a thick greenish-yellow flesh, is smooth-grained, is very sweet,
has a most delicious flavor, and is so tender that it fairly seems
to melt in the mouth. Netted Gem is another standard variety.
Among the watermelons Ice-Cream is a general favorite. Mammoth
Ironclad grows to a very large size, is solid-meated, and has a
peculiarly sweet and luscious flavor.
_Onion_
This should be sown in light, sandy soil, if possible, as it
seldom does well in a heavy soil.
Yellow Danvers is the leading variety for the home garden.
Silverskin has a mild flavor, and on that account it is a favorite
with many. It is fine for pickling. It also keeps well in winter.
_Parsley_
Sow this plant thickly, in April, in rows of mellow soil. As the
seed germinates very slowly, it is well to soak it in warm water
before sowing. If you have a light cellar, plants can be potted
in fall and stored there for winter use. The cellar window is a
good place for them. Every housewife who prides herself on the
attractive appearance of her roasts and other meat dishes and many
kinds of salad will not be willing to be without this plant. Dwarf
Perpetual is the standard variety for the home garden. Its leaves
are charmingly crimped and curly, and of beautiful dark green
that makes them very ornamental when used as a garnish for the
table.
_Parsnip_
This vegetable is not grown as much as it ought to be. One
does not care for it until winter sets in. Then it affords a
much-appreciated change from other vegetables. It is an excellent
keeper when stored in the cellar in winter. Or the roots can
be left in the ground until spring, when they will be found
delightfully fresh and tender. Sow in April or May, in deep, rich
soil. Hollow Crown is the standard variety.
_Pea_
This vegetable is so extremely hardy that it can be planted with
entire safety quite early in spring. There are varieties that come
into bearing a few weeks after sowing, followed by medium early
kinds, which give place, a little later, to such varieties as
Champion of England and Telephone. Champion of England is the most
delicious of all peas.
Unless the garden is a very small one, one should plan for a
succession. If this is done it will be possible to enjoy this
vegetable during the greater part of the season, with possibly
the exception of the very hottest part of summer. Best results are
secured by planting the seed two or three inches deep in furrows.
The soil should be rich. If there is a little clay in it, all the
better.
Low-growing varieties require no support, but the tall kinds must
be bushed or trained on coarse-meshed wire netting. Bushes suit
this plant better than anything else. If the vines are allowed
to crinkle down and come in contact with the ground their pods
will almost always decay, and the vines will mildew and become so
diseased that an end will be put to their bearing.
American Wonder is one of the best very early kinds. Gradus is
next in order. Advancer I consider the best medium variety.
Telephone is a most excellent late variety, second only to
Champion of England, which is everywhere conceded to be the ideal
pea so far as productiveness, size, rich flavor, and sweetness are
concerned.
_Potato_
Anybody can grow the potato, _after a fashion_. But in order to
grow it _well_ it must receive more attention than is generally
given it. It must have a rich and mellow soil--a sandy one is
preferable--and the best of cultivation.
This is one of the vegetables that require considerable room,
therefore it is not adapted to small-garden culture. But when
space will admit of it it should always be grown, because it is
one of the garden products that can be used in so many ways that
the housewife finds it one of the things she cannot well get along
without.
Seed is obtained by cutting old potatoes in pieces, each piece
having an "eye" or growing-point. The pieces should be planted in
hills, four or five pieces to a hill, with hills two feet apart.
Cover to a depth of four inches.
If plants are not watched while small, insects are likely to
attack them. Spray with Nicoticide infusion. Later in the
season the Colorado beetle will be quite likely to put in its
appearance. Then use Paris green, either in infusion, or mixed
with land-plaster, and applied in a dry state while the plants
are moist from dew. If any fungous disease is discovered, spray
with Bordeaux mixture. All these insecticides can be procured
from druggists or dealers in agricultural goods, or they can be
obtained from the dealer from whom you buy seed.
It is well to plant this vegetable for a succession. One of the
best early varieties is Beauty of Hebron, which matures in eight
to ten weeks from planting. Early Rose is everywhere a favorite,
as is Early Ohio. Rural New-Yorker is a standard late variety.
Burbank's Seedling is excellent as an intermediate sort. All the
varieties named are of superior flavor, very productive, and sure
to give complete satisfaction.
_Radish_
This most toothsome vegetable should be sown early, either in the
hotbed or the open ground. If you have a light, warm soil and a
location that is fully exposed to the sun you can raise almost as
fine radishes outside of the hotbed as in it, though of course
not as early in the season. A crop will develop in five or six
weeks from sowing. Plant at intervals of two or three weeks for a
succession. Cardinal Globe is the standard early variety. Crimson
Giant is a little later. Both have that crisp, tender, and juicy
quality which makes the radish so universal a favorite. Icicle is
a long-growing white variety, very crisp and brittle. This has the
merit of remaining in condition for use longer than any other
variety.
_Rhubarb_
This plant likes a deep, rich, and rather moist soil. It should
be planted in permanent beds, about three feet apart. I would not
advise attempting to grow it from seed. Get roots one or two years
old. Victoria is a standard variety.
_Salsify_
A vegetable that ought to be grown a great deal more than it is.
Its popular name of "vegetable oyster" is not a misnomer, for
it has a distinct oyster flavor. Many persons prefer it to the
bivalve, when it is cooked properly. Being hardy, it can be left
in the ground over winter, or it can be dug and stored in the
cellar along with parsnips and carrots for use in winter. Sow
early.
_Squash_
Probably the best variety of summer squash for home use is Giant
Crook Neck. For winter use the Hubbard stands at the head of the
list. These favorite vegetables require a rich soil. They should
be planted in hills about three feet apart. Have the soil rich.
Keep watch of them, for they are liable to attacks from beetles.
It is well to sprinkle a handful of tobacco-dust about the young
plants. As they become larger they can be sprayed with the
Nicoticide infusion heretofore spoken of.
_Spinach_
Desirable for "greens." Sow as early in the spring as the ground
is in good working condition. Have the soil quite rich to force a
tender, succulent growth. Sow for succession, a month apart. The
Long-Season variety is the best I have any knowledge of.
_Tomato_
Start this plant in the hotbed if you have one. If not, sow in the
open ground as soon as it has become warm. To secure a very early
crop the plants must be started as early as March. When three or
four inches high transplant from hotbed to cold-frame, but do not
put into the open ground until all danger from frost is over.
If you are without hotbed facilities I would advise purchasing
plants from the gardener, who tries to supply his customers with
strong and healthy plants very early in the season. Plants from
seed sown in the open ground will be so late in ripening a crop,
as a general thing, that they will not afford satisfaction.
Standard varieties are Stone, very solid and firm-fleshed and of
fine quality, and Ponderosa, very large, fine-flavored, and almost
seedless.
VIII
SMALL FRUITS AND THEIR CULTURE
Quite as important as garden vegetables is the small-fruit
department of each home that is living up to its privileges. Of
course there will be no room for raspberries and blackberries on
the little home lot, but one can have a row of strawberries there,
in almost all cases, and a few currant-bushes can be tucked away
in nooks and corners where quite likely nothing else would be
grown if the tiny space were not given up to them.
There are places all over the country where a collection of small
fruit ought to be grown, but which are without it. Why?
There are several answers to the question. One is: Neglect to live
up to the possibilities of the place because of carelessness, or
possibly because the owner is distrustful of his ability to grow
them successfully. Another is: The impression that these plants
are so exacting in their demands that none but skilled gardeners
are warranted in undertaking their culture. And a third one is:
The uncertainty of being unable to take them through our severe
Northern winters safely.
The first objection is met with the argument that the man who is
obliged to work for a living, and has a family to support, has no
excuse for neglecting to avail himself and those dependent on him
of all the good things that can be grown from the plants named,
if he owns a piece of ground large enough to accommodate a small
collection. The second objection is not justified, because it is
an easy matter for any man to learn how to care for small fruits
if he sets about it with the intention of mastering its details.
There is really no basis in fact for the third one, for we have,
to-day, varieties of each kind of small fruit that are entirely
hardy at the North if properly cared for in the fall.
There should be a strawberry-bed, large or small, in every garden,
if I had my way about it.
Here I suppose some reader will meet me with the objection that
"strawberries don't pay. They require too much care, and the beds
soon run out, and then everything has to be done over again."
Now I claim that strawberries _do_ pay if they get the right kind
of treatment. No one has a right to expect much from them if he
simply sticks a plant into the soil and leaves it to take care of
itself thereafter. Strawberries cultivated in this manner _don't_
pay, I admit. And it is well that they do not, for no one has a
right to expect much, if anything, from a plant of any kind that
he isn't willing to take good care of. While the strawberry will
not take care of itself, it really requires no more attention
than most other crops. And as to "running out," that cuts no
figure, when you come to think about it, because "doing things
all over again" amounts to no more than planting vegetables each
season. This has to be done yearly, and strawberries will demand
only annual attention, thus putting the two classes of plants on
practically the same basis.
I am aware that some writers on strawberry culture have ventilated
a good many far-fetched ideas of their own in print relative to
the culture of this plant, and so elaborate and complicated are
some of these theories that many an amateur has, after reading
them, abandoned the idea of having a strawberry-bed. But it is a
fact susceptible of proof by any man who gives it a trial that
strawberry culture may be made a success without adopting the
views of persons who seem to think that theory is more important
than common sense.
The simplest method of strawberry-growing that I know anything
about is what is called the "one-crop system."
Set the plants in rows three feet apart, to allow the use of the
cultivator between them. Let the plants be a foot apart in the
row. Keep the ground between the rows well cultivated, and in the
second summer, when the plants are bearing their first crop of
fruit, allow them to send their runners into the space between
the rows and take root there. When these young plants have fully
established themselves--which will be by the end of August, as
a general thing--take a spade and cut down between them and the
old plants. Then dig up the old plants, making the place where
they grew a space between rows. Next season train runners from
the bearing plants back into the old row. By thus alternating
the location of the plants you keep the garden supplied with
one-year-old ones from which you get but one crop of fruit. This
method is so simple that any one can understand it, and it has
the indorsement of some of our most up-to-date gardeners who
recognize the fact that one full crop of berries is about all
that can be expected from the strawberry. Of course older plants
will bear fruit, but never of the quantity and quality which is
obtained from strong, healthy young plants whose vitality has not
been drawn upon by the production of a heavy first crop.
This one-crop system makes it possible to grow fine berries
without giving the plants more care than is required by ordinary
vegetables.
The soil for strawberries should be rich and mellow, and should be
kept entirely free from weeds.
It is a good plan to spread clean straw between the rows before
the crop ripens, to keep the fruit from coming in contact with the
ground or having sand washed upon it by heavy rains.
The best variety of strawberry that I have ever grown is
Brandywine. It is very productive, bears large berries, has a
most delicious flavor, and is never hollow-hearted. It ripens in
mid-season.
The best late variety, allowing me to be judge, is Gandy. This
kind requires a very rich soil. Where it can be given this, no
more satisfactory late-cropper can be grown. The two varieties
named above combine all the best qualities of this most popular
fruit.
Several times in the last few years the announcement has been made
that a fall-bearing strawberry has been produced, but as it was
of European origin it did not prove satisfactory under American
conditions. Of late, however, some of our most progressive
small-fruit growers have succeeded in growing two varieties that
promise to be really good fall-croppers. These produce, if allowed
to do so, their main crop at the same time as other varieties,
and keep on bearing until frost. But in order to secure a good
crop late in the season it is advisable to cut away all buds that
appear in June, keeping the strength of the plant in reserve for
the fall crop. It is well to mulch these plants during the hot,
dry weather of summer. These fall-bearing varieties are on the
market under the names of Superb and Progressive.
* * * * *
The blackberry responds generously to good treatment, bearing
enormous quantities of large, juicy berries of most delicious
flavor when given proper care.
It prefers a rather sandy soil.
In order to secure a fresh stock of wood for each season's crop
the old canes should be cut away as soon as they have ripened
their fruit, thus throwing all the strength of the plant into the
production of new canes from which fruit is to be expected next
season.
While the two leading varieties, Kittatinny and Snyder, are quite
hardy, it is well to take the precaution of giving them some
protection to guard against the possible loss of some of the
unripened growth of the season. This is done to the best advantage
by removing two or three spadefuls of soil from the base of each
plant, close to its roots, and then tipping the bush over until it
lies flat on the ground. This could not be done without running
the risk of breaking some of the stiff and brittle canes if the
excavation were not made. When the bushes are spread out on the
ground, where they are held in place by laying boards across them,
throw some coarse litter over the base of the plant, and scatter a
covering of straw over the branches. As soon as the frost is out
of the ground in the spring, lift the bushes and replace the soil
that was taken away in the fall.
* * * * *
Raspberries are second only to strawberries in deliciousness of
flavor, and should have a place in all gardens where there is room
for them. They do well in almost all soils, if well drained. A
sandy loam, however, is the soil that seems to suit them best.
Their old canes, like those of the blackberry, should be cut away
at the end of the fruiting season.
Cuthbert is the leading red variety. Cumberland is the favorite
black kind.
I notice that one of our most prominent growers of small fruit
offers an ever-bearing raspberry this season, under the name of
Red Ranere. I have no knowledge of its merits other than that
which I gain from the grower's announcement in introducing this
sort to the market, but from intimate personal acquaintance with
the man I am quite confident that the plant must possess real
merit, for he is not a person given to exaggeration. I quote from
what he has to say in reference to this variety in a leading
horticultural magazine:
This is not only the earliest red raspberry, but it is a perpetual
fruiting one. Its main crop is greater than that of any other
variety I grow. It continues to bear on its old canes until late
in August, at about which time the canes of the season's growth
come into bearing. These produce a large amount of fine fruit
until late in the fall. The berries are very attractive, being a
bright, rich crimson. They are of good size, and of very superior
quality, with a rich, sugary, full raspberry flavor.
I would advise the amateur gardener to give this variety a trial.
Raspberries late in the fall would be thoroughly appreciated by
those with whom this fruit is a favorite.
* * * * *
The currant is one of the garden's indispensables. It furnishes
us with fruit of just the right degree of tart acidity to fit the
season in which it is at its prime, and who does not get a deal of
enjoyment out of a green-currant pie?
No kind of small fruit is easier to grow successfully. Worms
frequently attack the bushes in spring, and often ruin the crop
unless steps are taken to put a prompt end to their depredations,
but spraying with Nicoticide infusion will rout them in most cases.
Application of this insecticide should be repeated at intervals
during the earlier part of the season.
Fay's Prolific is a standard variety for home use. This is a dark,
rich red, most beautiful to behold. White Grape is an ideal white
variety. Combine the two and you have a table decoration quite as
colorful as that furnished by any flowers, and almost as attractive.
The currant is one of the housewife's most valued fruits for jam-
and jelly-making. One enterprising dealer has recently introduced
to this country a French sort known as Bar-le-Duc, or Preserving
Currant. This variety has a flavor that no other variety can lay
claim to, and another feature of merit peculiar to it is that it
is almost seedless. For a good many years the entire output of
this currant was under the control of a French fruit company who
manufactured it into jam which has been extensively sold in this
country under the name of Confiture Bar-le-Duc. So superior has
it been considered to home-made as well as imported jams, that it
has readily sold at double the price of them. I would advise the
amateur to procure a few plants of this variety and experiment with
it.
* * * * *
The gooseberry must not be overlooked in this connection. Many
persons claim that the bush mildews to such an extent that the crop
is oftener than not a failure. This can largely be prevented by
planting the bushes farther apart than the currant, and thinning
out the branches so that there will at all times be a free
circulation of air about them. It is well to give a heavy mulch of
coarse manure in the hot weather of summer. Spray with the infusion
recommended for currants to prevent injury from worms. If mildew
of an apparently fungous nature attacks the plants, spray with
Bordeaux mixture.
* * * * *
This hardly seems the place in which to say much about the culture
of the apple, plum, pear, and cherry, for that is a phase of
gardening quite distinct from that which this little book aims to
interest the homemaker in. However, the writer would urge having
all these fruits when conditions are favorable to their culture.
The more fruit we eat the healthier we will be.
All kinds of small fruit can be planted in spring to better
advantage than in fall, though the nurseryman will tell you, if
you consult him, that it makes little difference whether you plant
in spring or fall. The writer has tried both methods, and he has
always been most successful when plants were put out in April
and May, provided they were sent from the nursery that spring.
If they are sent in fall they should be "heeled-in" over winter.
"Heeling-in" consists in burying the roots in a place where they
will be kept dry during the winter. It will not be necessary to
cover all the top, though there is no objection to this if the
owner thinks it safer to do so. Care should be taken to keep
the plants well protected from storms. This can be done very
effectively by spreading tarred paper over them, pains being taken
to weight it down with stones or something else equally heavy to
prevent its being blown out of place.
Plants that have been "heeled-in" over winter should be set out as
soon as possible in spring.
IX
HOTBEDS AND COLD-FRAMES
In order to have vegetables early in the season it will be
necessary to give them a start some weeks before the ground is in
proper condition for the reception of seed. Sometimes this is done
by sowing the seed in pots and boxes in the living-room, as advised
in Chapter VI, but here conditions are not very favorable to
healthy growth, unless great care is taken to follow the directions
given in the chapter mentioned, and even then success does not
always attend our efforts.
In order to give our plants the early start that they must have if
we want vegetables at a time when most gardeners are getting the
garden ready for planting, we must make use of the hotbed. If this
is done we can gain from six weeks to two months in time, and have
lettuce and radishes before our neighbors who are without hotbed
facilities consider it safe to put seed into the ground.
At the North the first of March is quite early enough to get the
hotbed under way.
I am aware that many young gardeners have the impression that
a hotbed is, in some respects, a mysterious thing, and because
of this they do not undertake to make one. Now there is nothing
simpler than a hotbed when you come to a study of it. It is simply
making a place in which summer conditions can be imitated by
supplying it with steady, gentle heat, and in confining this heat
within an inclosure. The heat is generated by the use of material
which ferments, and the inclosure is nothing but a combination of
boards and glass so arranged that the temperature inside it can be
regulated to suit the requirements of the plants you undertake to
grow in it.
The heat-generating material is generally fresh manure from the
horse-stable, or a mixture of that and coarse litter.
Because the heat from rapid fermentation is quite intense, at first
the material from which it is obtained should be prepared before
the hotbed is brought into use. A quantity of it should be spread
on the site selected for the hotbed--which should be one that is
high and dry--covering a space larger than the hotbed frame is to
be. Spread it in layers four or five inches deep, tramping each
layer down well. When there is a foot and a half of it, cover it
with something that will shed rain, and wait for fermentation to
take place. A warm moisture will rise from it like steam. After two
or three days fork the material over, and remove all straw, and
make another heap similar to the first one, taking great pains to
have it firm and compact. It is very important that it should have
considerable solidity, as a heap of loose litter will never give
satisfactory results. There should be at least a foot and a half of
this heat-generating material.
While waiting for fermentation to take place in the manure-pile,
prepare the frame for your hotbed.
Let it be about a foot and a half in depth at the back, and eight
or ten inches deep in front, with sides that slope from the wider
boards to the narrower ones. Cover it with glass set in sash. If
possible have the sash hinged to the back-board, so that it can be
lifted for ventilation without removing it.