UC-N

SB 307 5

GIFT OF
Prof. E. J.Viiickson

DEPT

A MANUAL

VEGETABLE PLANTS.

CONTAINING

THE EXPERIENCES OF THE AUTHOR IN STARTING ALL THOSE

KINDS OF VEGETABLES WHICH ARE MOST DIFFICULT

FOR A NOVICE TO PRODUCE FROM SEEDS.

THE BEST METHODS KNOWN FOR COMBATING AND REPELUN3

NOXIOUS INSECTS, AND PREVENTING THE DISEASES

TO WHICH GARDEN VEGETABLES

ARE SUBJECT.

BY

ISAAC F. TILLINGHAST.

FACTORYVILLE, PA. :
TILLINGHAST BROTHERS.

1878.

£. N/.

MAIN Ll»«ARY.AO«ICULTUilE

Copyright, 1877,
I. F. TILLINGHAST.

S. W. GREEN,

Printer and Electrotyper,

16 & 18 Jacob Street,

New York.

PREFACE

WE offer this little volume to the world, honestly
believing that its perusal will benefit all its readers
who are so situated as to apply its teachings to prac-
tice. • >-. -

As a literary writer we claim no credit, and invite
no criticism upon our work as a rhetorical essay, or
in a literary point of view.

It has been written entirely during odd hours
snatched from business pursuits, and its text must be
very imperfect. In its composition we have endeav-
ored to be as brief and concise as possible, knowing
well that by the majority of people in this hurry-
ing age the wheat will be considered more valuable
without the chaff than with it. Ideas of value are
wanted. We have endeavored to supply them.

If, after a careful perusal, the reader agrees with us
in thinking that the knowledge herein contained is
worth to him more than the price of the volume, he
must rest abundantly satisfied with his investment.

We are aware that more printed paper may be ob-
tained elsewhere for less money than in this instance.

4 PREFACE.

But that argues nothing. Good milk may be ob-
tained at a far less cost for a given quantity than
cream or butter. We charge for the ideas, which are
our own, and not for the paper on which they are
printed, or the covers which contain them. The lat-
ter are easily obtainable, the former are not. If you
buy a pound of sugar for a shilling, and the mer-
chant sends it to you in a china bowl, you will thank
him for the bowl rather than grumble because he did
not send a ten-quart pail.

That all who purchase a copy of this work may be
enabled to profit by its teachings, an hundred-fold
upon their investment, is the sincere wish of

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

PART FIRST.

PAGE

GROWING PLANTS UNDER GLASS, .... 7

The Manure Hot-Bed, 8

Fire Hot-Beds 8

Cost of Sash 15

Cotton Sheeting for Covers 15

Shutters, 16

Use of "Flats," 16

Small Boxes for Single Plants 17

Planting Early Cabbage Seeds, 18

Soil for Hot-Beds, 20

Temperature, ......... 22

Air and Light, ........ 22

Damping off, . . . . . . . . .22

Watering, 23

Cauliflower and Celery Plants, . . . .24

Tomato, Pepper, and Egg Plants, 24

Lettuce, 24

Sowing Fine Seeds, ....... 24

Transplanting, 26

Assorting, 28

Mice — Preventing Depredations 28

Cold Frames, . 29

Sweet Potato Plants, . 29

CONTENTS.

PART SECOND.

PAGE

GROWING PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND, . 36

CABBAGE PLANTS 36

Club Root, ; ^ • ••£ '. •'" . . ,' ? . . . 40

The Cabbage Maggot, ....... 42

The Striped Flea Beetle, 44

Our Preventive, . . . , . . . . . 46

The Radish Maggot, . . . . ... 53

The Use of Lime, . . . . . . . . 55

Plaster or Gypsum, 56

Special or Commercial Fertilizers, . . . -57

Preparing Ground for Cabbage Plants, . >: ' ; 60

Cultivation, ... .... V . 63

Transplanting, ........ 64

Varieties, . . . . . . . ' •• , '".. ' •"• . 65

The Cut Worm 71

The Green Worm, ........ 72

Salting Cabbage, ........ 75

Watering Plants in the Seed-Bed, . . . ;: . " . 77

CELERY PLANTS, ...... •;-,-'. 77

ASPARAGUS PLANTS, .80

STRAWBERRY PLANTS, . . . . . . . 82

Setting the Plants 85

PACKING PLANTS FOR TRANSPORTATION, .... 87

Care on Arrival, . . . . . . . .89

GROWING SQUASHES, ...... '*•*'».-••//• 9O

THE POTATO :• ^-. ; . 94

Notes on the Newer Varieties 94

Early Varieties, 97

Late Varieties, ........ 99

PART FIRST.

GROWING PLANTS UNDER GLASS.

IN this broad and fair but fickle and undu-
lating clime, where Dame Nature's promises
of flowery spring - time are so frequently
frowned upon by a polar wave, which drives
the life-blood back to the very heart of every
unprotected living thing, some kind of pro-
tection from the lingering wintry blasts is an
absolute necessity to every grower of early
garden vegetables, whether he be a producer
of them in large quantities for market pur-
poses, or only seeks to supply his own table
with early delicacies, or his garden with
plants which are to be the germs of future
substantials. Some kind of protection from
the cold above, and an addition to the natu-
ral warmth below the growing plants, is
required ; and to meet this end, the heat
which is developed by the slow combustion
of vegetable matter or the decomposition of

8

„,*-,.- , A MANUAL OF

stable manures has generally been the ac-
cepted means of accomplishing the desired
object.

THE MANURE HOT-BED has been so fre-
quently described, and the best manner of
constructing it so fully dwelt upon by all1
the principal agricultural journals, works on
gardening, and seed catalogues, which have
been freely scattered over the land, that we
deem a description of it altogether unneces-
sary in our present work, especially as we
think that the day of using manure for fuel
will soon be known only in the recollections
of the past. The inestimable value which we,
as tillers of the soil, long ago learned to
put upon manure for plant food, and the
cheapness with which the desired amount of
heat could be produced from the more natu-
ral article of fuel, coal, led us to experiment
in this direction, with the result of several
years ago abolishing our manure-beds and
depending entirely upon our FIRE HOT-BEDS
for producing winter headed lettuce and
vegetable plants for early spring use. In-
deed, our labors in this direction have given
us such unbounded satisfaction, and we find
that the use of such structures is so illy un-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 9

derstood by the gardeners of our country,
that we will proceed to describe a fire hot-
bed in its simplest form, such a one as may
be constructed by any farmer or gardener of
ordinary intelligence entirely with his own
hands, the only outlay necessary more than in
the construction of a common manure-bed
being for brick of which to build the furnace,
and the pipes for constructing the flue. The
bed should be built on ground having a natural
rise of about one foot in twenty, at least We
have constructed them with a rise of one foot
in every ten, in length of bed, for fifty feet, and
then turned at a right angle and run twenty-
five feet with scarcely any rise at all, the flue
terminating in a wooden chimney twelve feet
high, and with no trouble for draught. The
warmest part of such a bed is at the angle,
fifty feet from the fire, as the heat readily
ascends to that point. It will be understood
that these beds differ but little in appearance
from a common manure-bed. A trench is exca-
vated six feet in width, about two feet in depth,
and of any desired length, say from twenty-five
to seventy-five feet, or perhaps even longer,
though we believe that to be sufficient for one
fire. At the lower end of this excavation the

IO A MANUAL OF

furnace is built, in the simplest manner, of
brick ; and the fire and heat flue, through
which the draught and smoke pass, runs up
through the centre of the trench. Stakes, made
of 3 by 4-inch scantling, are driven along the
sides of the trench at intervals of eight feet,
and it is then boarded up on the inside of the
stakes to a height of three feet on the north or
back side, and two and one-half on the front,
which should be the south side, in order that it
may lie to the sun and be sheltered from the
north winds. The cross sleepers for the floor
should now be placed. Near the furnace, where
the pipes get very hot, the floor should be at
least twelve inches above the pipes, but after
getting twenty feet from the furnace it may be
gradually lowered to within two or three inches,
care being taken to keep the distance great
enough to permit a free circulation of air over
the pipes. Above the floor we are to have
space for six inches or more of soil, and eight
to sixteen inches between the soil and glass for
growth of plants. More than this amount
will be found unnecessary, and, in fact, dam-
aging, as the whole structure should be kept as
low as possible, in order to economize warmth.
The spaces between the side boarding and earth

VEGETABLE PLANTS. I I

at the sides of the trench should be entirely
filled with dry forest-leaves or some other good
non-conductor. Common 3 by 6 feet sashes
are used crosswise of the bed, precisely as on a
manure-bed. Perhaps the only part that needs
further description is the furnace. Ours have
been constructed, in the simplest manner, of
common brick, but, of course, fire-brick would
be more lasting. The height of the fireplace
is two feet, ten inches of this being below the
grate-bars for an ash-pit, and fourteen above
the grate for fire. The width necessary for the
fireplace of a bed of the above size is twelve
inches.

The grate-bars are each cast separately, and
are about thirty inches in length, which form
the depth of the furnace from front to rear.
Eight of these bars are required, each occupy-
ing a space of one and a half inches. Imme-
diately back of the furnace there should be
a rise of six or eight inches, to prevent ashes
and cinders from being drawn up into the pipes.
The best article for pipes is the common terra-
cotta, which is manufactured and used exten-
sively as a substitute for brick chimneys in
dwellings. We have found it necessary to con-
struct the first ten feet of the flue of brick, as

12 A MANUAL OF

the sudden heating of the pipes, so near the
furnace, is quite sure to crack them. Common
drain-tile may be safely used at a little distance
from the fire, and is cheaper than terra-cotta
ware. The pipes, of whatever construction,
should be at least -six inches in inside diameter.
Good terra-cotta pipes of this size can be pur-
chased in our vicinity at about twenty-five
cents per running foot, and in this item con-
sists the main cost of this kind of a bed over
a common manure-bed. Of fuel, we have the
advantage over many sections of country, in
being near enough the anthracite-coal region
to enable us to procure a supply at very small
cost. We have, however, found one ton of
chestnut coal amply sufficient to run a bed
seventy-five feet in length for six weeks, and
there are few sections of country in which the
cost of coal is so great as to compare with the
value of a sufficient quantity of horse manure,
capable of producing the same amount of heat.
When using manure for a bed of this size, we
found that, to produce a good and lasting heat,
at least one wagon-load for each 3 by 6 sash
was required. This would cost here at least $2
per load, which, for the twenty-five sashes re-
quired to cover the seventy-five feet of bed,

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 13

would amount to $50, which is much more
than the cost of constructing the furnace-bed,
including cost of pipes.

So we contend that a bed of this construction
is cheaper, even for the first year of use, than the
common manure-beds ; while, in after years,
when manure-beds have to be refilled entirely,
at as great cost as at first, the fire-beds are
ready to start any day desired, at no cost what-
ever. Of course, the spent manure taken from
a hot-bed can be used for fertilizing the soil,
but in most instances it is so fire-fanged and
burned out as to be of comparatively little
value.

The time and care required in attending a
fire-bed is no more than in those of the com-
mon construction. A fierce, hot fire is not
required. In moderate weather we have found
it necessary to replenish the fuel but two or
three times per day, a slow and gentle, but
long-continued development of heat being all
that is required. For the purpose of keeping
a good supply of warm water for watering the
growing plants, we place a large pan or kettle
over the fireplace.

As it will not do to use cold water, which
would chill and injure the plants, early in the

14 A MANUAL OF

season, the importance of having this supply
of warm water at hand will readily be appre-
ciated. This furnace is covered or enclosed by
a small building, which should be shut off by
a partition from the plant-beds beyond, as but
little heat is developed in the furnace-room.
If the steam from the heating water can be
conducted into the beds, its presence will be
desirable, as the fire heat has a tendency to dry
out the beds rapidly, and this tendency is over-
come by the moisture from the condensing
steam. It is well, also, to keep a small dish of
water standing on the heat -pipe, the arising
vapors from which serve the same purpose.

In sections where coal cannot be obtained
cheaply enough to enable the gardener to
make use of a ton for this purpose, hard wood
may, of course, be substituted, with the single
disadvantage of the additional time and care
thus entailed upon attending the fire.

One great advantage, of which we have not
yet spoken, that the fire-bed has over a ma-
nure-bed, is the ease with which the tempera-
ture may be regulated to conform to the ever-
changing external temperature.

When a sudden cold snap, with its howling
north winds, comes down upon the manager

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 15

of the manure-beds, his only hope of escape is
to closely cover all his beds with blanket and
mat, for it is beyond his power to increase the
intensity of the heat ; but with the fire-bed,
how different ! All that is necessary, on all
ordinary occasions, is to increase the fire upon
the evening of the coldest nights. Indeed, we
have found the use of straw mats almost un-
necessary, if the sashes fit as closely as they
should, and the sides are properly banked and
filled with dry leaves to prevent the escape of
heat.

COST OF SASH. — Good 3 by 6 hot-bed sash,
glazed and painted, ready for use, can now be
bought at Binghamton, N. Y., at $2.25 each.
This is the most expensive item in the con-
struction of any ho.-bed, but it is an expense
that cannot well be avoided. Various substi-
tutes have been devised for the glass, but, so
far as we have experimented, without avail.

GOOD COTTON SHEETING will sometimes an-
swer a very good purpose for late use, after the
danger of very cold weather has passed ; but
its use is attended with considerable annoy-
ance, and, although cheaper in the beginning,
it has, with us, proved more expensive in the
end, as it will last but very few years.

I 6 A MANUAL OF

SHUTTERS. — If glass sashes cannot be af-
forded in sufficient quantity to cover the de-
sired area, we prefer light basswood shutters
to the use of cloth. These are made exactly
the size of the sashes in use, and are alternated
with them, care being taken to change the
position every day, so the glass will cover the
space which was covered on the previous day
by the shutter, that no part of the bed will
suffer for want of light. These shutters will
be found very useful in covering the glass
frames on cold nights, and also in shading
them during intensely sunny weather.

USE OF FLATS. — We have used both a solid
floor in the bottom of the bed, on which the
soil is placed to a depth of six or eight inches,
and movable " flats," which are best and cheap-
est made of soap or saleratus boxes sawed in two
pieces. When these are used, no other floor is
necessary, only a series of cross sleepers on
which to rest the edges of the boxes. For some
kinds of plants there is much gained in the
use of such boxes, as they enable the operator
to readily shift the growing plants to a cooler
or hotter position in the bed, as may be re-
quired. These " flats " are also desirable when
selling early plants in the market, as they re-

VE.GETABLE PLANTS. I 7

main fresh and vigorous for several days, and
need not have the roots disturbed, until sold
to the planter.

SMALLER BOXES. — The latest device for
safety in transplanting is the use of small boxes,
but three or four inches square, and without
bottom. They are formed of four pieces of
thin wood, dovetailed together after the man-
ner of the well-known CrandalFs Building
Blocks for Children. These boxes fit closely
together, and a single plant is transplanted
into each box. When ready to plant out in
the garden, the sides are taken off and the soil
placed in the ground without in the least dis-
turbing the roots. These blocks occupy but
little room when packed away, and answer the
desired purpose very nicely. They are the in-
vention of Mr. Crandall, and are sold through
his general agents, the Orange Judd Company,
of New York, and can probably be supplied
by most seedsmen in retail quantities.

In most sections of this country it will pay
the gardener well to grow a crop of head-let-
tuce in his beds during winter. Even two
crops may be grown, but the ground cannot
well be cleared in spring in time for starting

1 8 A MANUAL OF

a good supply of cabbage and tomato plants
after the second.

EARLY-CABBAGE SEEDS will be the first to
be sown in hot-beds in spring, especially if none
are wintered over in cold frames, and north of
the latitude of New York, as a general rule, it
is considered more risky and troublesome to
winter them over than to grow them in hot-
beds in spring. The seeds are generally sown
about the middle of February.

NEVER sow BROADCAST, but always in drills
about four inches apart, and thinly enough so
the plants will not crowd each other and grow
spindling. It seems hardly necessary to urge
the importance of selecting the very best qual-
ity of seeds obtainable. If the seeds are in
any way inferior, all the labor of planting and
attending the crop, with its attendant risks, is
lost. Indeed, we can think of no parallel case
in which a supposed saving may result in
greater loss and waste than in sowing seeds
which you have the slightest idea may be infe-
rior, if those above suspicion can be obtained
at any price. Still this rule should not be so
rigidly adhered to as to suppose that the
dealer .or grower who charges the greatest
price must necessarily have the best article, for

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 1 9

competition has brought the price of nearly all
seeds very low at present.

COVERING. — Cabbage seed should be cov-
ered from one-fourth to one-half inch in depth,
and to insure Its rapid germination the surface
soil should be firmed, or pressed down, so as
to lie compactly around the seeds.

VARIETIES. — There are so many varieties of
early cabbage to be found in the various
catalogues, that the planter of but little expe-
rience is quite at a loss to know which to se-
lect. Yet among them all there are a few so
far above the majority in actual worth, that we
will speak only of what we consider the very
best. For earliest use, the Early Jersey
Wakefield is still regarded as the standard.
Hendersons Early Summer, though not quite
as early as the Wakefield, is so far ahead of it
in size that most gardeners who have tested it
now prefer to await the difference in time, as
it is by far the largest very early cabbage
grown.

True, there are varieties earlier than the
Wakefield, and some may differ with us in
classing it as earliest. The Early York and
others are undoubtedly earlier, but as they are

2O A MANUAL OF

at their best a mere handful of leaves, \ve can
see no pleasure or profit in growing them.

Next in order of ripening to Henderson's
Summer comes the well-known Early Win-
nigstadt, and closely following this the Fott-
ler's Early Driimhead, which, for a general-
purpose cabbage, we consider the best the
world has yet seen. There may be other early
varieties which have more merit than these
four, but if there are such, we have not yet
seen them. We have a field of cabbage this
season containing forty-five early and late
varieties. A report of their comparative
merits may be found in the latter pages of
this work.

SOIL FOR HOT-BEDS. — A great mistake made
by many novices in gardening is to use soil in
hot-beds which is too heavy, so that the fre-
quent waterings pack it down tightly, and the
hot sun bakes it so hard that nothing can
grow in it as it ought. The soil for this pur-
pose should be much lighter and looser than
common garden soil usually is.

How TO OBTAIN IT. — When working ma-
nure-beds, it was our usual custom to throw
out the dirt each summer as soon as through
with the beds for the season, and shovel out

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 21

with the soil a large portion of the underlying
manure. This mixture was left in a conical
pile which was covered up with fresh stable
manure in the fall, which kept the frost out,
and allowed it to decompose and decay suffi-
ciently to become fine, loose mould by spring.
It can be manufactured in a similar manner
for use in the fire-beds. Sandy soil and
manure are placed in alternate layers, and built
up into a conical pile which is left for one
year. Then, when cut down and mixed over
thoroughly, it is in an admirable condition for
use. If it is thought necessary to use a fertil-
izer in the beds, we have generally found it the
safest and best course to apply it in a liquid
form by mixing a little hen manure, or guano
in the water with which they are sprinkled.
If the soil has plenty of well-rotted manure in
its composition, there is usually but little use
of further enriching it.

CONSIDERABLE CAUTION is necessary about
applying strong fertilizers, or special man-
ures, such as phosphates, guano, etc., to the
surface of the beds. The area is so small, and
the desire to have the work well done so
strong, that it is frequently overdone to such
an extent that the germs are killed outright

22 A MANUAL OF

before they see daylight, and then the seller of
the seeds is lucky if he does not have to shoul-
der the blame and receive the charge of sell-
ing stale seeds.

TEMPERATURE. — Every hot-bed should have
one or more thermometers for showing at all
times the temperature of the bed, for it is ne-
cessary to the health of the plants that it does
not vary too much. Considerable variation is
allowable. The mercury may run from time
to time from 50° to 80° as extremes, though
the mean, which is 65°, should be as closely
kept as possible.

AIR AND LIGHT. — The influence of light
and air is fully as necessary to healthy plant-
growth as it is to animals. If kept from
the light and air, a plant grows pale and spin-
dling ; still it is at all times necessary to guard
against too sudden an admission of air of a
different temperature from that within, as such
a change, or perhaps a continuance of a very
warm and wet atmosphere, with an occasional
admission of cold air, tends to produce what
is known as

" DAMPING OFF" of the plants. This is a
shrivelling or wasting away of the body of the
plant just above the surface of the ground un-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 23

til but a mere thread is left, which continues
to support the plant with considerable vitality
for some time, but finally effects its ruin.
This disease is seldom seen, however, except
among plants which have grown too rapidly
for their own good and have been at times
kept too warm.

WATERING. — Although the covering of glass
holds the moisture from escaping as vapor to a
considerable extent, the shallowness of the soil
will not enable it to hold water for a great
length of time during sunny weather, and the
beds have to receive an artificial watering fre-
quently. The best time to perform this work
is about four o'clock in the afternoon.

PUMPS. — The nicest manner of accomplish-
ing this is by use of a small force-pump and
sprinkler, which latter is but a small thumb-
nozzle on the end of a short hose, through
which the water is thrown after being drawn
by the pump from a pail. The pump known
as Page's does good work, 'but is constructed
of tin, and is consequently not very durable.
One manufactured by W. & B. Douglas, Mid-
dletown, Ct., which retails at §9, is the best
and most durable article of this kind we have
yet seen. The great advantage these have over

24 A MANUAL OF

the more common method of sprinkling with
a watering-pot is in doing away with the ne-
cessity of removing the sash at each operation.
With the pump, the sash has only to be raised
a few inches in front and the end of the hose
introduced, to give the whole surface a com-
plete wetting with a fine spray.

CAULIFLOWER AND CELERY PLANTS require
about the same temperature and general treat-
ment as cabbage. Beds containing these plants
should be kept rather cool, say below 60°.

TOMATO, PEPPER, AND EGG PLANTS should
never be kept in the same beds with the cab-
bage, but partitions should separate them, so
that the tomatoes, etc., can be kept 15° or 20°
warmer than cabbage.

LETTUCE should be classed with cabbage
and all other hardy plants as regards the
proper temperature, while most flowering
plants are about half-hardy, and require about
the same as tomatoes. The main crop of cel-
ery plants is generally planted out in open
ground ; but for early use a few may be planted
to advantage along the front side of the bed
where it is partly shaded, as celery revels in a
moist, half-shady situation.

SOWING FINE SEEDS is an operation in which

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 25

a little ignorance frequently leads to much dis-
appointment. By fine seeds we mean such as
celery and the seeds of various flowering plants,
which are so very small that, if covered with
soil to any considerable depth, they will not
germinate ; and on the other hand, if left on
the surface, they will soon become too dry to
sprout. Hence many failures are made, and
the seeds are frequently suspected of lacking
vitality, when the fault really lies in the bad
manner in which they were planted. Such
seeds should be sown upon fresh, moist soil,
and little or no covering, save, perhaps, a slight
brushing of the surface, given them. The
proper conditions for stimulating vitality must
be brought about by properly firming, or press-
ing the surface soil around the seed, and a
proper degree of moisture and light must be
kept until the plant has taken root. One of
the best modes of accomplishing these ends is
to sow the seeds in slight depressions, or drills,
then brush a very slight amount of soil over
jthem, water the surface well with a fine spray,
and then cover it by laying directly upon the
soil a pane of glass or a piece of cotton sheet-
ing. It must then be watched, and this cover-
ing left only until the seeds have sprouted and

26 A MANUAL OF

the first little root started downwards. The
coverings are then removed, frequent but small
waterings given, and, if the weather is sunny,
a partial shade placed over the beds to prevent
the tender plants being scorched in their earli-
est infancy.

TRANSPLANTING. — This is one of the most
important of all hot-bed operations. An abun-
dance of good, fine, fibrous roots cannot be
obtained without several times transplanting
the young plants. Different species of plants
are, of course, benefited to a different degree
by this operation. For instance, the cabbage
and kindred plants only require room to
develop roots and grow in a natural, short,
and stocky form ; hence only one removal from
the crowded seed-bed to new quarters, where
they are two or three inches distant from each
other, is all they require to produce good
plants, while tomatoes and other plants of
similar habits throw out new roots readily,
wherever the stem is covered with soil ; hence,
if frequently removed, and each time not only
given more room to spread, but each time set
deeper in the soil than formerly, an astonish-
ing amount of fibrous roots may be obtained,
and the more numerous the fibres in propor-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 2/

tion to the amount of top, the more valuable
is a plant considered when ready to plant out
in its final stand in the field. For these rea-
sons, in order to produce strictly first-class
tomato plants, it is considered necessary that
they be transplanted two or three times before
being offered for sale or planted out.

To do this work correctly and rapidly is no
mean accomplishment, for it will not bear
slighting. Here is one of the advantages of
having the young plants in flats, as above
described, as they can be taken out of the beds,
placed upon a table, and the operator allowed
to sit in a natural position while transplanting
into other flats or boxes which are put in a
suitable place in the bed. Where these are
not used, but a solid floor, covered by a con-
tinuous bed of dirt, instead, the transplanting
becomes a more laborious business ; but this
method has one advantage, at least, in its favor ;
that is, a greater depth of soil can be used than
can be handled readily in flats, hence less
watering, and less liability to dry out rapidly
when not closely watched. In transplanting
in a permanent or immovable bed, the opera-
tor lies upon his breast on a wide board which
spans the bed crosswise. A thin strip of

28 A MANUAL OF

siding, a little less in length than the width of
the bed, is sharpened to an edge on one of its
sides. This is forced into the soil to the depth
the plants are expected to require ; a row of
plants is then placed in this groove, at a proper
distance apart, and the soil placed firmly
against them. Care must be taken that they
are placed straight or upright ; for if laid over
horizontally, they must necessarily grow
crooked. The distance apart will depend
upon the size of the plant and length of time
it is expected to remain before another re-
moval.

ASSORTING. — Before pricking them out in
this manner, it is always well to assort the
plants, placing those of equal size together,
otherwise the more vigorous will overreach
and crowd the weaker ones to their permanent
injury. As soon as the bed is filled, a copious
watering should be given and the bed shaded
for a day or more. The shutters previously
described are very useful for shading ; and late
in the season, when the sun's rays become
powerful under the glasses, it is frequently
found necessary to cover the glass with a thick
coating of common lime whitewash.

MICE, both the common house species and

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 2Q

also the meadow mouse, and the white-bellied,
jumping, or woods mouse, are very apt to take
up their abode in a hot-bed, the warmth afford-
ing a very agreeable protection to them at this
season of the year. They are sure to manifest
their presence by digging up the seeds which
the gardener has sown and burrowing in the
soil among the plants. The safest remedy we
know, is to set a good trap for them at the
time of making the bed, so as to greet
them upon first arrival. If allowed to get
possession in any considerable numbers, poi-
soning will probably have to be resorted to.

COLD FRAMES. — The final transplanting of
hot-bed plants, previous to their being placed
in the field, should consist of a remaval into
cold frames, which are externally the same as
hot-beds, but differ from them in not being
supplied with artificial bottom heat, the glass
sashes giving them all the protection necessary ;
and after they have become accustomed to the
new quarters, the covering is dispensed with
by degrees, and the plants are thus " hardened
off," so that their growth may not be suddenly
checked when planted out in the open field.

SWEET-POTATO PLANTS. — The sweet potato
is not extensively raised north of forty degrees

3O A MANUAL OF

north latitude ; still by setting good strong
plants of the earliest varieties, by the first of
June, on rich, sandy ridges, fair crops of good
1 tubers may be obtained for home use, and the
'demand for plants is sufficient to warrant a
dealer in vegetable plants in keeping at least a
few thousand in supply. There are growers
no farther south than central Ohio who make
the production of sweet-potato plants almost
a sole business, and annually sell hundreds of
thousands of them. North of this latitude, the
variety which has given the greatest satisfac-
tion in the past is the Early Nansemond. This
variety has been kept for years in northern
Ohio, where the sweet potato is profitably
grown, although at quite a high latitude. It
has therefore become acclimated, and will pro-
bably do better at the north when planted
from these northern-grown tubes than if the
seed was brought from the south. A new
variety has lately been introduced, called the
Early Peabody, which is claimed to be at least
. ten days earlier than the Nansemond, while at
the same time it grows larger and is of excel-
lent quality. If, upon further trial, all these
claims are sustained, it certainly will prove a
very valuable acquisition to northern planters.

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 3!

For raising plants, medium or small-sized
tubers are usually selected. As they require
a high temperature and dry atmosphere to
keep well over winter, it is difficult to succeed
in keeping them sound without having all the
appliances for making a special business of it,
and keeping in large quantities. The proper
temperature for successfully keeping them is
from fifty to sixty-five degrees. If exposed to
a temperature of only forty degrees, they will
be liable to rot, especially if not perfectly dry.

On these accounts it is generally found the
best policy for northern growers who want but
a few bushels to purchase them, when wanted
in spring, of some one who makes a specialty
of keeping them. Mr. W. W. Rathbone, of
Marietta, Ohio, is in this business, and seed
from him will do well in every respect at the
north.

The large potatoes to be found in our city
markets every fall and spring are not fit for
seed for northern planting, for two reasons :
first, they are too large and contain too few
eyes ; and secondly, they are usually of late
varieties which can only be matured at the
south. It takes about four weeks* time after
bedding the potatoes in spring to get the first

32 A MANUAL OF

crop of plants, or sets ; consequently, if they
are to be sprouted in manure-beds, calculations
must be made to get the bed in good working
order, and ready to bed the tubers by the mid-
dle of April. This will bring the first crop of
plants by the middle of May and the second
crop by the first of June. The first crop can
then be pulled off and transplanted in another
bed, where they will continue to grow so as
to be stout and well rooted by first of June.
There is little if Anything to be gained in set-
ting them out in the field before that time, as
the soil must be warm for them to grow. The
forcing-bed is made of a layer of about three
inches of a light, sandy loam, which is improved
by mixing with it a quantity of light leaf-
mould. On this the potatoes are laid thickly
in rows side by side. Those over one inch in
diameter are cut in two lengthwise, and laid
with cut side up. The bedding must be done
during a warm sunny afternoon, for, as we have
said, they are easily chilled, and more easily
injured than would be supposed. They are
covered with one and a half or two inches of
the same material which underlies them. If
this soil can be mixed with coal-dust, dry black
muck, or even buckwheat hulls, it will help to

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 33

loosen it, and, in addition, the sun's rays will
to a greater extent be absorbed on account of
the dark color of the surface, and the bed con-
sequently be made warmer. It is not neces-
sary to cover these beds entirely with glass.
The shutters, already described, may be made
to do good service here, and the amount of
glass at command made to go twice as far.
The plants should not be pulled until they
are quite well rooted, and if they can then be
transplanted into another bed for a couple of
weeks, they will be greatly improved, though
few of the sweet-potato plants offered for sale
are transplanted. Care must be exercised in
pulling, or separating the plant from the tuber,
not to displace the tuber or break off the sprouts
which may have started for a second crop.

As this work may fall into the hands of
many readers who may desire to try growing a
few sweet potatoes at the north, a few words
on the subject of setting the plants, and the
treatment of them, though hardly within the
scope of the work, may not be entirely out
of place. Never lose sight of the fact that
the sweet potato is, by nature, a semi-tropical
plant ; therefore everything you can do to in-

34 A MANUAL OF

crease the warmth of the soil in which it is
grown should be done.

When the plants are ready, and the season
far enough advanced for setting them, do not
wait for a rain, but proceed with the work.
Never think of setting them on level — that is,
unridged — ground, but after thoroughly plough-
ing and manuring the soil, ridge it up in high,
narrow ridges. A gravelly loam is best, and,
as we have said of the soil for the propagating
beds, if it can be mixed with coal-dust, black
muck, or some other loosening, dark-colored
material, which will not only enliven the soil,
but by its color absorb more of the sun's rays,
it will help matters wonderfully.

The ridges are now slightly levelled off at
top, and will be found in fine order for setting
the plants, which is easily done by the hand,
on the ridges, at the distance of about eighteen
inches apart The rows, or centres of ridges,
should be three feet apart, so that horse culti-
vation can be given. These ridges are not to
be worked down in after-cultivation, but left
with straight or nearly perpendicular sides, so
that the sun can warm them through. If set
on the level surface, the vines will grow luxu-
riantly enough, but will shade the soil and

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 35

keep it too cool to produce good tubers. With
the above system of cultivation, and a selec-
tion of early varieties, we believe that the
sweet potato is capable of being grown with
profit even as far north as central and western
New York. A soil containing a large pro-
portion of coarse gravel-stones, with a general
tendency to sandiness, we have found far pref-
erable for growing good specimens of sweet
potatoes to one whose base is clay.

PART SECOND.

PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND.

CABBAGE PLANTS. — One of the most diffi-
cult and vexing parts of all garden operations
is to secure a good supply of healthy, growing
plants. Indeed, after this feat is accomplished,
if the soil is sufficiently enriched, in the right
mechanical condition, and the proper cultiva-
tion given, there is little left for a man to do
but to harvest a bountiful crop.

Nine tenths of the failures in this branch of
business are directly. assignable to some mis-
management in the first stages of the plants'
growth, and as in all animal nature, a disease or
injury contracted in infancy, though perhaps
for a long time latent, may finally develop into
•complete ruin. The general ignorance which
exists throughout this country on the subject
of insects and diseases from which the cabbage
.is liable to destruction, may be inferred when

A MANUAL OF VEGETABLE PLANTS. 37

we state that our sales of cabbage plants to
market gardeners and planters have ranged to
upwards of eight hundred thousand in a single
spring. Nearly all the purchasers of these, at
least all those who bought in large quantities,
would have grown their own plants, had they
been satisfied that they could have produced
as good and healthy plants at home as they
received from us. In some seasons^ (the pres-
ent, 1877, being a remarkable one in this re-
spect) every thing will be so favorable that in
many localities plants in abundance can be
grown by mere chance, nothing happening to
attack them to their detriment. But this
chance cannot be depended upon safely, for in
a majority of instances it will simply result in
failure. In how many thousands of instances
does a man's experience culminate somewhat
as follows:

A man desires to raise a field of cabbage.
He first consults all the seed catalogues and
works on gardening in his possession, to ac-
quaint himself with the best varieties for his
particular purpose. Having made his selec-
tion, he dispatches a dollar or two to some
seedsman of his acquaintance, for his supply
of fresh seeds. He now begins to see difncul-

38 A MANUAL OF

ties looming up in the distance. He knows
by past experience that if he sows the seeds
upon the open ground, an arch-enemy awaits
the coming of the tender plants, in the shape
of a small flea-beetle. There are several varie-
ties of this insect, the most destructive to
cabbage, and in fact to all the Brassica, family,
being the Haltica Striolata, or striped-backed
flea-beetle,^ whose ravages, if not suppressed at
once, will finally end with complete destruc-
tion to the plant. He therefore follows a
time-honored, but senseless, custom, and seeks
to escape this enemy by building a seed-bed
up a few feet from the ground, on stilts, as it
were, and by constant watchfulness, coupled
with frequent applications of lime and plaster-
dust, he partially succeeds ; and although his
plants are badly spotted by the " little bugs,"
he keeps them alive, and by frequent waterings
causes them to make a spindling growth until
nearly large enough to transplant. Of course
he boasts of his success, and upon the first
rainy day prepares for the transplanting into
his field. But what is his dismay upon pulling
the first handful to find, instead of the nice
fibrous roots seen in his imagination, and
which he knows should exist on healthy plants,

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 39

but one long, straight tap-root, which for
moisture has run down to the very bottom of
the bed, and perhaps already terminates in a
ball of fungous growth, which shows that the
dreaded " club - root " is already asserting its
claims ! Upon a closer inspection, he finds the
fibres have been eaten off by a small white
maggot, numbers of which can be found bur-
rowing into the remaining root, and maiming
it until it can scarcely be made to live at all.
There is but one wise and safe course left for
him to follow — which is, to condemn the whole
lot, and depend for his supply of plants upon
purchasing of some one who understands the
management of these difficulties and is glad to
take advantage of these misfortunes to increase
his own profits by selling him well-grown,
healthy plants.

This picture is not overdrawn. Hundreds
of men have come to us to rehearse the sub-
stance of the above, evidently thinking such
troubles were unknown to us, as we always had
a supply of plants which had an abundance of
roots, and proved to remain healthy when
transported to other grounds. Indeed, from
the many failures which are continually being
reported to us in this direction, we have come to

4<3 A MANUAL OF

believe that not more than one half the cabbage
seeds sold in this country ever produce plants
which live to become of sufficient size for set-
ting in the field. The main crop of cabbage is
produced from plants which are set during
June and July, and at this hot season of the year
it is with considerable difficulty that plants
can be conveyed by express long distances,
even with packing carefully ; and the carrier's
charges are so high, that on purchased plants
the first cost is frequently doubled or even
trebled by the time they reach the planter.

Knowing all these difficulties, we hope and
trust that every purchaser of this work will be
abundantly satisfied by our showing him how
to overcome and remedy them, inasmuch as
we do it at the risk of decreasing our own
plant trade. Now, in order to come at this
subject understandingly to our readers, we shall
have to follow it up in a sort of backward way,
after stating that the three evils above pic-
tured— viz., Chib-root, White Maggot, and
Flea-beetle — are dependent upon each other, in
the order named, for their own existence.

CLUB-ROOT is an unnatural enlargement, of
a spongy or fungoid character, of the root of
the plant. It is not confined to the cabbage,

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 4!

but is frequently developed in cauliflowers,
turnips, and indeed in all the members of the
Brassica or cabbage family. So far as our
knowledge extends, there is no cure for this
malady ; for after it makes its appearance upon
a plant, it increases in size until it so seriously
affects the circulation of the sap, that the
plant wilts, turns yellow, and finally dies — a
slow death, but one as sure as that of an animal
on which a vampire has settled and sucked its
life-blood away. But we believe there is a
prevention, which is infinitely better than the
best of cures, for a cure must be preceded by an
attack of the disease, which cannot take place
without injury. So far as our extended obser-
vations have shown, the enlargement called
club - root is primarily caused by the root
being mutilated by an insect. There may be
different insects capable of bringing about
the same result, if each burrow into and mu-
tilate the root in the same manner and to the
same extent ; but allowing this to be the case,
it will readily be admitted that the one that is
the most common cause, the one that is cul-
pable in the main, is the one which most se-
riously engages our attention. This we believe
to be none other than

42 A MANUAL OF

THE CABBAGE MAGGOT. — This is the same
little miscreant which we have already alluded
to, which gets into the plant-beds and eats the
fibrous roots off the growing plants, leaving
^only the one tap-root, which, in order to make
a desperate effort to sustain the plant alone,
runs down two or three times its natural
length, and, if it be fortunate enough to escape
the fungoid Chtb-root, may put out new fibres
from its sides, after being removed from the
vicinity of its parasitic enemies, the maggots.
But the chances are against it ; the Fates have
thrown their arms around it, and, in the major-
ity of instances, its future course is downward,
its doom is sealed.

"Well," once exclaimed a well-informed
market-gardener, who is certainly a closer
reasoner upon most subjects than the habits of
insects, " when your soil gets as full of those
little white worms as mine is, you will have to
stop growing cabbage plants." And, indeed,
he is not the only man who has fallen into the
error of supposing, or taking it for granted,
that because these worms make their appear-
ance in his plant-beds that they previously
existed in his soil as naturally as " angle-worms,"
and that to escape their ravages he must find

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 43

some spot where they are not in the soil, or
" burn them out " by building a large fire upon
the spot to be occupied ! Misguided mortal!
Does he forget that " where the carrion is there
will the ravens be " ? that it is Nature's law
to place her subjects, great or small, where the
food and surroundings are congenial to them ?
Is it not easier to suppose that these little
worms or maggots are bred upon the roots of
the plant which is most suitable to their life
and purposes ? Such we find to be the case,
not merely in theory, but in proven fact.

This brings us to the question, From whence
do they come ? — a question easily answered.
Why a question so easily solved should remain
so long in the dark, or why an answer so
easily suspected should escape a single ob-
serving mortal, we cannot conjecture ; but
such has been the case. Can the reader
think of many instances in which any species
of maggots are reproductive in themselves ?
In other words, does a worm lay an egg to
produce a worm ? Such is not the rule in the
insect world.

There are three phases to most insect life.
First, the perfect insect, which is generally a
winged insect — a fly, a bug, a beetle, or a mil-

44 A MANUAL OF

ler or moth. This knows by instinct an appro-
priate place to nourish its young, and only in
such places does it lay its eggs. The eggs
hatch and bring forth worms, or maggots.
The honey-bee lays hers within the cells of
her hive, and her subjects go forth into the
fields and gather nectar for their sustenance.
The skipper-fly selects for her breeding ground
the crevices of a rich old cheese, and depends
upon its strength and substance for support.
Should either lack the God-given instinct
which enables it to select a congenial spot, its
species would become extinct.

We are now ready for the information that
the parent of our little cabbage maggot is none
other than one to whom we have already been
introduced, the STRIPED FLEA-BEETLE. There-
fore, if we would escape the maggot, and
through it the club-root, we must, from the
beginning, keep our plants free from the
attacks of these voracious plant-eaters, the
striped flea-beetles. They are very destructive
to the young plants of the cabbage family, are
known by various names, such as t^^,rn^p-fly,
radish-fly, etc., but more properly as Haltica
S trio la ta, or flea-beetle.

There are two species very common in this

VEGETABLE PLANTS, 45

country, one being entirely black and one
having two bright golden or yellow stripes
upon his back. Their habits are similar.
When approached they will spring from the
plant in a true flea-like manner, and, if in
imagined danger, feign inanimation in a 'pos-
sum-like manner. This trait of their character
may readily be taken advantage of by cooping
in the vicinity of the beds a hen which has a
good brood of chickens old enough to run
freely among the plants. The chicks soon
learn the trick, and make a reality of the feint
of death by relentlessly swallowing all of them
which come within their reach ; and as by
constantly running amongst the plants they
continually scare them off, we have never dis-
covered a better remedy for beds already
infested with them than this ; and were the
simple eating of the plants the extent of the
mischief of which they are capable, this rem-
edy, with perhaps an occasional sprinkling of
plaster, carbolic powder, soot, or any thing
distasteful or injurious to them, would be all
the remedy to be desired. But as we have
shown that the amount they eat is nothing in
comparison to the damage following the lay-
ing of their eggs, with the attendant results,

46 A MANUAL OF

you will at once see the importance of keeping
the seed leaves unspotted by their greedy jaws.
In order to accomplish this, it is necessary to
consider that the maggot, after becoming full-
grown, changes into the pupa state, and re-
mains in the ground for about two weeks,
when it again comes forth to continue its
depredations upon the plant, which by this
time has grown so large as not to be seriously
injured by being slightly eaten. So they con-
tinue to infest plants of the cabbage family
until fall ; and the last litter for the season
remaining dormant in the pupa state over
winter, come forth perfect beetles during the
first warm days of spring, ready to attack the
first tender plants which appear.

OUR PREVENTIVE will now be readily under-
stood by every careful reader. By knowing
where these pests are to abound — which is
wherever there was a quantity of cabbage, tur-
nips, radishes, mustard, or any plant which they
infest, growing during the preceding summer
and fall — there in early spring may \ve look for
the fleas, and as far from there as possible
must we sow our cabbage and kindred seeds.
But the insects have wings, and will they not
go to our beds as soon as the plants are up ?

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 47

This is just what we must prevent them
from doing — a task more easily accomplished
than may be imagined. We know almost the
exact spot from which they will come out of
the ground, so our first care must be to pro-
vide food for them and keep them there. For
this purpose we sow, on the ground which was
occupied the previous summer with cabbage
and turnips, as early in spring as possible, a
mixture of cabbage, turnip, and mustard seeds.
These may be any old, mixed, or doubtful
seeds, which are always accumulating, and are
of no particular value. Cheap imported cab-
bage seeds will here answer an excellent pur-
pose, as their only use is for biig food, and after
serving their purpose, are to be ploughed under
before they breed a second crop. Of course,
we must expect an instalment of bugs or fleas
from our neighbors' grounds, if we do not pre-
vent their coming in some way.

By sowing our seeds, as we have shown,
upon soil and in a vicinity not occupied the
previous season by any vegetation of the kind,
we have to contend with no fleas except those
which come from other quarters. Let us now
inquire what causes them to come, or how
they are enabled to find our young plants.

48 A MANUAL' OF

Nature has furnished them with but one
mode of accomplishing this, and that is by the
sense of smell. It then follows, that if we in
some manner destroy or change the natural
smell of the young plants which we wish to
protect, no further trouble will result. This
must be done by creating some other smell
powerful enough to overcome the scent of the
cabbage plant. There are several ways of
accomplishing this. Turpentine, mixed with
dry plaster, and sprinkled upon the plants as
soon as they come up, and repeated as often as
it ceases to send out its peculiar scent, will
often effectually keep them away. Coal-tar,
which can be bought at the gas-works for
$2.50 per barrel, has a very strong, disagreea-
ble smell, and is probably as cheap as any thing
which will answer this purpose. It is not
necessary to put it directly on the plants. If
a few quarts are spread upon boards and
placed in the immediate vicinity of the young
plants it will completely hide the scent of the
cabbage, and but an occasional chance bug
will find them, especially if the bugs are fur-
nished with an abundance of food elsewhere,
as described above. Remember, the idea is
not to let them come on the plants, and then

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 49

try to drive them o,ff by applying something
distasteful to them ; but apply the remedy
even before the plants are up, to screen them
so they will never be found. In addition to
these precautions, every thing possible should
be done in the way of preparing the seed-bed,
and using fertilizers that will cause the plants
to come up stout and healthy, with large, green
seed-leaves, and keep them in condition to
grow as rapidly as possible, so the third leaf
may come out before a bug shall find them.

After the third leaf has made its appearance
there is generally but little danger of an
attack, especially if there is a supply of younger
plants provided for them in the neighborhood.
The first, or seed-leaves, of the cabbage are all
the bugs seem to have any special liking for.
They will, however, usually hang to a mustard
plant nearly all summer, so we usually sow a
good-sized patch of the white or French mus-
tard for their special benefit. We frequently
use the same ground for raising plants two or
more years in succession, and find that if we
clear every trace of cabbage from it as soon as
the plant season is over, but few bugs will be
found in the vicinity the following spring.

As these assertions are at variance with the

5O A MANUAL OF

writings of other authors who have written
upon these subjects, our readers may desire to
know what proof we can present to sustain
them. Well, these are the principles upon
which we have worked for the past ten years,
during which time we have grown, annually,
hundreds of thousands of plants. Never, dur-
ing all this time, have we seen a single case of
club-root developed upon a plant which had
not first been mutilated in its roots by the cab-
bage maggot, and never have we discovered a
trace of the maggot in the roots of plants
which had not first been severely worked upon
by the flea-beetles.

On the other hand, never have we had a
bed of plants severely attacked by the beetles
or fleas that was not subsequently injured by
the maggot ; and further, never have we yet
seen a maggot in the root, or the slightest ten-
dency towards the development of club-root,
on a plant, or plot of plants, which had been
absolutely protected from the flea-beetles.
Although strong, this of course is only circum-
stantial evidence. We have taken a lot of
these maggots from a bed badly infested with
them, put them into a glass cage, and kept
them until they developed into perfect little

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 51

flea-beetles, which is as strong proof as we are
now able to present. The closest observers
agree that club-root is caused by a little worm
boring into the root. Why not, then, as soon
lay the mischief to this little maggot as any
other, inasmuch as it is more frequently found
here than any other worm. We do not doubt
but that there are other maggots, the larvae of
other insects than the flea-beetle, which are
capable of producing the same effect, but we
do believe this to be the most common cause
and the one most to be guarded against. We
are aware that altogether a different code of
habits has been given these insects by promi-
nent entomologists and writers upon this sub-
ject, and desire to quote a few passages, that
the reader may be led to experiment until
satisfied who is right. Hon. Asa Fitch, in his
"Eleventh Report of the Noxious, Beneficial
and other Insects of the State of New York,"
which was published in the Twenty-sixth
Annual Report of the State Agricultural Soci-
ety, in writing of the cabbage maggot makes
the following statement :

" It lies dormant in the ground about a fort-
night in its pupa state, and then gives out the
perfect insect, which is a two-winged fly resem-

52 A MANUAL OF

bling the common house-fly, but somewhat
smaller in size, measuring 0.20 in length to
the end of its body and 0.26 to the tip of

the closed wings This cabbage

fly is so closely related to the onion fly, that
the same remarks made respecting the reme-
dies for that species .will apply equally well to
this." In speaking of the striped flea-beetle, in
the same Report, he describes certain " crooked
marks" to be seen upon the leaves of cabbage
and turnip plants, and says : " These marks are
really produced by minute worms living in the
interior of the leaves, feeding upon their green
pulpy substance, and leaving the skin unbro-
ken, mining a serpentine track, which increases
in thickness as the worm grows to a larger
size. These worms are the larvae of the flea-
beetles, which make most of these marks,
which occur in the turnip and other leaves
in the garden."

It is but justice to state that this fallacy —
for we have proved it to be such — did not
originate with Mr. Fitch, but is credited as
being a new and valuable discovery, made by a
Mr. Le Keux, a member of the Entomological
Society of London. But Mr. Fitch heartily
endorses it, and so it has been handed down

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 53

and accepted as a truth among the entomo-
logical fraternity. We think the error has
continued long enough for the good of the
cabbage, turnip, and radish growers of our
country, so we have given our own opinions
freely upon the subject, and will await the
decisions of careful experimenters as to the
correctness of our views.

THE RADISH MAGGOT. — Mr. Fitch, in the
Report above alluded to, lays the parentage of
this well-known worm to a different fly from
the one which he thinks produces the cabbage
maggot. In our opinion — which is founded
upon practice and careful observations — it is
the same, neither being the product of a " fly
resembling a house-fly," but both emanating
from the eggs of the striped flea-beetle. We
do not say that there is no other fly in exist-
ence whose eggs produce worms which feed
upon the roots of either cabbage or radish.
There may be such an insect, but we have
never seen it. We write only of what we
know, not of what may exist beyond our
knowledge. Our experience has been with
radishes the same as with cabbages.

Whenever we have kept the young radish
plants entirely free from the ravages of the

54 A MANUAL OF

fleas, and had them on loose, rich ground,
where they could grow rapidly, we have invari-
ably had splendid tender radishes, without a
trace of worms ; but when the young plants
were badly eaten by the fleas, we always found
worms in the roots — unless it might be with
early varieties, whose growth was forced so
rapidly that the worms had not time to show
themselves before the radishes were pulled.
We have said that this insect winters in the
pupa state — meaning that they usually do so ;
but we think the perfect insects also frequently
live through the winter in a dormant state, as
they make their appearance very early in the
spring.

The same methods given for protecting
cabbage plants will apply to radishes with
equal force. Where but a small bed of plants
is to be grown, a method probably as cheap,
and of as little trouble as any, will be to
sow early, and protect the bed a great part of
the time, while the plants are young, with a
covering of glass sash or cloth. But it will be
found vastly more difficult to raise a small bed
of plants and keep them healthy and free from
insects, than to grow them on a large scale.
It will also be found cheaper for a man who

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 55

wants but a few hundred or thousand cabbage
plants to purchase them of some one who
grows them largely, than to attempt to grow
his own. During the season just passed, we
furnished our customers who came to the, beds
with as fine, healthy, well-rooted plants as they
could desire, and of the best varieties, at $1.50
per thousand. Who could think of preparing
his bed, purchasing his seed, and producing a
single thousand for that money ?

If it be found impossible to keep the fleas
entirely off, on account of neglecting some of
the precautions \vhich we have given, the best
manner of overcoming the injuries likely to be
developed is to keep the plants -growing as
thriftily as possible, from the time the seed
leaves are opened until the head is formed, as it
frequently happens that \vhere the plants are
not badly infested with fleas, the diseases re-
sulting therefrom will be comparatively slight.

THE USE OF LIME upon ground occupied
by cabbage is commonly regarded as beneficial,
many growers having noticed that club-root
is less likely to be developed where lime is a
plentiful constituent of the soil. The reason
for this is obvious : the strong alkali is very
destructive to the maggots, and keeps them in

56 A MANUAL OF

check. Wood ashes are, for the same reason,
one of the best fertilizers for all this class of
plants. Beautiful turnips and radishes may be
grown on a newly cleared fallow with scarcely
a tratce of the maggot. The great amount of
potash contained in the ashes is supposed to
be their most valuable element for this use, as)
this class of plants, and in fact all leguminous
plants, require a great amount of potash.

Aside from its alkaline nature, lime has, in
our opinion, but little manurial value in itself.
Of course some of its constituents enter into
the structure of the plant, but its main use or
value as a manurial element consists in its
action upon the vegetable matter with which it
comes in contact, its tendency being to decom-
pose or set free the gases bound up in the vege-
table tissue, and render them available as plant
food. Therefore, when lime is used in combi-
nation with vegetable manure or with animal
excrement, the mixture should always be kept
under cover of the soil, that the gases may be
held from escaping until the plant absorbs
them.

PLASTER OR GYPSUM is in its effects exactly
opposite to lime. It has a great affinity for
ammonia, phosphoric acid, and potash, and

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 57

readily absorbs them, especially the former, from
the atmosphere, or from any thing containing
these gases with which it may chance to come
in contact. Plaster, but no lime, should there-
fore be placed in all composts or mixtures which
are to be used as surface manures. The kind
of land most likely to be benefited by lime is
therefore that which already contains a large
amount of muck, or any vegetable matter.
Our best market-gardeners generally apply lime
to their grounds the year following a heavy ap-
plication of stable manure, the first crop being
fed by the parts of the manure which are readily
soluble, and the lime serving to decompose the
residue for the second year's use.

SPECIAL OR COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.—
This is a subject which is commanding a great
amount of thought and attention of late. There
being few localities where an abundance of
stable manure can be obtained, the importance
of finding a substitute is apparent. The three
principal elements required by the majority of
our farm and garden crops, and which are not
already to be found in sufficient quantities in
the soil, are ammonia, potash, and phosphoric
acid. Ammonia most largely abounds in all
animal substances, all nitrogenous bodies. Pot-

58 A MANUAL OF

ash is largely found in ashes, and is also ob-
tained in large quantities for commercial use
from potash-rock, which is mined extensively
in Germany, and also in some parts of South
Carolina. Phosphoric acid is most readily ob-
tained from bones, and is the most valuable
constituent of the various superphosphates and
bone manures with which the markets are filled.

The exact proportion of each of these ingre-
dients which is required for perfecting any of
our farm or garden crops is readily ascertained
by analysis. It seems, therefore, that it would
be an easy matter to compound a special fer-
tilizer which should be exactly adapted to any
plant or crop. And this course is strongly ad-
vocated by many eminent agriculturists at the
present day. We have not in practice gone
farther in this direction than to compound these
elements into a fertilizer which we have used
upon a general line of field and garden crops.
The use of such a fertilizer has been attended
with varying results upon the different crops,
some being particularly gratifying.

The largest mixture of this kind which we
have yet used, we will give, not as a pattern for
others to follow, but to furnish an idea of the sub-
stances and proportions which we deemed ne-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 59

cessary in a special or general fertilizer. First
we obtained one ton of fine diy hen manure,
this, at $20 per ton, being our cheapest source
of ammonia. Next, one ton of muriate of pot-
ash, at $50. Third, one ton of fine dissolved
bone, at §35. These three substances were
finely compounded, and mixed with three tons
of gypsum or plaster. One or two barrels of
this mixture per acre, sowed upon wheat in
early spring, gave, upon a piece of old land,
where oats the previous year were scarcely
worth harvesting, the most bountiful yield we
ever grew. Twice that quantity sowed upon
a piece of ground which had not received a
coating of stable manure in fifteen years, gave
us as rank a growth of cabbage plants as we
desire to see. We seldom venture the experi-
ment of putting such manures in the hill, but
always prefer sowing broadcast, and lightly har-
rowing in.

But users of these concentrated commercial
fertilizers must ,not for a moment think that
they are going to entirely take the place or per-
form the functions of stable manure. They
will not. The amount of soluble plant food
contained in a load of stable manure is by no
means the extent of its value. The mechanical

6O A MANUAL OF

action, the loosening and lightening influence
which the vegetable matter has upon our
stiff clay soils particularly, is of the greatest
importance. The strongest commercial fertil-
izer in the world, on a stiff, heavy clay soil,
destitute of vegetable matter, will give very
meagre returns. Ploughing under clover and
other green crops must then be resorted to in
connection with special manures, in order to
make their use satisfactory to the planter.

PREPARING GROUND FOR CABBAGE PLANTS.
— From what we have written, the reader will
understand the reason for our now saying,
select for your cabbage seeds a spot as far dis-
tant from where they have been previously
grown as possible. There is scarcely any pos-
sible preparation, for either a field of cabbage
or a bed of growing plants, better than plough-
ing under a good heavy growth of large clover
the previous summer. The clover always leaves
the ground in a loose, light, mellow, healthy
condition for the following spring's work, so
that comparatively little stable manure will be
required. If it is desired to sow the cabbage
seeds early in spring, we usually plough the
ground thoroughly and leave it in ridges the
fall previous, so that it will more readily dry

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 6 1

off and become in good working order in
spring. Then, as soon in the spring as it is in
fit condition, it is ploughed and harrowed down
finely, and furrowed out in beds about three and
a half feet wide. The beds are then raked
down, or rather the stones and lumps raked out
into the furrows, which leaves the ground very
nearly level again. There should, if possible,
be ditches enough left so that the water from
sudden rains may be carried off, otherwise the
beds may suffer from washing during the fre-
quent rains which come at this season. What-
ever special manure we are to apply may be
sown upon the surface and harrowed in before
the beds are furrowed out, or, if the quantity
is limited and we desire to make it go as far as
possible, it may be sown upon the beds after
the first raking, which is usually done with a
four-tined potato-digging hook. It is then
raked again with a steel-toothed rake, care
being taken to rake the small stones and lumps
to • the surface by a movement of the rake
lengthwise of the bed, so as not to rake the
fertilizer into the ditch, but to thoroughly mix
it with the surface soil.

The bed is then ready for sowing the seeds,
which is readily accomplished with a common

62 A MANUAL OF

onion or turnip seed-drill. We have used both
Matthews' and Comstock's seed-drills, and
think the former the best instrument for sow-
ing seeds simply, and the latter the best we
know of that has a cultivator attachment. /
These machines will sow any kind of seeds,
from mustard up to corn and peas, with much
more regularity than can be done by hand, at
the same time with much greater rapidity, and
with an exactness that allows any given num-
ber of pounds of seeds per acre to be sown.
They cost from $8 to $12 each, and can be pro-
cured through any seedsman. With these ma-
chines the seeds are sown in drills lengthwise
of the beds, four rows being placed upon each
bed. This brings the rows about ten inches
apart, with a space of one foot between each
two beds, which is used as a path.

Cabbage seeds require but little heat to
germinate freely, and, if the weather is favor-
able, they should begin to show themselves in
one week. We have frequently had cold
weather, and even snow, after our earliest sow-
ing was up, but never have had them injured
by it. We make our first sowings as soon in
spring as we can get the ground in suitable
condition, which is not until from the 1 2th to

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 63

25th of April with us. We then continue to
sow at intervals of one week until the ist of
June, at which date our first out-doors plants
are ready for sale or transplanting. We have
dwelt sufficiently upon the importance as
well as the manner of keeping the young
plants protected from insects. To accomplish
this will require constant watchfulness, and no
one should undertake the job who has not the
necessary time to enable him to outgeneral his
small but powerful enemy.

CULTIVATION. — The soil around the young
plants should be frequently stirred, both for
the purpose of stimulating their growth and
destroying all weeds which make their appear-
ance.

The best hoe we have ever found for this
purpose is easily made by taking a piece of inch-
wide hoop-iron, say thirteen inches in length,
and grinding one of its edges quite sharp.
Now punch a couple of holes through each
end, or one half inch from each end, large
enough to hold a shingle-nail or a three-quarter-
inch screw. Next find an old hoe-handle, or
make one out of a cast-off rake's tail, and
fasten the end of it securely into a hole in the
centre of a hardwood block five inches in

64 A MANUAL OF

length, making it T-shaped. Now bend the
hoop-iron at right angles in two places, four
inches from each end, making it U-shaped, and
fit it upon the cross-piece on the handle, fast-
ening it with screws or nails, which pass
through the holes near the ends of the hoop-
iron, and into the ends of the cross-piece.
Fasten it at such an angle that when the hoe-
handle is held in the hands in a natural posi-
tion for hoeing, the LI will stand upright.
Now, as this hoe is drawn along between the
rows of cabbage, it cuts and kills every weed,
and loosens the soil without displacing it, as it
simply passes through the loop and falls back
into position. This also makes a very superior
onion weeder. Of course the dimensions
given — five inches, which makes the width of
the hoe — can be varied at pleasure, but should
be somewhat less than the distance between
the rows where it is expected to be used.

TRANSPLANTING. — A cloudy or wet time is
usually selected for transplanting the plants
into the field ; but if they are good, tough,
healthy, well-rooted plants, and the soil con-
tains the usual amount of moisture, as good
" luck " may be had in pleasant weather as
during a rain. The ground should be worked

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 65

up fine and mellow by thorough ploughing and
harrowing. We usually set by stakes ; one
person dropping the plants on the line, and
another following and setting them with a
" dibher," which is a sharp stick, eight inches
long, for making the hole into which the plant
is dropped to the right depth. They may be
expected to wilt some ; but, if the soil is loose
and moist, not one per cent, will die from
transplanting, and they will commence grow-
ing sooner, while the ground will be left in far
better condition than it will be after setting in,
or immediately after a heavy rain, as is fre-
quently done. The striped flea-beetle some-
times attacks early cabbage plants after they
are set in the field. Should they do so, it is
proof that they have nothing more suitable to
eat, and should at once be furnished by sowing
seeds of turnip, mustard, etc., in the immediate
vicinity, at the same time dusting the plants
with plaster or wood ashes. The fleas should,
however, be kept from finding the young cab-
bage plants in the manner so fully described
under head of Striped Flea-beetle, and our
prevention.

VARIETIES. — There are so many varieties of
cabbage in cultivation, that the inexperienced

66 A MANUAL OF

planter is frequently at a loss to know which
to select. It is easy for us to enumerate those
which usually give the best satisfaction in our
soil and climate, but this information might be
no criterion for people in other localities.

Under the head of Early Varieties, in Part
First of this work, we stated that we valued
Fottler's Early Dmmhead above every other
variety for a general-purpose cabbage. We
will also place it at the head of our list o£ late
varieties ; for, although called early, if planted
late — say from 25th of June to loth of July in
this latitude — we have yet to see its equal for
fall and winter use. It has a large, hard, flat,
and beautifully shaped head, which is always
formed on a short stem. It is very reliable for
heading, and has probably grown more rapidly
in public favor during the past few years, in this
vicinity at least, than any other variety. In
order to ascertain what it would do in other
localities, we made an offer last fall to send a
sample package of the seeds free to any cab-
bage-grower who would give it a trial and re-
port results. The offer was published in sev-
eral popular agricultural journals, and in re-
sponse we received nearly five hundred appli-
cations. Nearly every State and Territory in

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 67

the Union was included in the list, and we are
pleased to state that, so far as received, the re-
ports speak very favorably of it.

THE FLAT DUTCH, in its different strains, is
by far more widely and extensively cultivated
throughout this country than any other va-
riety. Nearly every seed-grower has a partic-
ular strain of this variety which he claims to
be superior to any to be obtained elsewhere.
The truth is there is little difference in them,
and any one which has been for years se-
lected for seed purposes, and only those
which have formed perfect heads saved and
planted for producing seeds, will give satisfac-
tion. English-grown seeds of late varieties of
cabbage usually fail entirely to produce good
heads in this country, and should never be
planted with the expectation of obtaining more
than a good growth of leaves for fodder. We
attribute as a reason for this, not that the cli-
mate is unfavorable, for it .is even better or
more perfectly adapted to the wants of the
cabbage than our own, but to the fact that
these imported seeds are usually very carelessly
grown from stumps, refuse heads, or plants
which have failed to head at all. The reason
for importing these seeds is that they can be

68 A MANUAL OF

procured for less money than American-grown
seeds. So a cheap article is produced to meet
the demand, but in the end it is found to be
the dearest. If seed stock from some of our
standard varieties should be taken to Europe
and there carefully developed, then the finest
heads selected and seeds again grown from
them and brought back to our country, we be-
lieve they would produce even finer heads than
the original cabbages here. We base these
conclusions upon similar experiments which
we have made by sending to Washington Ter-
ritory, where the climate, in the vicinity of
Puget Sound, more nearly resembles that of
England than our Middle States. Still we be-
lieve that if propagated in these warm and
moist lacalities for a long series of years, the
tendency would be to ripen later and later each
succeeding year, until they would become un-
fitted for our short seasons, as it is a well-
known fact that- vegetables of any kind will
ripen sooner when the seeds are procured from
far north than south of the locality in which
they are planted.

French grown cabbage seeds seem to do
much better with us than English, but as
American seeds are superior to either and can

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 69

now be produced at a cost low enough to sat-
isfy any one, there no longer remains even this
poor excuse for importing.

The Late Drumhead is quite a popular late
variety. It is later than the Flat Diitch, and
usually not so reliable for heading.

We this season planted forty-five early and
late varieties, in order to ascertain if there were
any better than those of which we have
spoken. A casual observer would not suspect
that the field contained more than a half dozen
varieties. Among the early varieties, the Little
Pixie, Early Wyman, Cannon-ball, Early
Flat Dutch, and Schweinfurth Quintal, ap-
peared to possess more real merit than any
others, except those named on pages 19 and
20. The above rank in earliness and size
about in the order named. The Little Pixie
is earlier even than the old Early York. The
heads are small, but very hard. An admirable
first early variety. The Early Wyman some-
what resembles the Wakefield. It grows
rather larger, and may perhaps be an improve-
ment on that well-known variety. The Can-
non-ball produces what its name indicates, a
very hard, round head, probably harder than
any other variety.

7O A MANUAL OF

The Schweinfurth Quintal is very reliable
for heading. The heads are uniformly large,
the largest in the field, but are not very solid.
They are of fine shape, white, tender, and of
excellent quality.

The Early Dark Red Erfurt is an im-
provement on the old Red Dutch. It is ear-
lier, of a deeper color, grows on a shorter
stem, and produces a fair-sized, very hard head.

The Bergen Drumhead seems to be earlier
than the common Late Dr2imhead, and much
more reliable for heading.

The Stone Mason seems of late somewhat
prone to rot in the stem before ripening.
Otherwise it is an excellent second early va-
riety. Several other varieties might be con-
sidered valuable but for their liability to de-
struction by rotting. Among these we would
name Wheeler s Imperial, Robinsons Cham-
pion, Fearnaught, and Filderkraiit. The last
named, but for this fault, would be a very ex-
cellent variety. It somewhat resembles the
Winnigstadt in shape and habits of growth,
but is even more pointed than that justly
popular variety. The Silver leaf Dritmhead,
French Quintal, Green Glazed, Dax Drum-
head, imported Flat Brunswick Drumhead,

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 71

and Enfield Market failed entirely to produce
heads of any value in our trial patch. Al-
though we ought not to approve or condemn
any variety on a single trial, we feel justifiable
in recommending those which produced fine
heads as preferable to those which made entire
failures, as they had in all respects an equal
chance. The Improved American Savoy is
probably the best of its class. The savoys are
the tenderest and finest in quality of all cab-
bages. The heads do not usually grow very
large or very solid. They are more especially
grown for family use, where fine quality is more
of an object than quantity.

THE CUT-WORM is the next enemy which
stands ready to claim the plants. It is so old
an offender, and so well known, that no de-
scription is necessary. We regret that we
know of no manner of exterminating them
cheaply and effectually. If very plentiful,
they may be seen while preparing the ground,
and if the planter has no other spot well
adapted to cabbage which is not so badly in-
fested with them, he must either lose a large
percentage of his plants, rid the grouad of the
pests before setting them, or so prepare them
that they cannot be eaten off by the worms.

72 A MANUAL OF

His peculiar circumstances must enable him to
decide which of these three alternatives is his
best hold.

The plants may be easily prepared to with-
stand this enemy by wrapping each stem with
a small strip of thin paper, which, when the
plant is set in position, will extend down to, or
slightly into, the soil, and up one or two inches
from the surface. There are, doubtless, prepa-
rations in which the stems of the plants may
be dipped which will also repel or kill the
worm, and still not injure the plant. Experi-
ments in this direction might result in valua-
ble discoveries.

If a few days' time can be spared between
preparing the ground and setting the plants,
these worms may be pretty effectually extermi-
nated by sowing a quantity of beans over the
.piece and lightly harrowing or raking them in.
They will come up quickly and be attacked by
the cut-worms. Then, by passing over the
ground daily for a few days and hunting the
worms, which are readily found just under the
surface, close by the plants which they have
just cut down, the patch can readily be cleared
of the pests.

THE GREEN WORM. — The next enemy from

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 73

whose depredations the cabbage is likely to
suffer is the white cabbage butterfly, which has
been in this country but a few years, and is the
parent of the much detested green cabbage
worm. For a year or two after its advent in
this country it caused general and almost com-
plete destruction. Now it injures the plants
to some extent, but by no means so severely as
formerly. The reason for this is that its natu-
ral enemies have also become numerous enough
to keep it in check. Like all other insects,
there are three stages to its existence — viz., the
perfect insect, which is the butterfly ; the cater-
pillar, or green worm, in which form it is most
destructive ; and third, the chrysalis, or pupa
state, in which it is dormant, and undergoes
the change from worm to butterfly. When in
this state, and to all appearances lifeless, in
which condition it passes the winter, it is
sought by a small parasitic fly, which punctures
its skin and lays within its shell a number of
small eggs. These soon hatch out into little
white maggots, which eat the inside entirely
out, leaving only a hollow shell. We have ex-
amined dozens of these chrysalides in early
spring — which are to be found on the sides of
buildings, fences, stones, or any rubbish near

74 A MANUAL OF

where cabbage was grown the year previous- —
without finding a single one not infected and
spoiled by these maggots. So much reduced
has this cabbage pest become by means of this
parasite, that if all the worms found while hoe-
ing the plants are carefully destroyed, little
damage will be done to large plantations, even
if no more attention is paid to them. Where
but a few plants are set-out in the garden, how-
ever, the damage will be proportionately much
greater, and if not frequently destroyed, the
worms may effect a complete ruin.

The reason for this is, that the butterflies,
which lay the eggs, are very active insects, being
almost continually on the wing, and wandering
around from field to field. Wherever they can
find cabbage they stop and lay a few eggs, and
pass on. The consequence is that the eggs,
and soon after the resulting worms, become
nearly as numerous on the small patch as upon
the large, and of course, if there are more
worms in proportion to the number of cab-
bages, the resulting damage will be correspond-
ingly greater. The butterflies are attracted to
the cabbage by the sense of smell, and may in
a great measure be prevented from finding
them in the same manner as we have describ-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 75

ed for the prevention of the flea-beetle. As
this prevention is vastly better than any ciire
with which we are acquainted, we will not oc-
cupy space by giving remedies, especially as
we know no infallible one.

SALTING CABBAGE. — An application of a
few bushels of salt per acre, sown upon
the soil when preparing it for cabbage, is
very beneficial, the cabbage being naturally
a salt-water plant, or one which grows to
its greatest perfection on lands contiguous
to the sea-shore. Salt also has a good effect
in destroying worms upon any soil, and may
be used very beneficially upon any lands in-
fested with white grubs or cut worms.

An article well adapted to these purposes is
the refuse or dirty salt, which may frequently be
obtained at the salt-works at from $2 to $5 per
ton. It must not be used too freely, however, or
the results will be attended with more loss than
profit. We have in mind an' instance in which
we procured four barrels of refuse salt, which we
intended to apply as a top-dressing on nearly as
many acres, mainly for the purpose of drawing
or holding the moisture during the dry sum-
mer months. The work of applying was left to
a man who misunderstood the matter entirely,

76 A MANUAL OF

and the contents of the four barrels were spread,
with a shovel, upon about one third of an acre
in the centre of a field which we afterwards
planted with potatoes. The result, as any one
might naturally infer, was a total dearth of
vegetation upon that land for one year. Not
even a weed dared to lift its head, and a cas-
ual observer might have supposed that a pond
of water had recently dried away, leaving the
middle of our field clean and bare. The fol-
lowing season that spot was selected as a site
for carrots and asparagus plants, both of which
grew finely, and with but little trouble from
weeds.

Judging from the results of this experiment,
we believe that a heavy application of salt
might frequently be made to pay upon rich,
old grounds which have become badly infested
with weeds, though at a loss of use for one
season. A small pinch of salt sprinkled upon
the heads of growing cabbage is also thought
to cause them to grow larger and more solid.
It may be repeated at intervals of one or two
weeks, each time enlarging the quantity. Care
must be exercised, however, not to overdo this
work, as too large a dose would result disas-
trously.

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 77

WATERING THE PLANTS IN THE SEED-BED.
— It is commonly supposed that young growing
plants require very frequent watering during
dry seasons. Whether this supposition is cor-
rect or not depends entirely upon the condition
of the plants. If they are healthy, with leaves
unspotted by bugs, and abundantly supplied
with fibrous roots, they are capable of with-
standing as severe drought as any other class of
plants. But if maimed and crippled in both
leaf and root, as is too frequently the case when
grown by parties who know not how to take
care of them, the hot sun and withering winds
will curl them to such an extent that frequent
watering is the only means of sustaining life.

CELERY PLANTS.

THE consumption of this delicious vegetable
is greatly on the increase in this country. This
causes the demand for celery plants to annually
become larger, and as there is considerable
knack in producing a good lot of plants, it has
become an important branch of business with
many seedsmen and vegetable gardeners.

It is useless to attempt to grow a bed of

78 A MANUAL OF

celery plants on our sunny sidehills in the
open ground. If forced to produce them in
such situations, it must be done in frames,
where they can be easily watered and partially
{shaded The natural situation for celery
seems to be in a moist, cool, half-shady position,
near a body of water, whose vapors as they
continually arise will give the atmosphere a
perceptible feeling of dampness. A rich,
mucky or loamy soil is best adapted to the
needs of this plant.

As a spot eminently fitted in these respects
is usually very slow to dry out, it will generally
be found too wet to get in order and sow as
early in spring as it is necessary the seeds
should be sown in order to produce large,
stocky plants, in time to fully develop during
our short seasons. We would, therefore,
recommend working the soil up in good con-
dition during the dry fall months previous, and
leaving it in high ridges over winter. All
that is necessary in spring will be to rake
down the beds as early as the weather will per-
mit, and sow the seeds.

The seeds should always be sown in drills, as
directed for cabbage plants, about ten inches
apart, but may be considerably thicker in the

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 79

rows than cabbage. They must not, however,
be covered as deeply as cabbage seeds. The
manner of sowing usually decides the crop.
If properly done, they will come up evenly
and produce a good crop of plants ; but if
improperly done, the chances of an even catch
are slim.

The seeds must be covered but very lightly,
a mere sprinkling, enough to hide them from
sight, being sufficient. Then, to prevent
their drying out, the soil must be " firmed."
The simplest manner of doing this on a small
scale is to pack the soil on the rows with the
feet. Walk over each row twice, by placing
one foot as closely ahead of the other as pos-
sible, so that your whole weight will press
upon every inch of the row. Beds so treated
will come up evenly, when if this simple firm-
ing was omitted only here and there a plant
could be seen.

Celery seeds are slow to germinate at the
best. Every thing being favorable, two weeks'
time will elapse between the sowing and the
first appearance of the plants. For this reason
if for no other, the plants should be in rows,
and the rows far enough apart, so they can be
easily hoed out and the weeds kept in check.

8O A MANUAL OF

Celery plants, to become large, stocky, and
of good shape, should be transplanted, or
" pricked out," as gardeners term it, as soon as
they- have attained a height of two inches, into
a bed of rich, mellow soil, in rows four to six
inches apart, and two inches in the row.

Here they should receive frequent water-
ings, and should be sheared or cut back as
often as they show any tendency to send up tall
and spindling leaf-stalks. This keeps them short
and stocky, and causes them to form a mass
of fibrous roots. They will then be ready to
start into vigorous growth as soon as put out
in the field, where they have plenty of room.
They may be left in these beds until the
removal of some early field or garden crop
gives a vacant spot for setting them, and will
be growing probably more rapidly in the beds
during the hot and dry weeks of midsummer
than they would in the field.

ASPARAGUS PLANTS.

ONE of the best paying vegetables for
marketing at the present day, if rightly
managed, is asparagus. A grower of veg-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 8 1

etable plants will therefore find a good de-
mand among his customers for asparagus
plants, and as they are very easily grown they
may be sold at seemingly low prices, yet at a
fair profit.

The requisites for an asparagus plant bed
are a light, rich, sandy loam, free from weeds.
This latter is an indispensable quality, for the
seeds are several weeks in germinating, and if
the ground is full of weed-seeds, they will spring
up and occupy the land so far in advance of the
asparagus, that it can never catch up. There-
fore, select a spot which is smooth and level,
which has been in potatoes, cabbage, or some
hoed crop the previous year, and kept free
from weeds. Plough, furrow, and rake it into
beds early in spring, as directed for cabbage
seeds. Sow the seeds with a drill, three or
four rows upon each bed, mixing with it a few
radish seeds. These will spring up at once,
and thus enable the ground to be hoed or cul-
tivated before the young asparagus plants have
made their appearance. All that is now neces-
sary is keeping the weeds from growing, and
thinning out the asparagus plants, if too thick,
to about three inches apart. If upon good
soil and well taken care of, these one-year-old

82 A MANUAL OF

plants will be good for setting in permanent
beds in spring. Two-year-old plants are very
frequently used, but a first-class one-year-old
is considered fully as valuable as one which, on
account of neglect, has occupied two years in
attaining a suitable size for setting.

Asparagus plants are perfectly hardy, and
may be safely wintered in the beds without
protection, yet, if upon soil which is liable to
heave by frost, a slight covering will prevent
damage.

STRAWBERRY PLANTS.

SHOULD you ask persons who grow straw-
berries if they have any young plants to
spare, nine out of ten will say, " Oh, yes !
thousands of them." You go after them,
and you will probably find an old bed which
has become matted with vines, yet when
you undertake to dig them it is with great
difficulty that you can obtain a dozen good
plants. There may be thousands, but they are
so crowded, and have occupied the ground so
long, that the majority of them are either too

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 83

old to be of any value to transplant, or else
too weak and small.

Growing plants and growing berries are
separate and distinct branches of business,
and cannot well be both done at the same
time in the same beds. Because a man
grows berries, it should not, therefore, be
inferred that he has young plants to spare.
He may have, or he may not. To pro-
duce nice berries, the runners should be
kept cut so that the old plant will stool
out and become large and thrifty. To pro-
duce good plants, they must be allowed to
run for one season only, on fresh soil, free from
weeds, where the young rootlets can readily
take hold. Strawberry plants are fit for set-
ting only during the season in which they are
formed, or early in the following spring. If
older than this, the roots become hard and
black, when it is with difficulty that they can
be made to live, and they are not at all likely
to grow thriftily. On the other hand, if too
young, or grown in old, crowded, or weedy
beds, the roots will be few and short, and the
plants generally too weak and feeble to do
well. The usual method for obtaining plants
is to keep the bed in condition for producing

84 A MANUAL OF

fruit for one year. Then remove the mulching
and cultivate between the rows thoroughly,
letting the runners grow the next season after
fruiting.

When we get choice, new varieties, from
which we wish to propagate as rapidly as
possible, we have found it the best plan to
procure them in March, and set at first in a
moderate hot-bed, or cold frame, where they
will grow rapidly, and usually bloom in April.
The blossoms are picked off as soon as formed
or while in bud. The next tendency of the
plant is to throw out runners, after it has borne
or attempted to bear fruit. Early in May, or
as soon as all hard frosts are past, we carefully
transfer them to the open ground, selecting a
situation for them which is free from weeds
and weed seeds as possible, and which will be
likely to remain somewhat moist at the surface
throughout the season. Here they should be
'placed not nearer than three feet apart each
way, and different varieties at least ten feet
apart, for they are prepared to throw out run-
ners at once, and as they will keep running all
the season, until stopped by cold weather late
in the fall, the number of plants produced will
not only be surprisingly large, but they will be

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 85

of remarkably fine quality, and well supplied
with roots. There is a great difference in the
running propensities of different varieties. A
hundred plants each of the CAPTAIN JACK and
CUMBERLAND TRIUMPH, set out last spring,
after the above treatment, have entirely cov-
ered the ground with very fine plants ; while
the GREAT AMERICAN, PROUTY'S SEEDLING
and others have shown more of a tendency to
stooling, or developing large hills, so that but
few plants have been formed.

SETTING THE PLANTS. — Strawberry plants
should be taken up carefully with a garden
trowel, the roots straightened out, and all de-
caying leaves and runner stalks neatly trimmed
off. It is well also to trim the ends of the
roots neatly and smoothly, as new rootlets will
readily start out where they are cut. We
have somewhat changed our views, during the
last few years, in regard to the best manner of
setting the plants. We used to accept the
plan so frequently recommended, of spreading
the roots as much as possible around a small
mound on the surface, as the best. But we
have found that it will hardly answer in our
locality, where we are liable to suffer on ac-
count of very dry weather, as the soil is liable

86 A MANUAL OF

to become dry even below the roots, before
they have taken a start and the plants die.
We therefore have had better success in set-
ting as we would set cabbage plants, by mak-
ing a hole some three or four inches deep with ,
a dibber, and putting the roots down as far as
possible without getting the crown below the
surface. This will give the plant moisture
until new roots are developed, so that fewer
vacancies will be found in the bed.

We believe that nothing is gained in our
locality by fall setting, but, on the contrary,
spring planting has every thing to recommend
it. We know that many claim a half crop the
first season upon fall-planted vines. This we
have yet to see them do. Of course we get a
few, but the extra cost of covering the plants
with straw the first winter, which must be
removed in order to cultivate in spring, more
than balances the gain. In some sections
strawberries may be profitably grown without
any winter covering, or protection from the
cold. But it is not so with us. The continual
freezing and thawing lifts the plants from their
position little by little, until they are left en-
tirely upon the surface, where the frost and wind
hold high carnival over the remains until not a

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 87

spark of life is left. A winter covering of straw
or forest leaves is therefore indispensable, and
the cultivator who plants a larger area than he
can cover, throws his labor away.

PACKING PLANTS FOR TRANSPORTATION. —
If to be sent but a short distance, no particular
care will be required in packing, further than
to lay them evenly and securely. The roots
should be dipped in water in order that they
may be kept moist, and the plants retain their
freshness ; but the tops must be packed dry.
What we must particularly guard against is the
liability of the plants to heat, when they will
turn yellow and commence to decay rapidly.

We have experimented a great deal on this
matter of packing, and will endeavor to de-
scribe the method which seems most satisfac-
tory. The plants when pulled are counted out
in bunches of one hundred each. After dipping
the roots in water, two layers are placed in the
box, the roots toward each other. Slightly
damp moss is packed on and between the roots
to retain moisture there. If to remain packed
over twenty-four hours, some perfectly dry
hay or straw must be packed in alternate lay-
ers with the tops, say one inch of this packing
to every three or four inches of plants. In

88 'A MANUAL OF

this way the two tiers are built up to the top
of the box. A piece of board six inches in
width, and as long as the width of the box, is
then pressed down upon the roots, and fastened
at each end with a nail driven through the sides
of the box. The ends of the plants should
not come in contact with the box, but a space
of at least two inches left for the circulation of
air. The sides and top of- the box should be
composed of slats, also for the free admission
of air.

For short distances, we usually take any
cheap box of suitable size, place a layer of
moss in the bottom, and stand the plants up-
right in it, packing a sufficient quantity of moss
or hay between or around them to hold them
in position, and ship with no covering what-
ever over the top. The express agents and
others handling the box will then see at a
glance that if they turn the box over the con-
tents will be spilled. The result is, the box
is carried right side up, with care. This would
hardly do, however, for long distances or in
crowded cars. If the box is covered at all, the
plants must be securely fastened so they will
not shake around whenever the box changes
position, as it must be expected to carry with

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 89

any side up that may happen during the jour-
ney.

Second-hand soap and saleratus boxes are of
good size and shape for packing-boxes. With
the best of packing, plants will not safely with-
stand more than three days' journey, and a dis-
tance occupying two days will be as great as
will be found profitable, taking into considera-
tion the risk and also the increased express
charges.

We have recently adopted cheap willow bas-
kets for packing but a few hundred plants.
They are light, neat, cheap, and admit air
freely, so as to carry plants in the best possible
condition.

CARE ox ARRIVAL. — Fully as important as
that the plants be properly packed, is it that
the receiver understand what to do with them
when received. The plants will undoubtedly be
somewhat wilted and the roots more or less
dry. The boxes should be opened as soon as
possible upon receipt, the bunches taken out,
and the roots dipped in water. The plants
should then be laid loosely in some cool, shady
place, until they revive and freshen up. Many
planters dip the roots in water, and then in dry
plaster, before setting out in the field. This

90 A MANUAL OF

helps to retain the moisture to some extent,
but if the soil is loose, fresh, and moist, as it
should be, but a small percentage of loss will
occur. If the plants are much wilted, or the
weather so dry or hot that they are likely to
wilt badly after setting, all the larger leaves
should be removed from the plants, as they will
then be much more likely to live.

GROWING SQUASHES.

THE ultimate success or failure of a squash
crop depends perhaps as greatly upon the
treatment which the plants receive during the
first stages of their existence, as that of any
vegetable of which we have spoken. We will
therefore add a few brief notes on their culture.

A dish of winter squash is so greatly relished
by the majority of people, that we wonder
they are not considered as staple as potatoes,
and a good supply laid in by every family.
Unquestionably the best varieties, which have
been thoroughly tested in divers localities, are
the pure Hitbbard and Marble head. The B2it-
man, a more recent introduction, claims to sur-
pass the above in some points, but is not yet
well enough known to be classed as a standard

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 9!

Either of the above will keep well till spring,
providing you have enough so that the cook
will leave a few until then. Squashes require
a light, dry, rich soil. Do not depend upon a
half-bushel of rich soil in the hill, thinking that
will give them sustenance sufficient to enable
them to run over poor ground. You will never
try that plan but once. It will not be success-
ful, for this reason : not only are the main roots
very long, but the vine does not depend en-
tirely upon them for its support. At every
joint \vhere the vine branches out, a new root
strikes, down for nutriment.

The squash is a rank feeder, and requires
heavy manuring to enable it to perfect its crop
between frosts. It is therefore a safe rule to
apply at least one half of the allotment of ma-
nure broadcast, and one half in the hill.

Our seasons are seldom long enough to en-
able them to perfect their growth. It is there-
fore desirable to plant earlier than the late
frosts in spring will allow without protection.
One of the cheapest and most satisfactory
plans we have seen* for accomplishing this, is
to take a block not over eight or ten inches in
diameter, place it on the hill over the seeds
after planting, and with a hoe draw the earth

92 A MANUAL OF

around it to a height of four or five inches,
packing it as tightly as possible. The block,
or mould should be a little larger at the top
than at the bottom, so that it may be readily
drawn out, leaving the soil in position. The
concave thus formed is now covered by laying
a pane of glass over it. This concentrates the
sun's rays, shelters the hill from cold winds,
and protects the plants from frosts and insects.
The covering may be left until the plants press
against the glasses, when they are removed, and
the plants thinned and hoed. If the glasses
are thought too expensive, a good quality of
paper or piece of cheap muslin fastened down
at the corners will answer a very good purpose.
Two plants in each hill are better than more,
but as they are easily destroyed, the thinning
should be left until you are confident that no
further loss will occur.

The greatest enemy to the squash vine are
" bugs." The large brown bug, so well known
as a " stink bug," will devour them more rapidly
than any other, yet as the damage done by
them consists mainly in the amount they eat,
a little watchfulness will save the vines from
them.

The yellow and black striped cucumber bug

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 93

are the most to be feared, for not only do they
damage by the amount they eat, but just so
sure as allowed to remain for any considera-
ble time upon the vines, they will literally lay
the eggs for the future destruction of whatever
escapes their greedy jaws ! Therefore banish
them entirely. Do not think that, because
there are not enough to destroy your plants,
they will do no harm. The eggs of these bugs
soon hatch into white worms, grubs, or borers,
as they are generally termed, which enter the
body and main roots of the plants, frequently
boring and tunnelling through them until but
a resemblance of a honey-comb is left. Then
the plant withers and dies. There is no other
hope for it. The only remedy is to keep off
the bugs. The plans and preventives given
elsewhere for saving cabbage plants from the
attacks of the flea-beetle, will also apply to
squashes with equal force.

Squashes will mix badly if different varieties
are planted near each other, or near gourds,
or any plants of the same natural order, but
the mixture will not show the first season, so it
will do no harm, providing the seeds from such
specimens are not saved for future planting.

94 A MANUAL OF

THE POTATO.

NOTES ON THE NEWER VARIETIES.

PROBABLY no vegetable in the catalogues is
of greater importance, the world over, than
the potato. Therefore, any hints by which the
grower may be enabled to improve his crop,
in yield or quality, must be regarded as season-
able. Good crops may be grown on a great
variety of soils ; but a deep, light, sandy loam,
or a thoroughly drained peaty soil, is most
suitable. A heavy application of stable manure
will greatly increase the size of the tubers, and
also the general yield ; but it will also increase
their liability to rot : so that it is not advisa-
ble to apply fresh stable manures largely,
except in case of early varieties, designed for
marketing as soon as dug.

However, we have never yet observed any
damaging influence from the use of horse-
manure with which plenty of litter has been
mixed, and think the loosening properties
which such materials have are exactly adapted
to the wants of the potato. The best possible
position for potatoes is where a light soil has
been heavily manured the year previous for

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 95

some other crop ; or, if the soil is somewhat
heavy, a good clover sod, plowed under the
autumn previous, will make an excellent base
on which to grow a heavy crop of potatoes.

The planting should be done early — as soon,
in fact, as the soil is in good working order.
Our experience has been that, all other things
being equal, the earliest planted will yield at
least one third more than those which are
delayed two or three weeks.

We are convinced that the majority of peo-
ple plant three times as much seed as they
should in order to secure the best results.
Probably the average amount used in this
country for seed will exceed ten bushels per
acre, while the average yield will not exceed
one hundred bushels, or at most a ten-fold
increase.

Now, we suppose the potato is capable of
yielding at the rate of an hundred-fold with
common field culture ; and by taking a little
extra pains, in favorable situations, different
parties have succeeded in doing ten times as
well as this, even ; for upward of one thousand
pounds have repeatedly been produced from
a single pound of seed.

We have for a number of years practiced

g A MANUAL OF

cutting to single eyes ; and although we have
never succeeded in obtaining such enormous
yields as those referred to, we find that we get
not only a much larger yield per acre than
formerly, but a far smaller percentage of small-
sized potatoes.

There is no disguising the fact that the po-
tato, when propagated year after year from tu-
bers in the usual manner, is subject to deterio-
ration, degeneration, or a continual " running
out" of its productive capacities. Where are
our " Merinoes," " Mercers," and " Peachblows"
of twenty years ago ? Meagre indeed are the
returns from them, compared with what they
were in their youthful days. Our old favorites
cannot be kept. Their day has passed, and
new candidates have taken their places. And
these, in turn, must give way to others as they
become unproductive, as they certainly will in
time.

Our only method of retaining and improving
the productiveness of the potato crop is to
continue to produce new varieties from the
seed-ball. Even the justly celebrated Early
Rose, which at the time of its introduction
was probably without a peer in the world, has
already lost much in this respect, and now has

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 97

many superiors. Let it not be supposed that
every new seedling is valuable. Men who
have produced varieties of especial merit have
devoted almost their whole time to the work,
and offered to the public only a few of the
best from many thousands of seedlings. Who
would think of trying to produce from the
seed an apple superior to the Northern Spy,
Baldwin, or Greening ? Yet our finest fruits
were once produced from seeds, and the
chances of superiority on new potatoes are
probably no greater than in the case of fruits.
Those who have been most successful have
accomplished it by making crosses, or hybrid-
izing the blossoms on the best varieties at their
command. In this way great improvements
have certainly been made during the past few
years, and there is at the present time a list
of varieties which we believe more meritorious
than was ever offered to the public before — at
least, within our recollection. We will append
a short description of some which are not yet
generally cultivated :

EARLY VARIETIES. — Alpha. — This is, with-
out doubt, the earliest variety in cultivation.
It is adapted only to garden culture, as the
vines are of a very dwarf nature, and it requires

98 A MANUAL OF

rich soil and eareful .cultivation. Under these
conditions a fair crop may be obtained ; but
with common farm-culture the yield will be
very light indeed. It originated with Mr.
Pringle, of Vermont.

Early Ohio. — This is, all things considered,
the best very early potato we have ever grown.
It is of recent introduction. It is a seedling
of the Early Rose, and is named after the State
in which it originated. It is of nearly the
same color as its parent, but differs in shape,
being more nearly round. It grows to a large
size, is very productive, and of first-rate quality.
A decided acquisition.

The Ruby. — This originated with Mr. Pringle
of Vermont. It is about with the Early Rose
in season of ripening, is of a deeper red color,
and is in every way a very desirable variety.

The Snowflake is now so well and favor-
ably known that it scarcely needs description.
The tubers present a beautiful, smooth, white
appearance, and when properly grown are
unsurpassed in quality. It is necessary to
seed very lightly with this variety, or it will
produce too many small tubers.

Early Vermont very much resembles the
Early Rose in every way. We think it is de-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. 99

cidedly more productive. At least, it is newer,
and consequently more full of vigor.

Carpenter s Seedling. — A long, smooth va-
riety, which has given us much satisfaction.
It is an abundant cropper, produces very uni-
form-sized tubers, of good quality, and is an
excellent keeper. Ripens with Early Rose.

LATE VARIETIES. — Burban&s Seedling is
a beautiful potato of recent introduction, which
has few faults and much to recommend it. It
is a Massachusetts production. The tubers are
long, white, and smooth, somewhat resembling
the well-known Prince Albert. Mr. James J. H.
Gregory, who has the honor of introducing it,
claims for it more desirable points than any
potato with which he has experimented for
years. In beauty of form it is unexcelled, the
proportions being all that can be desired, and
is never hollow-hearted. It has the valuable
characteristic of yielding almost no small pota-
toes. Season medium late.

Dunmore Seedling. — This is another valua-
ble new variety of Mr. Gregory's introduction.
It is a large, smooth, round, white potato of
beautiful appearance, fine quality, and enor-
mous yielding propensities. We have grown
many specimens weighing two pounds each,

IOO A MANUAL OF

and have not yet seen a hollow one. Its gen-
eral appearance somewhat resembles the Peer-
less, but it surpasses that well-known variety
in both yield and quality.

The Calcutta seedling very closely resem-
bles the Dunmore in every respect. In fact,
it is difficult to distinguish single specimens,
so close is the resemblance.

The Superior. — This is one of the finest
varieties yet introduced by Mr. Brownell, of
Vermont. It is a very smooth, long, red pota-
to. Inside it is fine-grained, white, and brittle.
It appears to be an excellent keeping variety.
As some of Mr. Brownell's former seedlings
have been lacking in this essential, it is to
be hoped that this variety will remain much
longer in public favor than some of them have
done.

The Triumph is a new variety, recently sent
to us from New Hampshire. It is;a rather
flat, round, or somewhat oblong variety. An
abundant cropper, and all that can be desired
in quality for table use. It is worthy of a
place in every collection. Color, red. Season,
medium.

Tioga. — This originated in Genesee County,
N. Y. It is of a mottled, red and white color,

very smooth and productive, but valued par-
ticularly on account of its exceedingly fine
quality.

Genesee County King. — Same origin as
above. It is a very large, round, free-growing,
hearty potato. Its only fault, so far as we can
judge, is that the eyes are rather more sunken
than is desirable.

The Victor. — A large, smooth, round potato,
of a very beautiful light pink or flesh color.
It originated in Ohio. It seems particularly
well adapted to light, sandy soils, and when in
just the right situation, has given astonishingly
large yields. The quality is somewhat inferior
to some of the above varieties, but preferable
to many which are more popular than itself.

The Mahopac is a seedling of the Early
Rose. It is some two weeks later in ripening
than its parent, but surpasses it in appearance,
yield, and quality.

The above list embraces all the most valua-
ble new varieties which we have thoroughly
tested ; and we can confidently recommend all
or any of them to the public, believing they
will give much greater satisfaction than the
old, degenerated varieties, to which so many
cultivators still tenaciously cling. Experi-

I'Otf A MANUAL ,b^t VEGETABLE PLANTS.

ments have shown us that bringing the seed
.from a distance, where it has been grown on
soil of a different character from that on which
it is to be planted, will nearly always cause po-
tatoes to yield far more than where the same
or an equally good variety is continually
propagated on the same soil.

OUR BUSINESS

IS THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF THE

OF

Vegetable and Flower Seeds,

VEGETABLE PLANTS,

AND

NEW VARIETIES OF SEED POTATOES.

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