im ffl :X\^ i^ i V ! V Wi i LC.l/Xii,l&tA ^x , x\^.y\/^'^ji the: JOHN . CRAIG LIBRARY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DEPARTMENT OF HORTICULTURE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N. Y. SB 321.R26T892 """"^ ""'"'^ Success Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003298084 SUCCESS IN MARKET GARDENING VEGETABLE GROWERS' MANUAL W. W. RAWSON Of Arlington, Mass. Sifotnii) ®liittan REVISED AND ENLARGED, WITH NEW MATTER AND ILLUSTRATIONS Boston, Mass.: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 1893 Copyright, 1892, By W. W. RAWSON. £leotrot7ped and Printed By Cashman, Keating & Co., Boston* PREFACE In view of the rapid changes and improvements in varieties and modes of culture which continually appear, it must be evident that the practical rules of Market Gardening need to be frequently revised and brought down to date ; and any Manual on this subject, to be of practical value to the reader, must include many important directions not hitherto found, in works of this class. Except the earlier editions of the present work, no treatise within my knowledge has appeared for a very considerable time that has aimed at covering the field with any approach to completeness ; and, moreover, so far as I am aware, no other work has ever yet been written that is fully adapted to the latitude of New England. Five years have gone by since its first publication, within which time the products and modes of culture have been varied and developed to such an extent as to call for corresponding revisions and extensions of its contents. I have been brought up in the business of Market Gardening. My father followed it before me, and, being led to it both by circumstances and inclination, I naturally took it up. I must have had a strong predilection for the work or I should not have fol- lowed it, as I have, continuously until now. I can now point back to a successful business experience of twenty-five years and more, on a continually increas- IV PREFACE. ing scale ; and believe no Market Gardener in Massa- chusetts or New England has at any time employed a larger capital, or marketed a larger annual product, than I now do. The extent of my establishment and operations at Arlington has attracted general public notice. Men who have already embarked in the business, and have themselves been more or less successful in it, will find in this book the means of comparing their own meth- ods with mine. Young men who are about to choose their avocation, and who have heard of the increasing extent and importance of this business of Vegetable Growing, will find here facts collected from a long experience, which can hardly fail to be valuable tO an attentive reader. A reasonable man will estimate the worth of this book by what it contains — not criticising it for the absence of matters which lie beyond its scope and purpose. In the introductory remarks with which it opens, I have endeavored to explain my object with sufficient precision, and throughout the preparation of the work I have aimed to outdo, rather than come short of, the promise held forth in the opening chapter. The revisions and enlargements which may be found in the present edition illustrate the most recent changes and improvements in the art of Market Gardening. W. W R. Arlington, Mass., January, i8ga, iv CONTENTS. PAGE PART I, ^ On ike Growing of Crops in General, CHAPTER I. iNTRODycTORY REMARKS.— Scopc of the Wofk g-IO Location and Soil. — Choice of a Location. — Convenience of Slopes. — Character o£ Soil n-14 Land Drainags.— Construction of Drains.— Provision for Outlet. — Depths and Intervals. — Benefits 15-20 Irrigation. — Necessity for Watering. — Sub-irrigation. — Surface Waterings. — Sources of Supply. — Storage. — Amount and Fre- quency.— Distributing by Hose.— Service of the Pump.— Outfit and Operation.— Estimates of Cost. — Instances of Success.— Further Instructions ... . sz-fS CHAPTER IL Preparation of the Soil,— First Stages. — How to Plow. — A Thorough Tillage 33*37 Laving out Crops and Rotation.— Systematic Work. — Objects of a Rotation . 38-41 Manures and Fertilizers.-^ Amounts and Methods. — Sources of the Supply. — Overhauling and Distributing on Land. — Processes of Fermentation. — Commercial Fertilizers. — Night Soil.T-Wood Ashes. — Manuring in the Hill, — Composts. — Liquid Manures. — Comparative Values. — Chemical Constituents.— Works of Refer- ence 4a-5j Application of Manures. — Rapid-Growing Crops. — Fertilizing Land under Crop. — Different Methods 54~5ccoIi — Brussels Sprouts — Cabbage — Carrots — Cauliflower — Celeriac — Celery — Chicory — Chives 79~«*3 CHAPTER V. Vegetables Raised vox Market. — Characteristics, etc., C#«/(»«tf. etc; ; but where fresh, horse manure, can be ob- tained: at anything like reasonable rates, iftis far better, and,, all things c;3:nsidered,. is, actually more economical ; as the manure can, of cpurse, be used on the land a&er it- has. ^.rved its. purpose; in the. beds ; a:nd it is ^m^i,. as ordinarily considered,. wortK half, the-, ojigjna-l (SS^ti. Th^, too, wbejre; manure, is. used tjjfe ammonia FURNISHING AND REGULATING HEAT. '69 wbich escaptes during the heating process is of great benefit to the growing crops, while frotn Other material there is no such benefit — substantially fiothing but the heat is derived. Steam has been applied to hot' beds, but with no good results as yet. Radishes require less heat tlian lettuce, just as a crop of young cauliflower or cabbage requires less heat than tomatoes, fegg-plahts, or others of a tropical nature. For radishes, a cart-load of manure, containing thirty- six feet, would be sufficient for nine feet of bed, or three sashes, and should be covered by one foot of loam. For forcing cucumbers more heat is required than for lettuce according to the season. In any case, the bed should stand a day after it is prepared, to allow the soil to heat through ; it is then ready for seeds or plants. The quantity of heating material to be used will not however depend entirely upon the crop to be grown .; we must also take into account the season of the year when it is to be started. With lettuce, for instance : if the crop were to be planted in December, a foot of fresh manure would be necessary ; while in February or March one-half that quantity would be sufficient. But for such tropical-natured plants as tomatoes, cucum- bers, or egg-plants, a foot of heating material would be none too much at any season. A crop of radishes would not perhaps require quite as much heat as lettuce during the winter months j still it would need about the quantity stated to keep the bed properly warm. If started in March, no strong bottom heat would be required ; and they will succeed well on second heat, such as is in a bed from which a 70 MARKET GARDENING. crop of lettuce or other vegetables has just been re- moved. In this case the crop will often do better than when sown in a freshly made bed, as in the latter the ammonia, which new heating material always throws out, would have a tendency to drive the crop too much to tops ; which is not what is wanted with root crops. The continuous care of hot-beds after the crop has been started forms one of the most important branches of work in the market garden. The beds require to be covered and uncovered every day, and constant attendance and vigilance are necessary to maintain the proper temperature. The amount of heat to be aimed at, as we have already said, depends upon the crop. Lettuce beds, during the winter months, should be be kept at a temperature ranging at from 50° to 70°. For radishes it may range from 40° to 60°; while for cucumbers and tomatoes it must range decidedly higher, say from 70° to 90°, or even 100°. In the spring of the year, it is quite a serious task for a man to take charge of say 1,000 sashes, with a half a dozen different crops under them. He must of course have a thorough understanding of their require- ments in respect to heat, moisture, and a variety of other conditions. He must be a person of consider- able experience or he cannot be qualified to undertake the entire management of crops so cultivated. It will be found that much depends on their receiving the right care, and always just at the right time. If the first crop is started in November or Decem- ber, and the beds are properly handled, three and sometimes even four crops may be taken from the GARDENING IN HOT-HOUSES. 7I glass each season. In regard to the amount of produce that can be taken off, per sash, each season, of course much depends on skilful management ; but if the beds are properly attended to (where three crops are grown) the results might, ordinarily, be expected to be about as follows : say for the first crop, JS2.S0 ; for the second, $2.00 ; and the third, $1.50 ; making a total of $6.00 per sash. These figures are of course often exceeded, and even doubled ; but we are now giving estimates of a result as near an average as possible. The first crop embraced in the foregoing estimate would be lettuce, four dozen to each sash, at 62 1-2C. per dozen. The next, either lettuce or radishes ; the third, cucumbers, which would be put under the glass about the first of April and begin to bear June ist. The latter crop varies in price according to the season, some years averaging as high as three dollars per sash ; but for a large quantity, -a. cash return amounting to a dollar and a half per sash would be considered by most growers as reasonably good. Gardening in Hot-Houses. Forty years ago very little growing was done under glass ; and if any one had as many as one hundred sash he was considered quite an extensive market gardener. But when early vegetables began to be grown in the South and sent into our market, some twenty years ago, our gardeners began to increase their use of sash ; and some ten years ago hot-houses were put into ser- vice. These have gradually become more and more relied upon in the growing of plants and vegetables, 72 MARKET GARDENING. until now a market gardener who has no hot-house is considered far behind the times. There are even now many thousands of sashes used every spring for cov- ering hot beds; but the houses are much easier of management, and with the use of either steam heat or hot water pipes nearly all the kinds of vegetables that can be forced are grown in houses. There are many advantages secured by this method of culture. We can employ our men the whole season and are thereby enabled to procure better help ; and we have something to carry to market the whole season through. Besides, the houses are a great help in run- ning the sash, as the plants can all be started in the houses and transplanted, no matter what the weather may happen to be. One must have considerable intelligence and skill to run a number of houses together with several thou- sand sash ; and a market gardener of to-day must un- derstand many different matters. He must be an engineer, a machinist, a carpenter, a chemist, a botan- ist and a horticulturist. It will cost him time and study to make himself familiar with all he has to look after. It will take him all of five years' lime, and he must show himself an able scholar, even then. In hot-houses the temperature required being attained by the use of pipes conveying steam or hot water, relatively a small amount of manure will be requisite as compared with that required to create' and maintain heat, in beds, by the process of fermentation. It requires a fifty-horse-power boiler to heat one hundred thousand cubic feet of space to a tempera- / // Mf '/ il I GATHERING THE CROPS. 73 ture of 60° when the outside air is at zero Fahrenheit. It takes one ton of coal for every five hundred cubic feet of space to heat at same temperature and carry through the season from November i to the first of May, and there must be provided one foot in length of one and a quarter-inch steam pipe for every twenty cubic feet of space to heat the pipes to be equally distributed. With the use of hot water, instead of steam, it takes a four-inch pipe to do the same amount of heating that is done by the one and a quarter-inch steam pipe ; and if the weather comes off warm in the morning the pipes of hot water will remain hot ; while steam heat can be immediately shut off and can be let on again at any moment. With water it takes from one to two hours to get the pipes warm again after being cooled off.* Gathering the Crops. In market gardening the term " harvest " cannot be applied as it was in olden times to the gathering of the grain and other crops in the fall of the year. Un- der modern usages there is no real season of harvest- ing, but, on the contrary, the " seed-time and harvest " seasons, both of them, extend the whole year round. Much experience is required to enable one to know just when to harvest market-garden crops, and this does not always or solely depend on their stage of ma- turity. The market gardener of to-day would say that the time to harvest a crop is when it will bring the most money. Although, of course, there are some vege- tables that cannot be gathered until they are ripe, as • Consult Chapter VII. 74 MARKET GARDENING. Otherwise they are practically worthless • — such as mel- ons, celery, and cauliflower, which it would be folly to touch until they had reached maturity — yet also there are some, like beets, lettuce, spinach, etc., which, after reaching a certain early stage of growth, can be mar- keted readily, and to profit. In crops that are to be marketed when young and tender, it is plainly of vital importance to have expe- rienced hands for the work, as such articles are very easily injured and rendered unsalable by careless handling and packing for transportation. The same considerations, though perhaps less ob- vious, are equally important in the case of vegetables that are to be stored for the winter. These also should be harvested and handled with care, and placed in storage only when dry or in just the right condition, for their keeping qualities must largely depend on their treatment at this time. Amounts of Capital and Labor Required. Among gardeners, opinions vary as to the area that an individual may wisely include in his plans. Many have an idea that five acres of land will be enough ; others put it at ten ; while it is known that some culti- vate a hundred acres or more at a profit. The amount of capital required varies, to some extent, with the amount of land cultivated but not in a uniform pro- portion ; while a larger variation still will result from the greater or less provision we may choose to make in the matter of hot-houses. Not including these in the scheme of cultivation, and on the presumption that REQUIRED CAPITAL AND LABOR. 75 we are to do such forcing only as can be done in hot- beds, we may fix approximate amounts as follows, viz.: While it might require about $3,000, with the labor of three men and two horses, to properly handle two acres, we estimate that there would be needed about $5,000, six men, and three horses for ten acres; and that $20,000, forty men, and twenty horses would be sufficient for one hundred acres. One of the largest and most indispensable items of original outlay is in providing the sashes ; these cost, with the requisite mats and shutters to go with them, about $4.00 each, of which about $2.50 is paid for the sash, and the balance for mats and shutters to cor- respond. But in a scheme combining, not only hot-bed and out-door cultivation, but forcing-houses as well, the possible outlay is, of course, almost unlimited. A very important item of annual outlay is the supply of stable manure. This will cost, at present prices, delivered on the place, from $4.00 to $7 .00 per cord, according to distance from the city and the facilities for obtaining and transporting it. The land cultivated may be the gardener's own, or . may be worked under a lease. In the latter case, the annual rent per acre is, at an average, say $25.00 for highly cultivated land, while other land in the remoter suburbs, and not in as good condition, might be had for $10.00 per year : — exclusive of buildings. There may doubtless be found some tracts of land under cultivation where ordinary interest reckoned on the purchase money invested would amount to $200.00 ^6 MARKET GARDENING. or more annually, per acre ; but these are, of coistrse, exceptional cases. With regard to the expense of labor, it may be stated that average men receive about ^40 .00 per month, or about ^1.50 per day, during the summer season, and about $35.00 per month, or $1.35 per day, during the four months of winter. Of course skilled laborers might expect to receive more, but to obtain it they must be men of some experience and natural adaptation to the work. The business is one in which men of tact and experience are in demand, no less than in a manufacturing or mercantile establishment. The expense of keeping the work-horses, including all items, would amount to about $150.00 on each animal per year. The tools are a less important item of expense, and yet the new and improved implements of the present date are quite costly, and the cultivation of even a limited amount of land requires quite a number of them. By looking over the forgoing it will be seen that, if we exclude the more elaborate culture in hot-houses, the total annual expense of running two acres of land would be about $2,500. That of five acres would- foot up about $5,000 ; of ten acres, about $8,000 ; while a hundred acres could be run for $25,000. Many peo- ple have a mistaken idea that they can run a garden of ten, fifteen, or twenty acres on a capital smaller than is really requisite to properly run three acres. If one's capital is limited, it is far better to proportionally reduce the amount of land and improve the culture by use of the best methods and appliances. S 0- u- O SUCCESS IN MARKET GARDENING. Directions and Descriptions in Detail. 77 Artichoke — Green Globe. 78 CHAPTER IV. Vegetables Raised for Market — Characteris- tics — Cultural Directions. THE ARTICHOKE (Cynara Scolymus) is used extensively in Europe, either raw as a salad or boiled and served after the manner of cabbage. It may also be blanched somewhat as we treat endive — that is, the side stalks — and it is then used as a salad. It may be propagated either from the seed or by root cuttings. The latter is the best and most con- venient plan ; the offset suckers should be taken in the spring. When ra'sed from seed, let them be sown early in the spring, say at the time of the flowering of the peach, in drills a foot apart, and four inches apart in the drills. The next spring transplant to permanent beds, in hills three feet apart each way, with three plants to a hill. It requires a deep, rich loam, abound- ing in moisture. As the plant is perennial, one planting will answer for several years. No winter protection will be required except in the most northern States, and there a coat of straw or leaves will suffice to insure them against winter killing. The Green Globe and Common Green, which are 79 (1) JSrusalBm ArticHoke. (2)' Burtch- of Asp»r«g«»- JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. ASPARAGUS. 8 1 much alike, are the varieties we have had in mind in writing the above, but there is another variety, called the Jerusalem Artichoke {Helianthus tuberosus), which differs from these in the fact that it is cultivated for its tubers, which are pickled like cucumbers or eaten raw sliced as a salad. They are planted like potatoes, in hills or rows, and will produce enormous crops. The tubers make excellent feed for all kinds of live stock, being the richest in fat-producing elements of any of our cult'vated roots. Care must be taken at the time of harvesting to remove all the small roots, for if left in the ground they will come up the next spring, and may become a troublesome weed. Asparagus {A. officinalis) is a peculiar crop, and generally speaking is a reliable one. The fact that it takes two years from the setting if two-year-old plants are set, or four years if the seed is sown, pre- vents many from growing it. It is not generally grown in the immediate vicinity of Boston or other large cities, as the land is usually too valuable. The average proceeds per acre are moderate ; from 5^200 to $300. As compared with other crops, it is a good one to ship, and will stand up well for quite a length of time. Asparagus is a hardy, perennial, maritime plant. It may be grown from seed, or propagated by roots. One ounce of seed will sow about fifty feet of drill. It will thrive on almost any sandy soil, even if quite light, and the lighter the soil, other things being equal, the earlier the crop may be got off. A planting once prof)- erly made will last for years. A fair crop may be expected the third year from the seed, or in one or 82 MARKET GARDENING. two years from the roots, according to their age when planted, and, after that, full crops every year. The soil for this crop cannot be made too rich, and should be thoroughly trenched two feet or more in depth. The plants should be set six to eight inches deep, in rows three to four feet dpart, and one foot apart in the rows. The roots should be set in the spring as soon as the ground is in good working order (they can be set in the fall, but the spring is the pref- erable time), say about the end of April. The crowns of the roots should be from four to six inches from the surface of the bed. A heavy application of manure must be made to an asparagus bed each fall — say eight or ten cords per acre. This should be lightly worked into the soil in the spring : a very light surface- ploughing will accomplish this well, if carefully done. Salt is an excellent thing to apply for a dressing, for, "Jthough it does not act as a manure, as some people hink, it is a great help in keeping down the weeds. In cutting for market, the cut is made about two inches under the ground, and pains are taken to have the stalks about eight inches long. In preparing for market a buncher is used, so that all bunches are of exactly equal length and size. From twelve to twenty stalks are put in each bunch, according to the size of the stalks. They bring, on an average, about $1.50 per dozen bunches, still the price varies greatly with different seasons and depends largely on the supply of peas and greens that may be in the market. The season for cutting usually continues about five weeks, and the plants are then left to go to seed. In the fall VARIETIES FORCING. BEANS. 83 if Stable manure is to be applied, these seed stalks may be mown down and the ground cleared off by burning over ; but in case commercial fertilizers are to be em- ployed, it, will be of advantage to let the stalks stand, for protection, mowing them down in the spring. The varieties are numerous, and differ considerably. Conover's Colossal is quite popular ; and Moore's New Giant Cross-bred is now the variety most in use. As already said, the profit to be made from aspara- gus will not warrant its open-air culture upon the high- priced lands that lie near the markets where it must be sold ; but, fortunately, it keeps well, and will bear transporting over long distances. It has been somewhat out of' favor with market gar- deners, but it is now beginning to be forced in hot- houses, thus commanding a fancy price. Where it is grown in this way, the roots are dug in the fall and put into a cool cellar till required to be placed in the forcing-house. The asparagus will be fit for cutting in three or four weeks. The roots thus taken up are of no use after being forced in this manner. Beans {Fhaseolus vulgaris.) ■ — Dwarf or Bush kinds. This familiar crop flourishes best in a rather light, gravelly soil ; and it should never be planted in very heavy land. Beans are extremely sensitive to frost and cold. The bush beans are rather more hardy than the pole varieties, but nevertheless should not be planted until settled weather ; say, in this section, about the first week in May. Nothing is gained by putting them in when the weather is cold, or the land damp and soggy, for they are a crop that never recovers Ul i 84 DWARF OR BUSH CULTURE VARIETIES. 8$ from a set-back received early in the season. When- ever the land has become light and warm, select a dry and sheltered location ; and on ground lightly manured, and in good condition of tilth, plant in drills or rows. Hoe often, but only when dry. Plant at intervals till the last of July for a succession. In manuring for this crop, we have found it works well to give the land a fair dressing of manure (lightly worked into the soil)' and then give a light application of some fertilizer, say wood ashes, or Bowker's Special Phosphate, in the drill at the time of planting. This seems to give the crop a quicker and better start than it gets where manure is applied directly in the drill. The distance apart for the rows should be from three to three and a half feet, and the seed dropped from four to six inches apart in the drill (which should be from an inch to an inch and a half in depth). At this distance apart, about one bushel of seed would be required per acre, where all the land is devoted to the crop ; but many prefer to plant every fourth row with squash, so as to double-crop the land. A fair average yield per acre would be from three hundred to four hundred bushels ; and the crop ought to bring from seventy cents to one dollar per bushel. A good picker should pick two and a half barrels per ' day, or about eight bushels. After the crop is fairly up, the cultivator should be run through lightly ; and, at the second hoeing, a little earth should be drawn toward the plants to support ihem. They should never be hoed or worked amongst, if it can possiblj be avoided, at times when they are 86 MARKET GARDENING. wet, either by rain or dew, as there is mucli danger of rusting or blighting the crop. The list of varieties is numerous and contains many of real merit. The Early Long Yellow Six Weeks is the earliest good market variety, of first-rate quality and excellent in every respect. Its pods are green. The Early Mohawk is another good kind, closely re- sembling the Six Weeks in habit. It is nearly or quite as early, and is also a green-podder. Dwarf Yellow Cranberry is another excellent green-podded variety, a trifle later than the above, but of excellent quality, and a favorite snap bean for the market. Golden-pod Yellow-eyed Wax. This superb variety is a leading sort, both for the market and home garden. It is certainly the very best wax bean in cultivation, and has never been known to spot,' which is a common defect of wax beans. Golden Wax is good, but has the fault of spotting. In both varieties the pods are of a rich golden-yellow ; they are stringless and of fine flavor ; both varieties are exceedingly productive, and are not surpassed in this respect by any. Black Wax resembles the Golden, but is a trifle later ; its pods are round instead of flattened. Tha White Wax is waxen-podded, very tender, and of good quality. This is a favorite with many for the home garden. The Early Valentine is undoubtedly an excellent variety, of a tender and succulent growth. It is not very much cultivated in this vicinity, but only because it happens to be less generally known here than in other parts of the country. The Dwarf Horticultural is the standard market POLE BEANS CULTURE VARIETIES. 8/ "variety, and is the leading dwarf Shell Bean. Pod very plump and large, streaked with bright red. The Goddard is a splendid variety, somewhat later than the above, but of excellent quality, and very prolific. The pods are of a brighter red than the Horticultural, and the yield is heavier. Ruby Horticultural is just introduced ; is similar to the last-named, but has a redder and brighter pod, somewhat flatter in shape. The Pole or Running kinds are less hardy than the bush varieties, and will not bear planting quite as early. From about the middle of May to the first of June, according to the season, is about right with us. They should invariably be planted in hills, which should be about three feet apart, with rows foiir feet apart. From five to six seeds should be placed in each hill, with the eye downward, and should be covered to about the same depth as is directed for bush or snap beans. A quart of seed will plant a hundred and fifty hills ; the poles should be set at the time of planting. They succeed best in sandy loam, which should be liberally enriched with short manure in the hills. Three plants in a hill are as many as should be allowed to grow, and, with the vigorous growing kinds on strong soil, it is better to have only two. The thin- ning should be done when the plants have become well established. They bear transplanting well, and this affords a means of filling up around the poles where they miss or fail to come up. They can also be started in frames and transplanted to the open ground, so as to secure an advanced stage of growth and earlier 88 MARKET GARDENING. maturity; but this method is not extensively prac- tised. The maturity of some of the later sorts can be hastened by nipping off the tips of the runners when they have reached the height of four or five feet. The Brockton pole bean is one of late introduction ; has long, dark-red pods ; is highly productive, and, in this vicinity, the most popular kind at present. Red Cranberry is an excellent variety, of good qual- ity, productive, and stringless. The pods retain their tender and palatable quality until they are quite enough grown to shell beans. As a shell bean it is good while green ; but is not often used after ripening and drying. White Cranberry is very similar to the above variety, but not quite as productive. Some prefer it, however, on account of its being a white bean. Pole Horticultural has perhaps a greater combina- tion of good qualities than any other pole variety. It is excellent as a string bean, unsurpassed for shelling green, and, moreover, is one of the best varieties on the list for cooking in the dry state. Indian Chief. — This bean is remarkable for its tender, succulent, and richly colored pods, and is well worthy a place in every garden. It is a very produc- tive sort. The pods remain tender and crisp a long time. The seeds are not often used in the dry state — in fact, as a rule, no black beans are use"d dry — but for a string Pole Bean this variety has no superior. Scarlet Runner (/'. multiflorus) is rather late, and should be planted as early as possible. In this country it is produced mostly as an ornamental climbing plant. Lima Leans [P. lunatus) are very tender, and should BEETS VARIETIES. 89 be planted after the ground is warm and mellow, say about the first of June. Or they may be started earlier in hot-beds, like cucumbers and melons, and trans- planted to the open ground at about the time stated. Dreer's Improved Lima is a little earlier than the old Lima ; very productive. The beans form very closely in the pod, and are of excellent quality and flavor. Sieva, or Small Lima, is smaller than the above, but cannot be excelled in quality. The Beet {Beta vulgaris) is one of the most im- portant crops, and is of easy culture. Where possible, a rather light, sandy loam should be selected for this crop, in preference to heavy soil. For the early crop, the seed should be put in about the middle of April, or as soon as the ground is in a suitable working con- dition. The rows should be planted by machine, at distances of from twelve to fourteen inches apart, and the drills should be one inch deep. After they have gained a foothold the plants should be thinned to eight or ten inches apart in the drill. Clean culture should of course be given, and the soil well enriched. The above remarks apply to the crop when grown for early marketing. For winter use the seed should be sown about the first of July, in drills drawn at the same distances apart as above directed, but the plants should be left neajjer together, say at intervals of from five to six inches. Of varieties there are a large number known and named, but few of really superior merit. We recom- mend the Early Crosby Egyptian for earliest, and for forcing ; then the Bastian, with the Arlington Favorite Crosby's Improved Egyptian. DESCRIPTIONS. — SWISS CHARD. QI (next in earliness to the Bastian) and Dewing Blood Turnip, and Edmands — all these three being true blood beets — for standard sorts. The early Bastian is one of the very earliest, and is one of the best as regards quality. It is not a true blood beet, but is sweet and of very good quality the year round. The three that we have selected as standard sorts are well marked and very distinct in type. Rawson's Arlington Favorite is really the most thoroughly fixed in type ; has deep blood-red flesh of excellent flavor, exceedingly sweet and tender ; is shapely in form, with very smooth skin, and of good market size. It is a new and very superior variety, one that serves equally well for bunching and for the general crop. The Dewing is also of fine form and flavor, of a fairly good color, and free from fibrous roots. The Edmands is another market-gardener's strain, of great regularity in shape, deep blood skin, and very dark flesh of superior quality. Dark Red Egyptian is a very early variety, but .there are a great many that believe the Bastian, and also the Eclipse, to be equally early. In shape it is much flattened, color deep crimson, top small. It is certainly very early, and very good when small; but when full grown is woody and of poor quality. Eclipse' is a blood beet, very fine grained, of good shape, and good at all seasons of the year. It is ex- tremely popular among market gardeners ; has dark- red flesh and skin ; is almost spherical in form. The Swiss Chard is a peculiar sort. It is cultivated mainly for the stem and midrib of the leaf, which may 92 MARKET GARDENING. Swiss Chard. HOW SOLD. BORECOLE, OR KALE. 93 be boiled and served like asparagus, and the strippings can be used as spinach. When gathered it should be cut close down to the ground, and new growth will sprout up. It is hardly ever seen in this market. The early beets are nearly always bunched, instead of being sold by the bushel. They are pulled when grown to about the circumference of a silver dollar, and are tied four in a bunch. The bunches usually bring from four to five cents each, and are sold by the dozen or hundred. At this price a good crop of early beets would bring returns of from 5^400 to $500 per acre. The thinnings are saved and sold for greens, by the bushel, like spinach. Late beets are, of course, sold by the bushel. A fair average yield, per acre, would be about 300 bushels, which ought to bring at least jj 150. In southern New England such early varieties as the Early Bastian, Eclipse, or Egyptian, can be sown the second time on the same ground each season, and two crops per year can be raised ; but with the later varieties, which require about two weeks longer to mature, the season would not be long enough. Beets of the early varieties also make a first-rate second crop to follow peas, early cabbage, or any other early crop that is off the ground so that the beets can be put in by the 20th of July. The amount of seed required,, per acre, for the early crop (to be thinned for greens) is eight pounds. For the late crop, six pounds is the proper quantity. Borecole, or Kale {Brfxssica oleracea acephald) is a name applied to the class of cabbage which does not 94 MARKET GARDENING. head, but is used as an esculent in its open growth. When used, the crown or centre of the plant is cut off so as to include the leaves, which usually do not exceed nine inches in length. It boils well, and is more tender, sweet, and delicate, provided it has been duly exposed to frost. To secure heavy crops of this hardy, useful winter vegetable, a deep, rich soil is es- sential, and the ground should be trenched two feet deep and liberally manured. Sow about the middle of April, in well prepared soil, covering the seeds thinly and evenly. Half an ounce will sow a bed of twenty square feet. Plant out in June, and cultivate as else- where recommended for cabbage. Dwarf Purple or Brown Kale. The Dwarf Purple, or Brown Kale, which is repre- sented in the cut here inserted, is a beautiful curled variety, with reddish-tinted leaves. Another is the Green Curled Scotch, which is very hardy, and, like the Savoys, is improved by a moderate frost. r.RoccoLi. 95 In cultivating tlie Improved Siberian variety — a strain of the kind known as German Greens, or " sprouts " — sow in September, in rows one foot apart, and treat the same as spinach. This is a very hardy kind, much grown by the New York gardeners. Broccoli {Brassica oleracea Botrytis) is a variety of cabbage very closely resembling the cauliflower. There is scarcely any difference between the two beyond what would nat- urally be looked for between differ- ent varieties. It is hardy, and sure to head, but is inferior in flavor. All the varieties of Broccoli re- quire a rich, deep soil ; and the Purple Cap Broccoli. ^^^^^^ ghould be trenched tO a depth of at least two feet, well incorporating, as the work proceeds, abundance of rich manure. Where the object is to obtain fine large heads, too much ma- nure can hardly be used. The seed should be sown in hot-beds, for early crops, in March or April ; for main crops, in the open groulid in May, in beds of well-pulverized rich soil, making the surface fine, and then beating the seed gently into the ground, and covering it with fine earth. One ounce will sow a bed of forty square feet, and produce about 3,000 plants. When the plants are sufficiently strong, and before they are drawn by growing too closely together, transplant them into nursery beds or lines, allowing about four inches between the plants. This will insure strong, stocky plants, and will also induce the formatiqn of an extra quantity of roots. 96 MARKET GARDENING. Plant in permanent situations as soon as the plants are sufficiently established, taking care not to injure the roots, in rows from two feet to two feet six inches apart, leaving about the same distance between the plants. Keep them well supplied with water until they get fairly established, especially the early varieties, and these must also be liberally watered in all stages of their growth during dry hot weather. Keep the ground well stirred between the rows, and free from weeds. When they begin to flower, break the large leaves over the heads to protect them from the sun, and gather them before they commence run- ning up to seed. Broccoli thrives best in cool, moist, fall weather, — hot, dry summer weather not being suited to it. The heads are cooked the same as cauli- ilower. English seedsmen catalogue an almost endless num- ber of varieties, but there are only a very few of distinct and admitted merit. Walcheren is an excellent variety, with large white heads. Early Purple Cap is an excellent sort ; but many do not like the greenish- purple color of the heads. White Cap is, perhaps, our best variety; heads very white and solid, — a sure header. This vegetable is not raised extensively in any -section of this country, except in California. Brussels Sprouts {Brassica oleracea buUatd). — This is yet another of the Cabbage family, and like Broccoli is little grown here, though its excellent qualities seem to be fully appreciated by our English cousins. The culture is simple, and very much the same as BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 97 is adopted for cauli- flower or cabbage (ex- cept that it must be remembered that the. Sprouts are a little less! hardy). A similar quan- . tity of seed is required. The seeds should be sown in March or April in the hot-bed, or in the open ground when the weather per- mits. When the plants are about three inches high they should be transplanted. Theearly ones will be ready for the table in Septem- ber ; the late ones, for winter use, should be harvested before cold weather, and stored the same as cabbages or cauliflowers. The small heads, which grow along the stem, are the eatable parts of this vegetable, and when boiled like cabbage, or stewed with cream, like cauliflower, are very tender and delicious. Where the winters are not very severe, they may remain in the ground, to be cut as needed ; in fact, the sprouts are much improved by a moderate frost. The leaves, which resemble the Savoy, should be broken down in the fall to give the little cabbages room to grow. Brusse's Sprouts Rawson's Volunteer. Rawson's Early Summer. 98 CABBAGES COST OF A CROP. 99 Dwarf Improved is very tender and is distinguished for fine flavor ; it is the best kind for general use. Cabbage {Brassica oleracea capitatd) is one of the most important and oiie of the best paying crops. Lettuce can be set between the cabbage rows, to be cut off before the growth of the main crop will inter- fere with it. In this manner three crops may be grown each season ; which will make the land pay as well as can be done by almost any other system of cropping. As cabbages require a large amount of lime, they should not be grown on the same ground oftener than once in three years, unless a special application of lime is made. This is often done, and especially in the vicinity of New York City ; but, where practicable, it is better to avoid devoting the ground continuously to crops of the cabbage family. And it is also better to avoid putting in cabbages to follow any shallow- feeding crop (like corn, for instance) as they collect the greater part of their nourishment near the surface, and are moreover rank feeders ; so that it is well to let them follow and be followed by some deep-rooted crop. On land already in good tillable condition, an appli- cation of twenty cords of manure per acre is about what will be required. We prefer well decomposed horse manure to any other. This manure may cost about jSy.oo per cord, delivered on the place. The applying would cost about ^6.00 ; ploughing, $2.00 ; marking, or furrowing, ^2.00 ; setting, or trans- planting, $5.00 ; hoeing, $5.00 (which would include cultivating) ; plants (6,000 at ;?s.oo ner thousand), lOO MARKET GARDENING. $30.00; rent, $25.00; marketing, $25.00; making a total of $240.00. If set at intervals of three and a half feet by two feet, the number of plants that can be grown per acre is six thousand. And it thus appears that they cannot be grown at smaller actual cost than four cents per head. The general average price is only six cents, which would indicate a profit of only $120 per acre; although, of course, if they should bring eight or ten cents, as they often do, the profit would be handsomely increased. It will be seen that we have charged all the twenty cords of manure to the cabbages, while in fact the cabbages only take a share of it, and usually leave an abundance for the crop that follows. So it becomes a rather difficult matter to figure the exact cost by itself of growing a field of cabbages ; but after the second crop is harvested it will be an easy affair to distribute the expenses between the two, and thus one may get at the matter very closely. If it is seen that the manure which has been applied is not sufficient to carry out the crop, a dressing should be given of half a ton of some good commercial fertil- izer that is rich in potash. Wood-ashes, when obtain- . able, are excellent for this purpose. Rawson's Volunteer is the newest variety offered and is the earliest. In a test made on our trial grounds at Arlington, it was ready for marketing fully eight or ten days in advance of any other. It bears a striking resemblance to the French variety known as the Etampes, also an extremely early sort ; the VARIETIES CULTIVATION. lOI heads are firm and solid, and the leaves grow in very compact form, so that they may be planted very close. Although the list of varieties is large, market gar- deners have but few that they regard as reliable. The Jersey Wakefield is really the early market cabbage, and is undoubtedly cultivated to a greater extent than any other one variety for the first early crop. Although this sort is a few days later than the very earliest, it is enough larger to make up for the difference in time, and is usually more profitable than the smaller kinds. Rawson's Early Summer excels both in size and earliness, and ranks as the best of the early Drum- head sorts. It is a trifle larger than the Wakefield, and consequently the setting should be a little farther apart. We would not advise setting any closer than three and a half feet for the rows, and plants at twenty inches, as this will give them none too much room. And although they may be, and in some cases are, planted closer, it is not so desirable, especially in this market. The wider planting is better, even in places where cabbages are sold entirely by weight. We do not doubt that by setting at two feet apart each way just as many pounds per acre could be raised ; but the advantage in the wider style of planting is that less plants will be required per acre, and consequently there will be less work in cutting ; and further the cabbages will usually be harder and of better quality. The Early Etampes is earlier by about ten days than any other cabbage excepting the newly catalogued I02 MARKET GARDENING. Volunteer. The heads are oblong, rounded at the top, and of medium size; they are very solid and firm and of good quality. Fottler's Early Brunswick is a very popular variety some two weeks later than the Early Summer. The Short-Stem Drumhead conforms very well to its name, having a remarkably short stem. The heads are very large, hard and solid, round, flattened on top and grow very uniform in size and shape. They fre- Short-Stem Drumhead. quently attain a weight of twenty or thirty pounds, and are always of the finest quality. It is a sure header. The Curled Savoy ranks along the latest: and is grown mostly for winter use. The Globe Curled is the popular Curled Savoy cabbage of the Boston market. The Drumhead Savoy, which is a cross of the Globe Curled and Drumhead, is a large-headed Savoy cab- bage, tender and fine-flavored, a good winter variety. It differs from the Curled in being of larger size DESCRIPTIONS INSTRUCTIONS. 103 and less curled. As a Savoy it is less desirable than the smaller variety for eating, but the crop is a profitable one to raise. It is a good variety for winter use. The Savoy cabbages have wrinkled leaves and have a peculiar flavor that is much liked by most people. They are improved in quality by a slight touch of frost. The Globe curled variety, before named, is an Globe Curled Savoy, American sort. English Curled Savoy is a peculiar sort used for early spring greens. For the early varieties, which we have mentioned above, the seed is usually sown in hot-beds, from the loth to the 20th of February. They should be cov- ered about half an inch deep. In about four weeks they ar£ ready for transplanting, which is usually done in a bed from which a crop of kttuce has just been removed. They should be put in about three and a I04 MARKET GARDENING. half inches apart, so as to give them plenty of room to grow stout and stocky. By this rule two hundred plants are put under each sash. After they have obtained a good start the sash should be removed gradually, to allow them to harden off ; and they may be given all the protection necessary in severe weather by the use of shutters. They are usually transplanted to the open ground either the last week in April or the first in May, according to the season. The land best suited to this crop is a deep rich loamy soil, and should be prepared by very heavy manuring ; lap two furrows together about three and one half feet apart and beat them down nearly level with a fork. A sprinkling of wood ashes on the young plants will keep off the cabbage-fly, and pro- mote their growth. For late crops, sow from June i to June 20, and even as late as the ist of July, in the field, or in beds, so as to transplant. Cover three quarters of an inch deep, as the soil is drier now than earlier in the season. Shade and water the late sowings in dry weather to get them up. It is important that the plants should stand thinly in the seed bed, or they will run up weak and slender, and be likely to make long stumps. When the weather is hot and dry the roots of the plants may be dipped in a puddle of loam and water, and transplanted just at evening, giving each plant a gill of water at the root. If planting seed in hills twenty- two inches apart, plant six or eight seeds ; of such as come up, reserve one and transplant the rest. WINTER KEEPING. CARROTS. IO5 Late cabbages are usually grown as a second crop, following peas or something similar in culture ; or they may be set on newly turned land which has been in early grain or grass. It is not generally necessary to apply as much manure as for the early crop ; twelve cords is usually an abundant dressing, espe- cially where they follow some other crop which has been well manured the same season. To keep cabbage through the winter, commence by making a small bank, say about one and a half feet high, in some sheltered locality. Pull the cabbage, and place the heads against the bank in a row as close as they can stand ; then turn up the earth with the plow against the row. Be careful not to cover the head, but make the earth firm around the roots. Then with a shovel square down the bank thus made, and place another row; this will be about eight or ten inches from the first, and so continue until the whole are set out. Another way is to place the cabbages head downwards on the ground, and cover the heads and stumps with dirt, then adding hay or something similar to keep out the frost. This protection should also be given in banking up by the other method. Put on enough to be sure that they will not freeze solid. If frozen about half through, they are not injured, and will keep quite well. Some have houses where they store the cabbages, placing them head down on the shelf, laying them as close as possible, and only one deep. The temperature is kept at about the freezing point. Carrot {Daucus carotd) is perhaps more properly to be called a farm crop ; still, to some extent, it is grown by io6 MARKET GARDENING. market gardeners who chance to be located near large cities, and yet on land that is not too valuable. They require a very finely pulverized and porous sandy loam for their full development, and for large crops. It is impor- tant that the land should not be too rich, as then the crop will run too much to tops ; and still they should not be placed on poor, light soil with the expectation of a big crop. Land that is in fairly good condition, and has been manured the year previous for some othei crop, is usually quite rich enough Early Horn Carrot. ^^^ ^^^ growing of CarrOtS. When the short varieties (like Early Horn, Inter- mediate, etc.) are raised for bunching, they are usually put in as a second crop with spring spinach and radishes. They are tied in bunches, four in a bunch, like early beets; and usually bring, on an average, four cents per bunch. But there is only a limited demand for them. When grown under glass, they are usually raised as a third crop in the following manner: After a crop of lettuce has been removed from the bed, perhaps French Early Forcing. UNDER GLASS LATE SORTS. 107 about the first of February, the ground is sown to radishes and carrots, putting the latter in every third row — so that! there are two rows of radishes' to one of s carrots. About the last week in March the radishes are ready for pulling, which leaves the carrots in full possession of the beds. The Early French Forcing is the leading variety for hot-bed culture. The plants have but a very small top, run very even in size, and are of good appearance. Early scarlet Horn. . The sash, being usually removed some time between March 20 and April, can after that date be used for some other purpose, and, until warm weather all the protection needed by the carrots I may be given with shutters. They will be ready for pulling and bunching about the last week in May (taking for their growth about twice the time of the radishes). At this season they will usually bring on an average jSi.oo per dozen bunches, five carrots being put in a bunch, and at this price the crop will bring about $1.50 per sash. For out-door culture the Early Scarlet Horn or Butter is the earliest variety, and can be sown either as a separate oanvers Half Long. crop or with others. This is a stump root variety, and is grown exclusively for bunching. io8 MARKET GARDENING. The Dan vers Half Long Orange is the standard main crop variety ; being usually sold by the barrel, box, or bushel, for fall and winter use. It is a remarkably prolific variety, yielding frequently (and in some in- stances, considerably)' over forty tons per acre. It is withal an excellent keeper. The Thick Half Long Orange is an excellent strain of the ordinary Improved Long Orange, and is exten- sively grown in field culture ; but is not as desirable, ex- cept for stock feeding, as the Danvers. The Improved Long Orange is the standard stock carrot. The roots are large and long, and are of good quality for feeding. The Large White Belgian is used for stock only. As the crown of this carrot grows five or six inches out of ground, they are more easily dug than any other sort ; and are liked by many on this account. The Long Scarlet Antring- .ham is a very irregular shaped red variety. It is less productive and is no better in any way than the Long Orange. Cauliflower (Brassica okracea Botrytis). The cul- ture of this crop involves much painstaking labor; Improved Long Orange Carrot. CAULIFLOWER CULTIVATION. ICQ nevertheless, in the vicinity of Boston, the acreage devoted to cauliflower has been largely increased over that of ten years ago. Fields as large as eight or ten acres are not uncommon. When grown in large quantities they are usually stored in the fall for winter marketing. They are one of the various forms of the cabbage family and require similar general treatment. In the ordinary Cabbage, which is a biennial plant, the rounded, thick, fleshy, strongly veined leaves afford the edible portion ; being collected into a head the first year, at the summit of a short and stout stem. In Cauliflower, and similarly in Broccoli, the nutritive matter mainly concentrates in short, imperfect flower branches collected into a flattish head. It is naturally a fall crop, and will not well bear early forcing, although the heads are now grown to some extent in hot-houses, out of season, thus com- manding high prices. They are more or less subject to club-root; as to the cause and remedy for which there is not yet much satisfactory information ; and there are other limitations to their profitable culture which gardeners have not yet perfectly learned. The culture of this vegetable has increased in this vicinity ; but some think there has been a decline, in the country taken as a whole, in recent years. In out-door culture, when they do well they will usually pay better than early cabbage ; but there is much more risk in cultivating them. As raised in this locality, about six thousand are grown per acre, and if maturing well will bring in about 5^700.00. The price varies from $1.00 to $2.00 per dozen. no MARKET GARDENING. 1 They are usually grown, like late cabbage, few a' second crop. Sometimes a piece of land is devoted i solely to them through the season ; but when set early they do not usually head as well. From the first of May until the first of July, according to the date when plants will be wanted for setting, is the time to put in the seed. It is a crop that well repays gen- erous treatment in cultivation. With a deep rich soil well supplied with moisture, which in dry seasons must be artificially furnished, cauliflowers can be grown well. Frequent hoeing and a liberal supply of rich liquid mahure, to keep up a continu'ous and rapid growth, will produce splendid heads of the most deli- cate flavor. It facilitates blanching if the leaves are gathered loosely together, and tied over the top of the head to protect from the sun. They must be taken before the flowers begin to open. There is no garden crop that is pinched more se- verely by a drought than the cauliflower ; and none, perhaps, which will pay better for irrigation. Sowing for plants of the very earliest varieties may be done in houses or hot-beds in February or March ; or later in a cold frame. Sow as late as June 20 or July I, for late crops, in beds or in hills, covering one half inch deep. For the early fall crop, sow in May and transplant in June, in rows four feet apart, setting the plants two feet apart in the row ; water frequently if the ground be dry. As directed for cabbage culture — give the young plants special attention, if the weather be hot and dry at the time of transplanting, and use means already TRANSPLANTING VARIETIES. CELERIAC. I I I described to prevent injury resulting from their roots .becoming in the least dry from exposure to sun or air. Transplant at evening as far as practicable ; and always choose a moist day rather than a dry one, if circumstances permit a choice. The young plants are frequently attacked by a little black beetle, but its ravages may be stopped by fre- quent applications of plaster dusted on in the morning while the dew is on. For the main crop, early variety, there is with us nothing so good as Rawson's Sea Foam, which derives its name from the pure white color of the heads. It is quite distinct and the surest header we know of. The Snowball, being a very sure header, is quite desirable, although not equalling the Sea Foam with us. The Early Dwarf Erfurt is one of the standard varieties, and used both for early and late sowings. It is a very sure header, not large, but even in size. The Late Erfurt is a later strain of the preceding, and consequently requires a longer season to reach matur- ity. It is large in size. The Algiers is a splendid sort, the largest and latest of all the varieties grown. It is the kind most in use for pickling, because of its superior size and weight. Celeriac or Turnip-Rooted Celery (Apium grave- olens rapaceufn), althoughhut little used in this country, is quite popular in Europe, especially in Germany and France. It is rather peculiar in its manner of growth. It is started, and in its early stages should be treated, precisely like celery, except that, as it requires but a . slight earthing up, the plants may be set much closer. 112 MARKET GARDENING. Two feet apart for the rows, and eight inches for the plants, will give abundance of room. The sowing should be done early in the spring in light, rich soil ; transplant in May into beds and water freely in dry weather. The earthing up is done when the plants are nearly full grown and the bulbs should be covered to a depth of four or five inches. In about a month they will have become sufficiently blanched. The globe-shaped bulbous roots form the edible portion, and are commonly ready for use in October. For winter use they may be stored in trenches after the USES 5 — VARIETIES. CELERY. II3 manner in which celery is kept ; or placed in sand in a cool cellar. They are used on the table in various ways ; they may be put into soups ; or sliced and used with vinegar, making a most excellent salad ; or cooked by boiling, after being scraped and sliced, till they have become very tender, after which they are stewed in just milk enough to cover, then seasoned with salt and served with butter. A very productive variety is known as " Apple-Shaped ; " very regular, almost spherical in form, with a fine neck and small leaves ; it may be planted very thickly and will yield a heavy crop. It is botanically classed as a kind of celery, and is often catalogued by seedsmen as a variety of that plant. Celery {Apium graveolens). — Although the culture of this crop has become widely extended, and the amount of annual product has vastly increased of late years and is still continually increasing, it is none the less a fact that the profitable management of it is a matter oV exceeding difficulty. The crop is one that demands more careful and laborious attention than almost any other in the market-gardener's list. The seed is extremely small and remarkably slow in germinating, and this presents at the outset one of the difficulties of celery-growing, viz., securing a good stand of plants to commence with. To accom- plish this demands, amongst other things, a seed-bed well and thoroughly prepared, a careful" choice of the most suitable varieties and a skilful sowing of well- selected seed. In choosing a place for starting the plants, find I 14 MARKET GARDENING. if possible a cool and partially shaded spot. The soil should be put in good condition and firmed down. After it is prepared in this respect, rake the surface lightly and sow on the seed broadcast, then place a hot-bed shutter, or a plank, on the surface,and have a man walk or jump upon it until the soil is again well compacted. After this, sift on soil, using just enough to cover the seed lightly, not over a quarter of an inch at most. Then pat down moderately with the back of a spade or shovel, and the work is done, except watering, until the plants are well up, which will usually be at the end of three or four weeks' time. The bed should be kept constantly moist, but not too wet. An ounce of seed should sow a space about six feet square, and should furnish fully six thousand plants. The seed does not suffer from age until it is over five years old. In describing the foregoing method we have assumed that the plants are to be lifted and transplanted, but many growers sow the seed in the rows where the crop is to stand. On many accounts we prefer the former plan. You will always get a much more even and generally a more vigorous stand, by transplanting, than when the plants have grown from seed sown in the field and have been cultivated by thinning out; land the former plan has been found in our experience to succeed the best all the way through. Stilf, since the results of the same experiments will often vary in different localities and under differing conditions, it may be well for any one to try both methods, and to follow up the trial far enough to perceive which TRANSPLANTINGS BANKING. II5 it is that seems the one best adapted to his own situation. Much may be found to depend upon the natural quality of the soil — its condition of tilth and general preparation ■ — the risks resulting from the vicissitudes of the weather, etc. Yet the fact remains that it is usually much better and easier to trans- plant a crop from the seed-bed than to thin out a standing one, and the plants so established will exhibit a more uniform growth. When the celery is to follow cabbage or other early crops, the plants are usually twice transplanted ; — once from the seed-bed, and again when set out permanently in the open field. When lifted from the seed-bed, they are put out five or six inches apart, so that, when next to be removed they can be lifted singly, and without their being so violently disturbed as when lifted from a bed where they have grown to large size standing close, and with roots all twined together. In this section, celery is invariably grown as a second or third crop. The soil best adapted to celery is a strong deep sandy loam, naturally moist; the crop needs - and must have plenty of moisture during droughts, or a shortage will be the inevitable result. When celery is to follow early cabbage, it is the usual custom to plough the land before setting the plants. But no manure should be applied beyond that already in the soil. Experience proves that the land is usually able to carry out the crop better by relying upon the unconsumed portion of the fertilizers supplied to the earlier crop than by addition of fresh manure. Care must be taken to set the plants at just the Il6 MARKET GARDENING. right depth — just so deep as not to cover the crown — and the loosened soil must be pressed down and brought together firmly about the roots. Celery of all kinds should be planted for level culture, and not in trenches. We have usually had the rows six feet apart, and plants one foot apart in the row. The only culti- vation necessary after the setting, until it is time for the hilling-up, — usually termed banking, — consists in keeping the ground free from weeds and the sur- face mellow. Never hoe or bank when wet. Where the celery is set out for a late crop, and is to be banked but once, the plants may in that case be set in rows only four and a half feet apart. The first transplanting is to be done in June, the second in July ; sometimes, in a very wet season, it may be successful if as late as the first week in August. If the crop has been planted out early, banking may begin the first week in September, or about four weeks before it is wanted. Two bankings will suffice for the early crop, and they should be timed about ten days apart. For later use, say about Thanksgiving time, commence about the first of October; repeat the banking about the tenth, and still again about the twentieth. For winter use, bank about the fifteenth or later, according to the season ; and if the celery is not very large, one banking will be sufficient, as it only requires to be straightened up to have it keep long ; and it is better if blanched but veiy little. When it is ready for storing it should be taken up and placed in pits prepared for the purpose. The roots should be covered the same as if they were standing STORING TEMPERATURE COVERINGS. I I 7 in the ground; and should be placed about six inches apart, if they are to remain on hand long, so as to allow the air to circulate properly. To prepare a pit for storing celery make the sides of plank, 24 feet apart and about two feet high from the ground. The boards for covering should be thirteen feet long, the ends of two lengths meeting each other on the centre of the pit ; where it should have an interior height of six feet. Enough loam is thrown out from the inside, in forming the pit, to embank the sides and ends. In setting the celery, commence at one end of the pit : dig a trench about three inches deep, and set in the celery as closely as you can in the row. In taking up loam for covering the roots of one row, another trench is obtained for setting down the next. Be care- ful to make it stand up perfectly straight : and, either in the field or in the pit, the yellow leaves should all be removed before the packing in. The pit can be extended to any length desired, and partitions may be employed : so that portions of the stock can be kept cooler, and so held back ; or can be kept warmer and ripened off. The pit coverings of boards must be put on as fast as the celery is got in. Small ventilators, about one foot square, are constructed along the centre, about twenty feet apart. These are opened in clear and moderately cold weather ; and thus the temperature is kept at about 35" to 40° Fahrenheit, until a supply is wanted for market — when they can be kept closed, and the celery allowed to ripen. Il8 MARKET GARDENING. The best material with which to cover the celery for long keeping is salt hay ; but it can be ripened quick- est under seaweed, which packs very closely when wet. One foot in thickness is sufficient for its protection if the outside thermometer does not go below zero. Some old mats or shutters may be put on for a short time when the weather is very cold. Thermometers should be provided, — • one to be kept near each end ; and, if the pit is one hundred feet long, or more, one will be needed in the middle. In taking up loam for covering the roots of one row, another trench is obtained for setting down the next. A space of about six inches is usually left between each row and the next, to afford an air cir- culation ; but, if the lot is not required to remain on hand long, this space is not necessary, and the rows may be brought close together. As much dirt as possible may be left on the roots, and it will keep all the better. The roots only should be covered with the loam, and no part of the stalk. It should not be put into the pit in a wet condition if it is intended to have it remain there for any long time. The list of varieties is large ; but still, as in the case of many other vegetables, there are but few of really superior merit. Rawson's Early Arlington has been decidedly the leading variety in the Boston market. It is first class in quality, and fully three weeks earlier than the old stand-by known as the Boston Market variety ; grows larger, and yields more profit. Sandringham Dwarf White is an excellent dwarf variety, of an upright habit of growth. Carter's 119 I20 MARKET (JAKDEXING. Crimson is a very dwarf, solid variety, crisp and ten- der — first class as a red variety. Henderson's Half Dwarf is somewhat similar to Crawford's ; when blanched, it is of a yellow tinge, crisp, and of an agreeable, though rather peculiar nutty flavor. The White Plume is a noted dwarf variety, with a very marked peculiarity in the foliage. It is very white, and, being rather tender, is not an extra keeper. It bleaches easily, and needs rather less earthing up than some other kinds. The Golden Heart celery is grown mostly by gar- deners in the celery region of Kalamazoo, and is set in rows four and one-half feet apart, and four inches apart in the row ; but it takes from six to twelve of their roots to make one of ours. They get about one cent per root for their celery, and we sell ours for prices ranging from five to twenty-five cents per root. The varieties now most in favor are Paris Golden, White Plume, Giant Pascal, Arlington, and Boston Market. The first named is grown for earliest. The plants may stand quite close in the row — at six or eight inches apart, and with rows only three feet apart. When set in this manner, every other row is blanched by setting up boards, running lengthwise, on each side of the row. The same method may be followed with the intervening rows, or they can be banked with earth after the first have been blanched and gone to market. Celery blanched with boards is more easily cleaned for the table or market, but the process is less effi- cient as a means of inducing crisp and tender growths. Paris Golden is also known as (Golden) Self-Blanch- ing, and the designation is true, to a certain extent, VARIETIES MARKETING. I 2 I owing to its close habit and compact, erect manner of growth. This shapely style of growth, and also the clear golden-yellow color of the hearts, and of the leaves, after the blanching process has been applied, contribute to make it a very attractive kind. It is a sort very easily grown ; it shows well when put up for market ; keeps well in the boxes, and looks well on the table ; — but it is not first class in quality. How- ever, for early use, large quantities are disposed of, and the thing that will sell is the thing to grow. It is usually sold from the field, being a sort that does not keep well in pits ; and lasts till after Thanksgiving. White Plume, already spoken of, is attractive look- ing in growth, and also when prepared for market is very handsome ; and is of excellent quality. This sort is blanched by banking with earth until ready for market ; like Paris Golden, it is best sold directly from the field. The inner stalks and leaves of this variety are naturally white. Giant Pascal is a new sort, a sport from Paris Golden. It is already becoming quite popular, and for keeping it is one of the best varieties grown; it is of good quality and can -be kept quite late. The blanching is done in the field by banking with earth. To insure its keeping, it must be dug in a very short time after the banking ; and the banking must be done quite late if it is to be kept for winter use. The Arlington is an established favorite — a very sure-growing celery, and for early and late is one of the best ; while for the garden where only a few 122 MARKET GARDENING. are grown it is the best of all. It is blanched by- banking with earth. For late keeping, bank a short time before putting into pits. When ripe, this is one of the best eating varieties. Boston Market is the oldest of all, and when properly grown is still best of all. It is very liable to blight unless grown on moist land ; it will ke.ep longest of any, but all depends on it being grown well. For profit, the Paris Golden and Arlington will do best. The Pascal can be grown six inches apart in the row, six feet between rows ; the Arlington and Boston Market the same, by the latest practice. The market now demands a bunch of solid hearts; this is made by putting two or three together. Preparing the celery for market is laborious and expensive — the most expensive stage through which it passes. Every separate root has to be dug, trimmed, knifed, washed, and packed. Sometimes two or even three roots are required to make a bunch equivalent to one good- sizjd root; and ten dozen bunches, even after the digging and bringing into the shed, will, in being prepared for market, make a large day's work for one man ; the usual average being from six to eight dozen in a day of eleven or twelve hours. It is usually packed in boxes of three dozen in each ; but the Arlington will almost always fill with two and one-half dozen. It cannot be grown (counting every root) for less than four cents per root, and leave any profit to the grower. It is sold by market-gardeners at whole- sale, by the box of two and one-half or three dozen, the price varying from one dollar to six dollars. CHICORY. CHIVES. I23 Chicory (Chicorium Intybus) is generally grown for the roots, which are used for adulterating coffee ; but sometimes tl>e plants, when about a foot high, are tied together at the top, and then earthed up to bleach, like celery. When so treated they make a good salad. The seed should be sown early in the spring, in drills fifteen or eighteen inches apart, and half an inch deep. The plants when well up should be thinned to six or eight inches. It is a poor crop to introduce on a farm, or in a garden, for if allowed to go to seed, it will spread all over the place. Chives {Allium Schanoprasuin) are a small, bulbous- rooted variety of the Onion family ; entirely hardy in any part of the United States. Of late years they are less grown than formerly. Then, no family garden was considered properly stocked without a few bunches of Chives. They require no culture beyond keeping the ground free from weeds, and can be continuously grown on almost any soil year after year without change of location. They are propagated by dividing the root, like Pie Plant, or Rhubarb, and the sets should be put in at ten or twelve inches apart. The leaves or stalks are the edible portion, and may be repeatedly cut off, as they continually renew themselves during the grow- ing' season. Sometimes they are used in soups, for flavoring ; but more commonly in the raw state, for garnishing. In old-time gardens. Chives were often set out as borders for vegetable beds, as they needed no renewing, and their bright green color was quite ornamental. Field Corn— Traced Ears. 124 CHAPTER V. Vkgetables, Etc. — Continued. CORN {Zea Mays). The Common Field sort is not a market garden crop : yet we cannot leave wholly unmentioned this, the " king crop of the coun- try." The cheap and easily tilled lands of the great West, with the labor-saving machinery lately brought into use, furnish this corn at such low prices that many farmers prefer to buy their supply rather than grow it. But, where there is suitable land that is not too valuable, it is, in our opinion, cheaper in the long run for the owner to grow his home supply. The soil best adapted to corn is what is generally called " warm " land ; that is, a rather light sandy or gravelly loam with a porous sub-soil, well enriched and thoroughly worked. There is no crop which will respond more quickly to careful and liberal treatment, as is proven by the fact that, within the last few years, so large a yield as 240 bushels of ears has been produced on a single acre ; and this was in the Eastern States, where — ^ so our Western neighbors claim — we have no good land. This is, of course, only a single instance, and the large crop was obtained by exceptionally careful culture. 125 126 MARKET GARDENING. In the Middle States, or in southern localities, it is well to get northern grown seed ; which, if carefully se- lected, is sure to be earlier. Within the past few years some marked improvements have been made in varie- ties of field corn, which will, no doubt, prove permanent acquisitions ; but farmers should not put too much confidence in novelties. Sweet Corn, also, — unless when grown expressly for extra early marketing, — is too little profitable for a garden crop, and in fact is very little grown by gardeners. The principal sort raised in this vicinity is the Extra Early Crosby, — that being the earliest of all. A strong, sandy loam is its favorite soil. It should be planted, for the early crop, about the first of May. Sow in rows four feet apart, and hills three or four feet apart in the row, according to the condition of the soil. It is usually manured in the hill (besides the broadcasting) with one or two shovelfuls of well- rotted manure. The corn is planted by hand ; and, in early planting, should be covered not over one inch deep. Later plantings should be put in deeper. At thinning time four plants should be left in each hill. Clean culture should be given, and the earth should be drawn slightly towards the hills so that water will not stand about the stalks. If the season should prove favorable, the early crop should be ready for marketing, about July 15th. At this date there would be little corn in the market except that brought from the South, and the ears should bring from twenty-five to thirty cents per dozen. At this price the crop from an acre would SWEET CORN ■BEST VARIETIES. 127 bring from $300 to ^50. If the Extra Early Crobby is grown, the whole crop may be harvested at two pick- ings, and marketed before other sorts come in to any ex- Crosby's Extra Early. Mammoth. Early Marblehead. tent. As an additional advantage the land is cleared in time for a second cropping. The true early variety does not grow over three and a half or four feet high. 128 MARKET GARDENING. The Early Crosby (an older variety) is a favorite with many growers and private gardeners as a medium early sort. Ruby, a new medium early variety, is likely to be- come a very decided favorite. The stalk, and also the ««»£:i^^^ Ruby Sweet Corn. husk, are of a ruby red color ; the kernel is very white, of good size, and excellent flavor. It is a twelve- rowed sort : very prolific. Early Marblehead is by some, wrongly, considered the first and earliest variety, and is raised to some extent ; it has a short stalk, bearing ears of fair market size, well filled with plump kernels, and very sweet ; but the red color of the cob is a most decided objection to it in some markets. The same objection applies to the Early Narragansett, which before the CORN SALAD. CRESS. UPLAND CRESS. I 29 introduction of the Marblehead was thought by many to lead all in earliness. Early Minnesota is a familiar variety, much esteemed for the home garden, where a few days in earliness is of less importance than ears of good size and quality. Black Mexican is an eight-rowed variety, ha\ing ears of medium size. For quality and real sugary flavor it is unexcelled by any variety in culiivation ; but to some the black color of the kernels is uninviting. The Moore's Concord is a twelve to sixteen-rowed sort, not raised by market-gardeners, because it is .so late that by the time it is ready for picking the market is flooded. No one can afford to raise it except farm- ers who have an abundance of land, and to whom the stover is of as much value as the ears. The quality of this variety is most excellent, and the ears are large. Marblehead Mammoth is a first-rate large- eared variety, twelve to eighteen-rowed, of vigorous growth and excellent quality ; cob white, large and well filled ; very productive and fine-flavored, the largest and latest of all. Stowell's Evergreen is yet another late standard sort, twelve to sixteen-rowed, v-ery sweet and of good quality ; keeps in a green state longer than any other kind. Corn Salad ( Valerianella olitorid)^ or Fetticus, is a peculiar vegetable, used entirely as a salad. In Eng- land it is largely grown. Some years ago it was very frequently raised among growing corn, but it is now considered better to give the crop full possession of the land. It is but little grown for the Boston market, but in New York there is quite a demand for it. It 130 MARKET GARDENING. should be sown as early in the spring as the ground can be worked, in rows twelve or fifteen inches apart. If the weather is favorable, it should be ready for use in about two months from the date of sowing. When an early spring supply is to be provided for, it may be sown about the middle of September. The plants should receive a covering of straw, or marsh hay, as soon as cold weather comes. They start very early in the spring, and therefore the covering should be removed in March or early April. The further treat- ment and marketing are the same as with spinach. Cress {Lepidium sativum), or Peppergrass, is in some respects like Corn Salad. The culture is very simple. Sow in early spring, in rows twelve or fifteen inches apart. Make a sowing every ten or fifteen days, as it runs very quickly to seed. The leaves, when young, have a pungent taste and are used as a salad, and also for garnishing. The Curled is the best for general use, although several other varieties are cultivated. Upland Cress {jBarharea vulgaris) is classed as a separate vegetable, being different from the common Curled Cress both as regards parentage and habit of growth — though similarly used as a sm.-.U salad. It is a hardy perennial, thriving on any soil, wet or dry. It makes an early appearance in spring, and grows with such extraordinary rapidity that in a few days it may be gathered for use; weeks ahead of any other out-door growths. It is as easy of culture as spinach, can be grown easily for two years without re-so\ying, and yields enormous crops. The seed should be sown in April. CUCUMBERS FORCING. I3I Cucumber (Cucumis sativus). — While this is a very important out-door crop, it is also very extensively grown under glass, for the Boston market ; and culti- vated in this manner (as a forced crop) it is probably dealt in to a larger extent here than in any other market of the United States. Almost every market- gardener in this section who has any glass runs it, either early or late, to cucumbers. As is well known, the plant is a very tender one when grown out-doors, and when forced under glass is much more so. The seed for the first crop is generally sown about the middle of March. When the plants are sufficiently grown they are transplanted, being set four in a hill ; and thirty-two hills being put under each 3x6 sash. They are left to grow in this manner until they are about four inches high (which usually takes about four weeks from the time of sowing). They are then re- moved ; and each hill is placed under 33x6 sash, and given good, steady heat, such as keeps the ground and roots thoroughly warm. The bed should be kept at an average temperature of about 70°, corresponding to ordinary midsummer weather. The requisite heat is afforded by the heating material that has been placed underneath, aided by the sun, and is retained at night by covering with mats and shutters. It is regulated by means of a thermometer, and ought not to run lower than 50° at night, or higher than 90° during the day. In case the thermometer rises higher than this, the beds should be cooled by raising the sash. The vines are sometimes grown in lettuce beds, after the lettuce has been removed, by putting in fresh heating 132 MARKET GARDENING. material, but it is much better, when practicable, to make a fresh bed. The plants, after being established, should be reduced to three in a hill, as it is no advan- tage, but a drawback, to have too much vine. They require the same care under glass that they would re- ceive, in field culture. Especially under glass they are a very quick-growing crop, and will require picking as often as four times a week. The picking may ordina- rily be commenced about June ist ; and about this time the glass should be removed from the bed. Those gathered in the earliest pickings usually bring about ten cenij each ; of course as the season advances the price will decrease, but a hill started at the time stated should bring about $4.00 ; and later plantings less, according to the season and the supply. The early beds usually continue in bearing until about July isth, or between six or seven weeks. There are very few that raise an acre of cucumbers under glass ; but where they do, their receipts ought to be, as a fair average result, not less than $3,000. The plan above described is that followed by most growers, and involves less risk than in houses ; but by the method of house-culture cucumbers niay be grown at any time during the season. Where crops are to be grown for continuous supply during the win- ter, the first sowing is done early in September. Vines of this sowing will come into bearing about Christmas ; and at that season of the year cucumbers will usually bring from forty to fifty cents each. Although this is a large price, growing and selling them in this way is not very profitable ; it is attended with much risk and uncer- STARTING PLANTS RETURNS VARIETIES. 1 33 tainty, and the crops are always very light. The vines are left to bear as long as they continue doing well. Then the ground is cleared off, and another sowing is made, say in January, and its product is ready for picking in April. In the houses the vines are not allowed to rest on the ground, as they do in the beds, but are trained on trellises of various styles. Thus the cucumbers may be seen with all facility during growth, and taken when ready for picking. Where cucumbers are grown exclusively in the houses, only two crops can be raised each winter. For the first early out-door crop the plants should be started under glass about five weeks before they are wanted for transplanting. Tiiirty-two hills are started under each 3x6 sash ; and when the fourth leaf is well out the hills are transplanted to the field. The roots can be saved from disturbance by using a piece of stove-pipe eight inches in diameter and six high, to cut down around each hill ; the shovel being then thrust under, and the plants thus enclosed and sup- ported during removal. Where sods can be obtained to plant in they are often used, for convenience in handling ; but the supply is apt to be deficient. The rows should be six feet apart ; hills four feet apart in the row, and slightly elevated so that water cannot settle on them. At first a close watch should be kept for bugs: plaster or other dust will be effectual in repelling them. Cultivate as for any out-door crop. In the bearing season the cucumbers will generally bring from one to two cents a piece; and the entire crop of an acre, at 134 MARKET GARDENING. this price, will amount to $400 or ^500, On high- priced land the entire crop should be marketed for the table, as growing for the pickle factories cannot be made to pay. For pickles, the seed may be put in at any time from the middle of June to the 20th of July. They may be planted as close as four feet apart, each way. The pickles are sold by the thousand, at prices which vary greatly. Among varieties the White Spine is the leading table sort grown for this market, both out-doors and under glass. Rawson's Improved is the best strain on the market, and this I use exclusively, in forcing and in Rawson's White Spine Cucumber. out-door culture, for table use. It grows very even in size — crisp and good. The Early Cluster is a very popular early variety, which produces cucumbers in clusters. The Green Prolific, a pickling variety, favored by many, has a similar habit of growth. The Boston Pickling is considered the leading pickling variety, and is a heavy yielder. The Long Green is a well-known late variety, grown here to some extent for family use — more largely in England. The Extra Early Rus- sian is an odd-looking, netted variety, very early. DANDELION - -HOW SOWN. 135 Dandelion {Leontodon Taraxacum) is almost ex- clusively a Boston market crop. In this vicinity, the demand is such that it is grown by the acre ; and, al- though there is no demand for it at present in other large markets, yet (as the consumption here is steadily increasing) it may be safely inferred that its use, like that of celery, is likely to become more general. It in some respects resembles endive, and certainly is one of the most healthful of all spring greens. Dandelion. It should be sown in drills as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. Although it is a very hardy plant, the seed must have very careful treatment in order to obtain a good stand, and should be covered not over one-fourth of an inch deep. The ground 136 MARKET GARDENING. should then be made firm, so as to retain the moisture. In this section they succeed best on a rather light, sandy soil. It does not need to be very rich, or heavily manured. For field culture, the rows should be put one foot apart. The dandelions, when they first come up, are so dark colored as to be almost invisible. A little lettuce seed, say one ounce per acre, mixed and sown with the dandelion, will come up quickly and show the rows plainly. When sown in beds, to be forced, the rows should be six inches apart. Roots may be removed from the field to a hot-bed, and forced ; but in any case it takes somewhat over a year from the time of sowing to grow the crop. It is mar- keted precisely as spinach — thirteen pounds weight is considered a bushel. The price varies greatly. On the forced crop from $1.00 to $2.00 is about the range of price. On the out-door crop, $1.00 is considered high, the usual average being lower, and prices some- times very low. At fifty cents per bushel, the crop is a paying one. When prices run high the proceeds per acre often reach as high as $1,000. There happens a failure sometimes in starting a crop. The sowing may be renewed any time before the first of August, and. provided it comes up well, and escapes scorching by the sun, the crop will be just as early as one sown in April. Women and boys are usually employed to gather and trim the plants, and remove a portion of the roots before sending to market ; at a cost of about 10 cts. per bushel. The roots are often dried, and in this condition are an article of commerce, being used quite extensively for EGG PLANT. ENDIVE. I 37 medicinal purposes, and in the manufacture of beer; and also as a substitute for coffee. The Improved French Thick-Leaved is a great im- provement over the common variety ; and this is now grown almost exclusively. It is a very vigorous grower, and affords a heavy yield of broad, thick leaves. Egg Plant (Solatium Melongend). The seed should be sown about March 15th, either in hot-bed or hot- house, the temperature being kept between 60° and 80°. After the plants have reached a height of three or four inches, they should betransplanted to four inches apart ; and after they have made a stocky growth, to such size as to cover the ground, they should be again trans- planted to eight inches apart. Then they may stand, and be gradually hardened off until it is time for set- ting in the open ground. The ground should be thoroughly prepared, and well enriched, as they are rank feeders ; they also require a good deal of moisture. They should be set in rows four feet . apart, — plants three feet apart in the row. The New York Purple is the principal variety grown. Black Pekih is earlier and hardier, but not quite so large or fine-looking. Early Long Purple is an oblong- fruited, early variety, of good quality. The fruit varies somewhat in color, from a very dark purple to a lighter shade streaked with yellow. Endive {Cichorium Endivid) is quite a rarity here ; but it may soon become quite a popular salad. In New York and Philadelphia there is quite a demand for it. Endive requires a good supply of moisture, and should be sown where it will be least exposed to heat 138 MARKET GARDENING. and drought. As it is used principally during the fall months, the main sowings are usually made in June or July, in properly prepared beds, and the plants, after they have reached the proper height, are transplanted to rows two feet apart, with plants at intervals of six inches in the row. They have to be blanched by gathering up the leaves and tying them together at the top with bass matting, and in a month or six weeks' time (varying according to the season), the plants will be ready for use. The Green Curled is very hardy, and blanched easily. It is also largely used for garnishing. The Moss Curled is a newer variety, and somewhat larger. It makes a most excellent salad, and is also very ornamental. The Broad-Leaved Batavian is used to some extent, principally for soups, but is not nearly as good as the curled varieties. Herbs (Culinary, Sweet, or Medicinal) constitute a class of garden products, of which some mention should be made here. It may be remarked that Herbs in general love a mellow and free soil ; also, that care should be taken to harvest them properly, and without exposure to wet. Selecting a suitable day, cut them when lacking a little of being in full blossom, and dry them quickly in the shade in a secure place; after which pack them close in dry boxes or vessels, and keep them entirely excluded from the air. So treated, they can be kept on hand without deterioration until they can be sold to advantage. Still, only a few are raised, though the list is a long one. We select for description a few of the more prominent kinds. HERBS. 139 Anise iPimpinella anisuni) is a native of Asia Minor Greece, and Egypt. The seeds are used in medicine, also in the manufacture of liquors, and in some parts of Europe as a spice for cooking purposes. Sow in April or May in a warm, rich soil, in a permanent location. Balm {Melissa officinalis'). This plant is a native of Southern Europe. It is used for seasoning, and in the manufacture of certain perfumes. Sow in a warm loca- tion, preferably in a deep, sandy loam ; though the plant will succeed almost anywhere. Basil, Sweet {Ocymum basilicum) is a native of India. The leaves are used for seasoning, and, to a limited extent, for medicinal purposes. Sow in hot- bed, or green-house, if practicable, in March ot April, and transplant to open ground after the weather is settled. A sandy soil is almost essential. Caraway {Carum carvt). A native of Europe,, pro- duces the " caraway seed " which is so universally used for flavoring. The plant is of the easiest possible cul- ture, no care being necessary, but simply to scatter the seed where the growth is wanted. Lavender {Lavendula vera) is a native of Southern Europe ; known everywhere, and largely grown in cer- tain parts of Europe for the oil, which is distilled from the flowers, and is used in perfumes. The plant is also quite ornamental and is worthy of cultivation on this account alone. Choose, if possible, a deep, mellow soil. Marjoram, Sweet {Origanum marjoram). This plant is probably a native of Portugal, though found in I40 MARKET GARDENING. Other countries of Southern Europe. It is grown en- tirely for seasoning or flavoring purposes ; the leaves and the ends of the shoots being the parts used. Sow early in the spring in any good soil. Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis) is a native of Southern Europe. Its leaves, when dried, are used for Rosemary. seasoning. The plants may be grown from seed, but the easier mode of propagation is by division of the roots. A warm location should be chosen. Sage, Commox {SaMa officinalis) is also a native of Southern Europe. The uses to which this herb is put are numerous, and too well known to be enumerated. Sow in spring wherever desired, and thin to six or eight inches apart in the row. A well-drained soil is essential. Give clean culture. HERBS. HORSERADISH. I4I Summer Savory {Satureja hortensis). Native of Eu- rope. This is one of the most common of cultivated herbs. The leaves and tender leaf-stalks are used for flavoring, and especially when cooked with beans im- part a very pleasant flavor. The seed may be sown in open ground in early spring ; or, if desired, the plants may be started under glass. A light, rich soil should be selected. Tansy {Tanacetum vulgare) is cultivated in gardens and also found as a roadside weed ; growing from two to four feet in height, with smooth, strong-scented foliage of acrid taste. T. bahamita is smaller, sweet- scented, with pale yellow flowers. Thyme {Thymus vulgaris) is a native of Southern Europe. The leaves and young shoots are used for seasoning. The plants may be propagated either from seeds or cuttings, the former being preferable. Sow in early spring, and in midsummer tiansplant to five or six inches apart in the row or border. Horseradish {Cochlearia Armoracia) is raised from sets saved during preparation for market of the pre- vious crop. These are put into the ground as early as the soil can be prepared. Plough four furrows together, and thus form a ridge ; along the middle of this ridge the sets are planted by hand, eighteen inches apart, and covered two inches deep. A series of ridges thus formed will bring the rows about three and one-half feet apart. A row of spinach is sown on one side of this ridge, and a row of beets on the other side, leaving the centre occupied by the horseradish, which is very slow in starting, so that the others will not interfere 142 MARKET GARDENING. with it at all. The spinach is cut off early ; and the beets, after they have made a proper growth, are thinned for greens, while those that are left to grow are soon gathered and bunched for early marketing. By this time the horseradish will have reached a height of five or six inches, and can now be hoed and cultivated. Before being marketed for grating, it is washed by put- ting it in tubs of water and stirring and brushing with a broom. It is then usually packed in barrels. For bunching, more pains must be taken, and the wash- ing must be a more thorough one ; after which it is tied up in bundles of five or six pounds each, and in this way brings a little extra price. By the barrel it usually brings from S to 6 cents per pound ; each barrelful weighing about Horse Radish. one hundred pounds. At the foregoing price, an acre of horseradish, if it succeeded well, would bring a return of about $3S°- Adding for the spinach and beets, the total product should amount to about $600 per acre for the year. KOIIL RABI SALE AND USE. I43 Kohl Rabi {Brassica caulo-rapa) in some respects resembles turnip, but is actually a variety of the cabbage ; the, bulb is really an enlarged stem, of a fleshy, pulpy consistency. Its shape is that of an almost regular ball; in some varieties about as large as an average sized orange, while in others it is nearly as large as a man's head. In flavor it closely re- sembles the turnip, and partly also the cabbage, blending the \jt two. It is highly appreciated in New York, especially amongst the Germans. It is in its best condition for use before it becomes fully grown, even while quite small ; and is prepared for the table in the same man- ner as turnips. The seed-bed should be made in May or June. Transplant to rows three feet apart, fifteen inches apart in the row. The crop is fitted for market by bunching when green and tender ; three bulbs being put in a bunch. The price obtained varies from seventy-five cents to one dollar per dozen bunches. Any that are left unsold may be used for stock feeding. They are often grown ex- pressly for that object. They may be kept as easily as turnips, and ihe method of storing is the same. The Early White Vienna is the leading variety. It is in the best condition for the table when as large as an ordinary cocoanut. It is then tender and of fine flavor, but later on becomes tough, stringy, and unpalatable. 144 MARKET GARDENING. Early Purple Vienna closely resembles the preceding, except that the color of the bulb is deep purple instead of greenish white. There is but little choice between the two. The Giant White is larger and coarser, and the Goliath is truly a mammoth kind: these are raised only for stock. Leek {Allium porruni) is a hardy biennial plant, London Flag Leek. producing an oljlong bulb, or stalk, which has the flavor of an onion, and is used principally for flavoring soups LEEK. LETTUCE. 145 and stews. It is useless to attempt its cultivation on light, poor land. Sow the seed early in May, in a well prepared bed, and transplant in July to rows three feet apart, putting two plants to each foot of row, on land from which a crop of cabbage or lettuce has been removed. Set them rather deep, and in cultivating draw up the earth, so as to bleach them slightly and keep them tender. The Leek is used principally during the winter months, and may be stored in trenches, in the same manner as celery ; or it may be placed in a cool cellar, ■with the roots resting on a layer of soil. In this way, if standing thickly together, they will take root slightly, and kfeep very fresh and grefen until late the follow- ing spring. The Musselburgh is the principal market variety, although the London Flag closely resembles it and is just as good. The Giant Carentan is a newer sort, large and of good quality, and will, no doubt, prove quite popular. Lettuce {Lactuca sativd). This is one of the lead- ing crops, and is perhaps the most profitable one raised by market gardeners. It is the only vegetable that is continuously grown throughout the year, being pro- duced under glass in hot-houses, or hot-beds, in winter, and in the open ground in the summer. For forcing in hot-houses, seed is sown for plants of the first setting about the first of September, in the open ground; these are afterwards transplanted into the houses. The resulting crop is ready for marketing about the middle of November. Sowings are made 146 MARKET GARDENING. about ten days apart, from time to time, throughout the season, so as to give a continuous supply of plants. Lettuce seed is very small, and when sown under glass requires but little covering. One ounce of good seed is sufficient for four sashes of the ordinary size, three feet by six. The culture of Lettuce as an out-door crop is com- paratively easy; but when grown under glass it is a much more difficult crop to raise, as through the winter season, when the days are short and there is much cloudy weather, the crop is likely to be affected with mildew and the green-fly. This green-fly, or louse, is a most difficult insect to manage, especially when the plants have gained a considerable size. The only way to keep rid of them is to fumigate the houses thoroughly with the smoke of tobacco stems. This should be done three nights in succession. In order to make sure of accomplishing the work, in a week or ten days after the third smok- ing the operatiun should be repeated ; and by this process, if carefully and thoroughly carried out at the proper times, a crop already attacked may be saved ; but it requires thorough treatment. The tobacco stems should be moistened before being used, or the heat will be too much for the lettuce. Some skill and discretion are necessary to determine just how much to moisten them, and how to do the smoking in the proper manner. On these points a practical experience is the very best possible teacher, although somewhat costly at times. After the first of February there is but very lictle trouble with this insect.* * Consult Chapter VII. UNDER GLASS CROPS PRICES. 1 4/ After the plants have been treated in this manner they will be ready for transplanting into beds or wherever required ; while if this treatment should not be given them, it is quite likely they might be de- stroyed. Occasionally, it is true, these insects do not trouble a crop at all ; but it is much the best policy to be on the safe side and use every precaution. Through damp and cloudy weather the plants are liable to mildew, both in the houses and in frames. Although not as troublesome as insects, mildew often destroys a crop. This can be avoided by keeping up as high a temperature as possible, while still giving plenty of air. In transplanting lettuce, the plants should at first be put four inches apart, and when they have covered the ground should be moved to eight inches apart in the houses. In hot-beds, fifty plants are put under each 3x6 sash, which makes the distances separating the plants about seven and a half inches each way. The price for lettuce, through the winter, averages about four cents per single head, or fifty cents per dozen. Three crops can be grown in the hothouses during the winter. Three can be taken from the hot- beds also, if the plants are started in the houses and grown there until the last transplanting. The heat for hot-beds, as has been before said, is mostly horse manure fresh from the stable ; and it takes one cord of this for every eight sash for the early or winter beds ; but for those started after the fifteenth of February one cord will answer for twelve I oc 148 OUTLAYS PROFITS VARIETIES. 149 sash. The expense of this, all put into the bed and ready for use, is nearly one dollar per sash, reckoning the putting down of bed, putting on sash, mats, and shutters, and bed set out to lettuce ; so that the cost of raising lettuce in the winter with four dozen under each sash is twenty-five cents per dozen to start with ; add cost of the plants, twelve cents per dozen, and taking care of them twelve cents more ; making the cost of raising lettuce in the winter season fifty cents per dozen, without reckoning in the carrying to market. The second crop can be grown much cheaper than the first, say at forty cents per dozen ; because the bed is all ready. It will require only two-thirds as much manure ; and not over two-thirds as much time will be consumed in taking care of the second crop as of the first. Then, too, the spent manure that is taken out in renewing the beds is worth something, perhaps all of half price, or we may say twenty-five cents per sash, for use elsewhere. But, allowing for all this, I believe there is no profit from growing lettuce in hot-beds at fifty cents per dozen. In houses it can be grown for less than in beds, .and its cultiyation in houses is thought to pay fairly well. The temperature in the houses should be kept be- tween 40° and 45" in the night time, and at from 60° to 70° during the day. That of the hot-beds also should be regulated in a similar manner. In this vicinity the White-Seeded Tennis-ball has been almost exclusively the variety raised for forcing ; but the Black-Seeded is preferred for out-door culture, the latter being much larger than the former. 150 MARKET GARDENING. Another sort, Rawson's New Hot-house, is now fast taking the place of the White-Seeded Tennis-ball for forcing. It is nearly double the size of the latter variety, and exhibits qualities of most superior ex- cellence. The cut shown on page 148 is a correct likeness, . having been taken from a photograph. This kind is altogether the best yet introduced for growing in greenhouses and hot -beds ; being the largest lettuce grown, and being also a sure header ; and not liable to rot in the heart. These important traits make it an extremely desirable sort, and profit- able in cultivation. As we have remarked, the first sowing of seed for plants to be forced is made about September ist. Black-Seeded Tennis-ball is first sown in February, in the houses ; and then transplanted to hot-beds. After being hardened off, it is set in the open ground about the last of April or the first of May, and will be fit for cutting about the first of June. The price for this let- tuce is about the same as for that grown in the houses. This is set, in the field, about one foot apart ; or it may be set among cabbage; or in the onion field, where space has been left for a later growth of celery. As soon as the ground can be worked in the spring, a sow- ing of the Black-Seeded variety is made in the open ground; the rows being spaced one foot apart, and every other row being left out so that celery may be set in later. When the plants are large enough, they are thinned so as to stand one foot apart in the row. Sowings are made in this way every ten days until about the twentieth of August. These sowings, taken LATER SORTS COS KINDS. MARTYNIA. 151 with those made under glass, as described, give con- tinuously maturing crops of lettuce the year round. Early Curled Silesia is a very early curled sort, used extensively for first early out-door crops. Next after the forcing and early out-door lettuces comes the Boston Fine Curled ; which may either be forced under glass or grown in out-door culture. Early Curled Simpson is another excellent curled variety, pale green in color. It floes not form very compact heads. Hanson is one of the leading *'head" lettuces for house, garden and other out-door culture. The name "Cos applied to lettuce de notes a class of plants ' ■distinguished by the for- mation of tall upright- growing leaves without disposition to head — a defect supplied by the art of the grower, who gathers these leaves together and binds them into a compact bunch or head ; when they blanch and grow tender, thus becom- ing fit in their appearance and condition for market and for the table. White Paris Cos is the best of the Cos varieties.' It is a quick grower, and has been rapidly gaining in Bath Cos Lettuce, I 52 MARKET GARDENING. ularity for the past few years. The Bath Cos is crisp and fine flavored, and extremely large. The Green Curled is an exceedingly ornamental, fringed variety, and is rapidly gaining in favor in family gardens. There is an almost endless list of varieties, but none are more desirable than those above mentioned. Martynia (Martynid). The young seed pods of this plant are used to some extent for pickling. It is of very easy culture, and will succeed in almost any garden soil. The seed may be sown in the hot-bed, — the plants being afterwards transplanted, — or may be sown in April in the open ground, and transplanted later. They should be spaced to three feet apart each way, as the plants are very spreading in habit. Martynia. On good soil the pods are produced in great abund- ance, and should be ready for use in July or August. MUSHROOMS HOW GROWN. 153 Mushrooms (Agaricus Campcstris). This is a very peculiar crop, and one tliat is found in many respects quite difficult to grow. The best plan is as follows : Take fresh horse manure and shake out all the straw and coarse part, using nothing but the fine portion of it. Mix this with fresh loam, one part loam to two parts manure, and turn the pile every day to keep it from burning, until the fiery heat is nearly all out of it. Construct the bed about four feet wide and as long as required, putting in the prepared material about eight inches deep, and making it very solid as it is put Mushroom Beds. in. Let it remain in this condition, until the tempera- ture has become reduced to 90° ; then make holes two or three inches deep, at a distance of twelve inches apart each way, into which put the spawn in pieces about as large as a hen's egg. Cover the spawn and let it remain undisturbed for eight or ten days ; then I 54 MARKET GARDENING. cover the whole bed with fine loam, to the depth of two inches, making it firm with the back of a shovel or spade. Apply water only when the soil is very dry. The bed must be in a covered situation, and in a dark place, with the temperature at about 50°, and the prepared soil must be kept dry from the commence- ment. If everything favors, the mushrooms will ap- pear in six or eight weeks, and will continue over two months. By careful applications of water at the tem- perature of about 70° the season may be prolonged. MusKMELON (Cucumis meld). The Muskmelon will succeed best in soil naturally strong and rich, and on a recently turned sod. The best way is to turn the land over at the proper time and apply about five cords of manure broadcast, using a spreader where one can be had. After harrowing thoroughly the ground should be marked off for hills, six feet apart each way. A shovelful of fine manure should be applied in the hills, which should be slightly raised, so that water will not stand around the plants. Seven or eight seeds should be put in a hill so as to make allowance for insects. The planting may be done about May 15th. After the plants have got their fourth leaf well out, and have obtained a good start, they should be thinned to three in a hill. Cultivate both ways thoroughly, the same as a crop of squash or other vines would be treated. They should never be hoed or worked around when the leaves are wet with rain or dew. In picking for market, it is an easy matter to tell when the fruit is fit to be taken, as the under side of the melon will be lightly streaked with yellow. If MUSKMELONS. -— CANTALOUPES. IJS picked then and exposed to the sun for a couple of days, they will be ready for tlie table of the consumer. They are rather an uncertain crop, and are cultivated but very little by market-gardeners in this section. The melons of this class are all yellow-fleshed. There are several varieties ; but the Arlington Long Yellow is almost exclusively the one here raised for market. In shape it is oblong, with a skin thickly netted, flesh thick and of fine flavor. Another variety, which is claimed to be very dis- tinct, highly productive, and one likely to become very popular with melon-growers, is the Osage. It is of western origin and not yet well known here ; so that we do not undertake to decide on its merits. Its skin is said to be very thin, of dark-green color, and slightly netted ; seed cavity very small ; flesh of a salmon color, extremely sweet, and possessing a pecu- liar spicy flavor ; very thick, and good through to the rind. It is, moreover, said to be a good keeper and to stand shipping better than any other variety known. This description affords a pretty complete list of every- thing we know of that is wanted in a muskmelon. Cantaloupe is our name for round kinds. These are usually started about May ist, under glass, to be transplanted, about June loth, to the open field. The bed is usually placed near the centre of the field where they are to be grown, and the seed is started on sods 9 inch by 9 inch, so that thirty-two hills are started under each 3x6 sash. The Arlington Nutmeg is the leading first early variety, and is followed by the Hackensack, which is 156 BEST KINDS. MUSTARD. I $7 one of the most popular sorts for the main crop. The latter is of good size and of excellent quality. The Casaba is a large, late variety, and in the Northern States always requires to be started under glass in order to give it time to ripen its fruit before frost. The Surprise is a variety of rather recent introduc- tion and of considerable merit for the home garden but it is not large enough for market. White Japan is quite a popular sort, of most excel- lent quality. It is of medium size, with skin pale yellow in color, while the flesh is golden. Montreal Market is the largest melon of its class in cultivation, and derives its name from being originated and largely grown in the vicinity of Montreal. This is started under glass, earlier than the others, and is grown almost invariably in the beds until the time of picking. It is a very thick-meated, green-fleshed sort, and is considered the best sort, for table use, in exist- ence. Good specimens of its fruit, well grown and ripened, often bring as high as $i.oo each, at whole- sale. As they produce more vines than the other varieties they must be given more room. Where one hill is planted under a sash the beds should be set so that the hills will be twelve feet apart the other way. One plant per hill, at this distance, is sufficient. In picking for market, it has to be noted that the fruit is never ripe until the stem will part readily from it. Mustard {Sinapis alba and nigra). Used to some extent for greens, early in the spring, but more espe- cially as a salad. It may be sown in the open ground 158 MARKET GARDENING. (almost any time after the soil can be properly prepared) in rows twelve inches apart : also may be forced in the hot-bed, or hot-house, and thus may be had at all seasons of the year ; but the demand is small. White Mustard is the variety best liked as a salad ; and the seed, which is of a very bright yellow color, affords, when ground, the mustard which we use on our tables. Black-seeded is much like the preceding, _ Black Seeded Mustard, except that the seed is very dark in color and the leaves are a trifle more pungent. It is used both as a salad and for manufacturing into table mustard. Nasturtium {TropcBolum majtcs) is but little grown, either in the market or home garden ; but the shoots and flower buds make an excellent salad, and the seeds of the Dwarf variety (/! minus) when pickled in vinegar can kardly be distinguished from capar sauce. NASTURTIUM. OKRA. I 59 It can be easily grown in any garden soil, and will twine around brush, or any other support that may be near. It is sown in drills in early spring, being cov- ered about one inch deep. A large number of varieties maybe found catalogued in the published flower-seed lists ; but the Tall and Dwarf are the only kinds grown in the vegetable garden. The former grows to a height of eight or nine feet ; and is a first-rate ornamental plant to set for climbing over rock work or on a trellis. The Dwarf never grows above three or three and a half feet in height; and this, when sown in drills, should be bushed like early peas. Okra {Hibiscus esculentus) is grown for its seed pods, which, when young and tender, are used in soups and stews ; but sales in the Boston market are very light. It is of very easy culture, as it succeeds on almost any soil, and after the plants are once up and growing is quite hardy. But the seeds should not be put in till the weather is warm and fairly settled, — say about the loth of May, — as they are liable to rot if placed in the soil when it is cold and soggy. In this one respect they are very tender, and are found difficult to start except under favorable conditions. There are but two varieties on the list ; these are the Tall and Dwarf kinds. In the_ culture of either, the planting should be in drills, and the covering two inches deep. If the Dwarf variety is planted at eighteen inches between the drills, it will have space enough; but in cultiva- ting the larger variety, three or three and a half feet i6'o MARKET GARDENING. will be none too much to leave between the rows. This plant is one which requires nearly the whole season to complete its growth ; but, if desired, a few seeds maybe started in the hot-bed or hot-house about four weeks before they are wanted for setting out of doors ; and in this way they may be hurried forward. When used in soups, okra imparts a viscous or gummy consistency, and a peculiar flavor which, to most people, is quite agreeable. Okr«, CHAPTER VI. Vegetables, Etc. — Continued. THE ONION {Allium cepa) as a paying field crop, ranks next to cabbage. For the early supply, grown for bunching, onion sets are used. These should be planted in rich soil, using from six to ten bushels per acre, according to the size of the sets. Seed is also sown at the same time for plants to follow, and maintain the supply. Six pounds of seed are required for an acre. For raising sets, twenty-five pounds of seed are required, which should be grown on rather poor land, so that they may not run to tops or grow too large. The White sets are put out in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked, three inches apart, in rows one foot apart, reserving every sixth row for celery. This work is usually done by boys, and the sets are covered in with a rake by a man who follows, walking in the vacant row. Only two weedings will be required ; but when seed is sown three are necessary, and the plants are thinnea to three inches. The sets will be large enough for pulling about the middle of June. They are bunched for market, five in 161 (I) White' Portugal. (2; Danvers Thick Yellow. 162 FROM SETS OR SEEDS. 1 63 a bunch at first, and four when they are larger. The pulling continues through July. The price obtained for those first marketed is about sixty cents per dozen bunches, and the average of the whole crop may be from thirty-five to forty cents. The proceeds of an acre should be from $600 to $800, and $300 should cover cost of growing. Yellow sets do not differ as to culture from the white, but are not used for bunching. Soon after the tops drop over (about July ist), the onions are pulled up and left to dry on the ground. When they are thoroughly dry the tops are cut off, and the onions are boxed or barreled for sale. The average yield (leaving out the sixth row for celery) is about 500 bushels per acre, and they will bring a price between $1.00 and $1.50 per bushel. In raising late crops for storing, seed is used exclusively, and the plants are thinned to one inch instead of three. These crops are allowed to dry thoroughly in the ground before harvesting. They should be stored in bins or boxes where a steady, cool temperature can be kept up. For fall onions the price obtained is usually about $2.50 per barrel. Until modern inventions of the labor-saving sort came forward, very largely superseding the old methods of hand-cultivation, the sowing and growing of this valuable and remunerative crop was an extremely tedious and laborious business. Now, after the prep- aration of the beds has been properly accomplished, a smart boy of sixteen will seed more ground in a day, and do it better, than twenty men could at the time when seed drills were unknown ; and the labor of 164 MARKET GARDENING. the after culture during the growth of the plants has been almost equally lightened by modern devices. The ground must be such as has been well enriched with long and liberal manuring; and recent addition of green manures must not be relied upon for afford- ing the close-growing plants their proper nutrition. The tilth should be as perfect as it can be made, and the plants must have the cleanest possible culture. The Yellow Danvers, and the White Portugal or Silver Skin, are the kinds grown almost exclusively for this market, from sets and from seeds. In some local- ities, where red onions are in favor, the Red Wethers- field is highly esteemed. It is a very productive, large sort. Parsley {Apium petroselinum) is kept at all seasons Fine Curled Parsley. in continuous growth, either under glass or in the open ground. The plants for forcing are kept cut down dur- PARSLEY. PARSNIPS. 16$ ing the siammer, and in the fall are placed under glass at three inches apart, in rows about six inches apart. The pickings may be repeated often during the season, after which the roots are worthless. The Fine Curled is the variety chiefly grown, and is in fact the most desirable. The Moss Curled though similar, is a little more crimped. Fern-Leaved is an ornamental variety. Plain Parsley is the smooth-leaved sort, used mainly for flavoring. It is hardier, and its leaves are larger and of a deeper green than those of the other sorts named. The average returns, per sash 3x6, from forced parsley would be from $3.00 to J4.00. Parsnips {Pastinaca saiivd) require careful attention to secure proper germination. Thorough preparation of soil and early sowing will promote that result. Sow in rows fifteen inches apart. At this width, an early crop of spinach or radishes may be sown in rows between. These will be out of the way before the parsnips will crowd them. Make the covering not over half an inch deep, and thin to four inches apart. Any convenient part of the crop may be left to stand in the ground over winter (as they are improved by frost), and may be dug for marketing any time after the frost is out. Parsnips will do better (and especially in case they are to remain in the ground over winter) if sown on ridges formed by lapping two furrows together, each ridge planted with two rows. The ridges should be thirty inches apart. Among varieties, those figured in the cut following are of principal importance. The Short Round French 1 66 MARKET GARDENING. is the earliest, but small in size. Long Smooth is such as its name implies ; growing very smooth and true ; unsurpassed for market or exhibition, and the Short Round. best for general crop. Guernsey is very handsome, and excellent in quality; being shorter, suits a shallow soil. Still another choice variety is Abbott's Im- Long Smooth. proved HoUow Crown. Roots- long, white, and smooth ; sweet and tender, an excel- lent sort. PEAS HOW GROWN. 1 6/ Peas {Pisum sativtim), which have been in past years highly profitable, now yield fluctuating and un- certain returns, owing to the shipments of Southern growers. Where cabbage is to follow, the early upright growing sorts are usually sown in three and a half feet rows. Three feet apart does well for American Wonder. When squashes are to follow, two double rows are put in three and a half feet apart, and then a space is reserved about five feet wide, for planting squashes before the peas are ready to be removed. The Pea comes earliest to maturity in light, rich soil ; but for the general crop, a deep loam, or a soil strongly inclining to clay, is the best. Plant as early as the weather will permit, in well prepared ground; cover one inch deep and the seeds will come earlier than if deeper. Later sowings may be covered two to six inches deep ; the deep planting tends to pre- vent mildew ; and to prolong the season. When a sufficient quantity of manure is available, it is always best to manure the peas broadcast before sowing. When manure is applied in this way, the peas will get as much of it as they need, and the bal- ance will remain for the later crop. When it is in- tended to cultivate in this manner, the early varieties are always sown, as the late ones would not get off soon enough. For the early crops mild manure such as leaf mould will do well, but leaves not much for the following crop ; and if the soil is very poor, a stronger manure will be needed to grow the peas. Fresh manures and wet mucky soils are to be avoided, as they cause the vines to grow rank and i68 MARKET GARDENING. tall : the plants make a great growth in vines, but fail to develop and mature the pods. Sowings should be begun as soon as the ground is fit to work, and continue at intervals of a week or ten ¥^y^:m Rawson's Clipper. days until the first of May. For a continuous supply during the season, make plantings until the last of June ; then sowings should be discontinued until the middle of August, when an extra early sort will some- times produce a grood crop. All the wrinkled sorts are superior to smooth sorts in every respect except earliness ; they are more deli- EARLIEST AND LATER KINDS. I69 cate in flavor, richer in saccharine matter, and remain longer in season. The market-gardener, however, is not disposed to keep'the vines long in bearing, as he usually wants the land cleared for other use. The earliest and the quickest-growing sorts are the best in that case. Amongst all the numerous varieties offered, the very earliest is undoubtedly Rawson's Clipper. When first brought forward, in the spring of 1886, it had proved on our trial grounds to be the earliest in cultivation. It has now been in the hands of one of our most experienced growers for the past five years, and after careful tests has proved earlier by several days than any other. It is very uniform in growth and distinct in habit, about thirty inches in height, profusely covered with well-filled pods. It is one of the sweetest and best flavored of the smooth varieties. The entire crop can be gathered in two pickings ; it is a very productive and valuable market variety. Sunol is a variety yet under trial ; of great promise as a first early, smooth, round, very productive^ sort, of superior flavor. ' Among the early wrinkled varieties the American Wonder stands at the head of the list. It /i very dwarf, averaging eight to ten inches in heigh^ according to the nature of the soil, of the very bestruality, and for the home garden at least has no superior for an extra early table pea. Until the introduction oV the Wonder, the " Little Geni " was the leading d^arf wrinkled variety, and even now is quite popular. It grows a trifle taller than the Wonder. McLean's V Vdvancer 170 MARKET GARDENING. is one of the leading sorts, and a favorite with market gardeners ; grows about two feet high, is very produc- tive and nearly as early as Daniel O'Rourke. The Daniel O'Rourke is a well-known extra early kind, and is quite a favorite with market-gardeners, as the crop may be gathered mainly at one picking. It grows to the height of two and a half feet. The fol- lowing extra early varieties (as is perhaps generally known) are merely selected stock of the Daniel O'Rourke : First and Best, Maud S., Early Dexter, Carter's First Crop, and many others which are named according to the fancy of the dealer offering them. The Kentish Invicta is almost as early, and a heavy yielder ; it is a round blue variety. Bliss's Abundance is a new early dwarf kind, with large, robust, dark-green foliage ; pods from three to three and a half inches long, containing six to eight large wrinkled peas ; quality excellent. Bliss's Everbearing leads all the rest for the general crop. Its pods average four inches long, each con- taining six to eight wrinkled peas of very extraordi- nary size, sweetness, and flavor. Champion of England is the standard late variety. It is a very heavy cropper, and of best quality. Grows about four feet high. The Black-Eyed Marrowfat is the well-know/* old variety, and grows about the same height and riuens about the same time as the Cham- pion of Engh,,nd. The " Stratagem " is a fine medium- late variety, now well established in favor ; excellent in quality, and yields abundantly. It will doubtless long remain a ,favorite as a market sort, being a heavy CROPS AND PRICES. 171 yielder, with pods of large size, and having an advan- tage over other varieties in being easier to pick. All the late kinds need wider planting than the early dwarf sorts — about four feet between rows is SUSS'3 A Single Piakt DRWN From Life. >on» — fiyWm.C.5er«nton"' Bliss' Everbearing. not too much. The number of bushels of pods raised from a bushel of seed peas varies from one hundred to one hundred and fifty ; the price (though depressed and irregular as a consequence of shipments from the South disturbing the market, especially as regards the early crop) will average about one dollar per bushel. 172 MARKET GARDENING. Peppers {Capsicum) are usually sown under glass about April ist, and should not be transplanted to the open ground until the weather is warm and settled, — say about June ist, in this locality. They are a family of plants exhibiting very remarkable diversities in shape, size, and color, as well as in the more or less pungent taste by which they are characterized ; some changing, as they ripen, from the green color of the young pod to various brilliant shades of red, and others to yellow and orange tints of like intensity — thus becoming in the highest degree ornamental and interesting, but of course not any more valuable to carry to market. All Peppers require a warm, mellow soil, and heavy manuring applied either before or during growth. The rows may be set eighteen inches apart, and the plants a foot apart in the rows. Of certain sorts, the pickle factories use large quantities, which are grown at very small prices on contracts; but our market gardeners raise peppers only in very small lots ; merely enough to supply the retail trade. The Squash or Tomato-shaped variety is the kind chiefly grown for the pickle factories, and is well adapted, being thick-fleshed, of pungent flavor, very productive, and of good size. The Bell, or Bull-Nose is a large and mild-flavored variety, and is one of the most popular. The Sweet Mountain, or Mammoth, resembles the Bell in some respects, and is perhaps just as desirable, being similar in shape, not unlike in flavor, and larger ; while in the same class with these old and well- RUBY KING AND OTHERS. 1/3 known varieties comes the new Ruby King, of larger growth and milder flavor than either ^ — in many respects a superior kind, and unequalled by any other. It commonly attains a size of four and a half to six inches long, by about four inches through. The fruit is so mild and pleasant to the taste that it may be sliced and eaten with pepper and vinegar as is done with tomatoes or cucumbers, and when thus used Ruby King Pepper. makes a very agreeable salad. The plant is of a sturdy, bushy habit of growth. Long Cayenne is the strong pungent variety with which every one is acquainted. It is quite late, and the pods while still young and green are frequently used for pickling. Another very hot and pungent variety, of similar quality but not quite so acrid, 174 MARKET GARDENING. and of entirely different habit of growth, is the Red Cluster ; in which the small, thin peppers, of a coral red color, stand crowded together in bunches at the top of each branch. It closely resembles the Chili, from which variety it originated. Still other valuable sorts are : Cardinal (which Cardinal Pepper. Somewhat resembles Long Cayenne), Monstrous or Grossum, and Child s Celestial. THE POTATO HOW GROWN. 1 75 v. The Potato {Solanum tuberosum) prefers soils of a sandy or gravelly nature, although it will succeed, to some extent, on all soils ranging between a light loam and a stiff clay, provided there is just the right amount of moisture. But it is worse than folly to attempt to grow potatoes on land that is waterlogged, or not well and thoroughly drained, either by natural or artificial means. A newly turned sod, other things being favor- able, forms the best potato land. In our own experi- ence (especially on land that has been heavily manured for previous crops), the use of stable manure, or of wood ashes, somewhat promotes the " scab ; " com- mercial .fertilizers have given us much the smoothest crop. Whatever manuring is applied should, as a rule, be put on broadcast. On some lands, exceptionally light and dry, level culture may prove the best ; but we have succeeded better by a moderate hilling up. This seems to keep the land light and friable. Make the cultivator and shovel-plough do all the hilling, and most of the hoeing. For this purpose, put the rows three feet apart. Drop the seed ten or twelve inches apart in the row ; cut to one eye, around which leave a good portion of the substance of the tuber, so that the young growths may have plenty of nourishment until the roots get well established. Two or three times, before the crop comes up, a smoothing harrow should be run over the piece, de- stroying the young weeds as soon as they start. The Colorado beetles, or potato-bugs, formerly so much dreaded, are now disposed of very easily by the use of slug shot or Paris green; either is death to the bugs. 1/6 MARKET GARDENING. The selection and cutting of seed are important points. We recommend medium sized tubers, cut to one eye. The tuber itself is not a seed, but merely an enlargement of the underground stem, and in plant- Cutting to One Eye. ing tubers, either entire or cut, we are putting in (not seeds but) slips or cuttings, in which size is not essen- tial ; but probably it is better, as a rule, to use good- shaped, medium sized ones, cut to a single eye. SEED CULTURE HARVESTING. I// In a potato tuber held stem end down, it may be seen that the eyes are arranged in regular ascending rotation. For advantageously dividing it to single eyes (as is more especially necessary to those who buy new and valuable varieties), an excellent method is delineated in the cut here introduced. An indentation will be found in each tuber, clearly indicating the stem end. The cuts, to be made with a thin-bladed knife, are all sloped towards it ; each cut removes one eye, proceeding, in succession, from the lowest to the highest. Humphrey's Potato Knife is one specially devised, with a blade of curved and concave shape, for cutting out single eyes in general accordance with the above method, and possesses some advantages over an ordinary knife, for that service. Cultivation of the young plants should commence as soon as they are fairly above the sifrface of the ground, and continue until the appearance of the blossoms, when no further attention will be required until the time of harvesting the crop. At each successive hoeing, bring up earth against the plants, adding a little each time both for support to the stalks and also to develop the side-shoots. For digging the crop, there is at present no more satisfactory implement provided than the digging-fork or the potato-hook. There are, to be sure, already several different implements designed and constructed, and to some extent, perhaps, put to use for employing the labor of horses in loosening and lifting the tubers from the soil. But the best of them — the very latest as well as the earlier ones -^ have attained but a very 1/8 MARKET GARDENING. moderate degree of success, even when working under fairly favorable conditions ; and in stony or mucky soils will not do the work. There is still a fortune in waiting for the man who invents a completely suc- cessful machine-digger. Varieties are so numerous, and many are so little distinct, that to mention even a quarter of them would be confusing. The Early Rose has an almost endless number of closely related kinds, such as Early Sunrise, Early Gem, Chicago Market, Early Vermont, and others. Standard favorites are the early and late varieties of Beauty of Hebron ; also Clark's No. i, and Pearl of Savoy. Polaris, a Vermont Seedling, has resisted the rot notably well, is highly productive and of excellent quality. Puritan is a very superior potato, remarkably productive, with white skin and fiesh, an excellent and attractive sort. The Snow- Flake is of the highest table quality, but not a great yielder, except in the best land. Whatever variety is most popular should be chosen to plant for market ; and where there is close similar- ity it is evident that soil and cultivation are of far ^more importance than choice of a kind. Radish {Raphanus sativus). Until within the past few years, culture of radishes had been confined to the open ground ; but now the growing of this crop under glass has assumed quite important proportions. For growing in hot-houses the French Breakfast is almost the sole variety used, as it has a short top, is a quick grower, and of good quality. The seed is sown at any time during the cold season, from October to RADISHES UNDER GLASS. 179 French Breakfast. April. The crop is usually ready for pulling about eight weeks from the sowing of the seed. The temper- ature should be kept rather low, say from 45° to 60°. Grown in this manner it will be seen that three crops may be grown under the same glass each season. The soil required to grow them | to perfection is a loose, sandy loam ; and it should be well worked, with a liberal quantity of well rotted manure thoroughly mixed in. The seed is sown in rows about four inches apart; and the plants are thinned to about two inches apart in the row. When about three- fourths of an inch in diameter, they are pulled and bunched, ten in a bunch. The price varies from fifty cents to one dollar per dozen bunches ; but, even at the smaller price they are considered a profitable /[ crop. When grown in hot -beds, the Short Top Long Scarlet is preferable to any other. It is usually grown following a ^"^'^* ^"'•"''' ''^'"=''- crop of lettuce ; as, when the lettuce has been grown the heat is then nearly spent, and the loam is in ^/-f^'' i8o MARKET GARDENING. just about the right condition for growing a crop of radishes. It is more suitable than a fresh bed ; which would be likely to stimulate an excessive growth of the tops. They are grown in rows four inches apart; and thinned to three inches in the row ; as this variety (being, when pulled, about the size of clothes-pins) will not so well bear crowd- ing as the French Breakfast. Sometimes a crop of carrots is grown with them ; and, when this is done, every third row is left out for the carrots. After the radishes are taken off, the carrots kwill occupy the ground to \advantage. The glass can Long scarie* Radish. |je taken from the bed early in the spring and used for some other crop. . In some sections the turnip variety is grown, similar methods of culture being employed ; but, for the Boston market, those previously mentioned are raised almost exclusively. For out-door culture the long-rooted variety is the one chiefly selected. This also succeeds best on a sandy loam, worked very fine and light. It is usually grown in connection with some other crop. The land being OPEN CULTURE.- -RHUBARB. I8I Scarlet Globe Radish made up into beds about six feet wide, each ridge or bed is sown with about ten rows of radishes and four rows of beets, parsnips, or carrots. In order to have a succession for constant pulling, it is necessary to make sowings every week or ten days, from the first of April to the middle of June. The rad- ishes will require thinning, say to four or more inches apart. When pulled, they are put ten in a bunch, and usually bring three cents per bunch, or $3.00 per hundred bunches (as usually sold). At this price the proceeds per acre would be about ^500. The other crop is not touched until the radishes are removed, but after that it may be cultivated. Besides the varieties which we have mentioned, the following are grown to some extent in home gardens and for special consumption, viz. : Scarlet Globe and Early Scarlet Olive-Shaped (both good forcing varie- ties, good also for out-door culture), and Wood's Early Frame, which is somewhat similar to the Long Scarlet, though shorter, and is an early and quite popular sort.' The winter varieties are but little grown. The Black Spanish and Chinese Rose Winter are the leading: ones, and ,when grown for winter use should be stored in sand, in order to keep them fresh. I»2 MARKET GARDENING. Rhubarb {Rheum hybridum) is now quite extensively grown, both in field culture and forced under glass. It is generally propagated from plants obtained by dividing the heavy, fleshy root, which grows to a con- siderable size in plants long established ; and these are improved by the removal of a part, — also by occasional transplantings to new grounds. When raised from seed, the sowing is to be done in April, in drills about one inch in depth. A deep, very rich retentive soil is desir- able for growing such large and tender stalks as the market demands, and for bringing them Nx\ v«NENT BEDS. LOW-COST HOUSES. 221 will be injured, rather than benefited, by that treatment. Except in the case of lettuce, other experimenters have found such results as leave it still a problem whether it can be used to advantage. Some experiments made at Ithaca, N. Y., indicate that it is better to intermit the use of the electric lamps during some portion of each night, and always on moonlight nights. The employment of the ordinary white opal globes, — to temper or modify the bare unshaded light (when run continuously), — also appeared, in those experiments, to be beneficial, but I have net used them. For the forcing of asparagus and other perennials, Permanent Outside Beds are sometimes used. These beds are so constructed as to afford a substitute for the more convenient but highly expensive equipment of hot-houses having water or steam pipes for supply and regulation of heat. As they involve a much smaller initial outlay, they may be considered as affording, under certain circumstances, a more desir- able method. Where such a bed is proposed, the plan generally followed is to surround the bed by a trench bricked up on the outside and filled with stable manure. As often as may be required by the temperature, the manure is renewed. The bed may be four or five feet wide, and as long as desired ; of course, covered with glass. If made six feet wide, the ordinary 3x6 glass can be used, which is more convenient ; and, in such case, it is desirable to have box flues leading across through the centre of the bed from one trench to the other in order to promote distribution of the 222 MARKET GARDENING. heat. Sometimes there is only one trench, running lengthwise through the centre of the bed, thus dividing it into two narrow ones. The growth made in forcing-houses enclosing tem- porary beds is thought, however, to be rather more profitable in the final result. It is usual to make the temporary bed three feet wide ; and for asparagus the rows are put one foot apart, with the plants eighteen inches apart in the row. Such close planting will need heavy manuring and close attention. If a cheap house for forcing asparagus, etc. in early spring is as much as is aimed at, the following plan, recommended in " The American Garden," is as good as any. It may be made either as a double or single span ; if double span, 8 or lo feet wide. Build a wall from the frost line to a foot above ground. Frame and cover with glass. If the drainage is not good, it must be made so. Dig a trench two feet wide through the centre for a walk. Make an excavation several feet square at one end, to serve for the fur- nace or stove, and also for the entrance. To heat the beds, carry the smoke around the outside of the bed in flues which are almost entirely below the surface of the ground, the smoke finally passing out of the chimney. Near (and for some distance from) the furnace, build the flue of brick to prevent fire, but the rest construct of boards. In summer the sash can be removed, and in winter it would be better to apply a mulch and cover the frame with boards rather than the sash, as it would be more apt to give an equal temperature. OUTFIT FOR PUMPING. 223 Arrange the beds on each side of the walk, and plant as has been above described for temporary beds in forcing-houses. It wijl be remembered that where so little earth is allowed to each plant it is necessary to manure often and heavily. Pumping Outfit. — We have already (Part I.), given a general outline of apparatus for water supply and distribution; and will here repeat the remark that, there being a wide field for choice in selecting and arranging the various requisite features, and the outlay usually being large, prudence demands a careful study in advance of all attendant conditions and circumstances. Then, after one has made for himself the best scheme he can individually devise, and before embarking his means in the execution of it, it will pay to call in the services of an expert, skilful enough to comprehend the particular case, and to utilize in it the experience of a large profes- sional practice. It will not do, however, to leave all to him; the proprietor must make it his own business, none the less, to understand the whys and wherefores , and to take no step of which he cannot feel he clearly understands the method and the reason. Amongst the first questions to be weighed and decided is that concerning steam boilers and wind- mills — which, or whether both (or whether either), — shall be utilized for power. The pump must be one adapted to the power employed. In case wind and steam are both put to service, two separate and dis- tinct pumps will usually be required. With steam, the direct-action horizontal pumps, (of which the 224 MARKET GARDENING. Deane pattern, shown in the cut, is a good example), are well adapted for the work. Various makers of steam pumps offer various other patterns which are good and efficient, or may be presumed to be so, from the fact that they divide the market demand, with no distinct essential superiority evident in either. Minor circumstances commonly determine one's Deane Boiler and Pump. choice. If any one pattern were positively and essen- tially superior, it would not take long for the others to drop out of sight, — so thoroughly have been the respective merits and demerits of all such apparatus established by long continued tests, in widely extended service. Simplicity of action is important, but this condition does not (at least in all cases) exclude belted or geared connections. The best arranged ALTERNATIVES. 225 windmill pumps are " geared back " — though prpb- ably the majority of those at present in use work the pump-rod by direct attachment to the crank-pin. Our own experience, already given, as regards the power to be employed has extended only to wind and steam. But there is yet another means for filling the irrigating tanks or mains. It consists in employing the power of one or more horses, working in a horse power machine, suitably constructed and solidly geared in combination with a powerful suction and force pump ; drafting the water from the well or supply main, and raising it to the storage tank. Horse Power Draft and Force Pump. This constitutes a complete and self-contained pumping outfit. It has the same advantage over windmill pumping that steam power possesses, in being always reliably at hand. It requires no skilled labor for its operation ; a feature which commends it as especially suitable for small cultivators. The illustration here given will obviate the neces- 226 MARKET GARDENING. sity of a further description of its construction. Its capacity of delivery is 4,500 gallons per hour, (seventy-five per minute) at 50 revolutions. The work required of the team varies, of course, with the height of lift ; and may be readily computed for any given case. The machine is supplied with three one- horse draft-bars, but one horse will easily work the machine at the given rate, in pumping against a head of thirty feet, and even more than that. This combination of pump and horse power is quite a novelty — at least in its present form ; we cannot very definitely say how far, or how often, it can be advantageously used. As above said, we may be reasonably confident that a pump of any leading style, purchased from a repu- table dealer (including, too, its steam cylinders and fittings, if a steam pump), will be found pretty nearly what it is represented. . But in choice of boilers, and wind-mills likewise, neither general experience, nor opinions gathered from dealers, will be found, perhaps, quite so safely reliable. Of one point, already dwelt upon, the vegetable grower may be wholly confident : that, in some way or other, as an indispensable necessity, he must procure water. In making his choice of means for doing it, he will do well to weigh carefully what we have here suggested, as regards alternatives ; but on the main matter, there is no alternative — the water must be had, as an indispensable provision, to save his entire scheme of cultivation from absolute failure ; to make it even possible to raise crops that will pay. INSECT PESTS. PREVENTIVES. 227 Insects, and Preventives. — So extensive and serious is the destructive work of injurious insects that — except on such land as is kept under continual tilth and subjected to constant and thorough cultiva- tion, with judicious rotation of crops — it often seems if as the bugs must get the upper hand of the grower, do what he may. Bugs of one kind or another are found eating everything that grows in the shape of useful vegetables ; but never attack a weed. Unlike the mildews and other fungous parasites, insects are nowise discooiaged and driven off by healthy and vigorous growth ir the plants — this is just what they like to find. Sometimes they will sweep off every plant in an early stage of growth ; or they may delay their coming till just before harvest and then consume the entire crop. The Wavy-striped Flea-beetle (Haltica Striolata) is very destructive to young cabbages and turnips. As soon as the young cabbages appear above the ground it attacks them by eating off the seed leaves ; later, when the second leaves appear, the danger lies in another quarter, and it will often be noticed that the plant wilts and changes color. The grub has eaten away the roots. Professor Hulst recommends, for suppression of this insect, the kerosene emulsion, one part of the oil to twelve or fifteen parts water. In planting out cabbages the roots should be dipped in the emulsion ; and there- after, at intervals of about two weeks, enough of this compound should be poured around the base of the stalks to saturate the earth to the depth of at least an inch, whether the maggots appear to be present or not. 228 MARKET GARDENING. The same insects that attack young cabbage plants, and the turnips, also infest the radish. In some local- ities it is almost impossible to grow radishes of a size fit for the table before they are practically destroyed by a small maggot. This maggot appears to be the larva of a fly, closely related to those so destructive to the onion. If radishes, cabbages, cauliflowers, and onions axe growing in adjacent rows it has been found that the fly will attack all the rows successively ; taking the radishes as first choice and proceeding to the rest, usually in the order named. The onion fly lays her eggs on the leaves of the young and small onion plants, near the ground. They soon hatch, and the maggots at once attack the bulb. In about two weeks after this a second brood of flies appears, to be followed by more maggots. The remedy at this stage consists in removing every infested bulb. These may be known by the leaves turning yellow. They cannot be pulled up by the tops without risk of letting the maggot escape from the decayed bulb. They must be lifted by a trowel, or an old knife, so as to be sure to bring up the maggot. The bulbs so removed, and the maggots, must be burned. Strong caustic lime-water, and concentrated solutions of kainit or muriate of potash are said to be safe and sure reme- dies when applied in time. A pint, or half-pint of the liquid is to be poured upon every plant, making sure of reaching the infected root. This will kill the eggs in the ground as well as the maggot in the root — by simple contact. Plants once seriously affected can hardly ever be saved. INSECTS, ETC. — CONTINUED. 229 The squash and pumpkin, the cucumber, and the melon all belong to the Cucurbitacece, or Gourd family. Hence, naturally, the same insects infest all these related plants. The squash bug is one of the worst and most disagreeable. When handled or disturbed, it gives off a very repulsive odor. The insects are quiet during the day, but at night lay their eggs in little patches, of a brownish yelldw color, and glued to the leaves. They are quite easily kept under con- trol by handpicking. The same means is practised with the tomato-worm and the potato-bug. In the case of the latter, however, the free application of Paris green to the vines is less laborious and equally effective. Wire-worms are frequently round infesting the soil prepared for the greenhouse ; but can be suppressed by the addition of three or four pounds of unslacked lime to the bushel of soil. Similar treatment may be presumed to be beneficial when they appear in out- door culture. The white grub is a serious source of trouble to cultivators, and no application has yet been found by our gardeners to afford a satisfactory means of destroying them. It seems that if left lying in the ground, in winter quarters, the grub may be frozen to a solid lump, but when thawed out in the spring will be full of life and vigor. Late fall plowing, as already recommended on a preceding page, serves to bring it to the surface, exposing it more effectually to the cold and to its natural enemies, thus to some considerable extent reducing its numbers. But the 230 MARKET GARDENING. most hopeful treatment yet proposed is that recently put forward by French entomologists who claim to have discovered a plant-parasite by aid of which lands thoroughly infested with the white grub have been very largely relieved after a two-months' trial, and so as to afford a reasonable prospect for the complete extirpation of the pest. This remedy, of introducing a parasite harmless in itself but destruc- tive of the noxious insect, is similar to that which has been so successfully applied in the case of the scale- insect in the vineyards of California. Insecticides in liquid solution may be applied by use of suitable force pumps, or garden engines (ac- cording to the scale on which the operation is to be carried out), equipped with spraying nozzles. But there are drawbacks and difficulties in the use of liquid solutions : one is that the poison does not actually dissolve in the water, which has to be con- stantly agitated to maintain a mixture. Another is the great weight of the quantity required to be used. Dry mixtures are therefore employed, being dusted over the plants. They should be put on preferably when the foliage is still damp after a rain or dew ; and may be applied by use of a very fine sifter. Metal canis- ters, having finely perforated bottoms, are made and sold for this purpose, to be used in the same manner as an ordinary pepper caster. These will answer in a small way only. A capital implement for applying dry mixtures to field crops is the " Farmer's Favorite " Duster. In operating this device, the left hand is held firm, INSECTS, ETC. CONTINUED. 23 I ■while the right hand rotates the reservoir of poison and diffuses it effectively. Any device such as described will, however, be limited to use upon low-growing crops ; and, moreover, it will obviously serve to distribute the powder only upon the upper surfaces of the foliage, while many insects, and especially the eggs by which they multiply, may be found snugly harbored on the under side. To meet this deficiency (when the case is one requiring it), use is made of a bellows of peculiar construction, supplied with a convenient receptacle for the powder to be distributed, from which it escapes gradually into the nozzle of the bellows when operated. It is made in various patterns and sizes, all Operating in substan- tially the same way. There are other implements that can be used, but they -are of inferior efficiency, and have nothing to recommend them except in being sold at a lower price. The best, in this as in many other things, will be found the cheapest. Changing the crop affords a partial preventive against the inroads of insects, providing that the change is to an entirely different family of plants; for it is well known that the continued cultivation in one locality of any particular crop has a tendency to assemble there all its peculiar enemies, and favors their rapid multiplication. No absolutely complete preventives are known; and cultivators must recognize the necessity of con- stant exertion, and unremitting use of the best known and most efficient of those now in use. Due inquiry and fuller knowledge of facts might help to accomplish 2 32 MARKET GARDENING. much toward limiting, if not wholly exterminating, each and every kind of pestiferous insect. Neighbors should combine, both for observation and action ; ' first to devise, and then unitedly to pursue, such measures as promise substantial relief. For instance, take the case of the pea weevil. If all the farmers of the country should unitedly forbear to raise peas for a single year it would die off completely. Perhaps a means of relief less radical and more practicable of execution may yet be discovered ; but none is now known to exist. Fumigation, How Conducted. — Fumigation for the suppression of the aphis or green-fly (sometimes called green louse) on lettuce has been already rec- ommended in our cultural directions for growing that plant. We employ moistened tobacco stems in this case. Tobacco iij any form is repulsive to the aphis, which is often driven away from lettuce by strewing the stems on the soil about the plants. As a liquid application, a decoction of hot water and tobacco stems diluted to the color of weak tea may be used with good results. For the destruction of the black louse, an insect apt to infest the cucumbers in forcing- houses, the removal of the first affected leaves is generally practised. Tobacco fumigation seems in- effectual in the case of this insect. The method of fumigation is, of course, not appli- cable to out-door cultivation ; but is extensively em- ployed, and forms an efficient means of prevention and relief, in all hot-houses. Vapor of sulphur is regarded as a good means of controlling powdery mildews. PROCESS OF FUMIGATION. .— FUNGI. 233 Fumigators offered in market are made of strong galvanized sheet iron, 20, 24 or 28 inches high, of diameters 13, 14 and 16 inches; the larger size con- taining one bushel, the others three fourths and one half, respectively. Each is supplied with a firing door and a perforated cover, and with convenient handles for lifting and transporting. In a house such as shown in photogravure facing p. 72, which is 22 feet span, 15 feet high at the ridge, and nearly 400 feet in length, containing about 130,000 cubic feet of interior space, I employ four of the largest sized ones. These require to be operated only an hour, or perhaps a little more, to fumigate the en- tire building effectively. Such a fumigation having been repeated three nights in succession is then inter- mitted till another time arrives when it seems to be needed, or might be prudently employed as a preven- tive. Vapor of sulphur may be obtained by use of a kettle or basin containing sulphur (brimstone) heated nearly to the boiling point, and kept at that heat as long as the process is desired to continue. A small kerosene stove and an iron kettle form a convenient and manageable equipment. Vapor enough should be generated to visibly fill the house or apartment, and give off a noticeable odor. But the sulphur must be carefully watched to prevent its taking fire, in which event fumes would arise destructive to all plant life, and might do extensive mischief. Fungi, and Plant Diseases. — Preventives. — Disease in plants manifests itself in various forms, 234 MARKET GARDENING. amongst which we recognize two distinct classes ; one due to the presence of animal parasites, insects and their larvae, such as above described ; while the other includes smut, mildew, blight, rust, and all similar fungous or vegetable parasite growths, which we group under the general name of Fungi. It is often not clearly evident to which of these two classes, or whether, indeed, to either of them, the trouble really belongs. Some believe it is an insect which causes the " blight " in celery ; but I do not agree with that view. I know an insect does appear on the leaves when they begin to decay ; but on almost every different kind of decaying vegetation some one insect peculiar to it is apt to appear, corresponding to saprophytes among fungi, — being invited by the decay, but not the occasion of it. And often, when the insects have made their ap- pearance, and the leaves are already yellow, if there is a sufficient application of water, either by the occurrence of a heavy rain or artificially supplied by irrigation, the insects will disappear, the yellow leaves will drop away, and the plants will grow healthy again, with a good crop as the result. The renewed vitality of the plant enables it to cast off the morbid condition, however originating. This view points us to the main remedy or preven- tive of all disease, — and more particularly the chief preventive against every form of vegetable parasite, viz., clean and nourishing culture. In the outset this is the means, and the only means, to be relied upon. This is the first requirement ; of course there NATURE AND HABITS. PREVENTIVES. 235 are others. Hurtful conditions may be noted and avoided. It may leasonably enough be assumed that plants are liable to forms of disease attributable neither to vegetable nor animal parasites, but arising much like disorders' in animals , as from imperfect nourish- ment, excessive cold or heat, lack or superabundance of moisture, and the like Unhealthy conditions. Mis- management of heat, or moisture, on forced crops frequently entails a blight ; or promotes mildew, as elsewhere described in treating of the culture of lettuce. A succession of dark days, depriving the plant of sunshine, exerts a similar influence ; unless relieved by aid of the electric light, now beginning to be used. So too, some harmful element may exist in the soil or fertilizer, causing the plants to languish ; and thus again the spores of fungi may be enabled to fasten upon them. It is good policy, alike as against the fungous and all other disorders, and on general grounds as well, to put all the vigor we can into the growing plants. We should also bear in mind the great importance of prompt and efficient action wherever disease is apparent; as it will surely and rapidly extend itself, unless controlled. Owing, perhaps, to the fact that the varieties and habits of insects have been more obvious objects of study, there has been collected, thus far, comparatively little scientific knowledge concerning fungous diseases of plants, and their appropriate remedies ; but vegeta- ble growers have, from practical experience, acquired much valuable information (though leaving much yet 236 MARKET GARDENING. to be learned) and have been led to devise and apply remedies, some of which are very successful. Fungi that live upon dead and decaying substances, such as toad-stools, black and blue moulds, and the like, are of little interest to the cultivator ; but there is another class, of entirely different habit, that attacks living plants, pushing its oWn rootlets into the growing leaf or stem or root, and taking its sustenance from the juices so obtained. Plants grown in forcing-houses are especially subject to these attacks. Among these fungi are the downy mildews, like those on spinach and lettuce ; and the powdery mildews, such as attack cucumbers. They multiply through the agency of spores, as plants by seeds. Some of these spores develop with great activity in a summer temperature, natural or artificial, when other conditions are favorable, but are readily destroyed when exposed to severe cold, long continued drought, etc., or to certain artificially created conditions. Others, however (called resting-spores), more sluggish in habit but of more endurance, are found to remain unaffected, preserving the species ; so that their complete extinction in any locality is not to be expected, in the present state of our knowledge. As a rule, when a vegetable parasite fastens upon a plant, it is next to impossible to kill the parasite with- out destroying the plant by the same operation. It is obvious, therefore, that no treatment can be judicious which is not mainly preventive. Healthful condition is, as already urged, an impor- tant means of prevention. Another, which has been SPRAYING. 237 often recommended, but far too little attended to, con- sists in the removal and destruction of all leaves, twigs and dead growths which may contain the spores. The various liquid preparations for spraying and so orotecting the foliage and succulent stems, by way of which the spores are apt to gain footing on growing plants, generally operate by coating the surfaces with a thin film of some substance in which the spores can- not germinate, while yet it is harmless to the plant. The spraying should be repeated, at intervals of ten or fifteen days at most, at such time and as long as any danger of an attack is to be apprehended. This time varies with the diiferent habits of different fungi ; further knowledge thap we now possess on that point will doubtless be gathered as time goes on. IN CONCLUSION. I AM very sure that much in the preceding pages will be directly helpful in the way of practical guid- ance to any one engaged, or about to engage, in the business of vegetable growing. Indirectly, also, the cultivator or student will be benefited, if, by their perusal, he is stimulated to a livelier sense of the variety and importance of the multiplied details belonging to his chosen avocation. Wherever there has not been opportunity for the full discussion of any subject, in adequate proportion to its prominence and practical importance, I have endeavored to make such suggestions as will lead the thoughtful reader to enquire further, and learn more. The rules herein laid down are, in compact form, the net results of extended practical experience. They are no haphazard inventions, of doubtful utility, as are too many of the instructions and cultural direc- tions which, from time to time, obtain more or less currency amongst horticulturists. Learners, in conducting experimental work of their own, or in considering results as reported by others, should beware of hasty conclusions. There are always manifold obscure conditions affecting largely, perhaps 238 IN CONCLUSION. 239 controlling, the outcome of crop experiments. Of these conditions, the very ones least recognized and understood may have far more to do with results, than those he has been most intent on observing. Results of vegetable-culture will always be largely affected by climatic conditions ; and these, of course, are variable from season to season. Crops will some- times fail utterly, — and again sometimes succeed astonishingly, — for no visible reason in either case. Manure effects, especially on soils naturally poor, are apt to be very difficult of prediction, or subsequent analysis : the only safe general maxim being the common-sense rule, to feed the plants abundantly and let them find and take what they require. The conditions of greenhouse and hot-bed culture are more definitely known, and can be more exactly fulfilled, than those of open culture, for obvious reasons. It Is in these forms Of vegetable growing that the largest recent advances have been made, and in which the most important future improvements seem likely to be developed. As regards choice and rare winter-products of forcing-houses, the market demand, though steadily increasing, is but small as yet. Those who have access to the larger markets are, of course, compara- tively far better enabled to make suitable disposal of such products. Others will be limited, for the present, to producing the more common kinds, such as lettuce, dandelion, and parsley, for which a more general demand exists. The rarer sorts, such as asparagus, cucumbers, cauliflowers, and tomatoes. 240 MARKET GARDENING. being still regarded as special luxuries, can be freely disposed of only in the large, cities. That the cultural directions foregoing and other matter presented leave much to be learned, and are, taken by themselves, only partially adequate to the guidance of the unskilled cultivator, is only what must be true of any similar manual. It would be hard to name a subject open to wider research and capable of greater advances than is that of plant- growing, even when limited to its most practical aspect. \^ Success in Market Gardening demands intelli- gence, diligence, and natural aptitude. Personal diligence and natural aptitude are matters outside the scope of any manual ; but an intelligent cultivation of the various crops under all the varying conditions of the business can, of course, be promoted greatly by referring to the experience acquired by those who have succeeded in it.