gathered, say two or three from each hill, but not more. Then allow the
stalks to grow and feather out until they assume their full fern-like
form. In June apply a moderate quantity of barn-yard manure between
the rows if the ground is not being used. If it is occupied by a crop,
use commercial fertiliser composed of equal parts of nitrate of soda,
sulphate of potash and wood-ashes. Scatter each side of whatever
vegetable occupies the space between the rows and work the fertiliser
well into the soil.
In August, when the crop is harvested, apply a moderately heavy
dressing of well-rotted barn-yard manure. Late in October cut down
stalks and burn, as the year before; then plough or spade between the
rows. The third spring will bring the bed to a profitable state, though
it will not reach its full yearly capacity for another year. Use the
one-horse cultivator or hoe between the rows as early as the ground can
be worked. Draw the earth slightly from the roots at first, to permit
the sun to warm the ground around the roots and awaken the plant to
life.
A week or so later, if white asparagus is desired, the soil must be
again drawn up over the plants and each row hilled up so as to bleach
the sprouts. The operation will need repeating about once a week all
through the cutting season, which should not last more than three weeks
on so young a bed, though in future years it may be kept up six or even
eight weeks.
After the cutting season throw down the ridges made by the hilling-up
and apply either barn-yard manure or commercial fertiliser, repeating
the application about July 1st. If green asparagus is desired, the only
difference in treatment consists in omitting the hilling-up.
After the third year care of the bed consists of manuring and
cultivating. We have found it best to use barn-yard manure and
commercial fertiliser alternately. Sowing the seed in trenches or deep
furrows is done to insure the crowns being three or four inches below
the surface when they have developed considerable growth, which would
not be the case if they were sown on the level ground to commence with.
Like its cousin, the lily of the valley, asparagus sends out roots and
stalks from a heart or crown, which must be underground where it is
moist and dark.
Asparagus may be canned like any other vegetable for winter use; pack,
cut ends down, in glass jars, fill jars with cold water, put the lids
on loosely, stand in hot water, boil three hours, fill the jars to the
brim with boiling water and screw lids down tight.
If you consider that raising from seed is beyond your patience,
buy plants from a reliable grower. Most nurserymen’s catalogues
quote one and two year plants, but the experienced are unanimous in
preferring strong one-year-old plants, affirming that they stand being
transplanted better than the older ones. The ground must be prepared
as for seed. When the plants arrive, put them into water for twelve or
twenty-four hours to soften. Set the plants two feet apart in trenches,
being careful to have the crowns right side up. If you hold up a plant
in your hand you will notice that the thick fleshy roots all proceed
from the heart, or crown, as it is called, and droop downward, and
that on the other side of the crown there are what look like small
rootlets. These are really the dry stalks from the preceding season and
buds of the coming season, and are often mistaken for roots and placed
downward in the trenches instead of upward, which of course they should
be.
The proper way to plant is to make a small mound at the bottom of the
trench--about two handfuls of soil--and spread out the roots, and place
the crown on the mound of earth in such a way that the roots envelope
it. Press them firmly into place, and cover until the crown is about
two inches below the soil. If it happens to be a dry season, water
regularly until growth is well established.
Asparagus must be cut very carefully, otherwise the embryo shoot may
be destroyed or the crown itself killed. When only small quantities
are being removed each day, the best plan is to pass the thumb and
forefinger down the spur an inch or two into the ground, then bend
outward, and it will snap below the surface of the earth without
injuring the plant in any way. When large beds are being cut for
market, a knife will have to be used, as it does the work so much more
quickly. Asparagus-knives are of special shape. There are several
on the market, and they will be found advertised in all seedmen’s
catalogues. The average price is fifty cents.
Rust, a fungus disease, has become very prevalent during the last few
years, attacking both young and old beds. As the name implies, it looks
like rust on the stalks and spoils the appearance for market, besides
injuring the plant and materially affecting the crop.
It has been suggested by many who have studied the subject that rust
originates on decaying stalks. For that reason it is advisable to burn
the dead stalks as soon as they are cut away in the fall, instead of
allowing them to decay on a compost-heap, as one does with other garden
trimmings. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture after the cutting season each
year has been recommended as a preventive. Once established, there
seems no remedy. We have a neighbour whose beds were seriously affected
seven or eight years ago. He tried a number of ordinary washes and
powders, but they seemed useless. Six years ago he started new beds and
adopted our plan of alternating commercial fertiliser with barn-yard
manure as we had never had any sign of rust, and he attributed it to
the ashes in the mixture we used, thinking that they purified the
ground.
Another enemy is the asparagus-beetle--an attractive-looking insect,
jet black, with red, yellow and blue markings. It remains hidden in
brush or rubbish through the winter and comes out in the first warm
days of spring to lay its eggs, always choosing the young, tender
sprouts for their resting-place. In a few days the young grubs hatch
and feed on the asparagus, boring small holes, entirely ruining the
appearance of the stalks, and occasionally descend to the crown of
the plant itself. It only takes the grubs a month to pass through the
several stages which bring them to maturity, so that if only one or
two beetles survive the winter, there may be an army by the time the
beds are bearing fully. Allowing poultry to run on the beds in the fall
and winter is about the safest and easiest way of scotching the pests,
though dusting with air-slaked lime in the early spring is recommended,
and some authorities suggest the cutting of the beds as soon as shoots
develop in the early spring, hoping in that way to destroy the eggs.
This is rather an expensive remedy, as it means burning up the early
market crop, which brings the best prices.
HOW TO GROW MUSHROOMS
Anyone who has a good cellar where an even temperature can be
maintained can grow mushrooms for home use, but if they are to be
raised in large quantities for market, an appropriate building must be
given over to their exclusive use. We have been successful for several
seasons in growing mushrooms in an amateurish way, but it was not until
a large root-cellar was left vacant that we thought of the feasibility
of adding them to our market products.
The farm we were lucky enough to acquire was one of the old-fashioned,
practical places, with a full equipment of buildings. Under the
cow-barn there was a stone basement, used for the winter storing of
root crops. After our dairy herd developed, it seemed wise to use
ensilage instead of roots during the winter. So we built a silo, and
this left the store-house vacant. It was eighty feet long and fifteen
feet wide, so, after we conceived the mushroom idea, we partitioned off
thirty feet to retain as a storing-place for household vegetables and
fitted up the other fifty feet with mushroom-beds.
We put in a brooder-house stove and pipe system, which cost one hundred
and twenty dollars. The lumber for the beds cost an additional thirty
dollars, extra manure twenty-two dollars and spawn fifty dollars--two
hundred and twenty-two dollars in all. Four months later we had
received four hundred and forty-five dollars. Since then the returns
have fluctuated between four and five hundred dollars, and we estimate
that it costs one hundred and twenty-five dollars per season to produce
the crop. So I think that mushrooms can be considered profitable when
run in connection with poultry or general farming, especially as they
come in at a season of the year when there is very little else to
be attended to, and, what is more, the only heavy work is preparing
manure and compost for the beds, and that any ordinary farm man can
accomplish. The rest is all so light and easy that a young girl or a
delicate woman can attend to it without fatigue.
It is not necessary to have an expensive stone or brick building. We
have a neighbour who uses part of an old cow-stable, and a man in the
suburbs of New York, who grows a quantity each season, has simply
a dugout with rough board walls, two feet above the ground, and an
A-shaped roof--all covered with tar-paper, a place that could not
have cost more than seventy-five dollars at the very most. A shed or
outbuilding of any kind will answer if it is weather-proof and can be
kept at a temperature of fifty-five or sixty in zero weather without
much expense.
[Illustration: MUSHROOMS]
Don’t be tempted to start on any elaborate scale in the house-cellar,
for the odour from the beds whilst the manure is heating prior to
planting-time will permeate the entire house and cling to carpets and
draperies in a most horrible way. Of course, this does not obtain
when only a few are to be raised for the home table, because shallow
boxes can be used and need not be carried into the cellar until the
objectionable period is past.
When a special house is used, the beds may be made on the floor, a
great depth of manure used and artificial heat dispensed with. But it
is not a good or economical plan, for the necessary amount of stable
manure would cost as much as fuel, necessitate close watching and the
result would not be as satisfactory, so we will only consider the
approved method of benches and artificial heat, which is generally
adopted by the modern market grower.
The benches in our house run on each side, leaving walks three feet
wide through the centre of the house, two feet along the side walls.
Having the three walks enables us to gather from each side of the beds,
which is almost a necessity when the beds are four feet wide. With a
narrower house and beds, a centre path would be sufficient, but it
should not be less than three feet wide for convenience when filling
and emptying beds.
The benches are made of two-by-two studding and rough hemlock boards,
the studding being used for the upright supports which go from floor
to ceiling, every five feet of the entire length and on each side of
the house. Supports are run diagonally between each four uprights on
each side of the house, to make a foundation for the floor of the beds,
as well as to strengthen the entire structure. The hemlock boards are
used for the sides and bottoms of the beds, which are two feet above
the ground. Beds should be sixteen inches deep, but we used one row of
boards nine inches wide and another row six inches wide, as the boards
happened to be cut in those sizes.
The second tier of beds, which were added a year later, were a foot and
a half above the top of the first tier and only twelve inches deep, but
have proved quite as satisfactory in every way, and as the shallow beds
take less manure, I think it is safe to advise beginners to adopt the
latter depth for beds in a house where artificial heat is used.
The bottoms and sides of the beds should be fixed so that they can be
easily removed, as it facilitates the work of emptying beds, which has
to be done every spring. Any heating apparatus which can be easily
arranged and depended upon can, of course, be used, but I think the
stove and pipes which are specially made for poultry plants are the
most convenient, as their construction is so simple that any handy man
can fix them without the aid of a plumber--a great consideration on the
farm.
Narrow cellar windows were inserted in the sides of the house, to
furnish light and air in the spring and fall, when the heavy work was
being done, and also while gathering each day during the season. It is
so much pleasanter to work by daylight, and it does not injure the
crop in any way, if shutters are used to keep out the cold.
The main factor in mushroom-growing is beds. First, the material
of which they are composed; secondly, the way they are made. Fresh
manure, with a fair percentage of short bedding (straw or leaves
preferably), must be collected each day when the stables are cleaned.
We use two parts horse and one part cow manure, sometimes substituting
sheep-droppings for horse. The daily collection must be stored in a
shed and made into a pile about three feet high and two and a half feet
wide.
As soon as sufficient manure is collected to fill the beds, the curing
process should be commenced. This consists of packing manure closely
together, and if at all dry, slightly moistening it with water or
drainage from the stables to start fermentation. Within a few hours the
heat will commence to create steam and it must be forked over and made
into a fresh pile.
To check the heat, which would, if left to run its course, quickly
burn out the value of the manure and render it worthless, forking and
repiling will probably have to be repeated three or four times, with
from two to three days intervening, according to the strength of the
manure and the temperature. It usually takes from two to three weeks
to cure manure properly. When it shows a temperature of one hundred
degrees Fahrenheit after being undisturbed for thirty-six hours, it may
be considered all right.
We half fill beds with the rough material, then mix soil from
sod ground with the remainder to fill up the top of the beds. The
proportion is about one-third soil to two-thirds prepared manure. When
filling the beds, the manure, and also the mixture of soil and manure,
should be strewed in thin layers, say about two inches at a time, and
stamped down thoroughly before the next layer is added. When the beds
are filled, cover the surface with straw or mats to prevent the beds
becoming dry.
The manure will heat considerably after being packed in the beds, so
thermometers should be inserted every few feet, as planting must not
be done until the temperature falls to ninety degrees Fahrenheit, at
which stage the straw or mat can be removed and the spawn inserted.
The propagation of mushrooms is entirely different from that of any
other vegetable, neither seed, bulb, nor cutting holding any place in
the process. From the gill-like lining of a full-grown mushroom fall
innumerable spores, so minute that if caught on a sheet of paper they
would look like dust. If the spores fall upon earth that is in just the
right condition, mould-like filaments develop, spread and become what
we call spawn.
Spawn culture is a complicated process, which concerns the grower of
mushrooms not at all, as he buys spawn as he would any other seed,
except that it is sold in compressed brick-like cakes, which weigh
about a pound apiece, or in rough shreds; the latter variety being
known as flake or French spawn.
Bricks, known as English spawn, seem to give the best results in this
country and are what we have always used. They should be broken into
pieces about the size of a walnut, planted in rows a foot apart, the
pieces being six inches apart in the rows. The spawn should be inserted
about three inches. The best plan is to lift a small part of the manure
with a hand fork, press down the spawn, replace the manure and press
firmly in place. The close packing is one of the principal points of
success, so it is well to go over the entire bed with the back of a
wooden shovel or a small mallet.
After planting replace the straw or mats if the temperature of the
house is at all dry. Eight days later remove the mats and cover the
beds with a layer two inches thick of good garden soil.
Until the mushrooms begin to appear the temperature of the house may be
sixty-five to sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, but from the moment they
commence to appear keep it as nearly fifty-five as possible. Moisture
must be carefully watched. If the beds appear at all dry, even after
the soil has been placed over them, cover with mats for a few days or
even sprinkle the beds very lightly, but they must not be made at all
wet. Perhaps the safest plain for the inexperienced is to sprinkle the
walks, as then there can be no danger of an overdose.
It takes about five weeks for spawn to spread through the beds and
about another two weeks before the crop makes its appearance. Well-made
beds, in a house kept at fifty-five degrees, will yield for ten or
twelve weeks, but during the last two or three weeks the quantity will
decrease rapidly.
Gathering must be done every day, and in the height of the yield it is
wise to go through the beds twice a day to avoid the loss which occurs
within a few hours from overripening. When the mushroom first breaks
through the ground, it is apparently a solid, white ball, balanced on
a miniature column. A few hours, and the under part of the ball breaks
from the stock and the mushroom gradually spreads like an umbrella
being opened and shows a line of pale pink, or flesh-coloured, gills,
which become darker every hour until almost black, at which stage the
mushroom becomes thin and rapidly decays.
If mushrooms are gathered just after the veil (as the skin which
attaches the edge of the cap to the stock is technically termed)
breaks, they can be held over for twenty-four hours without
deteriorating, if kept in a cool place away from the air. If, by
chance, some open ones escape the picker’s notice, remove them as soon
as seen.
SIX GOOD VEGETABLES TO GROW
It is strange that many of the most useful vegetables are neglected
in the majority of home gardens. Okra, Swiss chard, leeks, Brussels
sprouts and Scotch kale are really little known, yet they are all
appetizing health additions to the table, and require no special
conditions or culture.
Okra, or gumbo, as it is invariably called in the South, figures very
largely in Creole cooking, but here in the East is only just appearing
in the markets. The demand is sure to grow rapidly, because it is one
of those insidious articles which seem indispensable when once used.
Soups, stews, gravies and innumerable made dishes are all improved by a
little okra, and it is the basis of many special dishes. My household
is fond of gumbo soup, so for that alone okra had to have a place in
the garden, and now we use it in a dozen different ways. Cut into
slices and spread alternately with rice and tomatoes in a casserole,
with butter, in which curry-powder and salt has been mixed, dotted all
over the top and baked for three hours, it is a deliciously savoury
luncheon dish.
But it is the growing, not the cooking, of this neglected vegetable
that I have to do with just now. The ground for okra should be
thoroughly enriched and well cultivated. Make a furrow about an inch
deep, and if only a home supply is wanted, about thirty feet long. Sow
the seeds two inches apart in rows and cover. Thin to eighteen inches
apart when the seedlings are about two inches high. If more than one
row is to be grown, make them two and a half feet apart.
Okra is a semi-tropical plant, so is better not sown until the second
week in May. Once started, it grows very rapidly, yields and continues
a supply of pods throughout the season. The flowers are large and
rather pretty, but only last a few hours; after they fall it takes
about twelve hours for a pod to develop sufficiently for gathering. To
be in perfect condition for cooking they should not be much more than
an inch long. Any surplus quantity can be dried or canned for winter
use. Sliced, they are a splendid addition to mixed pickles.
Swiss chard is such a true cut-and-come-again that for home or market
it is invaluable, and a poultry-keeper can find no better or cheaper
green food for fowls that are yarded. The leaves and stalks are the
edible part, and can be boiled like spinach or the stalks alone used.
They are white and run the full length of the leaf. Cut them out and
tie loosely; cook and serve just as you would asparagus. The new
variety called “Lucullus” is, I think, the best. Make the ground very
rich; sow in rows three feet apart, about the end of April or the first
week in May. Thin the plants when they are about two inches high to
stand eighteen inches apart. When used as spinach cut the leaves when
they are ten inches high, but when the stalks are to simulate asparagus
gathering should be delayed until they are about fourteen inches high.
Then cut off the green part of the leaf, which can still be used as
greens. No matter how the leaves are to be used or at what height the
crop is cut, be very careful never to injure the heart of the plant,
for if you do successive crops will be spoiled.
Brussels sprouts have been gaining favour in the market during the last
few years and should certainly be in every garden, for they possess
all the healthful qualities of cabbage, and the flavour is much more
delicate.
When small, the plants look exactly like cabbage, but instead of firm,
solid heads, the stalks run up to twelve or fourteen inches in height,
and baby cabbages spring out all around the stalk for the entire
length. One plant often yields thirty-five or forty of these diminutive
cabbages.
One great advantage of Brussels sprouts is that the seed need not be
sown until June and the plants are not ready for transplanting until
July, so can succeed early peas in the same ground. Like all members
of the cabbage family, Brussels sprouts are gluttons and positively
must have heavy and rich ground. Sow seed in shallow drills; transplant
when seedlings are about three inches high, two feet apart in rows
three feet apart. For early spring harvest, sow seeds in hotbed during
February or March. Mature plants are quite hardy, but must be dug up
before severe frost. The best way to keep the home supply is to hang
the whole plant up by the roots in a frost-proof cellar.
Leeks and winter onions are members of the onion family which are
usually overlooked, and it is a great pity, because they are both
most desirable. Leeks should be sown on very fine, rich soil. A heavy
dressing of poultry manure, applied the fall before planting, is an
ideal fertiliser. Scatter the seed thick in rows two feet apart and
thin out the plants so that they stand nine inches apart. Cultivate the
ground constantly and hill up as the plants grow. This is a part of
the work which must not be neglected, as it encourages the growth and
bleaches the stalks. A slight frost won’t hurt them, but they must be
heavily banked up and covered with litter if they are to stay out in
the ground until spring.
The winter supply of these vegetables should be dug in December and
stored in the house for convenience. Pack them, standing up as they
grow, in boxes; scatter earth between them, and keep them in a dark
cellar. For soups they are much superior to ordinary onions. Boiled and
served with white sauce, they are a most enjoyable vegetable.
Winter bunch onions, as they are termed, are really the earliest of all
spring onions. Sow the seed in shallow drills, a foot apart, in May
or June. Cultivate until fall, then cover with litter. Early in the
following spring rake off and cultivate lightly between the rows, and
you will have delicious green onions for table or market when other
people are thinking about sowing the seed.
Kale should be considered indispensable in every garden, for it comes
into season late in the fall, when frost has demolished all other
greens. Even in the vicinity of New York it can be relied upon to
furnish early spring greens almost before the snow is off the ground.
In fact, I have gathered it from under deep snow in midwinter and found
it in good condition. Seeds should be sown about the middle of June,
and the seedlings transplanted into rows two feet and a half apart.
The leaves are curly and of a dark green, and should not be used until
there has been some frost, for until frozen they are as tough as they
are tender after Jack Frost has visited them.
As soon as the weather becomes colder, bank straw or leaves on each
side of the rows up to the top of the kale and then put cedar branches
or brush of some sort along each side to keep the covering in place.