Early Rose potatoes should be planted early. It is not called Early
because it grows on rose bushes, but because it gets up at five
o’clock in the morning. Do not make the mistake of peeling these
potatoes before planting. The potato is to be eaten whole. Mashed
potatoes should be sown broadcast.
The string bean is the best bean for growing on strings. One string
will do for ten beans. Some of the high strung beans need poles. These
may be pulled up and taken on fishing excursions, and be returned
with the line attached. The best strings for these beans are B strings.
The Champion of England peas were named after Tom Sayers, the great
prize fighter. These peas do not need any pods on them. We have
planted them for many years without pods on them. One great advantage
of the Champion of England peas is that they spar for themselves. Tom
Sayers got away with two quarts of them once, but he trusted too much
to his own ability. You cannot handle the Champion of England without
gloves. In selecting ground for them it is best to have the sun in
their eyes. They can stand a good deal of rough weather, but have been
known to yield to a knock-down blow. Peas should never be eaten with a
knife, because they roll off. It is best to pour them into a funnel.
Oats should not be planted wild. Still we have known oats sown wild
to produce a larger crop than the tame oats. Many of them are sown by
moonlight and some by gas-light, but it is sometimes worse for the man
who raises them than for the oats themselves. The best place to sow
oats is in doors by a nice fire, and with a little sprinkling of cold
water. Whiskey is a destroyer of the crop, and although very good for
harrowing in, induces a growth of weeds. In Scotland the oats are fed
to men, and in England to horses; so that a famous Scotchman said
that nowhere could such horses be found in the world as in England,
and nowhere such men as in Scotland. This is the reason why, on the
borders, inns are sometimes called oatells. Oats are very heating, and
many a Scotchman who eats them is compelled to come up to the scratch.
Thus arises also that famous expression “hot Scotch,” which refers to
a Highlander who has had too many oats. They warm him up.
Do not fail to raise sheep. The proportion should be three dogs
to one sheep. They will make it lively for the sheep. When you go
wool-gathering take your dinner with you, for you may get lost.
Lambs are best cooked a lamb mode. Chinamen eat rice with mutton.
Hence their knives and forks are called chop sticks. Thus a Chinaman
will say, “Lamby hard to bleat.” Lambs are best when they begin to
gamble--you bet--on the green. It is funny, but Lamb’s finest work was
on pigs. Yet, _vice versa_, we have seen pigs getting in their best
work on lamb and peas.