land, the disk harrow requires less power to oper-
ate, and produces better results. The operator rides on
the machine. Seeders are sometimes attached, so that
the land is prepared and seeded at one operation.

Other harrows are made with reyolving steel blades
or knives, cutting into the soil and pulverizing it thor-
oughly. The same advantages are claimed for these as
for the disk harrows.

The Acme Pulverizing Harrow, Clod Crusher
and Leveler, is constructed with a double row of
adjustable reversible coulters, does good work and, con-
sequently, has a wide reputation. The Spring Tooth har-
row is another valuable form. The frame is the shape
of a triangle ; one end of each tooth is attached to the
frame, the other drags on the ground, tearing u]) the soil
and pulverizing it.

Clod Crushers are shaped like a large roller, some-
times with spike-like projectures, others being with pris-
matic surfaces. It is a very valuable implement for pul-
verizing lumpy and heavy clay soils.

The Meeker Disk Smoothing Harrow and
Crusher is principally used by truckers in preparing
the soil for sowing fine seeds. It consists of a frame
about six feet square, having four sets of rollers. On
the two forward rollers the disks are set six inches apart.
On the two rear rollers the disks are set three inches
apart, and work between the forward rollers. An adjust-
able center-board acts as a leveller.

Manure Spreaders. — These were introduced some
years ago, but, in consequence of their cost and the reluc-
tance of gardeners to abandon old methods, have not met
with the success that their importance would seem to
justify. The advantages of the spreading machine is
the ability to do twice the amount of work as in the old
way, adding much to the value of the manure by more
thorough pulverization and more even distribution.

IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM Al^D GARDEN. 1"^3

The Lime Spreader. — This is another very useful
implement. There are several makes, varying slightly in
details. Distributing lime is very laborious and unpleas-
ant, and a machine that will relieve the farmer of this
labor should be in more s^eneral use.

Horse Grain and Seed Drills and Fertilizing
Distributers are manufactured in different localities
throughout the country, on the same general principles,
but varying in many particulars, as the arrangement of
the tubes, rollers, feed cog gear, gauging levers, etc.
Competition necessarily compels manufacturers to con-
struct their machines with most desirable improvements.
The machines are intended to sow all kinds of grain,
grass seed and fertilizers, in any desired quantity or
depth, and, as a rule, give general satisfaction.

Broadcast Fertilizer Distributers are another
contribution to the list of labor-saving implements.
They are arranged to sow commercial fertilizers, ashes,
plaster, to crush lumps and hard substances, and sow
damp as regularly as dry materials. They are said to be
simple, practical and durable.

Hand Drills for Sowing Garden Seeds. — There
are quite a number of different makers of these machines,
all claiming to be the best. The principal leading ma-
chines are the Keeler, New^ Model, Mathews, Planet Jr.,
Big Comstock, Matthew Improved. With one of these
little machines the gardener can open the furrows, sow
the seed, cover and*roll at one time. In addition to small
seeds these machines can be regulated to sow corn, beans
or peas on a limited scale.

Corn Planters.— On large farms, particularly in the
Western States, planting corn by hand is almost entirely
abandoned in favor of the more rapid and profitable mode
of planting in rows with horse power. These machines
are arranged to plant single or double rows. In some
machines the dropper receives its motion from the wheels

174 MARKET GARDENING.

running over the surface of the ground, and in others
the dropping is accomplished by raising a lever at the
required distance^ by hand or by wires. Fertilizers are
also dropped in the rows by special attachments.

Hand Corn Droppers are also extensively, used,
and there are many patterns of these machines. One of
the best is Fisk's Automatic ; it weighs between four and
five pounds, and is said to plant in all kinds and condi-
tions of soil as fast as a one-horse drill.

Broadcast Seed Sowers, for sowing all kinds of
grain, grass and clover seeds, are made to operate by
hand or horse power. The hand machines are capable of
sowing from four to six acres per hour, and the horse
machines much more. The hand machines will cover a
swath of from fifteen to thirty-six feet, according to
weight of the seed being sown, the lighter seeds carrying
the lesser and the heavy seeds the greater distance. The
power machine will carry a little wider swath. They are
arranged to be attached to any ordinary farm wagon.
The Pearce's Improved Gaboon machine is believed to be
the best, but there are several other approved machines.

The Potato Planter. — This is one of the most
important additions to modern agricultural machinery.
The old mode of droj^ping the potato cuttings, piece by
piece, is a very slow and laborious operation, and on large
areas is almost prohibitory. The introduction of the
planters have changed all this. They are being intro-
duced into all sections and seem to give universal satis-
faction. One man with a machine and team can plant
from six to eight acres per day. The machine can be set
to plant from ten to twenty-six inches apart in the drills,
the depth of planting being regulated by the driver.
The marking out, plowing furrow, dropping potato seed,
either whole or in pieces, drilling fertilizer and covering,
all constitute one operation.

Rollers — Field and garden rollers are used at all
seasons whpJi the soil is not wet, to crush clods and com-

IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AH^D GARDEN". 175

press the earth, either before or after seeding, and on
grass lands and grain fields in the early spring after
frost is out. There is, unfortunately, very little improve-
ment in this implement over those used fifty years ago;
they are made of wood, east iron and wrought iron,
some in one section, others from two to six sections.
The rollers in sections have the advantage of turning
without dragging. Sizes usually made are from single
sections twelve inches wide to the six section field roller
seventy-two inches wide. The field rollers are supplied
with a box to hold additional weight.

Cultivators or Horse Hoes. — These are used for
cultivating corn, potatoes, cabbages, etc., loosening the
soil and destroying weeds between the rows, also for
throwing the earth to or from the plants. They are con-
structed with wrought iron frames, movable and adjust-
able teeth. By changing the plates and moving the
standards, one machine can be adapted to many different
purposes. These machines are manufactured by many
different parties throughout the country, but the Iron
Age and Planet Jr. seem to have the lead in favor.

Lee's Horse Hoe. — This is practically a weeding
machine drawn by one horse, has a wooden frame shaped
like a cultivator, with eight curved spike teeth in front
followed by two flat hoes or knives; the front teeth loosen
the surface and the flat hoes shave off the weeds, leaving
them on the surface to die. Crops can be hoed with
these machines long before other cultivators can be used,
as they can cut within half an inch of a row without dis-
turbing the plants.

Two-Horse Sulky Cultivators, with two wheels
and a seat for the driver, and the Two-Horse Walking
Cultivators are in use on many ordinary farms, but are
particularly useful on large plantations. Working two
rows at one operation, they accomplish twice as much as
the ordinary cultivator. They are made with the revers-

176 MARKET GARDEi;riXG.

ible plate teeth, or spring teeth, and are constructed so
as to be entirely under the control of the operator.

Hand Garden Hoes.

Notwithstanding the introduction of improved
wheel hoes, garden cultivators and garden j^lows, the hand
hoe still retains its position as an indispensable tool. The
half-moon hoe, the square hoe and the scuffle hoe, relics
of a past age, are, under modification, still in use, made
of better and lighter material, and of superior design.
It will suffice to notice a few.

The Warren Hoe is a heart-shaped pointed hoe,
having a ridge in the center with sides slightly concave.
The operator may use the point, the sides or the wing
tips, to obtain advantageous positions around growing
plants. These hoes cost from fifty-five to sixty-five cents.

Reversible Scuffle Hoe. — This has an A-shaped
blade, the shank of which works in a curved slot, con-
trolled by a thumb-screw ; the hoe may be set at any
angle, either to push or draw.

The Crescent Hoe, so named from the shape of
the blade, has a sharp edge on the outer and inner circle.
It is a form of scuffle hoe.

The Weed Annihilator is a hoe having two blades
crossing each other, held together in the center by a screw
bolt connected with the shank of the handle. It is used
as a scuffle hoe, the blades being expanded or contracted
as desired.

The Onion Weeder is a small triangular hoe,
three inches wide on the broad end, handle about eight
inches long.

The Celery Hoe has a blade fourteen inches wide
and eight inches deep, made especially for hilling up
celery. Handle six feet long.

The Trowel Hoe is shaped like a trowel and used
for marking out or stirring the earth in very narrow
spaces.

IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AND GARDEN. 177

The Nurseryman's Hoe has two prongs about
nine inches long. It is designed for grubbing around trees.

The Hexamer Hoe has six steel prongs, wedged
into a chimp at the end of a five foot handle. It is val-
uable for loosening earth too hard for the ordinary hoe,
and especially for working in stony ground. May be
reduced to four or two prongs by drawing the wedge;
broken tines may be replaced in tlie same manner.

Planet Celery Earther or Hiller. — This, a two-
horse implement, is something like a cultivator, but, in
place of the side arms, has two hilling steel wings forty-
five inches long, the rear ends of which may be expanded
or contracted to such varying widths of rows, or the
wings maybe elevated as the hilling becomes higher. It
is also made with a sinsfle wins:. An iron rod called a
leaf lifter runs from end to end of the machine outside of
the wings and lifts the leaves, that the earth may be
thrown up close against the stems. The machine is also
useful in cultivating sweet potatoes.

Wheel Hoes.

Lee's Wheel Hoe. — The invention of a market
gardener, resultant from many years experience, is a sim-
ple and effective tool. It has a triangular or V shaped
iron frame, with five light harrow teeth in front followed
by a flat steel knife for cutting weeds. The teeth loosen
the earth, and the knife cuts off the weeds beneath the
surface, leaving them on the surface to die, so that the
work does not have to be repeated for the same growth
of weeds. The ends of tlie knife are flanged upwards to
prevent the earth covering small plants. The handles
reach down to a wheel in front, giving the operator per-
fect command of the machine.

The Planet, Jr. — A double and single wheel ma-
chine hoe, one form consisting of an iron frame having
two wheels in front designed to straddle the row, the
12

178 MARKET GARDEKIKG.

other form one wheel only for cultivating hetween rows.
A number of attachments are used, designed for different
modes of cultivation.

The Gem of the Garden is also operated by a
single wheel or two wheels. It is a light, handy imple-
ment, having attachments of plows, hoes and scarifiers
suited for the cultivation of vegetables of all kinds.

The Jewel single and double wheel hoe is very
similar to the Gem, differing in the arrangement of the
attachments.

The Comstock Garden Cultivator and Weeder.

A sinole wheel hoe of iron frame, and with steel teeth

adapted to cultivating onions, beets, carrots, etc. Is a
light running machine, doing good work.

The Universal Hoe, single or double wheel, has
blades on each side, adjusted by springs.

The Matthew Weeder, of wooden frame, one
wheel, hoes with standard and steel plates.

The Champion Weeder, iron frame, handles and
wheel, with a single flat pointed steel hoe, very light and
easily handled.

The Rotating Hand Cultivator and Weeder
has iron frame, driving wheel and ratchet wheel. The
knives are of steel.

Hand Plows, for use in the garden, are extensively
used, and are very efficient in the making of plots too
small for a horse plow and too large to dig by hand.
Some are made with a long handle by which the operator
draws the plow after him, others having a wdieel in front
are made to push. The hand plow may be made as use-
ful in the garden as the ordinary plow in the field, as
frequent cropping at odd times is rendered easy by
hand plowing when horse plowing is impracticable.

Fumigators. — Fumigation is at times a necessity
in the greenhouse or conservatory, to destroy by suffoca-
tion red spiders and some other insect pests, so difficult
to reach that applications by syringes or sprayers fail to

IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AND GARDEN. 179

kill. Among fumigators maybe named the folio wiug as
efficient:

Perlich's Excelsior Fumigator, made in the form
of a sheet-iron cone, small at the top and gradually widen-
ing, and covering a box with j^erforated top. Tobacco
stems are packed in the cone and lighted charcoal placed
in the fire box beneath, which draws its air from tlie out-
side, the suffocating tobacco fumes being ejected from
the top. The apparatus is perfectly safe and does not
require watching. They are also used in hospitals and
ships in case of infectious diseases.

The Eureka Fumigator. — This resembles the
Excelsior, the difference in the arrangement being very
slight.

Woodaisne Fumigator Bellows. — These are
very efficient for fumigating single plants or small con-
servatories.

Spraying Machines and Atomizers. — The in-
crease in the depredations of insects of both old and new
species consequent upon the vast extension of cultivation
of vegetables, fruits and flowers, and the extension of
inter-state commerce, has necessitated the invention and
manufacture of numerous machines adapted for spraying
and puffing insecticides, liquid and dry, for the destruc-
tion of such pests.

Some of these inventions are adapted to small oper-
ations, both in-doors and out. Others of larger capacity
are intended to operate in the fields or orchards.

Beginning witli the smaller instruments, there are
sprinklers, sprayers and injectors, for use in the conserv-
atory ; garden and greenhouse syj'inges, made of brass or
tin ; bellows for spraying liquid, Peck's sprinkler, brass
and tin portable punq^s, insect powder-guns, dredgerbox
powder sifter, etc.

For the more extended operations in the field, among
the many machines for that purpose, a new device, copied
from the French j has been introduced, which is said to

180 MARKET GARDE:N"IN'G.

giye yery satisfactory results. It consists of a flat cojDper
or tin can, designed to contain liquid, and be carried on
the bac_k of the o^^erator as a soldier carries his knapsack.
The operator with one hand works a little force pump
connected with the machine, and with the other hand
directs a spraying hose upon the plants. In this way he
is enabled to get over considerable ground in a short time
and do effective work.

A popular device is that of a barrel on wheels, with
a pump attached, for throwing or spraying liquid on trees
and plants. Instead of a force pump, a pipe or hose is
sometimes attached to the bottom of a barrel elevated on
wheels.

Boxes on wheels, called garden engines, having a
pump attachment, are used for spraying trees and plants.

A very simple arrangement has been in use for some
years past for distributing, sprinkling or dusting Paris
green and other powders on two rows of plants at one
operation. It consists of a barrow, with a single wheel
operating two revolving perforated cylinders, one on each
side of the barrow, and from which tlie powder is sifted
on the plants.

The Farmer's Favorite Distributer consists of a tin
cylinder with perforated bottom, carried in the hand like
a bucket, with which the operator dusts the j^lants as he
walks along.

Grass Edgers. — On all well managed lawns. the
edges of walks and roads are kept free from straggling
grass by several devices. For small lawns the edging
knife is all-sufficient ; it is a crescent-shaped steel blade,
with a handle socket in which may be placed a long or
short handle.

The Lightning Lawn Edge-Trimmer. — This
has a revolving steel disc, fastened to the edge of a long
handle. Pushed by the operator the disc is put into
rapid motion. A simple and efficient tool.

Grass-Edging Shears, although old in style are

IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AKD GARDEN. 181

still in use. They have two handles about three feet long;
the blades work vertically, resting on a small wheel.

The Planet Jr. Grass Edger is operated by two
handles attached to an iron frame, with bearing wheels in
front. A revolving steel disc on the side cuts the grass,
and a small plowshare in the rear removes the cut sod.

The Philadelphia Grass - Edger has a set of
revolving knives, put in motion by a bearing wheel to
which is attached a handle. The operator pushes the
wheel along the grass edge, the quick revolving knives
cutting the projecting blades of grass, leaving the edges
well shaved.

Richmond Sod Cutter.— This is an implement of
recent introduction, and to landscape gardeners and
others requiring sods in quantity, is of much value as a
labor-saving appliance. Worked by one man and a
horse, it is claimed that this machine will cut from
thirty to forty thousand square feet of sod per day. In
form it is a square box, supported by two small wheels,
drawn by a horse, and guided by handles. A flat steel
knife in front runs under the sod, cutting ribbons of
uniform width and thickness.

Lawn Sprinklers. — The lawn sprinkler is a valu-
able invention for use on lawns and grass plots, in cities
and villages where a supply of water under pressure can
be had. The apparatus is made of a single gas pipe two
and one-half or three feet long, standing upright, sup-
ported on cast-iron feet. Near the base of the pipe is a
screw-opening for the attachment of a water hose. At
the top arms are so fitted as to revolve by the force of
water pressure ; they are made hollow and perforated,
and on the end generally have a perforated ball or bulb.
As the arms revolve the water is thrown out centrifu-
gally in a fine spray for a considerable distance. The
number of arms vary ; some machines have four, others
six to eight. Several styles of small sprinklers adapted
to more limited spaces are also made.

CHAPTER XXIV.

A Half-Acre Gardens".

The quantity of seed required for a half acre, dur-
ing the spring, and for a succession of those kinds requir-
ing sowing at later periods, will not vary much from
the following table :

Beet in three varieties, eight ounces each.
Beans, pule, two varieties, two quarts each.
Beans, dwarf, three varieties, tliree quarts each.
Corn, sugar, four varieties, one quart each.
Cucumber, two varieties, eiglit ounces each.
Carrots, two varieties, four ounces each.
Celery, two varieties, four ounces each.
Cabbage, three varieties, one ounce each.
Lettuce, three varieties, four ounces each.
Melon, Water, two varieties, two ounces each.
Melon, Citron, two varieties, two ounces each.
Parsnips, one variety, four ounces each.
Radishes, three varieties, four ounces each.
Squash, three varieties, four ounces each.
Spinach, two varieties, eight ounces each.
Tomatoes, three varieties, four ounces each.
Herbs, four varieties, one ounce each.

In well managed gardens yegetable seeds are sown,
or plants set out in rows, and to enable the amateur to
make a close calculation of the quantity of various seeds
required for any determined or measured area, the
writer gives the following table, showing how much is
needed for a row one hundred yards long. In these
calculations, however, it is supposed that the seed are
fresh, and that, at least, eighty per cent, will vegetate
under favorable conditions.

182

A HALF-ACRE GARDEK.

183

Asparagus, eight ounces.
Beans, busli, three quarts.
Beans, lima, three pints.
Beans, pole, one pint.
Beet, five ounces.
Broccoli, one-half ounce.
Brnssels sprouts, one-half ounce
Cabbage, one ounce.
Carrot, three ounces.
Cauliflower, one-half ounce.
Celery, three ounces.
Collards, one-half ounce.
Corn, one pint.
Cress, four ounces.
Cucumber, four ounces.
Eirj? plant, one-half ounce.
Entlive, two ounces.
Leek, two ounces.
Lettuce, two ounces.

To Sow One Hundred Yards.

Melon, Water, two ounces.

Melon, Citron, one ounce.

Mustard, four ounces.

Okra, twelve ounces.

Onion, two ounces for large bulbs.

Onion, eight onnces for sets.

Parsley, two ounces.

Parsnip, three ounces.

Peas, three quarts.

Pepper, one-half ounce.

Pumpkin, two ounces.

Radish, six ounces.

Bhubarb, four ounces.

Salsify, four ounces.

Spinach, six ounces.

Squash, tliree ounces.

Tomato, one ounce.

Turnips, three ounces.

The tliouglitfiil cultivator will, iis a necessary pre-
caution, provide himself with a surplus quantity of the
seeds he designs to plant, to hold as a reserve for replant-
ings, as dry weather, beating rains and insect depreda-
tions often destroy the first sowings. The amateur gar-
dener, and the expert, as well, should make out a list of
the varieties of vegetables he desires to have, and then
lay off on a paper a diagram of his garden,- assigning
certain rows to each sort. He can then readily calculate
the amount of seed he will require.

Desirable Varieties. — Desirable varieties of the
leading families of garden vegetables are named as
follows, and in order of maturity for table :

Beans.
Extra Early Red Valentine.
Pink Eye AVax.
Landreth's Scarlet.

Cabbage.
Select Early Jersey Wakefield.
Reedland Early Drumhead.
Large Late Flat Dutch.

Carrot.
Blunt Horn.
Half Long Coreless.
Nantes Half Long.

Lettuce.
Landreth's Forcing.
Reliable.
Largest of All.

Watermelon.

Round Dark Icing.
Long Light Icing.
Boss.

Cantaloupe.
Jenny Lind.

Extra Early Hackensack.
Acme.

184

MARKET GARDEKIKG.

Paksnip.

Bloonisdale.

Cauliflower.
Landreth's First.
Snowball.
Half Early Paris.

Sugar Corn.
Early Minnesota.
Crosby.
Evergreen.

Celery.
Dwarf White.
White Plnme.
Paris Golden.

Celeriac.
Apple shaped.

Cucumber.

Landreth First.
White Spine.
Long Green.

As it is always desirable, in a garden, to have a con-
tinuous and rapid succession of crops. A system of
rotation must be studied out and followed, otherwise at
certain seasons part of the garden will go uncropped,
and a direct loss ensue, for it is only by attention to the
details of a prompt succession of crops that any cash
profit can be had out of a private garden.

Onions.
Pearl.

Extra Early Red.
Silver Skin.

Peas.
Landreth Extra Early.
Advancer.
Telephone.

Radish.
Short Topped Earliest White.
Prussian Scarlet Globe.
Long Scarlet Straj) Leaved.

Squash.
Extra Early Bush.
Yellow Summer Crook Neck.
Hubbard.

Tomatoes.

Extra Early Jersey.

Beauty.

Stone.

CHAPTER XXV.

Calen^der In^dicating Operations for the
Northern and Southern States.

JANUARY.

Northern. — January is unfavorable to out- door
labor ; in the garden, especially, but little can be done.
In the orchard some work may be attempted. Rods for
beans and peas may be made ready, manure collected,
com])ost heaps formed, — and, by the way, compost is
beyond all comparison the best shape in which to apply
fertilizers to most vegetable crops. Fruit trees pruned,
hedges clipped — those formed of evergreens not till frost
has disappeared — shape them narrow at the top, wide at
the base. Asparagus beds top-dressed with compost and
salt preparatory to being dug when frost has ceased.
Hot-beds for early forcing may be made ready.

Southern. — For tlie Southern States the writer
simply aims to remind the reader of what may be done
if the surroundings and climate be favorable. The
enterprising man is not usually deterred by fears, and if
his judgment leads him to take the risk, he may act
upon some of the following suggestions, if he resides
south of the latitude of Charleston. The market gar-
dener in the lower part of the Florida Peninsula culti-
vates under conditions peculiar alone to his section.

Sow radishes sparsely from time to time. Dress
asparagus beds with compost and salt. This latter,
though an active agent, may be safely given in heavy
dressings to asparagus, and has the further advantage of

185

186 MARKET GARDENIlfG.

destroying weeds. Horseradish cuttings may be put out
and peas sown at intervals ; and if some are frosted, try
again. For very early cabbage select Summer Flathead
and Early Jersey Wakefield, — these may be sown for
Spring and early Summer use ; the Reedland Early
Drumhead may now be sown to come in still later ; also
the early Dwarf Flat Dutch, a variety which stands both
heat and cold, and which can be highly commended —
thus keeping up an uninterrupted succession. Cauli-
flower planted in the autumn will begin to head and
may need slight protection at this season. Broccoli sown
in September will begin to head, and it should be more
widely cultivated. Sow turnips for early crop, also
beets, carrots, spinach, ^^arsley, all of which may be
repeated next month. Hoe onions and other hardy crops
planted in Autumn. Lettuce plants from fall sowings
should be transplanted ; celery earthed up as required ;
endive should now be in full growth, and tied up to
blanch, in small quantities only as needed ; garlic, shal-
lots and onion sets may still be planted, and peas planted
the last of the month.

FEBRUARY.

Norther:n'. — Next month will bring its work, and
we can now only prepare for it. It is presumed that
all persons residing in the country are provided with a
cheap and simple hotbed, for forwarding tender vege-
tables. Towards the close of this month seeds of cab-
bage, cauliflower, tomato, egg plant and pepper may be
planted in hotbed ; watch them lest they suffer by frost,
or, as is not infrequently the case, from want of sufficient
air as the weather becomes milder, when they will need
also increased watering.

If tools and implements are likely to be needed, the
thoughtful man provides them in due season, overhauls
his stock of seeds, and makes out a list of those which

CALEKDAR INDICATING OPERATIONS. 187

may be needed, to the end that they may be in hand
before the time of sowing.

Southern. — The time for active labor in the South-
ern States is at hand. Plant peas, selecting the Extra
Earl}", which is unquestionably the greatest bearer among
the first early sorts, and is of fine flavor. Among the
best peas following in succession are the American Won-
der, Premium Gem and Advancer. Beans, cabbage and
cauliflower seed and White Leaved collards may be sown.
Remember, highly enriched and well-tilled soil will alone
produce good crops of the cabbage tribe, which embraces
the turnip and ruta baga. The cabbage plants from
previous sowings should be transplanted, also lettuce
plants. Sow spinach, radishes, carrots, parsnips, salsify
and beets, and re-dress the asparagus beds. This delicious
vegetable may be improved by the application of salt or
refuse pickle, of which heavy dressings may be safely
given. Plant squashes and melons. Do not be deterred
from fear of loss by change of temperature ; the gard-
ener who counts every liability will be, in the main,
behind his more enterprising ueighboi'. Plant Minnesota
Sugar corn for the first crop, follow up with Crosby
Sugar, Early Mammoth and Evergreen for succession.
Plant early potatoes, Ohio or Rose.

MARCH.

Northern. — Asparagus seed maybe sown, or the
roots set out. For early beets sow Eclipse, Philadelphia
Turnip and Early Blood T^^^^^"^ Sow cabbage in a
sheltered place, if not aireaay in hotbed. Test Lan-
dreth's Earliest, Very Early Wakefield, Landreth's Early
Summer Flathead, Early Market and Early Drumhead.
Sow carrots. Extra Early Forcing cauliflower — attend to
those under glass. Celery, cress, etc. Prepare compost
and manure for late hotbeds. Set out horseradish

188 MARKET GARDEI5^IXG.

plants, make hotbeds, sow and transplant lettuce.
Attend to mushroom beds and sow mustard. For onions
put out as sets, those known as ^^Philadelphia Buttons"
keep the best. Of parsnips, Bloomsdale is the best.
Peas, Extra Early, Advancer, Premium Gem. Plant
early potatoes ; the Early Ohio is a prolific early. Sow
Market Gardeners' and Summer White radish; the
Strap-leaved Long Scarlet is an improvement on the
old Long Scarlet, and is recommended. Sow rhubarb
or plant roots. Sow seed of garden sage and tomatoes
in hot -bed ; Early Jersey ripens first. Sow turnips, but
generally so far north as Philadelphia these directions
will apply better to April than to March.

Southern. — Southward of Washington. Continue
to plant peas and beans; Lanclreth's Scarlet is a fine
golden wax. Transplant cabbage plants from winter
beds, especially Landreth's Earliest, also Jersey "Wake
field. Remember to have fine head cabbage and lettuce ;
deep culture and highly manured soil is required. Sow
Extra Early Red onion and Extra Early Yellow. Leeks
may be sown and a few turnips. Plant potatoes. Sow
carrots and parsnips, if enough were not sown last
month. Mustard and Cutting lettuce, for small salad,
should be sown at least once a fortnight. Sow parsley
and tomatoes in warm situation ; those from the hotbed
may be set out. Sow peppers at the close of this month.
Watermelons — Boss and Long Light Icing — may be
planted, also Extra Early and Acme cantaloupe, and
Reedland Giant muskmelon. Cucumbers, First and
Choice; Okra, Landreth's Long Green Pod; also squash
and pumpkins. Beets and other root crops sown last
month will be advancing ; they should be thinned and
cultivated. Sow celery — Paris Golden, and Si-inach.
Dress asparagus beds if not already done, and sat out
strawberry beds. French artichokes, if slipped and
dressed last month, should have attention.

CALENDAR INDICATING OPERATIONS. 189

APRIL.

Northern. — The exact time at which certain seeds
should be sown must depend not only on location in res-
pect to latitude, but also on the nature of the soil ; if it
be heavy, a little delay will rather promote than retard
our object ; the common sense of each one must be used.

Sow asparagus seed or plant roots, if not attended to
last month. Wherever practicable, a bed of sufficient
size should be made to permit an ample supj^ly without
cutting every feeble shoot which peeps above the sur-
face ; indeed where space and means admit, two beds
should be maintained, and cut alternate seasons. Plaut
Landreth's Scarlet and Pink Eye Wax beans. Beets,
Early and Long. Cabbage, Reedland, Early Drumhead
and Late Flat Dutch ; sow freely that there be enough
for the fly and to plant out. Carrots, Extra Early Forc-
ing, and Dauvers. Celery, if not sown last month; aim
for large plants. Cress and cucumbers, sow in warm
spot. Plant horseradish, if not done. Sow leeks and
lettuce in drills, also plant from beds of last autumn's
sowing. Sow sweet marjoram and mustard for salad.
Sow nasturtiums and onions, and plant buttons for table
use and for sets ; sow white, red and yellow thickly.
Sow parsley ; parsnips, Bloomsdale Sugar ; peas, early
and late, for a succession. Plant potatoes ; Green
Mountain is a variety of very superior quality. Sow
radish, Earliest AVhite, Prussian Golden Globe, White
Summer and Lad3-finger, for succession. Sow salsify,
sage and spinach, at short intervals ; also thyme and
tomatoes on borders, to succeed those sown in hotbeds.
Sow turnips, if not sown last month ; they may succeed.

Southern. — Spring sown cabbage will now be fit to
transplant ; manure well, if you expect fine heads. The
plants set out in February and March will require cul-
ture, and deep tillage is demanded by the cabbage tribe.

190 MAEKET GARDENING.

About the middle or latter end of this month, sow Reed-
land Early, Late Mountain, Late Flat Dutch, Late Drum-
head, Flat Dutch and Drumhead Savoy cabbage seed, for
plants to be set out in June. Cauliflower and broccoli
may be sown. Carrots, parsnips and beets previously
sown are now advancing in growth, and should receive
necessary care ; additional sowings of each may now be
made. Pearl onions, set out in autumn, should be fit
for use. Sow leeks for winter use. Turnips sown last
month should be hoed and thinned. Draw up the earth
to the potato vines. Sow radishes ; the White Summer
and Golden Globe are the best for the season. Lettuce
may be drilled where intended to head. Sow celery;
plant more cucumbers, melons and squashes. Study
varieties. The fertilizer best adapted to these vines is
compost prepared the past season, formed of decomposed
manure, well rotted sod, wood earth, etc. It is suffic-
iently stimulating, and will not be likely to burn the
plants during dry weather, and the vines will bear better
than when of more rampant growth. Sow okra, Long
Green Pod, if not already in. The vigilant gardener will
keep his eye upon the weeds.

MAY.

ISToETHERisr. — During the past month the hardier
vegetables have been sown, and by the middle of the
present month all will have been put in.

Plant bush beans for succession ; Lima, Carolina,
and other pole beans may now be planted. Sow Long
beets. Plant cabbage, and sow seed if not done last
month. Plant peppers. Sow Nantes carrot. Remove
glass in cauliflower frames. Weed celery. Repeat sow-
ings for crops which have failed when first sown. Plant
Jersey Pickle cucumbers. Sow Reliable lettuce, Largest
of All, and Dutch Butter, in drills to stand ; thin out to
four inches. Plant melons 3 the best are the Boss and

CALENDAR INDICATING OPERATIONS. 191

Long Light Icing. Among musk melons the Extra
Early is the first to ripen, but is not as. good as many
others ; Acme is a good variety. Thin out parsni2:>s, if
ready.

Southern. — Plant pole beans, Lima, Carolina and
Creaseback ; also Dwarf Pink Eye Wax. The Saddle-
back is good. Sow cabbage for winter; sow lettuce,
Landreth's Cutting and Golden Curled. Sow radishes,
the Golden Globe and White Summer. Melons, cucum-
bers and squashes may be put in. Plant Landreth's
Sugar and Evergreen corn, for succession. Sow peppers
and tomatoes for plants for later crops. Set out sweet
potatoes in suitable weather. Where water is of easy
application it may answer to supply it, otherwise it
hardly pays the cost of the labor. Under a burning sun,
water should not be given directly ; it is better to apply
it between rows of plants, they will thus supply them-
selves without the liability to scald.

JUNE.

Northern. — The labors of the gardener will mainly
consist in the tillage of the growing crop. The rapid
growth of weeds at this season will admonish him of the
necessity of timely exertion.

The aid of appropriate tools in the culture of crops
and the extermination of w^eds need not bo commended.
Good implements are indispensable to success, and he
who has provided them will not only have greater pleas-
ure in his labors, but the profit which attends the judic-
ious application of both time and labor.

Keep asparagus beds clean. Plant Bush or Bunch
beans for succession, and cultivate those in growth.
Thin beets to four inches. Plant out broccoli, those
sown in April ; also cabbages, especially the sorts which
it is desired shall come into use in September and Octo-
ber, in advance of the winter varieties. Plant out

192 MARKET GARDEXIXG.

celery, a portion for early use. Sow successive crops of
cucumbers, of choice varieties. Plant Early Mammoth
Sugar corn for a succession. Sow endive. Thin or
transplant leeks. A few peas may be planted as a suc-
cession.

SouTHERX. — Plant beans; trans})lant cabbage and
cauliflower, and Spring-heading broccoli seed may be
sown. Cucumbers, melons and squashes may be planted.
Sow tomato9s for a succession, beginning with the Early
Jersey, Acme and Perfection. The chief labor in the
garden had better be directed to what is already in
growth ; but few seeds sown in hot weather, in a South-
ern climate, repay the trouble.

JULY,

NoRTHERX. — This, like June, is the month of labor
in the garden. Weeds are in rapid growth, plants are to
be set out, and various matters require attention.

Plant Landreth's Scarlet beans for succession; beets,
the stock-feeding varieties, Long Blood Sugar; mangold
wurtzel may be planted for stock as late as the first of
July. June is, however, much better. Beets, Early
Blood Red Turnip, and half Long for late winter and
spring use, may be sown. The winter sorts of cabbage
should now be planted out ; where many are to be trans-
planted it is best to wait for a suitable time, a heavy rain
or showery weather ; but in a small garden cabbages may
be transplanted at almost any season by careful watering,
and, if need be, shading. Plant celery. Sow endive.
A few peas may be sown, but they seldom do well at this
season. Turnips of all kinds may be sown.

SouTHERX. — Under favorable conditions, plant
beans. Transplant cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.
Transplant leeks. Sow Nantes carrots and parsnips.
Sow endive for early cro}^. A few turnips may be sown.
Transplant celery for early supply, and prepare trenches

cale:n"dar indicating opekatioxs. 193

for the main crop. Spinach may be sown toward the
close of the month. The seed will not yegetate if the
ground be dry; watering is practiced by some, but the
results scarcely repay the labor. Plant white potatoes.
Short Prolific and Jersey Pickle cucumbers may be
planted for pickles. Our remarks on ruta bagas apply
with increased force, for in the South pasturage is less
abundant than in the North ; besides, it is a most whole-
some food for man as well as beast.

Usually at this season the extreme heat and prevail-
ing drouth render it difficult to get seed to vegetate.
If failures occur, the only remedy is to try again under
more favorable circumstances. Much depends on the
quality of the seed sown. The stale stuff not unfre-
quently sold, only disappoints and annoys. Therefore,
purchase American grown, and that only the product of
reliable persons, obtained direct or through merchants
who get their supplies from the best sources and irre-
spective of price. That offered '' remarkably cheap " is
usually dear in the end.

AUGUST.

Northern. — The work of this month does not vary
materially from the month just closed. Cabbage, for
winter use, may head if planted at once. Earth up
celery, and plant for future use. Plant endive. Bush
or Snap beans gathered late in autumn, may be pre-
served in brine (salt and water) for winter use, and vary
but little from those freshly gathered. Sow Forcing and
Reliable lettuce, in drills to head. Sow peas, for this
vegetable is a delicacy in autumn, and should more fre-
quently appear at table. Extra Early, sown later or at
end of this month and beginning of next, will perfect
before frost. Sow Bloomsdale sjiinach for autumn use ;
for winter use, sow next month. Sow the Spaiish and
China radishes for winter, and the Golden G^.obe and
13

194 MARKET GARDENIJSG.

Red Turnip rooted for autumn use. Sow ruta bagas
without delay, if not already done. Should the ground
be dry, work thoroughly and sow in the dust : the seed
may vegetate with the first shower. A roller to com-
press the soil sometimes promotes vegetation ; but there
is this disadvantage, if heavy, dashing rain immediately
ensues, the ground packs, and the seed is lost. Yellow
Aberdeen, Pomeranean Globe and Amber Globe turnips
should be sown early in the month ; also the Sweet Ger-
man turnip. Early Dutch and Red-topped may be sown
until first of September, though it will do well to sow at
least a portion earlier, as at a late day it is difficult to
remedy a failure.

SouTHERX. — Sow Reedland Early Drumhead cab-
bage seed, to head in November ; also Landreth's Earli-
est, Early Jersey Wakefield, Bloomsdale Early Market
and Early Dwarf Flat Dutch for family use. Sow broc-
coli and cauliflower, and transplant from an earlier sow-
ing. Sow White Leaved collards. Plant onion sets for
autumn. Sow carrots, squashes and rata bagas to make
up deficiencies in July sowing. Sow turnips for table use
at short intervals. Plant potatoes for winter use. Drill
lettuce. Sow radishes from time to time. Beets may
be sown for the winter suj^i^ly. Seeds directed to be
sown this month, it may, perhaps be necessary to defer
until the next, by rejison of heat and drouth. Let the
young gardener be not disheartened ; ultimately success
will attend persevering efforts.

SEPTEMBER.

Northern. — Many and varied are the duties which
devolve upon the gardener at this season. Not only do
the growing crops demand attention, but seeds are to be
sown to provide the necessary plants for the ensuing
Spring. Roots are to be divided and reset ; strawberries
planted. Sow Landreth's Earliest, Select Jersey Wake-

CALENDAR INDICATING OPERATIONS. 195

field, and Reedland Early Drumhead cabbage, to plaut
out in autumn, where the localit}' admits, or box up in
cold frame to keep until planting time in spring ; the
latter end of the month will be time enoudi to sow in
the latitude of Philadelphia ; especially sow the Early
Market, also the Bloomsdale, as a succession. The Early
Dutch and Red Topped turnips may be sown the first
week in this month, if failure has attended earlier efforts.
In some sections the fly devours the early sowing ; they
are less voracious after the nights become cool and dews
heavy. Earth up celery. Sow corn salad, scurvy grass
and chervil for winter salad. Sow Speckled Dutch let-
tuce for Spring planting, the plants to be kept during
the \Yinter in cold frames. Other good sorts for autumn
sowing are the Forcing, Reliable, and Early Summer.
Sow spinach early in the month for autumn use ; later
for winter and spring. The Bloomsdale is unquestion-
ably the hardiest for winter, and withal the best in leaf.

Southern. — The work in the garden has com-
menced in earnest. It is not too late to plant beans.
Transplant cabbage sown last month ; Early Market,
Early Dwarf Flat Dutch, Reedland Early Drumhead,
also the Early Jersey Wakefield, may still be sown.

Towards the close of this and the fore part of next
month, sow Flat Dutch, Lake Mountain, and Drum-
head Savoy cabbage, for use early in the Spring, and
to secure a good supply, sow liberally — the flies will have
their share. Transplant cauliflower and broccoli, and
sow turnips. Potatoes planted last month will require
culture. Bloomsdale onion seed may be sown for a
general crop, if Buttons or sets to plant are not at hand.
Get sets of Pearl, Autumn, White Wax and Bermuda
onions. Carrots sown now will be fit for use in December.
Spinach may be sown from time to time ; also endive.
Celery plants need tillage. Lettuce may be sown, and
Landreth's Forcing is a rare sort. Sow radishes fre-
quently ; especially winter radishes.

196 MARKET GAEDENIXG.

OCTOBER.

]N"0RTHERN. — The labors of the gardener are varied,
and he who neglects duties necessary to be done loses
time not to be regained ; the autumn is upon him. The
principal labors are, the protection of crops already
grown, and transplanting others. Top-dress asparagus
beds. Set out cabbage plants in a sheltered location and
on light land for next season's use. Store beets and car-
rots now or early next month. Plant out lettuce for
next spring, and dig potatoes. Sow spinach at once, if
not sown last month. Plant the Bloomsdale variety, as
it is hardiest.

SouTHERX. — Beans, planted last month, should be
cultivated. Transplant cabbage, also cauliflower and
broccoli. Set out Bloomsdale Pearl onion sets and
Autumn White Wax; these varieties are, indeed, won-
derful for early maturity, size and appearance. Plant
garlic and eschalots. Sow spinach for winter use.
Earth up celery in dry weather, and transplant from
seed bed for further supplies; also lettuce for spring
use. Sow radishes as required. Dress artichokes pre-
paratory for winter. Dress asparagus beds. Transplant
strawberries.

NOVEMBER.

NoRTHERi^. — The season for gardening is drawing
to a close ; indeed, it is limited to the preservation of
roots and the hardier vegetables for winter use, and such
operations as may be preparatory to another season.
Now is a good time to transplant fruit and ornamental
trees, shrubbery, etc. On loamy and light land, we pre-
fer, decidedly, fall planting, but on heavy soil, or where
the subsoil is clay, thus retaining the moisture near the
surface, spring may be a more favorable season ; and it
is generally esteemed the best for evergreens. Dress
asparagus beds, Dig beets and store. Place cabbages

CALENDAR INDICATING OPERATIONS. 197

in safe quarters. Dig carrots and store. Eartli up cel-
ery finally. Drain vacant ground if needful. Dig horse-
radish and store for convenience. Examine onions in
store. Dig and pit parsnips and salsify for convenient
access. From first to twentieth of this month, according
to locality, the winter supply of turnips should be jjulled
and pitted.

Southern. — The garden work is ample enough to
occupy attention. Sow peas ; if they escape the frost
they will be ready for use in April. For sowing at this
season, we recommend Tom Thumb and American Won-
der; they seldom rise over twelve inches, are abundant
bearers, and are, withal, quite early ; also Little Gem,
the three seeming to be admirably adapted to autumn
sowing in the South, where, on apprehended frost, pro-
tection may be given ; they are also equally, well suited
to early spring planting for the same reason, and if
planted on ground manured excessively high, will yield
as much to a given quantity of land as any pea known
to us. Set out cabbage, if plants remain. Plant Pearl,
Autumn White Wax and Bermuda onion sets. Blanch
celery. Sow salad on sheltered spots. Sow radishes ; if
frost kills them, it is only a little labor lost.

DECEMBER.

Northern. — Prepare compost. Prepare dung for
hotbeds. Attend to hotbeds. Sow radish and cauli-
fiower salad in frames. Trench and drain vacant ground.
Transplanting trees may still be done.

Southern. — In the far South, peas may be sown to
succeed those of November. See remarks under that
head. Cabbage plants, sown in October, will be fit to
put out. Sow Landreth's Earliest, Select Jersey W^ake-
field, and Reedland Early Drumhead, to head in January
and February. Sow radishes and lettuce. Look over

198 MARKET GARDENING.

the spinach, thin it as you collect for daily use. Onion
sets of all kinds may now be planted. Prepare ground
for carrots. Earth up celery in dry weather. Tie up
endive. Prune fruit trees, vines, etc. Transplant all
hardy trees.

CHAPTER XXVI.
The Grass Question.

A multitude of farmers in the corn-growing States,
and a still greater number in the cotton States of this
country, are in quest of profitable and reliable tame
grasses. In an agricultural sense, under the designa-
tion *^ grass" is included the true grasses and those other
forage and hay-making plants sown in connection with
grass, and termed artificial grasses, as Red Clover,
Alfalfa, Sainfoin, Trefoil, and others.

It may be stated, in a general way, that the capacity
of land to grow desirable grasses is the measure of its
agricultural value, and the extent and success in the
practice of growing grass indicates the degree of advance-
ment of a farmer in the scale of merit. Without grass,
although he may produce some poor stringy beef, he
cannot grow good mutton nor wool, nor will he have
plenty of hay. In the South, particularly, as an out-
growth of plenty of good hay and liberal feeding, that
important farm manufactory known as the barnyard
would be seen on a half million farms, which never knew
a barnyard in its practical sense, as a manufactory for
manure. The farm, county or State which cannot pro-
duce its own pasturage for spring, summer and autumn,
and its own hay for winter, is only half way up in the
agricultural scale, be its other crops ever so profitable.

THE GRASS QUESTION. 109

for it is dependent on otlier sections for an agricultural
staple which it should itself produce.

In locations where such protracted drouth prevails
as to burn up the present standard perennial grass, there
are badly needed other varieties of grasses which will
resist drouth, and, remaining green under hot sun, con-
tinue to furnish a nutritious bite when others have suc-
cumbed. Bermuda grass, a perennial from the West
Indies, to some extent fills the requirements, but it has
the objectionable characteristic of sometimes making
itself a nuisance by its persistence.

While the test of years and the experience of nations
point to certain perennial varieties of grass as standards
on ordinary farming soils, it sometimes occurs that wild
or native sorts have high merit in their respective local-
ity. For instance, many of the so-called wild annual
grasses of the Southern States, so frequently looked upon
by the planter as nuisances, especially those that strive
to take possession of cultivated fields during conditions
of summer heat, almost deadly to standard varieties of
grass and other farm crops, are, many of them, even
though some be annual sorts, just the types to carry
coarse-wooled sheep through such trying seasons, condi-
tions more serious to contemplate than the finding of
winter subsistence. For, in respect to winter feeding of
sheep or other cattle, the South has a great advantage
over the North in possessing a climate encouraging grass
to grow almost continuously, an elimination, to a large
extent, from the costs of sheep husbandry of the Norih-
ern expenses of housing the animals, and the storage
and cost of prolonged winter feeding.

The physical characteristics of grasses must be
studied by the thoughtful farmer as respects their adapt-
ability to his special soils, climate and purpose ; for
instance, varieties doing well on dry land should not be
sown on heavy, low, damp situations, nor others afford-

200 MARKET GARDE^T>fa.

ing a luxuriant and nutritious feed for pastured cattle,
but of a habit of forming high tussocks, should not be
sown with the expectation of machine mowing ; nor,
again, should other sorts specially adapted to cutting
green and feeding in the pen or stable, but which, like
Alfalfa, have their crowns so elevated above the earth
level as to be nibbled off by sheep, be sown for sheep
grazing.

Profitable farming in the Southern States can best
be developed and diversified by diverting from the ordi-
nary system of cultivation, or worse neglect, large areas
to pasturage, and hay fields of Blue grass. Clover, Alfalfa,
Alsike and Incarnatum, or, better, in some locations
wild grasses, thus enabling planters to feed some mil-
lions of sheep and clip six times as many millions of
pounds of unwashed wool, supplemental to which would
follow an extended culture in corn and oats.

It is self-evident that, to realize the wealth which
millions of sheep, with their mutton and wool, would
add to the South, there must be less acreage in cotton
and a greater acreage in grass, for, while Mexican sheep,
having some of the qualities of the goat, may live on
such stuff as thistles and cactns, the finer-bred shee])
must have an ample supply of succulent grass, with hay,
corn and oats. There is an old proverb which is very
true, *^No grass, no cattle; no cattle, no manure; no
manure, no crops;" or, to illustrate the idea in other
language, there is a French proverb, that grass is a
synonym for bread, beef, mutton and clothing.

Sheep farming naturally follows an advance in grass
farming, but the grass must be provided before the
sheep. When obtained, the two preserve the fertility of
good lands, and, under good management, restore those
classed as unfertile, and enrich the State. Nearly every
farm of two hundred acres of arable land can support a
flock of thirty to forty sheep, and, if it is not in condi-

THE GRASS QUESTION. 201

tion to do so, its owner should not rest till, with clover,
corn, rye and other green manures, he has brought up
his farm to that desirable condition.

The American farmer need have little fear of over-
production of wool, as the annual consumption in the
United States amounts to 000,000,000 pounds of un-
washed wool, which may be estimated as the clip from
100,000,000 sheep. The Census Bureau of 1890 gives
the total number of sheep in the United States as
43,000,000, of a value of $116,000,000, and cutting 290,-
000,000 pounds of unwashed wool.

In connection with the extension of grass culture
on poor lands, much may be said in favor of green
manuring as a preparation of lands, to sustain a crop of
grass. For example, it often occurs that thin soils,
v\'hich, without the expensive stimulus of commercial
fertilizers, will not develop a fair sod of the standard
perennial grasses, will yet grow a passable spring crop
of broadcasted corn to a height of two or three feet.
This plowed down before midsummer, and the field
again immediately broadcasted with a second sowing of
corn, to be plowed down in autumn, and followed by a
broadcasted crop of rye, to be plowed down in February
or March, will be found to have a marvellous fertilizing
effect in sustaining grass, or any other crop. The man
who pursues such a course of rejuvenation of his land
should have his taxes remitted, for he is a good example
in any locality, and should be encouraged. The corn
and rye system of green manuring supersedes the slow
process of clover renovation. Cultivated grasses of bien-
nial habit are, few of them, after being down for several
years, entirely able to take care of themselves, but must
be assisted by harrowing and seeding on bare spots, top
dressing with fertilizer, and rolling. AVorn-out pastures
can be renovated, to a marked degree, by the application
of bone phosphates, dried fish, meat and blood, and the

SO^ MARKET GARDEi5"IKG.

nitrate salts. Of late, in Europe, mnch attention has
been directed to the use of a new fertilizer known as slag
phosphate, a by-product of the Basic process of making
Bessemer steel. This slag phosphate seems especially
adapted for grass, and its trial is recommended.

In many localities the profits of grass land can be
increased over fourfold by means of irrigation, and its
j^ractice should unquestionably be pursued when the
conditions are favorable ; that is, when water in large
volume may be cheaply obtained, -which, flowing by
gravity from more elevated sources, can be distributed
beneath the surface by underground conductors, in open
ditches, or upon the surface. The writer once visited
the irrigated farms outside of Bedford, England, and
was amazed at the grass development. Subsequently,
visiting Barking, below London, he saw crops of rye
grown which produced a fresh cutting every three weeks
of ten tons to the acre. He was informed that one hun-
di-ed tons of green rye grass had been cut to the acre, in
a single summer.

While irrigation, in parts of the West, and on the
Pacific slope, is a thing of everyday agricultural practice,
enforced by reason of climatic conditions, and cheaply
practiced by reason of elevated ^vater supplies, the sys-
tem is almost unknown in the rainfall States. Few
localities can draw cheap and plentiful supplies of water
from mountain sides, but even under the exjiense of
pumping from rivers, it will pay to do it on tracts suffi-
ciently large and level for the advantageous distribution
of \vater.

Over three thousand varieties of plants of the grass
family are known and described by botanists, and while
by far the greater part are of such character as at once
to remove them from the list of farm forage plants,
there remains a vast number not cultivated, scarcely
tested, but w^orthy of experiment. The list of seeds of

THE GRASS QUESTION. 203

forage grasses offered by European seed merchants at
the present day numbers over two hundred annual, bien-
nial and perennial varieties ; but, without doubt, the
number will, ere long, be considerably extended, for
there are many wild forms of grasses all over the world
well worthy of propagation ; for example, some of the
wild grasses of Texas, Arizona and the Southwestern
plains, rich when green, and very nutritious in the form
of self-dried hay. Many of these may be much improved
by critical selection, hybridization and rich feeding, and
be fitted for cultivation in all high dry altitudes of the
cotton belt. Among these wild grasses of the plains the
most common is the Grama grass, a perennial on the
heavier soils, and known botanically as Bouteloua oligos-
tachya. It is found on all the great plains of the South-
west, growing in low, cushion-like masses, forming a
succession of tussocks— a habit rendering it unsuitable
for mowing, even if it grew tall enough for hay, which
it does not. As a pasturage grass it is highly nutritious,
and cures good hay on its own root.

The next widely distributed variety on the prairie is
the Buffalo grass, known as Buchloe dactijloides, a native
of the plains from Texas up to Missouri. It is a peren-
nial, affording a reliable supply of forage. In dry loca-
tions it is desirable as a lawn grass. It is of low habit,
seldom rising over four inches, and is inclined to grow
in tufts, or patches. It is found in greatest breadths on
the Texas prairies in jthe vicinity of Mesquit trees, hence
it is often called Mesquit grass. It possesses a runner
of long creeping habit, and, once established on con-
genial soil, soon spreads over the adjacent land. Bear-
ing few seeds, it is, consequently, best propagated by
cuttings. When green, it is sweet and nutritious, and,
dried as hay on the root, is very palatable to cattle.
During drouths, when appearing to be about dead, it
springs into life upon a rain, becoming green in a few
hours, and developing with phenomenal rapidity.

204 MARKET GAHDEKING.

Either of these grasses, no doubt, can, by selection,
be improved as respects productiveness and durability —
they are not referred to as the only ones, or the best ones,
but as examples of sorts already pastured ujjon by mil-
lions of horses, cattle and sheep. Why should not these
and others be brought to the Southeastern States, as
most efficient aids in the diversification of agricultural
practice ?

Another American perennial grass not generally
known, but of admirable character for Southern sections,
is the Texas Bhie grass {Poa araclinifera) discovered on
the prairies of that State in 1853. It blossoms there
about the last of March, and ripens its seed about the
middle of April. Its habit, in Southern States, is much
stronger than Kentucky Bkie grass. In Texas, under
the severest drotiths, it sometimes lags a little, but, after
autumn rains, quickly springs into most vigorous growth,
and continues to grow all winter. It makes a strong
top growth for hay, and a matted sod standing contin-
ued j^asturing. It roots deeply and spreads rapidly by
buds from long, strong, underground stems, which, by
their vigor, resist the encroachment of Bermuda grass.
Once established, it will continue to stand for a lifetime.
It is best propagated by cuttings of the roots, 20,000 set
to the acre, or, say, one to each two square feet. Six
pounds of seed are sown to the acre.

These, and other grasses, will, before long, be
brought into general cultivation, indeed, all of our cul-
tivated grasses are selections from wild forms ; no doubt
very inferior, originally ; for instance, Timothy, now
the leading hay grass nortli of the cotton belt, was found
growing Avild in the hilly or mountainous districts, by
the early American colonists, and sent to England in
1763, where it at once assumed the highest rank over
the four or five kinds of grasses then cultivated. Indeed,
up to 1815, only four or five kinds were cultivated, and

THE GRASS QUESTION. 205

it was not until the list of grasses was largely increased
and root culture extended, that British agriculture began
to develop, for not till then were there increased oi)por-
tunities for the extension of grazing and the winter sub-
sistence of cattle. Eed Top is another American grass,
first cnltivated about 17G0, by the colonists. It was
soon followed by the introduction to cultivation of Ken-
tucky Blue grass, and, subse(iuently. Orchard grass.

It will be noticed that the United States furnished
four out of the five principal hay and pasturage pro-
ducers used in agricultural practice ; the fourth. Red
Clover, beiug a native of Asia. It cannot be doubted
that there yet remain others to be brought into
cultivation.

An observation of the varieties of grasses blooming
in a pasture will not serve to determine the quality of
the sward, for cattle, eating off the most palatable sorts,
prevent them from reaching a condition of inflorescence.
Thus, those valuable varieties which perpetuate them-
selves by seed, sometimes tend to run out, leaving the
field to the more unpalatable sorts, but not always, for
nature provides, in the cases of some grasses, that varie-
ties not reaching a condition of seed-bearing, shall per-
petuate themselves by abnormal root budding.

Much can be determined of the components of a
pasturage sward by a study of the structural character of
the plants, even when grazed down to one inch. In Ger-
many so much attention has been paid to the analysis of
pasturage grasses and the description of varieties, that
the subject is no longer a novel one. By such analyses,
perennial grasses are distinguished from annual by the
crowns and roots ; crowns of perennial varieties bearing
relics of the preceding year's growth, while to the roots
are attached cree(»ing underground bud stems. A third
test can be made by dissection of the stalks, for in peren-
nials only a few embryo flowers will be found, while

206 MARKET GARDENING.

among annual varieties every shoot will contain an
embryo flower.

It is equally easy to recognize the leading varieties,
even if closely eaten down, by examination of their base
sheaths and general lower developments. For example :
Perennial Rye grass possesses a flat sheath, very red, and
leaves strongly ribbed, with ears at the base ; veins just
discernible, even when held up between the eye and the
light. Meadowy Fescue has a round sheath, decidedly
red, leaves strongly ribbed, veins on leaves clearly
marked as white lines, upon examination by transmitted
light. Crested Dogtail possesses a half flat sheath,
quite yellow, leaves never eared. At base of leaves a
collar-like growth, peaked into two ear-like terminals.
Foxtail, a flat sheath of deep violet color, almost black,
leaf ribs flat.

Timothy has the base enlarged to a green, bulb-like
growth, similar to a small, very hard onion. At the
junction of the sheath and blade there is found a thin
white membrane, with sharp white teeth on the top.
Blue grass has a flat, elliptical sheath, light colored
leaves, with round ends, parallel sides and rounded base,
fleshy, hard and ribless, of a dark color under trans-
mitted light. Orchard grass has the sheath broad and
flat, leaves ribbed, with prominent keel on the under
surface ; conspicuous thin white membrane at top of
sheath. Red Top is more variable than any of the pre-
ceding. The sheath is without color, leaves rolled thin
and dry, rough on both sides, ribs prominent, margin of
leaves converged at base, never eared.

Regarding compounded mixtures of grass seeds, it
has been frequently stated that seedsmen advocate mixed
grasses for lawn and pasturage, that they may have an
opportunity to run u]) the price. This is a mistake, for
no pasture grass mixture is so costly as the same meas-
ure of pure Blue grass, the basis of all good grazing

THE GRASS QIESTIOX. 207

mixtures. Let it be understood, the object of mixing
varieties of grass seeds is manifold ; for instance, co
insure a more numerous stand of plants, for some varie-
ties may germinate better than others ; then, again, that
some varieties be succulent and bright, when others are
dingy, and for pasturage this is a very important con-
sideration. Another good reason is, that soils vary so
much and seasons vary so much, that it is best, in seed-
ing down a pasturage, to diversify the risks.

The deliberate mixing of distinct varieties of vege-
table or flower seeds is looked upon, by all men, as a
fraud of the worst kind, but the intelligent mixing of
distinct varieties of grass seeds is an art which should
be encouraged, for, properly done, it is in the interest
of agriculture's most important crop — green pasturage
and hay. Upon the length of time which it is contem-
plated to allow the pasturage to stand, depends, to a
large extent, the varieties of grass seeds to mix, as, for
example, Timothy, Italian Eye grass. Cocksfoot, AVhite
and Alsike clover are all very quick to develop, and suit-
able for a two or three years' shift, while, for a longer
term, should be added Blue grass. Red Top, Foxtail,
Tall Fescue, Perennial Eye, Lucerne and Red clover.

While the limestone soils of Kentucky and Ten-
nessee will sustain, in full vigor, a pure Blue grass pas-
turao-e for a lifetime, few soils in other localities will be
found equal to the task. On soils not suited to Blue
grass alone, good temporary pasturage of two to five
years' duration can be obtained, with a careful selection
of varieties and satisfactory results, realized under a well-
considered system of rotation. When one dejiarts from
the usual course of sowing Timothy with winter grain,
to be followed with Clover in the spring, it is not a
cheap matter to lay down a perfect pasture, hay field or
lawn, for the preparation of the land is expensive, and a
combination of varieties generally more costly than the
simple varieties of Timothy and Clover.

208 MARKET GARDENIN^G.

In laying clown a pasture field, it is best to do it in
the autumn, if conditions of moisture will permit, for
the reason that time is then less precious ; but spring
seeding, when the land is thoroughly prepared, is quite
as effectiA^e. All prescriptions for grass seed mixtures,
however, are little more than generalities, for no one
can comi^ile a table or series of tables, showing the varie-
ties positively adapted to different localities, for soils,
even on adjoining fields, frequently vary so much as to
require an entire change in the varieties and proportions.
How much more difficult to prescribe for unknown soils,
some, perhaj^s, a thousand miles away.

The geological constitution, rainfall, drainage, alti-
tude and objects Fought, whether for hay or grazing, all
need to be studied. The best guide is the experience of
others in one's location, but even that is often mislead-
ing, for we have grown grand crops of Timothy and
Clover in a section of a Southern State, where the farm-
ers seldom saved any hay, trusting almost entirely to
corn fodder — of course, there were no barnyards worthy
of the name, in that locality. As an example, for ordi-
nary soils a pasturage mixture might consist of forty
pounds to the acre of Timothy, Orchard, Blue grass,
Eed Top, Perennial Eye grass and Eed clover. Such a
combination would be pretty certain to effect a stand,
and, when once established, would comprehend some
one variety in luxuriant growth throughout the extent
of the growing season.

Of course, in special locations, as on lowlands or
mountain sides, or on special soils, as sands, gravels,
clays, loams, some of the named sorts might, with
advantage, be omitted, and others added. Timothy, for
example, a short-lived hay grass, does best on well-
drained land, and in northern latitudes. Eed Top, a
longer-lived sort, does better on moist land, even sus-
taining long-continued overflow. Orchard grass, on the

THE GRASS QUESTION. 209

other hand, a good, all-around sort, will grow on dry,
sandy loam ; fairly well on poor clay, and better on rich
bottoms, so it be not overflowed, and it even endures the
shade of trees. Blue grass, doing best on limestone
soils, is ]^.ot a good hay producer, as it is a light cropper,
difficult to cut, and harder to cure, but it is eminently a
pasturage and lawn grass. It is an easy grower, flourish-
ing for a limited time on gravels, bottoms and clays,
while on limestone soils, grazing fields have been known
to remain in perfection for sixty years. It will not
stand severe drouth, but resists any amount of frost,
while continued pasturage only makes it better.

Thin seeding of grass is a most serious mistake, as a
poor stand of grass only leaves room for weeds to occupy
the sj^ace. Consequently, we advise a very liberal appli-
cation of seed, for, under the best conditions, as respects
preparation of land, distribution of seed and covering, a
large portion of the seed will get too deeply covered over
to vegetate. Not more than one farmer in a hundred,
by his field practice, shows any indication that he real-
izes the necessity of shallow covering of grass seeds, for
they generally put on a harrow and cover, to a depth of
one to two and one-half inches, delicate seeds not one-
thirtieth of an inch in diameter. Certainly the greater
part never shows a green blade, for farmers seldom stop
to consider the delicate nature of the seeds they commit
to rough, cloddy earth. One who sets himself to esti-
mate the number of seeds in a pound, will soon come to
a realization of the necessity for a perfect seed bed, for
he will find the seeds to number, in a pound of Tall
Fescue, 250,000, Red clover 280,000, Orchard grass
600,000, Timothy 1,250,000, Blue grass 2,375,000,
Rough Meadow 3,000,000, and Red Top 8,000,000. Can
it be expected that over ten per cent, of the seeds ever
make a plant, considering the rough tillage and careless
sowing of the ordinary farmer ?
14

210 MARKET GARDEiTIKG.

If one of an inquiring mind takes np a sod from a
perfect grass pasturage and dissects it, he will find about
six or seven distinct plants to every square inch, or eight
hundred 2:>lants to the square foot, being abotit thirty-
five millions to the acre. To obtain such a thick stand
sufficient seed must be applied, or there will exist vacan-
cies for the establishment of weeds. It may be interest-
ing to enter into a calculation of how many seeds will
be applied to an acre in thirty pounds of a mixture
consistine: of :

Number of Pounds.

No. Seeds to Pound.

1,250,000

600,000
8,000,000
5,500.000

280,000

Total Seeds.

Timotli V F"i ve

6,250.000

Orcliard Five

3,000,000

Red Top Five

40,000,000

"Rliip 0"i'H<5<! Tpn

25,000,000

Red Clover, Five

1,400,000

A grand total of

75,650.000

Not less than an application of this number, of over
seventy-five millions of seeds, can be relied upon to prop-
erly clothe an acre, an enormous number of seeds failing:
to make plants by reason of want of vitality, or on
account of inefficient tillage or sowing. While the pre-
ceding table, drawn for purposes of calculation, might
serve as a fair prescription, the writer would suggest the^
following as covering a wide variety of seasons of growth,
and better as respects reproduction and duration : Blue
grass, ten pounds; Orchard, ten jDOunds; Perennial Rye
grass, four pounds ; Meadow Fox Tail, four pounds ;
Red Top, three pounds ; Timothy, three pounds ; White
clover, three pounds : Red clover, three pounds, or forty
pounds in all.

For lawns, either for surface effect, or designed to
resist tramping, or on athletic grounds, a mixture is
required, differing in each case, and both quite distinct
from that applied to pasturage or hay. A word upon
lawn- making may not be out of place, for the seedsman
is often blamed for bad seed, when the failure is the
result of a neglect of proper precautions to insure sue-

THE GKASS QUESTION^. 211

cess ; as much of the success of lawn-making depends
upon the preparation of the ground. The land must be
well plowed, or dug and harrowed, or raked, to secure
thorough pulverization, and after being reduced to a per-
fectly even surface, should be cleared of stumps, stones,
roots and other imiiediments. The soil, if not wet, should
then be made firm with a heavy roller, and top-dressed
with a good fertilizer, unless the land had received an
application of seven to eight tons of very short, well-
rotted stable manure before plowing. We will here
remark that stable manure is the best of all fertilizers,
but there being some difficulty in obtaining it, and objec-
tions to its use, on account of its offensive appearance
and smell, we recommend a good grade of concentrated
commercial fertilizer. Six to seven hundred pounds
to the acre of such mixture should be applied. The fer-
tilizer should be lightly harrowed in upon the seedbed,
as it will be lost to the young plants if buried much
beneath the surface. After the harrowing, the ground
should be severely rolled, that the earth and seed may
be brought into close contact. The lawn grass mixture
should be sown at the rate of forty pounds to the acre,
and rolled down. Sowing in September and October
will be found most advantageous in latitudes south of
Philadelphia; in more northerly locations spring sowing
is most successfully practiced, the work being done in
April and May.

Annual seeds, natural to the soil, are certain to
spring up before the young grass becomes established,
and an inexjierienced person is likely to conclude that
the weeds spring from weed seed in the grass seed, but
all soils contain weed seeds, and, upon tillage, they are
certain to vegetate. The weeds, as they become large
enough, may be cut down or pulled up ; after the first
'year their growth will cease. Frequent rolling is advan-
tageous in producing a good lawn, by solidifying the soil,

212 MARKET GARDEN'IXG.

harassing insects and other vermin, and improving the
level of the surface. On all lawns will regularly aj^pear,
in greater or less numbers, certain interlopers, such as
Buttercups, Plantains, Dandelions, all from seeds nat-
ural to the soil. These uninvited guests should always
be dug out, otherwise subsequent labor will be increased
one hundred fold by their seeding. Lawns may be
advantageously dressed with stable manure in December,
the long strawy portions being removed in March. On
those portions of lawns, as around the house, where an
immediate result in grass effect is desired, sod may be
used. Fair sod can generally be had on roadsides, and
if carefully taken up, and when laid down accurately
jointed and solidified and covered with half an inch of
rich compost, it will at once start off, and very soon be
as much a fixture as the adjoining trees and shrubs.
Lawn grass of good quality should produce a fair mat of
herbage in from seventy to ninety days. Some persons
offering lawn grass at a low price are using the so-called
Canada Blue grass, which is not only worthless, but a
pest, and difficult to eradicate.

Some people, after seeding a piece of land with lawn
grass, expect to see a green mat in two or three wrecks,
but in this they are mistaken, as the better varieties
of grass are slow^ to produce effect, and when an effect is
quickly develojoed, it is at the expense of adaptability
and permanency. For instance, a fine mat of green color
can be had in two weeks from a heavy sowing of White
Clover, something very effective and pleasing to the eye,
but clover is not a grass, and is not suitable for lawns,
failing to produce that velvet-like effect, the result of
the growth of the erect leaves produced by the best
grasses, which habit fits them to quickly recover after
mowing. Manures or fertilizers for lawns may be of
many combinations. We recommend, to those who pre-
fer to do their own mixing, a compound of three hun-

THE GRASS QUESTION". 213

dred pounds of superphosphate, three hundred pounds
dried meat, blood or fish, and four hundred pounds
refuse common salt. The quantity of superphosphate
and nitrogenous matter may be doubled, to advantage,
or even made stronger, as grass will stand almost any
amount of fertilizer. The common salt, used as an
alterative and solvent, will be found to have a decided
influence in keeping up the emerald green condition so
desirable on a perfect lawn. Not more than three
bushels to the acre should be applied in a season, and
then best during a rain — never under a hot sun.

Old lawns, much in decay, are better if plowed up,
leveled and resown, but often this course is not conven-
ient, certainly not if the lawn can be renovated by a sys-
tem taking less time. In that case, when prompt results
are desirable, the old sod should be well combed by a
harrow, to tear out the dried grass and easily extracted
dead roots. This operation also breaks the earth, put-
ting it in a pulverized condition to receive seed, which
may be sown broadcast, which, falling between the living
grass, roots into the friable and fresh soil, and is at once
in position to germinate and occupy the space. On
many lawns cut with the lawn mower there appear many
pests — the Creeping Veronica and the Mouse-Eared
Chickweed being prominent — which crowd out desirable
grasses and mar the appearance of the sward. Under
such circumstances it is advised to break up the parts
affected and sow with seed of the Sheep Fescue, which
will admit of such close cutting as to destroy all of the
pestiferous plants.

INDEX.

Amateiirs' garden 54, 55

Analyses of manures 41

April calendar 189

Asparagus 10

Asparagus beetle 58

August calendar 193

Bean fertilizer 32

Beans 2, 3, 10, 15, 165

Beets 52, 1.52

Bermuda grass 204

Berry baskets 15

Blackberry baskets 15, 43

Bloonisdale Swede 152

Blue grass 206, 209

Bone dust 31

Bordeaux mixture 68

Buffalo grass 203

Cabbage fungus 67

Cabbage insects .20, 62, 63

Cabbage, turnip-rooted 161

Calendar, monthly 185

Capital '. 5

Carrot 32 52, 158, 161

Cauliflower. .. 4

Celery. 113

Census report = 1

Central district 3

Chemical manures 30. 31, 35, 38

Chemistrj' of garden 30

Chili guaiio 39

Classification ot weeds 83

Clover. 212

Clover fertilizer 32

Club root 68

Cold frames 51, 84, 92

Commercial gardening — ... . . 4

Compost 14, 35, 37

Costs 99, 132, 158

Covering seeds 42

Crates 15

Cross fertilization 75

Cucumber...... 2, 4 10, 15,32, 110, 165

Cultivation 20, 21, 155, 160

Cutworm 00

Damping off 100

December calendar 197

Desirable varieties 183

Destroving weeds 83

Dibble'. 53

Disclaimer, seedsmen's 79

Diseases of vegetables 65

Districts of vegetable culture. .. 2

Drainage 19

Early crops 7

Egg plant 4, 52

Egg plants, treatment of 165

Emulsion, kerosene 64

Evai)oration 20

Farmers 5

Farm expenses 5

February calendar 186

Fermenting lye 37

Fertile soils 19

Fertilizers 1, 3, 35, 37, 38, 40

Fish manure 40

Florida 3, 12

Forcing beds 71

Foreign weeds 82

Foxtail grass 206

Freight cars 168

Fumigation 110

Fungi 25, 130

Garden hoes 176

Gardening 1, 4, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29

Garden plan 55

Gardening under glass, 94, 96, 99

Georgia 3

Gerniination 44, 48, 50, 80

Grafting 24

Grama grass 203

Grass 198, 203

Grass plants to the acre 210

Green tly 110

Greenhouse 25

Green manures 14, 33, 201

Growers of seed 76

Growth of vegetables 25

Guano 14, 38, 39

Half acre garden 181

Harvesting roots 148, 157

Heating 102

Heredity in plants 69, 72

Hessian fly 26

Hoes 176

Hotbeds 61, 84, 88

Implements 1, 14, 169

Insecticides 57

Insects 26, 57

Intermediate beds 51, 91

Irrigation 202

January calendar 185

July calendar 192

June calendar 191

Kale 2, 10

Kerosene emulsion 64

Kohl rabi 161

Labor 1. 101

Late crops 7

Lawn 213

Lettuce 45, 52, 103, 108

214:

INDLX.

215

Lime 31 '

Looat ion "i ^ " ,

Lupine 36 j

Lye, fermenting 37

Manures 35, 36, 87

Manures, greeu 33 |

Mangel wurzels 154 ;

Max'cli calendar 187 i

Market gardening 2, 4, 94

Mav ealendar 19(»

Melons 10

Mixed grasses 207

^loisture 44

:Monililv calendar 185

MuU-liing 53

Mushroom culture 135, 138, 139

Xe\v England district 2

Nitrate of soda 31

Nitrogen 30, 31,40

Nitrogenous plants 20

Norfolk district 2

Novelties 77

November calendar 190

Oak 43

October calendar 196

Oily seed 46

Onion tly 04

Onions 2, 45,125, 132

Oranges 16

<:)rcliard grass 206

Over production 12

Packages 165

Packing vegetables 164

Parsnip 52, 162

Pasture field 208

Pea fungus 68

Peas 3, 10, 15, 16, 45, 68

Pepper 52

Perennial rye grass 206

Perishable vegetables 7, 103

Peruvian guano 39

Philadelpliia district 3

Phosphoric plants 30

Phosi)hate of lime 31

Plant pit 93

Pollen 75

Potash 30, 31, 32, 39

Potato bug 60

Potato fertilizer 32

Potato phuits 30

Potato vine fungus 67

Potatoes 2, 3, 10, 12, 16, 32

Products 10, 110

Profit in gardening 1,6

Profits 6, 9

Pulverization 20

Quality 168

Ouantity of seed 42, 181

Quotations 168

Radishes 2, 45, 52

Raspberries 15

Red top grass 205, 208

Rental 7

Roots for stock feeding 140

Roots, saving 147

"Rotation 54

Rye 34, 201

Rve grass 206

Salt 128

Saving roots 147

Saving seed 74

Science of gardening 22

Seasons .3, 9, 11, 43

Si'cd beds 51

Seed drills 15, 128, 173

Seed testing 46

Seeds 1, 41, 42,46, 70, 73, 76, 134

Seeds in a pound 209

Seedsmen's r(si)onsibilities. ..77, 79

September calendar 11>4

Sexes in jilants 69

Sheep farming 200

Shipments 168

Shipping vegetables 164

Soil 8, 17. 18, 19, 103, 107, 112

Sorting vegetables 166

South Atlanta district 3

Sowing seeds 41,87,90, 144

Spawn 135

Spinach 2, 10,45

S(iuasli 10

Squasli l)Ug 60

Stable manure 13, 14, 35, g6

Starchy seed 46

Storing 120

Strawberries 10, 12, 15

Succession 54, 55

Sugar beets 154

Sulpliate of ammonia 31

Sun houses Ill

Sunlight 18

Superphosphate 13, 14, 31, 38

Systems 1 1

Tanks 118

Testing see<ls 46, 47

Texas blue grass 204

Tliinning out 56, 146

Tillage 17, 20,21

Timothy 204. 2(V4

Tomatoes 2, 3, 4, 10, 52, 168

Transplanting 51, 89, 111

Transportation 7, 15

Trowel 5(5

Truck farming 2

I Turnip 52, 142, 148, 150

■ Turnip fertilizer 33

Turnip tly 6+

1 Value of products _2

Variability Jl

Variet ies of l)eet 153

Varieties of carrot 159

Varieties of onion 126

Vegetables 3, 4. 7. 65. lt;4

Ventilation 102. I(i5, 165

Vitality 45, 47, .50, i;{4

Watering 1<1»

Wat«*rmelon •*

Weeds 8-'. '^•■i

Wheat fertilizer 32

AVliite grub 59

Winter v(>getables 4

Wire worm •'>!»

Woo<l ashes 31, 39

Wool -'01

ValnaWe Perloilical for everyHofly in City, Village, and Coetry.

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of the two standard works on the dog, by " Stonehenge, " thereby fur-
nishing for $2 what once cost $11.25. Contains Lists of all Premiums^
given at the last Dog Shows. It Describes the Best Game and Hunt-
ing Grounds in America. Contains over One Hundred Beautiful En-
gravings, embracing most noted Dogs in both Continents, makingto-
gether, with Chapters by American Writers, the most Complete Dog
Book ever i^ublished. Cloth, 12mo.-- 2.()()>

Stewart's Feeding Animals.

By Elliot W. Stewart. A new and valuable practical work upon the

laws of animal growth, specially applied to the rearing and feeding

horses, cattle, diary cows, sheep and swine. Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo.

•^ 2.00

How to Co-operate.

A Manual for Co-operators. By Herbert Myrick. This book describes
the how rather than the wherefore of co-operation. In other words it
tells how to manage a co-operative store, farm or factory, and co-op-
erative dairying, banking and fire insurance, and co-operative farmers'
and women's exchanges for both buying and selUng. The directions
given are based on the actual experience of successful co-operative en-
terprises in all parts of the United States. The character and useful'
ness of the book commend it to the attention of all men and woraen.
who desire to better their condition. 12mo. Cloth 1.50^

STANDARD BOOKS. f

Batty' s Practical Taxidermy and Home Decoration.

By Joseph II. Batty, taxidermist for the ii^overiiment surveys and
many colleges and museums in the United States. An entirely new
and complete as well as authetitic work on taxidermy — giving in
detail full directions for collecting and mountinc: animals, birds, rep-
tiles, fish, insects, and general objects of natural history. 125 illus-
trations. Cloth, 12mo.- 1.50

Stewart's Irrigation for the Farm, Garden, and Orchard.

New aTid Enlarged Edition. This work is offered to those American
Farmers, and oilier cultivators of the soil, who from painful expe-
rience can readily appreciate the losses whicli result from the scarcity
of water at critical periods. By Henry Stewart. Fully illustrated.
Cloth, 12mo 1 50

Johnson's How Crops Grow.

New Eiiition, entirely rewritten. A Treatisp on the Chemical Compo-
sition, Structure, and Life of the Plant. Revised Edition. This booii
is a guide to the knowledge of agricultural plants, their composition,
their structure, and modes of development and growth ; of the com-
plex organization of plants, and the use of the parts ; the L'^ermination
of seeds, and the food of plants obtained both from the'air and the
soil. The book is an invalu ible one to all real students of agricul-
ture. With numerous illustrations and tables of analysis. By Prof.
Samuel W. Johnson, of Yale College. Cloth, 12mo 2.0O

Johnson's How Crops Feed.

A treatise on the Atmosphere and the Soil, as related in the Nutrition
of Agricultural Plants The volume— the com[)anion and complement
to " How Crops Grow,"— has been welcomed by those who appreciate
scientitic aspects of agriculture. Illustrated. By Prof. Samuel W.
Johnson. Cloth, 12mo 3.00

Warington's Chemistry of the Farm.

Treating with the utmost clearness and conciseness, and in the most
popular manner i)ossible, of the relations of Chemistry to Agriculture,
and i^roviding a welcome manual for those, who, while not having
time to systematically study Chemistry, will gladly have such an idea
as this gives them of its relation to operations on the farm. By R.
Warington, F. C. S. Cloth, I2mo- 1.00

French's Farm Drainage.

The Principles, Process, and Effects of Draining Land, with Stones,
Wood, Ditch-plows, Open Ditches, and especiaJly with Ties; includ-
ing Tables of Rainfall, Evaporation, Filteration, Excavation, Capacity
of Pipes, cost and number to the acre. By Judge French, of New
Hampshire. Cloth, ]2mo 1.50

Hunter and Trapper.

The best modes of Hunting and Trapping arc fully explained, and
Foxes, Deer, Bears, etc., fall into his traps readily by following his
directions. By Halsey Thrasher, an old and experienced sportsman.
Cloth, 12mo 75

The American Merino. For Wool or for ^'^.''^utton.

A practical and most valuable work on the selection, care, breeding;
and diseases of the Merino sheep, in all sections of the the United
States. It is a full and exhaustive treatise upon this one breed of
fiheep. By Stephen Powers. Cloth, Timo l..V>

8 STANDARD BOOKS.

Armatage's Every Man His Own Horse Doctor.

By Prof. Georp:e Armatage, M. R. C. V. S. A valuable and compre-
hensive guide for both the professional and general reader with the
fullest and latest information regardmg all diseases, local injuries,
lameness, operations, poisons, the dispensatory, etc , etc., with practi
cal anatomical and surgical Illustrations. New Edition. Together
with Blaine's " Veterinary Art," and numerous recipes. One large
8vo. volume, 830 pages, half morocco.. 7.50

Dadd's Modern Horse Doctor.

Containing Practical Observations on the Causes, Nature, and Treat-
ment of Diseases and Lameness of Horses— embracing recent and im-
proved Methods, according to an enlightened system of Veterinary
Practice, for Preservation and Restoration of Health. Illustrated,
By Geo. H. Dadd, M. D. V. S., Cloth, 12mo 1.50

The Family Horse.

Its Stabling, Care, and Feeding. By Geo. A. Martin. A Practical
Manual, full of the most useful information. Illustrated. Cloth.
12mo 1.00

Sander's Horse Breeding".

Being the general principles of Heredity applied to the Business of
Breeding Horses and the Management of Stallions, Brood Mares and
Foals. The book embraces all that the breeder should know in regard
to the selection of stock, management of the stallion, broodmare, and
foal, and treatment of diseases peculiar to breeding animals. Bv J.
H. Sanders. 12mo, cloth.. 1 2.00

Coburn's Swine Husbandry,

New, revised and enlarged edition. The Breeding, Rearing and
Management of Swine, and the Prevention and Treatment of their
Diseases. It is the fullest and freshest compendium relating to Swine
Breeding yet offered. By F. D. Coburn. Cloth, 12mo 1.75

Dadd's American Cattle Doctor.

By George H. Dadd, M. D., Veterinary Practitioner. To help every
man to be his own cattle-doctor ; giving the necessary information
for presei'ving the health and curing the diseases of oxen, cows, sheep,
and swine, with a gi-eat variety of original recipes, and valuable infoi-
mation on farm and dairy management. Cloth, 12mo 1.50

Silos, Ensilage, and Silage.

A practical treatise on the Ensilage of Fodder Com. Containing the
most recent and authentic information C" this important subject, by
Manly Miles, M.D., F.R.M.S. Illustrated. Cloth 12mo... 50

Broom Corn and Brooms.

A Treatise on Raising Broom-Corn and Making Brooms on a small or
Large Scale. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth cover 50

American Bird Fancier.

Or how to breed, rear, and core for Song and Domestic Birds. This
valuable and important little work for all who are interested in the
keepino- of Scmg Birds, has been revised and enlarged, and is now a
complete manual upon the subject. All who own valuable birds, or
wish to do so, will find the new Fancier indispensable. New, revised
and enlarged edition. By D. J. Browne, and Dr. FuUer Walker. Illus-
trated, paper cover. -- 50

STANDARD BOOKS. 9

Armatage's Every Man His Own Cattle Doctor.

The Veterinary Cyclopedia — Embracing all the practical information
of value heretofore published on the Diseases of Cattle, Sheep, and
Swine, together with the latest and best information regarding all
known diseases up to the present time. Compiled and edited by that
eminent authority, Prof. George Arraatage, M. R. C. V. S. One
large octavo volume, 894 pages, with upwards of 350 practical illus-
trations, showing forms of disease and treatment. Half morocco. 7.50

Onions— How to Raise them Profitably.

Being the Practical Details, from Selection of Seed and Preparation
of Ground to Harvesting and Marketing the Crop, given very plainly
by Seventeen Practical Onion Growers of lonjr experience residing in
diff^erent parts of the country. No more valuable work of its size
was ever issued. Paper cover, 8vo 30

Tobacco Culture— Full Practical Details.

This useful and valuable work contains full details of every process
from the Selection and Preparation of the Seed and Soil to the Harvest-
ing, Curing and Marketing the Crop, with illustrative engravings of
the operations. The work was prepared by Fourteen Experienced
Tobacco Growers, residing in different parts of the country. It also
contains notes on the Tobacco Worm, with illustrations, 8vo,.. .25

Hop Culture.

Plain directions given by ten experienced cultivators. Revised, en-
larged and edited by A. S. Fuller. Forty engravings 30

Flax Culture.

A very valuable work, containing full directions, from selection of
ground and seed to preparation and marketing of crop, as given by
a number of experienced growers, 8vo 30

Potato Pests.

No Farmer can afford to be without this little book. It gives the
most complete account of the Colorado Beetle anywhere to be found,
and includes all the latest discoveries as to the habits of the insect
and the various means for its destruction. It is well illustrated, and
exhibits in a map the spread of the insect since it left its native home.
By Prof . C. V. Riley. Paper cover. .. 50

Home Fishing and Home Waters.

By Seth Green. The Utilization of Farm Streams ; Management of
Fish in the Artiflcial Pond ; Transportation of Eggs and Frj-, etC:
Cloth, 12mo -- - 50

Eeed's House Plans for Everybody.

By S. B. Reed. This useful volume meets the wants of persons of
moderate means, and gives a wide range of design, from a dwelling
costing $250 up to 88,000, and adapted to farm, village and town resi-
dences. Nearly all of these plans have been tested by practical work-
ings. One feature of the work imparts a value over any similar pub-
lication of the kind that we have seen. It gives an estimate of the
quantity of every article used in the construction, and the cost of each
article at the time the building was erected or the design made. Even
if prices vary from time to time, one can, from these data, ascertain
within a few dollars the probable cost of construct ins: any one of the
buildings here presented. Profusely illustrated. Cloth, black and
gold, l2mo 1-^

lO STANDARD BOOKS.

Gregory on Cabbages— How to Grow Them.

A Practical Treatise on Cabbage Culture, giving full details on every
point, including Keeping and Marketing the Crop. By James J. H.
Gregory. Paper cover, 12mo-- - 30

Gregory on Carrots, Mangold-Wurtzels, etc.

How to raise them, how to keep them, and how to feed them. By
J. J. H. Gregory. Paper Cover, 12mo -- 30

Gregory on Onion Raising.

TVTiat kinds to raise, and the way to raise them. By J. J. H. Gregory.
Paper cover, l2mo 3C

Gregory on Squashes.

This Treatise, which no Farmer or Gardener ought to be without,
tells all about selecting the soil for squashes ; how much Manure is
necessary ; how to prepare and Plant ; about Hoeing and Cultivating ;
Setting of the Fruit ; Ripening, Gathering, Storing, Care during Win-
ter, etc. By J. J. H. Gregory. Paper cover, 12mo -30

Hog-Raising and Pork-Making.

By Rufus Bacon Martin. The hog is reared for the money that is in
him, and he represents either a profit or loss to his owner according to
the treatment he receives. This pamphlet gives the personal research
and experience of the author, contains many valuable suggestions,
and answers many of the questions that arise in the buelness of hog-
raising. Paper, i2mo-- "^

Fulton's Peach Culture.

This is the only practical guide to Peach Culture on the Delaware
Peninsula, and is the best work upon the subject of peach growing for
tho^e who would be successful in that culture in any part of the
country. It has been thoroughly revised and a large portion of it re-
written, by Hon. J. Alexander Fulton, the author, bringing it down to
dute. Cloth, 12mo 1-5U

Silk Culture.

A Handbook for Silk-Growers. By Mrs. C. E. Bamford. Con-
tents—Chapter I. The Mulberry.— II. Gathering the Leaves.—
III. The Cocoonery.— IV. Eggs of the Silk Worm Moth.— V Feed-
ing the Silk Worms.— VI. Moulting.— VII. Spinning.— \ III. Ihe
Cocoons.— IX. The Moths of the Silk Worm.— X. Varieties of Silk
W^orms —XI. Diseases of the Silk Worm.— XII. Reeling.— XIII.
Chemistry of Silk.— XIV. Miscellaneous. Paper, 12mo. Price, post-
paid -^^

Treats' Injurious Insects of the Farm and Garden. By
Mrs. Mary Treat.

An orio-inal investigator who has added much to our knowledge of both
Plants and insects, and those who are familiar with Darwin's works
are aware that he gives her credit for important observation and dis-
coveries. New and Enlarged Edition. With an Illustrated Chapter
on Beneficial Insects. FuUy illustrated. Cloth, 12mo 2.00

Fuller's Small Fruit Culturist.

By Andrew S. Fuller. Rewritten, enlarged, and brought fully up to
the present time. The book covers the whole ground of propauating
smaU fruits, their culture, varieties, packing for market, et^ it is
very finely and thoroughly illustrated, and makes an admirable com-
pemonto"The Grape Culturist," by the same well known author^

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Full text of "Market gardening and farm notes. Experiences and observations in the garden and field, of interest to the amateur gardener, trucker and farmer"

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