ROOT CROPS.
Root crops are usually grown in drills and are not ordinarily
transplanted. They are hardy and require little skill in the gardener,
but they need a cool season and deep soil so as to grow long, firm and
well shaped. The quicker they grow the better the quality, so that
in the north it is necessary to warm the soil with stable manure and
have it in good condition. Good tilth helps quick growth and therefore
improves the quality; so that it rests with the gardener to make his
root crops among the first and the best in the market. The price of a
root crop depends almost entirely upon its looks, so have as few side
roots as possible, and cut off those that may develop in spite of care.
Forked or branched roots should not be mixed in when we market, for
even a few such specimens lessen the price of all.
Early crops, such as radishes, beets, carrots and turnips, are sold in
bunches of 6 to 12. All in the bunch should be of the same size and
shape and tied neatly around the leaf-stalks with a cord. The leaves
are left on these early vegetables, so they should be kept cool and
moist, as wilted leaves also spoil the sale price. Beauty may be only
“skin deep,” but it commands the market.
Late root crops sell in bulk, and harvesting them is the hardest work
connected with root crops. It is well to plow them out, cut off the
tops, and allow the roots to lie in the sun only until the soil is dry
enough to shake off. They are then ready for storing in pit or cellar,
and are easy to keep.
RADISHES.
The radish is the earliest root crop, and the quickest growing. It is
ready for market in three to six weeks after planting the seed; so it
is a great financial help to one who is just starting a garden. It is a
hardy crop requiring rather cool weather or shade. The radish responds
well to hot-bed culture and the earliest spring varieties are usually
grown that way. But even for planting in the open garden you need not
wait long. Soaking the seeds will save several days. As soon as you
can work the ground, even before all the frosts are over, radishes may
be sown, provided there has been good preparation-tillage. To secure
crisp, edible radishes, the growth must be continuous. Any interruption
in development, or an overgrowth, makes the root stringy, bitter and
often hollow. See that those in each of your bunches are even-sized and
bright and clean, so that they will look like the delicacy that they
are. A prime bunch of radishes is as pretty as a bouquet.
The radish is a partial season crop, and is, therefore, suited for all
sorts of double-cropping. It is often sown shallow in the same drills
with the other vegetables of later growth, because it matures so early
that it breaks the earth crust for the slower seeds. Radishes may also
be sown between rows of cabbages, beans, peas, etc., or broadcast in
beds by themselves. One ounce of seed will sow about 100 feet of drill
or eight to ten pounds to the acre.
Sow the seeds one-half inch deep (better sow too shallow than too deep)
in rows 6 to 12 inches apart, if you have only a little plot; or in
long rows a little farther apart if you use a wheel-hoe. Drop two or
three seeds to the inch; this can be done only with a seeder attached
to the wheel-hoe frame: later, thin out the seedlings to about two
inches apart. Only large seeds should be used, the small ones being
too slow maturing. They may be sown at regular intervals of seven to
ten days all through the spring. It is usually difficult to grow good
radishes in summer, unless you can select a cool spot and keep the soil
cool, but some sorts of radishes do well in the hot weather. Although
in America the radish is best known as an early spring crop, it may
also be grown for winter use if planted in July or August, and stored
like turnips or other root crops. The tops make good greens for boiling.
The radish is the easiest of crops to grow, and has only one serious
enemy, the root maggot. This insect is one of the cabbage enemies also,
and can be destroyed by injecting bisulphide of carbon in the soil,
but that treatment is too expensive for the returns from radishes. The
most effective way is to sow the radishes where the maggot has not been
breeding, and thus starve the pest out.
The most popular varieties of radish are the French Breakfast,
Olive-shaped, Scarlet Short-top, Chartier, Wood Early Frame, and White
Box. Those that grow well in summer are White Naples, White Vienna,
Strasburg and Stuttgart, while for use in winter Scarlet Chinese, Black
Spanish and White Spanish are best.
BEETS.
Beets, like radishes, are a hardy crop requiring a loose, rich soil
and continuous growth to reach their best and quickest development.
They are easy to raise and respond readily to good tillage. The early
or garden beet is usually a succession or companion crop, because it
may be planted early and matures quickly. Although most kinds require
two or three months for maturing, yet with some of the early varieties
roots large enough for bunching may be had in six weeks to two months.
The quickest sorts are the round or nearly round varieties, which may
almost be called surface feeders. For this reason they require soil in
excellent tilth and the richest, well-rotted barnyard manure. Indeed,
the wise gardener will plow his land in the fall, and plow it deeply,
too; then as soon as it can be worked in the spring run the cultivator
and harrow over it, and plant the seed about 1½ inches deep in rows
from 12 to 18 inches apart. The land must be kept well tilled and free
from weeds, especially during the early part of the season. The long
field-crop beet is now very little grown, as the early varieties may
be sown late in the season for fall and winter use, and the Southern
grown beets cost less in the late winter than it does to grow and store
them. Even in feeding cattle, the beet has been largely superseded
by the mangel, so that few are grown except the short round sorts for
table use. The sugar beet is a field crop.
The seeds (which are really fruits, containing within a hard shell four
or five seeds each) require a great deal of moisture to germinate. Some
gardeners advocate throwing them into hot water and allowing them to
soak for six or eight hours before planting. This makes them sprout
more quickly. Beets come up in clumps and must be carefully thinned,
until they stand 6 to 8 inches apart, although this is not done until
the tops are sufficiently grown to sell for “greens.” In this way there
is no waste, since top and root alike are used as a pot-herb. The
contrast of the green leaves with clean roots attracts customers.
If you plant beets early in the season, say as soon as the ground can
be worked, they may be followed by celery, late potatoes, cabbage or
cauliflower; or they may be grown at the same time between the rows
of some main season crop like cabbage. If planted in hot-beds or
cold-frames it will not pay to transplant them, as they mature very
early under such conditions, and may be bunched and sold without that
labor. In July or August, and in some places even in September, the
turnip-rooted variety may be sown for fall and early winter use, but
special attention must be given to tilling them so that the soil may
not be too dry. The best and firmest of the roots may be stored for
winter use, and for better prices.
Early beets are sold in bunches of six, but late crops are sold in
baskets or barrels. Five to eight pounds of seed are needed for each
acre; one ounce will sow from 75 to 100 feet of drill. The average crop
is from 300 to 400 bushels to the acre.
Beets have three serious diseases: root-rot, for which apply lime to
the soil; leaf-spot, kept in check by spraying with Bordeaux mixture;
scab, for which the only cure now used is not to plant where the land
is infested.
Beets respond to special fertilizers, which may be used if the soil is
already rich in plant food, and the market will afford enough profit
to pay for the extra expense. At the New Jersey Experiment Station
from 400 to 700 pounds of nitrate of soda well-worked into the soil
before the plants were set out, increased the yield from 10 to 23 per
cent.; and the earliness all the way from 17½ to 135 per cent. In the
“Farmer’s Cyclopedia of Agriculture,” Messrs. Wilcox and Smith of the
Department of Agriculture, say that “where earliness is of primary
importance, nitrate of soda can be used with profit with this crop even
on the richest of soils.”
If you can’t get your root crops early, get them late. When the mercury
goes away down, the prices go away up.
CARROTS.
Besides being a hardy crop that may be planted in the early spring as
soon as the ground can be worked, carrots have the advantage of having
no serious insects or diseases. They require a clean, mellow soil,
that will not “bake” over the seeds, and the best of surface tillage.
Carrot seeds are so small and so slow in sprouting, that it is good
practice to plant radishes or turnips or other quick seeds in the
same row, to help break the crust for the tender seedlings. The young
carrots have such a slight hold upon the soil, that they need petting,
only the shallowest, surface tillage being possible, yet scarcely
any of the garden crops need tillage more. But once let the carrots
get established in the soil, and they are easy to grow and give good
returns. They are sown thickly about one inch deep in rows from 12
to 18 inches apart. When they are well up, they should be carefully
thinned so as to stand two to three inches apart in the row. The early
varieties will bear forcing and respond to hot-bed culture, but they
are slower of growth than radishes or beets, requiring from two to two
and a half months to be ready for market. They are tied in bunches of
six with the tops left on, and are in great demand in the early season
when small and bright and tender.
Carrots are of two main types, the early, small variety and the large
sort grown in the field for winter use. The large kind is not much
grown, because the smaller varieties may be planted late for winter
use, and as feed for stock, carrots are no better than the larger
root crops. If you grow the early variety for winter use, you will
need to be sure that the soil is in good tilth, as dry or weedy soil
would be fatal to carrots. Maybe you are tired of reading that all
these crops need good tillage; but you will be much more tired if you
neglect it. This crop may be sown as late as the middle of June in the
Northern States, and the ground should be sown with some early crop,
like radishes, to keep it in good condition until needed for the late
carrots.
Carrot seed is sown thickly, about two pounds of seed being required
for an acre, or one ounce to about 300 feet of drilled row, if the
seed is fresh. A good crop of carrots is from 200 to 300 bushels per
acre.
The best varieties are the Early Forcing, which may be grown in
hot-beds, cold-frames, open garden in the spring, and also in the fall
for home use; the half-long Danvers for a good, reliable mid-season
crop and the Long Scarlet for a good late crop.
These root crops are among the prettiest “fancy goods”—where they can
be sold directly to well-to-do people they bring fancy prices.
TURNIPS.
The turnip is such an easy crop to grow that the gardener would have
a snap with it if it were not for the snap that the root maggot has.
It is a hardy, quick-growing crop, requiring a cool, short season
and a moist soil. The turnip is so hardy that the herbage can bear
considerable cold without real injury, so that when grown for winter
use it is left standing in the field until the black frosts; but the
roots will not stand such hard freezing as parsnips or salsify.
Turnips should be planted in moist, rich soil to insure quick
sprouting, because their chief value as food is the result of rapid
growth. Like the radish, the turnip, if it grows slowly, is likely
to be tough, woody and stringy. True turnip has soft, white flesh
(sometimes the boys eat it raw) and the roots are flatly rounded, while
the leaves are rough and hairy. The seed is sown as soon as the soil
can be got ready in the spring for the early crop, and as late as the
last week in July in the Northern States, or the middle of August in
the Middle States, for a fall crop. They are ready for the table in six
to ten weeks. Turnips are planted from 1 to 1½ inches deep in drills
from 10 to 18 inches apart; one ounce of seed for every 200 to 300
feet, or one pound to the acre. Plants should be thinned until they
stand three or four inches apart, and later, as the roots are pulled, a
foot of space will allow of full development.
Turnips suffer so from root maggot, that where the land has become
infested with this pest, it is better not to try to grow them until
the insects are starved out, because the only effective treatment that
we have found so far is to inject bisulphide of carbon into the soil,
which costs too much for turnip crops.
PARSNIPS.
Unless your preparation-tillage has been thorough, there will be no
good parsnips for you. They require cool, very deep soil in excellent
tilth to make good roots a foot long, straight, clean and tapering. A
lumpy or shallow soil makes the roots branchy, and of little market
value. Parsnips are usually sown in drills, far enough apart to let the
wheel-hoe in; sow thickly and then thin out the rows, leaving plants
about six to eight inches apart. We have to sow thickly because some
seeds may be bad, for parsnip seed does not retain its life for more
than two seasons. An ounce of fresh seed will do for 200 to 250 feet of
drill, or about four pounds to six pounds to the acre.
The seeds sprout so slowly that it is well to plant some quick-growing
seed with them to break the soil, else it may have to be broken by
hand. The parsnip is hardy and the seeds may be sown as soon as the
ground can be put in condition, but it must be the main crop, for it
takes the whole season to grow the long roots. The roots may be left
in the ground until the next spring, as the hard winter freezes do not
injure them. In that case you must store a large part of the crop in
cool pits or cellars, because the best price is obtained in the late
winter or very early spring when the ground is often frozen so hard
that you can’t pull the roots up. It would not pay to blast them out,
you know. There need be no waste where stock is kept, because the
ragged roots make excellent feed. The Hollow Crown and the Student
varieties are the standards. A good crop is 500 to 600 bushels to the
acre, but under good conditions, this can be bettered. No serious pests
or diseases consume the parsnips, so men and stock get all that grow.
SALSIFY.
The salsify plant tastes so like an oyster that it is called the oyster
plant. It is grown for kitchen use only, not for stock. Like its
cousin, the parsnip, it must be sown in deep, rich soil and given the
whole season to mature. Salsify can be left in the ground all winter,
unless it is needed for the late winter or early spring market. The
seeds sprout quickly and may be sown as early as the soil is ready.
Like beet seed, the salsify seed is really a fruit, long and hard
like a stick, and it is somewhat difficult to use a seed drill in
sowing them. An ounce of seed sows only about 70 feet of drill; an
acre requires eight to ten pounds and a good yield is from 200 to 300
bushels per acre. There are no serious insects or diseases.
There are two important modifications of salsify known as Black Salsify
and Spanish Salsify. The regular type is a biennial, though cultivated
as an annual, becoming wild and losing its fleshy root if left in the
ground longer; but the Black, which is grown just the same as the main
type, is perennial, and the roots continue to enlarge, yet to remain
edible, though left in the ground more than one year. It has broader
leaves than the regular salsify and a long black root, yellow flowers
and light seeds.
Spanish salsify is not generally known in this country. Its root is
much lighter in color and not so strong in flavor, but with careful
cooking it develops other qualities of its own that are most agreeable.
Moreover, it is easily cultivated and yields larger returns than the
regular salsify and the average person would not know the difference.
It is sown and cultivated just as salsify is, and when bleached the
young leaves are eaten like cardoons, that is, as a pot-herb.
HORSE-RADISH.
Although horse-radish is a perennial, it gets woody the second year, so
that the market gardeners grow it from fresh cuttings, called “Sets,”
every year. These cuttings are taken off the side roots, from three to
seven inches long, and from the thickness of a lead-pencil to that
of a little finger. The cuttings are made when the roots are dug in
the fall and may be stored all winter. Horse-radish grows very easily,
but as it is a late season crop, and needs cool soil, there is nothing
gained by planting it early. It requires very deep soil if the roots
are to grow straight, long and tender. Only long, large, even shaped
and uniform roots bring any price in the market. It may be planted with
early cabbage or beets, and when they are harvested, the horse-radish
takes the land. It will grow until freezing weather and is the better
for being left in the ground as late as possible. Sets are planted
either upright or slanting, three to five inches below the surface
and from twelve to eighteen inches apart in rows. If they grow too
fast they may be cut down two or three times, as horse-radish stands
considerable ill-usage, if it is planted deep and in good soil. Before
sending to market, wash the roots and trim them of all side shoots; tie
them in bunches of six or eight; or they may be sold in bulk or by the
barrel. The price ranges from ten to fifty dollars a ton, and in good
rich soil four tons can be raised to the acre. The usual yield is only
two tons. The extra two come from knowing how.
But horse-radish can easily become a bad weed, for weeds are only
plants misplaced. So plow the roots out as soon as you have dug your
crop and have them removed. Although it is next to impossible to get
them all out, they cannot do much harm if the ground is kept thoroughly
busy with some other crop. There is a good deal of the Old Nick in
Nature, and wherever she finds idle land she sets to work to grow
weeds. She would just as readily help your crops; so it is for you to
profit by her willingness.