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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, | Abe 7 |
| Chap. 2 Copyright Do..6. ;
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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A Guide to the Raising of Vegetables for Northern Markets,
BY Dr. A. OEMLER,
PRESIDENT OF THE CHATHAM CO., GEORGIA, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GROWERS ASSOCIATION.
TELLUS TRATED,
NEW YORK: ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 BROADWAY.
1883.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by the
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
CONTENTS.
PAGE LESSEE ELIS 2 5h aie A ok ae ee Ly OS epny 2 29 a ae PS ON re re 5 CHAPTER I. UELDADIRL 2G ths he ings grit 18 le cu eee PER «oe Ac 7 CHAPTER II. 5 MSE CEE £209 2 17 7107 ee os cee ee UR, A 10 CHAPTHR III. miamures. their Kinds aid Uses. ccm s.mes ss ss yekecencaaeeees > oe 15 CHAPTER IV, HCP MSO GALICHY. Ob CLOUS on oa xsl gees tam i canoe era k a ndm Secale eye ees 54 CHAPTER V. NEE IEEE ete ase hoa Maat et ls, Rang he Ph aS Se ews awe 59 CHAPTER VI. eee PENCLEL ER SCL: OED WED ata a tare batts ecis nc a vel aiuss «vv vows a «aw elaie-eie'ee'eicc Oo 62 CHAPTER VII. Hot-Beds, Cold Frames and Weather................cccccecs 0 sae ie! CHAPTER VIII. eae eay TARE ofa ale ote 2 <i Sateen ainia hm vial ele ass 46 cide ed ad swe pv weds 82
ERE INET AVM A CEMENS: <(o'« cael ie ae okies <<a sis's Cece wee cub cat 87 Pepeanren Taree TEA CUS 2 coc rer ee ones crevices soc c eclen slave cc decs 90
SERIA Gul elmNGIMGGieChs vette rie crore Ae oo. 6 Sk bale ona eee cencun 96
RR NRRNME EERE Na sltets aha a te aera vente eel fa <a laSe) sini 60s dist ss da w'eeeld lee cist es 119 CHAPTER XIII
DET SENT SoU Ere Ak pe 130 CHAPTER XIV.
a a ee eee ret Say nse, ais pein aise Ridde weia 0 awa abs a’e Swe 134
CHAPTER XV.
Se Sc oe oe eae Steerataelte seeps se tora Dey 137
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4 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI. Cauliflower
ga RAE Ne BER ert ete OR Mi A SCS Pm YUE Eh) pd OE MPT eg: 163 CHAPTER XVII. WOTTON hk fea cio Godse Bod Hk oA Pee nice nied eels Ha were aia eos eee 169 CHAPTER XVIII. Egg Plant or Guinea Squash.... .... esse eees eee e tener e cece ee eee 175 CHAPTER XIX. Kale, Borecole or Sprouts......----++++eeeseee eee Wri wdseeg = aeeee 178 CHAPTER XX. SR AERIS oh whe Saito Ses eke wee al ssa eetld Peace ers pears| stm aint ler ae) ele nits totam 180 CHAPTER XXI. PWTOTIS. ow xs Sa cas eel ears wo keds cite bc ti Meanie erage eatin 181 CHAPTER XXII, Dei i oe cher, ote, Seen eee ao catonaths Pilea aie ia inners FR AEG eS ac 191 CHAPTER XXIII. PALO cakes ok Sek & ole wea dis elnce aie abe sere ae ae lot talelatels olafehets eee ean a 195 CHAPTER XXIV. vc (tol ee em ve Isat aie ats a RR Sirf tt AIRE Noro 207 CHAPTER XXY. Spinach ..... se cee cece cere cece tence see seeeeeeeeeneeseeeeeccsces oe 208 CHAPTER XXVI. Squash..... cc. ceee cc ceeee ees teen ceeecen en ssceeeeeeeeceerecececcecs 209 CHAPTER XXVIII. ereEt POtdtO.s. << +)nistisie \eied oe ee wieleleiyee ls Ds oles nie cle bile sila iva emia 213 CHAPTER XXVIII. TI IRATO cutee. scene pide aiso =Pe mia 4 Sip etsiaw nis ccath® win > wai leelata mw nsala ition tenets 220 CHAPTER XXIX.
WY APRRIIEION. «acs bach send baw cee bie'so < who website emma ee 229 CHAPTER XXX. Strawberry.......eeceeeeecrseecceecess ws jie 2 ares oieua sataieing iecnite eee 236 APPENDIX.
Analyses and Values of Fertilizers.........+-s+eeeee rere eset eeeeeees 252 Economy in Fertilization. ............seeeeee cece crete cence er tcrens 257 Formula for Composts...........ccccesercccccccccensessccseceseres 259
Ufaetnl “Lables. <:cto cai 22 ene cots c as elie aield'slcmidaien:s Sage ayn een 262
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Tus work is written in the hope that it may be useful to my fellow farmers who are engaged in growing vege- tables for the Northern markets. The instructions giv- en, and facts presented, are mainly such as are not to be found in the few works extant on Southern gardening, and are those resulting from a long experience. When I commenced to produce vegetables for shipment, about twenty-six years ago, there were few or none following the pursuit as an exclusive business on a large scale. The consignments at that time consisted mainly of the mere surplus crops of the local market gardeners. The business has gradually developed to astonishing propor- tions, principally in the vicinity of the larger seaport cities of the South. One of the results has been that land within three miles of Savannah, for instance, has risen in value one hundred and fifty per cent. within the last twelve years. While the crops of the whole area tributary to Savannah, were by no means satisfactory during the past season, the aggregate quantity of pro- duce was large. The following statement shows the pro- duce forwarded to the Northern markets direct from the port of Savannah by the steamships alone.
EXPORTS (BY STEAMERS) OF VEGETABLES (AND ORANGES FROM FLORIDA), FOR THE SEASON ENDING AUGUST 31st, 1882.
PORT. VEGETABLES. ORANGES. TOTAL OF
Crates. | Barrels. | Bowes. | Barrels. BAOK AGES. IWewaMOrles un. costatecee = 105,739 | 27,572 | 69,379 2,519 205,209 AETIMOTES. oe to sce certs 50,787 | 12,696 2,723 907 67,118 Philadelphia........ Wate dal} eye 7,956 | 13,033 445 45,906 INOSUOIS eee ero icileees 4,132 630 9,837 174 14,773 185,180 | 48,854 | 94,972 4,045 | 333,001
The season’s shipment of melons to New York aggre- gated 175,000. )
6 PREFACE.
Of course, failures will occur in this, as in every other pursuit; but where favorable conditions of soil, situation, etc., exist, sober, economical, industrious, and intelligent farmers who attend closely to their business, can make this a most profitable branch of agriculture. As an in- stance of successful truck-farming, I may cite a case within my knowledge. Among the prosperous gardeners near Savannah, are three brothers, plain farmers from Effingham County, Georgia. They were without any special advantages as educated horticulturists, but under favorable contingencies, and possessing in themselves the above named desirable characteristics, they commenced to farm on their own account seven years ago. They had a borrowed capital of one thousand dollars wherewith to operate their first small crop, and make a payment on ac- count of their purchase of land. They were not only able to pay for the land in full, from the proceeds of their crops, but have acquired in the aggregate two hundred and seventy-five acres, making at various intervals cash pay- ments ranging from one thousand five hundred dollars to nine thousand one hundred dollars. Besides this, they have expended various amounts in buildings, and other improvements, and have cash on hand and a bank account. One of the brothers has also invested in railroad stock, and the elder of them has lately purchased a house and lot in town, for four thousand five hundred dollars, while there is not a mortgage, or lien, of any kind, on any of the property of the brothers.
A. O.
TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
——_—_——_—_—
CHAPTER I. LABOR.
Owing to the perishable nature of the products, the areas at the South devoted to truck-farming must remain confined to certain limits. These will be near the larger cities and along the routes of railroads, by which products can be safely and expeditiously dispatched to market. Although truck-farming can employ but a comparatively small proportion of the labor of the South, it must be followed according to the same principles and system that govern general agriculture.
The negro must be accepted as the only practical solution of the labor question, and, notwithstanding his instability, he is the best for many reasons. It would be impolitic, even were it possible, to trust to more intelligent and energetic laborers from abroad, and mix the two races as field laborers. No dependence could be placed upon retaining the foreign help, as his greater energy and a praiseworthy desire for self-elevation would soon prompt the emigrant, or white laborer, to change his status and better his condition.
Accepting the negro as the God-given instrument for the development of the agricultural resources of the South, while profiting by his general wastefulness and improvidence for his own good and our own, it should be the constant aim of every employer, who has the wel- fare of southern agriculture at heart, to elevate the labor- er. The employer can, by strict justice, fairness and
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8 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
even kindness, render him satisfied with his lot, to the end, that, instead of being an irritating element of the body politic, he may become a contented and useful mem- ber thereof. Exceptional instances of self-eleyation and independence should be correctly appreciated and encour- aged as a spur to others.
The death of slavery was, so to speak, the birth of truck-farming on an extensive scale in the South-Atlantic and Gulf States; indeed it would otherwise have been im- possible. I was probably the largest slaye-owner, engaged in vegetable culture, in this section; but of forty-five grown negroes, twenty-six only were available as field laborers, the others being mechanics, house-servants, etc. ; and at no time could I have controlled more than that number of hands, and few, or none, could have been hired. At the present time there are in the vicinity of Savannah many truck-farmers who employ one hundred to two hundred laborers during the picking season.
Ex-Goyernor Hammond’s prediction: that the negro, in case of emancipation would ‘‘seek the towns, and rap- idly accumulate in groups upon their outskirts,” has cer- tainly been verified. It is the better class of this popula- tion, those who are willing to do some work, which sup- plies the truck-farmer with sufficient labor during the pressing season of gathering his crops. The table below gives the usual average rate of wages, without board, paid by truck-farmers in the vicinity of Savannah.
Se Sar ees | Sard ~ 2 ee S,°2 |S SO Heo . « = | S82 | S88 |Se | SES. | see | SEE 3S “as | S4s (S§ss| s88s | §§s | S$8 2 mam | S28 lasS™] oQST} SoS |] Vs = “ Sor Sa} sess 250 ogo = $83 | Soe [SSN5/] SOSS zs: st e | sus Sesies “ e.e 5 | es oe Pa > ¥) ~ ~ ~ £8 |SAi>. ( ass 1 a] Ss BaPaVeN, Jo. tk ee ie 60 ec. [123-15 ce!) 20. | $1.00) $0.75 | 13 ¢.| le Or WOMen.. i. en. HOG | ea— Tie eee cos .c| ceine Van lie le
Three baskets fill four crates. When boys and girls are hired the pay is at half rate per day.
LABOR. 9
A few of the most efficient and trustworthy hands, who are particularly useful during the marketing season, and receive an increased pay, are selected to care for stock. Some farmers pay selected hands five cents per basket and one cent per crate additional for packing cucumbers and tomatoes; while others use the gang of day laborers for the purpose, depending upon their per- sonal supervision to prevent injudicious gathering. For cutting hay with scythes, men are allowed one-third the cured hay, to be bought (at option of the hand or not, as may be agreed upon), by the employer at four dollars per rack-load of about eight hundred pounds.
The hours of labor are from sunrise to sunset, with variable allowances for meals during the different seasons of the year.
During the shipping season there is no fixed time for breaking off work; but extra pay is generally allowed in case of much night work.
If the hands are made to bestir themselves properly during their work, it is not unreasonable they should ex- pect that the employer will not delay, or hesitate, in delivering compensation. Apart from considerations of justice, it is considered his policy to pay promptly after breaking off work on Saturday and before the stores are closed. Hands of the better order, and these are to be encouraged, may be depended upon to present themselves on Monday morning, whether in funds or not; but by far the greater majority will require time on Monday to get rid of their money, if they have had no opportunity of so doing Saturday evening and night, and will be ab- sent at roll-call.
According to the report of the Agricultural Depart- ment of 1879, the latest authority at command, the average rate of wages paid, without board, in the interior of Georgia, was ten dollars and seventy-three cents per month.
10 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
CHAPTER II. SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION.
The requisites the truck-farmer must have in view in selecting a location, are cheap, safe, and expeditious transportation of produce to market, convenience for procuring manure, a soil adapted to the crops he wishes to grow, and sanitary surroundings. Other conditions being the same, water carriage is preferable to that by wagon. If in the selection of the land, one is confined to a single soil, he should select one consisting of a mix- ture of organic and inorganic matter; a light, deep, sandy loam, with plenty of humus, or vegetable matter. Ex- perience has shown that, without this, crops will not yield as well in proportion to the quantity of manure applied. Locations in the immediate vicinity of the larger coast cities, offering the best facilities in the way of transportation and manure, are in the possession of market gardeners, and such lands are generally highly fertile. The truck-farmer requiring a larger area is com- pelled to locate several miles beyond the corporate limits, on the line of a railroad, or on the banks of a navigable stream. The farm will often be one, the fertility of which has been shipped off to Europe, or the North, in the shape of cotton, by some planter, whose measure of suc- cess was gauged by the rapidity with which he could ex- haust his soil. The renovation of the land will be the first desideratum. To that end, and the consequent pro- duction of remunerative crops, the plowing under of green manures, the application of fertilizers, proper preparation, careful tillage, and deep plowing, will be necessary. With every additional inch of depth in plowing in the first eighteen inches of the surface, the farmer gains six million two hundred and seventy-
SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. “tee
two thousand six hundred and forty cubic inches per acre of available soil, with its mineral ingredients, and constantly increasing capacity of gathering, retaining, and supplying plant food. The conditions of quality of soil and climate being the same, the productiveness of soils must be in proportion to its mass. Sir J. B. Lawes found five thousand seven hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre in the first nine inches of his soil. The Russian black lands, which are held to be the richest in the world, have, according to Prof. Schmidt, within three feet of the surface, from forty thousand to forty-four thousand pounds of nitrogen. Several analyses of Boussingault showed from twenty-five thousand to thirty-two thousand pounds per acre beneath the surface, and a soil analyzed by Prof. Voelcker, in 1868, showed eight thousand four hundred and twenty-five pounds per acre. The practice of deep plowing will depend upon circumstances; a good, though shallow mould, or other soil, resting upon a sticky, clay subsoil, would not be benefited by being at once broken up deeply, bringing large, hard lumps of unfertile clay to the surface, and deteriorating the physical quality of the top-soil.
DRAINAGE,
Drainage, more especially underdrainage, renders a clay subsoil, when moved by the plow, more suscepti- ble to pulverization, and in such case a thorough drainage would have to precede deep plowing. Under- drainage prevents the drowning out of crops after heavy rainfalls. It increases the fertility and pulverization of the soil by admitting air. It keeps the ground moister ina dry season. It prevents the washing away of the soil and its fertilizing materials. It permits the farmer to work his land sooner after heavy rain, and earlier in the spring, and it prevents the land from becoming sour
12 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
in wet seasons. The total absence of water would be de- structive to vegetation, for it is itself necessary to plant life; but undrained land is not merely wet, it becomes water-logged, and through absence of air, the plants are drowned out. When, however, water passes through, and away from the land, air takes its place, and also passes through the drains, and finds its way into the cverlying soil, increasing its fertility and pulverizing it. The rea- son why drained land gains heat, and the temperature of water-logged land decreases, is the lack of heat-conducting power in water, or the fact that air can not be transmitted downwards through water. When land is saturated with water, the heat is expended in evaporating the moisture, instead of warming the land, and during this evapora- tion the temperature is reduced. Undrained land be- comes sour in wet weather, and the formation of sub- stances injurious to vegetation is encouraged. ‘The ab- sorbing power of soil is so great that ammonia and other fertilizing agents of water and air are arrested in their passage through it, thus enriching the soil; while the water on undrained land washes over the surface, carry- ing off into the water courses the fertility that might be saved. In undrained land, the passage of moisture, en- couraged by evaporation from the surface, is upwards, whereas in drained land, the current is downwards to the level of the drains, supplying the roots with aérated moisture in condition to be taken up by them. An excess of water in the soil produces such a saturated state of the atmosphere, as to prevent a healthy perspira- tory action of the leaves of plants growing upon it, and growth is retarded.
PREPARING THE SOIL.
_ Efficient drainage being provided, the land should be broken up and pulverized as deeply as possible. A mass
SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. 13
of sticky clay will absorb a slight amount of moisture, but when it is reduced to a powdered condition, its ab- sorbing power will be very much increased. One hundred grains of fine clay left for twelve hours in contact with a solution of caustic potash, the latter not filtered through it, absorbed one thousand and fifty grains of potash. Soils have the power of separating ammonia, and other bases from their solutions, and of separating alkaline bases from the acids with which they were combined. Soils possessing the greatest amount of capillary poros- ity, most friable and mellow, or, in other words, such as are in the best agricultural condition, will condense the greatest amount of fertilizing material; and the more they are pulverized, the better will they resist the leach- ing action of water. Soil in an improper physical con- dition may hold fertilizing materials in sufficient quanti- ties for a full crop. It will, however, yield only a small percentage to the vegetation upon it, until it is made friable, and so becomes conducive to growth. Carbonic acid is one of the chief agents in this process; and in order that this acid may be formed, the carbonaceous matter in the soil must be brought in direct contact with the atmosphere. As long as the soil is in a compact con- dition, or is saturated with water, carbonic acid is not formed. During the recent severe drouths it has been observed that crops growing on deeply-plowed land have suffered the least, for the reason that the greater the mags of fine soil, the greater must have been the amount of moisture absorbed. Heat is evolved during the de- composition of vegetable matter; and the darker the soil is from decomposing vegetable matter, the warmer will it become. The warmth of light-colored sands is attribut- able to their conductive power. Half the crop depends sometimes upon the previous preparation of the land. Owing to the absence of a covering of snow and of suc- cessive freezings and thawings, fall plowing, so useful at
14 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
the North, is destructive of fertility at the South and is not advisable.
CULTIVATION.
The land haying been properly prepared by plow- ing, and sufficiently manured, and the crop planted with regard to the capacity of the soil, the most im- portant matter to the farmer is, thorough cultura, or keeping the earth fine and mellow among the plants. Stirring the soil can scarcely be repeated too often during the earlier periods of growth, or until there is danger of injury to the roots or to the tops of growing plants by the cultivator. The ground may be too wet, but never too dry, for stirring; because the more frequently it is broken up, fined and aérated, the more moisture will the soil absorb from the atmosphere. This is an operation that should be performed after every rain, sufficient to cause incrustation or baking, which would prevent a free admission of air into the soil. The most obvious benefit of stirring the soil is, the destruction of weeds; for no crop can become remunerative, if crowded by weeds which deprive it of air, light, moisture, and even a part of the fertility of the soil. A war of extermination should be waged against weeds, although at times they become a necessary evil to the farmer who only cultivates the soil between the rows. Breaking the lumps gives free scope to the finer roots to secure all the available nutriment within the extent of their ramifications, as these finer roots are not capable of penetrating large clods, and thus may be debarred from reaching a large part of the food contained in the soil. Thorough and frequent culture of the soil admits air to the rootlets of the growing plant; it increases the capillary attraction of the soil, by which its humidity is rendered more uni- form; by presenting a larger number of points of radia-
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 15
tion, the deposit of dew, so beneficial in dry weather, is augmented; the temperature of the soil is increased by the freer admission of warm rain and air, and by the chemical processes thereby facilitated; and finally the fertility of the soil is augmented through the ammonia, nitric acid, etc., which are introduced with the air. The plow, horse-hoe, and cultivator are to be used, whenever available; but the hand-hoe must always be relied on for the finer and more careful work, when, particularly in the later stages of the crop, only superficial stirring is advisable. When plants are grown in a crowded state, darkness and want of air elongate the stems and leaves, at the expense of the roots and of a general healthy con- dition. The operations of thinning and hand-weeding are performed in connection with hoeing, to admit a free circulation of air around the remaining plants, and the sun is permitted to have an immediate influence upon each, developing the desired form, bulk, and other qualities.
CHAPTER III. MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES.
Almost any soil may be so altered in its character by judicious and plentiful manuring, as to be made fertile enough to produce good and remunerative crops. Manure is the most indispensable factor for success in market- gardening, and must be applied in much larger quantities than in any other branch of agriculture. The gardener should never be restricted by a short supply to an inad- equate application of manure, as the superior quality and quantity of his crops will generally justify an apparently lavish use. Knowledge of his soil, the peculiar requisites
16 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
of his crops, a judicious rotation, and his general ex- perience will teach him, where and when he may econ- omize with profit. He must not, however, gorge his land with manure, without rest or rotation, but seek to make it just rich enough to produce the most profitable crops. Should too much manure be applied, which, however, is rarely the case in vegetable culture, there will be loss of the most costly manvrial ingredient— nitrogen. Location, or want of facilities and means, frequently confines the gardener to forced limits. Those who are neither conveniently located for the purchase of stable manure, nor own sufficient stock to secure from their droppings a sufficiency of barn-yard manure, must have recourse to manurial agents to be named hereafter. Astonishing results are frequently seen in gardens near large cities, from the readiness such localities offer for procuring the best manures.
Agriculture being the foundation of the prosperity of every people, and successful agriculture being impossible in the present condition of the earth’s surface without fertilizers, it has properly been said, that ‘‘manure, even more than money, forms an integral part of a nation’s wealth.”
When civilized nations properly appreciate the value of ail manurial substances (as they will when their territory becomes as densely populated as China), none of these, as at present, will be allowed to go to waste, and the productiveness of the earth, and with it the wealth of nations, will be enormously increased. Prog- ress in this direction is bemg made. Scientific men have pointed out the sanitary and economical necessity of deal- ing properly with excrementitious manurial substances. If, during the past century, the night-soil of many of our cities had been incorporated in the surface soil of the surrounding country, instead of being buried under the houses of their citizens, what would be the fertility
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. ia
of the soil, and what the probable benefit to the sanitary condition of the cities?
Manures are either organic or inorganic, according as they may owe their composition to the animate or in- animate world, or are derived from vegetable and animal matters of all kinds, or from minerals.
Every kind of matter which, when added to the soil, promotes the growth of a plant, whether by being itself directly taken up by is roots, or by chemically altering any heretofore existing constituent of the soil, so that it may be made available, or by physically altering its tex- ture, may be considered a manure or fertilizer. LEvery plant consists principally of the gaseous elements, ni- trogen, oxygen, and hydrogen, and of carbon in vary- ing proportions, and smaller quantities of alkalies, earths, silica, sulphur, and phosphorus. Chemical analysis has enabled us to learn the exact proportions of the constit- uents of plants, as well as the composition of soils. If chemical forces were the only forces of nature concerned in the growth of plants, then by supplying the soil with exactly the constituents in definite quantities, which chemical analysis has shown it to lack for the full matu- rity of any given agricultural crop, rules and formulas could be devised, so as to insure regularly the maximum yields of all crops. But the changes, not yet fully un- derstood, constantly going on within the soil and upon its surface in contact with the atmosphere; the mutual chemical reactions of the various soils and fertilizing ma- terials, and the vital actions of plants, with their influence upon the soil in which they grow, perhaps even upon the surrounding air, still more inexplicable and wonder- ful, together with the contingencies of weather, render it impossible to formulate any such rules. Exclusive of the crushing effects of glaciers and other agencies, under the gradual influence of water and the atmosphere, the surface of the rocks have become sufficiently pulverized
18 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
and comminuted to support lichens and other of the lowest forms of vegetation, which, by their decay in- creased the film of soil. ‘These were followed by plants of a higher organization, successive generations pre- paring for those which followed them. Thus organic constituents accumulated, until, in time, every arable soil contained in varying proportions every element of plant food. 'The variations are such, however, that a soil in its natural or original condition may be more or less deficient in one or other constituent, and therefore be better adapted for one crop than another. Finding from experience or analysis, which of the principal con- stituents is absent in a soil, we may supply it by the ap- plication of a special fertilizer for the production of a particular crop.
Humus, or vegetable matter undergoing decay, which gives the dark color to fertile soils, disintegrates miner- al substances, supplies large quantities of carbonic acid, ammonia, and nitrates, and is indispensable to fertility; and yet the direct absorption of humic matters into plants is by no means so well established, as not to be a mooted question between the best chemical authorities and vegetable physiologists.
Ammonia and nitric acid have been shown to be pres- cnt in the air; but it is generally held that the soil must absorb these, or they must be conveyed to it in rain water, before they can be generally appropriated by plants. Yet Peters and Sachs proved, experimentally, that a bean plant grew and flourished by direct absorption of am- monia through its foliage alone; but they failed with every plant but the bean, which, like our cow pea, is a leguminous plant. Chemical analysis shows that the le- guminose are richer in nitrogenous matter than any other family of plants, and yet we know that our cow pea will grow on the poorest soil, deriving its nourishment in part from the atmosphere. Ozone, or active oxygen, is
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 19
emitted by plants, and the more abundant the foliage, the greater the quantity. By the action of this ozone, the nitrogen of the air may be converted into nitric acid. Perhaps the cow pea, the clover, etc., are more active in this respect than any other plants.
These preliminary observations bring me to the first and most simple and cheapest manner of eeaveyne fer- tility to the soil.
GREEN MANURING.
As soon as life is extinct, all organic substances begin to decay, and the richer these substances are in albuminoids, or such as contain nitrogen, the better are they adapted for fertilizing, and the more rapid will be the process of de- cay. Under like circumstances, albuminoids of animal origin will decompose more rapidly than those of vege- table origin. All green succulent plants containing saccharine and mucilaginous matters and woody fibre, fer- ment readily, hence the advantage of plowing in green crops, whether of natural growth, or sown for the pur- pose. No plantis better adapted to be used at the South for restoring fertility by green manuring than our cow pea. The analyses here given show it to be rich in albuminoids; it makes in our climate a heavier growth than clover in any part of the world, and grows on soil much too poor fora fair crop of the latter, answering thus both the demands of quality and quantity. When plants are in flower, they contain the largest quantity of soluble matter; it is, therefore, when plowed under at this season, under ordinary circumstances, that they will afford the greatest amount of soluble nutritive matter.
In heavy, impervious soils, especially, they should not be turned under too deeply, or else the absence of air will retard decomposition. No applications of commercial fertilizers will continuously prove beneficial without the presence, in the soil, of decaying vegetable matter, or hu-
20 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
mus, and green manuring is the most efficacious and cheapest manner of supplying the land with large quan- tities of this necessary ingredient.
It should be practised by gardeners, irrespective of the supply of stable manure they may be able to command. But for those located at a distance from cities, and there- fore not able to secure a sufficiency of barn-yard manure, green manuring becomes an absolute necessity.
It has been estimated that after the removal of a crop of clover and other plants, there remained in the soil, as shown in the following tables, a large amount of roots:
TABLE SHOWING THE QUANTITY OF ROOTS LEFT IN THE GROUND AFTER HARVESTING THE CROPS—ALSO THE AMOUNT OF NITROGEN AND ASH.
gsscx Ss Scis ot So Ss eke | gh | as83. Seteoek ~> - 5 SSrres wo - Hw e228 Soe eee oss asi Sks3eo's “SS —22S8 Seo. Sas Ses MIG EUTAC. Ve, scale ere Sawa Pees Stas oe au ao 9,678.1 136.4 1,201.6 POO COVER. 6 .c-0 ook bieintwe Cake ais ies ssi 8,921.6 191.6 1,919.9 To RO ee a gee apse pang ee Orne ae 5,264.6 65.3 1,747.8 BIW COIS: CLOWEL fe <6ci-s sth ae daiwa’ ohare e's 5,004.3 102.3 974.6 PETE Oe CY SE ten eh sete Ns Siva tive erat 3,331.9 26.6 1,444.7 DR HINIE >. ow Spates aioin> sie hase uae Sates 3,920.9 62.2 550 WO Tee ab. /eoy. Piceae slots eines erases Sieh 3,476 23.5 1,089.8 Bpetish pews: cs. .s sien eee eee wees 3,222.5 55.6 670.7 Heeradelis. t) eiscies aes Sei a tote 3,120.1 64.8 545.6 Barley: sy 0, orcas acumae ieee wees clei e 1,991.4 22.8 391.1 ANALYSIS OF THE ASH OF THE ROOTS IN THE FOREGOING TABLE. : g & = : S | Sw a = ra : a5 8 S| Sislage octane aie | 2" N 5 x 2 & MGPENTIG occ sles ws a we 197.7 24.2 36.7 26.4 18.7 38.5 Hed PlOver.\. 66.06. 262.9 48.4 58.3 20.0 26.1 74.8 te ee 73.2 14.3 31.2 43.3 11.8 24.4 Swedish clover....| 1386.1 17.6 25.9 5.7 18.2 24.2 Eo A ie eae ea Sa 11.2 24.8 18 8.8 29 Se Se ie oe 80.5 11.2 16.5 3.5 7 13.8 BVRER ce ioe ae 76.7 10.1 28.4 11 7.4 11.8 English peas....... ee kl 11.2 7 9.4 14.3 Serradelia... ss... | 79.8 13.4 8.8 | 4.8 9 18.4 Bartley... cuy cms a's « | 42.2 5.5 9.5 3.5 api) 11.2
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. al
It will be seen by these two tables that the leeuminous plants are especially rich in the three most important items: nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid.
These roots bring up from the subsoil plant food, and in decaying, tend to deepen the soil along their course. A crop of cow peas would probably have nearly as great a weight of roots as clover, and in the neighborhood of twenty tons of tops. The latter alone would contain one hundred and sixteen pounds of nitrogen, principally obtained from the atmosphere; or as much as is contained in twelve and nine-tenths tons of barn-yard manure, and directly applied to the soil. Seven pecks to two bushels of peas would cost from two dollars to three dollars, and the barn-yard manure, if at all attainable, nineteen dollars and thirty-five cents, applied to the land at one dollar and fifty cents per ton.
ANALYSIS OF GREEN COW PEA VINES.
This and the following two analyses were made by Prof. A. R. Le Doux, chemist to the State Board of Agriculture, of South Carolina.
INTC. facts 2 fe 87 per cent.
PART eee scs 3 00
Albuminoids.. i's . containing ammonia, 0.35; nitrogen, 0.28 Cellulose .......15.27 “
Uo ee es
Caacivaiiies.. moe, 3
ANALYSIS OF THE ASH OF COW PEA VINES.
2 EU SRS ee te ORI On One COL AO aaa aoa 2.00 per cent.
LEYS BYSTING sean aS eRe Erie CG cree 14.80
SION. 5 oe eS GSR NG DRIES are IIe a 23.29 oe
WW SyTG WEEN 5 ete boat SAA coe Bee a eee Se 6.74 : SEIN Ci a Wee MTR Oy Oe, snarcie Sic auslccesvoers 0c Miee due S'ele dsb ale 22.57 Bt
rie ARNIS PRON eee Pg 8s wise crs oman s Mm ned ae neat se ae rs
SOE DU Re OR 5 es Eee 2.35 bie
Seetere eee a ra na ee fo sca cock oe welee 1.08 oe
Clee Te Oe er. ck ech SS oe eee hor be eee oe 0.19 og
MTN CN c INNS gee, ee etre nay ric doeincis«<% sccees atrace ‘
22 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
By reducing the analyses to weights and measures 1t is found that
ONE TON OF FRESH COW PEA VINES CONTAIN
DT ee aoc We okin ws ake a epee o,0hs 1456.20 Ibs. LLL RS es See MoD. TOM eo is a's pn vce Vos bam te 1 LI TES CSP a a a A 2.40. * [i SOR SN We ee 9:02), 48 PHosphoric acid... sss... Ste 4 RE ITIG NIM. ai. Ra we bles 0.94 * PER rattle acs ss nas, cle » pistes aah 0.42 “¢ ANGIE fos ce oe ais oss st een O08. Carhonie (acid... ascd fe ed= ws 7.88: PTMTIGACES « ¢ vic. 5)5\0 +00 wie ee = 37.00 ‘* containing ammonia, 7.12 lbs. SERVOS Jao e Rath cle ae 305.40 * MAS 25s oo ante. aoe. a eet 4.20 * Gatinheaice Ce seat sea 156.20 *“ 2000.09 Ibs.
Boussingault found that snow, which had lain for thirty-six hours on the soil of a garden, contained ten times as much ammonia as the snow of the same fall from acontiguous stone terrace immediately after falling, the mulch of snow haying interrupted the ammoniacal emanations from the soil. The ammonia of the soil is constantly undergoing change, and fluctuating in quantity. This most important article of plant food, and most ex- pensive, when applied artificially, is most abundantly ab- sorbed by the soil in summer from the atmosphere, and being conveyed to it by rains and dews, and continually being taken up by vegetation, it is volatilized, evaporated with water, washed away and lost. Later and more exact chemical experiments have shown that the soil contains less ready-formed ammonia than was formerly
held to be the case. Ammonia in dry soil. Very light sandy soil from birch forest........ 0.00077 per cent. Rich lime soil from beech forest.............. 0.00087 *‘‘ Sandy toam:; Torest ‘sail nics veneewee eae ck ss TROOOLS: | ee WGECSE BIG ds voice pam ota Le ree eee 0.00080 ‘* ‘¢ “Meadow soil, red sandy loam................. 0.00027. .‘¢ ..% ah Geo 2d Beep gaia aula Fs fads a 0.00006.
It should be remembered that ammonia is only half as heavy as air.
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 23
Rich alluvial soils with decaying vegetable matter con- tain ten times as much, and fertilized field soils still more. Ammonia is only found in the surface soil, and generally at a depth of six feet there is no trace of it.
Sir J. B. Lawes found that in one year the drain water took nitrogen from a field bare of vegetation at the rate of forty pounds per acre; from a field of wheat, which after the harvest contained no weeds, twenty-five pounds, and from a field upon which grass seed had been sown with the wheat, and continued to grow on the stub- ble field, only five pounds.
POUNDS OF NITROGEN WASHED AWAY PER ACRE.
oe
He found that the drain water was much richer in am- monia than the rain water which fell upon the field. He also found another fact of importance to our subject of green-manuring, that the drain water carried away more ammonia in the fall than in any other part of the year. It is therefore exactly at this season that the soil of the truck-farmer should be covered by a dense growth of vines. It has been shown that even a perfectly inert body, like a board, lying upon the surface will improve the fertility of the soil, by preventing evaporation.
Now the mulch of pea vines acts like the covering of snow. It shades the soil from the rays of the sun, by which the volatile elements of fertility are exhausted with the vaporized water; it keeps the soil moist, mellow, and of even temperature; and as a secondary matter prevents the growth of troublesome weeds. The friable, unbaked condition of the surface, as has been before stated, is an element of fertility, by facilitating the absorption of fer- tilizing gases from the atmosphere. Under this dense covering, so retentive of moisture, the carbonic acid dis- integrates particles of the soil and prepares it for plant
24 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
food; while in the darkness and under the shelter from winds, nitrates are formed and absorbed. It will be seen that the increase of fertility is greater than could be ex- pected from all the manurial agents in the pea vines.
Clay soils, being more retentive of moisture and pos- sessed of greater power of absorption, are less benefited by the mulch than those of a sandy character.
Like the questions of deep and shallow piowing and deep and surface manuring, that of plowing under the green vines, or allowing them to dry and partly rot upon the surface, will depend upon circumstances. They will contain and conyey to the soil in the green state a greater quantity of fertilizing material and will decompose more rapidly. If intended to benefit a crop to be put in soon after they have reached a proper stage of growth, they must, of course, be plowed under green. Four weeks should elapse between turning under the vines and sow- ing or planting the crop, in order to allow a sufficient time for the most active decomposition to have passed, lest the heat evolved by the great mass of decaying green vegetable matter might be detrimental. For a spring crop, however, the vines should be left to die, and mulch the soil throughout the winter, unless indeed a second green crop, as of rye, is contemplated; because a bare fallow would be wasteful of the fertility supplied by the pea vines. It is an error that the bare soil deteriorates dur- ing summer only, for it isa common experience that a field of light soil, left bare after a late crop of sweet potatoes, shows a want of fertility the ensuing spring.
Two crops of pea vines may be grown in a season; but after an interval of three or four weeks. To turn under a heavy growth properly, it must first be pressed down by a field roller or by dragging over it a heavy harrow with the teeth turned up; and it requires a good two-horse plow with a large sharp revolving coulter attached. To draw the vines into the furrows, a heavy chain with suf-
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 25
ficient slack should be attached to the whiffletree and plow-beam. Capt. J.W. McAlpine has devised an iron hook “horn,” which is attached to the plow-beam, as in figure
1. It works just in advance of the plow point; and on the surface its curvature corresponds to that of the mould- board, and draws the vines into the furrow. The same person has also invented a roller, which has a set of five projecting knives, with which to cut the vines when the growth is very luxuriant. By driving twice over the field at right angles the vines are cut in ten-inch lengths, and can be turned under effectively. The roller is fixed to shafts or a tongue, and as it is too light, a weighted
N i i) | HM iit Albi ry
Fig, 2,.—ROLLER FOR CUTTING COW PEA VINES,
box is attached above the axle. The roller, figure 2, is fourteen inches in diameter, the knives five inches wide and ten inches apart. As neither of these inventions is patented, any one can use them.
STABLE MANURE.
Stable manure is a complete fertilizer, and is of all the most to be relied upon by the market-gardener, as it 2
26 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
contains all the elements of fertility in available con- dition. No other is so well adapted to alter the physical condition of heavy soils, nor, when well rotted, better suits those of a sandy nature; nor is any other more apt to render the constituents of the soil available to plant food. Gardeners in the vicinity of cities may procure a sufficient supply and require no other manure, unless for a special purpose they desire to supplement it with a commercial fertilizer more rich in nitrogenous matter, such as Peruvian guano, fish scrap, etc. ‘Those who are not so fortunately situated must utilize their smaller stock, by letting it form the basis of compost heaps to bring about and sustain the fermentation so necessary to break down the crude vegetable materials of which such heaps partly consist. Manures, to be promptly effica- cious, should be in a state of at least partial decompo- sition, so that the elements of which they consist may be in a fit state to form new combinations, or act at once as plant food. Tobring about this condition without waste of material and expense of time and labor, is one of the problems of the horticulturist. Once placed within reach of the absorptive power of the soil, there is no fur- ther loss by evaporation. If the manure pile could be merely kept sufficiently moist by rains, to prevent a too rapid fermentation, it might be advisable not to keep it under cover; but the rains in our climate are too often heavy enough to leach out valuable soluble parts of the largest heaps. ‘The difference in the composition of cov- ered and uncovered barn-yard manure is here shown.
Barn-yard manure. Covered. | Uncovered. Nitrogen equal to ammonia, per cent.... 2.37 1.7 Organic matter soluble in water.......... 6.42 1.82 Phosphoric iacid:.......). si. eeee rete’ + 0.30 0.26 PRIOR S. os sine scien hc eee Rn es 2.00 | 0.80
Exposed to the weather, piled, terned and handled, without proper judgment and close attention, there is
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 27
danger of loss, besides the expense of time and labor. The general agriculturist, particularly on heavy soils, whose crops are of coarser growth, may apply manure green or fresh from the stables, when its effects are often so permanent as to be verceptible for many years; but the market-gardener’s aim is to produce early crops of veg- etables, and his manures must be in a readily available condition. He wants no permanent manures. Perma- nence and insolubility are, in this case, synonymous. Luxuriant growth is an indication of the solubility of his fertilizers. He wants his manure pile to undergo such an amount of slow fermentation, as to break down the coarse fibrous vegetable matter it contains, so as to admit its being readily cut with a spade, and thus also to reduce its bulk.
COMPOSITION OF FRESH AND DECOMPOSED STABLE MANURE.
INGREDIENTS OF ASH,
Q.| 8.3/8 2 mg AS & (S$) 8s "Si - Siz iste. aes S88) stisa Ss] s | 8] 8 |Ss/Ss] Ss joS Sy SshrS. (eS sl 3/8/22 fSesiss/esiss RSE CSRs levee See ve Stable Manure........... 710 246 44.14.55.21.55.71.4/2.1|1.2/19.51.5 do. moderately rotted. .|750 192 58.05.06.3 1.9/7.0 1.8/2.6/1.6/16.8)1.9 do. thoroughly rotted... |790,145 65.05.85.01.3:8.8 1.8/3.0/1.3/17.011.6
If piled so loosely as to admit air freely and be suffi- ciently moist, it will undergo fermentation so rapidly as to heat or firefang, and large quantities of the valuable, volatile carbonate of ammonia will evaporate, and the manure be rendered comparatively valueless. To avoid this too rapid fermentation, the pile may be broken down and turned whenever it begins to heat, until the process ceases to be too active. The escape of ammonia may be checked by mixing land plaster (sulphate of lime) with each load, so as to fix the ammonia as a sul- phate (which is not volatile). The gardener near the
28 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTE.
city, whose large pile daily receives considerable acces- sions, may resort to packing it so tightly as to limit the access of air, and consequently the rapidity of fermenta- tion, until near planting time, or, if possible and bet- ter still, he may keep it too moist for rapid decay by adding night-soil from the city, which will at the same time improve its quality.
Gardeners near cities who accumulate a large stock of stable manure, do not generally place it under shelter, notwithstanding the accruing loss, but deposit it in suitable quantities for each field in a single pile, upon the headland convenient for use, and compact it by mere- ly driving across the pile at each delivery. Never more than four hundred wagon loads are deposited in a pile. If, when finished, the heaps were covered completely with soil to the thickness of two or three inches, the escaping ammonia would be absorbed and fermentation retarded. It must be borne in mind, that even in winter we must jimit the process of fermentation, and not encourage it, as is sometimes necessary in the Northern States; and we must also avoid leaching.
The fermentation of stable manure may be retarded by the admixture of substances not liable to rapid fer- mentation. The gardener in the country may resort to composting it with muck, woods-earth, or even good garden soil, dry and pulverized salt-mud, or the same material in the shape of a soft mush in order to ayoid getting it in the form of large lumps into his manure, and may also use green marsh-grass (Spartina stricta), if he be located on ‘‘ the salts.”” Vegetable refuse of every kind, with leaves from the woods, slops from the kitchen and wash-house, with the dung of those domestic animals which does not readily heat, as that of neat cattle and swine, in short, everything available that will supply plant food may be added to the heap. The dung of all kinds of poultry, the urine and night-soil of the farm,
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 29
scraps of leather and woolen cloth and waste feathers will heat; but they also should go into the compest-heap.
In the application of manure, the kind of crop, previ- ous fertility of the soil and the quality of the manure will govern the quantity.
The amount and manurial value of the excrement void- ed by an animal depends upon the quality of its feed. The manurial value of hulled cotton-seed meal is more than twelve times that of wheat-straw, three times that of clover-hay, twice that of wheat-bran, ten times that of mangel wurzel, and thirty times that of common turnips. Of all vegetable substances used as cattle feed, hulled cotton-seed meal is the richest in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, the most essential requisites in the growth of plants, and these will appear again most abun- dantly in the dung. The money value of the manure from different articles of food according to calculations of Sir J. B. Lawes, based upon the value of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in leading commercial fertil- izers, are:
VALUE OF A TON OF MANURE FROM DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD.
Per ton. are eM CHI OE 2 ia tia art Pe ee ee oie bv olen We Sie cals wha: $27.86 WMO Gis ard a foc ora'a 0:0 date he RES i Se NA (sl I Sa eR OE 19.72 DEALS CONS » ee ea ee OO) ee 15.73 Par eReR GERI U eS Bn Hare Dhahcin soured SATE Gis hse oS cslénc beeen 14.59 Clover-hay..... Sip sin ots cinalalaermeate tore arte ict Ais’ lei able oe 9.64 MM RRRURIMEC SDE SMe mites ie, ete, Sans A Raters cB iac osbie Pinks ob &cieic ata & 6.63 Re aE Wee fe ote ia erat arash ee aiainieel Mablers tafe asc SSC we kon 2.90 PMNGRRE Era PPA hire Ata As. Wane an Shoda Aa hare rere Sit eSialar si o3,a 4 xidiw blaiees 0.80
Block estimated that a horse fed on one hundred pounds of hay will void one hundred and seventy-two pounds of fresh dung; one hundred pounds of oats gave two hun- dred and four pounds; and one hundred pounds of grass gave forty-three pounds of dung. A horse furnishes, if well fed, about twelve thousand pounds of solid dung and three thousand pounds of urine annually. The ma- nure from the street-car stables in New York was found
30 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
by Johnson to contain 0.53 per cent. of nitrogen. Reckoning two-thirds of the solid and fluid droppings saved, we have ten thousand pounds, or five tons of manure to each horse, containing fifty-three pounds of nitrogen.
In his method of applying his manure the sensible gardener will be governed by the nature of his soil and manure, and by the kind of crop he wishes to grow.
Half an inch of rain, although amounting to fourteen thousand gallons, or fifty-six tons to the acre, would not penetrate deeply into a heavy soil, hence in such a soil long, partly unfermented dung would not, if buried deeply, find sufficient moisture and air to support fermen- tation and dissolve out the manure for the benefit of the crop. A sandy soil favors decomposition, being more permeable to air and moisture, and as roots penetrate more deeply in a light soil, unfermented dung might be placed five or six inches deep in sucha soil. Upona dry, hot, light soil, manure of that description would be too heating if near the surface. At the rate of eight tons of manure to the acre, half an inch of rain would furnish nearly a gallon to every pound, and in the case of well-rotted or soluble manure, placed near the surface of either heavy or sandy land, would convey the ingredients of plant food in a dissolved state to the roots of plants. On either heavy or sandy soil, therefore, well-rotted ma- nure should be intimately mixed with the soil to the depth of three or four inches, when applied broadcast, and the nearer the surface, the finer should the soil be pulverized to increase its absorptive power. Unless un- fermented long manure is buried in a light soil, it had better be not incorporated, but applied upon the soil as amulch. Such manure commingled with a heavy soil would benefit it physically by rendering it more open for admission of air, and the heat evolved would accelerate growth. The observations above apply to land well-
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 31
drained, especially under-drained. If badly drained and presenting a slope in any direction, the washing surface- water would carry off a large part of the soluble manure from the surface.
Manure for close crops, whenever a large supply per- mits, should be applied broadcast, by preference; but generally economy and the desire for a vigorous start will demand its application in the drill. Only in the case of plants standing far apart, as melons, is manuring in the hill practicable, unless only a part of the manure is so applied. ‘The great majority of the roots would soon extend beyond its limits, and the plant would suffer in the later stages of growth.
BARN-YARD MANURE.
This consists of the mixed droppings of such animals as are allowed to run in an open lot, the surface of which is strewn with more or less of absorbents. It may be re- garded as a combination of the solid and fluid excrements of the different animals, and is of variable quality, owing to waste by leaching rains. If horses and mules alone are enclosed, its value would be that of an inferior stable manure. Notwithstanding its variable value, it is often used as a standard.
COW MANURE.
Although the fresh, solid excrement of the horse is richer in ammonia than that of neat cattle, the latter, on the other hand, is not subject to loss by heating. It contains more urea (supplying nitrogen) in the urine, and there is a greater quantity both of solid and liquid excre- ment voided; hence the manure of a cow must be con- sidered more valuable than that of a horse, particularly when the former has had nutritious food.
32 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
A cow, fed upon twenty-four pounds of hay and twelve and a half pounds of Irish potatoes, voided daily about one bushel of solid excrement, containing two and a half pounds of salts of ammonia, potash, soda and lime.
The annual product of a cow is thirty-one thousand and twenty-five pounds of dung, of which four thousand eight hundred pounds is organic matter, containing:
189 Ibs. ammonia,
71 lbs. phosphate cf lime, 37 Ibs. sulphate of lime, 77 lbs. carbonate of lime, 24 lbs. common salt,
15 lbs. sulphate potash.
The yard manure of a full-grown ox is considered equal to that of a horse and a half, or ten to fifteen sheep.
One cord fresh cow dung weighs... 0... .0bs sees suse 9,298 Ibs. One cubic foot of old, well-rotted ox manure weighs... 58 ‘‘ (<9 ee (as 66 b ec 3 se gfe 48 ce ee co 6 well-rotted stable manure SPAS, Me ie 6é “ oc ec fresh a9 oe ce a8 30 0%
The amount of urine voided annually by a cow is from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand gallons. In every hundred pounds:
Oi eatile vine, ATES! See 30 ok as ds cde bine 4.00 lbs. of urea, oS DISC ULING. krack osies eke cables Seieke ys aom ere 70-2 eee SS UPUREA TY ITAIG 2% fas Ceteil oc spect tite o ce eee PAS, beet teens f {RUPEW MTING te tic ata Ghost epiatineen Ce eeee oe Bie eee °F GD WPENE A tisseaie bie ees sc aatc Winans ne wie eee Th i: aman
The composition of urea is, according to Dr. Prout, carbon, 19.99; oxygen, 26.66; hydrogen, 6.66; nitrogen, 46.66. The nitrogen is equal to 56.66 parts of ammonia. Owing to the non-heating character of cow manure, it is well adapted to sandy land; and in consequence of the smaller quantity of vegetable matter to undergo fermen- tation, it has not the physically beneficial effects upen heavy lands. ‘The value of cow-penning land and its permanent effects (sometimes noticeable for twenty or
* Dana’s Muck Manual. + Dana's Muck Manual.
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 33
more years) is probably owing to the fact that none of the urine is lost. On light sandy land it is serviceable through the treading and compacting of the soil.
The absence of cut-worms on land recently cow-penned is probably attributable to the mulch of dung and the con- sequent absence of vegetation in the late summer, and not to the urine, as is generally supposed. When a gardener owns a number of neat cattle, and is located conveniently on the salt marshes, he can collect a quantity of good manure, particularly well-suited to his sandy land, by penning his stock upon alternate layers of salt-mud and green marsh-grass.
ANALYSES OF MARSH-GRASS, OAT-STRAW AND MEADOW HAY. COMPARA- TIVE MONEY VALUE; HAY BEING ONE DOLLAR FOR THE SAME WEIGHT:
ORGANIC
SUBSTANCE. | . | 28 SSesu ‘he
Pe SES (ee) 2 Sessa) fap
| Total.| SE | Bs eo) eo! Ses°8 S55
Rca etc poe bad | 8848" | &
Salt marsh grass..... eo. k [rovek |aase, a0.¢ |. O.8 | 1076 | $0.68 SUE CSUEAW. on's 5 wie sic | 81.7 | 39.9 | 1.3 | 87.4 | 0.6 1:299 | 0.62 Meadow hay......... q9.0 | 47.4 | 6:41) 41.1) 0.9! 1:79 1.00
Barn-yard manure taken as a standard of comparison, the weights opposite the manures below show the num- ber of pounds which would be equal in effect to one hun- dred pounds of the former:
eee RECN RA STPIETEG 255) oer olatave' sie yas) Sfece-nie Wiacio-o wia1e #.0,8,0)0°¢ © le! 0 swig 100 Mile RCrements OL tHE COW -6 6 050i. 2 ee ce cede ed see coos 125 Solid bs Capes] 0g sf ey ae eee ea Ve Liquid a ESO eeta es ke eA SO cial d Wiel did a aidelere's = 3.6 45,3 91 Liquid y FO MIBEY oc taaet cape he D6 Cale he os SS 0 4,08 16 Mixed ot eal ae ee ee ee 98 Mixed ae mcly wii ib BY A(R a ee sk ae ara 54 Mixed ‘ Oe SUIBMIEE TSS sia tte eel xfs gh ute aia! oatal els «60% 36 Mixed * EM cs ons neaais avr oes araaein oc 64
MANURE OF SWINE.
The urine of man and that of the hog contain phos- phates, of which that of the ox and horse is destitute.
34 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
The pig voids a larger quantity of urine than any other domestic animal ‘The manure from fattening swine is very valuable, but it contains a peculiar volatile sub- stance which gives to roots and bulbs to which it is ap- plied a disagreeable taste. Hog-pens should be liberally supplied with absorbents.
SHEEP MANURE
contains less vegetable fibre than that of cattle, and may be classed with hog manure; but the nitrogenous matter being more abundant, it is a heating manure when piled and moistened. If penned, one sheep can ma- nure ten and a half feet square ina.night. It is too rich in ammonia to be allowed to come in direct contact with seeds or the roots of plants, and should be composted or mixed with the soil.
POULTRY MANURE.
The dung of all domestic fowls and birds generally has marked manurial properties on account of the large amounts of ammonia and phosphate it contains. Like sheep manure, Peruvian guano and all other fertilizers rich in ammonia, it should not, in its fresh, undiluted state, be permitted to come in immediate contact with the roots of plants, nor with the seed. The floors of the poultry-houses should be strown with finely powdered muck or woods-earth and land plaster, to fix the ammonia and to purify the atmosphere. Subsequently the manure should be composted before being applied to the field.
PERUVIAN GUANO.
The Peruvian, the other South American and the Afri- can guanos being the accumulated dung of sea-birds which
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. ary)
subsisted upon fish, contain considerable quantities of phosphate of lime from the bones, and ammonia from the flesh of the fish. According to the quantity of rain in the climate whence they are obtained, the amount of ammonia will vary. Their value depends principally upon the quantity of ammonia, which already exists, or may be formed by their further decomposition. Next to ammonia, the soluble phosphoric acid is the most valuable constituent, and after this potash is next in importance. Guano from the Chincha Islands contained from fifteen to twenty per cent. of ammonia; buat notwithstanding the exhaustion of the entire supply, and that the guanos from other sources, as the Guanape, are poorer in am- monia, and contain more of the less valuable constituents, Peruvian guano retails at the former price.
Proprietors of city stables make no provision to save the most valuable portion of the droppings of their stock—the urine—and gardeners near cities supplement their stable manure with strong, soluble commercial ammoniacal fertil- izers, by which, ina measure, they do away with the néces- sity of completely fermenting it. Their reliance is not mainly upon the fertilizer, and if they are sure of the am- monia, it is all they desire; but it is otherwise with those who have to depend chiefly upon the commercial article. Gardeners need not be chemists, but they need to profit by the experiments and scientific teachings of the chem- ist, or be swindled by the dishonest manipulator of the article upon which their success depends. The gardener who purchases an artificial fertilizer should know what element his land or crop requires. The law enacts that each package of a fertilizer shall be accompanied by a chemical analysis of its contents. The Agricultural De- partment of Georgia has published a tariff of values of the important ingredients in fertilizers, by means of which any one may calculate the approximate agricultural value per ton of any sueh fertilizer. (See Appendix.) These
36 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
values are not exact. The result of their use depends upon too many contingencies. ‘These trade values are based upon the value of the ingredients in a fertilizer of assured merit.
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.
Appreciating the great importance to Southern agricul- turists, that they should make no indiscriminate and wasteful use of commercial fertilizers, nor be swindled by the knavery of dishonest manipulators, | enumerate below the conclusions, as advice, of one better able to tender it than myself.
Prof. Atwater, of the Connecticut Experimental Station, reaches the following conclusions with respect to the use of artificial fertilizers:
First.—Soils vary widely in their capacities for supply- ing crops with food, and consequently in their demand for fertilizers.
Second.—Some soils will give good returns for manur- ing; others, without previous amendment, by draining, irrigation, tillage, or use of lime, marl, etc., will not.
Third.—Farmers cannot afford to use commercial fertil- izers at random, and it is time they understood the reason why.
Fourth. —The right materials in the right places, bring large profits. Artificial fertilizers, rightly used, must prove among the most potent means for the restoration of our agriculture.
Fifth.—The only way to find what a soil wants, is to study it by careful observation and experiments.
Sixth.—Success in farming, as in other business, re- quires the use of brains.
The controversy between the advocates of home-made manure and of artificial fertilizers may be reduced to the following rules:
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 37
First.—No land will remain fertile for a long number of years, if continuously manured with a special fertil- izer alone, but will require a rotation of manures, as well as of crops.
Second.—Land, to respond properly to artificial fer- tilizers, must be well stored with vegetable matter.
Third.—After the gardener has accumulated as large a pile of home-made manure as possible, by raking and scrap- ing into his compost heap every article fit for plant-food within his reach, let him supplement it with all the artific- ial fertilizers of the best quality (for he cannot afford to pay freight on sand and water, and other adulterations) that it needs, and that he can use upon his crops with profit.
COTTON SEED.
The chemical analysis of cotton seed shows it to be the most concentrated and nutritious cattle-food known; and experience has corroborated the fact. It is considered injurious to swine. Cattle eliminate from it very little of the manurial elements, and their droppings, after the use of cotton seed as a food, as shown by Sir J. B. Lawes, form a manure of the best character. Their albu- minoids are not as ready to undergo fermentation, and therefore the ammonia is not so quickly available, as those of animal substances; it is therefore necessary that they shall have been fermented. If the truck-farmer be at the same time a cotton planter, or be located where he can conveniently procure cotton seed cheaply, he needs no other strong supplement to his manure pile. Should he desire to increase its efficacy for a special crop, an ad- dition of forty or fifty pounds of a good potash salt, or four hundred or five hundred pounds of an acid phos- phate per ton of the compost, would answer the purpose, if the cotton seed was about equal in weight to the for- mer. It is too rich to feed alone, and should be consid-
38 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
erably mixed with poorer food, as straw, shucks, etc.; but if the vegetable-grower be a stock-owner, he should feed as much cotton seed, or cotton-seed meal, as pos- sible, and save the droppings of the cattle. The best method of preparing cotton seed is to compost it with stable-manure, and prevent a too rapid fermentation.
No country is so fortunate as the South in possessing in its cotton seed, for a long number of years considered a mere waste product, the best cattle-food and one of the best fertilizers in the world. If correctly appreciated, only the oil, which has no manurial value, would be ex- ported. While the stores of guanos are being exhaust- ed, the quantity of cotton seed grows with the increasing cotton crops.
FISH SCRAP—FISH GUANO.
Moss-bunkers, or Menhaden (Alosa menhaden) are caught along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Virginia, in immense numbers. The fish are boiled, and, after the extraction of the oil by compression, the more or less dried refuse, consisting of the flesh and bones, is sold under the above names as an exceedingly rich fertilizer. For the sandy coast lands, I have for years given it the preference over the best Peruvian guano, or any other commercial fertilizer. In a compost, it readily under- goes decomposition, changing rapidly into those com- pounds assimilable by plants. Placed alone in the soil, particularly in a dry season, it does not become suffi- ciently decomposed, to make the phosphoric acid of the bones available. This article is so useful in supplying the manufacturers and manipulators of artificial fertil- izers with the most valuable ingredients of many of their compounds, and is by them so well appreciated, that not- withstanding the enormous quantities produced by the fisheries, it has been difficult to procure it of late years.
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 39
Along the coast of Florida large quantities of fish offal may be made available.
NIGHT-SOIL.
Like other animal manures, night-soil varies in efficacy and composition in proportion to the richness of the food from whence it was derived. Itis more nutritive than the dung of animals; but owing to the large quantity of water with which it is diluted, and its offensiveness, it is diffi- cult of transportation.
In so far as nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash are concerned, human excrements compare with the average of excrements of horses, cows, sheep, and swine, as shown in the following table:*
SOLIDS. URINE. | 2 |= ONE TON (2,000 POUNDS). S (S51 2/8 (sa) 3 ot. we © |‘as] 8 S/s*) 8/8/38) & q a | x Ibs.| Ibs./ lbs.! Ibs./ Ibs. | lbs. HONINRRAN in soto. 2 tga Reid ein nid was eera a Coseianae: <teto% 20.0/21.8} 5.0 12.0) 3.7) 4.0 Mean of horse, cow, sheep, and swine...... 9.41 6.2! 4.3 22.5! 0.4'25.4
One ton of the fresh, solid excrement, contains more than twice as much nitrogen as a ton of fresh mixed animal dung; the ure of man contains nine times as much phosphoric acid as that of horses, etc., and proba- bly nearly all the nitrogen is in available condition.
Lawes and Gilbert found that an adult male voided in the course of a year, feeces, ninety-five pounds; urine, one thousand and forty-nine pounds, or one thousand one hundred and forty-four pounds of excrement in the pure state.
* Harris’s Talks on Manures.
40 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH,
These contain:
Dry substance......... feces, 232 lbs., urine, 343 Ibs.; total, 58 Ibs. Mineral matter........ = aed a he i ee aa ROPIIO IN rst ofa a ¥ wate" ese mi ae 10 a oh ae spe ms UTERO foo a16 0508s wos ue 1 Bee? DS ia RCS ae Phosphoric acid........ e Ore A DS 2 ag « ie? PHISH. 25.452 aeeee KS 0.24 ‘* et er 66 ee pemeee
One hundred pounds of the dry substance of the feces contain five pounds of nitrogen and five and one- half pounds of phosphates. One hundred pounds of the dry matter of urine contains twenty-seven pounds of nitrogen, and ten and three-fourths pounds of phos- phates. City night-soil should be promptly incorporated with stable manure upon its arrival, and that of the farm should be mixed with dry, fine muck, woods-earth, or garden soil, by which the ammonia will be absorbed and its offensiveness avoided. This muck, or earth, when dried, may be repeatedly used for the same purpose. Should the quantity be deficient, a little plaster might be added.
In the earth closets, the dry earth, before using, con- tained in five tons, sixteen and seven-tenths pounds of nitrogen; after being used
ONCE.c osecee 5 tons of dry earth contained 24.0 Ibs. nitrogen Twice ...... 5 a = = oie ** i Three times 5 Piety Be 44.6 “* sd Four times..5 es at eu 54.0 * de Five times. .5 3 se ee 61.4 ‘¢ = Six times. ...5 es ae - 71:6 °° oboe
Owing to its great solubility, night-soil is especially adapted to growing early vegetables. The commercial fertilizer, poudrette, is night-soil, which has been dried in pans, and mixed with charred earth, peat, charcoal, or ground peat and plaster. It is variable in quality in pro- portion to the care with which the escape of ammonia may have been prevented; the best, compared with cow-
* Dr. Gilbert.
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 41
dung, in respect to the quantity of ammonia being rated as four to one. MUCK.
When successive generations of plants have grown and, with the leaves from surrounding forest trees, have decayed on the same low, swampy soil, the vegetable mat- ter increases so rapidly that, with the exception of that supplied by the decaying mass, very little mineral mat- ter is mixed with it. The mud from the bottom of a pond, in or around which no plants grow, consists merely of the washings from the higher ground, and deposits from the water, and must be of inferior quality. It is evident that muck must be very variable in quality, ac- cording to its origin. The best, besides imparting valua- ble humus to the soil, contains four per cent., or even more, of nitrogen. In some instances, on the sea coast, a rich deposit may be subject to overflow at spring tides, which, receding, leave marine animals that will fur- ther enrich it. An application to plants of such muck alone, imparts the dark green color to the leaves so in- dicative of ammonia. It should be dug and be permitted to dry out several months before being used, or it may be mixed with lime at the rate of three or four bushels to the ton of muck. There is no better absorbent for the earth closet, the poultry house, the stable, the cow pen, or the manure pile than salt-marsh muck. It may be drilled in with any artificial fertilizer. Woods-earth, or leaf mould, is still better as decayed vegetable matter, and as a source of humus.
SUPERPHOSPHATE OR ACID PHOSPHATE OF LIME.
Phosphoric acid is, next to ammonia, or the nitrates, the most important element of plant food, and it is also, next to nitrogen, the earliest to become exhausted in soil. It exists in all plants, in most soils, combined with
42 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
vegetable matter, in all excrementitious matter, and in the tissues and bones of animals. Bones consist of phosphate of lime, or bone earth and gelatine.
Phosphoric acid and lime unite in three different pro- portions. In common bone earth there are three equiv- alents of lime to one of phosphoric acid, and this salt of lime is called the tricalcic phosphate, or three-lime phos- phate. ‘This is not soluble in pure rain water. Large bones, as is well known, remain for ages buried in the ground, and are only very slowly dissolved by the car- bonic acid in the water. The next is the reverted, or dicalcic, or two-lime phosphate, consisting of two equiy- alents of lime to one of phosphoric acid, which is also insoluble. The monocalcic, or one-lime phosphate, con- sists of one equivalent of lime and one of phosphoric acid, and is the acid-phosphate, or superphosphate of lime of the agriculturist, and is soluble in water.
The manufacturer is enabled to present this valuable soluble fertilizer to agriculture by treating bones, or the South Carolina phosphates, the poor phosphatic guanos, the coprolites, or any other mineral tricalcic phosphate of lime, with sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol. This re- moves two equivalents of lime (as plaster or sulphate of lime), converting it into the one-lime, or superphosphate.
The surest source of phosphoric acid is finely-powdered bone meal. One ton of this contains, in its gela- tine, as much nitogen as eight and one-half tons of fresh stable manure, and twenty-three per cent. of it is phosphoric acid. Bone meal is slowly soluble in the soil by the action of carbonic acid. For vegetable growing it should be decomposed in the manure pile, and supplied at the rate of five hundred pounds to the acre.
The manufacturer mixes finely-powdered fish-scrap, nitrate of soda, or some other more or less nitrogenous substance with his superphosphate, and produces his *‘ammoniated superphosphate.” This mere manipula-
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 43
tion the gardener may undertake more cheaply at home, and with greater satisfaction.
Phosphatic fertilizers are especially beneficial to root and bulb crops.
More or less of the insoluble phosphates may be mixed with and sold in the superphosphate. These have little practical value to the general agriculturist, and none to the gardener.
During the fermentation of the bone meal in the ma- nure pile, which is accelerated by the gelatine, soluble nitrogenous organic compounds and salts of ammonia are produced. ‘These act quickly and powerfully as fer- tilizing agents, and render the phosphate more soluble.
POTASH.
No vegetable can grow without potash, for it is a con- stituent of every plant. Its presence has been proved to be necessary for the formation of starch in the leaves; and the experiments of Lawes and Gilbert have pointed out that it aids leguminous plants, like clover, in assimilat- ing nitrogen, which they contain so largely. It results in soils from the disintegration of minerals, and is less apt to be absent, particularly in heavy soils, than either nitrogen or phosphoric acid.
Neither the land of the truck-farmer near a city, nor any other land, which has been, even only moderately, enriched with the dung of domestic animals and accom- panying vegetable matter, needs any special application of potash. If a crop, even of potatoes, fails on such soils, it will be owing either to a deficiency of the more important elements of plant food, or to other unfavorable contingen- cies, as of weather, tillage, drainage, etc,, rather than to a lack of potash. But on light lands frequently manured with exclusively nitrogenous manures, like fish scrap, Peruvian guano, etc., and cropped with potatoes, or some
44 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
other vegetable exhaustive of potash, an application of a salt of potash either alone, or of a fertilizer largely con- taining it, becomes indispensable, All potash salts, be- ing exceedingly soluble, are liable to be leached out of sandy land. A crop of one hundred and fifty bushels of Irish potatoes will remove from the soil, in the tubers, 51.3 lbs. of potash, 1.44 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 30.6 lbs. of nitrogen. Formerly the ashes of hard-woods was nearly the only, and limited source of potash;.but recently the kainit mines in North Germany, near Stassfurt and Leo- poldshall, provide this element in enormous quantities. The lower grades contain a constituent, the chloride of magnesium, which is actually injurious to plant growth. Years ago, like J. H. H. Gregory of Marblehead, Mass., I had an experience which showed the detrimental effects of this salt in the ruin of a potato crop. Mr. Gregory mixed a compost of twenty-eight bbls. of hen manure, twenty-eight bbls. of dry, rich soil, twelve bbls. of fine ground bone with three bbls. of kainit. This was allowed to heat twice before it was applied, at the rate of two quarts to the hill, and according to his custom, cabbage seed was sown in the field, on each hill. The seed sprouted; but the little seedlings were killed as soon as the first rootlets reached the fertilizer. As large quantities of this kainit are being introduced into the South, statements by Prof. Atwater (American Agriculturist, Vol. XXXVI, No. 11) are here given as a warning against the improper or indiscriminate use of the lower grades of these potash salts: ‘‘'The mines at Stassfurt, Leopoldshall and Wes- teregeln are from six hundred to one thousand two hun- dred feet deep, and the area of deposit is calculated at six hundred square miles. ‘The salts, as taken from the mines, contain only a small proportion of potassium com- pounds, the bulk consisting of materials which have com- paratively little agricultural value, and are sometimes positively injurious. They are, therefore, subjected to
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 45
chemical treatment, by which the potash compounds are more or less completely purified. As prepared for mar- ket, the potash fertilizers contain potassium in the form of either chloride of potassium, or sulphate of potash, and, along with these, other compounds, as shown by the following figures from circulars of the German manu- facturers:
COMPOSITION OF THE GERMAN POTASH SALTS.
POTASSIUM AND OTHER COM- POUNDS.—LBS. IN 100 LBS.
3. Ss Bs S§ S; Sed
BRANDS OF POTASH SALTS. 2s | 38/83/8338) 88 sss
Ss ssl] esi ssl ss Ses
==/s38/ 88/58/83 Gee
Se | $8 | 88/82) $3 288
S| S88] 88 | Ss | S7 sas =
lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs
PGruge@ KaIMit, 2 fo. se tes Sh teeters eto |e 10-12) 14-17|32-40 9-14
2. Crude sulphate of potash (dung salt)...... 18-22 16-20} 2-4 |35-50 9-12 SPEC DALCOOKAINGL. ..ci- cameccbe-ceasscese cues 24 16-18) 2-4 |36-42 13
4. Crude sulphate of potash—magnesia.. ... |29-33: 17-22) 3-5 |30-35 15-18
5. Five-fold concentrated salt (chloride)..... 80-85) 1-2 12-16|50-52 6, Purified sulphate of potash........... .... 70 5-10 5-10/38
%. Purified sulphate of potash............... 90-95 3-6 1-2 |50-52
8. Purified sulphate of potash—magnesia.... | 54-57) [84-8 1-2 |28-30
‘©All these brands contain other than potash compounds. Of these the sulphate of magnesia may be valuable, since it is useful as plant food, and further, aids in diffusing the potash through the soil and thus bringing it within reach of the roots of plants. The chloride of sodium, or common salt, though not needed for plant food, is useful in rendering other materials available, and hence is often quite valuable as a fertilizer. For certain crops, how- ever, like potatoes, sugar beets, and tobacco, it is apt to be detrimental; probably on account of the chlorine which it contains. The chloride of magnesium may be in- jurious. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, in the table, are low grade articles, furnishing only nine to eighteen per cent. of actual potash. The crude kainit, No. 1, is the ma-
46 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
terial as dug from the mines and ground. The prepared kainit, No. 3, is made by roasting the crude kainit. The ‘dung salt’ No. 2, is a waste product, formed in the manufacture of the high grade articles. Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8, are high grade articles of two kinds, viz., the chlorides or ‘muriates.” In No. 5, the potas- slum is combined with chlorine, as chloride of potas- sium, or ‘muriate of potash,’ and in the sulphates, Nos. 6, 7, 8, it is combined with sulphuric acid, as sulphate of potash. Little of No. 8 is manufactured.
‘* It is becoming customary to characterize these salts by the percentages of sulphate or chloride of potassium they furnish. ‘Thus an ‘eighty per cent. sulphate’ is one that contains eighty lbs. of sulphate of potash in one hundred lbs. of the salt. An ‘eighty per cent. muriate’ would contain eighty per cent. of chloride of potassium.
MOST DESIRABLE GRADES FOR OUR USE.
“Tt is clear that for this side of the Atlantic, the high grades must be the most economical as potash fertilizers. The sulphates are, on the whole, preferable; but the po- tassium-in these is more costly than in the chlorides. The chlorides sometimes injure the burning quality of the tobacco leaf, decrease the amount of sugar in sugar beets, and of starch in potatoes, and make the latter less ‘mealy’ than is desirable. The sulphates, on the other hand, are always safe. For buckwheat, corn, wheat, oats, and other grains, for leguminous crops and grasses, and for wet soils, the chlorides are preferable because cheaper. Generally speaking, the most desirable grades will probably be:
‘*For sulphates: the highest grades which contain from seventy-five to ninety per cent. or more, of sulphate of potash, corresponding to from forty to fifty per cent. of actual potash.
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. AY
‘‘For chlorides: the ‘ muriate’ with eighty to eighty-five per cent. of chloride of potassium, corresponding to fifty to fifty-three per cent. of potash.
‘<< By the above table, the amount of actual potash in the low grade salts, varies from nine to eighteen per cent. Some of the salts sold in this country have yielded as low as seven toeight per cent. The disadvantage in purchas- ing these poorer articles is a double one. Not only do they furnish very little potash, the bulk being.made up of other and inferior or injurious compounds; but the purchaser has to pay the cost of freight and handling of this extra material between the mines in Germany and his farm.
“The method of applying potash salts is of great im- portance. Cases are common,—I have known several myself, where crops were injured or destroyed.”
Professor Atwater proceeds to recommend that the salt be uniformly diffused through the soil, and not concen- trated in single spots, that it be applied in the fall for the next season’s crop, so that the rains may have an oppor- tunity to distribute it through the soil; or that it be com- posted with muck, farm refuse, or earth. Doubtless the chloride of magnesium could thus be rendered harmless.
In another volume of the *‘ American Agriculturist,” Prof. Atwater says: ‘‘ Analyses of potash salts by Prof. Johnson, chemist of the Connecticut Board of Agricul- ture, and by Prof. Goessmann, State Inspector of Fer- tilizers in Massachusetts, agree entirely with Prof. Stor- er’s, and ours, in showing that a large amount of the German potash salts imported into this country are of the poorer grades. This is a ‘serious evil, which needs to be known—and to be corrected.’ As long as farmers will buy low-priced potash salts, and other fertilizers, because they are ‘cheap,’ and pay no regard to the actual quality, they must expect to get poor wares at dear rates, and have poor success in using them.”
48 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Ashes are the product of combustion, and in their ef- fect are somewhat similar to that of decaying and mould- ing vegetable matter. When the use of potash is indi- cated, and ashes of hard-wood can be obtained, they are a safer and much more satisfactory and effective fertilizer than the German potash salts; for they contain all the min- eral elements of plant food which the tree had derived from the soil. They are, of course, void of nitrogen; but tend to render nitrogen and other soil ingredients available. They also amend the physical condition of heavy soils, and are adapted to those of sandy character. Measures should be devised to save the ashes of cities as manure. A bushel of unleached ashes weighs about forty-eight pounds; a ‘‘struck” bushel of leached ashes, fifty- seven pounds, and one ‘‘heaped,” about seventy-one pounds. A dressing of fifty bushels of unleached ashes to the acre, at forty-eight pounds to the bushel, would give two hundred pounds of potash; seven hundred and sixty-eight pounds of lime; one hundred and twenty pounds of magnesia; forty-eight pounds of phosphoric acid, and thirty-six pounds of sulphuric acid.
Wood Ashes aut =e otash, lbs.
100 lbs. contain Lime, lbs. | Magnesia, | Phosphoric | Sulphuric
on the average lbs. Acid, lbs. | Acid, lbs. Unleached...... 7 to 10 82 5 2 L/, Leached ........ ite. <2 25 3/9 L/, 1/,
QUICK-LIME.
Ammonia is not produced in organic matter until pu- trefaction commences, when nitrogen and hydrogen com- bine in the proportions of one to three to form it.
If quick-lime is added before the process begins, the lime unites with the nitric acid, and forms nitrate of lime, fixing or retaining the nitrogen; but when the lime is added to stable manure in fermentation, or to Peruvian guano, or to ground fish-scrap, or to any other substance containing ammonia, the ammonia escapes into the air,
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 49
and is lost. We may see this take place, if we heat de- caying vegetable matter with lime, or witness it if we mix guano and quick-lime together in the palm of the hand, and smell the escaping ammoniacal gas. <A good soil may, without any recent manuring, contain three thousand or more pounds of nitrogen per acre in the first six inches of depth, or as much as is contained in three hundred and thirty-three tons of fresh horse manure, and yet require a fresh application of soluble nitrogenous manure to bring a satisfactory crop to maturity. The rea- son 1s, that the above large amount of nitrogen is locked up in the soil, existing in unassimilable combinations, in short, is unavailable. Professor Johnson found only sixty-three pounds of available nitrogen in four thousand six hundred and fifty-two pounds of a soil per acre, at the depth of twelve inches.
Kyery arable soil contains a sufficiency of lime for the direct needs, as plant food, of any crop; and while the cereals, or grain plants, contain less of lime, both in grain and straw, than any other crop, they especially re- quire nitrogenous manure, and to these the general agri- culturist applies it freely. Now, a simple dressing of lime has been known to double the yield of grain on a soil containing unavailable nitrogen.
It would require too much space to mention the chem- ical changes lime undergoes from its condition as carbon- ate of lime in rock or shells, until, as caustic lime, it exerts its strange power, or to attempt an explanation of its extraordinary effects, not yet fully understood, upon the various constituents of the soil.
Suffice 1t to say: First.—It renders stores of wealth in the soil available to crops. Second.—It neutralizes acids in the soil which might be injurious to vegetation. Third.—It rapidly decomposes vegetable matter in the soil, and renders its elements fit for plant food. Fourth.— It amends the physical texture both of heavy clays and
50 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
sandy lend. Fifth.—It aids and promotes the produc- tion of nitric acid, and forms the soluble nitrate of lime. Sixth.—It hastens the maturity of crops. Seventh.—It is supposed to form combinations in the soil which at- tract nitrogen from the atmosphere—probably silicate of lime.
Notwithstanding all these advantages the truck-farmer will rarely have recourse to lime. Near the city his large supply of manure will render its use unnecessary. Only in case of an emergency, an unexpected lack of manure, and on heavy land, would he be warranted in bringing out the latent power of his soil by a heavy application. Small quantities might be desirable occasionally. Its use must impoverish the soil to the extent of its decomposi- tion, and, if persisted in, the complete removal of organic matter and of ammonia; and the gardener who farms with less stable-dung, or near the coast, rarely gets a sufficiency of vegetable matter incorporated with his sandy soil.
‘“* Lime and Jime without manure Will make both land and farmer poor.”’
Neither lime nor ashes should ever be mixed with dung, Peruvian guano, poultry manure, or any other organic fertilizer upon the soil, unless there be present sufficient muck or earth to arrest and absorb the escaping am- monia.
Lime is applied at the rate of from twenty-five to two hundred bushels per acre. One hundred bushels would add about one half of one per cent. to a soil six inches deep.
COMMON SALT.
Chlorine and soda are more or less the constituents of every plant. Salt (chloride of sodium) is a combination of chlorine and the metal sodium. Soda is a compound of oxygen and sodium. Common salt is the source of the
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 51
soda compounds. very soil, and every animal and vegetable manure, contain this salt, and generally in sufficient quantity for the direct needs of most plants. Storms may blow the salt-spray of the ocean fifty miles inland. The coast lands, the Gulf and Atlantic shores, of Florida, must be abundantly supplied with it to meet the direct wants of a crop.
Plants which naturally live upon the sea shore, like asparagus, generally abound in salt, while in others it may exist as a mere trace. In beets it forms nearly one-third of the ash; in potatoes seven, and in carrots six per cent. In all roots it is generally a prominent constituent. Plants will therefore respond differently to its applica- tion. While an asparagus bed will bear a heavy dressing, the same quantity would destroy most other cultivated plants as effectually as it does the weeds among the asparagus plants. It needs therefore to be used carefully, five or six bushels to the acre being enough, to be applied either broadcast, if fine, or in compost, if coarse. It in- creases the brightness and strength of the straw, and the yield of grain in the cereals. Its effects on fertile soil, already supplied with a sufficiency for the use of the crop, demonstrates the fact that it exerts an influence upon other fertilizing agents, decomposing them and rendering them available. The moisture it attracts from the at- mosphere through its hygroscopic power must also be a great benefit to sandy soil.
GYPSUM-——LAND PLASTER.
This, which is the sulphate of lime, can supply plants with sulphuric acid and lime; both of which, however, are generally found in soils in sufficient quan- tity for the needs of most crops. Where clover may be grown as a green manure or for feed, it is a useful fertil- izer; but otherwise the market-gardener will rarely use it, unless he incorporates it in his manure pile to fix the
52 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
ammonia as sulphate. Where the potato-rot prevailed, gypsum has been known to show worse results than any other application; probably owing to the moisture it at- tracted from the atmosphere.
NITRATE OF SODA AND THE AMMONIA SALTS.
These are the most concentrated nitrogenous fertiliz- ers, and in their pure state are to be sparingly and care- fully applied, so as not to come in direct contact either with seed or the roots of plants. To increase the strength of stable manure, particularly such as is defi- cient in liquid excrement, or of compost, there is nothing better than these salts, to be added to the former just before its application. They may also be carefully sown broadcast at the rate of one-fourth to one-half a ton, in- timately mixed with fine muck, woods-earth, or soil, to insure an even distribution. The best to use will be such as supply the gardener with nitrogen at the cheapest rate. The following table presents the present market prices, their proportion of ammonia, and their calculated value, according to the now existing high valuation of ammonia in fertilizers—twenty-five cents per pound:
Equiva- Nitro- lent to | Calcula- gen. Am-_ |tedValue.
; mond. Wittitevof soda its Leeee See ee 16.40 19.20 $96 .00 Nitrate of potash..........2-ssesccesseeees 13.75 16.6 $3.00 Carbonate of ammonia.........-.cce--eseees 1770" -2£50° 20 Rao Muriate-of ammonia.. » avkew eh eee ee See 25.50 31.00 155.00 Sulphate of ammonia. .......-+---e eee eres 21.20 | 25.75 | 128.60
It must be borne in mind, however, that these salts are not chemically pure, but contain about ten per cent. of impurities, which may or may not have any agricul- tural value.
In nitrates of soda and potash, the nitrogen exists in the available form of nitric acid, but is more apt to be lost by leaching than the ammonia in the other salts.
MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 53
The carbonate has too high a value as a drug to allow it to be used by the gardener, except perhaps on a very small scale, and experimentally in the green-house. For such crops as are grown for their leaves, as cabbage and spinach, these salts are admirably adapted; but in the case of potatoes, large doses, as the physician would say, are contra-indicated.
LIQUID MANURE.
In China and Holland, liquid manuring for the most valuable crops is extensively practised. As the urine of all animals is much richer than the solid excrements (that of the horse containing thirty-one pounds of ni- trogen to the ton, whereas the solid excreta only contain nine pounds), it has a relatively higher agricultural value, and should be saved with care proportioned to its efficacy. The nitrogen being in a more available form, if applied to crops in the liquid state, it will be more valuable in consequence of its solubility. When plants have reached the stage of rapid and steady growth, ap- proaching maturity, their vital energy and the absorptive power of their roots will enable them to profit wonder- fully from an application of liquid manure, for which reason the cauliflower and the cabbage are treated to food in this form just before the former is expected to *‘curd,” and the latter to head.
When seedling plants have to be watered at the time of transplanting, a weak liquid manure would help them to start better than pure water.
Urine is too ‘‘strong” to be allowed to come in direct contact with seed or with roots, and should first be al- lowed to ferment, and then be diluted with five or six parts of water. In its fresh state it contains no am- monia, this being formed from urea after putrefaction has commenced.
Solid manure may be steeped in water until the latter
54 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
has assumed a dark clear color, when the liquor may be used, or Peruvian guano, at the rate of a quarter pound, or any of the ammonia salts, at the rate of two ounces dissolved in a gallon of water, may be substituted. Liquid manure should be applied just before a rain; at any rate, the soil should be moist, as there is then no danger of the liquid passing through the soil and be- yond the reach of the roots. One gallon of water is capable of absorbing one thousand one hundred and fifty gallons of gaseous ammonia. Owing to its inconvenience, truck-farmers rarely use liquid manure.
CHAPTER IV. THE ROTATION OF CROPS.
It is as advantageous for the market-gardener as for the general agriculturist to grow his different crops in succession. Various theories have been proposed to ex- plain the phenomena attending the growth of certain crops on the same soil for a number of successive years.
Chemical analysis shows that, while all plants are com- posed of nearly the same elements, they exist in each kind in varying proportions. It is supposed that a plant requiring for its full development more of one inorganic element than another, exhausted the soil of the former toa greater or less degree, and rendered that gradually unfit for its own continued growth, while a different plant, somewhat differently constituted, would still find in the soil all the elements it required for its maturity in sufficient quantity, and in an available condition.
When it was ascertained that, if all the elements known to be taken from the soil byacertain crop, were returned to it in fertilizers, and even more of these than it had lost, the crop still continued to depreciate, the theory of exhaustion of the soil then failed to be a, satisfactory solu-
THE ROTATION OF CROPS. 55
tion. De Candolle and others then supposed that the necessity for a rotation of crops was attributable to the fact that plants, during growth, throw off excrementitious matters by their roots, which, they agreed, were injuri- ous toa following crop of their own kind, but not to others. Exceptional cases, as that of the onion, would have to be accounted for upon the hypothesis that that plant either did not excrete from the root, or if it did, the matter eliminated was not detrimental to itself. Others supposed that the decaying fibrous roots might be injurious. Whether or not either of these theories alone correctly explains the phenomena of rotation, the practice of rotation remains the best possible method of keeping the soil clean, mellow, and in the best attainable condi- tion for the production of remunerative crops with the least cost of manure.
It is doubtless true here, as in many other matters per- taining to agriculture, that circumstances may, to a cer- tain extent, modify a general rule. In the treatment of land of different kinds and textures the farmer should be an empiric as little as the physician. The fact that rotation may, for a limited number of years, be unneces- sary on deep alluvial soils, or on heavy clays,gwith, or without manure, may not suffice to upset a general prac- tice as old as agriculture itself.
Joseph Harris in his *‘ Talks on Manures,” while dis- cussing the results of the interesting experiments of Lawes and Gilbert on the heavy clay soil of ‘‘ Rotham- sted,” and probably basing his observations too upon ex- perience with his own clays, says: ‘‘ The old notion that there is any real chemical necessity for a rotation of crops is unfounded. Wheat can be grown after wheat, and barley after barley, and corn after corn, provided we use the necessary manures, and get the soil clean and in the right mechanical condition.” In other parts of his val- uable book he says: ‘‘ A light sandy soil will not pre-
56 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
serve manure like a clay soil.”—(p. 177.) “On light sandy soil, such an annual dressing of manure (fourteen tons barn-yard manure per acre) would, in the course of afew years, make the land too rich for wheat.”—(p. 176.) “On sandy land, the manure will decompose more rapidly, and act quicker than on clayey or loamy land.” —(p. 295.) ‘To what, then, is the power of soils to arrest ammonia, potash, magnesia, phosphoric acid, etc., owing? The above experiments lead to the conclusion that it is due to the clay which they contain. Pure sand was found not to possess it.”—(p. 218.) “A London clay contained about seven thousand pounds of ammonia per acre, equivalent to the quantity contained in seven hundred tons of barn-yard manure.”—(p. 221.) ** Clay mixed with manure arrests, or checks decomposi- tion. Sand has no such effect. If anything, it favors a more active decomposition, and hence, manure acts much more rapidly on sandy land than on clay land.”—(p. 268.)
A table by Lawes and Gilbert shows the produce of wheat per acre on the clay soil of Rothamsted for twenty consecutive years without any manure:
SEASON. Year. | Busheis. | Pecks.
igs ds ak eh ae we toca s snicateeen 1843 15
BGG aie lewsucd cients eEe ee 1844 23 Ot CRAAIUL eco ciasc be 3'es niques yi eee 1845 17 3t UNAM es ocak fe oe net lta de eee 1846 16 35 OLE sisratite Sep othe’ s . awe Ce ere 1847 14
PEN cle aia ieee o,008 ae 3g ee eae 1848 19 af Severin... .27 LUST ieee eee eee 1849 15 3t IBLE onic. 310 losers arguing ecalinloeien eae 1850 15 35 PREG Reeve ck os oe asec ee ere Cae 1851 12 33 EP an Wig? ixb.s <P waka Shida et Sok Re 1852 5 3t MRA TUAER o auince a vies n'e a ese eee 1853 21 + PME: Seay ew wok Seta Chee ee 1854 ily
PRO OTELAD os ets ais x ayes sais e Cane 1855 14 2 EM EERETISLEL. osc 0 cle cake roca eee 1856 19 3t UM CTI ooo 52 6455 vss Keceio ce SER Ee 1857 18
PPR MERUN a 2c tins ta adie dice bene SE 1858 18 Z OV GMDCOMAIE, hace ess daewckinde cmt ok 1859 12 rs BGR epavrijew <ple of Sako tae ints 1860 11 t INITICLGEMIEES Pas festa webu bows coat 1861 16
TWENHCERG 5 ucho. oie tes hee. hoe 1862 17 1
THE ROTATION OF CROPS. 5%
The weight of the grain of the first crop was fifty- eight and five-tenths pounds per bushel, and that of the twentieth, or last, was sixty-two and seven-tenths pounds per bushel, so that after continuous cropping, without manure, the land produced in the twentieth year two and one-fourth bushels more per acre, and the wheat weighed four and one-fifth pounds more per bushel than the first season.
Can there be a doubt that on any other than a heavy clay soil the results of these experiments would haye been different ? Is there a soil on the southern sea coast, void of clay, which, after continuous cropping for twenty years without manure, would produce more oats or rye (wheat requires clay) or any other crop, to the acre, than it would the first season? If so, to what is the exhaus- tion of our cotton plantations to be attributed? Better farming, or cotton seed, cow peas and rotation might have preserved their fertility.
Neither the areas, nor the varieties of crops of the truck- farmer are suffictent to enable him always to practice regular courses of rotation; nor should a lack of manure ever compel their strict observance, but he should aim:
First.—To have a crop which succeeds another as dis- similar in composition and the demands it makes upon the soil as possible.
Second.-—Never to have plants of the same family suc- ceed each other. For instance, melons should not follow cucumbers; tomatoes should not follow egg-plants, or Irish potatoes; beans should not succeed peas, or vice ver st.
Third.—Tuberous plants should not be allowed to fol- low plants of the same character.
Fourth.—Roots should not succeed to root crops, as turnips, beets, etc.
Fifth.—Deep or tap-rooted plants should succeed others of similar growth.
58 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Sixth.—To make the heaviest applications of manure to such crops as require most, as cabbage, onions, etc; and have other crops succeed those requiring less, as tomatoes, egg-plants, etc., so that the whole farm may be gradually brought to the same degree of fertility.
As the crops of the truck-farmer come in for ship- ment during spring and early summer, there is rarely an opportunity of having a second crop occupy the same ground, before the first is harvested; still it may occur. Thus a crop of melons or cucumbers may be put in be- tween the wide rows of peas. ‘The latter will be off be- fore the former requires the first working.
A further benefit of successive rotation and continued cropping is the destruction of noxious weeds, and of such insects as prey for more than one season on the roots of a particular kind of crop, by depriving them of their food.
A continued liberal use of the same fertilizer, although it be the complete stable-manure, will eventually show less favorable results, than when manures are alternated. Owing to a too limited use, this will-not frequently happen on our truck-farms; but it may occasionally oceur near cities, where, after a series of heavy manurings with stable-manure or night-soil, the land seems to crave something else. A resort in such a case to a good com- mercial fertilizer will remedy the evil and increase the crop.
WEEDS. 59
CHAPTER V. WEEDS.
Plants, according to their manner of growth, are either exogenous (outside growcrs), their bulk being augmented by layers next to the inner bark; or endogenous (inside growers), which increase from the centre, the new growth pressing the older outwards.
All the trees of the United States, with the exception of the Palmetto, are outside growers. ‘The Asparagus is an example of an inside grower.
The stem of an outside grower consists of the outer bark, the inner bark, or liber, the sapwood or alburnum, the heartwood and the pith. The medullary rays connect the pith horizontally with the inner bark through the wood.
When a seed germinates, it sends its radicle down into the ground and its sprout (plumule) up into the air. The root obtains from the soil crude sap, containing solu- tions of gases, earths, and salts, which ascend through the sapwood to the leaves. Leaves may be considered a continuation of young bark, and in plants, which are naturally leafless, the young bark performs their office. Leaves are provided on their upper and lower surfaces with breathing pores, or stomata; and those plants grow- ing in moist and shady places, are most abundantly supplied with them, and the pores are of larger size. The outer skin, or epidermis, of thick-leaved plants growing in hot, arid situations, like the aloe, the prickly pear, and the purslane, have few and small breathing pores, and the skin is still further protected by a waxy covering. When the sap reaches the wide expanse of sur- face of the leaves, it comes in contact with air, heat, and light, the crude sap is digested and the excess of water
60 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
is evaporated through the breathing pores, mainly of the upperside of the foliage. Leaves absorb gases, and un- der some circumstances moisture, from the atmosphere through the stomata of their lower surface. It is not necessary to discuss the chemical changes brought about in the leaves, my object being merely to demonstrate their great importance, and to show that whatever tends to injure their health and vigor, tends to destroy the plant.
The digested sap, made available through the action of the leaves for the support of the plant, descends and dis- tributes its nourishment wherever it may be needed in the interior of the plant. A plant, constantly deprived of its leaves, could no more continue to live, than an ani- mal devoid of skin with which to perspire, lungs with which to breathe, and stomach with which to digest, and there is no exception to this rule, which applies alike to endogens as exogens. Therefore any weed may be destroyed, if frequently hoed down, and some may be killed if cut down only once. :
The crops of the truck-farmer, however, should be kept so well stirred that most of the weeds with which he has to contend are killed before they appear above the ground. ‘Two of our worst weeds, the Wormseed (Cheno- podium ambrosioides, var. anthelminticum), and Dogfen- nel (Lupatorium feniculaceum) mast be eradicated when young, or they will become troublesome by sprouting from the deep roots. Even our worst pest,
NUT-GRASS—COCO-GRASS (Cyperus rotundus, var. Hydra),
can be destroyed, if constantly hoed, or plowed and raked out, but owing to the depth of its growth and to the abundance of nuts, each of which has several eyes, to clear any considerable area by hoeing, would cost more than the land would be worth. If a piece of land over-
WEEDS. 61
run with nut-grass is to be cleared and will grow cow peas, these should be sown at the rate of two and a half bushels to the acre, as soon in the spring as possible, and be plowed under before the shedding of the leaves ad- mits any light and air to the soil. These should be fol- lowed by a second crop of peas, and the latter by one of rye. If this round is repeated, there will be little, if any, nut-grass to be seen at the commencement of the third season, but a third year may be required to kill it. If a mulch is laid upon the ground six or eight inches, or more, in thickness, nut-grass will push its way through; but the stems upon which the young nuts are formed will not penetrate the earth deeply; and, if the mulch has partly rotted in contact with the soil, they will remain upon the surface, or so near it, as to be destroyed to a great extent, by firing the covering material during dry weather. A second or even a third mulch may be ncces- sary to be completely effective. Nut-grass is propagated by the nuts; andif the growth above ground is constantly interrupted, and it is not allowed to bloom, it is doubt- ful whether the nuts can come to maturity.
BERMUDA GRASS (Cynodon Dactylon)
may be destroyed in the same manner as nut-grass; but an easier and cheaper method may be adopted with this plant, as it may be killed out by repeatedly plowing and raking during hot and dry weather, particularly in heavy ground with clay subsoil. Neither this nor the nut-grass matures seed in the United States.
PURSLANE (Portulaca oleracea. )
This weed spreads an extraordinary number of fine seeds over a place, if allowed to mature, and it should be de- stroyed when young. Owing tothe nature of the leaf and the paucity of stomata, this plant may be upon the sur-
62 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
face for days in the hot sun without dymg. The same is true, but to a greater degree, of
THE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia vulgaris, )
which is occasionally an annoyance on high grounds near the coast, and on the Sea Islands. It must be dug up and removed from the land. It will require a hot wood fire to kill it.
CHAPTHE “Vi.
SEED AND SEED SOWING.
Every seed is provided with an embryo, the vitality of which remains dormant so long as the carbon which the seed contains is not eliminated, by forming carbonic acid with oxygen during the process of germination. The composition of a seed is less liable to vary than that of any other part of a plant.
One of the most woaderful works of nature is the pro- vision made for the perpetuation of the species, whether of animals or vegetables. Every seed germ, or embryo, is really a plant in miniature, having its stem and leaves in a more or less undeveloped state.
If kept dry and excluded from air and its oxygen, the duration of its vitality differs with various seeds. If the seed of any given plant, which ordinarily retains its vitality for an extended period, is, when fully matured, thoroughly dried, and perfectly protected from contact with air and moisture, there is no reason why it may not retain its vitality for many years. Prof. Lindley says: ‘* Not to speak of the doubtful instances of seeds taken
SEED AND SEED SOWING. 63
from the pyramids having germinated, melon seeds have been known to grow at the age of forty years, kidney beans at one hundred, sensitive-plant at sixty, rye at forty, and there are now (1859) growing, in the garden of the Horticultural Society, raspberry plants raised from seeds sixteen hundred or seventeen hundred years old.”
There is considerable difference of opinion between ex- perimenters in regard to the duration of vitality in agri- cultural seeds under ordinary climatic influences; but it probably depends upon the comparative condition of the seed and the influence of the different climates of their respective countries. The table below shows the earlier experiments of Cobbett in England, and the later ones of Vilmorin in France.
Cobbett. |_ Vil- Cobbett. | Vil-
Years, | morin. Years. | morin.
Years. ears. Artichokes ....... 3 ded eee cree eared + 5 Asparagus ........ 4 Pe IREORS 0 alaracitelteco 2 2 3 Ss eee aefeide 2 6.) Lettuee:..20cie sie 3s 3 5 Bean (Kidney).... 1 iy) MECLOIW sv <5 bsiehSracs 2 10 5 BSBEU tek ie os a's ee 10 eo OnrOM ons chose Ss 2 2 Beaccoll ..... 52-6. + Bol REE orale we Sagtecs 3c 2 ~ Cabbage........ + Or Stes oct in sess ates 2 4 ATION n5 <)csie's « 1 £, Pumpin c.s% x. i 10 5 Cauliflower....... 4 Thr, ARRCRES Ros o.0 oN mig 0 0 + 5 MPIERY Seok se we os 10 => | RSGUBEEY sisters sss. ns ss 2 2 Oe 3 2 Spinach eed aioe a aise’ s 4 5 Sucumper........ 10 Br MOMS HE us ees was 10 5 Eee plant...c:..:. 3 =i GMEATONS cites oan 5's 2 5 TEALVE:, «So o02 wea « + Sead i a ee 4 5
Southern vegetable-growers must bear in mind that our warmer climate, particularly on the moist sea coast, will affect the longevity of seed. Onion seed, for instance, cannot be relied upon after the first year; those of the varieties of cabbage and of turnip after the second, and those of cucurbitacese, as melon, squash, cucumber, etc., after the fourth year. Some seeds lose their germinating power, if allowed to become dry, as will those of the wil- low two weeks after ripening. Experience teaches us that fresh seeds of cucumbers, melons, etc., produce plants
64 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
that are lilsely to run to vine, while older seed yield more abundant crops of fruit. Some English horticul- turists carry the cucumber seed they intend to plant in hot-beds, in the pockets of their pantaloons for months prior to planting, in the belief that the warmth of their bodies increases the productiveness of the vines. How- ever this may be, it is a safe rule that seed should be fresh. Old seeds, endowed with weaker vitality, are slower to germinate; they come up irregularly, and too large a percentage is absolutely sterile. Seed of ten-weeks stock, four years old, is used by gardeners to produce plants to bear double flowers, while fresh seed produces the more perfect single flowers. Such being the case, only fresh tomato seed should be used; as the double flowers produce irregularly-shaped, knobby fruit, while it is only the single flowers that form the desirable round and smooth fruit.
The chemical elements in an imperfectly matured seed seem unstably combined. If such germinate at all, it will be sooner than seeds fully ripe; but the plants will be of weaker growth, owing, probably, to an insufficient storage of nourishment. Such unripe seeds will also be the earliest to become sterile. Some vegetable physi- ologists believe that immature seeds will produce earlier varieties than the mature. There are many facts in regard to the distribution and germination of seeds, which appear unaccountable and wonderful. After the destruction of forests by fire, certain plants will spring up in large numbers, although no parent plants of the same species may have been growing in the vicinity. The unavoidable conclusion is, that the seed had re- mained in the soil for years, awaiting favorable condi- tions for its development. Piants, unlike any in the vicinity, have grown in the soil excavated from deep wells; thus the upper crust of the earth seems full of seeds. Every Southern farmer, who has cleared land,
SEED AND SEED SOWING. 65
knows that a growth of oak or other deciduous trees will follow pine, and vice versa. It seems as if nature would thus demonstrate the principle of rotation of crops. ‘Theory seems to be unable to explain how seeds can re- main dormant in the soil for years, under conditions apparently favorable to germination.
THE QUALITY OF SEEDS.—TESTING.
Its plumpness, its specific gravity or density, rather than its size, is an indication of the quality of a seed; and it will generally smk in water. No one matter is of more importance to the horticulturist, than the quality of the seed he sows, not only in reference to the certainty of vegetating, but also to its being true to variety. Our well-known seed merchants, as a general rule, doubtless seek to send out sound and reliable seed; but they are compelled in some instances to depend for a supply of special kinds upon seed-growers personally unknown to them, and may themselves be deceived. In an expe- rience of twenty-six years I have found, however, a con- siderable difference in the comparative trustworthiness of some of the leading and most extensive seed dealers. A few of the smaller firms, and of less extended repu- tation, frequently gain the custom of Southern druggists, and often of retail dealers, by granting the privilege of returning the stock which remains unsold in their hands after the spring sales. In some instances such seeds may be good and true; but having suffered losses from their use, I warn Southern growers against their purchase.
The surest way to avoid disaster is to make a prelimi- nary test of any suspicious seed. It is not necessary to commit the seed to the ground. Dr. Nobbe, of the Tharand, Saxony, Seed Control Station, has devised a simple apparatus of earthenware for the purpose. To test seeds, I place a sample, folded in a piece of moist cloth, or blotting paper, at the bottom of a small com-
66 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
mon flower-pot, which is plunged in the soil of another, one or two sizes larger, and a third pot, filled with earth, of the size of the first is placed within the second. If the soil of the two pots is kept damp, the seed, if good, will germinate, and can, from time to time, be conveni- ently examined. By thus testing his seed, the gardener may ascertain the percentage, sure, under proper man- agement, to come up, and may regulate his sowing ac- cordingly.
If seeds are to be preserved and retain their proper vitality, it is indispensable that they should be com- pletely ripe, and be kept perfectly dry. They should be inclosed in cloth bags, and suspended in a dry room. Imported seed should not, as is frequently done, be sent to our warm climate packed in hermetically-closed me- tallic cases. Neither the seed, nor the thick paper gen- erally used in packing being sufficiently dry, the con- fined moisture will cause a commencement of germina- tion, and the heat generated by the precess, and the moisture, is very apt in such cases to destrey the vitality of all.
Seeds of home growth that are subject to injury from weevils may be preserved in jugs, demijohns, etc., in which a piece of gum camphor, a little cyanide of po- tassium (a most deadly poison), or an open phial of tur- pentine has been inserted.
THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS.
As the absence of moisture, warmth and air is necessary to the preservation of the vitality of seed, so the presence of these agents is essential to excite their vital forces, and cause germination. In this process the outer covering of the seed softens, and allows the em- bryo to swell; water is decomposed, and the carbon forms carbonic acid with its oxygen. In the case of sterile seed the softening and swelling occur without any de-
SEED AND SEED SOWING. 6?
composition of water. In the presence of a superabund- ance of moisture, fresh seeds may absorb more water than they are able to decompose, and the death and subse- quent rotting of the germs take place; for this reason it is more advisable to sow in dry than in wet weather.
The degree of heat necessary to start vital action varies in different species, and depends upon their character and composition, and the climate to which the plants were indigenous.
The most favorable temperature of the soil for the germination of seeds of plants from cold climates, may be stated at from fifty degrees to fifty-five degrees; for those of green-house plants, at from sixty to sixty- five degrees, and for those of the torrid zone, at from seventy to eighty degrees.
Of all the seeds sown by the truck-farmer, those of the onion will germinate at the lowest temperature; other conditions being favorable, they will sprout at a few de- grees above freezing, while those of the melon and egg- plant require a higher temperature. Healthy seeds of some species may be exposed to a remarkably high de- gree of temperature without impairing their vitality. Seeds of raspberry have been known to grow which had been picked from a jar of jam which must have been heated to the degree of boiling syrup, or two hundred and thirty degrees.
To promote germination, seeds are sometimes soaked in water heated to within a few degrees of the boiling point, or about two hundred degrees, but this is only prac- ticable with hard and healthy seed. ‘The practice of soaking seeds in water to soften the outside covering, or in an alkaline solution having a strong affinity for carbonic acid, or a substance able to supply a large quantity of oxygen, like a dilute solution of oxalic acid, is only ad- visable when the difference of a few days in the time of germination is important, as for instance, in the case of
68 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
the loss of a previous planting by frost; otherwise it is better for the gardener to commit his seed to the ground under as favorable conditions as possible, and trust to the usual natural process.
HOME-GROWN SEEDS.
While it is a matter of true economy for the farmer to purchase as little as he may, and sell as much as he can, a non-observance of which rule has often been the fault of the Southern planter; we are compelled by the effects of our climate to purchase the majority of our vegetable seeds of either foreign or Northern growers. Half the success of growing profitable crops depends upon the seeds, and we can better afford to pay treble the price for those which, from experience, we know to be good and true, than to grow them ourselves, and find too late that they are worse than useless. Again, many vexations from buying poor seed may be avoided by growing such as are indigenous to warm climates, and may be produced cheaply and of superior quality. There is no reason, for instance, why the Southern truck-farmer should not save his own seed of melons, squashes, cucumbers, onions, pepper, to- matoes, and egg-plants, provided he can keep each of the first named three far enough apart from any other species of the squash family to prevent mixing, while it is not advisable for him to use his own seed of cabbage, cauli- flower, etc.; of beets, carrots, turnips, etc.; for the former will run prematurely to seed without forming heads, and the roots of the latter will be of inferior quality, becoming small and woody. It is so difficult to preserve large quantities of garden peas and snap beans against injury from weevils, from the time they mature, through the summer, to the following spring, that, al- though I have seen peas of home growth satisfactorily tested along side of those grown in Canada, both in ref-
SEED AND SEED SOWING. 69
erence to earliness and productiveness, I would not ad- vise the saving of these.
Plants like the sugar cane, the sweet and Irish potato, which have been propagated exclusively for years from cuttings or tubers, cease bearmg matured seed. ‘The potato does occasionally produce seed; but more fre- quently at the North than at the South. Should seed of Southern production be desired for the creation of new _ varieties, it might be possible to induce some of the late, not very productive, varieties to perfect seed by prevent- ing the plants from bearing tubers, by their removal while small. This will encourage the flow of nutritive matter to other parts, just as contrarywise, the removal of flowers will increase the size of tubers.
CAUSES OF FAILURE.
If, after a seed is consigned to the soil, the changes which it undergoes during germination proceed without interruption, the young plant will in due time make its appearance in a healthy state; but when severe changes in the state of the weather occur, it may perish. If all seeds sprouted as promptly and with as much vigor as those of the radish, there would be little uncertainty at- tending seed sowing; but many varieties, large and small, remain in the ground from a few days to several weeks, during which interval unpropitious changes of the weather may occur; a fall of temperature sufficient to de- stroy the barely sprouted seed below the surface may supervene; or the weather may become so wet as to rot the seed before germination has taken place; or the sun may heat the soil sufficiently to scorch the young sprouts at or above the surface; or, finally, the ground may be- come so baked by the sun after a rain, as to prevent smaller seed from breaking through the hard crust. In case of sowing small seeds, like carrot, celery, ete., which are slow to germinate in ground likely to bake, they may
70 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
be covered with mould or sand free from such tendency. Large seeds, possessed of more vigor, may be able, when germination has once commenced, to upheave a consid- erable weight of soil, and break through the crust. This baking of the soil is a most prolific cause of failure and disappointment.
None of the seeds of the truck-farmer need be sown broadcast, as drill sowing, either by hand or with a ma- chine, is to be preferred. ‘The seeds may be sown more regularly; the young plants may be thinned and weeded more conveniently, and the soil may be stirred between the rows. The drill distributes the seed more evenly, at a uniform depth, and the operation may be performed during the prevalence of high wind. ‘There are a num- ber of seed-drills now offered which do good work. Some of these are so arranged that they may be converted into hand-cultivators, and be used for weeding the crop after the plants are up.
No safe rule can be established, as to the depth at which different seeds should be sown, as the weather and varieties of soil must be considered. If continued damp weather could be assured, the rule to cover the seed to a depth equal to its own thickness, might be a safe one. In such case seeds would germinate, if merely laid upon the surface, although darkness is more favorable for the formation of carbonic acid, and therefore for germina- tion. In this matter, the sower must in each instance be governed by the character of his seed, and by the con- ditions of weather and nature of soil which obtain at the time. While on heavy land, and during damp weather, a grain of corn would grow, if barely covered; in a dry climate and avery sandy soil, it might be necessary to place it one foot below the surface, as is sometimes the case in Colorado. Seed should never be sown, particu- larly on sandy soils, when the ground, from previous drouth, is very dry below, with the surface only moist
HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. i
from recent rain; for if rain does not follow, the seeds may perish after germination has merely commenced; or the lower soil may be too dry a little later to supply the young root with sufficient moisture. Should soaked seed be sown under such conditions, in the hope of assist- ing germination, the dry soil may absorb the moisture from the swollen seed, and probably the vitality of all be destroyed. At whatever depth the seeds are sown, the soil should have been carefully broken up or “fined” be- fore sowing, using the harrow, roller, and rake, as cir- cumstances may require. After the seeds are sown, the surface should be rolled, in order to bring the soil in close contact with the seed. Where the seed-bed is small, the same end is accomplished, if the soil is “firmed” by patting it with the back of the spade. Mr. Henderson strongly advocates the use of the fect to bring the soil in contact with the seeds, or “‘ treading in,” as it is called. A person passes over the line of the drill, and tramps or presses the soil down with his feet. This is a method practised by some, but I have never seen that it had any advantage over the even pressure of the roller.
CHAPTER Vil.
HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER.
Seneca and Pliny inform us, that the Romans attempted the forcing of vegetables by means of artificial heat, using thin plates of talc or mica in lieu of glass. Asa rule, the first vegetables and fruit of a season bring the best prices, and the grower is prompted to use all availa- ble means to push forward his crops to early maturity. Florida, being more exempt from frosts than other States,
92 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
can place upon the market any vegetable that, in less favored sections, requires glass, earlier, more plentifully, and with less cost than the gardeners of more Northern States. Since Florida gardeners have taken up truck- growing for the Northern markets, those in the vicinity of Charleston and Savannah require less glass than for- merly. Hot-beds are rarely required as far south as Charleston and Savannah to forward and protect tender seedlings, like tomatoes, egg-plants, peppers, etc. Cold frames, under proper management, not only suflice for this, but are preferable. When any animal or vegeta- ble matters undergo rapid fermentation with partial ad- mission of air and moisture, a considerable amount of heat is evolved, and the gardener takes advantage of this chemical process in his forcing operations. In the management of crops under glass, and the removal. of young and tender plants to the open ground, his knowledge and observance of the changes of the weather will serve him better than in any of his other operations. In the vegetable kingdom, the heat of the sun is the cause of growth, and its light that of maturity. Animals may live with little or no light, but no vegetable can come to perfection without it. The sun’s rays are both those of heat and light. Were it not for the wise prevention of the accumulation upon the earth of the heat received from the sun, all life upon our globe would be destroyed.
DEW AND FROST.
Evaporation and radiation of heat into space from the earth during the night, when it receives little in return, accomplish this purpose; and these means are the source of benefit. When the surface of the earth has, by this radiation of heat, become colder than the surrounding air, the moisture of the air is condensed upon it in the form of dew, as when moisture appears on the outside of a: glass of ice-water, or upon a gun-barrel, etc., upon being
HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. 13
brought from the cold outside airintoawarmroom. The value of dew to vegetation is manifested in such dry rain- less seasons, as those of 1880 and 1881. ‘This moisture gathers where it is most needed, on low plants, the roots of which do not penetrate the earth deeply, and on foliage near the ground. ‘The precipitation of moisture upon tender vegetation, must diminish the cold which occa- sioned it, and thus prevents the injury that might arise from that cause. The partial prevention of cold on an object near the ground, by the interposition of a screen between it and the sky, is due to the reflection of heat by the lower surface of the screen back to the object. This compensates in part for the loss by radiation.
The gardener avails himself of this, in protecting his plants in cold and clear nights by the interposition of screens, which are most effective when not in contact with the vegetation to be protected. Clouds similarly prevent injury from cold at night, by radiating heat to the earth in return for what they intercept from the earth. The lower the clouds the more effective they are. Fog, or clouds of smoke, have the same effect as clouds of vapor. Coast lands and islands, from their situation, are more subject to a cloudy sky, to movement in the air, and are therefore less exposed to cold by radiation; but the chief reason why islands are more temperate than continents and inland situations, is, that the water of the ocean, a little below the surface, is uniformly in all lati- tudes about 45°. Florida as a long peninsula, with an ocean east and west, and Bermuda, as evidenced by her extremely early crops, although lying in the same lati- tude as Savannah, enjoy these advantages in an eminent degree, besides having the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flowing near their coasts. The cooling of a body exposed on a clear night, depends in part upon the readiness with which it receives heat by conduction from bodies warmer than itself in contact with it.
4
V4. TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Bodies thus exposed must radiate as much heat during a wind as in a calm, but in the former case the con- stant contact of warm air will return to them nearly as much heat by conduction, as they lose by radiation, and only a slight agitation of the air is sufficient to thus pre- vent dew and frost. ‘The reason why depressed locations suffer most from cold by radiation is, that they are more becalmed; and there must also be less dew in them, because of the calm atmosphere which provides the moisture. It is true that at considerable altitudes the air becomes colder as the hight increases, but on hills, in cold and clear nights, the frosts are less severe in consequence of the movement in the atmosphere. The dew, which has been deposited upon vegetation by condensation from the at- mosphere, will become hoar or white frost, when the — object upon which it has settled is cooled by sufficient radiation to congeal the water into crystals of ice. This can only occur in this latitude up to 44° F. of the sur- rounding atmosphere; or in other words, frost is impossi- ble, unless the thermometer falls as low as 44°.
The different effects of the several solar rays are yet imperfectly understood; but there is no doubt that the heating and illuminating rays produce different resuits. Plants supplied with heat and moisture may grow for a short time in darkness; but there will be no development of chlorophyll, or leaf-green, and they cannot thrive. Plants, in all stages of growth, need the presence of at- mospheric air, from the seed requiring oxygen for its germination, to the plant which acquires its chief supply of carbon from the air. Wateris absolutely necessary in the economy of vegetation.
The management of plants under glass, whether they are to be transferred to the open ground or not, requires an a¢quaintance with the effects of these various agents and phenomena, so that they may be made to harmonize in the production of a sturdy and healthy vegetation.
HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. (6)
If a relative excess of either is permitted, failure is cer- tain. A spindling growth will result from too much light or heat; too luxuriant growth from an excess of moisture and heat; and the plants are apt to damp off from much moisture and deficient light.
Having succeeded in producing satisfactory plants, it is the policy of the gardener to transfer them to the field as early in the spring as possible.
IMPORTANCE OF WEATHER OBSERVATIONS.
The study of atmospheric changes has in all ages been pursued by men engaged in agriculture and the pasturage of animals. To put out his plants judiciously, the gar- dener must carefully observe the general season. The belief in any direct effect of the moon upon vegetation, is a mere superstition of the past. At full moon the reflected light amounts to */,,,,,, of the sun’s bright- ness, not equal in intensity to that reflected by a white cloud in a summer’s day; and the heat at the same phase reaches only °*/,,,,,., of a degree. It is now gen- erally denied that the moon has any effect upon the weather; yet observations extending through many years seem to warrant the belief that changes of the weather do more frequently occur at the moon’s phases than at any other time.* At any rate during fair weather radiation is most active in consequence of the clear sky attending full moon; and the gardener will do well to bear in mind the great likelihood of an appearance of frost at that change of the moon, about the time in spring he de- sires to transfer his plants to the open ground, and to delay the operation until it has passed.
After a warm rain, if the wind comes out strongly from the north-west, a reduction of temperature will follow and a frost during the night becomes probable, if the wind
*See Loudon’s Encyclopedia, p. 445. Toaldo’s 48 Years’ Observations.
76 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
lulls before morning. No reliance can be placed upon warm weather at the time of rain; for the rapid fall of the thermometer under the above circumstances, is some- times astonishing. Thus after a rain at one o’clock P. M. of April 3rd, 1879, the thermometer stood here (Wil- mington Island) at 75° F., and under the prevalence of a north-west wind during the evening and early night, it fell 36°, giving us a killing frost on the morning of the Ath, at 39° at sunrise. Frost occurred also on the fifth and sixth, at 39°.
Among the many creatures that, like the swallow, have been thought to announce the advent of spring, I consider the appearance of the Tumble-bug (Ateuchus pilularius) and the Whip-poor-will, or Chuck-will’s-widow, the most trustworthy. I have rarely known a frost to occur after hearing the voice of this bird in proclamation of the spring.
Below is a table of last frosts of the spring for a num- ber of successive years on this and the adjacent Island of Whitemarsh, taken from the diary of the late R. T. Gibson, who kept a meteorological record for the Smith- sonian Institute.
1835.—March 29th, cold wind from the N. W.; March 30th, frost; April 7th, said to have been frost, but saw none.
1836.—March 21st, rain; 22d, cold; 23d, frost.
1837.—March 4th, snow, five inches deep; April 7th, rain; 9th, wind N. W.; 10th, frost.
1838.—March 18th, cloudy; 19th, clear and cold.
1839.—March 5th, wind N.; 6th, sleet; 30th, rain, wind N.; March 31st, sleet and rain.
1840.—March 12th, rain; 13th, wind N. W., frost; March 25th, rain, wind W.; 26th and 27th, frost.
1841.—March 16th, rain and hail; 17th, wind N. W.; 18th, frost; 20th, frost; April 14th, light frost.
1842.—February 21st, cloudy; 22d, wind N. W.; 23d,
HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. v7
white frost; 24th, frost; March 23d, Melia Azedarach (Pride of India) in bloom; April 7th, Blackberries ripe; April 17th, hail the size of half-grown wild plums.
1843.—March 27th, rain; 28th, wind N. W; 29th, ice and frost.
1844.—March ‘th, rain; 8th, wind N. W.; ther- mometer at sunrise 44°; 9th, 42°; March 20th, rain; 22d, wind W., frost.
1845.—March 24th, rain; 25th, therm. 42°; 26th, frost; April 10th, therm. at sunrise 43°, frost.
1846.—March 14th, rain, wind N. W. afterwards; 15th, 16th, and 17th, frost, therm. 38°.
1847.—March 26th, rain; 27th, wind N. W., therm. 35°; 28th, therm. 35°, frost.
1848.—March 13th, rain; 14th, therm. 37°, wind N. W.; 15th, wind N. W., therm. 32°; 16th, therm. 31°, ice; April 9th, rain; 10th, cold but no frost.
1849.—March 20th, rain; 21st, wind N. W., no frost.
1850.—March 23d, rain; 24th, wind N. W., therm. 39°, cold but no frost; 27th, rain; 28th, therm. 39°, wind N. W.; 28th, rain; 29th, frost.
1851.—March 16th, rain; 17th, therm. 46°, wind W.; 19th, therm. 44°, wind N. W.; 20th, therm. 34°, heavy frost; 28th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1852.—March 17th, rain last night; 19th, rain at day- light; 20th, therm. 32°, wind N. W., heavy frost; 25th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1853.—March 4th, rain at 7 A. M.; 5th, rain; 6th, therm. 35°, frost; 7th, therm. 34°; 21st, first Chuck- will’s-widow. |
1854.—March 23d, rain last night, wind N. W.; 24th, therm. 54°, wind N. W.; 25th, wind N. W; 26th, therm. 40°; 27th, frost; April 1st, rain; 2d, therm. 45°, wind N. W.; 3d, therm. 37°; 4th, frost, therm. 40°; 6th, first Chuck-will’s- widow.
1855.—March 27th, rain; 28th, wind N. W., therm.
78 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
38°, too much wind for frost; 29th, therm. 30°, ice; April 14th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1856.—March 26th, cloudy, wind W.; 27th, wind N. W.; 28th, ice; April 7th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1857.—April 6th, rain, wind 8. W.; 7th, wind N. W., therm. 40°, frost; March 29th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1858.—March dth, therm. 37°, frost; April 8th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1859.—March 18th, rain; 19th, therm. 44°, wind N. W.; 20th, frost, but light—several times in April only prevented by wind; April 4th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1860.—March 27th, cloudy; 28th, wind W.; 29th, heavy frost; April 5th, first Chuck-will’s-widow.
1861.—March 18th, rain; 19th, wind N,. W., snow; 20th, therm. 39°, frost; April 10th, first Chuck-will’s- widow.
It will be seen from the above, that cold weather was invariably either preceded by rain, or cloudy weather, the probability bemg that there was rain somewhere in the district.
TO MAKE A HOT-BED.
The material most frequently used for the formation of hot-beds, when a considerable degree of heat is re- quired, is stable manure, that of well-fed horses being the most effective. When a lower temperature suffices, a steady heat may be obtained by mixing vegetable mat- ter, like leaves, spent tan bark, etc., with the stable ma- nure. I have used with advantage a layer of our long moss (Tillandsia usneoides), about one foot thick, below one of stable manure, for forcing sweet potato draws, or sets. This moss, when taken up at the end of the season and cleaned, was in as merchantable a condition as black moss. The manure, without too much litter, should be thrown from the stables into a conical heap, and kept moist for four or five days, when it should be turned
HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. 79
over. After the lapse of four or more days, according to the season, it will have acquired a steady heat, and be ready for use. ‘The site for a hot-bed, or cold frame, should be on sandy, or gravelly, or well-drained soil, con- venient to water, well protected from north and north- west winds; it must be free from overhanging trees ard the shade of houses, but open to the sun from its rising to its setting. Unless the aspect of the bed be a point or two eastward of south, the plants growing at the east- ern end will be dwindled by the shade of the frame.
The site having been chosen, the manure is placed either on the surface, or in an excavation, about six inches deep, in the shape of a solid parallelogram, extending in length and breadth, one foot beyond the dimensions of the frame to be placed upon it. Hach layer of manure is evenly and moderately beaten down with the back of the fork, until about three feet thickness is attained, care being taken to have the pile uniformly moist throughout. The frame with glass is then put on, and air is given only during the day, unless the weather is warm, when it may be admitted during the night. After two or three days, fer- mentation will reeommence, when the bed will be ready to receive its coating of six inches or more of garden soil for seed, for the forcing to maturity of cucumbers, etc. The frame should be as wide as the length of the sash, and its length will be determined by the number of sash. No bed should be constructed, if avoidable, for less than four ‘‘lichts,” and the longer it is, the more heat will be de- veloped, and the more in amount will be retained.
In whatever manner the frame is made; whether the planks, which should be one and one-half inch thick, are nailed to corner posts, driven into the ground, or secured by battens, the chief outlook is, to have it fit closely in all its parts, and to have the sash adapted to it so snugly, that there will be no openings for the exit of warm, or the entrance of cold air.
80 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
A sufficient pitch will ke secured to carry off the water, sf the back is two feet, and the front one foot high. On each end of the frame a strip should be nailed to retain the two outside sashes in position. Hach two sashes should be separated by a half-inch strip, nailed upon a three-inch-wide sliding piece, which latter is let flush into the edge of the back and front, and will leave one and one-fourth inch upon which the sashes are to rest and slide. If asmall groove is made along each edge of the middle strip, the water will be carried off more effectu- ally. The drip into the beds is sometimes damaging.
If the site is exposed to high winds, yellow pine is preferable to white pine for the sash, on account of its greater weight. ‘The sash should be three by six feet, with glass not larger than eight by ten. Thesmaller the glass the less expensive the breaks. ‘The panes are to be puttied to the sash, and to overlap each other like shin- gles. As dust collects between them and obstructs the light, the laps should not be more than one-fourth of an inch wide.
COLD FRAMES AND THEIR USES.
Such is a hot-bed. The site, the frame, and the sash for a cold frame are as above described. The difference between the two is solely, that the former is heated by fermenting material, which creates ‘‘ bottom heat,” while the latter is warmed by the confined heat of the sun alone. For a cold frame, the soil should be elevated six inches above the general level, and finely spaded up and raked.
Glass is the proper material for sash, and the cheapest in the end. Jrames covered with cotton cloth may be used as asubstitute, however. ‘To render the cloth more translucent, the following ingredients may be used: one quart pale linseed oil, four ounces resin, and one ounce sugar of lead. ‘The sugar of lead should be ground with a little of the oil, then the remainder of the oil and
HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. 81
resin, melted together, should be added, and the varnish applied with a wide brush while warm.
‘he following directions apply to the cold frame alone: According to the nature and size of the seed, and the character of the soil, the seeds are to be sown from one- fourth of an inch to an inch deep in drills, three or four inches apart across the bed, and more thinly at the back and front, than near the middle of the bed. Lach va- riety should be sown in separate cold frames, or, when not practicable, only such should be sown together, as require about the same degree of heat to germinate, and particularly such as demand the same management and protection, until the plants are removed. Thus egg- plants should not be sown in the same frame with to- matoes, nor the latter with cabbages and cauliflowers, while the latter two may go together with lettuce in the same frame. Jf the weather is dry, and the soil sandy, a watering after sowing may be required to germinate the seed.
In the subsequent management, it must be borne in mind, that retardation for the production of stocky plants, rather than acceleration of growth, is an object, provided the seeds were sown sufficiently early. Damp- ness and heat produce an elongated rather than a healthy growth, and too much of either must be avoided. The glass is to be used only as a means of protection against the inclemency of the weather. In case of heavy rains, the sash should be pushed down sufficiently to carry off the water beyond the confines of the frame. During severe freezing weather, particularly in clear nights, when radiation is most active, the covering of glass alone will sometimes be inadequate to protect even as hardy a plant as cauliflower, and some opaque covering upon the glass becomes necessary. Mats, or light shutters of wood, are best. Old pieces of carpet will answer the purpose. For many years, I have used the leaves of our large palmetto
82 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
with satisfaction. One stirring of the soil between the rows, if attended with thorough weeding, will be cultiva- tion enough for seedlings.
As soon as the plants are large enough to be safely handled, they should be thinned out to prevent crowd- ing, and, as all kinds of vegetable plants raised in cold frames at the South are benefited by being transplanted, they should be pricked out into other frames, and set from three to four and one-half inches or more apart each way, according to variety and space at disposal. If no such extra cold frames are available, and the plants must remain in the seed-bed, until the final transplant- ing into the open field, then the thinning should be with the view to afford them space to grow strong and stocky, and the surplus plants may be thrown away. SBefore the final removal, the plants, whether pricked out or not, should be watered, in case the soil is dry, in order that earth may adhere to the fibrous roots, to keep them fresh, and facilitate transplanting. I have indicated how plants may be protected from the effects of frost, and may add that it will hardly ever pay the truck- farmer, planting on any but a very small scale, to resort to any means of protection. He should have a sufii- ciency of plants, however, to replace any killed by cold.
CHAPTER VIII.
TRANSPLANTING.
The following remarks are intended to apply to vege- table plants and to those of the strawberry only.
When a plant is removed from the soil in which the seed germinated, which provided it in its early growth with nourishment and moisture, the contact of the roots with
TRANSPLANTING. 83
the particles of soil is not only interrupted, but some of the most important roots themselves are broken, and the plant is deprived of the absorbent points of the small rootlets. The evaporation from the leaves still con- tinues, though moisture can no longer be absorbed by the roots. The important operation of transplanting is prop- erly performed, when the equilibrium between these functions of the roots and the leaves is soonest reéstab- tablished. If plants are transplanted to a wet, and par- ticularly heavy soil, the part pressed to the roots will bake and contract, leaving cracks and open spaces near the roots. The earth, into which plants are to be shifted, should be freshly dug, as this seems to encour- age an early emission of young rootlets; and it should be as fine as possible, so that every part of the roots may come in contact with soil and moisture.
By the removal of leaves, evaporation is not destroyed, but only diminished; for it also takes place through young bark. In our hot climates, a portion of the leaves of all vegetables, in proportion to the injury sus- tained by the roots, should be removed at the time of transplanting To what extent this must be done, will be given for each kind hereafter.
A moist state of the atmosphere prevents perspiration, or evaporation from the leaves, and such a condition is most favorable for transplanting. Still, with the excep- tion of some very delicate plants not able to survive a dry atmosphere, such as cucumbers, etc., it is not necessary to await a rain before doing the work. If the earth has been freshly stirred, and is moist enough to allow plant- ing holes to be made by the dibble, without caving in, and the soil is not very sandy, new roots will soon com- mence to grow, and the warm soil will push them rapidly forwards.
The truck-farmer, planting upon an extensive scale, has often to depend not only upon mere unskilled, but
84 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
upon stupid labor, and were it not for the seemingly imperishable character of some vegetables, the percentage of loss would be much greater. The planting is either too shallow or too deep, and the soil is not uniformly pressed to the roots, which are put into the ground im- properly.
In transplanting such plants as the strawberry, the fibrous roots should be spread out as much as possible, while the root of a tap-rooted plant, as the cabbage, beet, etc., should be placed regularly up and down and not bent upon itself. If such a root is bent, the nutritive matter in descending from the leaves will be interrupted at the bend, and new rootlets will be slow to appear be- yond it. In transplanting the soil should be uniformly, but not harshly, pressed to the roots their entire length, from the extreme lower point upwards.
With the exception of asparagus, horseradish, onions, and such plants as emit new roots along the lower por- tion of the stem, as tomatoes, cabbage, etc., it is a safe rule to put down the plant to the depth at which it orig- inally grew.
In sandy soil it occasionally becomes necessary, in a drouth, during an entire transplanting season, to water the plants after they are set out. In this case the watered surface should be covered with dry soil to prevent baking.
In a loose, fine, light soil, free from sticks, shells, peb- bles, etc., the hand alone may be used in transplanting on a small scale; but either the planting stick or dibble, or the trowel is preferable. The trowel is the safer implement in the hand of an unskilled workman. In using the dibble, it is thrust into the soil to make a hole to at least the full depth at which the plant is to be in- serted, the hole is then widened by a rotary motion of the implement. To insert the plant properly, it is held between the thumb and index finger of the left hand, and thus placed in the hole; the dibble is then plunged
TRANSPLANTING. 85
into the ground two or three inches from the plant in a direction with its point toward and a little below the end of the root. ‘The engraving, figure 3, shows the hole made by the dibble with the root of the plant with- init. The dibble is thrust into the ground, ready to fix the root in place; by using the point, a, as a fulcrum, and moving the handle of the dibble from 0 to ¢, the soil
Ai Nae
Fig. 3.—PROPER USE OF THE DIBBLE. |
will be pressed to the root for its entire length, from a toc. If this is done with sufficient force, it will fix a delicate plant so firmly in the soil, that if it be pulled by the top of a leaf, that will give way before the plant can be pulled up. If the dibble is inserted perpendicularly or parallel to the plant, instead of at an angle, or if it be partly withdrawn, before the movement from 0 to ¢ 1s completed, the soil will only be pressed to the root at the top, leaving its more important part loosely suspended in an open excavation in the soil, as seen in fig. 4. Planting proceeds most conveniently from left to right. When
86 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
the trowel is used, the operation is the same, except that the implement is inserted in front of the plant, instead of at the side.
When plants are taken up so carefully that few of the small roots are ruptured and with the soil adhering, or when they are turned out of flower-pots, they will start
Li; Www, i) fit F cS SS
\ \K WK RAY
more readily; but they will not make so luxuriant a growth of leaves, nor will they develope as much fruit, as when a part of the roots has been broken. This is not in consequence of the rupture in itself, but because at and above the points of injury, numerous small fibrous roots are emitted, which are capable of providing the plant with an increased amount of nourishment.
WATER AND WATERING. 87
The following table by Werner shows the leaf surface of ruta-baga turnips both of plants grown directly from the seed, and of those subsequently transplanted.
Average Average Average Number Surface of Surface of of Leaves. each Leaf. all the Leaves.
Ruta-baga Turnips di- rectly from seed...... Be transplanted....
18
150 sa. centimet’s. 18 :
199 4e ‘
2,700 sq. centimet’s Bane
CHAPTER, EX.
WATER AND WATERING.
Water is the medium by which the soluble matters of the soil are conveyed, through the roots, into the in- terior organism of plants. We know that the earth, only apparently dry, cannot support vegetation. The more advanced the state of growth, so long as the foliage re- mains young and succulent, the more moisture does a plant need. An important fact in the relation of vege- tation to moisture is seen in the effect the humidity of the atmosphere has upon its temperature. Without more or less vapor in the atmosphere, radiation would cool the surface of the earth so rapidly as to destroy the life of all tender plants. The hottest rays of the sun pass through the air, even when that is saturated with moisture, without heating it; but the heat radiated from the earth, and every object upon it, is intercepted and absorbed by the humidity in the air; and the atmospheric warmth is therefore in proportion to the heat of the sun’s rays and the moisture of the air. Like the covering of a cold frame, the moist air admits the heat by day and
88 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
prevents its departure at night. Hence the clearest, driest nights are the coldest. Hence the driest regions, like the desert of Sahara, have the coldest nights, and the cold of high elevations is due to the same cause.
Prof. Tyndall says: ‘* The removal, for a single sum- mer night, of the aqueous vapor from the atmosphere that covers England, would be attended by the destruc- tion of every plant which a freezing temperature would kill.” Humidity and temperature are therefore inti- mately connected.
Although the heat of the sun causes evaporation from plants, its amount is governed by the humidity of the air and the velocity of the wind. If the gardener could regulate the moisture of the atmosphere surrounding his crops, and make it most favorable for keeping up the proper evaporation, by applying water artificially and only in circumscribed limits, to their roots, he could be assured of success. While he may do so in his green- house, there are no means of regulating the heat and moisture of the open air. It is therefore that watering out-door crops, in our hot climate, is more often pro- ductive of harm than of benefit.
When the earth is naturally moistened by rain, the whole air is saturated with moisture, preventing a too rapid perspiration from the leaves and the evaporation from the soil. If watering is done at all, it should be in cloudy weather; but it is most frequently injudiciously practised in dry, hot weather, and so circumscribed in ex- tent, that it can have little or no effect upon the atmos- phere. The roots are temporarily excited, and the dry, hot air robs the plant of the moisture through the leaves as rapidly as it can be pumped up by the roots. As soon as the temporary supply is exhausted, the plant not only returns to its former state of suffering, but is left more susceptible to injury than before. If the watering is repeated, the emission of rootlets near the surface is en-
WATER AND WATERING. 89
couraged, and these grow, merely to perish again unless the water is continued. Another injury may occur through the decrease of temperature caused by rapid evaporation and perspiration.
In our hot climate, during drouths, vegetation is greatly sustained by the moisture which 1s returned to the earth in the form of dews; and in order that these may be most beneficial, the soil should be deeply stirred and continue ina mellow condition upon the surface. When the soil is puddled and compacted around a plant by local watering, the amount of dew will be less from the decrease in the number of points of radiation pre- sented by the compact ball; besides the diminished quan- tity is evaporated from the impenetrable crust without being able to reach the roots. If watered, the earth should therefore be stirred subsequently, or the watered surface be covered with fresh, loose soil.
If practised at all, the watering should, in hot weather, be applied to the roots and not to the foliage. Evening is the proper time of day, unless in the exceptional case of watering cold frames, when frost is apprehended. It is then advisable to water in the morning. The water should not be much colder than the surround- ing atmosphere. Where there are facilities for moistening the whole mass of soil by irrigation, that should not be neglected; for its great benefits are undoubted. But even then, unless the surface is so densely covered with the growing crop, as to protect it from being baked by the sun, it would be best to allow the moisture to reach the roots through percolation from ditches or drain pipes near enough to each other and kept full, than to cover the soil with water. A crop supphed with a sufficiency of soluble manure will suffer less during drouth than one inadequately fertilized, and the latter will require an abundance of water.
The fertilizing effects of mulching the soil are men-
90 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
tioned elsewhere. It remains here to be remarked that a mulch or covering to the soil will shade the ground from the hot sun and maintain an equal temperature. It pre- vents the too rapid evaporation and drying ot the soil, and is therefore to be recommended with or without watering.
CHAPTER X.
PACKING AND MARKETS.
It should be remembered by the grower and shipper of fruit and vegetables to Northern markets that, while his produce may be of the best quality, 1t will return him unsatisfactory prices, if put up in packages which present to the buyer an unattractive or unclean appear- ance. His first consideration, then, after securing a good crop, is to have his barrels, crates, etc., clean and bright, and well and symmetrically made, neatness being very important. The matter next in importance is, that the packages be not only full at departure, but that they be also full on their arrival at their destination. They should not, therefore, be filled in a careless, haphazard manner, hastily headed up, and hurriedly dispatched. The contents should be so placed, or thoroughly shaken down, whenever the character of the article will permit, as to leave no vacant spaces to be filled out by the jar- ring received in transit, thus causing an empty space at the top, and permitting the stuff to be bruised by being shaken or rolled about within the package. The con- tents of the barrel or crate should bulge up beyond the level, so that force will be required to press on the head or cover. A slight bruising of the upper layer is of but
PACKING AND MARKETS. 91
little consequence. Special directions will be given for packing each variety of vegetable. No vegetable or fruit of inferior value (Iam not alluding to size), with the slightest indication of decay or of over-ripeness, should be put up; for the packer should bear in mind that a speck, now only faintly perceptible to him, will some days later appear as an odious blemish in the eyes of the purchaser. ‘The decay of a single individual may be communicated to and injure the rest.
If vegetables or fruit of a second quality are worth less at home than if forwarded, let them be put up in separate packages, and not allowed to detract from the quality and market value of the first grade by mixing the two together. If articles of the first quality and the *‘culls” are shipped in separate packages, they bring better prices than when they are put up together. The decrease in value is out of all proportion to the slight increase in bulk.
The pernicious habit of packing articles of a better quality at the top of a barrel or other package, and those of an inferior below (‘‘deaconing” or ‘‘topping”’), is neither more nor less than an attempt at fraud, to be shunned by every honest grower, while it is a reflection on the discernment or acuteness of the buyer. To the gardener who expects to continue shipping vegetables, who hopes for satisfactory returns, and wishes his brand or mark favorably known in the markets to which he sends his crops, I should recommend the other extreme.
The laths of a crate should not be far enough apart to allow their edges to indent or cut such vegetables as to- matoes, cucumbers, etc., and yet be sufficiently distant to ventilate the package as much as possible. The heads and sides of barrels should be cut to admit air freely. None but good, strong, clean, round-hooped potato or flour barrels should be used for shipping purposes.
92 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
BUSHEL AND BARREL CRATES.
A bushel crate requires a centre-piece and two end- pieces; these are eight by fourteen inches. The laths two feet in length, and of a width suited to the kind of vegetable to be packed. For tomatoes, the laths should be fully two inches wide. For purposes of ventilation and convenient handling of the crate, the middle and
Fig 5,—A BUSHEL ORATE.
end-pieces are made octagonal by having the corners sawed off. The capacity of such a crate is two thousand two hundred and twenty-one cubic inches, while a legal bushel contains two thousand one hundred and fifty cubic inches. The width of the lath should be about one-half inch less than the dimension at the corner, in order to permit access of air when the crates are closely stowed on shipboard. The figure represents a bushel crate ready
PACKING AND MARKETS. 93
for packing. If the first four laths with which the con- struction of a crate usually commences, a, 0, c, and d, in figure 5, are a trifle thicker than the others, ventilation will be more effectively secured in a pile of crates.
If the contents are to be shaken down, two laths are placed loosely over the bulging vegetables, to prevent their jarring out; and grasping the ends of the crate at A and B, each end is lifted by the packer, and allowed to come down alternately with a sudden thump, and this
Fig. 6.—A BARREL CRATE.
process is continued until the contents have thoroughly settled.
Each crate should be plainly and neatly marked by a stencil plate on both ends, with the name or initials both of the shipper and the consignee. When a mark has been adopted, it should be retained, so that it may be known by the buyers. Old brands on second-hand barrels should be thoroughly removed by the scraper, be- fore they are marked.
The wood from which the crates are made should be
94 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
inodorous. On account of its odor, cypress is objection- able. Sappy yellow pine makes the brightest, lightest laths, and splits less readily than heart-wood; but when, as is usually the case, it is cut from unseasoned lumber, the laths, if bundled, mould very readily and become black. Upon their arrival from the mill, the bundles should be opened, and the laths allowed to air thoroughly. The dimensions of the barrel crate (fig. 6) are, eleven inches wide, twenty inches deep, and three feet long. Figure 7 shows six strips, nailed upon thick plank, in order to hold the head and centre-pieces upright, and at the proper distance apart, facilitating the making of
Fig. 7.—BLOCK FoR NAILING CRATES.
crates. At ¢ is a centre-piece in position. These are aligned by having all touch the board, a, &. The most convenient position for nailing crates is a seat on a low stool, in front of the above platform on the floor, though a standing position might suit a young person better. Of course the material, including nails, should be within easy reach.
THE MARKETS.
To market a crop profitably, or to know where and to whom to consign it, is as indispensable to the farmer, as to be able to produce it successfully. While an article may command a good price in one market, it, at the same time, may hardly pay the freight charges in an- other. ven distinct varieties of the same vegetable may suit one market better than another, and it is necessary
PACKING AND MARKETS. 95
to learn the peculiarities of each. Tomatoes are sold to better advantage in Baltimore and Boston than in any other Northern market. Cauliflowers and melons will not pay in Baltimore, while both sell well in Boston and New York, the former being a better market than New York for melons. The red sweet potato, although not the pop- ular variety, is more salable in Boston than in New York. White onions will sell higher than red ones in New York, while there is but slight difference between the two in Boston. I have rarely had reason to be pleased with sales in Philadelphia, and of late years have shipped very little to that market; nevertheless I am constrained to add that 1 have been told of several satisfactory sales there during the past season. My experience has taught me that New York is, on the whole, the best market for the bulk of the crops.
I have no personal knowledge of the Western markets and commission merchants; but I learn that the ship- ments have given satisfactory returns. It is probable that, with improved transportation facilities, considerable shipments will be made to the Western cities hereafter. In every market there are doubtless many excellent, hon- est, and trustworthy firms, the standing of which, as that of all others, 1s ascertainable at mercantile agencies. Old and experienced truck-farmers have their tried and ap- proved consignees, and it is important for the beginner to exercise great care in the selection of his commission * house, and, when one has been fixed upon, it is not well to make a change for a trivial reason.
96 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
CHAPTER XI.
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES.
The working farmer is so occupied in the pursuit of his profession, and by the study of the phenomena by which he is surrounded, upon a correct appreciation of which his success will largely depend, that he rarely has sufficient time to devote to botany or entomology as a science. The laws of vegetable growth, an intimate knowledge of useful and noxious plants, and, above all, a clear percep- tion of, and discrimination between his friends and foes in the insect world, are among his urgent needs. Next to the contingencies of season, his prosperity will depend upon the extent of insect depredations. Millions of dol- lars’ worth of property are annually destroyed by in- sects, and a knowledge of their habits is required, that we may learn how to deal with them, in order to stay their ravages. If farmers more correctly appreciated the aggregate losses by insects, they would probably take a deeper interest in studyig them.—(See Exodus x: 5, 14-15.)
In A. D. 591, a vast horde of locusts ravaged Italy. From the stench of their decaying carcasses arose a pesti- lence which carried off nearly a million men and beasts. In the Venetian Territory, in 1478, the same insect created a famine, during which thirty thousand persons died of starvation. So well did the Arabians know their power, that they make a locust say to Mahomet: ‘‘ We are the army of the great God; we produce ninety-nine eggs; if the hundred were completed, we should consume the whole earth and all that is in it.” Professor Riley estimated the annual loss from insect depredations in Missouri at fifteen to twenty millions of dollars, and the
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 97
losses in the United States probably amount to such an enormous sum, that nearly fifty million dollars might be saved through a more generally extended knowledge of the habits of insects. If insects play such a part in our economy, and, if the farmer’s property is more liable to injury than that of any other class, who more than him- self should be interested in them, and the remedies to abate the evil? There is no part of animated nature more vital to our welfare than insects, of which there are about fifty thousand species inhabiting the United States.
The study of entomology has been frequently looked ~ down upon by the ignorant with ridicule, in consequence of the minuteness of many of its objects; yet it is exactly in these small members of creation that are exhibited the most wonderful adaptations of means to purposes, and the most amazing wisdom of the Creator!
Can the tiger, with its fierce leap, by which he catches his prey, and the retractile claw, by which he secures it, or the giraffe, with his long neck and tongue, by which he reaches the leaves, many feet from the ground, be com- pared with the spider? This insect lurks behind a screen of its own manufacture, ready to pounce upon and tie up any helpless insect, which conveys to it by the vibration of the web, the intelligence of its entanglement. In this web each single thread consists of many thousands of finer strands, a part only of which in the net of geomet- ric spiders, the circles, is provided with a viscid covering to hold the captive. Which seems the greater manifesta- tion of divine wisdom: the clumsy she bear that brings food to her hungry cubs, directly appealing to her ma- ternal care, or the sand-wasp, which, after depositing an egg in a cell at the bottom of a cylindrical cavity in the sand, supphes the future larva with food in the form of insects ? She so regulates the number of these, that the larva may have sufficient food; she stings the insects,
4)
98 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
without killing them, as they would then putrefy, but just enough to keep them in a dormant state until wanted. How wonderful the instinct of a mother to provide fcod for offspring she will never behold! Every individual of the species, the descendant of countless ancestors, has thus fulfilled this maternal duty for ages past. Had the sand-wasp, for a single season, neglected its instinctive work, there would be no ‘ horse- guards” to keep the cow-fly under control, and in a measure to protect our cattle on the sea coast from their annoyance. The most efficient aids to man in keep- ing the increase of injurious insects within due limits, are their natural enemies of the insect world, and some of the insectivorous birds; for other birds devour indis- criminately, both the useful and injurious insects. ‘There are also certain families of insects, which depredate upon the farmer’s crops, and diminish his income, and certain other kinds, which prey upon these, and are therefore our friends and auxiliaries. Horticulture, it has been truly said, is a war with insects, and we must antagonize the former, and wage a relentless war against them, while we patronize, protect, and foster the useful insects to the best of our abillty.
If the farmer remains ignorant of these mutual rela- tions between insects, a knowledge of the more common instances being readily acquired, how is he to discrimi- nate between friend and foe, so that he may not be guilty of the evident impropriety of destroying both? How often has the useful little friendly lady-bug been mis- taken for the parent of the plant-lice, and been pitiless- ly destroyed?
If he that makes two blades of grass to grow, where only one grew before, is a benefactor to mankind, he that protects both from needless destruction, is not less a benefactor! Therefore, while it is not within the power of man to wipe injurious insects from the face of
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 99
the earth, he may limit the destruction of property they cause, and it is to the farmer’s interest, and is his duty, to wage a united war against them, knowing no to- morrow in its prosecution, but killing and destroying wherever and whenever possible, and employing every means in his power. Individual effort can avail little, and concerted action is necessary.
In our climate, insects generally have two broods in a season. Most of those which survive the winter in their perfect state are fertilized females, and all insects, if left unmolested early in the season, will propagate their spe- cies, and the second brood will outnumber the first a hundred or a thousand-fold.
While recommending a determined crusade against all insect pests, I would, from the same motive, protest against the pernicious habit, so common all over the country, of indiscriminately taking the life of the lower animals inhabiting the fields and woods; for the reason, that many reptiles, the toads and moles, are our innocent friends and aids. There are but very few venomous snakes, and the larger kinds, which are not insectivorous, destroy numbers of field rats and mice.
PARASITIC INSECTS.
We are occasionally subject to the visitation of an in- sect in vast numbers; but these generally bring with them the cause of their own limitation, or there would be no equilibrium in nature. Swarms of parasitic insects, finding an increased food supply, follow in their wake, and the farmer, aroused from his apathy, by finding his entire crops, and not merely a portion thereof, endan- gered, resorts to all sorts of devices to save them. He dusts and sprinkles poisons, he digs circumscribing ditches with upright sides and pitfalls, and applies the torch and burning petroleum.
Previous to’ 1862, the European cabbage butterfly
100 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
(Pieris rape), the parent of the cabbage-worm, was un- known in this country. It was at that time introduced into Canada. Finding in the cabbage fields near Quebec an abundance of food, and meeting no checks, it im- proved its opportunities and propagated its species to such an extent, as to cut short the cabbage crop of the vicinity in one season to the extent of forty thousand dollars.
Suddenly its own especial enemy, the little Chalcid fly (Pteromalus puparwm) made its appearance, presum- ably direct from Europe; and in turn, finding its ap- propriate food in abundance, propagated its species so rapidly, that, now in sections where the cabbage-worm was most plentiful, neither the one nor the other is often seen; thus showing the beautiful working of checks and counter-checks in the general plan of nature.
THE MIGRATION OF INSECTS.
The number of injurious insects is on the increase all over the world. The interchange between different sections, different countries, and even different hemis- pheres, of noxious insects, indigenous to each, is con- stantly occurring, as shown by the case of the just-named Pieris rape. The Colorado potato-beetle once gained a foothold in Germany; but through the paternal care of the government, the large potato field, where he was ob- served, was covered with inflammable material, and that country was promptly made too hot for him.
The Colorado potato-beetle has marched eastward to the coast, a curse and ravager of every farmer en its route, while the harlequin-bug (Strachia histrionica), coming north from its home in Mexico, will cross the line of the other, unless it reaches a climatic limit to its onward progress. An abundance of food has recruited the ranks of noxious insects, and is still exerting the same influence. Before the introduction of the cab-
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 101
bage into Mexico, the insect just named was probably much more restricted in numbers, and changed its habit from some plant of the mustard family or other, to the more acceptable and delicate food of the cultivated cab- bage. This insect was found a few years ago feeding on Ossabaw beach on a plant, I think, of the family Salsoleze.
In the fall of 1880, I found the larve of the little Botys repetitalis on cauliflower, and a few days afterwards my daughter found it, probably on its native food plant very abundantly, — the common rag-weed (Ambrosia artemesiefolia.) Of this and other instances of change of habit coming under my own observation, Prof. Riley says in one of his reports:
‘‘Under the head of new cabbage insects should be included this insect, which was first described as Botys repetitalis by Mr. Grote, on page 270 of the last Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture. Larve of this insect were originally received from Dr. A. Oemley, of Wilmington Island, at the mouth of the Savannah River, ete.”
In a contribution to the ‘‘American Naturalist,” under the title of ‘‘ Change of Habit; Two New Enemies of the Egg Plant,” Prof. Riley says: ‘‘In our writings on the Colorado potato-beetle, we have repeatedly drawn atten- tion to the fact that Doryphora juncta, although a native of the Atlantic States, and living in the midst of our cul- tivated species of Solanum, has yet never shown any indi- cation to leave its natural food plant, the wild horse-nettle (Solanum Carolinense) for the cultivated species of the genus. We have now for the first time to record its appear- ance as an enemy to horticulture, Dr. Oemler haying found it—larve as well as beetles—feeding on his egg-plants in the earlier part of June. ‘There can be no doubt about the correctness of Dr. Oemler’s observations, as the speci- mens were sent to us for determination. This is another
102 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
of those instances of remarkable and sudden change in the food-habit of a tolerably common and otherwise well- known species, which led us to the remarks on p. 152 of this volume anent ‘ New Insects Injurious to Agricul- ture.’ As in other cases of this sort, the causes of such changes are not readily ascertained. In this particular case, the new habit may be only temporarily developed in a restricted region, either by the disappearance or the poor condition of Solanum Carolinense; or it may become per- manent, and cause D. juncta, hitherto looked upon as harmless or even beneficial, to vie with its ten-lined rel- ative in destructiveness. Time alone will indicate, as we have no grounds upon which to base any confident pre- diction.” I may mention that the horse-nettle was neither absent, nor in poor condition, and, that after writing to Prof. Riley, I found the perfect insect on both egg-plant and the former.
The same author writes: ‘‘Another case very similar to that just mentioned, may here be recorded. There is a small tortoise-beetle (Cassida Texana) easily distinguished from its congeners by the uniformly pale-green color of its upper surface, and the coarse strie of punctations on the elytra. In 1879, we found it in all stages abundant- ly in Southern Texas, feeding on the leaves of Solanum eleagnifolium. Dr. Oemler now writes (June 18th) that he finds eggs, larvee and imagos of this beetle quite com- monly depredating on his egg-plants, though there is no previous record of any such habit, and, indeed, the spe- cies is not recorded from the Atlantic States, albeit we have found it this very season at Washington on Solanum Carolinense.” Probably neither of these insects may ever become very destructive pests; but finding in our cultivated crops more abundant and succulent food than its former, wild-growing and tougher food plant afforded, the probabilities are that both will increase, and the pres- ent is the proper time for their destruction,
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 103
In whatever state an insect species is accustomed to exist through the winter, or to hibernate (and it is done in the case of a few in more than one condition), no de- gree of cold likely to occur will affect them; therefore the popular idea that a hard winter is destructive to insects is a fallacy; except that such as are turned up by the plow in very cold sunless weather may, in their benumbed state, become an easier prey to insectivorous birds. There is more truth in the reverse statement, that a mild winter is destructive to insects.
The influence of a certain degree of heat for a sufficient time will hatch the worm as well as the chick, or bring forth the butterfly from its chrysalis. Ifa worm is born after a mild spell in winter, and finds no food in readi- ness, it naturally must perish from starvation, and if a butterfly appears, it must suffer from the same cause. Hither may perish from cold it was not expected to en- counter. EHven in case of survival, there would be no breeding during the uncongenial weather.
THE RAPID REPRODUCTION OF INSECTS.
The Creator in his wisdom has ordained that the smaller animals and insects, which are most subject to predatory enemies, shall be endowed with the greater fecundity. The queen of the white-ant lays sixty eggs in a minute, eighty thousand in twenty-four hours, and forty million during its existence of two years in the perfect state. Ants, birds, reptiles, beasts, ever near, make food of them, when they come forth in countless numbers at the commencement of the tropical rainy sea- son; so that of many millions scarcely a single pair es- capes to lay the foundation of a new colony. A single plant-louse may, in five generations, become the ancestor of seven hundred and twenty-nine million individuals; and there may be twenty generations in aseason. Dr. Fitch ascertained, by actual experiment, that the fecun-
104 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
dity of the grain-aphis was still greater. The wingless females become mothers at three days old, and bear four little ones every day, every one of which is a fertile fe- male from birth; so that in twenty days the descendants would exceed two millions. Only the next to the last brood of the season consists of both male and female, when the eggs are fertilized for every generation of the ensuing season but the last, all the other broods being born alive. No insect is more subject to being preyed upon. In all nature a contest is going on for existence, the weaker always succumbing. ‘This is the struggle for the ‘‘ survival of the fittest,” as Darwin terms it.
If we sow our seeds too thick, we see some of the plants overtopping and smothering the rest; we see in a growth of young pine saplings that some of the trees are dying out, in order that the more vigorous may have more room. In this wise ordinance of the Creator, that only the stronger individuals shall propagate their own species, He has established a safeguard against deterioration; and it seems that He has not only endowed the stronger with greater powers to resist deleterious influences, but has implanted in such lower orders of beings, which are fre- quently the cause of disease and death, an inclination, a selection, to infest victims least able to resist their in- roads. The sleek, well-fed horse will not be subject to itch; the well cultivated and vigorously growing orchard is not apt to be attacked by bark-lice.
The above is, at least, the only reasonable explanation ‘Iam able to offer of the fact, often observed by cabbage growers, that plants in luxuriant growth are rarely at- tacked by leaf-lice, whereas a field that is backward in growth, and feeble in health, will be overrun by them. This is such a general observation, that Gregory says: ‘* Considering the circumstances under which the insect appears, I hold that it is rather the product than the cause of disease.”
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES, 105
THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS.
This is not a book on entomology, and I shall avoid, as much as possible, the description of insects and the use of technical terms, preferring to present the most im- portant species to the eye in the form of an illustration.
For the better understanding of future references, I must, however, enumerate the orders into which insects are divided, and the transformations they undergo.
ORDERS.
I.—Hymenoptera.—Example, bees, ants, wasps, ich- neumons.
II.— Coleoptera.—Shield-winged insects. The beetles, Example, the fig-eater; Colorado potato-beetle.
I1l.— Lepidoptera.—Butterflies and moths. Example, the cotton-worm and tomato-worm moths.
1V.—Hemiptera.—The bugs. Example, the plant- louse.
V.—Diptera.—Two-winged insects. Example, com- mon house fly.
V1.— Orthoptera.—Straight-winged insects. Example, the grass-hopper.
VII.— Neuroptera.—Nerve-winged insects. Example, the dragon-fly, or mosquito-hawk.
There are also minor divisions, but the orders will an- swer our purpose.
The iour stages of insect life are:
First.—The egg, which hatches and produces:
Second.—The larva (worm, grub, maggot, caterpillar), which goes into the state of the:
Third.—Pupa or chrysalis, often enclosed in a silken cocoon. Out of the pupa appears the:
Fourth.—Imago, or perfect insect.
These changes of form are truly wonderful.
106 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
The cabbage insect, for instance, from being a worm, crawling slowly about upon sixteen short feet, and greed- ily devouring, with two strong jaws, about twice its own weight of cabbage leaf daily, and seeing out of twelve mi- nute, nearly invisible eyes, transforms itself, first into a motionless, sightless chrysalis, and then into a flitting butterfly, with six long, wholly dissimilar legs, ten havy- ing completely disappeared. Instead of the twelve in- visible eyes, it is now provided with two prominent ones, each composed of about seventeen thousand convex lenses, every one supposed to be a separate eye. Instead of the two strong jaws, we see a long, flexible proboscis for the extraction of the nectar of flowers, now its only food. The shape of its head is completely changed, and from it project two horns, which are the organs of touch.
The insects that infest particular vegetables will be mentioned further on, in treating of their special food plants.
Of omnivorous insects, or general feeders, those which first claim our attention, on account of their general de- structiveness, are:
THE CUT-WORMS.
These are the larvee of several genera of night-flying owlet or rustic moths (Noctwide), the genus Agrotis furnishing the most numerous species, while those of Mamestra, Hadena, and Celena are more rare.
Prof. C. V. Riley has made a special study of cut- worms, and has described, in his First Missouri Report, the habits of twelve distinct species, and subsequently of several others.
Ordinarily, the moth attaches her eggs in early spring and late summer to vegetation near the ground; but sometimes the eggs are laid on the leaves of trees, upon which the worms do not feed, but from which they. de- scend as soon as born. Soon after itis hatched, the young
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 107
worm descends below the surface of the soil, but comes up nightly for food, cutting tender plants. Retiring about sunrise, 1t sometimes draws a part of a leaf into its burrow. Some distinct species ascend trees to cut the buds, and are the climbing cut-worms. They are all most- ly dark-colored, greasy, smooth-looking worms, mottled with white, bearing a general resemblance to one another, and when full grown are about an inch and a half in length. ‘They curl up, when disturbed, and are torpid in the cold of winter; but in our climate, with every warm spell, they become lively, and hungry enough to continue their depredations periodically throughout the
Fig. 8.—GREASY CUT-woRM (Agrozsis telifera, Harr.). Fig. 9.—LARVA.
winter. They hibernate at the South in both the larva and the pupa state. When full grown, the worm goes deeper into the ground, and forms an oval chamber in the soil, in which it goes into the pupa state. In the warm weather of spring, the moth comes forth in from two to three weeks afterwards. It is generally of a gray or brown color, with slight differences of darker markings and colorings, on the front wings, and has a spread of wings of about an inch and a half. When at rest, it sits an the wings folded against the body, the lower being covered and out of sight.
In order to familiarize the eye with the appearance of the parent moths, as well as that of the worms, engray- ‘ings of several of the species are given.
- The Greasy cut-worm. (fig. 8; larva, fig. 9), is very
108 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
widely distributed, it being found in nearly all parts of the United States, and attacks many very different plants, sometimes destroying whole fields of corn and of tobacco. The parent moth (fig. 8), is known as the Lance Rustic (Agrotis telifera, Harr.), which often enters
Fig. 10.—MOTH OF WESTERN STRIPED CUT-woRM (Agrotis subgothica).
the house at night. The general color of the fore-wings is dark-brown, and the hind-wings are pearly-white. The most common species in Georgia is called the Western Striped cut-worm in the books, though it is quite as common at the East and South as elsewhere. It is dirty-white or ash-gray in color, sometimes yellowish, and has dark stripes on the sides. The moth, known as the Gothic Dart (Agrotis subgothica, Harr.), is given in fig. 10, with the wings both open and closed. The darker
Fig. 11.—DARK-SIDED CUT-woR™M (Agrotis Cachranit).
parts of the wings are deep-brown, and the lighter por- tions are of grayish flesh-color.
The Dark-sided cat-worm, of which larva and moth are given in fig. 11, is Agrotis Cochraniw, Riley. It is
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 109
one of the climbing species, and very destructive to the buds of fruit trees.
The W-marked cut-worm (fig. 12), is the larva of the Clandestine owlet-moth (Noctua clandestina, Harr.). It attacks various vegetables, and also climbs.
The Glassy cut-worm, the larva of Agrotis (or Ha-
Ob tis oad: Fig. 12.—w-MARKED CUT-WCRM Fig. 13.—GLASsy CUT-woRM (Noctua clandestina, Harr.). (Agrotis devastata),
dena) devastata (fig. 13), is glassy-green, with a bright red head, with a hard, dark-brown shield just back of it. The small White, Bristly cut-worm (fig. 14), Celena
Fig. 14.—SMALL WHITE BRISTLY CUT-wORM (Célena renigera).
(or Hadena) renigera, is very small, and a general feeder, often destructive in the flower garden.
Entomologists, in their revision of these insects, have made some changes in the scientific names. Those here given will direct the reader to the detailed descriptions in the entomological reports and other works.
As the moths of the various cut-worms fly at night, and are attracted by light, it has been recommended to make open fires in the fields; and even several fire-traps have been invented, into which night-flying moths have been enticed and killed. These fires are of very questionable utility, since it may happen that more beneficial than noxious insects may be destroyed.
110 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
REMEDIES FOR CUT-WORMS.
Many remedies have been recommended to kill or arive away cut-worms, such as ashes, salt, lime, gas-lime, cop- peras, sulphur, etc.; but I know of none, harmless to plants, worth the trouble of application. Some have been deceived by the disappearance of the worm at the time it is about to undergo its changes, ascribing it to the effect of aremedy. Dilute washes of soap, tobacco, etc., do not seem to be repulsive to cut-worms. Pyrethrum, the mere touch of which is so deadly to some insects, seems in the open air perfectly innocuous to these, and they soon recover, even after being covered with it for half an hour or more in close confinement.
Covering the stems of plants above and below the sur- face of the ground by a funnel-shaped fold of paper or tin, or surrounding a cucumber or melon hill similarly with a hoop of wood or iron, may be a protection, but is a pro- cess too troublesome and expensive for the truck-farmer.
Round holes made in loamy or heavy soil by the inser- tion of a stick are said to entrap these worms, which may be killed the next morning by re-inserting the stick. This is one of the few remedies, the utility of which I cannot deny from actual experience, never having cultivated land heavy enough to prevent the worm from promptly burrowing himself out of the trap. On a large field the small holes, to entrap them, would necessarily be very numerous, and the labor of re-inserting the stick into each, whether empty or full, would condemn the remedy.
The instinct of the parent moth will lead it to place its eggs only where the future worm will find its proper food; and if a field upon which the gardener expects to put out valuable plants in the spring is kept bare of veg- etation during the months in which the eggs are laid, it will be free from cut-worms. If plowed up later, and then kept bare during the winter, the worms will migrate
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. qi 7
to better pastures, which may even be provided for them with advantage. But a bare fallow is destructive to fertility in our climate, and a thick mulch should be pro- vided, which when burnt off will destroy crickets, etc. , har- boring under it. I can vouch both for this plan as a mea- sure against cut-worms, as well as a means of fertility; but it is rarely practicable. If in the rotation a clean fall crop, not subject to cut-worms, can precede the one to be put out, the latter will not be apt to suffer from them. A cut-worm generally indicates its presence, by a destroyed or injured plant, a cut leaf, or freshly stirred soil, and, on a small scale at early morn, it may be » hunted at the root of the plant and killed; but never until some damage has already been done. When the soil is damp, the worm is generally to be found at early morn- ing near the surface. In dry sandy soil, and as the day advances, it burrows deeper.
My method of dealing with cut-worms, of late years, has béen to remove them from the field, before the crop to be jeopardized is up, or the plants are put out.
By placing cabbage leaves and bunches of grass along the rows of watermelon hills four years: ago, I caught, by hunting them daily, fifteen hundred and thirty-eight
“worms on about one-fourth of an acre, before the seed came up, and lost but a single melon plant.
On one occasion, I captured, one morning, fifty-eight of all sizes under a single turnip leaf, and my son found fifteen at the root of a single small cabbage plant. But, even when the worms were as abundant as this would indi- cate, I found the process unsatisfactory and time-consum- ing, and resorted to my present effective plan of poisoning them.
After the land is prepared for cabbages, or any other crop needing protection, I place cabbage or turnip leaves in rows fifteen or twenty feet apart all over the field, and
about the same: distance apart in the rows. The leaves
112 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
are first dipped in a well-stirred mixture of a tablespoon- ful of Paris green to the bucket of water; or they may be first moistened, then dusted with a mixture of one part of Paris green to twenty of flour, and placed care- fully with the dusted surface next to the ground. Two such applications, particularly in cloudy weather, at in- tervals of three or four days, will suffice to allow the cut- worms to make away with themselves, which they gen- erally do with perfect saccess. This plan, first recom- mended by Prof. Riley, is the best that I have found. Whoever adopts it, will rid himself of the pest at least cost and trouble, and will not be compelled to replant constantly, or to sow his seed so thickly as to provide:
“One for the black-bird, one for ‘he crow, Two for the cut-worm and three to grow.”
NATURAL ENEMIES OF CUT-WORMS.
In the front rank of all insectivorous birds as a destroyer of cut-worms stands prominently the much slandered crow. He is up early enough to catch the worm, before it descends; but, if need be, he digs it up. The good the crow accomplishes in killmg cut-worms, tomato-worms, and field mice, far outweighs the value of the few grains of corn he may pilfer, and he should therefore be pro- tected instead of being persecuted.
Domestic poultry are also useful aids in destroying cut-worms. ‘The common mole, it is true, does consid- erable damage by burrowing between the roots of grow- ing crops; but he is wrongfully accused of feeding upon grain, and roots of crops, for he is exclusively imsectiy- orous, and he probably devours numbers of cut-worms. Fortunately for the mole, and for the farmer, too, at- tempts to poison it with corn soaked in strychnine are based upon the fallacious belief that he feeds upon the grain.
Notwithstanding the subterranean and nocturnal habit
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. his
of cut-worms they have several insect enemies, which attack them both above and below the surface. There are four-winged flies, belonging to the genus Microgaster which deposit their eggs in the body of the worms; and a large yellowish brown, four-winged Ichneumon fly, Paniscus geminatus, does the same. Among the insects that devour cut-worms for food, is the useful spined soldier-bug, and the larva and complete insect of the fiery ground-beetle, Calosoma calidum.
GRASSHOPPERS.
The insects commonly called grasshoppers, belong to two families of Orthoptera. The first and comparatively harmless (Locustid@) are mostly nocturnal insects, gen- erally green in color, with their legs four-jointed. They have long, tapering feelers, and are provided with a long projecting instrument at the end of the body for deposit- ing their eggs (ovipositor).
The other family (Acridide), embraces the more de- structive “hateful grasshopper,” or Rocky Mountain locust. The locusts of the Bible (Locusta migratoria), and the numerous varieties, which are so destructive to our turnips and cabbage seedlings in September and October (commonly called locusts in this country), be- long to the family Cicada, and are harmless to the crops of the truck-farmer. These are more varied in color than the foregoing, have shorter feelers, three-jointed legs, and no long egg-laying instrument. The female insect lays a large number of eggs in the soil, late in the fall, which hatch out in the spring. The larve are wingless, but otherwise bear a great resemblance to the imago and perfect their growth during the summer. ‘To plants in seed-leaf they are very destructive; but those more ad- vanced may outgrow their inroads. To plants so young, as only to have one or two seed-leayes, or still in the seed- bed, there can be no reasonable objections to the applica-
ae: TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
tion of poison for their protection, as all the first leaves will be cast off long before maturity, and the small amount that might lodge on the stem would be removed by rain.
Harris says that grasshoppers are attacked by certain thread-like, brown, or blackish worms (/i%laria), and are infested by little red mites (Ocypete), of which ten or a dozen may be found adhering to the body beneath the wings.
Probably moles and ground beetles, and their larve may destroy the eggs, while the crow and a few other birds, and domestic poultry, feed upon the insect.
Grasshoppers might be captured, as in France and elsewhere, by means of cloth traps, drawn across the fields, but such methods, without concert of action among farmers, are useless, and the use of kerosene on sheet-iron pans drawn over the field as recommended in the First Report of the United States Entomological Commission is, by all odds, the most satisfactory. |
Grasshoppers are not apt to fly from harboring grass, or weeds, and I avail myself of this habit, and locate my cabbage-seed beds in the middle of an open field, gen- erally undergoing preparation at the time for oats. If the grain is up simultaneously with the cabbages, the young blades, while affording food, will not be sufficiently thick to furnish a harbor around the beds.
CRICKETS (Achetide.)
Unlike the tree-cricket (@canthus niveus) which in- jures fruit trees, the several kinds of crickets depredat- ing upon the crops of the truck-farmer live upon the ground, harboring under low herbage and grass. They pass the winter at the South in the egg and in the per- fect state; the female laying numerous eggs in the ground at the approach of winter, which hatch out in the spring. They abound particularly near the sea coast, where, at
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES TRS
times, they become very destructive. Exclusive of cut- worms, no insect here was more destructive to young cabbage plants in the fall of 1881. In March and April they gnaw into the ‘‘curds” of cauliflower, making un- sightly blemishes.
They emit their shrill sound by rubbing their wing covers against each other. This insect, on very young plants, may be poisoned by an application of Paris green, but when it becomes dangerous to use the poison in this manner, it may be mixed with grated carrot.
Crickets have the habit of hiding under objects on the ground, and may be found under boards, palmetto leaves, etc., placed along the rows of cabbages and other crops, for the purpose of attracting them, but it requires quick- ness to kill them, with a flat bat, as they become very lively as soon as light is admitted to their retreat.
THE MOLE-CRICKET ((ryllotalpa.)
Owing to its exclusively nocturnal habit, this insect is rarely seen, although it is sometimes destructive to seed- ling plants, eating off the seed leaves, for instance, of melons and cucumbers. There are two species in this country. Gryllotalpa borealis is found in moist ground in the New England and other Northern States, but is much less common than G. brevipennis in the Middle and Southern States. A still different species, G. vui- garis, is found in Europe, where it is more abundant than either of ours are with us. It is often quite trou- blesome. I have seen it successfully captured by sinking empty tumblers, flower-pots (closed at the bottom), etc., level with the surface of the soil. It may also be pois- oned in the same manner as the cricket.
BIRDS AS INSECT DESTROYERS.
As related to the question of the utility of insectivor- ous birds and their food supply, I cite the examinations
116 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
made by Prof. 8. A. Forbes, of Ilinois, of the stomachs of eighty-six blue birds (Sialia sialis), and his observations and conclusions.* Ten of the birds were shot in Feb- ruary, twenty-one in March, thirteen in April, nine in May, ten in June, nine in July, two in September, and twelve in December, in Southern Illinois. The stomach of a bird shot February 24th, contained thirty per cent. of cut-worms; forty per cent. of crickets; five per cent. of ichneumonidx; twenty-five per cent. of the larve of the two-lined soldier-beetle. After enumerating the contents of the stomachs of all the birds, Prof. Forbes summarizes: ‘‘ What now shall we say of the economic relations of this bird? According to the estimate of Mr. Walsh that (reasoning from the comparative numbers of injurious and beneficial insects, a bird must be shown to eat at least thirty times as many injurious individuals as bene- ficial ones, before it can be considered useful), the blue bird does at least twenty times as much harm as good,— that is to say, the beneficial insects destroyed would themselves have made away with twenty times as many injurious insects as the birds themselves have eaten. Admitting that Mr. Walsh’s estimate was exaggerated, it surely was not twenty times too large, and even if it were, we could merely look upon the blue bird as harm- less, indeed, but as useless also. And yet, in the face of this, I venture to doubt that a case has yet been made out.
‘‘ Tn the first place, nothing has been learned of the food of the young, and there is some reason for supposing that birds select for their young, the softer kinds of in- sects. This supposition, founded chiefly upon the state- ments of M. Florent-Prevost, of Paris, is contradicted, it is true, by observations of the food of the young mock- ing-bird, and whatever deficiency of credit may be due to this neglect of the food of the young, is compensated
* From the ‘“‘ American Entomologist,’ 1880.
INSECTS AND THEIR REMEDIES. EV?
in part, at least, by the fact, that the number of cater- pillars eaten is doubtless overestimated, in comparison with hard insects, as their flexible skins remain in the stomachs of birds longer than the hard structures of in- sects. This is exactly contrary to the usual supposition, but the frequent occurrence of numbers of the emptied and twisted skins of cut-worms in the stomach, still ree- ognizable as Noctwide, when not even a fragment of a single head remains, is sufficient evidence that the hard parts break up and disappear before these delicate but yielding skins. Secondly, while our knowledge of the food of arctians, cut-worms, and grasshoppers, is suf- ficiently definite and full to enable us to predict with cer- tainty exactly what would happen, if those eaten by the blue birds were allowed to live and multiply, we have not the same complete and certain knowledge of the food and habits of the different genera of ichneumonide, the ground-beetles, the soldier-bugs and soldier-beetles. One hundred blue birds, at thirty insects each a day, would eat In six months about half a million insects. If this number of birds were destroyed, the result would be the preservation of about one hundred and seventy thousand caterpillars (ninety thousand of them cut-worms), twenty thousand leaf-chafers, ten thousand curculios, and eighty- five thousand crickets, locusts, and grasshoppers. ‘‘How this horde of marauders would busy itself, if left undisturbed, no one can doubt. It would eat grass and clover, and corn and cabbages, inflicting an immense injury itself, and leaving a progeny which would multi- ply that injury indefinitely. On the other hand, would the two hundred thousand predaceous beetles and bugs, spiders and ichneumons, either prevent or counterbal- ance these injuries? I do not believe that we can say positively whether they would or not. In a discussion of the natural checks upon the cut-worm, Prof. Riley, in his First Report as State Entomologist of Missouri, men-
118 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
tions two species of ichneumon that parasitize the larva, credits the spined soldier-bug and the carabid larva, Calosoma calidum, with its destruction, and says that some kinds of spiders are known to prey upon it. From the Report of the United States Entomological Commis- sion, for 1877, we learn that the grasshopper is preyed upon, at one or the other stage, by Agonoderus, Harpa- lus, Amara, and other carabids; by soldier-beetles, sol- dier-bugs, and spiders, and that certain ichneumonide parasitize the eggs. It seems probable, therefore, that the beneficial insects eaten by blue birds include the spe- cial enemies of the cut-worms and grasshoppers it de- stroys, but he who knows best the small number of re- liable observations upon which our general statements of the food of predaceous insects rest, will have the most hesitation in trusting them without reserve. The proba- bilities seem to be against the blue bird, but the certain- ties are, as yet, in its favor. Finally, I would call atten- tion to the fact that we do not know that the normal rate of increase among these carnivorous and parasitic insects is not sufficient to keep their numbers full to the limit of their food supply, and to furnish also a surplus for destruction by birds. Just as a tree puts forth more leaves than it needs, and sets more fruit than it can pos- sibly mature; as an offset to the constant normal depre- dations of insects, so there is much reason to suppose that our insect friends have become adjusted to this steady drain on their numbers. There are many consid- erations involved here into which I can not at present enter. It will suffice to say that all the evidence we have of the increase and decrease of carnivorous insects, at- tendant upon the increase and decrease of the insects upon which they feed, tends to show that the real limit to their multiplication is not destruction by birds, but a deficient food supply, and that in relieving them from their feathered enemies, we should only be giving a por-
ASPARAGUS. 119
tion of them the poor privilege of starving to death, in- stead of being eaten up. . Considering, therefore, the certainty of the evil consequences of the destruction of the blue bird, and the uncertainty of the possible good, I believe that, notwithstanding the apparent balance against the species, even the most radical economist, the most indifferent to the beauty and pleasure of the nat- ural world, would have no present justification for throt- thing the song of the blue bird in his garden, with the hope of increasing thereby his annual store of hay and cabbage.”
The following table gives the percentages of the three classes of imsects destroyed, and the average for the season:
&
. e S PERCENTAGES FoR, © S 3 FACH MONTH. = 3 "2 ; 2 SS Bath is giletiete Sy ben et fee ah Sp heee
ole kt co oe
Beneficial. ....... 46 28 21 35 38 14 11 28 fagurious, -. ....- 41 60 23 55 26 67 02 9 Meutralies oz. ..4 53 11 56 10 34 19 87 383
CHAPTER XII.
ASPARAGUS.—(Asparagus officinalis.)
Asperge, French; Spargel, German; Aspergie, Dutch; Asperago or Sparagio, Italian; and Zsperrago, Spanish.
Asparagus is a native of the sea coasts of Europe, and has long been in cultivation as one of the choicest vege- tables of the garden. Peter Henderson says of this vege- table, that the supply has never yet fully satisfied the demand, and that a small quantity of good asparagus has
120 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
frequently helped to sell a wagon load of vegetables, the gardener making its sale conditional upon the purchase of other articles. Asparagus is not only a wholesome article of food, but it is a pleasant diuretic and aperient, and is often used as an alverative or ‘‘purifier of the blood.” When prescribed medicinally it is, as a decoc- tion, made by boiling two ounees of the root in one quart of water. There are some sixty or seventy species of as- paragus, of which the above named is the only edible one. While the shoots of the majority of the asparagus plants are green, some plants produce purple-topped shoots, owing probably to some modification of the leaf- green, or chlorophyll. Such plants cannot be considered even as varieties, as they occur in every planting of whatever kind of asparagus seed, and the peculiarity is not transmitted as a regular distinctive feature. Difference of opinion exists among horticulturists in regard to the question of varieties of this vegetable, some contending there are no varieties of Asparagus officinalis. They claim that growers, in several localities, have brought the cultivation of asparagus to such a state of perfection, as to have developed a decided superiority in the plant; that, as like produces like, the seed of such plants are preferable and will continue to give a superior product. They hold that, until deteriorated, the Con- over’s Colossal, the Ulm, the Argenteuil, and others, are only impreved strains, while others claim them to be dis- tinct varieties. Unlike the varieties of other vegetables, the different sorts of asparagus are distinguished neither by shape, nor color of leaf or flower, nor by taste, nor by any other character, save size, and when removed from favorable conditions of climate, soil, manure, and man- agement, they deteriorate and are undistinguishable from plants grown from seeds of the poorest kind. As- paragus is a diccious plant, that is, the male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers are on separate roots.
ASPARAGUS. gE) |
Only the latter bear seeds which will not be fertile un- less the flower is impregnated by the pollen of the for- mer. ‘Thus it requires two distinct plants for the propa- gation of the species. Should a variety originate by chance, its flower would require the pollen of the previous variety to fertilize it; and to transmit its distinctive fea- tures to descendants, it must be ever afterwards exempt from any altering influences of the pollen. If such breed- ing of varieties was probable in diccious plants, the chances of cross-fertilization are such that varieties and sub-varieties would be constantly seen.
RAISING THE PLANTS.
Asparagus is propagated from seed, the usual practice being to raise the plants in a seed-bed, and trans- fer them to the field when one or two years old, those of one year being much the best. It has generally been, at the South, not only the uneconomical, but from an horti- cultural point of view, the objectionable custom to pur- chase the plants from Northern nurseries, at from four dol- lars to eight dollars per thousand, without any knowledge of their previous cultivation, age, or condition. This has been done when the plants could be grown much cheaper, and much better at home, with the additional advantage of being able to lift them carefully and fresh from the seed- bed when needed; whereas, procured from a distance, they are stale, roughly handled and bruised. The price of the seed is usually about fifty cents per pound, containing some fourteen thousand seeds, which should supply at least ten thousand five hundred plants, or enough for three acres. At the average price of plants, as offered by the largest seed firms, the same number of plants would cost twenty-one dollars. Small, spindling shoots are comparatively worthless. The asparagus grower should start his seed-bed with the ultimate object of pro- ducing large, stout sprouts, (or “‘ grass,” in the language
6
122 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
of the market), and to do this he must avoid stunted plants. A good asparagus plantation is expensive. It brings in no return for three years, but when it once comes into bearing, it remains productive for twenty years or more, and affords good profits. Unless it can be properly made from the start, it had better not be undertaken.
The seed of asparagus is not injured by frost. It may be sown from December Ist to the middle of March. Se- lect high, sandy or well-drained, ight land, which has been well manured; sow in drills two feet apart, and one inch deep; the plants should stand about three inches apart in the row. At these distances, one-fourth of an acre will grow twenty-one thousand seven hundred and eighty plants, or a sufficient number to plant five or six acres. If proper care is taken of them during their growth, the plants will be superior to any of one year’s growth, purchasable at any price from any Northern nurs- ery, simply in consequence of our longer and warmer growing season. In addition to this, are the advan- tages of being able in transplanting to return them to the soil, fresh and without injury to the roots.
THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION.
One of the chief claims of asparagus to popular favor is its early appearance in the spring; and hence, a heavy cold clay, particularly if badly drained, should be avoided. A light, high, warm, sandy soil, heavily fertilized, is best adapted to this crop, and it especially flourishes when such soil is located near its native habitat—the sea coast. ‘The more manure, the better the cultivation, the larger and better will be the ‘‘ grass;” therefore the land should be in fine, mellow condition before the application of the manure. After deep plowing, subsoiling, and har- rowing, a coating of about a hundred wagon loads of green stable manure to the acre, without much long litter,
ASPARAGUS. 123
should be turned under as deeply as possible. Future surface manurings will benefit the top soil. The field being thoroughly harrowed, straight rows should be laid off with a two-horse plow, going only in one direction, care being taken to have the straight cuts, or land-sides of the furrows, equi-distant from each other, and five feet apart. If the roots of the plants are long, it will prob- ably be necessary to deepen the furrows by following the first with a smaller plow. In the bottom of the furrow it is well to apply some lasting fertilizer, as coarse
afi
Fig. 15.—ASPARAGUS PLANT.
ground bone, at the rate of half a ton to the acre. If the land is high and warm, the crowns of the plants might eventually be about six inches below the surface; but in colder ground it would be unsafe to place them deeper than four inches, or the sprouts might be late in the spring, and a part of the plants might perish. The roots are round and succulent, with numerous small fibres, which unite to form the crown, from which the
124 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
sprouts appear. The crown grows laterally, the base of every succeeding bud, during the life of the plant, re- maining at about the same depth. ‘This lateral manner of growth, and the position of the buds, are shown in fig. 15. The deeper the plant can be placed, due regard being had to the requisites of an early and profitable growth, the better, as the crowns will be less liable to injury at the hands and knives of careless cutters of the crop. The old method of close planting of aspara- gus upon trenched ground, with a subterranean layer, three feet deep, of oyster shells, or brickbats, for drain- age, and with the idea of preventing the too deep growth of the roots, has been abandoned. One might as well ex- pect to see stalks of corn grow thirteen feet high, and thick in proportion, when the grain is sown broadcast for fodder, as to look for good ‘‘ grass” from the old man- ner of planting.
An old asparagus plant makes an enormous growth of root, both as regards its mass and length, and wide planting admits of these roots securing a sufficiency of food, and of their making a vigorous growth without crowding.
SETTING OUT THE PLANTS.
The plants should be carefully lifted from the seed bed with a digging fork, without bruising the roots. These, if very long and irregular in length, may be shortened back a little.
The distances in the row being marked off at from two to two and a half feet, or even three feet, a plant is dropped at each place, and the planter, following, holds the plant at the proper depth, say six inches, against the land side, or cut, with the roots spread out from the crown in a fan-shaped manner, and, with a single sweep of the left hand, fixes it in position with loose soil from the top of the furrow. The subsequent filling in may be
ASPARAGUS. 125
done with the plow; but the hoe is to be preferred, as the depth can be more exactly adjusted, and there is less danger of an accidental disturbance of the plant. For safety, until growth commences, the crowns should not be covered the entire depth, but only two or three inches; when the shoots have grown several inches high, the cov- ering may be completed, and this will serve as a working of the ground, and destroy weeds.
CULTIVATION.
Its vigorous growth enabling it to overtop grass, and to hold its own against weeds, asparagus will withstand as much neglect as any other vegetable; but it will respond to generous treatment. ‘The coxpense of its first planting, and its care, until it commences to make a return two or three years later, are too great to admit of neglect. If the plantation has been properly made and properly tended, its rank and luxuriant growth will meet across the five-feet rows in the third year and smother most weeds during the summer. The crop should be cultivated and hoed as often as necessary to subdue grass and weeds. Asparagus produces seed the second year. As soon, therefore, as the stalks commence to die in the fall, they should be chopped down and burned, to prevent, so far as possible, the growth of young seedlings among the crop, which are not readily eradicated, and are really weeds.
It is useless to apply manure when the plant is at rest in the fall and winter, but just prior to the commence- ment of growth, make an application of half a ton to the acre of Peruvian guano, bone-flour, or ground fish guano, mixed with muck, woods-earth, or garden soil, and thor- oughly harrow it in. If stable manure is used, it should remain upon the surface. The material being at hand, a mulch thick enough and close enough to prevent the growth of weeds and grass, to be burned off before the
126 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
winter top-dressing is to be applied, would obviate the necessity of frequent working, and of chopping, or mow- ing down the bushes, and would destroy all the seed, without causing any injury to the deeply buried roots. Subsequent cultivation consists in keeping down weeds by stirring the soil with cultivator and hoes, and in the annual installment of fertilizers, alternating each year with a different kind.
The natural habitat of asparagus being the sea coast, it is benefited by applications of common salt, which may be used with advantage in sufficient quantity to de- stroy weeds, say from six hundred to eight hundred pounds to the acre, particularly if the crop is at a distance from the sea shore. The burning of a mulch of marsh sedge would supply the crop with other salts of sea water besides common salt. If the shoots are nu- merous and strong, a few may be cut the third year, but it is better to defer cutting any until the fourth season from the seed.
CUTTING AND MARKETING.
Asparagus knives of various shapes are made expressly for the purpose. The blade should be passed down along the shoot to the necessary depth, when by a turn of the handle the shoot is severed, and can be lifted out.
Only the part of the shoot made green by exposure to light is eaten, the white blanched portion being tough and stringy. Yet fashion, and, therefore, the trade, de- mand that at least a part of the sprouts be white, other- wise 1t would not be necessary to place the crowns so deeply in the ground. A change in this respect is tak- ing place, however, and a modification in the mode of planting may soon be advisable.
Asparagus should not be cut until the shoots are four or five, or even six inches above the ground, so that they may be at least eight inches long, that being the usual
ASPARAGUS. 127
length of the bunches. A plantation in full bearing and vigorous growth may require to be cut daily, but it should not be continued beyond about four weeks, for fear of weakening the plants.
The bunches, to command the highest market price, should be four inches in diameter, eight inches in length, and about two and a half pounds in weight, and should not only consist of good assorted ‘‘ grass,” but be evenly and compactly == — | made. To attain these re- Fig. 16.—asparaAGus BUNCHER. quisites, without too much ‘ae loss of time, a buncher, of which there are many patterns, is indispensable. It holds the proper number of sprouts to form the four-inch bunch, firm- ly in position for one tie to be made below the buds and another near the base, when \ the lower ends may be I} evenly cut off with a | sharp knife. The sim- plest form of buncher i) is shown in fig. 16. It ig consists of a board with @ four pins about six inches long, placed four inches apart, and form- ing a square. This is placed against a wall, in order to make the ends of the shoots even, or it may be provided with a back, as in fig. 16. The ties are laid down, and the shoots stacked up between the pins. A
128 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
more recent form of buncher is given in fig. 17. In this the shoots are placed between two strips of brass, and the upper, hinged portion brought down, which firmly holds the bunch in proper shape until it can be tied.
Twine and small willow twigs are sometimes used for ties, but Cuba Bast is the best material, and gives the bunches a very neat appearance. This is the inner bark of Paritium elatum, a large tree of the Mallow family. It is in large sheets, and sells, wholesale, at about $1.00 per pound. A recently introduced material, called Rat- fia, the outer skin or cuticle of the leaf of a palm, is very soft and strong, and may be used for the purpose. Either kind should be cut of the proper length and laid in water; this renders the material flexible, and allows the ties to be made more readily.
Asparagus is sold by the bunch, that from the South bringing generally, in New York, from nine dollars to twelve dollars pertdozen, and it may be packed in other than the usual bushel crate, although a uniformity of package is Gesirable. The bunches should all stand up- right, and if in more than one layer, the buds on top of the shoots in the lower one should be protected from being bruised by the stems of the layer above by some soft intervening material, like moss. The first cost of making a planting of asparagus with home-grown plants, as above, is about one hundred dollars per acre.
SAVING SEED.
Asparagus is one of the vegetables of which Southern- grown seed is as good as any. ‘To save the seed, the ripe, red berries should be stripped off by hand, or the bushes cut down, and the berries threshed off. They are then placed in a vessel or barrel, and pounded with a wooden pestle to break the outer shells, which may be separated from the seed by washing, when the latter are dried in the sun and stored away.
ASPARAGUS. 129
INSECTS.
Asparagus is subject to injury from the following insects:
First—The asparagus-beetle (Crioceris asparagi.)
Second—The zebra-caterpillar (Mamestra picta.)
Third—The smeared-dagger (Acronycta oblinita.) A small ash-gray moth, the caterpillar of which sometimes feeds upon the plant.
The asparagus-beetle was introduced from Europe about 1860. Ina few years it became so numerous and terribly destructive, that, in 1862, some farmers on
Fig, 18.—ASPARAGUS BEETLE (Crioceris asparagi).
Beetle, Larva, Egg. The lines show the natural length of Egg and Beetle. Long Island plowed up their asparagus plantations, the crops having been ruined. All remedies failed, and it was thought the cultivation of asparagus would have to be abandoned on the Island, where the best in the country is grown. But in 1863, there appeared a deliverer in the form of a little black shining chalcid fly, which very soon checked the increase of the insects. The larvee eat off the bark of the stalks, preferring, and commenc- ing with, the tender shoots. The beetle has two broods in the season, and winters in the perfect state. I have never seen this insect at the South, but if it has not yet reached us, the probabilities are that it will do so in time.
The other insects named commit no serious injury.
130 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
CHAPTER XIII.
BEAN—BUSH OR SNAP.—(Phaseolus vulgaris.)
Haricot, French ; Schminkbohne, German ; Heere Boon, Dutch ; Fagionlo, Ttalian ; asoles, Spanish.
The Bean isa tender annual, a native of India, and was introduced into England about 1590.
Owing to the ease with which it can be grown, the short period between seed-time and harvest (about six weeks), and its extensive consumption at the North, the bean is one of the principal vegetables grown by the truck-farmer. Its cultivation is most profitable where labor is plentiful for picking the crop, as in the neighbor- hood of cities.
VARIETIES.
There are two distinct forms, the Pole or Climbing Bean, and the Dwarf. The latter, Phaseolus vulgaris, is alow bush and produces its pods during a shorter time than the other. The Dwarf beans are a little more hardy, and the pods are smaller, but of better flavor and greater delicacy. As the running kinds require poles, the “‘ Bush,” in consequence of readier cultivation, is the bean of the market-gardener.
The varieties of Bush-beans are numerous. The flat- podded ‘‘ Early Mohawk,” is the earliest, and hardiest. It sells well, until the later, more tender and less stringy round beans come in, and command a higher price.
The ‘Valentine ” is now the most popular round bean, it having superseded the ‘‘ Refugee” or ‘*1000 to 1.” The several varieties of German ‘‘ Wax-beans” are very fine, and, when in good order, sell well; but they become spotted more readily, and are not as extensively planted
BEAN— BUSH OR SNAP. 131
as the others. ‘The time for sowing such a tender vege- table, as this, cannot be definitely given, as it must de- pend upon the character of the season. Approximately it may be, for the vicinity of Savannah, from the first to the middle of March, later to the northward, and earlier to the southward; in the middle of Florida, it may be safely planted as early as January 10th, and still further south, at any time in the winter. In 1881 the first beans from Florida came into the Savannah market on Decem- ber 22d. Formerly vegetables regarded as out of season, could find no sale in the Northern markets, but now beans in limited quantities, bring fair prices in March. SOIL.
The lightest land of the farm may be appropriated to the bean crop; but a sandy loam suits it best. Like other leguminous plants, it will grow fairly upon good soil without recent fertilization; though, like other mar- ket vegetables, it should be manured, and green, or fresh stable manure is considered most beneficial. The land being properly plowed and harrowed, straight fur- rows, 1f the land is level, are laid off, thirty inches apart. The manure is drilled from the tail of a cart, or with a manure distributor, at the rate of thirty wagon loads to the acre, then covered by the plow. The resulting ridge beds are leveled by means of a board attached to a plow beam, taking two at a time, or by hoe or rake.
To avoid repetitions, it may be stated here, that, for all vegetables hereafter to be treated, when manuring in the drill and planting on beds are mentioned, these operations of covering the manure and partly leveling the bed, must be understood to have preceded the putting in of the seed.
SOWING THE SEED.
The methods of depositing the seeds are various. One of the very best truc! ers 'n the vicinity of Savannah has
132 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
constructed an instrument for making holes, upon the previously raked beds, exactly an inch and a half deep, end three inches apart. Into these even his poorest hands may properly drop the beans. The implement consists of a wheel upon the periphery, or outer rim, to which are fixed pegs of the desired length and the proper distance apart. Another very successful farmer sows his beans by hand, in a wide furrow three inches deep, and covers them an inch and a half deep with a rake. The former claims a greater uniformity of showing above ground, a nicer appearance, a saving of seed, and greater facility in working the crop, as the hoe and cultivator may run close to the straight row. ‘The other claims that his plants, in the wide furrow, come up in a sort of quincunx order, support each other, and that he gets more plants upon the same area. Others again open the drills by a hoe, or small bull-tongue plow and use a seed drill to sow the seed, and cover by rake, or board, or by means of the covering attachment with which the drill is pro- vided. The drill must of course be arranged to work accurately and satisfactorily, when its use will prove the most expeditious and the cheapest method of planting.
CULTIVATION.
When the plants are three or four inches high, the cultivator may be run between the rows, and just before the buds appear, the plow and hoe should be used to land up or draw soil to the stems, a useful operation, and the last in the cultivation of the crop, which is, of course, only to be performed in dry weather.
PICKING AND PACKING.
The pods should be picked. The picking should be done with as little disturbance of the roots as possible, and before the seeds become large enough to bulge out the pods, and while yet crisp enough to ‘‘snap”
BEAN—BUSH OR SNAP. Tse
when bent. Beans are apt to shrink in the package, and a little wetting prior to packing, in this case, is less objectionable. The beans should be laid reg- ularly in the crate, well shaken down, and firmly packed. The crop lasts some three weeks, and about six pickings are usually made. A fair yield per acre, is one hundred and fifty crates, although more are sometimes made, and the prices range from one dollar to four dollars per crate, according to earliness and demand.
INSECTS.
Beans are such an early crop, and the pods are picked at such an early stage of growth, that the insects infest-
Fig. 19.—BEAN WEEVIL (Bruchus fabe).
ing them rarely damage the market-gardener’s crop to any extent.
They are as follows:
First.—The Bean-weevil (Bruchus fabe.)
Second.—The Yellow Bear Caterpillar, the larva of the Miller-moth (Spilosoma Virginica).
Third.—The Fall web-worm (Hyphantria textor).
Fourth.—The Blister-beetles, such as the Striped (Lytta vittata), the Ash-colored (L. cinerea), and the Margined Blister-beetles (Z. marginata), which are, how- ever, more hurtful to the Irish potato.
134 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
CHAPTER XIV.
BEET (Beta vulgaris).
Bettarave, French; Rothe-Riibe, German; Biet or Kroot, Dutch ; Barba Biettola, Italian ; Bettarage, Spanish.
The Beet is a biennial, tap-rooted plant, with some- what fleshy leaves; it is a native of the sea coast of Southern Europe, and has been cultivated in England since 1656.
It is only within the past year or two, that the beet has been grown for shipment to any extent south of Norfolk, although it has for many years been one of the regular Bermuda crops. Next to the cabbage, this 1s one of the most extensively and profitably cultivated vegetables at the North, and it is probably destined to stand high in the estimation of the truck-farmer.
VARIETIES.
The turnip-rooted varieties are the earliest and best to grow at the South, and of these the ‘‘ Egyptian ” or “* Red Egyptian Turnip” stands first, notwithstanding the seed is higher in price than any other sort. The “ Karly Blood Turnip” is next in value. ‘The ‘‘ Bassano” is the earliest variety, but objectionable in consequence of its turning a light color in boiling.
SOIL AND SOWING.
- Beets, like the ruta-baga, may be sown for local mar- kets in September and October; but in consequence of sudden changes of weather, success at this season is doubtful. Heavy rains and hot baking suns, whether the seed be up or not, may destroy a sowing. Although hardy, freezing will kill very young beets, and the
BEET. 135
safest date for sowing near Savannah is about Janu- ary 10th, and earlier or later, according to latitude. In middle Florida the beet may be sown through November and December. Like all tap-rooted plants, the beet de- lights in a deep, rich, loose soil, a low, but thoroughly drained, sandy mould being the best. If loamy, let the soil be deeply stirred, freed from clods and lumps, and made fine and mellow.
It is desirable to have clean and smooth roots, and fresh stable manure in the drill is objectionable, as it
ee,
Fig. 20.—EGYPTIAN BEET. Fig. 21.—EARLY BLOOD TURNIP BEET.
tends to make them branch or to produce ‘fingers and toes.” Any rank manure in the drill, like night-soil, is objectionable, and hog manure is said to communicate an unpleasant flavor tothe roots. Beets require a nitroge- nous fertilizer, and well-rotted stable manure, thirty loads to the acre, broadcast, supplemented with five hundred pounds of Peruvian guano, or with three hundred pounds of nitrate of soda; or three-fourths of a ton of the guano, or half a ton of nitrate of soda, composted with muck, will suffice without the stable manure. But in this case, the land should have previously produced some well-manured crop. As this plant is a native of the sea shore, an ap- plication of twelve bushels of salt per acre is beneficial to crops distant from the coast. If the cultivation of the beet crop is to be entirely by hand, the seed may be sown
136 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
three-fourths of an inch, or one inch deep, with a hand drill in rows, fifteen to eighteen inches apart. On level ground sow in narrow ‘‘lands,” say thirty feet wide, which will afford additional surface drainage. If the planting is to be on a large scale, the distance between the rows must be from thirty to thirty-six inches, accord- ing to the size of the cultivator. In sowing and weed- ing, bear in mind that each grain contains several seeds. Owing to its slow germination, beet seed is often soaked in warm water.—See chapter on ‘‘Seeds.” ‘The quantity of seed required to sow an acre is from four to eight pounds, according to the above-mentioned distances.
CULTIVATION.
The young plants should not be allowed to crowd each other. If the stand is close, it is well to chop out spaces in the row with a narrow hoe, and subsequently, when the plants are about two inches high, they should be thinned out to stand from four to six inches apart. Vacant spaces may be supplied; but transplanted turnip- rooted beets are not apt to make smooth roots. Subse- quent cultivation consists in stirring the surface between the rows, working as near the beets as possible, and in keeping the crop free from weeds. Frequent hoeings between the narrow rows and some hand-weeding will be necessary. For the wider rows, one plowing, the use of the cultivator twice, and one hoeing may suffice in favor- able seasons, but more should be given if needed.
MARKETING.
Beets must be marketed while tender, and before they are full grown. When about three inches in diameter, they are large enough for shipment. The leaves are cut off within about three inches of the roots, which, un- washed, are then to be closely and regularly packed in well-ventilated barrels, covered with cloth. The prices
CABBAGE T7
of the past season ranged from two dollars per barrel up- wards; as much as seven dollars and fifty cents having been secured for some marketed from middle Florida. The beet is, in this country, remarkably free from insect depredations.
CHAPTER XV.
CABBAGE (Brassica oleracea).
Chou pommé, or Cabas blanc, French; Kopfkohl, German; Kool, Dutch; Cavolo, Italian ; Berza, Spanish.
The Cabbage was a favorite culinary vegetable of the Romans, who introduced its cultivation into England before the Christian era, although it grows wild along the sea shore of that country, particularly near Dover, where it is abundant on the chalk cliffs.
Cultivation has evolved from the wild plant very many sorts and varieties. Of these, the truck-farmer of the extreme South is at present concerned with only a few select varieties of the common or heading cabbage and with the cauliflower, kale being grown only at Nor- folk and vicinity. Possibly the large German element in the populations of the Northern cities may in time provide a market for kohl rabi.
VARIETIES.
Climate affects the cabbage more, perhaps, than it does any other vegetable; and a variety growing, as to appearance, indifferently well in both countries, may be considered superior in England, and be discarded as worthless in America, while some sorts, which grow satisfactorily in one region, may fail in another not very distant.
138 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
A variety suitable for cultivation should (1) be sure to form heads; (2) produce medium to large heads; (3) the heads should be very hard and compact; and (4) it should be a popular kind in the majority of the princi- pal markets.
Some varieties, like the ‘‘ Schweinfurth,” are bulky and delicate, but of such loose structure as to be useless for shipment, as they would shrink very much in the pack- age. On the other hand, a barrel properly packed with a solid-headed variety, would shrink to a very limited
Fiz, 22.—wINNINGSTADT
extent in transit, and still be full upon arrival in mar- ket, to the satisfaction of the buyer. The two varieties combining all desirable features in the highest degree, and, at the same time, best adapted to our climate, are the ‘* Winningstadt” and the ‘‘ Brunswick.” The for- mer is somewhat the smaller, but owing to its more com- pact habit of growth, a sufficiently larger number may be grown to the acre, to make up for the difference in individual size. The retail dealer will realize more money from a barrel of fine medium sized cabbages than from one containing a smaller number of very large heads. It is for this reason, probably, that the Winning- stadt enjoys a slight preference. The ‘‘ Karly Summer” is considered a reliable variety, and is cuitivated for the Northern markets. There is no better variety, if the
CABBAGE. 139
seeds are of pure stock, for forming uniformly solid heads, than the ‘‘ Jersey Wakefield’; but it is small and lable to burst open when in vigorous growth, particularly in warm, rainy weather, following a drouth. The remedy
Fig. 28.—FOTTLER’S BRUNSWICK.
for this is ‘‘root-pruning,” which is done by pushing over the plants slightly, to break some of the roots, or by cutting down alongside of them with a spade. The necessity for this operation would condemn a variety, however admirable in other respects. American seeds
kL odie
Fig. 24.—JERSEY WAKEFIELD.
are considered as producing more hardy plants than the imported; therefore, for a crop to head well in winter, the American ‘‘ Flat Dutch” is the best variety, with ‘ Fottler’s Brunswick,” which is an American variety of the German “ Brunswick” cabbage, as second choice.
140 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
SEEDS AND SOWING.
Cabbages from imported seed are thought to be more certain to head, and in the vicinity of Savannah, those from Germany are preferred, however it may be in other localities.
It is of more importance to have seed of a good strain of the cabbage than of any other vegetable. Poor seeds of any of the genus Brassica are dear at any price.
In consequence of its good keeping qualities, the cab- bage can be and is used in the United States throughout the year. The South is supplied with Northern grown stock during the hot summer months, and in the winter, the first shipments arriving about the middle of July. In turn, the North procures its supply from us after the exhaustion of the stores of wintered cabbages, dating from about March 1st, and continuing until June. Owing to its universal consumption, the markets have never yet been glutted with cabbage. Were its use less universal, as the Florida, Georgia, and Carolina crops are all marketed during the same period, the price might fall below a paying standard. ‘The opening of the west- ern and north-western markets for the less perishable articles of the truck-farmer, by lower railroad freights and safer transportation facilities, makes it probable that many years will elapse before sufficient areas are appro- priated to the cultivation of such vegetables, as to cause the supply to exceed the demand. Cabbages are also grown to supply other than the Northern markets, of which we will speak hereafter. The seed to produce plants for the more important shipping crop is best sown between October Ist and 15th. It may be sown later; but as the plants are subjected to severely cold weather in December, it is important that they-be large enough at that time to withstand hard frosts. When the ther- mometer falls below twenty-four degrees, they are likely to be killed.
CABBAGE. 141
To secure the necessary hardiness, and low, stocky growth, the seed should be sown thinly on rather light, unmanured soil. Instead of making a sowing in the open air later than November Ist, the careful gardener will provide against losses by frost, by sowing under glass in cold frames, about November 15th. The cold frame plants will only be used in case those in the open ground have been killed or injured by freezing, or have grown too large to be transplanted for a later crop. To render the plants as hardy as possible, the soil of the frames should not be manured, and it should be kept as dry as the health of the plants will permit. Sashes must not be used, day or night, to force the plants, but are only to be put on at night for protection against ap- prehended black frost.
For the location of a cabbage seed bed in the open air, see chapter on ‘‘Insects.” A deep and freshly stirred soil is not indispensable to produce good plants, and, where moles are numerous, they are very apt to haunt a bed freshly stirred, and destroy many young plants. The bed may be thrown up by the plow a fortnight or more before the seed is to be sown. When it is raked off later, many young weeds, which might have become annoying, will be destroyed.
The seed bed should be about four feet aide level on top, to avoid washing by heavy rains, and elevated a few inches above the eae surface. The seed is sown from one-fourth to one-half an inch deep, according to the character of the soil. Make the drills across the bed four to five inches apart, to allow the earth to be stirred be- tween the rows, firming the soil by the roller or by a patting board. When sown under glass, the drills may be three and a half inches apart. If the soil is dry, the beds may require watering to cause the seed to germi- nate. It is not advisable to sow any seed within two or three inches of the back of the frame, or the plants will
142 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
grow spindling from the effects of the heat reflected from the boards. Do not sow as thickly near the front as in the middle of the bed, lest in wet weather the plants may damp off while young.
At the South, at the planting season, so many con- tingencies affect the sprouting of the seed and the safety of the young plants, when placed in the open air, that no definite quantity of seed, which will suffice for a given area, can be stated. Among these adverse influ- ences are hot baking suns, heavy rains, cut-worms, grass- worms (Laphrygma frugiperda), and grasshoppers.
Peter Henderson, one of the best authorities on mar- ket gardening at the North, says an ounce of seed will produce two thousand plants—there are about ten thon- sand cabbage seeds in an ounce—and A. 8. Fuller, another good authority, estimates that an acre will require from a pound to a pound and a half of seed, or from one hundred and sixty thousand to two hundred and forty thousand seeds. I have sown pounds of seed without getting even a single plant. The only advice to be given is: to make | frequent sowings and on different parts of the farm, and to follow the suggestion in the chapter on ‘‘Insects.” If the seed is sound and properly sown under glass and cared for, few will fail to furnish available plants.
SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION,
The land best adapted to raise spring cabbages for ship- ment, is a moist, sandy loam, if well drained. Any good garden soil, properly enriched and well prepared, will an- swer, however, if it be not too ight and sandy; on such soils the plants may be affected by the hot suns in March and April, just at the heading season. <A newly cleared, well-drained mould is excellent. The chalk cliffs of the English sea shore being the native habitat of the cabbage, admirable crops of superior quality may be produced near
CABBAGE. 143
our coast under the influence of the moist sea air, wher- ever the soil is adapted to this plant. Lime is very ben- eficial to the whole cabbage family, and soil, otherwise of desirable quality, on the immediate sea coast of the main- land, or on any of the Sea Islands, if well supplied with crumbling oyster-shells, the rubbish of Indian camps, cannot be surpassed for this vegetable. That these ac- cumulations of oyster shells, with a few shells of the clam and conch, are of Indian origin, is proven by the frequent occurrence among them of pieces of Indian pot- tery.
Heavy soils require to be more deeply stirred by the turning and the subsoil plows, and more frequently har- rowed, than those of lighter character.
At the North, land consecutively cropped with cab- bages seems to become infested with the cause, whatever it may be, of the disease of the root called ‘‘ clubfoot;” an additional reason for rotation in cabbage culture. This appears to be less the case, when the land is plenti- fully supplied with lime naturally, or when it is used as a manurial application. Although the cabbage is little affected with this disease at the South, it is not well to have cabbages follow cabbages on the same ground.
The richer the manuring, in excess of what any possi- ble crop could be able to take from the soil, and the bet- ter the preparation, the larger will not only be the indi- vidual heads, and, therefore, the weight of the entire produce, but the more certainty will there be of the whole crop heading up uniformly.
The table opposite shows the composition of fifty tons-— equal to eighty-eight wagon loads of loose stable manure, holding thirty bushels, or one thousand one hundred and twenty-five pounds, each; and that of a crop of twenty- five tons of cabbages, both according to the analyses of Prof. E. Wolff.
144 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
‘50 Tons Oof\o~ fresh Stable rapoagee Manure $ contain conbaine NTLTOR CN sso Mick be etsy ac tom pinecc siienas 546 lbs. | 120 lbs. Potash 66.3 GRS oe hostels sms eremte olen 520 ‘* alo, 2° (PHGBPHOFICHIEIAL. 0c: mst eee atlopeeieite 280). * 10 5 OUR. 13 0cccokie oe seem a. peat am LOW 2)<* 45 &£ DAAMEY & ese otters eaate et a tears ete yh Noi 1Bbi oS Maemesia dee ties << cleiettnne tires ese eniae 14Q) 4° 30)
A study of the above table will show:
First.—That a crop of twenty-five tons of cabbages will exhaust within fifty-five pounds all the lime contained in an application of fifty tons of stable manure, and, if only that quantity were applied, an English or Northern yield of fifty tons, not an excessive estimate, under their closer planting, would require one hundred pounds more of lime than is contained in the manure. As was stated before, nearly all land holds sufficient lime for ordinary crops; but, unless the soil is rich in this component (often the case on the coast), land used for cabbage crops would be benefited by a dressing of lime, of about thirty bushels to the acre, every three or four years. It is not only a chief constituent of the crop, but it renders the nitrogen in the soil more available.
Second.—That exceedingly rich land is required for a good crop of cabbages; therefore, as no crop can take up all the nitrogen and other plant food contained in an ap- plication of manure, the larger the amount of this plant food and the greater its concentration and availability, the more satisfactory will be the result.
Third.—That if the stable manure used is deficient in liquid excrement, or has been exposed to leaching rains, fifty tons should be supplemented either with good Peru- vian guano, or with nitrate of soda and an acid phosphate, or with night-soil. If stable, or any other bulky or com- posted manure is to be used, it is best to apply it broad- cast for cabbage, after the land has been thoroughly pre-~
CABBAGE. 145
pared by plow and harrow, and then to turn it into beds with a one-horse plow.
For applying bulky manures, either broadcast or in drill, for cabbages, Irish potatoes, or other crops, the truck-farm- ers who plant in the vicinity of Savannah on an exten- sive scale use a manure-spreader. Thisapphes the manure not only evenly at a certain rate, which is very well reg- ulated, but it cuts up and mixes the manure during the distribution. Of stable manure accumulated under shel- ter and well-rotted without having been fire-fanged, forty two-horse wagon loads to the acre on good land, which has previously been fertilized for a vegetable crop, is a fair manuring. If of less valuable quality, the quan- tity should be increased, or its character improved by adding guano, etc., as above recommended. | Instead of stable manure, a good compost applied in quantity pro- portionate to its quality, may be used. This may con- sist of Peruvian guano, or some reliable ammoniated superphosphate of lime (acid phosphate), or of cotton seed, or night-scil, composted with muck or leaf-mould. If there be a specific manure for cabbage, it 1s good, pure, fine bone-flour.
Of the crops raised by the truck-farmer, there are one or two of which I may claim, without egotism, to have produced stock of superior quality. Among these are the two members of the Brassica genus, cultivated under this latitude for the Northern markets. Being situated too distant from the city to procure a satisfactory sup- ply of stable manure, I cannot too urgently impress upon my fellow-farmers, similarly situated, the indispensability of plowing under the ‘‘ Clover of the South,” our cow pea, for successful cabbage culture, and indeed, although perhaps in less degree, for the growing of any other crop. It should precede for them every other application of manure for cabbages. Soda and potash are inter- changeable in the composition of plants. Thus a plant
7
146 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
grown on a soil rich in the former, but poor in the latter, will contain much more soda than potash, and vice versa. The large preponderance of soda in the following analysis of the cow pea is attributable to the fact, that it grew upon soil near Chapel Hill, N. C., which, in dry weather, is sometimes coated white with carbonate of soda.
TABLE SHOWING THE COMPARATIVE FERTILIZING VALUE OF COW PEA VINES AND RED CLOVER.
S | = 2 3 iS
8 2 au |acs/e/#| &
2 = oO Ss =s me 2
Bits S| & [sgjss/8iS| é
aq, Ris SS Hague, area I Cow pea vines...... 10.88) 17.13)4.96| 16.58/6.841.68]/0.'70/0.14] 18.20 Red clover, ripe....| 23.21; 1.07|8.21| 22.85/6.66/2.02]1.78/2.50| 32.60
Doubtless fine cabbages may be raised directly from the seed sown in place, instead of raising the plants ina seed-bed and then transplanting them. Experience and theory haye long since shown the expediency of trans- ferring the plants from the seed-bed to the open ground. By the former practice, nothing is gained and something: is lost. Apart from the advantages of transplanting— (see chapter on that subject), we have, on a very small area, say one hundred and fifty square feet, a sufficient number of plants to set an acre. With at least one work- ing in the first six weeks, of the land to which the plants are transferred, we avoid the possible damage to the soil, during six weeks of fall weather, by heavy packing rains, and we place the manure fresh and concentrated around the newly-formed roots, when the plant has sufficiently advanced in growth to make use of it.
TRANSPLANTING.
Cabbages in our southern climates are marketable, theugh not full-grown, in about five months from the seed, the time depending upon the degree of moisture and
CABBAGE. 147
the warmth of the season. Plants, if large enough, may be put out about November 1st, and successively, Whenever circumstances are favorable, until January Ist. After this date, successful marketing will be more doubtful, although in case of loss by freezing, well-grown, sturdy plants, put out up to February 1st, as far north as Savannah, may come in early enough to anticipate the Norfolk crop.
When a plant is puiled from the seed-bed, the tap-root will probably be so shortened as to encourage the emis- sion of numerous new fibrous roots. If not, its extremity should be pinched off. If the roots are puddled, they are more apt to take root promptly. ‘This is done by making a mush or mud of clay, fresh cow dung and water, or of clay, or soil and some weak solution of any fertilizer, stirring it up to form a mixture as thick as cream. ‘The roots of the plants are to be dipped in this, and if the plants are kept in the shade for twenty- four hours, young rootlets will commence to grow; but the plants must not be exposed to dryness, until the roots are in the soil. Puddling is not a necessary operation.
Should a drouth prevail during the whole proper transplanting season, watering during the process may be indispensable on very light soil. In such rare con- tingency a weak liquid manure is better than pure water.
The stems of all the plants of the Brassica genus are the most vulnerable part; to protect these from frost, to place the extremity of the root nearer to moisture, to encourage the formation of roots along the inserted stem, and finally, to secure the plant more firmly in the soil, it should be planted down to the stalk of the up- permost leaf, or very nearly to the crown of the plant.
Although occasionally planted close together, the proper distance for Winningstadt, and other compactly-growing varieties, is eighteen inches in the row, and for the Brunswick, and other large kinds, from twenty-one to
148 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
twenty-four inches, the beds, or rows, being three and a half and four feet apart respectively.
CULTIVATION.
Plants cultivated, like the cabbage, for their foliage, should be pushed by frequent stirring of the soil. No vegetable responds more promptly to generous treatment than this. As soon as the plants commence to grow, the rows may be barred off by the plow to loosen the soil, but it must by no means be deferred late enough to stunt them by injuring the roots. (See chapter on “ Insects”). Under ordinary circumstances, two or three plowings, exclusive of the above, the return of the soil to the beds, and a couple of hoeings may be sufficient for this crop.
In garden culture, and on a small scale, it is recom- mended to hoe every few days, and only while the dew is on; but the truck-farmer cannot make a hobby of his cabbage field to the neglect of other crops, however val- uable this particular one may be.
GATHERING THE CROP AND MARKETING.
The Northern demand generally commences early in March, and the crop should then be in full heading to meet it.
Judgment and experience are needed to cut cabbages properly. Before maturity, a head should be soft, that a little later will become hard and compact. Although a matured head presents a peculiar appearance, recog- nizable by an experienced grower, in part by becoming paler on top, it should be grasped and felt with the left hand, before the hatchet (which, with a little longer handle than usual, is the best cutting tool,) is applied. In preparing the heads for market, only a few outer leaves should be left to protect them from bruising in the pack- age and, for the same reason, the stems should be trim- med close to the heads. | |
CABBAGE, 149
By comparing the valuable organic matter contained in clover, cabbage, and turnips, it will be seen that the cabbage outranks both as food for cattle.
or Hat)
formers.
Albuminoids, or Flesh- | Formers Carbo-hy-
Crude Fibre.
drates,
apa! Re orce SD 09 3
The best use, therefore, to make of the se abet leaves, is to feed them to stock. Unless so utilized, the heads had better be cut out so that very little subsequent trim- ming may be required, and the leaves and stalks plowed under, instead of allowing them to grow, to the detriment of the land. The refuse, if preferred, may be conveyed to the compost heap, which should be at some distance from human habitation. By the use of sufficient cover- ing material, soil, or muck, the offensive gases (phos- phoretted and sulphuretted hydrogen) may be absorbed, With such bulky crops as the cabbage, packing should be done near the field. During the cooler morning hours and cloudy weather, it may proceed in the open air, but during hot sunshine, it were better under shel- ter, for fear of subsequent heating in the packages.
Crates should only be used when barrels cannot be had, the latter being preferred by the trade. They must be properly ventilated, however, by six holes in the sides. They are not double headed, but are covered with cloth, the contents generally bulging about six inches above the top.
_ Whatever package is used, the cabbage should be evenly and firmly packed, using considerable force, so that no displacements and consequent bruising may oc- cur during transportation. Each variety should be marketed in separate packages, and it is well, even with
150 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
cabbages, to assort the sizes, although this is not generally done. A barrel will contain from eighteen large Bruns- wicks to fifty of the Winningstadt, as small as should be shipped, although smaller will sell. An equal crop of the two varieties will average seven thousand two hun- dred and sixty plants per acre. With reliable seed, and under favorable circumstances, six thousand eight hun- dred of these should produce marketable heads.
From one hundred and seventy to two hundred barrels per acre is a good crop. One of the most successful gardeners near Savannah marketed one thousand seyen hundred barrels from eight acres, which averaged, in the Northern markets, four dollars per barrel gross. His crop, closely planted, was manured with forty two-horse- wagon loads of unsheltered stable manure and night-soil, supplemented with Peruvian guano.
My own shipments last year averaged four dollars and fifty-three cents, principally in the New York and Bos- ton markets. This may have been due to better sales rather than to the superior quality of the cabbages, and good packing may have had something to do with it.
It must, however, be stated that prices ruled unpre- cedentedly high during the season of 1882.
Freights from Savannah to New York and Boston were fifty cents per barrel. Commissions on sales were from seven to eight per cent.
Near Norfolk a local variety of cabbage is cultivated, known as ‘‘ Tait’s Extra Early.” The seeds of this are sown about the last of August, the crop is transplanted in November, and is ready for market about April 1st. Jersey Wakefield, and Large York, sown about Sept. 20th, and set out in early winter, will come in about the same time. Seeds of the last two kinds, if sown for the main crop, under glass in October, and the plants put out in February, will come in later, but produce much the best cabbages.
CABBAGE. 151
During a glut in the markets, Norfolk cabbages may not pay the freight. The maximum price is three dol- lars and a quarter per barrel.
It is probably owing to the fact that larger varieties are grown near Charleston and Savannah, that the early arrivals from Norfolk do not seriously affect the prices of shipments made at the same time from more southern and distant points.
The cabbage crop is marketed early enough to be fol- lowed by a planting of corn, to be succeeded in turn by fall turnips; or the land may be used for a second crop of Irish potatoes, in which the manure would be available. Such is the management of the spring cabbage crop for the Northern markets. The period during which the truck-farmer markets his crops for shipment, is confined to the five months from March to July inclusive. Ow- ing to the great number of small patches of all kinds of common vegetables, owned by negroes and whites near the city, the supply is so well up to the demand, that the majority of truck-farmers have found it unprofitable to attend the regular local market. If confined exclusively to the Northern, and the local sales of vegetables, the growers would have no income during seven months of the year; hence on the lines of the railroads truck-farming is generally an adjunct to cotton planting, and in Florida to that and to orange growing. Cabbage is one of the few vegetables that may be made available for the markets of the interior, where there arises a demand during the later winter months. The variety best adapted to this season is the more hardy American ‘Flat Dutch.” Seed for this crop may be sown from June to September; but the earlier the better, as cabbage to head in time for the winter crop should ‘‘ bud,” or commence to head, before cold weather. Owing to hot suns and heavy rains, and destructive insects, it is difficult to raise the plants. The soil for the seed-bed may be
152 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
richer than for the later crop. Although cabbage re- quires an open exposure, the seed-bed may be under the partial shade of trees, but not near enough to be under their drip. If tke seed-bed is protected by a screen, it should be high enough (seven to eight feet) and open enough to admit air and light. A mat made of our com- mon large cane admits of removal occasionally, and the thickening of the stem at the joints prevents the total exclusion of air and light. The plants for this crop are generally put out from August to the middle of October. There is no material difference in the management of the two crops. Cabbages are shipped in grain sacks or bar- rels to the West and the upper interior cities of Georgia. The prices in Atlanta were from two and a half to five cents per pound, at wholesale, for the crop of 1882.
It is now impossible to say what were the insect enemies of the cabbage in thecountry where it was indigenous, and before its succulence and delicacy had increased and its cultivation had extended over so large a part of the globe. We have imported two of its pests: the Rape-butterfly and the Cabbage plant-louse from Europe, and may in turn export some of our native plagues to other countries. The cabbage is certainly more infested by destructive in- sects than any other cultivated vegetable. Those to the attacks of which it is subject at the South, are:
. The Wavy-striped Flea-beetle (Haltica striolata). . The Cabbage Botys (Botys repetitalis).
. Cabbage Plutella (Plutella cruciferarum).
. The Cabbage Plusia (Plusia brassice).
. The Rape Butterfly (Pieris rape).
The Pot-herb Butterfly (Pieris oleracea).
. The Southern Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris Protodice). . The Zebra Caterpillar (Mamestra pieta).
. The Cabbage Pionea (Pionea rimosalis).
. The Cabbage Plant-louse (Aphis brassicae).
. The Harlequin Bug (Strachia histrionica).
RS SO OO HB OTB & WH
be
CABBAGE. 153
12. The Tarnished Plant-bug (Capsus oblineatus). 13. The False Chinch-Bug (Nysius destructor.)
FLEA-BEETLE.
The first in order to attack the plant in its earliest growth, and before the appearance of rough leaves, is the Flea-beetle in the perfect state. Lime or soot, dusted on the young plants, while wet with dew, seems distasteful enough to the insect to drive it off. The larva also in- jures the roots of larger cabbage plants.
GREEN CABBAGE-WORMS.
The little green worm of the Cabbage Botys (Botys re- petitalis), feeds upon the lower leaves of yourg plants,
Fig. 25.—CABBAGE PLUSIA (flusia brassice.) a, Larva; b, Chrysalis; c, Moth, male.
while webbed up near the ground with a few grains of sand. At present it does no material damage, but were it to become as numerous on the cabbage, as it sometimes is on the Rag-weed (Ambrosia artemisiefolia), it might be injurious. : ~The little pale-green, frisky worm of the ash-gray.
154 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
moth, the Cabbage Plutella (Plutella cruciferarum) 1 have often found on very young seedlings in cold-frames. This worm is sometimes found in great numbers, but it is fortunately too small to inflict serious harm. It gen- erally attacks only the outer leaves, when the cabbage has headed. Very many of the worms have the eggs of a little black inchneumon ily laid upon them. The cocoon of the worm resembles that of the fly, but it is more gauze like, while that of the fly looks like yellow opaque paper. If thesetwo worms were to become troublesome,
a. d Fig. 26.—RaPE BUTTERFLY (Pieris rape), a, Larva; b, Chrysalis; c, Female; d, Maile. they might be poisoned, but they are as yet not suf- ficiently injurious to warrant the trouble.
The most destructive green cabbage-worm atthe South, is the looping, or half-measuring, larva of the night- flying, or noctuid moth, the Cabbage Plusia (Plusia brassice). All cabbage growers know how these, with
the help of some others, honey-comb cabbages in the spring.
CABBAGE. 155
LIGHT-COLORED CABBAGE-WORMS.
The following three, viz., the Rape Butterfly (Pieris rap@), the Pot-herb Butterfly (P. oleracea), and the Southern Cabbage-Butterfly (P. Protodice), are white or cream-colored butterflies. The first two are more nu- merous and destructive than the third, our native South- ern species. ‘The larvae and butterflies bear a general resemblance to each other, though they differ in their markings, as will be seen by an examination of the engravings.
All of these cabbage-worms have their insect enemies. The Pot-herb Butterfly has lately been kept in check by
e itty Sas iin 5 we sears at
Fig. 27.—POT-HERB BUTTERFLY (Pris olerceca). a, Larva; 0, Butterfly ; c, Chrysalis.
its own appropriate parasite (Pteromalus puparum), a little greenish wasp-like insect, less than one-tenth of an inch in length, with four delicate transparent wings. These butterflies almost invariably deposit their eggs on the under surface of the leaves. They hibernate gen- erally in the chrysalis state, attaching themselves to fences, stems of bushes, etc., in the vicinity.
If boards were fixed in the cabbage field, about two inches above the ground, these worms would probably resort to them, but such methods to capture them and diminish their number, after the infliction of the dam-
156 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
age, particularly on a large scale, and without codpera- tion, would be impracticable.
Fig. 28.—sSOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY (Pieris Protodice). a, Larva; 0, Chrysalis.
ciently numerous to do much harm. The Cabbage Pionea (P. rimosalis,) I have never found upon the cabbage.
REMEDIES FOR CABBAGE-WORMS.
The numerous deterrent remedies recommended as ef- fective against the cabbage-worms, although many may
Wwe
Fig. 29.—soUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY—Female.
be distasteful or offensive to them, are all comparatively worthless. This is owing partly to the impossibility of their being made to reach every part of the plant haunted by the insect, particularly the under surface of the leaf, and the interior of the head. Among the proposed
CABBAGE. - 157
remedies are: red pepper, soot, lime, ashes, salt, sulphur, solution of copperas, yeast, soap-suds, etc. Water heat- ed to one hundred and forty, or even to one hundred and sixty degrees, was at one time highly praised as an insecticide; but the same objection applies to it as to the others. Were it not hazardous to apply to the eatable por- tions of vegetables, like the cabbage, etc., poisons danger- ous to man, we would have an effective means in Paris green or London purple for the removal of these insects.
The remedy for cabbage-worms, tested and recom-
7a NS i Crier’) aa
\)
cera eR SETAC MOM EATEN “SOL
Fig. 30.—ZEBRA CATERPILLAR (Mamestra picta). a, Larva; b, Moth.
mended by our best authority on such matters, Prof. Riley, is Pyrethrum powder. This is also called ‘‘Dal- matian,” or ‘‘ Persian Insect Powder,” and the name ‘* California Buhach,” is given to the fresher and there- fore more effective Californian product. This is not a mere deterrent, rendering the part of the plant it touches obnoxious to the worm, but it acts as a poison by con- tact, convulsing and paralyzing the insect. While this powder is very effective with some kinds of insects, it is.
158 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
comparatively harmless to others, and is more effective on young worms than on older ones of the same species. It is more fatal to the caterpillars of Pieris butterflies than to those of the Plusia moth. The powder does not always kill the worm, but merely so disables it that it falls to the ground, where it will readily become the prey of ants and other natural enemies.
Pyrethrum seems to owe its virtues to a volatile oil, and its effects are not lasting in the open air. It may be used in the form of dry powder, mixed, if fresh, with from ten to twenty parts of flour, and blown by means of a bellows, or dusted upon the plant. It may also be used in the form of an alcoholic tincture, as a tea or de- coction, or even a mere solution or infusion in water, and applied by means of an atomizer or sprinkler. The fumes of burning Pyrethrum are applicable only in greenhouses or in dwelling rooms, which may be cleared of flies and mosquitoes by its use.
PLANT-LICE.
The astounding fecundity of plant-lice (Aphides), and their peculiar habit of attacking stunted plants, have already been mentioned. If the season be not too far advanced, or the plants too large, a badly infested cab- bage should be pulled up, removed from the field, and its place supplied by a clean and healthy one.
The same valueless applications, with the addition of tobacco water and snuff (tobacco smoke in greenhouses), as in the case of the cabbage-worms, haye been also recommended for plant-lice. Pyrethrum may be better than any other, but it would be useless to apply reme- dies to a large, badly infested cabbage, in the hope that it would ever become marketable. If of any effect, its ap- plication might destroy some plant-lice, but I have never carefully examined an infested plant without finding some of the natural enemies of the aphides at work
CABBAGE. 159
among them, and, if left alone, the lice would eventu- ally succumb. An effective application would probably destroy friend as well as foe. My only success in fighting plant-lice was by transferring the larvee of the lady-bird from less valuable ruta bagas to cauliflowers or cabbages.
The best advice in the premises is: prepare the land thoroughly, manure it richly, and cultivate the crop fre- quently and carefully, thus securing such vigorous and luxuriant growth that the losses by cabbage-lice will be insignificant.
INSECT ENEMIES OF PLANT-LICE.
The insect enemies of the plant-lice are legion, else they would devour every green living thing upon the earth. Some of these enemies are enumerated below. One or two of the species of lady-birds may be confined to other plant-lice than the Aphis brassice. 'The lady- birds, both in the perfect and larval state, feed upon little else than plant-lice. Of these there are:
First.—The Nine-spotted Lady-bird (Coccinella 9-nota- ta). Nearly round, brick-red, with nine black spots.
Second.—The Two-spotted Lady-bird (Coccinella bi- punctata). Similar to No. 1, smaller, with two black spots.
Third.—The Spotted Lady-bird (Megilla maculata). Imported from Europe. Pink, with large black spots.
Fourth.—The Thirteen-spotted Lady-bird (Hippo- damia 13-punctata). Brick-red,with thirteen black spots.
Fifth.—The Trim Lady-bird (Cycloneda sanguinea). It has no black spots.
Sixth.—The Convergent Lady-bird (Hippodamia con- vergens). Deep orange-red, marked with black and white.
Seventh.—The Fifteen-spotted Mysia (Mysia 15- punctata). From light gray to chestnut-brown, with fifteen black spots.
Kighth.—The Twice-stabbed Lady-bird (Chilocorus bivulnerus). Highly polished black, with two red spots.
160 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Besides these, there are many less common kinds.
Prominent among the enemies of the plant-lice are the larve of the Golden-eyed and Lace-winged flies, called Aphis-lions.
Other enemies are the larve of Syrphus-flies, somewhat resembling a leech in shape. Besides being preyed upon by all these insects, the plant-lice are subject to several genera of tiny parasites included in the genus Aphidius.
Fig. 31.—HARLEQUIN CABBAGE BUG (Strachia histrionica). a, Larva; b, Pupa; c, Eggs; d, Perfect Bug.
They have mostly black bodies, and are about one-twen- tieth of an inch in length. The little round, plump, smooth bodies in a colony of aphides, or remaining on the leaf of a plant after the removal of the colony by other enemies, are dead parasitized aphides containing the parasitic pupa of an ichneumon fly.
The Harlequin-bug made its appearance in Georgia, from Mexico, about the commencement of Mr. Lincoln’s first presidency, from which circumstances it received the local name of ‘‘ Lincoln-bug,” by which it is still known ‘in Southern Georgia. In 1867 it had reached North Carolina.
This insect winters in its perfect state, and the first
CABBAGE. 161
that are seen in spring should always be destroyed. The larvae puncture and suck the leaves of the cabbage, giving them the appearance of being scorched. Strange to say, while this insect is on the increase, and the damage it inflicts considerable, no birds, or insect enemies seem to prey uponit. Probably, in good time, these will both present themselves for the feast, when its conspicuous black, yellow, and reddish colorings will render it an easy prey. Hand-picking in the egg, larva, and perfect state, is the only remedy yet known.
Two of the true bugs are sometimes very destructive to the cabbages and turnips. The False Chinch-bug and the Tarnished Plant-bug.
The False Chinch-bug (Nysius destructor), much resembles the true Chinch-bug a in general appearance, but that ~ has a black head and thorax, and two conspicuous black spots on the front wings, while in this, the False-bug, the color is more uniform ‘ and of apaler tarnished brown. ._.,
: <: , . Fig. 32.—FALSE CHINCH-BUG The two insects differ in their (Nysius destructor.) habits; while the Chinch-bug Be Bat 5 te tarare Insect confines itself to the grains and grasses, this feeds on several garden plants and the grape. The engray- ing fig. 32, gives the larva at 0, and the perfect in- sect atc. ‘This, like related insects, feeds by sucking the juices of plants by means of its beak, causing them to wilt. Like the Chinch-bug, it passes the winter under weeds and rubbish, and clean culture with the burning of all trash at the approach or winter, will aid in keeping it in subjection.
The Tarnished Plant-bug (Capsus oblineatus), fig. 33, In its general color is dirty yellow, sometimes green- ish, with markings of dark brown or black. It is a more
162 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
general feeder than the preceding, and besides plants in the vegetable and flower garden, it attacks vari- ous fruit trees, especially when these “sare young. ‘The principal remedies thus far recommended are tobacco water and cresylic soap. The insect is very fond of the cabbage, especially when it is in bloom, and it has been suggested to allow a patch of cabbages to run up to flower in order to attract the insects which can be more readily destroyed, when thus assembled, than
Fig. 33. —TARNISHED : PLANT-BUG (Capsus When scattered over a wide area.
elinagins). The lLady-birds or Lady-bugs, in their perfect state are well-known insects, and the brief
description of the leading species here given will allow them to be recognized. The larval form, in which they are so useful is not so well known. The engraving fig. 34, gives their general appearance. The color is often blue, or ' lead color, with orange and black markings. a They are remarkably active and run about with Fie. 34. great rapidity, as they feed not only upon plant reer s lice but upon other insects. The one repre- (Hippoda- sented in fig. 34, is the larva of Hippodamia aia convergens, and has done good service in keep-
ing the Colorado Potato-bug in check, by feeding upon
its soft larvae.
THE CAULIFLOWER. 163
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CAULIFLOWER (Brassica oleracea var. Botrytis).
Choufleur, French; Biumenkohl, German; Blamkool, Dutch; Cavoli fiori, Italian; and Berza florida, Spanish.
The Cauliflower is the most curious, most delicate, and most valuable member of the genus Brassica. The part used, called the ‘‘ curd,” consists of the undeveloped flower buds, with their stems, etc., forming, when not too much expanded, a firm, white, compact head.
PROFITS PER ACRE.
Of the various crops grown by the truck-farmer, this, when all the peculiar conditions for its successful culture are present, can be made the most profitable. Peter Henderson, in his valuable ‘Gardening for Profit,” as- sures us that his average proceeds from an acre, through several years, had been fifteen hundred dollars, and, that in one very favorable season, it reached nearly three thousand dollars (ten thousand to twelve thousand plants to the acre). ‘I'wo years ago, the New York ** Sun” re- ported as exceptionally high, the net sales of two barrels of cauliflower, in prime condition, from Cutchogue, icy L, at nineteen dollars each. Some of my own crop of last year, April 4th, 1882, brought, in the New York market, per bushel crate, containing an average of twenty- two heads of prime quality, but not very large, eight dol- lars and fifty cents gross, or seven dollars and sixty cents net. That portion of the crop shipped in crates to New York, averaged, for the first quality and ‘‘culls,” five dollars and sixty-five cents gross. The first, shipped
164 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH:
in barrels, March 25th, containing forty-two No. 1, and forty-seven No. 2, netted twenty-four dollars and seventy- five cents per barrel.
The average gross sales per head of No. 1, in New York, were at thirty-seven and nine-tenths cents. The average gross sales per head of No. 1, in Boston, were at thirty-seven and five-tenths cents. The sales by another firm were not quite so satisfactory.
What number of plants to the acre, under favorable conditions, he may be able to nurse up to the production of marketable heads, will, of course, depend upon the gardener himself. 3
The Cauliflower is considered the queen among vege- tables, and the supply has never been equal to the de- mand, though there are hundreds of acres devoted to it on Long Island, for the New York market. As seen from the prices quoted above, this vegetable is only within the command of persons of means. Fortunately for the market gardener, there are many who think as did Dr. Johnson: ‘‘ Of all the flowers of the garden give me the cauliflower.”
Besides large quantities used for pickling, etc., there were marketed from Long Island, in 1879, one hundred thousand pounds of cauliflower.
LOCATION AND SOIL.
The cauliflower can never become a vegetable of uni- versal cultivation, for the reason, that it will not succeed if far removed from the moisture and the saline atmos- phere of its native locality, the sea coast, unless, in- deed, the required moisture can be supplied by irriga- tion. Erfurt, in the interior of Germany, produces per- haps the finest cauliflowers of the European Continent. ° They are grown between open ditches, or small canals, on ‘‘ lands” so narrow as to admit of water being thrown by hand from each marginal ditch to the middle of each
THE CAULIFLOWER. 165
“land.” In watering, a scoop attached to a somewhat elastic handle, is used, thus drenching the whole crop.
The culture is often impracticable at only a short dis- tance from a favorable location. While the northern shore of Long Island is, par excellence, the cauli- flower garden of the United States; the southern shore is comparatively unfit for its growth. On the Peninsula of Florida, there must be many situations along either its west or east coast, where the soil being suitable, this vegetable may be grown with great success, and it is strange that the farmers of that State have not yet made it one of the favorite vegetables for shipment. It ought to do well near Norfolk, but the farmers there consider it a troublesome crop.
Owing to the heat and dryness prevailing during the season of ripening; the seed of cauliflower is rarely grown in this country, but is imported from Europe. One American variety, the ‘‘ Snow Ball,” has lately been highly recommended, I do not yet knowit sufficiently to either condemn or praise it; but what little I have seen, leads me to consider it a small leaved ‘‘ Dwarf Erfurt,” from American grown seed.
It is necessary, even in a greater degree than with the common cabbage, to secure seed of good strain. Though all the other elements of success may be present, with seed of poor quality, failure is certain. Instead of the beautiful, snow white *‘curd,” more like a flower in its delicate beauty than an edible vegetable, the green leaves push their way through the loose, deformed head, or the plant grows up into a stalk without heading, being per- fectly unmarketable, and only fit for cattle feed.
VARIETIES.
As in the case of cabbage, a crop of cauliflower may be grown for winter, and one for heading in spring, and, as with cabbage, success with the winter crop is most uncer-
166 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
tain. Different varieties are adapted to each season. While resistance to the effects of cold is the chief requisite of the first, ability to withstand the heat is a necessity for the spring crop. The ‘‘ Algiers,” the variety grown so extensively in the French African colony for the winter supply of Europe (whence its name), is a good sort for the winter crop. It makes an enormous plant, and forms a large, massive, fine white head. ‘The seed is sown, like that of cabbages, from May to September; but, owing to the greater susceptibility of cauliflower to heat, it is even
Fig. 85.—LENORMAND CAULIFLOWER.
more difficult to grow the plants. Another drawback in this latitude is the liability to have the crop killed out by freezing about the time it commences to mature. An amount of cold several degrees above that injurious to cabbage will kill cauliflower plants outright.
The distance apart for the Algiers and other bulky va- rieties is two by four feet. This variety is recommended to Florida growers for a winter crop, to be marketed in February, the seeds being sown early in September. For the
THE CAULIFLOWER. 167
main, or shipping, spring crop, the early dwarf varieties, which may be expected to mature before May, that 1s, before the weather becomes dry and hot, are the kinds to be selected. The ‘‘ Very Early Dwarf Erfurt,” the ‘‘Short- stemmed Lenormand,” and “‘ Early Paris,” in the order named, are the choice varieties.
The plants should, like cabbage and other plants, be put out dripping wet, about, or soon after, the first of January, so as to escape the severest cold, which, in the latitude of Savannah, may generally be looked for in the latter part of December. The seed should therefore be sown under glass in cold frames, from November 15th to December 1st. In Florida, of course, it may be sown earlier, and the plants be put out sooner, as there is little danger to be anticipated from winter killing.
CULTIVATION.
The varieties are of such dwarfish habit (particularly is this so with the Erfurt), that it is not advisable to sow earlier in the open air, and to prick out under glass. When of a sufficient age to “‘ curd,” if growth is retarded, they may in the seed-bed form heads no larger than mar- bles. It is, therefore, important with this vegetable, that the plants suffer no hindrance or stunting in growth, but be pushed forward from the start, withouty however, al- lowing them to become spindling or too delicate. From eighteen to twenty-one inches in the rows, and these three and a half feet apart (seven thousand one hundred and eleven to eight thousand two hundred and ninety- seven plants to the acre) is sufficient distance for the early varieties. ‘The manure, the depth and kind of preparation of the soil, and the cultivation of the cauli- flower, are identical with that of cabbage, with the only difference, that the former perhaps requires a little more care, and will certainly reward extra attention.
168 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
PROTECTING.
Bright sunshine tans or tarnishes the snowy whiteness of the ‘‘ curd,” deteriorating its quality. As soon, there- fore, as the head commences to be visible, it should be protected from the light, either by tying up all the large leaves over the head, or by pinning two of them together by a little stick. Protection is given more expeditiously and the light excluded by using one of the larger leaves, torn from the plant to cover the ‘‘ curd” closely, tucking it between the head and surrounding leaves. If there are any caterpillars of the cabbage-butterfly on the plant, they are likely to be found on the lower surfaces of the covering. When the cutting of the crop has been com- menced, leaves for covering are to be taken from plants already cut. If the protecting leaf has been carefully adjusted, the operation need rarely be done more than once, as the heads mature three or four days after they -become plainly visible. The several lobes forming the head should not be allowed to separate, or the head to become loose and expanded, before cutting for market; solidity being one of the requisites of good quality.
CUTTING AND PACKING.
When the ‘‘ curd ” is mature, the leaves will be seen to spread out. The proper instrument for cutting is a strong sharp knife, or small hatchet. A couple only of the larger leaves are left, which are folded over the head for protection against bruising in the packages. Heads less than four inches in diameter, those tanned by the sun, or of an ‘‘ off color” from any other cause, or blem- ished by crickets, cut-worms, or cabbage-worms, or too much expanded, should be classed as culls, and packed separately. If white and compact, a small size is less objectionable than bad appearance. Each ‘‘ curd,” at least of the first quality, should be covered by a piece of
THE CUCUMBER. 169
smooth, soft, but tough white paper, which will admit of being tucked between the head and the leaves without tearmg. ‘The heads should be packed evenly and snugly in layers in barrels or crates, as the case may be. Each layer may be separated from the other by a piece of brown paper; if a barrel is used, the package should be thor- oughly ventilated. During cool weather, cauliflower may be safely shipped in barrels or barrel crates; but as soon as the weather becomes warm, the usual bushel crate is better, as affording a smaller mass of material to engender heat. In New York and Philadelphia, cauli- flower is sold by the package, and in Boston by the ‘lozen. INSECTS.
Insects infest the cauliflower and cabbage alike, and the remedies are the same in each case.
CHAPTER XV i.
THE CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus.)
Coucombre, French; Gurke, German; Komkommer, Dutch; Citrinolo, Italian ; Pepino or Cohombro, Spanish.
The Cucumber is one of the earliest known vegetables. Moses mentions it as abundant in Egypt. ‘‘ We remem- ber the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the eu- cumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.”—Numbers xi:5.
A native of the East Indies, it was introduced into England in 1573. By means of thin plates of tale or mica (specularta—plates of lapis specularis), Pliny tells
170 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
us, the Roman emperor Tiberius, who was fond of cucum- bers, had them throughout the year. The forcing con- sisted in growing the cucumbers in boxes or baskets of earth, protected in cold weather by these plates. ‘The cucumber is a vegetable that is very easily grown, and is so productive when properly manured and cultivat- ed; it is so universally popular at the North, and is consumed so largely, that when the season permits the marketing of the greater part of the produce, it 1s one of the best paying crops. One of the drawbacks of truck- farming is, that whether the entire product of a crop is harvested or not, as soon as the same vegetable matures at a point farther North, it comes into market in a condi- tion fresher and more acceptable to the trade, and, there- fore, excludes from profitable sale all shipments of the article from the more southern and distant points. Thus, when the Savannah cucumbers are in, those from Flor- ida will be thrust out of the market; and the same fate awaits those from Georgia, as soon as the Norfolk crop matures. The season of 1882 was a fortunate one for the Savannah growers, nearly the entire yield of cucumbers having been marketed. While from two hundred to three hundred crates may be considered a fair crop; one farmer gathered one thousand three hundred and fifty erates from about an acre and a half, or nine hundred crates per acre, on very richly manured ground.
VARIETIES,
The cnly variety grown for shipment is the ‘“‘ Improved White Spine.” In cucumber cultivation, seeds of home growth may be used. Seeds of more than one year old will be more productive, and run less to vine, than fresh seeds. They may be sown in the vicinity of Savannah ac- cording to season, about March Ist to the 15th, and earlier or later, respectively, south or north of that lati-
THE CUCUMBER. yA i
tude. In the middle of Florida, it may be safe to plant any time in January,
SOIL AND SOWING.
The land best adapted to the cucumber is a moist, warm, light, sandy loam; although sandy soil is not so productive, the finest and earliest cucumbers may be grown on it if highly and properly fertilized. A manure rich in nitrogen will produce fruit of the de- sirable dark-green color. The usual method of planting cucumbers is in hills, either four or five, or even six feet apart each way, ac- cording to the nature and fertility of the soil. The land being properly plowed and har- i rowed, furrows are run by the plow, crossing i each other at right angles. At each crossing |AMi one or two shoyelfuls of good stable manure, }R' or compost, or failing these, an equivalent quantity of any other good fertilizer is inti- mately mixed with the soil, and a hill, flaton pig 36, top, and a little elevated above the general WHITE-SPINE
CUCUMBER.
surface, is made with the hoe. In a furrow
one-half to one inch deep, made by the hand across the middle of the hill, sow from ten to fifteen seeds. A week later, whether any of the seeds first planted are up or not, a second sowing is made, at a sufficient distance from the first to avoid disturbing it, and always on the same side of it. A week later still, a third sowing may be made on the other side of the first. Should a frost kill the growing plants of the first seeding, before those of the second are up, plants from the second may be made available for the crop, The same rule applies to the last sowing.
CULTIVATION.
When probability of frost has passed, and the plants are sufficiently large, they are to be thinned to two or
192 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
three in the hill. If the seed comes up well, and the plants are crowding each other, another partial thinning may be necessary. I prefer to manure, as for cabbage, in the furrow, and to drill in the seed on beds six feet apart, and to thin so as to leave the plants finally about twelve inches apart in the row; leaving single plants, three sowings being made as before. At the first thin- ning, the soil should be drawn by the hoe to the stems up to the seed leaves. The earth is to be kept loose and clean between the rows by plow and cultivator, and be- tween the plants by the hoe, until the vines have taken possession of the ground. [ff the plant is stopped when it has two rough leaves beyond the second, that is, if the end of the vine is pinched off, lateral fruiting branches willbe emitted, which will be early in bearing and more productive than the main vine. ‘This operation of stop- ping is rarely practised in extensive planting.
GATHERING AND PACKING.
If the fruits are cut instead of being pulled off, there will be no injury to the vine; nor will the cucumber wilt so rapidly. A transverse section of the fruit should be nearly round, before the cucumber is picked; but quite green and perfect in shape. None of imperfect form, short, round and contracted at the flower end, or with the slightest tendency to turn yellow, or large and over- grown, should be shipped, as they will affect the market value of the whole package. ‘The cucumbers should be carefully laid in the crates, or be well shaken down, as directed in the chapter on ‘‘ Packing,” and the crate be oversfull when nailed up
SEED SAVING.
The White-spined cucumber becomes white instead of yellow, when ripe. The whitest, largest and longest should be selected for seed. Cut them lengthwise into
THE CUCUMBER. Lis
halves, and take out the seeds and inner pulp by hand, dropping them into a barrel or pail. The mass should be stirred daily and allowed to remain four or five days, to enable fermentation to remove the gelatinous matter which surrounds the seeds. These are then washed out in several waters, thoroughly dried, and stored away in bags. INSECTS.
The insects which infest the cucumber are:
First. —The Cucumber Flea-beetle ( Haltica cucumeris).
Second.—The Striped Cucumber-beetle (Diabrotica vittata).
Third.—The Twelve-spotted Squash-beetle or Striped- bug (Diabrotica 12-punctata).
Fourth.—The Pickle-worm (Phacellura nitidalis).
Fifth.—The Grass-worm (Laphrygma frugiperda).
The little flea-beetle, like its kindred on the cabbage
Fig. 37. CUCUMBER FLEA-BEETLE (Haltica cu- cumeris. )
“ Fig. 38.—STRIPED Back. Side. CUCUMBER-BEETLE Fig. 39.—LARVA OF STRIPED (Diabrotica vittata.) CUCUMBER-BEETLE. and other plants, may be driven off by freshly-slaked lime or soot. The Striped-bug appears early in the spring as a com-
174 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
plete insect, destroying the young leaves. If numerous, these insects may be poisoned by Paris green, one part to ten of flour, before they can deposit their eggs for a new brood, of which there are three at the South. After hatching from the egg, the duration of its larval existence is about | | four weeks, during which time its injury Fig. 40. to the roots of plants, by boring into them, TWELVE-SPOTTED may be considerable. ‘The past season, SQUASH-BEETLE ( (Diabrotica 12- an insect was reported to have been very punctat.) destructive to cucumber vines near Savan- nah, by injuring the roots. Fram the description it must have been the larva of the Diabrotica, or 1t may
Fig. 41. _POOKLE-WORM Piaetars ‘nitidalis).
have been the true wire-worm—the larva of small snap- ping | beetles; but most probably the former. It has been said in a recent work, ‘Of all the multifarious remedies pro- posed against the attacks of this insect, there is none so effectual, or so cheap in the end, as in- closing the young vines in boxes, which are open at the bottom, Fig. 42.—mors or prcxitn- and covered with millinet on the thence top. Such boxes are made ata trivial cost, and if properly stored away each season after use, will last for many years.” The private gentleman, having half a dozen cucumber
vines in his garden, may avail himself of such a t
THE EGG-PLANT. 175
remedy, but the farmer, who fails to protect his crop by destroying the first insects by poison, in case of their visitation in devastating numbers, and to whom the alternative is offered, would probably give up the cucum- ber to Diabrotica, and betake himself to another crop, rather than use from forty thousand to eighty thousand boxes for the protection of from six to twelve acres.
The third of the beetles infesting the cucumber, the
Fig. 43,—GRASS-WORM (Laphrygma frugip2rda. ) Fig. 44.—LARVA OF GRASS-WORM.
twelve-spotted Diabrotica is not so destructive as the former species.
The cucumber is the regular food plant of the Pickle- worm (Phacellura nitidalis) while the more omnivorous Grass-worm (Laphrygma frugiperda) only occasionally feeds upon it. Both these lepidopterous insects become numerous too late in the season to affect the crop of the truck-farmer seriously.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE EGG-PLANT, OR “GUINEA <QUASH.” (Solanum melongenda.)
Aubergine, French ; Hierpflanze, German; and Melanzana, Italian.
The Egg-plant is of tropical origin, and was introduced into England from Africain 1597. Itderives its common name from a small white variety which is similar in shape and appearance to the egg of a goose.
176 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Only a very few years since, the demand for egg-plants (as the fruit is called), was so limited in the New York market, that but a few could be sold, and it did not pay to plant a crop for shipment. This was probably in part owing to the fact, that the cultivation of this plant at the North is attended with trouble, in consequence of its tenderness, and a successful crop is doubtful. Lat- terly a more general taste for the vegetable seems to have been developed, and its consumption has greatly increased. As late as July 8th, last (and egg-plant had been in the Savan- nah merket from Florida since January), a ship- ment of my own, averag- ing about sixty-five fruits to the barrel, sold in the New York market at six dollars per barrel. The farmers of the southern part of Florida, from ch Tampa to Key West, be- Fig. 45.—Eg¢-FLANT—“'NEW YORE ing exempt from frost,
PURPLE IMPROVED. He é may produce such tropi- cal vegetables at will, as far as season is concerned. On Dec. ict of last year, egg-plants and tomatoes were mature at Clear Water. The only variety cultivated for market is the ‘‘ New York Purple Improved.” This being a tropical fruit, or berry, it must reach its greatest development and mature its seed most perfectly at the South, for which reason it is’ not only possible, but ad- visable to use seed of home growth in preference to that produced at the North.
The seed and young plants require more of a tropical
heat (65° to 70°) for their germination and continued
aS
THE EGG-PLANT. 17%
healthy growth, than any other crop, and should, there- fore, be sown by themselves under glass in cold frames. After sowing, the bed should be well watered and the glass placed on, and not removed until the seed is up. In case of hot sunshine before germination, the sash should be partially shaded. If it is contemplated to prick out the plants into other frames, the sowing may be as early as the middle of January; otherwise ten or fifteen days later. The management while under glass is about the same as with other tender plants, with the exception that they require more careful exclusion of cold air, and have more frequent protection frem slight variations of temperature by the glass, than the tomato, pepper, etc., and they will bear a greater degree of heat without being drawn. No vegetable with which I am acquainted, can withstand drouth better than the ege- plant, which bears and matures its fruit under a degree of heat and dryness that would be fatal to other crops. If there be a sufficiency of decayed vegetable matter in the soil, this crop may be allotted to the sandiest part of the farm. If planted in low, altogether thoroughly drained, land, the plants are apt to die off about the time they commence to bloom or bear, a peculiarity more or less common to all the Solanum family. To mature early fruit of the size and quality required by the trade, a shoyelful or two of fermented stable manure, or compost, should be mixed in each hill. The hills should be two and a half by four feet apart. The cultivation is about the same as that of any other hill crop. The earth should be slightly drawn to the stems during the hoeing, not suf- ficiently, however, to touch any of the lower branches. The plow and horse-hoe, once each, run between the rows, and two hoeings should be sufficient for the crop in light unbaked land.
To cut through the tough stems, without disturbing the plants, a thin-bladed, sharp knife, ora pair of nippers
178 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
is necessary. ‘To be marketable at good prices, the fruit should be well grown, weighing from one to three pounds but not old, nor light colored and tough; small ones are not readily salable. ‘They are to be carefully handled to avoid bruising and injuring the gloss. Sherten the stems to about half an inch and wrap each in paper. It is then to be firmly and evenly packed in crates, or in well ventilated double-headed barrels. The Flea-beetle frequently attacks the plants when young, for which the usual remedy of lime or soot is applicable, but rarely necessary.
The large green Tomato-worm is sometimes found on the egg-plant. Should these, the Tortoise-beetle (Cassi- da Texana) or the false Colorado-beetle (Doryphora junc- ta), already mentioned, ever become destructive, Paris green might be applied before the fruit, or berry, is
formed.
CHAPTER XIX.
KALE, BORECOLE, OR SPROUTS (Brassica oleracea—var. sabellica.)
Chowvert, French ; Krauskohl or Briunkohl, German; Berenkool, Dutch; Cavolo aperto, Italian; Col, Spanish.
Kale is a variety of the cabbage of great excellence for the table. It is distinguished from the other varieties by its open growth and its more or less curled or wrinkled leaves. It is the most hardy of all, and with- stands a severe degree of cold; indeed, it is not consid- ered to have reached the perfection of flavor and tender- ness, until it has been frozen.
Among the many varieties of kale some are dwarfish in habit, while others grow from four to five feet high.
KALE, BORECOLE, OR SPROUTS. 179
Kale is rarely grown at the extreme South for the Northern markets, its extensive cultivation being con- fined to Norfolk, Va. The price in the New York market rarely exceeds two dollars and twenty-five cents per barrel. The varieties cultivated are: a local one, called the ‘‘ Blue Curled,” and the “‘Green Curled Scotch;” the former by far the most extensively.
The preparation and character of the soil, quantity and kind of manure, and the cultivation of the crop must be similar to that of the other varieties of cab- bage. The ‘‘ Blue Curled ” is sown from August 10th to September 15th, at: Nor- folk, in drills thirty inches apart, at the rate of a pound and a half of seed to the acre; the plants are eventually thinned to a stand of from four to eight inches in the row. The ‘‘Scotch Curled,” to a much smaller extent, ig sown in seed-beds early in August, and transplanted in September from eight to ten inches apart in the row.
The crop is cut for shipment in March. The size of the plants, when cut, varies from six inches to two feet across, and, therefore, the number which will fill a barrel varies greatly. It must be very firmly packed in well- ventilated barrels, as with the best care, it will shrink in consequence of its loose growth. It is subject to the same insects as the cabbage, and, sown as it is in the open field in the fall, is affected by the young cut- -worms. See chapter on ‘‘ Insects.”
180 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
CHAPTER XX.
LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa).
Laitue, French ; Garten-salat, German; Latuw, Dutch; Latiuga, Italian ; Lechuga, Spanish.
The Lettuce is a hardy annual which was first culti- vated in England in 1562, but whence it was introduced is not known.
Owing to its freedom from insect depredations (exclu- sive of the cut-worm), its large consumption, and the ease with which it can be grown, lettuce is one of the most important crops of the Northern farm-gardener, notwithstanding the fact, that, of late years, it has be- come subject to a disease. In New York, the winter and very early spring markets are supplied from hot-beds, in which it is grown in and near Boston, where a specialty is made of this vegetable. In consequence of this ex- tensive supply of superior and fresh stock, the more wilted condition of shipments from the South renders the cultivation of it here unprofitable. It is grown, how- ever, tv a considerable extent at Norfolk.
A good sort should form a solid and large head. The varieties used at Norfolk are: ‘‘ White Cabbage ” and the ‘‘Boston Market,” or ‘‘'Tennis Ball,” the former for open field culture, and the latter under glass.
The seed is sown under glass in September, the plants put five or six inches apart, and the crop is ready for market in February and March.
The trouble with this crop is the lability of the plants to damp off under glass.
For the open field, the seed is sown about the middle of September in a bed, and not quite as deep as cabbage seeds, the plants are transferred to flat beds, setting them
THE ONION. 181
about nine inches apart each way, to be cultivated en- tirely by the hoe, or in rows eighteen inches apart, the plants standing eight inches in the row, which will ad- mit the use of a narrow cultivator between the rows.
This crop is marketable in April.
Any well-drained soil, made fine and mellow, and well manured will produce good lettuce.
After cleaning, or trimming the heads of soiled, or discolored leaves, they are firmly packed for shipment in crates, barrels being unfit for this crop.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ONION (Allium Cepa).
Ognon, French; Zwiebel, German ; Vie, Dutch ; Cipolla, Italian ; Cebolla, Spanish ; Alho, Portuguese.
The alliaceous esculents are of great antiquity and of universal cultivation in every civilized country, some na- tionalities preferring one variety, and others a different one. The same genus includes the Leek (Adliwm Porrum), the Chives (A. Schenoprasum), the Garlic (A. sativum), the Shallot (A. Ascalonicum), and the Rocambole (A. Scorodoprasum). The onion (Alliwm Cepa) is the only species with which the truck-farmer has any concern. There are many varieties of the onion, only a few of which are grown for the Northern markets.
ANALYSIS.
According to Prof. C. A. Goessman, a crop of four hundred and forty-two bushels contained:
182 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Possum OxIde\4nt te oes ok bese oe Cae Saree Cee ele 38.51 Ibs GTI OKIE, < + < Sicyeahe-hs. © ase coutestne aletielp obra ereteberse Sle ete 20° MAPNESIUM (ORIG. oi. sibs cms Cu ete se eset ee ail ars 3.60 <“ GaleIUIM OKIME. 4. pn wenn Sone Rese sige epee eee as 8.20 Sesqui-oxide Of irOn.... 2.1... ee eeee cee e cece cece eceees 0.58 ‘* Sileie ACIOs Ss acces dec cae Pet awe > cles weet ese bet 3.33‘ PHOSPHOTIC ACID y.)vi..'slrelee fins op sce Sees Wem aes 15.80 ‘‘ Sulphuric acid... 2.60. ccc cece cece eee cece cee sceee ven 20,817 Nitrogen. Janes < wan ene hep eee ods ee nn ale cena se 48.63 ‘
The peculiar characteristic odor is due to a volatile or- ganic compound containing sulphur.
Onions are used medicinally as stimulants, diuretics, and anthelmintics (worm medicines). Boiled or roasted, they form emollient poultices. The fresh root irritates or reddens the skin, and the expressed juice is sometimes used in ear-ache and in rheumatism.
It has generally been held, but erroneously, that the onion could not be successfully grown from the seed, at the South, and that, below about the fortieth degree, the dry heat of our summers would dwarf the bulbs. Egypt and the Barbary States produce, perhaps, the finest onions in the world, several of the largest varieties having originated in Tripoli. . Large quantities are annually exported from Portugal and Spain. The opinion pre- vails in Germany that the seed, at least of some varieties, will deteriorate, unless of southern growth; and those of the Madeira onion, used in Bermuda for the crop so popular in our Northern markets, are grown in the south of France. I have grown most varieties of the onion successfully for the past twenty-two years, having produced, one season, the ‘Giant Rocca” at the rate of ten hundred and fifty bushels per acre. The usual yield is from three hundred to eight hundred bushels. At no time of the year are the Northern markets entirely bare of this indispensable vegetable, some variety in its green or matured state being procurable. |
The aim of the Southern grower should be to slip his crop into the market at a time when the supply from other sections is most deficient. The first matured bulbs
THE ONION. 183
in the spring found in the Northern markets are the Ber- muda grown ‘“‘ Madeira” onions. Although it might be
fruitless at present. South Florida might even antici- pate the Bermuda crop. The next onions, other than from this section and from Florida, offered in market, are the ‘‘ Potato onions,” grown near Nor- folk and in Maryland Southern onions will be| apt to bring the most sat- isfactory prices about the time the supply from Bermuda is becoming ex- hausted, which occurs about June 15th. While no variety of Southern- grown onions will keep during the winter, should they ripen a little premature- ly, they may be preserved sufficiently long to allow the shipments to be so timed as to meet this demand,
Fig. 47.—on1Ion—“‘ GIANT ROCCA.”’
VARIETIES AND SEED.
Of more than one hundred varieties, the common ‘<‘Red Wethersfield ” and “‘ Yellow Danvers” are the best keepers. The beautiful white ‘‘ Italian Queen” Is the earliest and surest, but is too small. The ‘‘ Giant Rocca ” makes an enormous yield, but is too large for market. The now popular ‘‘ Globe Madeira” will be the best to succeed the Bermuda crop of the same variety.
Of no other vegetable, save the cauliflower, is it so im-
184 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
portant to have a good strain of seed. If saved from bulbs of objectionable form, or imperfect development, scal- lions, instead of the desirable globular onions, will be' the result. |
No seed older than of the previous crop should be used, | as it rarely retains vitality over one year; it is also well) to put it to the preliminary test recommended in the chapter on ‘‘ Seeds,” in order to gauge the drill in accord- ance with the percentage of sound seed. It will germi- nate in three or four days, if kept warm and moist. The seed is frequently soaked from one to four days, but I cannot recommend the practice. If it is found to be of fair quality, to be perfectly reliable, the drill may be gauged to drop a seed every quarter to half an inch, at which rate it will require from three to four pounds to the acre. If sown too thickly, great labor is required to thin the plants, as it must be done early enough in their growth to prevent injury by crowding, and to avoid breaking the roots of those to be left.
SOIL AND SOWING.
Onions may be sown at any time in the fall, the weather being favorable, but there is nothing to be gained by such very early planting. In the latitude of Savannah, and northward, the young plants of October or Novem- ber sowing may be exposed to injury from heavy rains, or, notwithstanding the very hardy nature of the onion, from severe freezing in December. The crop from seed sown about January 1st escapes these dangers, comes in early enough for the better demand, and, growing through a shorter and warmer period, will require less extended care.
The onion is intolerant of the vicinity of trees, and requires an open exposure.
The soil best adapted to this crop is a deep, rich, fria- ble warm mould, full of vegetable matter, such as is fre-
THE ONION. 185
quently found in river bottoms and drained ponds. On heavy land, the bulbs are apt to remain small, and ac- quire a greater pungency of taste. If the soil is loamy, sand should be the predominating constituent. Land recently cleared, and therefore free from grass and weed- seed, provided it is mace perfectly mellow, is always to be preferred to old land, particularly unless the latter has been kept clean of weeds and grass, in order that none of their seeds may have been self-sown for several suc- cessive years. Although the onion is avery shallow-rooted plant, it delights in a well-drained, deeply-stirred, and finely-pulverized soil. No plant requires a more care- ful preparation of the land, and a proper piece, once se- lected for this crop (it being an anomaly in regard to rotation), it should always remain appropriated to the same purpose; for, with proper and efficient manure and management, the crop may be increased in quantity each successive year. ‘The land should be allowed to mature no second crop. As soon as the onions are removed, it should be sown down to cow peas. If recently cleared land is selected, it should also be sown with peas in July or August. They will not only keep down the weeds, and tend to mellow the soil by the decaying mass of vege- table matter, but maintain and increase the fertility of the soil.
The first of December is early enough to plow under the dead pea vines, which should be deeply buried.
The analysis shows that the onion requires a rich nitrogenous manure, and that it also contains much pot- ash and phosphoric acid. The manure of the hog is gen- erally considered the best for thiscrop. If stable manure is used, it should not be coarse enough to prevent its be- ing plowed under shallow. There is no objection to fine, green stable manure, provided it contains no seeds of weeds. If the animals have been fed on hay, the manure must be thoroughly fermented to destroy the vitality of
186 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
the grass seed. ‘The onion is a gross feeder, and, with- out adequate manuring, there will be no satisfactory crop. The plants will not form bulbs properly if poorly fed. The yield will be in proportion to the quantity and quality of the manure. ‘Thirty loads, of thirty bushels each, sufficiently compressed, or fermented, to weigh forty pounds to the bushel, is not a heavy application. ‘Twenty- five loads of night-soil would do as well. If other fertil- izers, such as bone-meal (which is excellent), or guano, are used, they should be harrowed in so as to permit the roots of the young plants to reach them. A _ top-dress- ing of a hundred bushels of ashes per acre is beneficial. After several years of manuring with stable manure, a change to a half ton of bone-flour, ammoniated super- phosphate, guano, or five hundred pounds of sulphate of ammonia would be advisable. If the land is new, or loamy, a cross plowing and double harrowing may be . necessary to put it in proper trim to receive the manure. It should be level, lest heavy rains may wash out the seed on the higher points, and cover the plants in lower ones too deeply. At the South, where we are visited by heavy rains, onions, on a small scale, are best planted on four-feet-wide ‘‘ lazy beds,” the intervening paths acting as auxiliary drains. The seed may be sown upon these beds by hand, in drills half an inch deep, twelve inches apart, across the bed. Ona larger scale, where machines must be used, making two drills at a time, the sowing had better be done on narrow lands, fifteen or twenty feet wide, the rows running lengthwise, twelve or fifteen inches apart. Beds, or narrow lands, are formed in plowing under the manure, previously applied broadcast, as shallow as pos- sible, and, if the furrows intervening between the lands are too shallow to act as drains, the loose soil is to be thrown out upon the beds with hoes or shovels. The surface must be thoroughly fined with harrow and hand- rake. In fair weather, the seed will be up in two weeks.
THE ONION. 187
CULTIVATION.
The only sure road to success in onion culture, even when all other conditions are favorable, is clean cultiva- tion, and as soon as the lines of young plants are dis- tinguishable, hoeing should be commenced, and repeated, with hand-weeding, whenever necessary, no weed being allowed to grow large enough to disturb the roots of the onion, when pulling it, and be continued to within about a month from the time the crop matures. The soil should be stirred between the plants in the row.
The chief objection to this crop is the amount of care- ful labor required to keep it clean, at least four or five hoeings being necessary, for which the scuffle, push, or Dutch hoe is the best implement.
Onions grow best upon the surface, as their roots do not penetrate the soil deeply; therefore, the hoeing must be superficial, and no soil should be drawn to the rows. They should be thinned to four inches in the row, if only large bulbs are wanted, but in case a large yield is de- sired, irrespective of size, the stand may be closer. Transplanted onions take root very readily; therefore, any vacant spaces may be supplied, or new beds made with the plants removed in thinning, cutting back the roots to about an inch, and the leaves one-half their length. The roots should be put down straight, and the plants deeper than they grew originally. If onions have room laterally, groups of four or five may be left together, be- cause in their efforts for survival, they will push one another sidewise, and mount on top of each other, and still form round, marketable bulbs.
HARVESTING AND MARKETING.
At the North, where the onions are to be stored for winter use, the whole crop is pulled when three-fourths of the plants have turned yellow, shrivelled and dried in
188 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOCTH.
the neck sufficiently to topple over. At this time, some of the roots are dead, and have lost their hold upon the soil. The onions are allowed to remain spread upon the ground for two or three weeks to dry, before being housed. They are in fit condition for storing, when no moist- ure is visible upon strongly twisting the necks. Here, the crop being wanted for an early market and immediate use, the onions are pulled, as they successively indicate ma- turity by toppling over, and are left on the ground a day or two, or they are removed at once, and the necks cut off with a sharp knife, an inch or so from the bulb, when they are carefully packed in bushel crates and shipped.
A vegetable, not a luxury, and rarely, if ever, out of market, cannot be expected to bring high prices. Onions range between one dollar and two dollars and fifty cents per bushel crate. In our local market they brought last June from two dollars and twenty-five cents to two dol- lars and seventy-five cents per bushel crate.
A globular-shaped onion will produce a crop one-third larger than one that is flat in form.
RAISING ONION SEED.
If properly matured, and carefully preserved, South- ern-grown seed is as good as any. ‘The onion being a biennial plant, it produces seed the second season. ‘The bulbs from which it is contemplated to save the seed should be selected, choosing those which combine the distinguishing peculiarities of the variety, in order that the seed may remain true. If planted in the fall, the seed will be ripe the following July or August. The soil should not be as rich as for the crop of bulbs, lest the flowers may blight and form no seed. The rows should be about eighteen inches apart, and the entire bulbs pressed into the soil below the surface, about eight inches apart in the row. The seed stalks of some of the va- rieties are five feet high, and unless they are supported,
THE ONION. 189
they will break or bend over, until the seed heads either touch the ground, or approach it so closely as to be dam- aged by the moisture. This support is most easily given by stretching twine a few inches below the seed heads, one along the middle of the bed, and another on the outer edge of every bed. The seed is ripe enough for gathering, when the pods commence to burst open, and heads and stalks turn yellow. The stalks are carefully cut six or eight inches from the heads, which are allowed to fall into a bucket or open bag, otherwise some of the seed may shell out and be lost. Partly-matured seed will not ripen fully, if the stalk is cut close to the seed- cluster.
These must be spread out upon the close floor of a dry loft, or hung up to dry thoroughly, when they may be thrashed out, winnowed, and washed. ‘The false seed and husks will float upon the surface of the water, while only the good seed will sink to the bottom of the vessel. The seed must be quickly and thoroughly dried in the sun before being stored away.
ONION SETS.
At Norfolk, onions for the Northern markets are not grown from the seed, as the crop would not sufficiently anticipate those of more northern latitudes; but from sets* or small onions. Those of the ‘‘ Potato-onion” are put out in August and September, and sets of the ‘‘ Silver- skin” and ‘‘ Yellow Danvers” in February. ) The ‘‘ Potato-onion ” produces no seed, but forms from
three to ten small bulbs around the old one, from which it is propagated. These small bulbs, when planted out, increase in size, and form a large and marketable onion. These produce the earliest crop of local growth, and even survive the winter as far north as Vermont. ‘he prep-
* The English word ‘‘sets’? may have come over from the German ‘** Setz-Z wiebel,”’ that is: planting: onions.
190 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
aration of the ground for these and for other onion sets is the same a3 for the crop from seed.
The sets are pressed into the soil at the distances the crop is to mature, the tops about level with the surface, care being taken to have the root end down. ‘The sets should range in size from that of a pea to a common- sized marble. The smaller the better. When the bulbs are too much developed, they are apt to run to seed in- stead of producing good onions. Onion sets are often high-priced, costing from five to ten dollars per bushel; but they may be grown at the South with proper manage- ment. The land should certainly be free from weeds and grass, lighter and less richly manured than for the crop. The rows may be ten inches apart, and the seed should be sown late in the season, about May 1st, and much thicker than when intended to produce large bulbs. From fifteen to twenty pounds to the acre are required.
INSECTS,
The larve of the Dipterous, or 'Two-winged insects, which at present infest the onion in this country, pene- trate it at the root; and the first indication of their pres- ence are symptoms of disease and approaching death. There is no remedy, but to dig up every wilted and yellow plant, and to hunt for and destroy the grub with- in the rotting bulb, with a view to curtail future depre- dations.
The black Onion-fly (Ortalis fiexa), is a native of this country, while (Anthomyia ceparum,) 1s an im- ported insect.
THE PEA. 191
CHAPTER XXII.
THE PEA (Pisum sativum.)
Pois, French; Lrbse, German; Hrwat, Dutch; Pisello, Italian; Pesoles, Spanish ; and Lrvilha, Portuguese.
The pea is a hardy annual, a native of the south of Europe, and has been cultivated from time immemorial. We are told that, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, peas not being very common in England, they were brought from Holland, and that they were “‘ fit dainties for ladies, they come so far, and cost so dear.” Where labor for picking the crop is plentiful, it is one of the indispensable crops of the truck-farmer, bringing in the first proceeds of the season.
VARIETIES.
A good market variety should be productive, of good
flavor, form full, pods plump, and be of uniform growth. Frequently a gardener plants poor seed, which runs to vine, and produces but few good pods. The varieties themselves are subject to change, and will deteriorate, unless constant care is exercised in growing them for seed. ‘The varieties at present preferred, enumerated in the order of their earliness and value are : _ First.—The “Early Alpha.” This is, exclusive of the ‘* American Wonder,” the only wrinkled Dwarf Pea. It grows three feet high, is very productive, and produces large pods of dark green color. The objection to all the wrinkled peas is, that they must be sown thicker than the round varieties.
Second.—The ‘‘ Philadelphia Extra Early.” This is very uniform, when the seed is pure, and is productive.
192 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Third.—The ‘‘ Daniel O’Rourke.” This is an excellent early pea, and is very popular with Northern growers. Its height is about three feet.
Of the later kinds, the ‘‘ Black-eyed ” and ‘‘ White- marrowfat ” take equal rank, and grow about four and a half feet high.
SOIL AND SOWING.
The large, later and more hardy marrowfat varieties may be planted in the vicinity of Savannah as early as November 20th, following with the earlier kinds; but in usual seasons December 1st is early enough for the first sowings. In the case of a plant so hardy as the pea, it is possible to grow it, in middle to south Florida, to mature at any time during the winter. It is well, if a large crop is to be planted, to make separate sowings at intervals of a few days, in order not to have the whole planting subject to unfavorable contingencies at the same stage of growth. No usual degree of cold in this latitude will hurt the pea, unless it be in bloom or pod.
A dry, rich, warm, sandy loam is the best soil for this crop. For the wrinkled varieties, it is especially neces- sary that the soil should be warm and dry. These do not seem to be so well matured as the round sorts. and in moist, or wet and cool soils they may fail to germinate, and may rot in the ground. Good stable manure is the best. The field being in proper condition, it is manured in the furrow at the rate of twenty-five or thirty loads, of thirty bushels each, to the acre, the rows being five or six feet apart, according to the variety. The seed is sown in double drills, about ten inches apart, on flat beds or ridges over the manure. The quantity of seed required for an acre is about two bushels. As regards the distance in the row, the peas are distributed according to size, about half an inch to an inch and a half, by hand, or by means of a drill, which sows both parallel drills at the same time.
THE PEA. 193
The opinion, I believe, generally prevails that the deep- er peas can be sown, the more productive will be the crop, and the longer will it remain in bearing. One and one-halt inch is the usual depth in a sandy loam.
CULTIVATION.
As the growth of the pea crop extends through the winter and early spring, when weeds are not abundant, cultivation is only, or chiefly, necessary as a promoter of growth. The soil between the ridges may be stirred twice, or more frequently in an unfavorable season; but as soon as the plants grow to two or three inches, the earth should be hoed to the stems, when dry, gradually earthing higher up, as the peas increase in hight. All peas, save the dwarfs, not only fruit better, but continue longer in bearing and mature better, if they are bushed. As soon as they commence to-‘‘run” to vine, or to put out their clasping tendrils, which will be when about ten or twelve inches high, according to variety, they should be bushed or stuck. Branching sticks are thrust between the drills so firmly into the ground as not to be blown down, and near enough to be a sapport forall the plants. This will not only be facilitated, if the sticks cross each other in the row near the surface, but they will be a mu- tual support. When the bushes from which the sticks are to be cut are more or less convenient, the expense of this sticking will be from three to five dollars per acre. The first shipments are usually made from Savan- nah about March 10th. The early varieties admit of about five pickings; the later, one or two more; one hun- dred and fifty to two hundred crates being the yield per acre.
Peas were sold the past season at from one dollar and fifty cents to five dollars and fifty cents per bushel crate, while fifteen years ago I received twenty dollars per barrel on April 5th.
9
194 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
No pod should be picked or packed which is yet flat, for the reason that the peas are not sufficiently developed; and none that are discolored or rough from over-ripeness should be marketed. The ordinary bushel crate is the only package used at present. ‘The contents should be thoroughly shaken down, and the crate be more than full, when ready to be nailed up.
The two weevils, Bruchus pisiand Bruchus granarius, which are principally injurious to the pea, affect the farmer only in so far as they are destructive to his seed, the larve inhabiting it and feeding on its substance.
Thongh they usually leave the germ untouched, and buggy-peas will germinate, yet the plant, being without
S oe
Fig. 48.—PEA-WEEVIL (Bruechws pisi). Fig. 49.—GRaIN BRUCHUS
a, Beetle, enlarged ; b, Pea, with spot. (Bruchus granarius). the nutriment provided for its early growth, is weak at the start, and is never so vigorous and productive as those from sound seed. Ourcommon Pea-weevil (Bruchus pist) is given in fig. 48, much enlarged, its real size being shown in the outline at the left. The Grain Bruchus or Barn-beetle of Europe (Bruchus granarvus), fig. 49, infests both peas and beans. It is sometimes imported with foreign seeds, but has not yet become naturalized. It is somewhat smaller than the Pea- beetle, and the markings of the two are very different.
The Cotton Boll-worm (Heliothis armigera) is some- times found feeding upon the pea, but too seldom to do much harm.
THE POTATO. 195
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE POTATO (Solanum tuberosum.)
Fomme de terre, French; Kartoffel, German; Aardappel, Dutch; Tartufi bianchi or Fomo di terra, Ital; Fapas, Spanish.
The active principle, Solanin, characteristic of the family Solanacee, to which the potato belongs, has been found, but in much smaller proportions than in other members, in the sap, in the berries, and also in tubers of the potato after they had sprouted. For this reason sprouted potatoes are less valuable for food than before the development of sprouts, although in the process of cooking a change is effected in the composition.
The chief organic ingredient of the potato is starch, which forms about one-tenth of iis weight. It has gen- erally been admitted, that the potato was first introduced by the Spaniards into Europe from South America (it is still found in its wild state in the mountains of Chili), and that Sir Walter Raleigh introduced it into England from Virginia. Whether this is strictly the history of its appearance in Europe, or not, the potato has been found indigenous in Mexico and Arizona. Johnson wrote: ‘The potato is one of the greatest blessings be- stowed upon mankind; for, next to rice, it affords sus- tenance to more human beings than any other gift of God.” Unlike the latter (the continuous use of which sometimes affects the eyes), it may be the exclusive food of man for an extended period without injuring the system. And it is owing to the absence of any distinct peculiarity of taste, to its wholesomeness and to its con- sisting largely of starch, in every particular resembling the flour of grain, that it may be continuously used as
196 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
a chief article of food for a longer time than any other vegetable. It is somewhat strange, that the family which embraces the deadly nightshade, and other very poisonous plants, should also have among its members this most useful vegetable, besides a few others that are mentioned in this book.
Of all the crops of the truck-farmer, the potato is the one which is always salable at more or less remunerative prices; its general use among all classes and nativities of the population, precluding a glut in the market.
Owing to the prevalence of drouth at the North dur- ing the summer of 1881, the staple crops of potatoes and cabbages having been failures, the winter stock was so nearly exhausted, that extensive importations were made from Europe; and when our Southern crops came into market, they enjoyed an unprecedented demand and high prices. My own small crop sold at from six to seven dollars for No. 1, averaging six dollars and sixty cents per barrel, and ‘‘culls” from three collars to four dol- lars and fifty cents, averaging three dollars and forty-five cents per barrel.
Those farmers who planted largely and had good crops of these vegetables made a ‘‘ hit” in their operations. It is likely that others, induced by this success, will plant potatoes and cabbages more heavily than usual, and re- duce the acreage of other valuable products. J embrace this occasion to advise truck-farmers, that they will probably thrive better in the course of time, by confin- ing themselves to their usual areas of each crop, and by not allowing themselves to be influenced by periodical successes with any one vegetable.
VARIETIES.
A variety of potatoes to be cultivated by the Southern truck-farmer should be productive in our climate of large and even-sized tubers, growing close together in the hill,
THE POTATO. 197%
with few or no small ones, it should be early and be popular enough in the Northern market to command the highest prices. At present the ‘‘ Early Rose” meets these requirements and is generally the favorite, but the ‘‘Beauty of Hebron,” and the ‘‘ Burbank,” are also planted. The potato grown in Bermuda is the “ Chili Red.”
SIZE OF SEED.
One of the mooted questions in gardening is: whether it is more advisable to plant the whole potato or to cut it up into sets. The experiments undertaken to decide the question have failed to establish any certain rule; and the intelligent farmer will readily understand that cir- cumstances must govern the case.
The potato tuber is not a root, for it has neither root- hairs itself, nor has the stem which connects it with the parent stock either fibrous roots or root-hairs and, therefore, provides the plant with no nourishment; nor is it a seed any more than is a stick of sugar cane a seed. The tubers are nourished by elaborated sap descending from the leaves through the bark. The formation of abnormal tubers aboye the ground at the point where the stem of a plant has been injured by a cut-worm, or otherwise, or in the axils of branches, is, among others, a proof of this. The potato is an enlarged underground stem, and the eyes are buds. These buds are more numer- ous at the point furthest from the plant, just as the buds are closer together at the end of a branch of the fig or any other tree. When the potato has dried out suffi- ciently and is surrounded by favorable conditions of warmth and moisture, the eyes or buds begin to grow; and untilroots have been emitted for their nourishment, the shoots are dependent upon the starch of the sur- rounding substance for their support; resembling a seed in this respect. The eyes are independent of each other,
198 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
haying no vital connection. If both eye and tuber be sound, the shoots will grow to be healthy plants, if condi- tions are favorable, whether they be planted with the en- tire tuber or only connected to a small piece of its de- tached substance.
The following rule has been given: cut large potatoes to single eyes; small potatoes will produce as good a crop if cut in pieces corresponding in size, for the young sprout requires substance to push it forward. The intel- ligent farmer should have an object in view, and his operations should be undertaken to attain it. In this case his purpose is to procure a crop of as many large potatoes as possible. It will not be secured, if many stalks grow from each set, any more than four or five stalks of corn to the hill will produce large ears of corn, though single stalks may. Whatever be the size of the potato, it should be fully matured. If any Irish or Sweet potatoes are found rotten in the hill, they are always the largest, which have decayed after becoming over-ripe. It is, therefore, safest, for fear of having many stalks in the hill, to use amedium-sized tuber, cut to single eyes, pro- vided the buds show signs of development. If none of the eyes are developed, or only one is, that one only, from the whole potato, is apt to grow, the rest re- maining dormant. The eyes upon seed potatoes procured from the North are very apt to sprout upon arriving in our warm climate, and these should always be cut to single eyes. Northern seed potatoes should not be im- ported, until the farmer is ready to plant them. If the first shoots are rubbed off or killed by frosts, the suc- ceeding ones will be weaker and are apt to be more numerous. .
In cutting potatoes to single eyes, the cutter com- mences at the stem end, where the eyes are less abun- dant, and slices off pieces with a single eye to each, in such a manner as to distribute the substance of the tuber
THE POTATO. 199
as equally as possible. If rules are to be given, they should be: cut a large potato to single eyes, whether sprouted or not. Small potatoes may not be ripe enough to grow strong shoots; but if a small potato is enough matured to put forth sturdy sprouts, cut it also to single eyes; for very little substance will suffice for their sup- port; but, if the potato has not sprouted, it may be planted whole, without much danger of its pushing up more than one stalk. Of late years, Southern truck- farmers have found that home-grown seed of the second crop of Irish potatoes, maturing late in the fall, whether cut or not, gives the best yields. This is owing to the fact, that the tubers, being a shorter time out of the ground, are not so dry, and put forth only single shoots. There is no fear that their first sprouts have been rubbed off, before being planted.
SOIL AND CULTIVATION.
In an open, warm, sandy soil, the sets may be planted soon after being cut; but fora cool, moist and heavier soil, the cut surfaces should be dried by spreading the sets in the shade for a day or two, or, if put up in bulk, they should be sprinkled with lime or land-plaster. Either will prevent them from shriveling and be beneficial as a fertilizer.
The quantity required to plant an acre will be about three to four barrels, according to the size, and the man- ner of cutting the potatoes. While the plant is indig- enous to Southern latitudes, it is found at considerable altitudes above the level of the sea, and partakes of the peculiarities of those of cool climates, generally suc- ceeding better at the North than at the South. Unlike its relatives, the ege-plant and tomato, it is intolerant of dryness and heat, and should therefore be planted as early as the season will admit, in order to escape warm weather. About February 1st is soon enough for the
200 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
‘‘ Early Rose.” Some varieties start even earlier than this, and a week later would better suit the ‘‘ Beauty of Hebron,” for instance. If Southern stock is offered in the Northern markets while the Northern winter supply is abundant, and still of good quality, very good prices can not be expected. It will, therefore, not be the pol- icy of Florida growers to put in their crops much earlier than the date named.
On account of its native habitat the potato requires at the South a cool, moist soil. Low, black moulds in river bottoms, if well drained, may give enormous yields; but the product is apt to be of inferior quality and decay readily, the gluten predominating over the starch in its composition. No vegetable varies more in quality on different soils. A variety may be fine on a good soil and nearly worthless for table use on one not adapted to it. The mealiest and best-flavored potatoes are grown on sandy soil, but for a satisfactory yield, a good, rich, sandy loam, with an abundance of vegetable matter is indispensable.
Whatever be its character, the soil should be broken up deeply and thorougly mellowed, im order that it may absorb and retain moisture. Freshly cleared ground, of good quality, produces better crops than old land, prob- ably in consequence of its greater content of potash. The soil should have been previously enriched for a preced- ing crop. The roots will extend beyond the drill, and poor land fertilized with the same amount and quality of manure in the furrow will, therefore, not produce satisfactorily.
Stable manure or barn-yard manure is chiefly to be relied upon by the potato grower. Composts of good commercial fertilizers with leaves or leaf-mould with the ‘specially adapted potash salts, or ashes and bone-flour, may be used where a sufficiency of stable manure cannot be had. Asarule, land can scarcely be made too rich
THE POTATO. 201
for the potato. The new varieties, unlike old ones, will not run to vine from heavy manuring; but will yield in proportion to their food, probably in consequence of their greater, and yet undiminished vigor. Iresh, dry stable manure, especially in dry, hight soil, should not come in contact with the sets, lest the heat destroy their vitality. The same appiies to Peruvian guano, fish scrap, hen manure, etc. Rich animal manures may render the tubers rough, ill-shaped and knobby. If the common’ German kainit is used, it should be sown broadcast, or harrowed in, two months before planting time, for fear the chloride of magnesium it contains may otherwise injure the crop.
The enormous prize crops reported some years ago to a New York house, for instance of ten barrels, or four- teen hundred and seventeen pounds from a single pound of seed potatoes, nineteen barrels from a single hill of two sets, prove the astonishing effects of heavy manur- ing, and at the same time the possibility of the use of very small sets. In some cases a single eye was subdivided into ten pieces, a single pound furnished two hundred and forty sets. The largest crop, per acre, upon record was made about forty years ago by Mr. Knight, the cele- brated horticulturist, and President of the Royal Hor- ticultural Society (Eng.), of thirty-four tons (English) and nine ewt., equal to twelve hundred and eighty-four bushels of sixty pounds each.
From sixty to one hundred barrels per acre is quite a satisfactory crop for the Southern truck-farmer. The usual mode of planting is in the drill. When in hills, they are made three by two, or three by three, feet apart, and two or three sets are planted in each, so that they may be cultivated both ways. The land being in proper condition, furrows are made by the plow three or three and a half feet apart, into which the manure, if planting is on a large scale, is distributed, at the rate of forty
202 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
loads to the acre, by a manure-spreader, and the sets are placed upon the manure, cut-side down at from twelve to fifteen inches apart. In light, warm land, the sets may at once be covered by the plow to the depth of six inches, and in the subsequent cultivation no hilling up is neces- sary or advisable. On cool, heavy land, it is advisable to cover at first to the depth of three or four inches, and so early in the stage of growth, as not to injure the roots, an additional inch or two may be drawn to the plants by the hoe. Subsequently the workings by plow and hoe should be superficial. As soon, however, as the first shoots become visible, the surface of the rows should be raked over, to loosen the soil and destroy any germinat- ing or young weeds. ‘Two plowings and two hoeings will generally suffice, with hand-weeding between the plants, if necessary. The crop should not be worked after the plants commence to bloom and to set the tubers.
HARVESTING THE CROPS.
A potato is immature and unfit for food, so long as the skin can be readily slipped from the surface. If dug prematurely, they will be bruised and blackened in the barrels, and be unsalable at fair prices. When the plant dies, and not before, the crop may be gathered.
A good plowman may be able with a double-mould plow, or potato-digger, to throw out an extensive and less valuable crop than that of the truck-farmer, without too much loss and bruising, but here a plow should only be used to side the rows and the potatoes be dug out with steel-pronged hoes, or potato-drags. ‘
To avoid unnecessary handling, the potatoes should be assorted as first quality and culls (too small tubers being rejected) in the field. Cloudy weather is the best suited for digging the crop. Potatoes will not endure exposure to the hot sun. If packed while warmed by the sun, they are apt to rot before reaching market... If dug during
THE POTATO. 203
sunshine, they should be gathered as dug, carefully emptied into barrels already ventilated, and either promptly hauled from the field, or each barrei shaded by potato vines.
The diggers should not be permitted to bruise the po- tatoes by pitching them upon piles or distant rows; nor the pickers by throwing them roughly into their baskets. The more carefully a vegetable is handled, the better will it strike the buyer’s cye, and consequently, the more money will it bring the grower. Whatever be its size, no cut or bruised potato should be shipped in the first quality, but may be included in the ‘‘culls.” The bar- rels must be well shaken down, and so full that the heads have to be pressed upon the contents, and they should be double-headed and strongly coopered.
The crop generally matures in this latitude about the middle of May. An unripe potato in which the starch has been imperfectly formed is slow to dry out and slow to sprout.
THE SECOND CROP.
A sufficient quantity of the ‘‘culls” should, there- fore, be reserved from the ripest portion of the field for seed of the second crop, and stored in a cool, dry . place, excluded from the light. They may be covered on a barn floor in alternate thin layers with very dry sand, or put away in bushel crates.
If exposed to warmth and moisture two or three weeks before planting time, sprouting may be hastened and a better stand be secured. The time to put in the second crop is from the latter part of July to August 10th. If the eyes have sprouted, the tubers should be cut, but otherwise planted whole.
As at this time the weather is warm and the season of growth short, they should be well manured and the land deeply broken up and pulverized to retain mois-
204 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
ture. The crop will be matured before frost, which generally occurs about November 1st, when it should be dug and the seed stored away, as recommended aboye.
DISEASES AND INSECTS.
The fungoid disease, sometimes so destructive to the potato crops of Europe, and of the northern part of this continent, will rarely, if ever, affect our early crops of early varieties, and the later ones must be exempt in consequence of the heat, as cool moisture seems neces- sary for the development of this disease.
The earliest crops at the North escape great injury from the Colorado Potato-beetle (Doryphora 10-lineata), and ours will therefore remain exempt from that pest, should it come South. The insects infesting the potato at the South are of the Lepidoptera:
First—Gortynia nitela (the Potato-stalk borer). Second—Sphinze quinquemaculata (the Potato-worm).
Among the Coleoptera.
Third—Baridius trinotatus (the Potato-stalk weevil). Fourth—Zema trilineata (the Three-lined Leaf-beetle). Fifth—Lachnosterna quercina (the White-grub). Sixth—Deloyala clavata (the Clubbed Tortoise-beetle). Seventh—Lytta marginata (Margined Blister-beetle). Highth—Lytta vittata (Striped Blister-beetle). Ninth—Lytta cinerea (Ash-grey Blister-beetle).
The first three of these attack the plant only in the larval state.
Numbers 1 and 3 are more injurious than any others, as they devour a vital part, and live within the stalks. The Potato-stalk Borer lives within the stalks of several plants, including the Dahlia and other flowers, and attacks the tomato as well as the potato. When full grown, it enters the earth, and in about two months comes out as a sma!l moth, fig. 50.
THE POTATO. 205
The Potato-stalk Weevil lives within the stalk in a similar manner to the borer, but it undergoes its changes
Fig. 50.—THE POTATO-STALK BORER. Moth. Larva.
within the stem, and finally appears as a small beetle. The different stages are shown in fig. 51. . When a vine
M i :; soc | i .
Fig. 51.—THE POTATO STALK WEEVIL. a, Larva; 0, Pupa; c, Beetle.
is seen to wilt, or to be dying, the stems should be ex- amined for the larvee, and burnt to prevent an increase of
the insect. The worms of the potato and to- mato-moth and the other insects, exclu- sive of the blister- beetles, are not numer- ous enough to inflict much injury. The Three-lined leaf-beetle
Fig. 52.—THREE-LINED LEAF BEETLE. feeds upon the plant a, Larva; b, End of Body; c, Pupa; d, Eggs. in its larval and per-
fect state. The larve can be distinguished from any others, by being covered, like the larve of the Tortoise-
206 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
beetles, by its own excrement, as shown in fig. 52. . The perfect insect has a general resemblance to the Striped Cucumber-beetle. |
The White Grub is a general feeder, and destroys the roots of many different plants. ‘The larva is shown at fig. 53, and the perfect beetle, the well-known June-bug, in fig. 54.
The principal insect enemies of the sweet-potato are the Tortoise-beetles, of which there are several, some of
Fig. 55.
Fig. 54. CLUBBED TOR- WHITE GRUB.. JUNE-BUG. TOISE-BEETLE.
them of singular beauty. One of them, the Clubbed Tortoise-beetle (Deloyala clavata, fig. 55), forms an ex- ception, and selects the common or Irish potato as its food plant, feeding upon it in its perfect state, the larva of this species being unknown.
The Blister-beetles feed upon the foliage in the perfect state only. They are sometimes quite abundant, particu- larly upon the second crop. Some of the farmers near Savannah were compelled to use Paris green last season, to stay the ravages of Lytta marginata.
THE RADISH. 207
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE RADISH (Raphanus sativus).
fiadis and Rave French; Reitig, Gertaan; Tamme radijs, Dutch; Rafano, Italian ; 2nd Rabano, Spanish.
The Radish is not known in the wild state, and its native country is doubtful. It is mentioned as being cultivated in England in 1584,
The radish, to be marketable, should not lose its ac- ceptable crispness, and I have, therefore, never heard of its satisfactory cultivation for the Northern markets south of Norfolk.
The varieties there used are: ‘‘Tho Long Scarlet Shert Top,” and ‘‘The Scarlet Tur- nip,” which are sown, as the season will admit, at any time from Christmas to the last of February. A light, mellow soil is best adapted to this crop, as it produces cleaner, nicer rad- ishes, and of better flavor, than a heavier soil. This applies particularly to the longer-rooted varieties. ‘The manure should py 56 ~scieter runst- be deeply plowed under. The — RADISH, field having been plowed in narrow lands and finely harrowed, the seed is sown broadeast at the rate of about twelve pounds to the acre, and covered with a light harrow. The crop is sometimes large enough to be marketable in March, but it is generally shipped throughout April. The radishes are washed, bunched, and packed tightly in ventilated barrels, generally holding about two hundred bunches. The price
208 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
ranges low; but these vegetables sometimes sell as high as eight dollars per barrel. In case of very warm weather, a lump of ice is of late years sometimes packed in the centre of the barrel.
CHAPTER XXV.
SPINACH (Spinacia oleracea).
Epinard, French; Spinat, German; Spinagie, Dutch; Spinaci, Italian ; Espinaca, Spanish.
The common Spinach is an annual plant, supposed to be a native of Western Asia and to have been introduced into England about the commencement of the sixteenth century. Spinach is very extensively used at the North, and when the supply of other green vegetables has been short, that grown at Norfolk has sold for eight dollars per barrel; but the price is very variable. I have never heard of its being grown for the Northern markets, as far south as Charleston. The variety raised at Norfolk is the ‘‘Improved Curled American Savoy.” The seed is sown from September 10th until October 15th, in drills thirty inches apart, requiring from ten vo twelve pounds to the acre. The land must be warm and strong, and the plant requires exceedingly rich manuring. The gar- deners at Norfolk supplement their stable manure with Peruvian guano. Some of them add to the heavy ma- nuring given in the fall a top-dressing of a ton to the acre of the best guano. ‘The crop occasionally pays well, but costs the best growers one hundred and fifty dollars per
THE SQUASH. 209
acre to raise it. When the land is very good, the rows may be only eighteen inches apart. This plant, like the cauliflower, must never be stunted, but be pushed from the start.
When the leaves are about an inch broad, the plants
Fig. 57.—SPINACH.
are thinned to from six to eight inches. The crop must be frequently hoed. The Norfolk crop is marketed in March, and is packed tightly in ventilated barrels.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SQUASH (Cucurbita Pepo.)
Courge Melonze, French ; Melonenkiirbis, German.
The Squash is a native of the Levant, and was first introduced into England in 1597. The Summer Squash is an early vegetable, bears transportation well, if picked at a proper stage of growth, and brings satisfactory, though never fancy prices. Sometimes, however, a part of the crop may be left on the farmer’s hands. With the
210 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
large, but late and unproductive winter squashes, the truck-farmer has no concern. Of the early summer squashes the two varieties cultivated for the Northern
Fig. 58.—sQUASH—WHITE BUSH SCA=ZOP.
markets are: the ‘‘ Early White Bush Scallop,” fig. 58, and the ‘‘ Harly Summer Crook-neck,” fig. 59.
The latter is much the best flavored of all the bush squashes. It is of adark orange color and is covered with warty excrescences. When sufficiently grown for
Fig. 59.—SqUASE—STMMER CROOK-NECK.
shipment, it is about ten inches long. Although this may sometimes be preferred, and occasionally command a better price, the scallop squash is the favorite, as it bears transportation and is packed much better. The
THE SQUASH. R211
Southern farmer may save his own squash seed, but for fear of mixing, he must, as with all the other members of the same family, avoid having any others of the same family growing near by.
SOIL AND CULTIVATION.
The squash is a little more hardy than the melon and cucumber, and is planted from about the last of February up to the middle of March, in the latitude of Savannah, and, of course, earlier to the southward. This crop re- quires a light, warm soil, and liberal manuring, particularly when planted so early. It is usually grown in hills four or five feet apart each way, the manure being dug in somewhat, as recommended for melons, at the rate of two shoyelfuls to the hill. From six to ten seeds are sown toeach hill, and the plants thinned to a stand after the development of a couple of rough leaves.
Instead of growing in the hill, and leaving two plants in each as is usually practised, I prefer to manure in the drill, to sow the seed at two feet apart, and to leave, final- ly, but a single plant every two feet. If sown as early as March Ist, itis advisable to make at least asecond sowing. The cultivation is the same as for cucumbers.
MARKETING.
If squashes intended for shipment to the Northern markets, were to be picked, or rather cut (for they should neyer be broken from the plant) in as green and tender condition, as for the local demand, they would arrive at their destination, bruised, blackened, and unsal- able. Even if they could be delivered in sound condition, squashes in such an early stage of growth would not suit the trade. The proper time to pick them is when they have nearly attained their full growth, and for the scallop variety, just as they have lost the green, and are acquiring
212 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
a white and glossy appearance. At this time the rind is still penetrable by the finger nail.
Squashes may be shipped either in barrels or crates, and they must be so carefully packed as not to be bruised during transportation.
INSECTS.
The insects infesting the squash plant, besides the al- ready mentioned striped-bug (Diadrotica vittata), which is more frequently on the cucumber, are:
First—The T'welve-spotted Squash-beetle (Diabrotica 12-punctata).
Second—The Squash-bug (Anasa tristis).
Third—The Squash vine-borer (dgeria cucurhite).
Fourth—The Melon-worm (Phacellura hyalinitalis).
Fifth—The Squash Lady-bird (Coccinella borealis).
The injuries inflicted by, and the remedies applicable to the twelve-spotted squash-beetle, and the cucumber- beetle or striped-bug, are identical and are described un- der ‘* Cucumber.”
The offensively smelling, rusty-black colored, hemip- terous ‘‘squash-bug” affects the plant in the larval and perfect state. It destroys the leaves in a manner similar to the harlequin cabbage-bug, by sucking out their juice. The yellowish brown eggs are laid in little clusters on the underside of the leaves. Both eggs and insects are readily detected, and may be hand-picked. ‘The squash vine-borer lives, and inflicts its injury within the stem of the plant. The first indication of its presence is the wilting of the vine. The larve may be killed by destroying such vines, to prevent the increase of the in- sect. ‘The melon-worm (see ‘‘ Melon”) only attacks the later crop of squashes, and should be destroyed whenever found. The squash lady-bird, is the only species of the Coccinellidze which does not befriend the farmer. This insect feeds both in its larval and perfect state upon the
SWEET-POTATO. ; 213
leaves of the squash. The eggs are deposited in groups on the under surface of the leaves. ‘The color is dull yellow with nineteen black spots on the thorax and wing covers. Hand-picking is the remedy.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SWEET-POTATO (Ipomeea Batatas).
Patate, French ; Siisze Karioffel, German.
The native country of the Sweet-potato is unknown, some authors accrediting it to America, and others to the East Indies. It was used as a delicacy in England, long before the Irish potato was known, it having been im- ported from Spain. The plant was introduced into Eng- land by Gerarde in 159%. Were it not for the fact that the taste for this potato and the manner of cooking it at the North differ so much from that common at the South, the sweet-potato could be made a very profit- able crop. Here it is baked, while at the North it is usually boiled. The most salable, and, in fact, the only extensively marketable variety in any of the North- ern markets, is the “‘ Delaware,” ‘‘ Jersey,” or, more correctly, the ‘‘ Nansemond,” (at one time called the ‘«<Brimstone’’), which at the South is regarded as a most inferior sort, unfit for the table, unsalable in local mar- kets, and, in consequence of its unproductiveness, un- suitable for cultivation. While boiling will make any of the Yam varieties mushy, baking renders the Nansemond like so much dry flour. Although I have several times received nine dollars and ten dollars per barrel for the Nansemond of the first quality, in Boston and Baltimore,
214 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
I have for years abandoned the crop. Many of the tubers do not attain a marketable size in time to anticipate the Virginia crop, or before August Ist, and therefore the whole fails to be remunerative. The other varieties pro- duce few, but uniformly large, potatoes, while the Nan- semond has a great number of small ones. Still, circum- stances may alter the case, and others may succeed better with this variety than I have done. The sweet-potato would be then a profitable crop. The other varieties may produce from two hundred to eight hundred bushels to the acre; but several of the Yam varieties split open and become useless when highly manured and grown toa large size, say from two to six pounds. This objection does not apply to the Pumpkin Yam, which is also a produc- tive and good table potato for home use.
RAISING THE *‘ DRAWS” OR SETS.
The sweet-potato is propagated by ‘‘draws” (or ‘‘slips” in the up country, and ‘‘sets” or plants at the ‘North), by ‘‘ roots,” as the Irish potato, and by ‘‘ slips” or cuttings of the vines taken from the growing plants,
The crop of the truck-farmer is grown only by “draws.” The chief danger in producing these consists in killing the eyes by exposing them to too much heat. In this latitude, and further South, they are more safely grown in cold-frames, prepared about the last of Janu- ary. The light, warm soil of a cold frame haying been dug up, raked, and leveled, the seed potatoes are placed on the surface, a half-inch or so apart. Specimens. of more than about two and a half inches in diameter may be divided in two, lengthwise, and the halves laid on uae bed -with the cut surface down.
If the weather and the soil are dry, the potatoes may be watered and then covered evenly with about three and a half inches of light soil. The soil will settle a little. The frames should never be closely covered with the sash,
SWEET-POTATO. 2Lo
even at night, except in cold weather, and never in bright sunshine. In dry weather, the soil may require watering.
In case the draws are well grown, even commencing to ‘‘run” and crowd each other, before the season admits of their being transferred to the open ground, they may be drawn and heeled-in closely in another cold frame, to await favorable weather. In the meantime other sprouts will form for another pulling. ‘To heel them in most expeditiously, a wedge-shaped opening is made across the bed, by plunging the spade into the moist soil to its full depth, and pushing it backwards and forwards. Such a drill will hold several hundred plants. The opening of the next drill, five or six inches distant, will press the soil to the roots of the plants in the first drill. They may be put out as soon as danger from frost is supposed to be past; in this latitude about April Ist, and earlier at the Southward. They may, however, precede other ten- der plants, for a hoar frost will not kill potato draws out- right if they were properly transplanted. ‘The soil best adapted to the sweet-potato is a warm, well-drained, light, sandy loam, or pure sand.
PREPARING THE SOIL.
This is an exception to all other vegetables, inasmuch that the soil should not be deeply stirred. A hard bot- tom to the row is needed to induce a short, plump growth of the potatoes. On deeply plowed, sandy soil, on a porous subsoil, the ‘‘ Yellow Red” variety has grown over a yard in length and but an inch or less in diameter, and very few well-shaped potatoes were in a crop. If the surface is to be stirred, it should be done by a small plow as superficially as possible, or by means of a horse-hoe. The old-fashioned ‘‘ listing,” where the plants are to be put out on an elevated ridge, or bed,is the best prepara- tion, the only objection being, that in case it is necessary
216 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
to cover in much vegetable matter, the beds must be made high, in order to furnish soil enough in which to set the plants. Further North such beds are necessary; but for this latitude and to the Southward, on lght, warm, well-drained soils, I disapprove of high, pointed beds, because of their drying out so rapidly. The “Nan- semond will not thrive in heat and dryness. Well-rotted stable or cow-pen manure, or a good compost, should be spread upon the list at the rate of twenty-five loads to the acre, and covered by the plow. On clean land, with- out any list, it is spread on the surface in rows, three and a half feet apart, and covered with soil. The ridges should be raked down to within a few inches above the general surface.
Potash is especially needed in the soil for this crop. The best manuring that can be given to land for the sweet-potato is by cow-penning it. Apart from the adaptability of the manure for the needs of the crop, a special benefit results from the compacting of the soil by the trampling of the cattle.
No variety produces a more satisfactory draw than the Nansemond. It has more abundant and longer roots than any other, which may be more readily pulled from the potato without disturbing it in the bed.
TRANSPLANTING.
The draws are put out with a trowel, or a flat or round dibble, on the tops of the ridges, about fifteen inches apart, and inserted one or two joints deeper than they originally grew. They are thus not only likely to bear better, but are safer from injury by a severe white frost; they will not be killed outright, but will sprout again from the buds on the stems that are below the surface. In subsequent culture, superficial hoeing, with one plow- ing, as the vines commence to run, will suffice, care being © observed never to cover any part of a vine.
SWEET-POTATO. 217
DIGGING THE CROP.
When the crop is to be dug, if the vines are not very abundant (a luxuriant growth above ground is by no means a sure indication of a good crop below it), they may be torn away by the plow, the point not being permitted to enter the ground. This is only practi- cable with the Nansemond and other small-yined varie- ties. The ‘‘ Peabody,” ‘‘ White Yam,” and some others, haye vines that are too thick and strong. If the growth is too heavy, they must be stripped with sharp hoes; when the rows may be sided by the plow and the crop dug with steel prong-hoes. The gathering, assorting, and packing are the same as in the case of the Irish potato, with the exception that sweet potatoes are less susceptible of injury by sunshine, and they may be ex- posed long enough for the soil to become dry and rub off in the handling.
POTATOES FOR SEED.
The proper time to put up seed potatoes for the next crop is as late as possible in the fall, or after the first white frost has touched the leaves. The opinion gen- erally prevails that potatoes grown from draws will not keep well. Probably it is so, only because such are over-ripe. Seed potatoes are saved from plantings of slips or cuttings. The earlier they can be made, as soon as the vines have grown long enough and the weather is sufficiently wet, generally in this latitude about June Ist, the better. The longest, and, therefore, hardiest vines being selected, an evenly laid bundle as large as the hand can grasp is placed on a board, and cut with a sharp hatchet in lengths of about fifteen or eighteen inches, rejecting the delicate end pieces. These cuttings © are laid across the ridges at twelve or fifteen inches apart, and pressed down into the soil by means of a
10
918 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
notched dibble (figure 60). The vine is fixed about its middle in the notch, thus making, as it were, a double cutting. If vines are scarce, single cuttings may be made of four or five joints, the lower three leaves being cut away. These may be planted with a com- mon dibble.
The cultivation is the same as before. ‘The seed may be preserved in a dry cellar, but is usually put up in po- tato banks. The surface in a dry situation is leveled and covered to the depth of four of five inches, with dry pine straw; the po- tatoes are placed upon this, storing not more than fifteen or twenty bushels in each \\ bank. Pile them in as sharp a cone as pos-
\\ sible, and cover first with pine straw, then : closely with corn stalks, i order to shed Bi ala the rains, and finally with five or six inches ’ of soil. This covering will absorb the mois- ture which escapes from the potatoes, but large banks should be provided with a ventilating hole at the top, the admission of rain water being prevented by a cover.
INSECTS.
The insects that attack the sweet-potato are: First.—Haltica cucumeris, (Cucumber Flea-beetle). Second.—Sphinx cingulata, (Sweet-potato-moth). Third—Cassida bivittata, (Two-striped Tortoise-beetle). Fourth.—Cassida aurichalcea, (Golden Tortoise-beetle). Fifth.—Cassida guttata, (Mottled Tortoise-beetle). Sixth—Cassida nigripes, (Black-legged Tortoise-beetle). Seventh.—Chelymorpha cassidea.
The first-named and smallest of these (described under ‘‘Cucumber’’) is the most injurious, attacking the few leaves of the young plants as soon as they are put out. The remedy for the flea-beetles, dusting with lime, soot, or Paris green—if very abundant, may be resorted to.
SWEET-POTATO. 219
The large green worm of “the sweet-potato-moth (Sphinx cingulata) very much resembles the tomato-
SSS
AN I$} EA
Fig. 61.—TWO-STRIPED TORTOISE-BEETLE (Cassida bivittata). 1. Larva, natural size: 2, Larva; 3, Pupa; 4, Beetle, all magnified.
worm, but is not in sufficient fozce to do much injury. The moth is especially distinguished from Sphinx Carolina
Fig. 62.—GOLDEN TORTOISE-BEETLE ( Cassida aurichalcea). a, Larva, natural size ; b, enlarzed, with dung removed; c, Pupa; d, Beetle.
and Sphinx quinquemaculata by its pink-striped under- wings. The larve of the tortoise-beetles, although some-
Fig. 63.—MOTTLED TORTOISE-BEETLE (Cassida guttata). a, Larya; b, Pupa.
times abundant, are not sufficiently so to diminish the crop of the truck-farmer. They have, like those of
220 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
Lema trilineata, the peculiar habit of covering themselves with their own excrement.
The past season, I noticed, for the first time, a number of the perfect insects of Chelymorpha cassidea feeding up- on the sweet-potato. It is said to feed upon the milk- weed, and, I believe, has been found on the wild convol- vulus, or morning glory. It is a yellow, oblong-ovyal, beetle, somewhat similar to the tortoise-beetle in form, about three-eighths of an inch long, with a pair of black dots on each side of the thorax, and six black spots on each wing-cover.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE TOMATO (Lycopersicum esculentum).
Tomate, French; Liebes-Apfel, German; Appeltjes des liefde, Dutch; Pomo @oro, Italian; Tomates, Spanish.
The order Solanacee or Nightshade family contains over twelve hundred species, among which are three of our most wholesome and important vegetables—the Irish potato, the tomato, and the egg-plant. It also includes the red pepper and the narcotics, bittersweet, belladonna, Jamestown or ‘*Jimson weed,” the tobacco and others.
The Tomato was first introduced into Europe from South America in 1596; but for many years it was ex- clusively cultivated as an ornament to the flower-garden. It came very gradually into use in the preparation of sauces and in soups, having attained popularity only within the last forty years. In the north of the European continent and in England it is not yet popularized; while in France and Italy, particularly near Rome and Naples,
THE TOMATO. 221
it is produced in large quantities. It is a strange fact that, in Sicily, the tomato, when ripe, becomes sour and so unfit for use that the island has to be supphed from the vicinity of Naples on the neighboring mainland.
Like all vegetables, grown on such an extensive scale, and so well adapted for transportation to distant markets, the prices the tomato commands are very variable. The farm-gardeners on Long Island and other points in the vicinity of New York rarely receive better prices than from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel, while fine stock arriving early on a bare market, has occasion- ally brought very high prices. Thus, some years ago, I received sixteen dollars per bushel-crate in Baltimore (at the rate of eight cents each), and in Boston and Balti- more, which are the best markets for this vegetable, I have frequently received eight and ten dollars per bushel- crate. Now that Florida anticipates more Northern localities in shipping tomatoes (though very frequently of inferior quality, sufficient care not having been paid to assorting and packing), these prices are past. The returns now range between one dollar and fifty cents and five dollars per crate, according to the length of the ship- ping season. The yield is from one hundred to two hun- dred crates per acre. At the North, where five thousand plants are required to the acre, and where the bearing and picking season is longer, four hundred bushels are obtainable.
VARIETIES.
The great number of varieties enumerated in seed cata- logues has only interest for the amateur. There is little or no difference in the time of maturing the fruit, what- ever claim may be made in the advertisements. This is probably owing to the neglect to save seed repeatedly from the choicest and earliest fruit. A good market variety should be of medium size, round and smooth, with few
222 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
seeds; it must be firm, must ripen evenly and have a bright red color. The ‘‘Acme,” the <‘‘Livingston’s Perfection,” the ‘‘Round Smooth Red,” and the “‘ Hatha- way”? fill these requirements; the first-named haying at present the preference. The ‘‘Trophy” and ‘ Fejee Island” are both of excellent quality and appearance, but the first is objectionable on account of its too great size (not satisfactorily measurable by the quart), and the lat- ter on account of its shape. ‘The ‘‘Pear-shaped” and the ‘‘ Yellow” and ‘‘Red Cherry” are only used for pickles and preserves, - SELECTION OF SOIL,
The tomato will better resist drouth than it will too much rain, and indeed better than most vegetables; the soil, therefore, best adapted to this crop is a sandy one, or a high sandy loam. On low ground, well drained or not, in dry or wet seasons, the plants are liable to die out about the commencement of bearing. The fruit will even rot on high sandy soil, when the plants are manured with muck that has been exposed to the atmosphere for eight months. 'The tomato is not a gross feeder; it prefers a poor soil to one that is too fertile, nor will the plant bear any considerable application of stimulating fertilizers, such as Peruvian guano, hoof-trimmings, fish scrap, etc., which will certainly cause it to run to vine, and to make the fruit, particularly the first, decay before attaining full size. Those which do mature will be watery and not carry well. A good crop can be made with one shovelful of weil-rotted stable or cow manure, or good compost, to the hill, or upon a soil which has recently produced a well manured crop. In the last case no manuring would be needed.
SOWING THE SEED.
Slow growth being requisite to produce good stocky plants, the seed should be sown about January Ist on un-
THE TOMATO. 223
manured soil, in cold frames, in drills across the beds four inches apart ; and earlier or later, according to the de- gree of latitude south or north of Savannah. If sown late, the soil should be slightly enriched and moderate forcing may be necessary. If, after sowing, the weather should be cold and cloudy, the ground should be kept warm by means of the glass; but if warm, with much sunshine, the frames must be kept open or shaded, and the soil moist, until the plants have come up. Under the shade and moisture of the front boards of the frame the plants are apt to damp off, and to grow small and slender under the reflection of the sun near the back. It ‘s therefore advisable to sow the seed more thinly near the front and back than in the middle of the bed. To avoid a too spindling and crowded growth, the plants should be thinned as soon as they are large enough to be handled with safety, and transplanted to fill vacant spaces in other cold frames, or thrown away. A tomato plant should never be put out in the open field, if avoidable, without having been previously transplanted. When the plant is pricked out deeper than it stood in the seed bed, -t will throw out numerous small fibrous roots along the stem and at the root, to which the soil will adhere, when again taken up; and will therefore be apt to suffer less check at the final transplanting. When about four inches high, near the middle of February, pricking out into other cold frames, with the soil as in the seed bed, should be commenced. Set the plants down to the seed leaves at three or four inches apart, or if very large plants are desired, more space may be allowed to each. At those distances, each three by six-foot sash will cover from one hundred and sixty-five to two hundred and ninety plants, and an acre will require the use of at least eleven sashes. A very stocky growth can be obtained by stopping or cutting off the tops of the plants just above the seed leaves, as soon as vigorous growth has commenced. They
224 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
will throw out astem at the axil of each seed leaf;
thus producing, as it were, two plants from each root,
which, when planted out deeply, will support each other
and tend to increase the yield. If this operation is per-
formed, before the plants have taken root, only one bud
is likely to become developed. It may still pay those i a3 A oy
Fig. 64.—BOX FOR TOMATO PLANTS.
further south, who can ship the earliest tomatoes of the . season and secure the highest prices, to prick out inte three or four inch flower-pots or into boxes holding several plants each, these boxes being plunged in the cold frames.
BOXES FOR TOMATO PLANTS.
In former years, before shipments from Florida antici- pated my crops, I used for my entire crop, boxes like
THE TOMATO. 225
those in fig. 64, holding twenty plants each. These measured twenty-three and three-fourths by eighteen inches by seven inches high; they were made with two end boards eighteen by seven inches, and three-inch laths twenty-three and three-fourths inches long. When made of these dimensions and placed in contact in rows of three boxes across the bed, a cold frame six feet wide will rest with its upper and lower edges upon the adjoining end boards of the boxes. The boxes may be less than seven inches deep. ‘They are filled with soil which has been screened or is naturally free from roots, sticks, peb- bles, etc. Before removal from the frames, the soil must be saturated with water, when the plants can be cut out in the field with a sharp-edged brick-layer’s trowel and placed with blocks of soil adhering to the roots, in squares previously made by the plow, using a double mould-board. A hoeful of soil drawn to each side of the plant finishes the planting. In this manner plants may be put out on the highest ground, in the driest weather, and during the hottest midday sunshine, without wilting or the slightest apparent check to growth.
TRANSPLANTING.
If, however, the plants pricked out into cold frames are taken up carefully, with as much moistened soil ad- hering to the roots as possible, they may be planted out with the dibble or trowel, without loss, when the soil is only moist enough for the holes to be made, che recom- mendations given in the chapter on ‘‘ Transplanting,” being easily observed.
The distances at which the plants are put out will de- pend upon the fertility of the land and the variety ; the usual distances are three to three and one-half fect in the rows, which are from four to six feet apart. The season and danger of frost will determine when to put out the plants, which is about April 1st. A tomato plant,
226 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
however, if of stocky growth, will resist a slight frost, and the earlier it can be put out the better. If white frost be apprehended, the plants may be protected when grown on a small scale, by means of boxes or any other screen, or by smoke; but when ona large scale it 1s cheaper to have a surplus on hand, in case of loss by frost.
CULTIVATION.
The first workings are done with a cultivator or a horse- hoe, running both ways. The plow and hoe leave the crop free from weeds, and on wide beds, at the time picking commences, the soil will be well drawn up to the stems, but without having covered up the young shoots issuing from the main stem, and which will bear fruit. Train- ing the vines to a single pole or to two placed parallel, or to a trellis, may be pmcticed on a small scale. Prun- ing the vines is not advisable. The fruit matures in this latitude about June Ist. Below is a table showing the dates of sowing, pricking out, planting and harvest for seven consecutive years:
Dates of sowing. of ee out. of planting. of harvest. Jan. 14. Feb. 1 March 27. June 5. Jan. 14. Hebi. March 16, June 7. van. 9. Feb. 20. March 26, June 3. Jan. 4. Feb. 26. April 1. May 380. Jan. 5. Feb. 28. March 24, May 22. Jan. 8. Feb. 12. April 1. May 28. Dec. 19. Feb. 12. March 19, May 31.
PICKING AND PACKING.
The distance from market, or time required in trans- portation, will determine the stage of ripeness at which the fruit is to be picked. Fruit exposed fairly to the sun will show the commencement of the ripening process on the upper surface, while that in the dense shade of luxuri- ant foliage will first redden on the flower end. In the vicinity of Charleston and Savannah, the proper stage has been reached, when the tomato has attained a yellow cast; and in Florida, as soon as it is full-grown and
THE TOMATO. 227
shows the least sign of ‘“‘turning.” Generally the pick- ing is done there, when the tomato is much too green to ripen properly, and at the cost of the producer. The pickers should not place leaky or decaying fruit in their baskets to soil the rest. ‘Tomatoes, like all other stock for which good prices are expected, should be carefully assorted, both as to quality and degree of ripeness, all inferior or worm-eaten fruit being strictly excluded. To- matoes should not be emptied out of the baskets into the crates and shaken down like potatoes, but packed singly, in order that they may lie compactly, so that upon arrival in market, each package may present a full and unshaken appearance. In the more careful packing practised in later years, the fruit has been wrapped in paper. This wrapping protects the remainder of the fruit from leaking or decay in the crate. Paper for the purpose should be porous, soft and strong. Pieces seven inches square (forty-nine square inches) will answer for fruit of medium size.
A tomato as it is picked from the plant may fre- quently present a perfectly sound appearance, until the stem 1s removed, when it is found to contain a well- grown worm of Heliothis armigera the Cotton-boll worm ; the insect, while very small, having penetrated the fruit under the calyx. A reason for rubbing off all the stems, is, the danger of their bruising other fruit or tearing the wrapping paper. In our Southern climate, an early tomato plant will not continue in bearing be- yond the first part of August; but a succession may be secured by putting out plants in July from seed sown in May, or early in June. From this crop, grown in hot weather, however, neither the yield nor the size of the fruit will be as satisfactory as the earlier one. Plants may also be propagated from cuttings of old vines, if set out in moist ground ; but many frequently fail to take root.
228 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
SAVING THE SEEDS.
For seed, the earliest well-matured, and in every re- spect, the choicest fruit should be selected, and those which were grown on soil best adapted to the tomato. As the objectionable knobby fruit is produced from dou- ble flowers, and these are said to result from the use of old seed, the fruit from which to save seed should only be gathered from plants raised from fresh seed. The fruit, when soft and over-ripe, should be mashed in any convenient vessel and stirred daily for three or four days, when the seed may be washed from the pulp and dried.
INSECTS.
Young tomato plants are lable to be cut down by sey- eral kinds of cut-worms.* During the Spring of 1882, the green larvee of Sphinx Carolina, and Sphinx quinque- maculata were very numerous and destructive; but owing to paucity of number, the damage was generally slight. More severe injury is done, and particularly to the earlier and therefore most valuable part of the crop, by the caterpillar of the Cotton-boll worm, (or the ‘‘ Corn- seed worm,” Heliothis armigera.) They rarely, and only when very young, touch the leaves; but penetrate the green fruit, one worm often boring into several. Hand-picking in either case is the only remedy. Just before the first picking for market, all the punctured fruit should be gathered and either fed to the stock or destroyed.
Sometimes a large green worm may be found with one or two of what appear to be very minute eggs, adhering tightly to the skin at one of the rings of the body, or covered apparently, with eggs. -Such a worm should not be destroyed. The supposed eggs are the chrysalides of an Ichneumon fly, its appropriate insect enemy.
*See Chapter on Insects.
THE WATERMELON. 229 CHAPTER XXIX.
THE WATERMELON (Citrullus vulgaris). Pasteque, Freneh; Wasszr-Melone, German ; Water melon, Dutch ; Cocomero, Italian.
The Watermelon was probably the melon of the Bible, and, as has been incidentally stated, was known to the Jews in Egypt.
Watermelons may be more or less successfully grown from Key West to New Jersey, and from as far south in the interior of Florida as transportation facilities enable the farmers to ship the crop profitably. Commencing about May 15th, they are forwarded to the North by steamships and to the North-west by rail.
Owing to the size and nature of the fruit, it has to be shipped in bulk, and, even with careful handling, in transit, accidental breakages will occur; but, if the en- tire crop, exclusive of losses by unavoidable causes, could reach the market, none would, under favorable circum- stances, pay better.*
* The losses upon watermelons shipped to Boston have been so general that the subject has been discussed by the ‘ Vegetable and Fruit Grow- ers’ Association,” with a view to provide aremedy. G. R. McRee, Ksq., of Lowndes County, Georgia, one of the largest growers of melons for shipment to the North, wrote to the author in September last as follows: “T have almost quit shipping to Boston on account of the heavy losses. I have lost as much as fifty per cent. of some of my consignments, and never expect to get off with less than twenty per cent.’’—In December last Mr. McRee wrote: ‘You are at liberty to use any statement from me, in reference to the loss on steamers, in your forthcoming work. My losses by the Boston ships have been so heavy that I have very nearly quit the line. I sent only two or three consignments by it the past sea- son, and these were shipped by the forwarding agent of the railroad be- cause the New York ship was missed.”’
Later Notz.—I am constrained by a sense of justice, to state that after the above was in type, the agents called upon me, as President of the “Vegetable and Fruit Growers’ Association of Chatham County,”’ and promised that at both ends of the line, with the finer ships and new staffs of officers and crews, they would endeavor to remove the cause of complaint.—A. O.
230 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
AVOIDABLE LOSSES.
The melon, like most other plants, is subject to insect depredations ; but it is not from losses to the farmer by these minute objects, nor by the unfayvorableness of sea- sons (although the melon is among the most uncertain of crops), nor by any of the other contingencies which so often make the profits of the agriculturist doubtful, that his success .and his income are diminished; but by depredations and theft. After his crop is harvested, quick and safe transportation to market is a chief factor in successful truck-farming. Without it the mdustry must fail.
With the transportation lnes from Savannah, I have had an experience of twenty-seven years. In that time I have been the largest, and am now the oldest grower of melons in this immediat2 region, and know whereof I write. Previous to the war, the pilfering of melons was carried on to such an extent that two Sea Island cotton planters, my relatives, who planted them most extensively, were by self-protection compelled to admit the captains, or pursers of the steamships, into co- partnership, allowing them a part of the profits. Then, and then only, could melons be shipped with safety. Since that time, a vast improvement has been made. If it be a difficult matter to prevent these losses to the ship- per, the agency shows a praiseworthy endeavor to curtail them, and there seems to be a fair prospect of still further future improvement.
The two Northern markets, where melons invariably command the highest prices, are Boston and New York. Under the same conditions of safety the preference would be decidedly in favor of the former; but the handling has been so careless, and the ‘‘ shortage” so outrageous, as to discourage shipments to that market.
I have lost as many as two hundred and twenty-nine
THE WATERMELON. Dak
melons from a single shipment. The great loss is not under the head of specked or decayed (principally owing to rough handling), but missing. ‘The melon is not an evanescent object which disappears without trace like cx- ploded gun-cotton.
A fair yield to the acre is one thousand melons, large enough for shipment, or ranging from fifteen pounds up- wards. In consequence of a disease which has been killing the vines of late years, about the time the fruit is form- ing, the crop more frequently falls below than exceeds that number. I have examined the roots and vines in
Fig. 65.—WATERMELON—“‘ RATTLESNAKE.”
vain for insects, to account for this disease, and have not yet been able to ascertain the cause.
It is probably not attributable to an insect in the root, like the larve of the striped-bug in the cucumber, for the disease sometimes first manifests itself in a single side-runner.
My melons sold the past season in the New York and Boston markets at from twenty-five to fifty dollars per hundred.
VARIETIES.
A variety to be fit for shipment should be large, with a rind thick enough to carry well, should not ‘‘ burn” or become discolored in the field by the hot sun, and should ‘‘ent” red throughout, without a lighter colored hard
232 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
‘‘core.” At present the ‘‘Rattle-snake” fills these re- quirements better than any other. This variety origi- nated in Richmond County, Georgia.
SOIL AND PREPARATION.
The soil best adapted to the watermelon is a light, dry, warm sand, lately cleared, or which has not been culti- vated for at least three years.
This peculiar adaptability of new ground is probably attributable to the opening of the soil by the decaying roots of vegetation, Whatever compacts the soil is in- jurious to the crop. A rainy season, owing partly to the consolidating of the land, is most unfavorable to success. On new ground, the first formed young fruit are more apt to become developed, and in larger numbers, and particularly are they all liable to shrivel and drop off on old recently cultivated land after a heavy rain or frequent lighter ones. This applies particularly to the sandy land of the coast. Notwithstanding the very succulent char- acter of the fruit, wet weather is more damaging than drouth.
The field having been plowed and harrowed, it is laid off, according to the usual custom, ten or twelve feet each way, to mark the hills. For this purpose, a double mould-board plow is the best implement. It makes straight smooth furrows and wider openings at. their crossings for the hills. Instead of these distances I prefer to make my hills six by twelve feet apart, and leave but a single plant in each, rather than two plants. With the same average area for each vine I conceive that the single plants will produce a greater number of large melons to the acre. The openings made by the plow are enlarged to about three feet in diameter, and deepened below the depth of the surface soil, and one or two shoyelfuls of decayed stable, cow or hog manure, the latter to be preferred, are dug up and intimately mixed with the sub-
THE WATERMELON. 233
soil, by means of hoe, spade, or digging-fork. The hoe, although not so effective, is the more expeditious tool in the hands of negro laborers. Green stable manure or any other kind that is fermenting, or heating, is not suitable for melons on light land. If in place of the above, a compost of muck or woods-earth with cotton- seed meal or fish guano is used, the quantity should be two shovelfuls, containing about one pound of the meal or guano. When manure is plentiful enough, it may be applied in the drill or even broadcast, notwithstanding the distances of the plants, for most of the roots of the melon plant are long surface roots. Manured only in the hill, the plant derives less benefit from the fertilizer.
SOWING THE SEED.
A flat hill, elevated two or three inches above the general surface, is made over the manure with the removed surface soil, and in the middle of each the first sowing of from six to ten seeds is made, one or two inches deep, according to the nature and degree of moisture of the soil. Ag in the case of cucumbers, I make two more sowings at in- tervals of a week, putting in three or four seeds at each, at which rate it will require from two and one-half to three pounds of seed per acre. A temperature of about sixty- five degrees is required to sprout melon seed ; and there is rarely anything gained in this crep by making the sow- ings too early, as cold weather, even without frost at night, will give the plants a check from which they will never recover sufficiently to produce a good crop. While melon seeds may be planted in the middle of Florida, in January and February, March 15th is quite early enough for the first planting in the latitude of Savannah, and, of course, later further North.
CULTIVATION.
If the first sowing has failed, or the plants have been killed or injured by cold, it is best to await the growth
234 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
of the second or even of the third planting; otherwise, as soon as the first has made two rough leaves, and the others are up, the top of the hill should be stirred by a hand-weeder, or other hand implement, or by the fingers ; and the loose soil drawn to the stems up to the seed- leaves, at the same time thinning the plants to a couple, of each sowing, or even to less, if they crowd each other. Of course, the strongest, healthiest looking plants are to be left. It is sometimes the case that plants from the sec- ond sowing are more advanced than those from the first, when all of the latter should be removed. ‘To stir the soil and destroy young weeds, the cultivator or horse-hoe is run in both directions over the whole surface, and as near the hills as possible without disturbing them. They should be thinned to a stand early enough to prevent crowding, and the hills hoed about the time the plants commence to ‘‘run,” and the soil drawn well up to the seed-leaves, great care being taken not to cover the leaves or crown. JBefore the vines reach the edge of the hills, two furrows should be thrown to each side of the row. It requires careful plowing to throw the soil to the middle without disturbing the hills, which are only six feet apart. This is done by depressing the right handle of the plow, or pushing it inward to the rows as the plow reaches each hill, and erecting it again in passing. Melon vines should never be handled, if it can possibly be avoided, and, therefore, as the vines cover the bed, and before they extend beyond it, the plow is used repeatedly, un- til the plants are left on wide beds separated by a wide furrow. Before the second plowing, hoes should be care- fully used around the hills and between the vines with- out touching them rudely ; removing all weeds before overlooked. Watermelons come into market from Florida about the latter part of May; and from the vicinity of Savannah and the adjacent Sea Islands, about July Ist.
THE WATERMELON. 935
GATHERING THE FRUIT.
ad
An experienced picker can recognize from its general light and bright, but not glistening appearance, when a melon has reached a proper state to be cut from the vine for shipment, before it is fully, or ‘‘ red” ripe, and he may do so without any other loss of time than is required to detach it from the vine and to place it on end for the carriers. Roads should be convenient, for it is impossi- ble to induce the laborers to avoid treading on the vines, even when they do not cover. the ground. ‘The less ex- perienced pickers must look for other signs of ripening, and the ‘‘belly,” or lower surface, where it has been in contact with the earth, presents the most reliable in the appearance of the pores of the skin. When these become perceptible to the touch, by a roughness of the skin, or can be seen, or the rind has become too hard to be read- ily indented by the finger nail, the melon may be picked for shipment.
The shriveling or dying of the ‘‘ curl,” or little ten- dril nearest to the melon, or in the axil of the stem, is a usual, but not a certain rign of ripeness.
A ripe melon sounds hollow upon percussion with the knuckle; but thumping is only practicable in the early morning, for a large unripe melon has the same reso- nance during the hot midday sun. If the “belly” is yellow and blistered the melon is surely full ripe. Pres- sure upon the fruit toehear the sound of the rupture of the flesh within, if ripe, is objectionable. It injures the ripe as well as the green, and should never be resorted to.
INSECTS.
It is possible, nay, even probable, that the late, gen- erally observed perishing of melon vines may be entirely attributable to insects, and in part, to an unknown one. Wire-worms, or larve of Diabrotice, may be the cause of the death of some.
936 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
The injury to the seed-leaves of young plants by flea- beetles is annoying, but never extensive enough to war- rant the application of a remedy over the large area of a meloncrop. Of the several plants in each hill a vigorous one may be expected to escape injury, until the deyvelop- ment of rough leaves, when the danger from this source ceases.
The watermelon is a food plant of the yellowish green, nearly translucent larva of an insect very similar to the pickle-worm moth, Phacellura hyalinitalis. If this in- sect has two broods, the first, or spring brood, must be very limited in numbers; for I have never known the early melon crop for shipment to be damaged, while later crops suffer very severely. Not only are the leaves de- voured, but the worms gnaw and penetrate the fruit. It is, of course, the policy of the farmer to destroy the in- sects in allits stages, whenever possible ; but no remedy has as yet been found that can be profitably applied. The Phacellura is known to be subject to two parasitic in- sects : the Pimpla conquisitor, and a 'Tachina fly.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE STRAWBERRY (Fragaria).
Fraisier, French ; Hrdbeere, German; Aardbezie, Dutch ; Pianta di fragola, Italian ; and /vresa, Spanish.
The Strawberry, with the majority of the cultivated fruits of Northern climates, belongs to the Rose family. It well deserves its botanical name, Fragaria (from fra- gro, to emit a sweet odor), for-no other fruit is so frag- rant. While some who have written upon the straw-
THE STRAWBERRY. 26
berry make nearly a dozen species, the most accurate botanists fail to find more than three or four, that are really distinct. ‘The most widely distributed species is Fragaria vesca, the Wood or Alpine strawberry. In this the seeds (really one-seeded seed-vessels) are not sunken in a cavity in the fruit, but are prominent upon the surface. This is tle most widely distributed species, being found wild in Europe, Asia, and in this country. From this are derived all the cultivated Alpine strawber- ries, so popular on the Continent of Europe, and so sel- dom grown in this country.
F. grandiflora, the Large-fiowered strawberry, is a native of South America, and on the Pacific coast ex- teads northward to California. The Chilian strawberry (F. Chilensis) is now regarded as a form of this.
F. Virginiana, the Virginia or Scarlet strawberry is our most common wild strawberry. It is found from the Arctic circle to Florida, and extends northward to Ore- gon and Washington Territory. Occurring in a oreat yariety of localities, several of its forms have been described as species. This and F. grandiflora are the parents of the strawberries generally cultivated. ‘They differ from the Alpine species in having their seeds in a cavity more or less deep. The other species which have been described as distinct are of no importance to the cultivator.
The strawberry was apparently known to the Romans only in its wild state, for none of their writers have men- tioned it as among cultivated fruits. It is first mentioned as having been cultivated in England during the reign of Richard III, in 1483. With the exception of a variety of Wood strawberry raised in France about 1660, no im- proved variety of the strawberry was known until late in the last century, after the introduction of the Large- fowered and the Virginia strawberries. With the pro- duction of improved seedlings, as well as hybrids, new
238 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
varieties increased rapidly both in this country and in Europe, varieties of the former species seeming to be bet- ter adapted to the climate of Europe, while those of the latter are preferred in this country.
The wild berry 1s vastly superior to most of the new varieties, which the mania for size, regardless of the more valuable qualities of flavor, and aroma, has developed.
All the wild species and most of the improved varieties have perfect flowers. They contain both stamens and pistils, and are termed hermaphrodite flowers. In the strawberry, the numerous pistils are crowded upon a rounded body in the centre of the flower, called the re- ceptacle. Immediately around these are the numerous stamens. As soon as the pistils are fertilized by the pol- len from the stamens, they begin to grow, and the lower part of each one ripens into a diminutive, bony, one- seeded nutlet, which popularly passes for the seed, and it is convenient, for the sake of brevity, to call it so. As the pistils themselves, after fertilization, begin to ripen, the receptacle on which they are placed begins to grow, and at length becomes the juicy, fine flavored mass with which we are familiar as the strawberry, though in struc- ture it is not the fruit, but merely an appendage to the ‘proper fruits. Unless the pistil is fructified by the pollen of the same, or of some other flower, through the medium of insects or of the wind, it must remain sterile, or fruit- less, or *‘ blind.” The flowers of some of the improved va- rieties, particularly those originating in this country, are entirely without stamens, or have them imperfectly devel- oped. Such are the <‘ pistillate” varieties, as for instance the old “ Hovey’s Scedling,” and the later ‘‘ Crescent.” Having no stamens, they must be fertilized by pollen from other flowers and we must plant at least one row of a perfect variety to each ten rows of the pistillate kind, for that to become fruitful. There are many dis- advantages connected with the cultivation of these pistil-
THE STRAWBERRY. 239
late varieties, and as there are many as good, or better, with perfect flowers, the former should be discarded.
VARIETIES AND YIELD.
A variety may be adapted to a certain soil and climate, and be totally unsuited under different conditions not very distant. Of the many varieties that are fine and popular at the North, few succeed under the continued heat and dryness of a part of our summer season.
The principal requirements of a market variety for shipment to distant points are:
First, Its adaptability to our climate.—Second, Pro- ductiveness.—Third, Fair size.—Fourth, Sufficient firm- ness to enable it to endure the rough handling and delay of transportation without injury, so that it may arrive in market in good presentable appearance and condition.
The old ‘‘ Wilson’s Albany,” or ‘‘ Wilson,” and the ‘‘Neunan” or ‘‘Charleston” meet these conditions better than any others. The latter is a more attractive and better flavored berry, is more productive of runners, and is rapidly superseding the ‘‘ Wilson” as the Southern market variety.
Where all the conditions for its successful culture are favorable, the strawberry has long been, in the vicinity of large cities, the gardener’s most valuable crop.
As long ago as 1850, the average net profit of a Scotch acre * of strawberries in the vicinity of Edinburgh was from one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred dol- lars, the land renting at from twenty-five to seventy-five dollars per acre.
The heaviest shipments to our Northern markets are made from Norfolk, Virginia, where probably the largest strawberry farm in the world is located, one cultivator having two hundred and fifty acres in this fruit. Large
* The Scotch acre contains six thousand and eighty-four square yards, and is about one and a quarter acre English.
240 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
shipments are also made from Charleston, 8. C., to the Eastern markets, and from Mobile to those of the West. In 1879, seven hundred and thirty-four thousand and ninety-three quarts were shipped from Charleston. Ex- tensive plantings for shipment have also been made in Florida and South-western Georgia, one farmer having twenty acres near Thomasville, Thomas County.
Although there are lands to be had in the vicinity of Sa- vannah, with adequate drainage, and soadmirably adapted to the cultivation of strawberries, that the best fruit farms in the country could be established in this locality, not enough are grown to supply the local demand, and supplies for that purpose are procured from Florida and Charleston. In the local market the retail price ranged from fifteen cents to one dollar per quart-basket the past season, averaging thirty cents. The first sales were made February 20th. The first shipments from Florida, about February 1st, that arrive in good order in the Northern market, sometimes bring from three to five dollars. Larger shipments of one hundred quarts and upwards generally bring about two dollars. Heavier, and later shipments, soon reduce the price.
From Charleston, the first shipments, coming late in March, bring from seventy-five cents to one dollar per quart, but the price drops, as the quantity increases, to from thirty-five to fifty cents per quart.
The first from North Carolina bring about the same price as Charleston berries. The immense quantities shipped from Norfolk, commencing about May 10th, notwithstanding the fresher state of the fruit, bring the price down to from twenty-five to thirty-five cents, and sometimes lower still.
New York is the best market for strawberries. No fancy prices are realized in Baltimore.
Occasionally we enjoy in the latitudes of Savannah and Mobile a sufficiently protracted period of warm weather
THE STRAWBERRY. 241
in winter for the plants to bloom and mature fruit, en- abling us to make several pickings in December, but this occurs very rarely.
G. H. Baker, of Illinois, reported having raised two hundred and fifty-three bushels, or eight thousand and ninety-six quarts of ‘‘ Wilson’s Albany,” upon an acre, giving him a clear profit of fifteen hundred and nine dollars. Mr. Parker, of Massachusetts, picked three thousand two hundred quarts of the same variety from an acre within ten days, and sold them on his premises for eleven hundred and twenty dollars. The well-known authority on the strawberry—Reyv. H. P. Roe, of Orange County, N. Y., in his work ‘‘ Success with Small Fruits,” mentions the yield of one of his beds of the ‘‘ Crescent Seedling,” at the rate of three hundred and forty-six bushels, or eleven thousand and seventy-two quarts to the acre. A few years ago, O. B. Galusha reported, in an Illinois journal, that he had produced fourteen thousand quarts of the same variety to the acre. These exceptional crops are merely given to show the capabilities of the strawberry under favorable contingencies. No such ex- traordinary yields can be realized in any other than acool and moist climate, and it is doubtful whether in our hot region, under the most favorable conditions of soil, vari- ety, manure, careful preparation and proper cultivation, without subdrainage and irrigation, more than six thou- sand quarts per acre can be produced, while three thou- sand may be considered a good yield, and from fifteen . hundred to two thousand are common. One farmer, near Savannah picked eight hundred and ninety-four quarts from two-thirds of an acre and discontinued picking after the price fell below fifteen cents.
SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION.
The selection of soil and location should be made with a view to provide the moisture so absolutely indispensa- 11
242 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
ble for successful strawberry culture. The plant is very deep-rooted, its roots having been traced to a depth of four feet. Surface watering by hand is impracticable, and of no avail, nor are low lying situations, unless sus- - ceptible of deep drainage, advisable.
A well-drained, deeply stirred, friable, more or less loamy or clayey soil, with plenty of vegetable matter, will be more retentive of moisture and more suitable than any other. If there be a choice of location, a northern open exposure is to be preferred.
A light, sandy soil, although it will mature the earliest fruit, will produce smaller berries, the picking season will be much shorter, and the entire crop is apt to be killed out during the first summer. This summer kill- ing is the chief drawback to strawberry culture at the South.
If stable manure is to be used, the lighter the land, the more necessity that the manure should be thoroughly rotted, lest the plants grow to vine at the expense of the fruit. This is more likely to occur at the South than in a cooler climate, and heavier applications of manure are therefore more practicable at the North.
While large quantities of strong animal manures are not necessary on already fertile clay soils, they cannot contain too much decaying vegetable matter. If the soil be of proper character, a field which has been planted for several seasons in vegetables, and upon which no weeds and grass have been permitted to go to seed, would give the best chances for success. Such land, after having ma- tured a well-manured cabbage crop, would need no other, and no better fertilization, than a crop of cow peas sown after the removal of the cabbages in May, and turned under a few weeks before the setting of the strawberry plants. In such case the land should be deeply cross- plowed, a subsoil following the turning plow, a deep soil being as necessary as a fertile one. If manure is to be
THE STRAWBERRY. 243
applied, it must be broadcast, after the first plowing and harrowing, and then be turned under at the cross plow- ing. Hach plowing should be followed by the use of the subsoil plow, and afterwards by the harrow. Itis a mis- taken idea that the roots of the previous season are cither dead or have no functions to perform, for it is in them mainly that the leaves have stored up matter for the fu- ture use of the plant. In the preparation of the soil it should, therefore, be borne in mind that it is to serve for several years, and that no subsequent deep stirring dur- ing the after cultivation of the crop is practicable.
Composts of muck, or leaf-mould, with stable, cow, or artificial manures are useful. Potash has been found especially beneficial to the crop. Cotton seed is also good.
METHODS OF PLANTING.
Strawberries may be grown by either one of the three methods of :
First, The single hill. Second, The continuous single row. ‘Third The matted bed.
Hach has its advantages, but the former is more suita- ble to this climate, as it renders clean culture less trou- blesome and expensive, and, although the crop may not be as abundant, finer and larger fruit is produced. It is, therefore, the only method suited to the cultivation of the larger varieties, such as the ‘‘Sharpless,” the ** Bidwell,” and others like them.
The field, having been plowed in narrow lands, thirty to forty feet wide, and finely prepared by cross harrow- ing, is laid off in straight rows three to three and a half feet apart. This may be done by the garden line, or more expeditiously by means of a wheel upon the tire of which are fixed knobs or projections at certain regular distances. ‘The impression of the tire upon the soft soil marks the lines, while those of the knobs indicate
244 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
the spots for the insertion of the plants. The wheel is fixed between handles like that of a seed-drill, and has an upright stick in front, which is lined to a set of poles like those used for laying off trenches with the plow. The plants are put out from twelve to eighteen inches apart in the row, and the knobs and wheel are arranged accordingly.
The planting for the continuous row is the same. The difference between the two results from subsequent cul- ture. The advantages of this method, compared with the matted bed are, that the berries will be larger, the cultivation may be partly with the cultivator, and there will be less cutting of vines to be done.
If the matted-bed system is contemplated, slightly ele- vated beds four feet wide, with intervening paths eight- teen inches wide, which act as auxiliary drains, are thrown up by the plow. On these, after they have been raked off, three rows are put out, eighteen inches apact, one running down the centre of the bed, the plants twelve to eighteen inches from each other. The advan- tages that may be claimed for this method are, the greater number of bearing plants; the fact that after the first year few or no runners will be produced on the top of the bed; that the close growth tends to keep down weeds, and that the soil will not be compacted, and its porosity destroyed by the trampling of the pickers, who gather the fruit.
SETTING OUT THE PLANTS,
Strong, well-rooted plants of the same season’s growth, only, should be used for setting out. Long straggling roots may be shortened to suit the general length and that of the dibble or trowel. The latter is to- be preferred for planting, as the roots will be spread out, instead of being crowded together in the narrow hole of the dibble. If the plants have been procured
THE STRAWBERRY. 245
from a distance, it may be advisable to trim away dead leaves and puddle the roots. If they can be taken freshly from a field near by, neither will be necessary. When set out the upper portions of the roots should neither show above the soil nor should the crown be buried, but be inserted to the level of the general surface.
The weather being favorable, the earlier that strong well-rooted plants can be had and be set out, the better will be the growth during the fall and winter, and, there- fore, the earlier and more abundant will be the first crop. This planting may sometimes be done as early as the first of August. It is impossible to procure plants from Northern nurseries early enough, which is another reason for preferring those of home growth. If such have been potted and put out in July, a still better first crop may be realized. As there will be no disturbance of the roots in transferring the plants from the pots to the open ground, it may be done regardless of dry weather, should such prevail at the time. Two and a half or three-inch flower pots, filled with soil, are plunged in the beds up to the rim, wherever young plants upon the runner are about to root, and these are kept in place by placing upon the runner a pebble, an oyster shell, or other weight.
Late in September and October is, however, the safest season for putting out unpotted strawberry plants in this latitude; but it may be done through the whole winter and during early spring.
Clean culture is of paramount importance. Unless a farmer be resolved to accomplish this, he had better not attempt a strawberry crop in our weed and grass-growing climate. Its prospective value, its duration, and the cost of preparation are too great to abandon the planta- tion to grass and weeds, after the first picking season is over. The cost of planting is so great, and when well cared for the crop is so much more productive the second year than the first, that the practice of treating it like
246 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
an annual crop cannot be too strongly condemned. It is often the case that this practice is adopted by some, from ignorance, or want of industry, and by others, from want of time or from negligence, during the season of shipping other produce. If, however, during the picking season, a warm, wet spell should prevail, the task of sub- duing the weeds is not easy of accomplishment. Hon. C. C. Langdon, of Alabama, a good authority on strawberry culture at the South, reported a serious case of the kind in 1868, when it required the work of nine men during six days to clean five-eighths of an acre. The plants, ‘© Wilson’s Albany,” had been set out in March, 1864, in rows of single hills, four feet apart, the plants being eighteen inches from each other.
During the whole life of a plantation on the single hill system, the cultivator, running shallow, may keep the surface clean and mellow, when not mulched, to within an inch or two of the plants, and the hoe, with hand-weeding, must be relied upon between the plants. A variety, otherwise suitable, like the ‘‘ Wilson’s » Al- bany,” that makes few runners, is best adapted to this method, and the runners must be scrupulously removed by a hoe or knife. The plants, instead of exhausting their nutriment in the production of runners, will store up a greater amount for the next crop of fruit, and the stools will enlarge until the leaves of adjacent plants nearly touch each other in the rows. When the continu- ous row is contemplated, the cultivation is the same dur- ing the first season as above descrived, but after the run- ners begin to grow, all those projecting out from the line of rows are to be cut away, allowing only such to take root as extend along the line of plants. By this method a continuous narrow bed, ten inches or a foot wide, becomes established. During the third and fourth seasons all new runners must be removed. The cultiva- tion of the matted-bed crop is exclusively by the hoe,
THE STRAWBERRY. 247
except in the intervening paths, where the plow may be used. During the second season there should be no room for the hoe, and the work should be confined to hand- weeding, when necessary. The soil, in all three meth- ods, should be kept mellow and clean until just before budding or blooming commences, in order to destroy as many of the germs of weeds as possible.
MULCHING.
Immediately after the last working, a mulch should be applied around the plants and over the entire inter- vening surface. This is done especially to prevent the frvit from becoming splashed with soil by rains. The other benefits of the mulch, already mentioned in a former chapter, will follow incidentally. If possible, the mulch should be thick enough to prevent the growth of grass.
Of our available materials for mulching, pine straw is the best, either whole or cut, as insects are less apt to harbor under it. Sawdust is objectionable because the finer particles will adhere to the fruit, and when rice chaff is used, small graminivorous birds are apt to scratch away berries, as well as a part of the mulch, in search for pieces of the grain. As soon as the fruiting season is over, the mulch must be removed and the crop cleaned and cultivated at whatever cost of labor. It is right here that the fatal neglect generally occurs.
The matted bed requires no mulch the second season, nor should there be any room for it. ‘The closely grow- ing plants will protect the fruit from being soiled. Owing to the crowded condition of the plants, the earlier will be the exhaustion of the soil, and the greater the impossibility of stirrig the compacted surface. Hence the bearmg of the matted bed becomes so poor that it 1s generally advisable to plow it up after the second season, and to use the land for some other crop. Plantings,
248 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
after the other two methods, are most productive the sec- ond season, but remain remunerative two seasons more. After the fourth year, the land should be used for some other crop. New beds should be set out every year to replace those going out of use. ‘Top-dressings of ashes, bone meal and muck, or some other fine compost, the best ingredients of which are susceptible of being leached out and carried into the soil by rains, should be made prior to putting on the mulch. These should be applied each successive season.
PICKING AND MARKETING.
The season for ripening, or for shipping varies more than with any other crop of the truck-farmer. A period of freezing late in the season will destroy any expanded blossoms, or young fruit already formed, and retard the first picking. If there be no black or heavy hoar frost with a low degree of temperature in January or later, the crop will come in early in March. If the roots could be kept moist by irrigation the fruiting season might be considerably prolonged.
Strawberries as far south as Charleston and Savannah should not be fully ripe when picked for shipment. They should not be pulled from the vines and bruised, but the stems should be pinched off, leaving a part attached to each berry. The least handling, and that little, carefully done, will tend to insure good quality and satisfactory prices. The picking must be done directly into the quart baskets in which the berries are to be shipped. The stems and ‘hulls ” (the calyxes), will admit air be- tween the berries and prevent bruising. These baskets are packed in separate tiers, in well-ventilated, locked crates, each holding thirty-two baskets.
It is thought that when the buyer sees fine berries in the top layer he infers there is a good quality throughout the crate, for which reason the best baskets are fre-
THE STRAWBERRY. 249
quently reserved for ‘‘ toppers.” This practice should be utterly condemned in the case of this fruit as well as in all shipments of vegetables.
INSECTS. Wherever the common field crickets abound, they be- come very destructive, injuring many of the ripening fruits at night. See chapter on “Insects.” Other in-
Fig. 66.—STRAWBERRY LEAF-ROLLER (Anchylopera
Sragariz). Fig. 67.—STRAW- a, Larva, of real size ; b, Moth, BERRY CROWN- enlarged. BORER.
sects particularly infesting the strawberry plant at the South are :
1. Anchylopera fragarie—(The Strawberry leaf-roller).
2. Hmphytus maculatus—(Strawberry-worm).
3. Analcis fragarie—(Strawberry crown-borer).
4, Oolaspis flavida—(Strawberry leaf-beetle).
5. Corimelena pulicaria—(Flea-like Negro-bug).
The half-inch long worm of the moth Anchylopera fragarie (fig. 66) lies hidden in the curled-up leaf, upon which it feeds. In consequence of this habit, any effi- caceous application of an insecticide is of doubtful use. The second brood passes the winter in the ground in the pupa state. Hither of the remedies that have been recommended for destroying the larve, by burning off the dead leaves, or by passing a heavy roller over the plants would be more destructive to the crop than any injuries the insects might possibly inflict.
250 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
The Strawberry-worm (fig. 68) sometimes injures the leaves considerably. The larva is about half an inch long, of yellowish green color, It feeds generally in a
Fig. 68.—sTRAWBERRY i % worM (Hmphytus Fig. 69.—?LY OF STRAWBERRY
maculatus). WORM. curled-up position on the leaf. It winters in the ground as achrysalid. Its perfect state is a fly (fig. 69).
The snout-beetle (Analcis fragarie, fig. 67) lays its eggs in the crown of the plant, where the young larve damage the leaves and fruit stalks. Colaspis flavida (figs. 70, 71) is an insect not distantly related to the Colorado
Fig. 71. STRAWBERRY STRAWBERRY LEAF- LEAF-BEETLE. BEETLE, Larva. 1, enlarged; 2, real size.
potato-beetle. Lime, first slaked and sifted, dusted on the leaves while yet wet with dew is said to drive away
THE STRAWBERRY. 251
the worms of Hmphytus maculatus. Pyrethrum powder may be applied at any time, but Paris green may only be used after the bearing season has passed, in case any of these insects become very destructive.
CONCLUSION.
Some of the truck-farmers near the large cities, prin- cipally those planting on a smaller scale, grow a general assortment of vegetables and attend the local markets.
Owing, however, to the numerous ‘ patches” in the vicinity, and the competitions they cause, this attend- ance has of late years been unsatisfactory. Nearly all the farmers grow Ruta Baga or Swedish Turnips in the fall for sale to the retail grocers in the winter, the price being twenty-five cents for eight bunches.
Another source of income is the hay crop. The heay ily manured fields produce a thick growth of Crab-grass, which may be mowed several times during the season, making good hay when cut at the proper time. Unfor- tunately for the reputation of this product, many farm- ers defer cutting the grass until it is too old to make hay of the best quality. The price is fifteen dollars per ton. The crop of one of the farmers in this vicinity in 1882 was yalued at two thousand dollars.
Apart from the neighborhood of cities truck-farming is generally an adjunct to cotton planting. In Florida, it is an adjunct to orange growing. In southwestern Georgia, along the line of the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad, in parts of Florida and at other ex- treme southern points, the fields, after having yielded early vegetables for shipment, sometimes produce the most satisfactory portions of the cotton crop, owing to the previous manuring and careful working of the land.
252 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
APPENDIX:
ANALYSES AND VALUES OF FERTILIZERS.
The truck-farmer is forced to use to a greater or less extent some kind of artificial fertilizer. The following circular, issued by the Department of Agriculture of the State of Georgia, contains information of value to all who purchase and use fertilizers. The circular as issued by the Department contains a column giving the names of the persons for whom the inspection was made. As this information has no permanent value, it is omitted for the purpose of saving space. Some other unimportant omissions have been made in reproducing the circular.
ANALYSES AND COMMERCIAL VALUES OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS AND CHEMICALS,
Inspected, Analyzed and Admitted to Sale in Georgia to January 10, Season of 1882-3.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ATLANTA, GA., January 20th, 1883.
EXPLANATIONS OF THE TABLES OF ANALYSES.
The tables commencing on page 254 show the analyses and calculated relative commercial values of all fertilizers and chemicals inspected, analyzed and admitted to sale, to January 10th, 1883.
In addition to the chemical determinations and com- mercial values, a column has been added which shows the numbers of tons represented by the samples whose
APPENDIX. 2be
analyses are given. ‘This information may sometimes be important to farmers and other purchasers.
RELATIVE COMMERCIAL VALUES.
After very extended correspondence and careful con- sideration, it has been thought proper to reduce the valuations of ammonia and phosphoric acid from those of last season. ‘The following prices per pound of the valuable ingredients or elements of plant food found in the fertilizers by analysis, have been adopted as a prac- tical approximation to their true value at Savannah, viz:
Available Phosphoric Acid......... 10 cents per pound. [TTS VET: DRE Sy pO te ee oe Re Ia 20 cents per pound. POE a aoa te ena eos «0s aes delete 6 cents per pound.
Last season the valuations were:
Available Phosphoric Acid........ 123 cents per pound. MMMM oy ean Bed aloe Stacie eed 25 cents per pound. OUP ST RR, a a eee a - 6 cents per pound.
It is often desirable to know the relative amounts paid by a farmer for the several valuable ingredients in a ton of fertilizers. The following is a simple rule: Multiply the per centage of ammonia, as given in the tables, by $4.00, the available phosphoric acid by $2.00 and the potash by $1.2, or $1.1-5, and the respective results will show the value of each ingredient ina ton. Thus: Sup- pose a fertilizer analyzes as follows:
Available Phosphoric Acid............... 9.27 per cent.
PTB GIN ¢ Vata co sams b sae 6c sdee ce 6 herds 2.15 per cent.
EO URED aa Ache giea a ats bg sl ow hb song 0's 4S 1.85 per cent. Then :
Oe MRM IDHAR Ty iav2 fae ds cwecememestnss $18.54
2.15 hs RETIRE PRS Chico a IN ely ee os 8.60
1.85 - Seated eete a cle rch sally! acy ae « 2.22
TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
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APPENDIX.
TABLE II.—actp PHOSPHATES AND DISSOLVED BONES.
Sy 8 eae Ss Ree hee res es | i= NAME OF BRAND. Ber el eg le eel ee | ast 28/3/32] 8 |38/ §/ §/88 XN}; 2/3) SF 18s ns S pe 1s S|) Yi TRS INCI CMOS pate umes dee a delaes ice eee 14 90) 0.65/12.65] 0.80 13.45 ..... ..../826 90 Acid Phosphate, Standard No. 1..../13.00] 1.30/10.95| 1.8012.75 ..... Sone ee t5f0) Acid Phosphate, Standard No. 2....]13.50| 0.35) 8.95) 3.50 12.40 ..... 0.85/ 25 82 Acid Phosphate for Cotton ......../16.25) 0 25/10.15) 4.45 14.6) ar atahe bre! ee eO Allison and Addison’s Acid Phos..!16.55) 2.00) 9.55) 2.32/11.97..... Bee preted Angier’s Cotton Phosphate. ......./13.59| 0 56) 7 32) 4.20 11.52 ..... 1.75] 25 14 Ashepoo Acid Phosphate........... 10.50) 3.75) 8.25) 3.85 12.10 ..... 0.85] 25 22 Baxter's North Ga. Dissolved Bone|10 89} 2.28) 7.71) 5.46/13 17 .....\ 1.68] 28 36 Baldwin & Co’s Acid Phosphate. ..|10.25) 0.75/10.54| 2.10/12.64|.....|.....| 25 28 Bowker’s Dissolved Bone........../16.50) 3.05) 6.56] 3 42/10.08).....| 1.45! 21 90 Charleston Acid Phosphate........ 113.75] 2.75) 9 54) 8.38/12.87/.....] 0 50) 26 34 Crown Brand Acid Phosphate. .....|13.50/ 0.56) 7.32] 4.20|11.52).....| 1.75] 25 14 DeLeon’s Dissolved BonePhosphate/11 35] 2.60! 7 25! 4.95/12.20|..... 1 80) 26 56 DeLeon’s Dissolved BonePhosphate|14.10| 0.25/10 50} 2.15/12.65|.....|.....| 25 30 Diamond Soluble Bone,........... -'11.%5| 8.56) 7.85) 8.67)/11.52)...: ...| 23 04 Edisto Acid Phosphate......... .../13.50| 0.56! 7.32] 4.20111.52).. 1.%5} 25 14 Etiwan Dissolved Bone... ......../12.15| 2.50| 8.65] 3.43/12.08|.....|..... 24 16 Etiwan Acid Phosphate............| 8.00] 2.76| 6.40] 2.84/10.00|..... 2.15) 22 58 Eutaw Acid Phosphate....... «+-ee-/12.10} 4 06| 8.20) 5.48/13.68).....].....| 27 86 Gate City.... . ............ ...../13.25] 0.80)! 7.50! 5.60/13.15| 0.17] 6.05! 34 24 Ga. Chemical Works’ Acid Phos.../10.90, 2.20| 7.65! 5.60/13.25.... .| 1.75 28 60 Ga. Chemical Works’ Acid Phos- phate without Potash............| 5.65, 2.25] 9.55] 5.6015.15 .....|..... 302 Ga. Chemical Works’ Acid Phos: | pkate with Potash ..,..........; 11.10, 3.10) 7.35) 4.05)11.40 ... .| 1.65 24 78 Ga. State Grange Acid Phosphate. ./11.80 0.25] 9.86) 3.40/13.26 Recaro er ic 26 52 Ga. State Grange Dissolved Bone..|11.55 0.40/12.87| 2.25/15 12.....|. ... 30 24 Goldsmith’s Cotton Acid Phosphate|10.50 3.75! 8.25) 3 85112 10 .....| 0.85 25 22 Magnolia Acid Phosphate........../10.85| 2 21] 7 58] 5.71/13.29. _.| 1.60 28 50 Merryman’s Acid Phosphate.......!12.00) 0.30/10.00| 3.25/13.25.....'..... | 26 50 Pomona aveldiess {as faiec + eoeace TL O00. 2/50! Vena) sete) BO ie 1.%5 25 50 Potash Acid Phosphate............./13.70, 2.10] 8.15} 4.17/12.82 .....| 2.40 27 52 Russell Coe’s Acid Phosphate......|15.90, 2.06] 7.15] 2.85 10.00 .....|.....! 20 00 South Sea Acid............ ........{13.50| 0.56] 7.92} 4.2011.52 .....| 1.%5 25 14 Stono Acid Phosphate.......... .../13.75| 2.9%5| 9.54] 3.838 12.87... 0.50 26 34 W. G. & Co.’s Super-Phosphate....!10.75) 0.85! 6.00! 6.56.12.56 .....| 2.85 28 5d
PHOSPHORIC ACID. | |
0
by
samples ana-
. of tons re lyzed.
resented
p
| BY WHOM AND WHERE MANUFAC.
TURED.,
Imported.
Ga. Chemical & Mining Co., Atlanta, Ga. Ga. Chemical & Mining Co., Atlanta, Ga. Seal, Lawson, Kessler & Co.. Baltimore, Md. Allison & Addison, Richmond, Va. Edisto Phosphate Co., Charleston. 8. C, Ashepoo Phosphate Co., Charleston, 8. C. Georgia Chemical Works, Augusta, Ga, Baldwin & Co., Port Royal, 8. C. Bowker’s Fertilizer Co., N. Y.
|Stono Phosphate Co., Charleston, §. C. Edisto Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C. Georgia Chemical Works, Augusta, Ga. Imported.
Walton, Whann & Co., Wilmington, Del. Edisto Phosphate Co., Charleston, 8. C. Etiwan Phosphate Co., Charleston, 8. C, Etiwan Phosphate Co., Charleston, 8. C. Ashepoo Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C, Savannah Guano Co., Savannah, Ga.
ee ey
Georgia Chemical Works, Augusta, Ga.
Georgia Chemical Works, Augusta, Ga. Baldwin & Co., Port Royal, 8. C. Baldwin & Co., Port Royal. S. C. Ashepoo Phosphate Co., Charleston. S. C. Georgia Chemical Works, Augusta, Ga. John Merryman & Co., Baltimore. Georgia Chemical Works, Augusta, Ga. Lorentz & Rittler, Baltimore, Md.
10 800 100
Russell Coe, Linden, N. J.
Edisto Phosphate Co., Charleston, S. C. Stono Phosphate Co., Charleston. 8S. C. Wilcox, Gibbs & Co., Savannah, Ga.
TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
256
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APPENDIX. pase
ECONOMY IN FERTILIZATION.
Ever since the Department of Agriculture of Georgia was organized, an effort has been made, through its pub- lished reports, to impress upon the farmers of the State the importance of adopting some cheap means of increas- ing the yield of their crops and at the same time increase the fertility of the soil. The value of pea vines as an improver of the soil has been repeatedly urged upon the attention of the farmers, while the superiority of compost over high-priced commercial manure has been shown by repeated experiments conducted under the auspices of the Department during the last seven years. Formule and directions for composting home manures with super- phosphate and kainit have been published in the reports of the Department from time to time, and results of ex- periments with the composts made according to these formule published annually since 1875. These results show very conclusively the great economy in the use of the compost, since at one half the cost per acre of the
commercial fertilizers, as good yields have been uniformly " obtained.
It has generally been admitted that when an experi- ment has been conducted for five years with uniformly the same results, the question so determined may be regarded as settled.
Experiments have been conducted under the auspices of this Department in every part of the State, under various conditions for six years. In these experiments the compost of superphosphate and kainit with cotton seed and stable manure has been compared every year with the best grades of commercial fertilizers, with re- sults most favorable to the compost.
While pea vines and hme furnish the cheapest and most effective means of restoring fertility to worn soils, and of maintaiming it in those not yet exhausted, the compost
258 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
of superphosphate and kainit with stable manure and cotton seed furnishes, beyond question, the most econom- ical manure the Southern farmer or planter can apply to his crop from year to year.
Besides supplying plant food in the best and most available forms, the compost exerts a mechanical influence upon the soil not produced by the plain commercial fer- tilizers. Hither the composts or the pea vines will supply all the ammonia needed in our soils; the composts for special manuring of crops, while the pea vines will furnish ammonia and humus to the whole soil. It must not, however, be understood that ammonia is the only im- portant element of plant food supphed by these cheap sources of fertility. On the contrary, they supply all of the elements of plant food. Some of these, however, exist in such small percentages that very large quantities of the substances must be applied to supply these eiements in sufficient quantities for the production of maximum crops. The principal deficiency is in the percentage of phosphoric acid contained in pea vines and stable manure. This is supplied by the addition of superphosphate in the compost at the time of putting it up. The pea vines may be manured with superphosphates, and thus at the same time supply this essential element of fertility to the soil, and increase the growth of vines to be returned to the soil.
A comparison of the analyses of the Southern field pea with that of clover, which has been used as a soil-improver so long, shows very slight difference so far as either their feeding or manurial value is concerned. It is not neces- sary to speak of the value of stable manure and cotton seed as manure. Their value is known to all who till Southern soil.
APPENDIX. 259
FORMULZ FOR COMPOSTS.
If the stable manure and cotton seed have been pro- tected from waste by exposure to rain and sun, the fol- lowing formula is recommended:
Stable WWANUEC. co.cc cle nce rss ence since 650 pounds.
Green cotton seed......... see eee ee eee eee 650 ¢
Superphosphate ...........eeeee erences 700 oe Making a ton of............-- 2,000 pounds.
If the compost is intended for use on soils particularly deficient in potash, the proportion of cotton seed and stable manure may be reduced fifty pounds each, and one hundred pounds of kainit used instead. The formula would then be:
Stable MANUEGM cre ree cas cess veea cere 600 pounds. Cotton seed, QYeeN.......- ee ee ee eeeees 600 g Superphosphate........----+++-+- Racarate oi 700 se anthesis Ona ace eee les mmisinee sierores 100 uc Making a ton of..........+--- 2,000 pounds.
These ingredients may be varied in proportions to adapt the resulting composts to different soils or crops, but either of the above will be found to give satisfactory results on every class of soils and on all of our cultivated crops.
Directions ror Compostine.—The ingredients may be mixed either by building up the heap by alternate layers of the ingredients, or they may be thoroughly mixed and then thrown into a heap. In either case water should be freely used on the coarse materials while com- posting.
The following directions, which have been given in former publications of this Department, have been gener- ally followed by those who have used the compost with most satisfactory results. Most farmers prefer the plan of mixing the ingredients well before placing them in the heap for fermentation. Under this plan the mingling of the ingredients is more complete during the process of
260 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
fermentation, and hence its effects are probably more thorough, though both plans have given good results.
DIRECTIONS FOR CoMPOSTING.—Spread under shelter a layer of stable manure four inches thick; on this sprinkle a portion of the phosphate; next spread a layer of cotton seed three inches thick; wet these thoroughly with water, and then apply more of the phosphate; next spread another layer of stable manure three inches thick, and continue to repeat these layers in the above order, and in proportion to the quantity of each used to the ton, until the material is consumed. Cover the whole mass with stable manure, or scrapings from the lot, one or two inches thick. Allow the heap to stand in this condition until a thorough fermentation takes place, which will require from three to six weeks, according to circumstances; dependent upon proper degree of moisture and the strength of materials used. When the cotton seeds are thoroughly killed, with a sharp hoe or mattock, cut down vertically through the layers; pulverize and shovel into a heap, where the fermentation will be re- newed, and the compost be still further improved. Let it lie two weeks after cutting down; it will then be ready for use.
The following plan of mixture gives equally satisfactory results: Mix the cotton seed and the stable manure in proper proportion, moisten them with water, apply the proper proportion of phosphate and mix thoroughly, shoveling into a mass as prepared.
There is some advantage in this plan, from the fact that the ingredients are thoroughly commingled during fermentation.
For Corron.—Apply in the opening furrow two hun- dred pounds, and with the planting seed seventy-five or one hundred pounds, making in all two hundred and seventy-five or three hundred pounds per acre. If it is
APPENDIX. 261
desired to apply a larger quantity, open furrows the de- sired distance, and over them sow broadcast four hun- dred pounds per acre; bed the land and then apply one hundred pounds per acre with the seed.
For Corn.—Apply in the hill, by the side of the seed, one gill to the hill. An additional application around the stalk, before the first plowing, will largely increase the yield of grain.
R62
LAND AT GIVEN DISTANCES, FROM 12 FEET BY 12 FEET,
TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH.
USEFUL TABLES.
A TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF HILLS OR PLANTS IN AN ACRE OF
TO ONE FOOT BY ONE FOOT.
BS <
et
copcosos Saqeagas
10.0 by
by
coopoooogs S3qeqegeqeqqgqgqags
AAAAAANAIRAAHBHHHHMHHDDOOOOOOS qoocooocoeoccoococococecooecocococsecocnej$$c
Sorcorooccossosocroooe
S6eqqqaqqqee
ie bi & reo]
ek
RD VOD G9 PA HR OV OTD? DAB WO OTD AID WO POT RIDOHWW RUDI OSOSMNSOH ASW
Per Acre. |
302
on a
ao) —
ie 2) w io 2)
SMSMSORSOMORMSSOSOSCOSSOSOSSOSSOSOSSOSOSCS OOOO SS OSSSSSSS
5
HH HR HH OT OT OT OT OT OU OT OT OT OT OV OTOL OT OU OU OUT OUT G2 D2 D2 D9 D2 G2 >. > SG? S. -F =F SOSOSMAAIAAAIREASOOSCOSOOSSSSSOAAADPDAAIAMADOSOoc Sc scOcCOCOCOSoooo
vsorooovoscoosoooosooooooooooOo Oooo oOoOOO OOOO OOS 4S SSS See eee eee 4eeseesesess
Per | Acre. 4,148 6,222 || 1,210 1.320 1,452 | | 1,613 1,815 || 2,074 2,420 2,904 3,630 4,840 7,260 1,417 1,584 1,760 1,980 2,272 2,640 3,168 3,960 5,280 7,920 1,%42 1.936 2,178 2,489 2,904 8,484 4,356 5.808 8,'712 2151 2.420 2.765 8,226 8,872 4,840 6,453 9,680 2,722 2,904 Salil 8,350
02 G9 G9 CO OD 09 GD OD Oo OD OD CD CN OY CY ED CO CD CD CU CH CW CW OU CY CY OD OD CN CD CN OD CD CD CO RR RR RR Re DSDWW WWW WWW AMBDAMAAMMAAMMAOODIONSOOOOWONONOOGSSOOCSOSCOSOOo°oS
WAN OSOHSSPOHGHSDPOHARBOAGHOSOARABSSBASBOSARSOGVBOSSSAMSCBOSRVMSOASCAGeSon
Feet.
aga aeqyyaaaas
toronto dionontonlesionomepoplioront=piomeniopiononortenenemcr BD OD et et bt EDD BW DO GO rt et et 09 09 0 WC 09 CO PA RE et et 9 09 0 0 CO CO PE Rt WWW OD
444qeenquaqqeeqgqqueqeeysseqesede
cplemcwleorlonanenicntonlodtonioriopglionlenemenomenes
SoSwaAPownoOowmoOURbDoUunook aownsoennDsownawouUmwDouaDo
| Per | | Acre. 3,620 | 3,960 4,356 | 4,840 5,445 | 6,222 | 260
Feet.
$9 S90 [Vo oR I ce) =
oo
Sd ere 3-3 ww
= Yo) = oo)
S©
— He 9. tec ne ee OF
or cdo) or =r)
Ao.) 3S (Ju) or Pk ke ek ee a HHH HID WHEE HWW WNHH HHH WWD
SOMOS ODOOOCO OW WN WWWARARMAMDODWNHMOWONNOSOCOOSOSSS cocooomoooococooesroCroooooooOosOoOcOOoOOOO Oso oso Ge GG GG Gg ge ggegggqgggqaggqgquqeqad
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—_ i [er] — lor]
ri) ree (oe) Pd [oe]
SHOWING THE SQUARE FEET AND FEET SQUARE OF AN ACRE, AND ITS FRACTIONS.
Square Feet.
Feet Square.
USEFUL TABLES.
263
TABLE SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF NITROGEN, PHOSPHORIC ACID, AND POTASH, IN ONE TON OF THE FRESH DUNG AND FRESH URINE OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS, AND ALSO OF THE DRAINAGE
OF THE BARN-YARD,
1 TON FRESH DUNG. 1 TON FRESH URINE.
Phos- Phos-
mal phoric | Potash. N#7°- | pnoric | Potash.
‘ g acid acid. Ibs. Distasi. bs./-=\= Ibs: Ibs lbs TEOLSO a nae cho rls arace osc | 8.8 (20 iO 31.0 80.0 MOO ae ons tet eraes careers era eras 5.8 3.4 2.0 11.6 9.8 re ai ise”, settee 11 0 6.2 3.0 39.0 0.2 45.2 SN INE 6 Se OCO Rete 12:0 8.2 5.2 8.6 1.4 16 6 WELT Sa Oe alee irae 9 4 6.2 4.3 22.5 0.4 25.4 Drainage of barn-yard . 3.0 0.2 9.8
TABLE SHOWING CONTENTS O# A HEAP OF MANURE AT DIFFERENT
PERIODS, EXPOSED TO RAIN, ETC.
| When put
| up, April 30.
| Nov. 3 Total weight of manure in heap..... 10,009 7,138 Water in the heap of manure........ 6,617 4,707 Motalorsanie matters cic: coe eso 2,824 1,678 Total inorganic WALLET Or ee Seek, cle slats 559 753 Total nitrogen OE NERD Re oso ae sol 64.3 63.9 Total soluble organic matter......... 248 805 Total insoluble organic MALECM: 5.0), 12,000 1,373 Soluble mineral matter.......... ; as 154 204. Insoluble mineral matter............ 405 549 Nitrogen in soluble matter........... | 14.9 21.4 Nitrogen in insoluble matter........ 49.4 42.5
Aug. 23. | Nov. 15.
7,025 5,804
13.2 33.1
TABLE SHOWING WEIGHT OF MANURE PER BUSHEL, AND PER LOAD OF
50 BUSHELS.*
Vo.| KIND AND CONDITION OF MANURES.
1 Fr esh horse- “manure free from BGM tots ace c7 . vais clever Y *: Ptesseile sass. aa. 3 Fresh horse- “mature, as used for bedding pigs Somers 4. pressed 5. Horse- -manure from pig ORR See eek Me dl alah « Sie.e 6 ae 7
8
. |
oe
: Pig-manure eee a poe Cea ahem Teeie ko, Het alsin ee : neue k ERMM CURE E Soe HE Cs < oPh- sc. Sac wte%s «v's sooo 9, 'Pig-manure Baer yee es rs ke ics Ci cte sides « 10. Sheep manure from open IEE Cy cc xe ie bowed reyaschs = 11; Pie eET CSS CMa cin Milos e 5 Sa ties 12. ‘Sheep- “manure from closed BOC ier tas ee nichts oo ees 13; NPPMDECHSEGSK 2 eas Avene s 14 |Fresh cow-dung, free from straw.............. ..... 15. Hen-m: PUOUINE Oe acti epymcte ctelsise aan eis) a SEES cle dias 20's 16. Semen PRE SCO epee erate te otc ch ease archnts a, 6 ee
see
* Harris’ ‘ Talks on Manures.”’
#2 Load o, 50 bustle.
LN eee
PAGE Acid Phosphate of Lime........... 41 AL VUIT CEI Bornstd och ne Aoi deletes 181 Ammonia, loss from Manure pile.. 27 How takenps. ps: caccne sees lee 18 niduiiterent, SOllsperecec. sees. 22 nibh evar 25. Oe ce persrecscissee 18 Im! Surface Soilonly.:2.-.-..-2 23 Salts Of seater nahslarghave sseiiepet hers ap. Walle sObtitae saan sneha gece 253 Ammoniated Superphosphate..... AQ Analysis of Cow-pea............... 21 ENS remeron aioe 21 Sess WSC }Ofss cece. sclera mere 48 Ash of Roots left in the Soil....... 20. Asparagus Officinalis.........00. 005 119 AB DATASUS Fc Dassen thee nerd ei eee. 119 IBUNCheLS cA is hae eee 127 Insects Injurious to............129 Raising Plante. ainsi. te ees 121 Davin Need OL. aetey ema 128 IVSELOLTOR. Ms 8 ecu Seek ee, ae 120 Atwater, Prof., on Fertilizers .. .. 36 On use of Potash Salts’ .2:...-- 44 Barn-yard Mane sens accents - 31 BasteC mbar sees were aes cake 128 Beans—-Bush or Snap.............. 130 Insects InjuriousitoO- 5.2 e4se 133 Varieties Of +325). has ack eee 130 DGGE eco Se eae ae 134 “igi bi: ¥-J-F: 9 00 Re ahs yo tment hate 134 “arly Blood. Turnip,’ 2-. 2.06 134 eed Dea 010 Ch a Laer rae) CoS ye 134 BOL GUUS OTIS Sa «haces ace eee 124 Blue Bird a Destroyer of Insects... 116-119 Bones Micali ta oat es wee uate 42 OPER OIC se wc mratwets 2 ts 0rscs) cen nee 178 Boussingault on Nitrogen.......... 14 Box for‘Tomato Plants... ¢.5.< 224 BrQSSiC4, CLEPACED .2 0. 6 os weer ens ceee 137 WES ROU ER Xi tie sick. ols oa eee 163 VAIN SUDCHECES ci.vsi\ai crohns 5a ere 178 CAUDEPES as. ehy tas. Sect cee tee ae 137 Amal ysis.ot | vi sc.¢ sme does 144-149 Chib-foot ins. c. kee eee 143
264
Cabbages, Cow-peas for........ ... 145 Distanceapart.. 2.2.0 sees 147 Injured by Magnesium......... 44 InsectHnemies; Of... ssc ee 152 Mannresifory.~ - aitaescicesee ce 144 PACEIN Ga G 7. nonacateene eee rts 149 Puddhling). 34.2 ee eee 147 Seeds and Sowing.. ..... ..... 140 Soils) forts Licca Nowe cotoe cate tee 142 Sowing m: places, ....-2 0+ 146 Pransplaniincass- 2) oo eee 146
Cabbage, Varieties of.............. 137 ‘Bruns wiCkse-cn.eacee ie eee 138 SHALLY SUTIN eT 2 sy eaters eee 138 ** Flat Dutch, American,”’..139, 151 **Fottler’s Brumswick,’’........ 139 ‘Jersey Wakefleld,’”, .a5<..0e 139 “Schvweimhurhh. dees ene seers 138 “Winn ngstadi. =e. 5. 4c 138
Carbonic Acid in Soil........ . 13
Cauliflower-d.nenc cen ese ee eee 163 Cutting and Packing........... 168 Protecting ay stwy nc sees eee 168 WVarietiesoncsv2c-n).c3 eesceeseee 165 Al oiers Yous cs wcee ss sa eee ators 166 SHAarly Pansy, acc aac ees 167 ** Short-stemmed Lenormand,’’.167 t* Snow ball peace oes coe eee 165
‘‘Very Early Dwarf Erfurt,’’..167 Chenopodium ambrosioides, var. An- thelminticum........ eS cr 60 Chloride of Magnesium .. ........ Chuck-will’s Widow and Spring.... 76
Catrullus VWUIGOTISh aes ae eee 229 Clover Analy sis’Olc. ss: ences eee 149 Cold shrames eves een oe 72, 80-81 Composting Manures.............. 28 Materials forks 052 bee 28 Cotton Seed as Cattle Food........ 37 Injurious to Swites...<. oswascen 37 in Compostiicotiaticnnstake cee 37 Cotton-seed Meal, Value as Manure 29 Cow, Maniire: See ee LOL AnnTAl Proguct.soa. csc os snes 32 Urine from, Annually.. ... ... 82 Cow-pea, Analysis of Vine......... 21
INDEX. 265 Cow-pea, Analysis of Ash.... ..... 21 | Fertilizers—Fish-guano...... ..... 38 Compared with Clover........ 146 Guano, PSrividhs, oc sss ccces. 384 Constituents of Ore Ton...... 2a CHUNCHA Gy rasiserlaaceeeiet se nloee 35 Green, Manuring with.. ...... 19 GUANA Pers ater sees see ice Leena 35 Hook to Turn Under:......:... 25 GAVPSUMI s.r de caters obec ees 51 Mulching with............ Daan) RAINES. 23 ere a a case eye 44 INGO DSDNA... Galois acai nee o 2 | Rand Plaster. a.cccuts eta eee te 51 Plowing Under, 62.96 6 aseh 24 Laws Concerning......... es 86 jf OnGi tgaen Tome oaateerae 25 SE TTUNGNS sata cap Near oe secon aeeceos aoe 48-49 Cow-penning, Utility of............ 32 1) (ite a eae eee Bash eaeneioe Al tate at BALlelc oco.5x ec ie ive walls 94 | fi U{E1 occ | ee ae 39 Avibusielicn fi x sxe sel: Mateos 92 Nitrate of Sodavciss os «sober 52 Crates, Blocks for Making......... 94 | INTE OS CNHOUS aslarain janes cis feieta see ols 52 Crops, Momo Of 2.55. dee eae. 54 | ViEltieiOin cccun sent Wacte ects 52 To follow in Rotation.......... 57 Potash einen ees Pe ies 43 RDA RSE. coe Leto vase aes 128 | Potash Salts... ............05. i4 CuCwMbHer soe cease nee hoe ek 169 Ashes Preferred to ........ 48 Improved White Spine......... 170 WAMOTIGES sess aoe es vee aoe 47 imsects Attacking 2555 4cn.0.% 173 | Compositionvofy.2)'.2-2525- 45 SEGU ONVINO: ao. See eee ete 172 SULPHALCR ese voces eee 46 CUCUMURBELBUUSS oaks aor eR ene ao ei6 169 WISIN iad bcs Se ieee oe 47 GUCUTDUGI PEDO... 022 oc cacctessceeess 209 PoWwdnetiownss erica. sNews tenes 40 Cultivation, Benefits of.......... 14-15 ProfAtwater Ons: 3s... 2.0.2 36 Cut-worms Absent from Cow-pcn- Saltese Ate neon Cee 50 ned Lang:. s.5)2stets see eee 33 Sodan iNirate.. os. cos nee es 52 Cynodon Dactylon... s.. 0. veces 61 Superphosphate of Lime....... 41 Cyperus rotundus, var. Hyd7a@...... 60 | Florida, Vegetables from, in 1883.. 5 tepeaconing.”” Packages, ..... a... 91 | Forbes, Prof. 5. A.. on Blue Birds. 116 ME Wie RA Jos eete cote hates rbaldiee de. "2 | Hragaria Chilensis..2.. <..5. ccsess 237 PG HLEyONCNOls cic. ccaceeek fees sels 85 QTOME MOTOS concise stds o oobae 237 TAIN OG reciacis Sas) snl Pastas sans 11 DESCUE axes SWANS eee os oe Lees 237 Drain-water, Nitrogen..... -... ... 23 VAT QUAL ate: oo ota on te enks 237 Earth Closets, Manure from... .... ARRON TA. rs tes Aceh soe ayaa e ateneee fi Economy in Fertilization.......... 257 Endications'otes secs... 4. tee 75 LE CS ee ee 175 able wf bast: t.4:.) ose 76 Entomology, Importance of ...... 97 | Germination of Secds..... ....... 62 Eupatorium foniculaceum......... Mn ares KGL) Sethe Ue chin eoen 121 Excrement, Yearly, of Man........ 39 | Grass, Salt-Marsh, Value of. . .... 33 Contents of.. 40 | Green Mannring................... 19 Value Depends on Food..... 29 | Guano—see Fertilizers............. 34 Fall Plowing Not Useful........... Pe RUNES SOUNSR ss vache cee 3 oe 175 Fertility Improved by Preventing GopenMbs sss erste tos eh aees ess 51 HIVAPOLALIOWE. 350 «tsa. seks © ee oo: PRMATAC WERHINOE. 5). ous. ot Gaenaceds 15 Fertilization, Economy in ....... AO (ot MALAY SRA TV BRISTOL beckt? oc occ, cle/teca ac 33 Fertilizer, Definition of............ LG PAELO CLIO Ys Sesser, ON ST 20 Aas 00 «oe 15 Fertilizers, Analyses of.......... . 232 | Hook for Turning Under Cow-peas. 25 Ashes Leached and Unleached. 48 | Horse, Amount of Excrement..... 29 Ashes, Constituents............ 48 | Hot-beds, Ancient Use............. 0! Bite MCRL ies So tae «cco resi 42 Constructtom Of; 7)..05. 5.0... 25 78 CGLIOH, SECO: cites oc einee woe On. earelyNeededs: 222°. 5c. sons ne 42 Commercials /sherrws shoes Sie ELUNE: tite sotto = hae corse sie: ccc care 18 Conditions of Use.......-..... OhslMENSCClSs. ins Veee Selec we cot Seamins 96 PaShesCraps 5 05, aE ioe Coes 28 Blue Bird Destroys............. 116
Cabbage Plusia.........ssccccesdd
266 INDEX.
Insects, Change of Formin.... -. 105 Insects—Cabbage Plutella...... ... 154 Chrysalis: Stage of.....5....:.. 105 Cabbage-worms, Green......... 153 Claspifi¢s Honor 5.1). eon 105 Cabbage-worms, Light-colored..155 Colorado Potato-beetle, Travels.100 Cabbage-worm Parasite........ 100 Destroyed by Birds:. ..22...2..- 114 | Calosoma calidum.... ...--+.-- 113 Egg Stage of.. .. . Senet US Capsus obléneaius. ............. 161 Hisendlyy >. obs tee eee ae 98 Cassida aurichalcead........... 219 Harlequin-bug, Migration. ....100 | DUE: oss oo 219 ED ernating we. tay eee 99 | QUEALE iene ue asi ee 219 IMAGO seein “cs. as a Pee: 105 | PORES in ign a= deen .102, 178 Instincts OF... os: testes a 97 | Celena Tenigerd........0.05 +s 109 arvaestaye Ofes sen. naar aes 105 Chelymorpha cassided........... 220 MIPTAUON Ol 2 scores ce 100 ; Chinch-bug, False.<.:-:. /.2. 161 Not Killed by Cold......... .. ids} ¢*) Geeadanes oe pat 113 PArAsibiGi sn. esre. co eee nese 99 | Clubbed Tortoise-beetle........ 206 Perfect Staeey 7 .osecs eee 105 | Coccinella, species of........ «: 159 Papastaseol.. 3 wanes dae 105 | Colaspis flavida@.... ....... 000. 250 Rapid Reproduction (Stearn 103 COLCODECT OE isn Suc ee 105 Stages of Ihife.of. 2.0 s2.-.. 105 | Colorado-beetle, False.......... 178 Tumble-bug Announces Spring 76 | Corn-seed-wOrm),..: 2. <= =o5- 228 Two-brooded at South.... . 99 Cotton-boll-wo1m........... 27-228 ACPCIRG oF ei hook 2 Sor ee es 114 | Crickets" ja. sce eee 114 ACTICTAG aaa she sano eee 113 | Crioceris asparagi...... .... «..129 Acronycta oblinita..... ........ 129 Cucumber Flea-beetle... ...... 173 AGGCTIG CUCUTOUE... «22.6 .+0222-- 212 | Cut-WOrms yas =8-2 2. Gee eee 106 Agrotis Cochranii .. 108 | Dark+sided use aes 108
devastata..... Pe Roe eR et oe 109 Glassy eee 109
SUDGOLMICI Se nls eleven s cesieie 103 Greasyilzisc noe eae One
TENET. coax ee oe a 107 Natural Enemies....... .. 112 ANAS TICIOTUR: 5.55 carcass ata 249 | Remedies for! es. jvese oe 110 PATIUISCUT2SUOS ARS aaa roe ice 212 Small White Bristly......... 109 Anchylopera Jragartigé ........55 249 Western Striped... ........ 108 Anthomyia ceparum.. ....... 190 W-marked 222.30. 3ekiacicc «ie 109 ANNIMUS, GOUUS, o2).% she se Rome 160 Deloyaa Chavgiae... scenes 206 Aphides Born Alive......- .... 104 Diabrotica 12-punctata..... 174, 212 ADNIS OT CSSICH ic ne ok -109 Diabrotica vittata.......... 173, 212 Anis BIOS A 2s cis oer 160 Diper a... 3 deen os soon eeee sett LOD Apis; PAERsIbes: 24 06:26, co8 aa 160 Deryphora junctd........- 101, 178 Asparagus-beetle.... . 129 Emphytus maculatus..... aes, 250 Baredius trinotatus.............205 | Fall Web-worms 2. 2 4-s--15e- 18 ibarn-Hpesle... Se seen ea een 19! Halse: ‘Chineh=bugee. ccccssneet 161 Bean Weevil ss note coe 183 Fiery Ground-beetle..........° 113 Blister-beetles.........0.00. 1238, 206 Hlea-bectle: occ.-eeee Stee eee 153 BOWS MODELS. naa. ene 101 Golden-eyed Flies............. 160 SESTRUCHIUS SOD atic ista oe ries crstaite 133 Golden Tortoise-beetle......... 219 Bruchus granarius..... a2 bial 194 Gortynlid, RUG CF 26d aoe 204 PETAR TIN TORS = aes TER OBO RRO A EE 194 Grain Bruchwusy 20 e572. -oe ee 194 Buss; Ondervers. .esos.6 3 Sua 105 Gragshoppersese ees eer 113 Butterflies and Moths... ... ..105 GYaES-WOPl .. s/c atas ae cee 175 Cabbage Doty: cocks saeee ss 153 Gryllotalpa boredlis.......+..++- 114 Cabbage-butterflies ........ 155 OF ENIPENNES,... <=. cane ete 114 Cabbage Flea-beetle........ ..153 OUlGaris a Soke ae ve aoead 114
Hadend Gevdstahd. ..eeccecereeeel09
INDEX.
Insects—Hadena renigera..... .... 109 UIOUECU GUCUINET IRaa nates eae ee 173 Harlequin Cabbage-bug........ 160 Lleliothts armiger2...... .. 227-228 ACTAUICT GE oso re cian c Sieh eens e 195 Hippodamia convergens........ 162 WEY INCH ODOT Uecrauss\. ces Ak Sees 195 Lyphantria textor,............. 138 SUPER OS EER core = Stacacesm ache Rats “C6 Eace-winged Flies... 02.020... 160 Lachnosterna quercina.......... 206 Lady-birds, or Bugs........ 159-162 Laphrygma frugiperda..... 142-175 EGIUE UPMNCHD secs oe wie wit'ncs 205 SEA TPUAPIOT ND co saa ao) Pca erat wind 105 Locusta migratoria............. 113 EGQUHSEN ict vr ewer ead caaaes 113 TG LOTTA OURO OB Ot aaa Be 206 Us SPECIES: Ole we oes: 133 Mamestra picta........ pu alewha tens 156 Melon-worm:: <5. 520... si ok he % 236 MOLE*GTIOROH foo. Sens, stale x 115 Mottled Tortoise-beetle ...... 219 PWERVS- WIT OU i c.See cpieicne s = 28 105 IN EUTODUCTO eM hte) MEBs ee 105 NOCtUG ClANGCSUND.<. - 65. ccs 109
HOPSAUER CL CBLTTICLOM s acaiers Neca) serie 161 Onilone Wes sic. cccaak co ots se 190 ORLGUISET CROSSE B50 Ds eke acts 190 COT DODUCIO ties, oie iets tosses, Sop cans ora 105 Paniscus geminatus. . ........ 118 CR WiECVIS AS toe crete nre tis sea 194 Phacellura hyalinatdlis....... .. 236 Phacellura nitidalés..... ...+.+. 175 IPIGEIC-A\WOLlMs,</260,v% Sessinescles ose 175 DNCLUBG OUETACED ea, slsr si otbreh Sateen. oes 155 EPEC R ee Pal OLOOECE oe wend aera, « 156
TODD 35.5 oro ienwle eas Halethace te 155 Plantes s. cc.<5 cs ecnpostcics otic « 158
HIN GMMTES® OG eet cocker sien 159 Plant-louse, Fecundity of..... 105 EELS, ON GSSE CU? wlaad so ajahei sine hier aie lors 154 Plutella cruciferarum .. ...... 154 Potato-stalk: Borenis.s.2s2 joes. 204 Potato-stalk Weevil............204 Pot-herb, Buttery... 2.2... Ss) Pteromalus puparum....... 100, 155 Rape Butterfly. ......... - ee 155 Shield-winged.......... ... 105 Smeared Dageger............0.- 129 Southern Cabbage Butterfly... .156 Sphine Carolina... 2... 25 .0- 228
COR QUUD cK sacareynin e) 00-002
267
Insects — Sphinx quinquemaculata. .228
Spilosoma Virginica............ 133 aOR FE) 2) 0]: ho arn ee a 212 Squash-vine borer.............. 212 S:rachia histrionica....... ... 160 Straight-winged................ 105 Strawberry Crown-borer.......249 Strawberry Leaf-bectle....... 250 Strawberry Leaf-roller......... 249 Strawberry-worm...... ....... 250 Striped Cucumb. r-beetle. . .173, 212 Sweet-potato Moth....... 219 pyrpnus ies .) tees. ..- 160 Tarnished Plant-bug........... 161 Three-lined Leaf-beetle........205 Tortoise-beetle............... .178 Twelve-spotted Squash-beetie 174, 212 Two-striped Squash-beetle. ...219 PE WOWADB COS os coe wana Seance 105 White Ant, Fecundity of...... 103 VV AIST EERE 555.) srs iy, ca Sate 206 Yellow Bear Caterpillar........ 133 Zebra Caterpmlars 2525.20.05) sees 156 TPO CG): BALUIS) os. oi 35 5: mes 213 1 72s ree EN ee De ee ppt caiie. 178 pitiesCunl Cele heey pues 179 ** Green-curled Scotch.”’........ 179 LEST OY ois = eis ten A ST Meee ie Oe oR Te fi ELOMES OL. encore hac tasers 9 1 E22 100) i et ee a Se ALS PE UCCUCORSALUOOS rom sate yo elon aoe ee 180 and Plastemers. cn t.5 eccoe oak aioe 51 and tVenoOyva tlOntOheas ss eee 10
Lawes & Gilbert's Wheat without NER MALO Lerche cere e « Soe Rae 56 Lawes, Sir J.B., on Loss of Nitrogen 23
On WNitrorens. ... =... go ste oonter 11 On Value of Manure from dif- FEPentpPHOOUS yc anton 29 Heats Mould). oss,.s eos sche eee ead heaves: Office Of. ;...05.0 POR oe 60 Lepuminogs, Plants. 2.004 chs 2o5% 21 PGC TU CER Speer ctey vaso Os eges oy aredtle wlase 18) SBOSLOMMM APKC Hak oe she eercteioc« 189 JA Meron OES) HS 2UK ESO eee Aa A 180 VIGO CADDAPE coos nn deren 180 Lime, HOW Applied. ..0..2% 0%) iies 50 Liberates Ammonia........ ... 48 Superphosphate of... ......... 41 iene MRM BIG 5 a2,-2's adda tesco eet Location of Truck-farm............ 10 LoOneeyity: Of SCedss. iy ee bene oy
268 INDEX.
Lycopersicum esculentum .......... 220, | Nesro laboric4n..seeeescewoee Steps 1 McAlpine’s, Capt. J. W., Hook and Might SO ssi oat sins 39 Roller sonics joe leone aor 25 Composting..... S fc Sees wobieee 40 Magnesium, Chloride of........... 44 From Earth Closets............ 40 Injuricus to Cabbages.......... 44° (Nitrate of Sodan tase sneer ace 52 POUCRtOES ee ose: 3 44 | Nitric Acid, How taken up.. . 18 Manure, Applied in the Hill....... 31 Ante Ain 22.0) tas acne certo 18 Bars-yard. joss ab ta en eeelsoens 31 |; Nitrogen in Acre of Soil........... 11 Composting... am Fe S | in Cow-peas...2 ./2 oso eee 21 Constituents of 50 Tons........ 144 | Tn Draintiwater s soccaemn acres 23 Covered and Uncovered. Value In: Hinman ifeces;o.- eee ee 40 OL Aer Caen See ake he aes 26 JT: He ae See es 40 COW imsot tare ne mtinae tee Rae te 31 Ma SOLS Pee auc oad iscsi 49 Constituents ‘of. 2 2 225 7:: 32 | Oat Straw, Analysis and Value of.. 33 Dalya roma ceeeeecccore S20 Onions seer ae Se Pa oe Nt Oe 8 181 Definition Ofas--e- eae eeae 17 Analysisiofrog>:ic oon eamaincte 182 Harthe Closet 2 anses cos eee 20 IBOLT GSA, iss afr non ve ee oees 182 Economy needed in............ 16 ©. Giant HROCCAl is. crsseere seine 1§2 Fermentation, to retard rapid.. 27 | “Globe Madeira >, oct ecnee 183 Fresh and Decomposed, Compo- Insects Attacking.... ..190 SELIOMT Ol ote: Gate einer ote 27 *TalianvQweenss ae ees 183 Green. fie. tees ete cater 19 © Madeirai tices pear ee 182 Importance of....... . aes 16 Potates. seu ee oiens see eee 18% TnvlarrepPilesivets os 5-ca-ear ssc 28 **Red Wethersfield.” ....... .. 183 igerd, i Bb yok Meson eee 53 Seeds; Raising. +... .2seneea ee 183 How used...... 5 Fs! Setsickc Genin Sorat he eae 189 MOSSHIN ee Akt Nee eee Ry ss09G ‘oY ellow Danvers: eae se ee 183 Manner of applying........ Peo BO ui Opuntea VUIGAT7s ee ee eee 62 Moist, Must be kept........... 25 | Oxen,. Amount of Manure from.. . 32 Necessary to Success........... 15 IO ZONG. sso. ek eae hee see 18 Night Soil.. bo A SRG iP aGKIng clea. eee ean ee 99 ATL Y AIS: Gee E sane oe eee 39h PRORCLCUIT LCLOUI eo tiate e ee 12 OPOmenicn, £ ee aise oe 32) MCW Yo Dae as cotter eae ee el 191 Poultry: Seach aes eae Saree rat * Black-eyed”..... BE Dry te ab ie 192 Rotation meededi. 2204618. ee 58 * Barly Alpha se..c2 oe 19 SHEP se seer tas season eeoe 34 *s Daniel O'Rourke”. |. [ee Stable es 2D ‘** Philadelphia Extra Karly’ ao eee New York ‘Street Gar: 29 3 * White Marrowfat 4. 2. 2..22- 192 NWI wsccsecte acter en cere 33 insect’ Hnemicses..s +. a eee 194 Value depends upon Food of Penning Of Sheeprecen sees eeeeee 34 AMIM Bl sc5e 2s ae eee 29 | Peruvian Guano. je. .c-eeetn seo 34 Welhtiotrs:.:(2)acenenee . a2 | Phascolus tulgaris... 00. <2. osecaess es 180 Yield from 10) Ibs. each Hay, Phosphates invUriness2: sen eaeee 33 Osts, and Grass: 603405. 558", 029 | Phosphoric Acid: >. :.. vo Se eee Manures, Relative Value cf........ 33 Walue;0f 2-4 sekotinoeecee eae 253 Kinds and Uses................ ES: EPCS UIs SALZOURIL seem .)na ie ae ne 191 WVU EE EBS Ar tat ci noe Bee ta eant er ne $4. Plants; -<CompositioiOle aan eseeee 17 Melons to New York in 1882........ 5 Endogenous.. oo Menhaden; ssasoAtn. . 38 HXOGCNOUS Wyo F5.c-cias Son ge peter £9 Moss-hunkers ssn e. coresk lt ess dent 38 Manner of Growth............. 59 Moles, (Wserdlcci tint aes oe, alates 99' sPlaster-land s2eci27.2.2 eae ee aL INE GHE 3 38 ys ere cee ie oe he ee ee 41. |- Plowing Deep) .<. i2cr<).-2 hence nies 11 Mulch, Value of Cow-peas for...... 23 Fallsnot Usefiality Ssepeecceees 12
INDEX. 269 POrtulae® OLEPACCH. 60. vceevccececses LSA SARIS Taine esha oln's we vie bets 116 POLAR ete Skok a tee eee 43+ Pe SNAKER, WOSCERI Gee cis cccls c culetrecrea ks 99 WOE POCAtOOS D5, 5.3 o4..0 ckin ae. eee 44 | Snow, Ammonia in...... Perapees ities: 22 rote A hie toe i eee tateae one ... 44 Soda p Nitrate, Of. «seecaai besser. 52 WRUINOMOE, oer hose ee oS Re ce ee tae ULL 9 Gh araare Ak oeligae etn tne ape tents. 10 PUREE 27, uo (aca he tees 40 | AMMONIUM sete racists mheetoasys ote 22 IRouliryeMannre 4. Soc acannon a4 | How. Honmed);.. 4s. ear atl. soe i Potatoes’ jesse. RRs ee ore 195 Nitrogen im. an Acresi. 6.22205. 11 Beauty of Hebron.”’: 2.2%:.... 197 PreparaLlormmOher: cso sects 12 PIELER Ate oe VASES 197 Stirring, Importance of... ... 14 se AMRUEN Cet Ege rch GER iS 197 | Solanum Carolinense............ 191-102 SATE Td sl Ro Tea ae ype ee se 197 | TNOAGHU OUD save aa iets 2 2 102 DOisenae Gf oe ce to saan 204 | WelnGenGs 2 <3 ae 175 Injured by Magnesium......... 44 | CUDCHOSIOIV eee a cease ores 195 Insects injurious to........ .. AOL Spingen ooo, 62555 eee. Oke ess 208 FCQUIFC] POLE oor ictvtnts echoes e 44.) Spinacia Oleracea...... 2.2. seesieese 208
DS PCOMELCCTOE 9S: iutnsscraihe aes 203 | Spring, Announced by Animals.... 7 EU AO Ol ss suet a een 2 IOS PZOWlstec. lcs aetna ae Ouae toes 178 Eyrethrunmt Powder, .. «0. 2st scare vie NT fe EASED. 2S to races Bad steer cke ets fe 29 arereMG lee Tos erates Sess 48 ** Early White Bush Scallop *’..210 TRAGISBote Seed hn ccime. § MRE IDAT os DOE ** arly Summer Crook-neck *’. .210 ** Long Scarlet Shert-top’’..... 207 Insects injurious t0............ 212 SecarlebpCarnipe: cn. eee. Uae bLAW DCELV oon esac steven see Ree eee 236 MUD He cearae Wik ce Sark Sa IR Stra ence, 3 123 S Charlestomer 2. te <1st cc io 239 PLGDIARUS SQILVUS Soins yap oobi a's 2c Hole 207 S\CLeSCOnG.) sae «sede samara 238 241 Roller-cutting for Cow-peas........ 25 CullnTnel Gin sy oesce iets eel eet 245 Roots lefiin tke Soil. ...5 0.60. 0 20 ‘* Hovey’s Seedling”’.........:. 238 Romion of Crops) ss; 20.2 2.5 . 54 Manure forsee cts -oee eae 242 OUTS OMAN AG SS. ce sss occ ods 57 Methods of Planting........... 243 iussian Black Lands: .....2.5.0:82. 11 NG HERE 5) oo esaiv asaya tie ys Sn oe 247 Bali COMMON... « ocss ws. sie os oD SING MAD Ms ic tye yea oa chew eid arched She 239 Salt-marsh Grass, Analysis of...... 33 Setting Plants... . Zi, bse Grass Jor Penning .... 2.225... 33 IVF DSS FE om Punitate.c «rubies pide 239 Mudsfor Penning: =. W.0. 32.2238 ‘“ Wilson’s Albany”... ... 289, 241 Savannah, Produce from, in 1882... 5 Insects injurious to............249 Schmidt, Prof., on Nitrogen...... 11 Picking and Marketmg........ 248 BEG Site 5s ein sae Se ese 62, 7 SOX ERGs Mere aiden nce sere 238 Depth to Cover........... «=... 70 | Superphosphate, Ammoniatcd..... 42 pL SEL | gee SE eR 70 Of Gibimes 425 cedeuaiastsixeee serene 41 Failure, Cause.of..... 7..5:: woos Sweet Potatot sect: «scm sschiatiocntts 213 Genmtnation: Gf. ....5%, .5...2sh 62, 67 eC BEMIS ois oe Sars eae he 213 Heat TOQMITEd .ici< 3.5. enceese 67 STV CIA WARC BR iat fiat orks ae ee 213 Home-grown.......... besite tn ciae 68 Inscets injurious to............ 218 FECODIN GOL eee hee on 65 SS OESO Ven emake Rico fae aloha ead eve ace 213 HOMoevity Ole. vs. vss apes en > 68 SS NANSEMONG.” seni c. uote clits at ele Quality Gls.2.02 >. Bes Tae ery: 63 MP LEEy a) oy ON A) Vee gee . 214 Boller, Use of. 254 i... 32cho 71 Baismag “Draws”? ox... 6.0.2. 214 PRPURCD Lc! Fe ss Camere canine 7 Raising) Seed. : si.accwas oc cakes ele RWIS PS 2 Some Gale Spe 62 WNP RTICTIER So os acini bulge ae 213 CSD one. ch wo sana a8 Pee Oot | DIMMING PLANES c.c.ccc ein s0. x ctoce ee 15 gia es TE | 2 a ee aig. woads:, Wsebal co. s. ecco ae ¢9 mliGen? Mange, 5c ieides as isc. ss SEE OMIA Os rey og ences eh ius ae erat nets 220 HOW REMMI Ty ove. ccewaill x0 OF Insects injurious to............ 228
210 INDEX.
Tomato Plants, Box Tor. ove sa 224 , Ventilation of Packages........... 91 Picking and Packing,.......... 226 | Voelcker, Proll ices sien nse cect atl Kaisine Plants: 2 ace Sees vee 222 | Wages in Interior of Georgia...... 9 Gavia seeds... eens 228 Laborers? i. . <. Sscas, 4. anne 8 Rransplantilicras es eee eee 220 | Walsh, Mr.,on Birds... ....tj.esue0 116 Varieties, NEE 7A Ree erciek 220 | Water and Watering)... °....sse eee 87
POBIOG ¢ ees al eeeere hanes 2202) Watermelon) 2). 2-35. ste eee 229 SVL AL Ways ecm ont ae le 220 LOSses OR! ..030. seo eee 229 ‘* Livingston’s Perfection ’’..220 ‘Rattlesnake,*".y4 22.0 sees 231 ‘PP car-shaped@ a Ruma sey ee 22) Wihen, -is'Hipe- .cc sees tees 35 fCCIO DEEN WL seiec.sele stone ee 220 | Weather, Importance of Observa-
* Round Smooth Red” ..... 220 LIONS. Mle Sto ceerslao sas Hoc 75 EURO P Dyce eet coe ee ae B20 1, SWVC RGB ees Re tec oh Eistate acl enate ers eee 59 ‘* Yellow Cherry. bye ieeO Bermuda-orass. 2c): sci =a wate 61
“Topping ” Packages.............. 97 GocG-Staes 2. sie 22 60
Tr nsplaniinecs So7c.6 Riek: o- valle ae 82 | Dor-fennels xi. occ.2iec'osepeeet 60 DIY OLA ES G2 8 eae ae 86 | INUt-erassiy: mace. Lege ornare 60
Turnip, Analysis of.... ...... ...149 | Prickly Pearigs (6 Stake ceae §2
Urea, Composition of.............. 32 Purslanesess hee ae eens 61 Amount in Urine of Animals... 32 | War -APamst:<i:>.ccsss. cree 14
Urine Annually Voided by Cow.... 32 Wiormseediaas heat ses sarc (00) Phosphates in...... Smee | Weicht of Manure:... 2-00 sls 282 Urea in..... OMe caters 1b paeeeahiee 82 Wheat Unmanured for 20 Years.... £6
Vegetables from Florida in 1882.... 5 | Whip- -poor-will and Spring......... nl Savannah in A882 ».. So. one 2 | Woods-earthieclic2 teseeteeenoe ser 41
Veoctable Refuse... Salen 28
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A Most Valuable Work, full of Ideas, Hints, Suggestions, Plans, ete., by Practical Writers, for the
Construction of Barus and all Outbuildings, Se
i
=a tenia te
i ee 5!
ECONOMIC ERECTION AND USE OF BARNS.
General Farm Barns iee Houses,
Cattle Barns and Stables. Ice, Houses and Cool Chambers, Dairy Barns, Dairy Houses, Sheep Barns and Sheds, poring Houses, Carriage Houses, ranaries, Poultry Houses, Smoke Houses, izgeries, Dog Kennels, Tool Houses, E Bird Houses, Corn Houses and Cribs, Root Cellars and Root Houses.
THE PRESERVATION OF FODDER IN SILOS.
Illustrated Works upon Barns and Out-door Buildings have hitherto been so expensive as to limit their circulation to comparatively few innumber. This Volume of two hundred and thirty-five pages, and two hundred and fifty-seven lilustrations and Engravings. is sold at so moderate a price as to be within the reach of all. Every professional builder, and every person, be he farmer or otherwise, who desires to erect a barn, or any outbuilding. can, in this book, secure a wealth of designs and plans for a comparatively trifling sum.
12mo, Tinted Paper. Bound in Colors and Gold, PRICE, POST-PAID, $1.50.
ORANCE JUDD CO., 751 Broadway, N. Yu
Gardening for Youngand Old.
THE CULTIVATION OF GARDEN VEGETABLES IN THE FARM GARDEN.
By JOSEPH HARRIS, M.S.,
Author of ‘Walks and Talks on the Farm,” ‘Harrison the Pig,” ‘‘Talks on Manures,” etc.
CONTENTS.
Introduction.—An Old and a New Garden.— Gardening for Boys.--How to Begin.—Preparing the Soil.—Killing the Weeds.—About High Farming.—Com- petition in Crops.—The Manure Question.—The Implements Needed.—Start- ing Plants in the House or in the Hot-bed.— The W indow-box.— Making the Hot bed.— Cold Frames.—Insects.—The Use of Poisons.—The Care of Poisons. —The Cultivation of Vegetables in the Farm Garden.—The Cultivation of Flowers.
[LELUSTRATED:
{42mo. Cloth. Price, post-paid, $1.25...
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 Broadway, New York.
American Game Bird Shooting.
By JOHN MORTIMER MURPHY,
Author of Sporting Adventures in the Far West, Rambles in Northwest America, Lhe Zoology and Resources of Oregon and Washington Territory, A Search Jor the Mountain of Gold, The Forester of the Ardennes, Adventures in the Wilds of Florida, etc., etc.
“This is the only book yet published which gives the haunts and habits of the feathered game of the North Amcrican Continent, from a sportsman’s point of view, and is therefore valuable to all lovers of the gun.""— The Sportsman.
‘Mr. Murphy possesses the somewhat rare facuity of giving a vast amount of information in a concise and interesting manner.—‘ American Game Bird Shooting’ will be found fully as interesting to the ordinary reader as to the most ardent votary of the dog and gun.”’—W. Y. Herald.
“A work which may be read with both pleasure and profit by sportsmen generally, and it isa timely addition to the literature of sport.’"—Tur/, Field and Farm.
‘““This volume contains descriptions of our game and water-fowl, treats of their haunts and habits and also of the various modes employed in their capture; there are at least many things in its pages which it may be worth while for the tyro to know.”’—fovrest and Stream.
‘** A splendid book for true sportsmen.*’— Ohio Farmer. HANDSOMELY ILLUSTRATED.
12mo. Cloth. Tinted Paper. Price, post-paid, $2.09.
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 Broadway, New York.
TALKS ON MANURES.
By JOSEPH HARRIS, Ni. S.
Toreton Furnm, Rochester, New York. Author of “ Walks and Talks on the es Farm,” " Taiks on Furm Crops,” “ Harris on the Pig,” etc.
in which the main stay of the farm—the manure made upon the farm—is treated so satisfactorily or thoroughly asinthis volume. Starting with the question,
SWHAT IS MANURE?”
the author, well-known on both sides of the water by his writings, runs throughin sufficient detail every source of manure on the farm, discussing the methods of making rich manure ; the proper keeping and applying it, and especially the UsEksS OF MANURE,
and the effects of different artificial fertilizers, as compared with farm-yard manure, upon different crops. In this he makes free use of the striking series of experiments instituted years ago, and still continued, by Lawes and Gilbert, of Rothamsted, England. The
REMARKABLE, TABLES
in which the results of these experiments are given, are here for the first time made accessible to the American farmer. In fact, there is scarcely any point re- Jating to fertilizing the soil, including the suitable manures for special crops, that is not treated, and while the teachings are founded upon the most elaborate scientific researches, thcy are so far divested of the technical language of science as to commend tnemselves to farmers a3 eminently “practical.” Itis not often that the results of scientific investigations are presented ina manner so thoroughly popular. 12mo. PRICE, POST-PAID, $1.50.
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 Broadway, New York.
i aa
FOR THE
Farm, Garden, and Household.
Established in 1842,
The Best and Cheapest Agriculitral Jomrnal in the World,
Terms, which include postage pre-paid by the Publishers: $1.50 per annum, in advance ; 3 copies for $4; 4 copies for $5; 5 copies for $6; 6 copics for $7; % copies for $8; 10 or more copies, only $1 each. Single Numbers, 15 cents.
AMERIKANISCHER AGRICULTURIST.
The only purely Agricultural German paper in the United States, and the best in the world. It contains all of the principal mattcr of the English Edition, together with special departments for German cultivators, prepared by writers trained for the work. Terms same as for the “‘ American Agriculturist.”
BOOKS FOR FARMERS AND OTHERS.
Send ten cents for cur new handsomely illustrated and descriptive Catalogue of Books on all branches of Agriculture, Horticulture, Architecture, etc. All books comprised in this Catalogue will be mailed pre-paid on receipt of the price named. Our abridged descriptive Catalogue of Books will be sent free on application.
Books on Out-Door Sports and Pastimes.
Send five cents for our new and elegantly gotten up SPoRTSMAN’s Com- PANICN, containing brief descriptions or outlines of nearly one hundred and eighty works upon legitimate Out-door Sports and Amusements, and illustrat- ed with a great number of engravings, many of them drawn from life, and faithfully portraying the points and characteristics of game, birds, fishes, horses, dogs, etc., etc.
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 Broadway, New York.
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