Part 10
BURPEE’S MAMMOTH IRONCLAD.--A large melon, of superior quality, and where there is room to grow them, will be found a profitable crop for market. Under ordinary culture, it frequently attains a weight of sixty to seventy pounds. They take their name of Ironclad from the exceeding toughness of the thin rind. Cutting into one is almost like cutting into sheet iron, though the flesh inside is fresh, crisp and melting. So strong is this rind, that I have stood on one of the smaller melons with a companion, our united weight of over 340 pounds not cracking the ripe flesh within in the slightest degree; and I have seen a wagon load of melons driven over one in the field without damaging it in the slightest. While it does not produce many melons to the vine, it more than makes up in size and weight what it lacks in quantity, being a heavy cropper when this is taken into account. The flesh is very beautiful, of a dainty red color and rich, sugary flavor. The flesh is never mealy, but always firm and solid. In shape this melon is oblong, its length often being two and a half times greater than its diameter.
[Illustration: BURPEE’S MAMMOTH IRON CLAD]
ICING, OR ICE RIND.--This is a dark, green-skinned melon, of nearly round shape. It is a favorite variety, on account of the solidity of its flesh, thin rind, and rich, luscious, sugary flavor.
CUBAN QUEEN.--The melons of this variety are very handsome and attractive in appearance; the skin being striped, dark, and light green, in a pleasing manner. The vines are strong and vigorous in growth, and bear enormous crops when well manured. The melons are large, very heavy, and of the finest quality. The rind is very thin, being scarcely more than half an inch in thickness on a large melon; the flesh is bright red, very solid, rich, and sugary. This is one of the very best varieties for general culture in all sections. The shape of this variety is oblong, being about twice its diameter in length.
[Illustration: BURPEE’S CUBAN QUEEN
111-lb CUBAN QUEEN WATERMELON.]
KOLB’S GEM.--The skin of this melon is striped, as in the Cuban Queen, but is not so handsome, as there is not the same amount of contrast between the two shades; the shape is much shorter, being nearly round. The flesh is bright red, and of good flavor; and owing to its tough rind is a very good shipping and keeping variety.[16]
RHUBARB, CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES.
These three I would plant in the same row, in the small fruit plot or permanent part of the garden, mainly because a third of a row of each will afford an ample supply for a good-sized family, and all require nearly the same treatment. The plants of each are all set together, each in its own third of the row, not interspersed. The plants should be set as early in the spring as possible, or can be planted in the fall and well mulched with manure. The crowns of the rhubarb should be set an inch or two under the surface, and no stalks pulled until the second or third season; in the fall, when the ground is frozen hard, the old leaves should be pulled off and the row well mulched with long manure; in the spring this should be worked down to the roots, when the ground is fit to work, and the soil kept loose and free from weeds while the rhubarb is making its growth. The stalks can be pulled as soon as they are large enough for use, and can be pulled until they become so small as to be unfit for use; then dig in some fine manure or compost, and let it grow at will until fall, when the stalks will again be fit for use, though this second crop is generally allowed to go to waste, mainly, I think, through ignorance of the fact that it is just as palatable as in the spring, and that it can easily be canned for winter use. Like asparagus, it must be liberally and continually fed, to have it in fine condition and of good size.
The currants and gooseberries are subject to the ravages of the currant worm, which cleans up every leaf and berry on the bushes just as they are about to ripen. To prevent this, the bushes should be dusted with white hellebore when the first worm makes his appearance; as this is a very strong poison many are afraid to use it; and, indeed, great care must be taken in using the fruit; still, the worms usually appear about the time the bushes are in bloom, and if promptly welcomed will have disappeared, and the poison be washed off the bushes before the fruit has formed. Any one who does not like to use the hellebore can dust the bushes with road dust or dry wood ashes every morning while the dew is still on the leaves; care should be taken that the _under_ side of the leaves should receive a good portion of whatever is used. There is still another way of getting rid of these pests, and that is by hand-picking them; but any one who has tried it will agree with me that it is a somewhat tedious process when done every morning for a couple of weeks.
When the fall comes these bushes should be well mulched, and in the spring, before the growth starts, the old wood should be cut out of them, care being taken not to trim them too severely; never take out more than a third of the wood, or you will trim away your crop of fruit for the season. When the spring opens, dig in the mulch and keep the ground well worked and free from weeds, as in the asparagus and rhubarb.
BLACKBERRIES, BLACK CAP RASPBERRIES AND RED RASPBERRIES.
The culture is the same for all these, and they should be planted in liberal quantities, so that there may be plenty to preserve, as well as a full supply for the table. In my own kitchen garden I have two rows of Wilson’s Early Blackberry, one row Gregg Black Cap, and one row each of Philadelphia and Cuthbert Raspberries, and still the family cry for more, so I shall add about two rows of Wilson, Jr. Blackberries, and one of Lucretia Dewberry, in the spring. The dewberry will ripen before the blackberries, and thus prolong the season, as is already done with the two varieties of red raspberries.
The plants should be planted as early in the spring as the ground can be gotten into suitable condition, and if purchasing from a nursery, select those plants which are grown from root-cuttings, for they will not “sucker” so much, and where the garden is constantly well fed and cultivated this will save much in working, and the plants being carefully trimmed will last for years without replacing. The rows should be ten or twelve feet apart, so as to admit of free passage in cultivating and picking. As they do not grow so wildly until after the fruit has been picked, a couple of rows of peas or a row of early corn can be grown between each row. I have tried planting at closer distances, with the invariable result that by fall the berry patch was an impassable jungle. For manuring the berries coarse manure should be applied in the fall, or short, well-rotted manure in the spring; in either case plowing it under as applied; if plowed in the fall the furrows should all be thrown toward the rows, thus partly banking them over for the winter.
In the first warm days in the spring these bushes should have their trimming; all the old wood that has borne fruit will be dead and should be cut out at the ground. Three or four good healthy young shoots should be selected to each plant, cut off at three and a half or four feet in height, and the side shoots cut back to three or four inches; cut off all the rest of the suckers. This is important, for if too many are left there will be but a small crop of inferior fruit. When the whole patch has been trimmed and cleared up it should be staked; or each plant may be staked as trimmed, but the trimming will have to be left until a week or so later, as the stakes cannot be driven in the frozen ground. For this purpose I use old fence rails, sawing them in the middle and then splitting each piece into two or three stakes, or the large limbs, say one to two inches thick, left from trimming brush, can be used; the fence-rail stakes, however, last longer than the fresh cut poles, and are much more easily driven.
It will be a great help in picking-time if the row is gone over with a large pair of hedge shears, and the longest of the young shoots shortened in, so as to allow easy access to the row. Where it is more convenient, the bearing wood may be cut out as soon as the crop is gathered, thus throwing all the strength of the plant into the young shoots.
Where there is not plenty of manure, bone dust or phosphate can be sown on after the plowing in the spring and worked down with the harrow or cultivator. It, of course, takes a good deal of rope to tie all these and a good patch of grape vines up every spring, so I go to a printing office and buy the old Sisal rope which comes on the bundles of paper; this is strong, and can be bought very cheaply, as it is all in short lengths, in fact, most offices would be glad to oblige a good subscriber by giving it to him. The bushes should be planted eight feet apart in the row.
GRAPES.
I grow grapes between the rows of berry bushes, half way from each row, which are twelve feet apart. The vines are eight feet apart in the row; at every vine is planted an old fence rail, the ends squared off, and the bottom coated with coal tar before planting; these stand six feet above the surface, and from top to top runs a light pole or single strand of wire. The vines are tied up to the posts and out along the rail; this gives a clear space underneath for keeping the ground worked, and it bears the crop in the most convenient position for gathering. The vines should be trimmed early in February, that the wounds may contract and harden before the sap flows. The vines should be tied up with fresh rope; do not depend on any old ties, as, though they may look strong, the birds will pick them to pieces to make nests of. Trim the vines to long canes, two to four to each post, and divide them at the top, carrying half out the top pole or wire in each direction; cut the side shoots back to two eyes each, as these are the spurs that will furnish the fruit branches. If fruit is desired in finest condition a two-pound paper bag should be tied round the neck, to the stem of each bunch, placing the bunch inside, when the berries are about half grown; this preserves the grapes from mildew and, what is more destructive, the ravages of bees and birds.
STRAWBERRIES.
There should be one or two rows of strawberries across the garden; the rows four feet apart. It will be found a great deal easier to keep them free from weeds and to gather the fruit when grown in this way. The varieties, one early and one late, or both rows of a continuous bearing kind, should be of the perfect flowering character, as there are plenty of varieties of this character which are as good and prolific as any pistillate sort grown, and they are not so much trouble to grow, or as uncertain a crop. The plants should be set early in the spring, in well-manured ground, twelve inches apart in the row, and should be hoed and cultivated as frequently as possible. As the runners start lay them lengthways of the row and let them root in, keeping the soil loose and fine, so that they can easily take hold.
The blossoms should be kept picked off the season of planting, or they will take the strength of the young plant so that it will make but a feeble growth and no runners. In growing the plants in this way the runners should not be allowed to form a row more than one and a half feet wide, as this will be fully two feet in the second season, and as much as a picker can manage. The grass particularly should be kept out of the rows of young plants, or it will take a start in the spring and entirely crowd out the strawberries.
These rows should be set out every spring, taking the plants from the outside of the rows planted the preceding year, as it is almost impossible to keep them free from weeds after the first season, besides which they do not bear more than half so many, nor nearly such large berries, the second season. Unless the ground is very rich where the young plants are set, it is a good plan to sow a heavy coat of phosphate, bone, or, best of all, wood ashes, just before they are worked with the cultivator for the first time in the spring. The young plants should not be planted in land that has just been in sod, as it is full of white grubs, which will eat the plants off underground, and care should also be taken that the manure for the strawberry plot is not infested with them. These rows should be lightly covered with long manure, old hay or other litter, in the fall, after the ground has become frozen hard, so that they may be protected from rapid freezing and thawing; and if the covering is not too heavy, it can be left on in the spring and the plants will shoot up through it, leaving it as a mulch and serving to keep the berries clean, by saving them from contact with the ground, as does the straw mulching, from which the berry is generally supposed to take its name.
In selecting varieties choose those which are recommended as suitable for your soil, heavy or light, or such as have proved good in your immediate neighborhood, as some of the finest kinds are worthless in a different soil from that to which they are adapted. If especially fine, large berries are desired, the plants should be set in rows three feet apart, the plants twelve inches, as before, and all the runners kept cut off as fast as they appear. In this case heavy mulching is imperative, or the stools will be thrown out of the ground in the spring freezing and thawing. When the spring opens, the mulching should be cleared away from the crown of the plant, but should be allowed to remain on the ground surrounding the plant, as the weeds can easily be kept from such a patch, and fresh fertilizer applied. The patch may be continued in bearing for two or three seasons, but it will be found a great deal easier if a fresh patch is planted in new ground each year.
COMPOST.
This should be prepared in the early spring for use in the hills, and if it can be stacked in the fall and allowed to rot through the winter, it will be all the better. It can be composed of barnyard scrapings, well-rotted manure, chicken manure, night soil, or other strong fertilizer, mixed with at least an equal bulk of soil or ashes. This should be wet enough to rot thoroughly, but should not be allowed to lie exposed to the weather where its strength will leach away. When thoroughly mixed, I place it in old barrels under a shed and pour water on top of each barrel occasionally, to keep it rotting.
MANURE.
A good supply of manure should be either made or bought, as the garden should have a good dressing at least two years out of three; the third year I usually use a phosphate, but would use the manure if I could spare it, using also a good dressing of air-slaked lime every two or three years. The manner of applying the lime and phosphate is the same, but they must not be used the same season, as the lime will destroy the effect of the phosphate. They are sown on in the spring, after the ground has been plowed, and before harrowing, the harrow thoroughly mixing them with the soil. The supply of manure may be largely increased by pulling up the early peas, corn, cabbage stalks, etc., as fast as the crops are gathered, and adding them to the manure heap; this should be so located that all slops and waste from the house can be thrown upon it, so as to assist in keeping it constantly rotting; where corn stalks, tall weeds, etc., are put on the manure heap they should be cut into short lengths, with a corn cutter or other implement, to facilitate rotting and handling when the manure is drawn out.
SAVING SEEDS.
The gardener will consult his judgment and his pocketbook in buying seeds, as there are many varieties of which, if he has a good strain, he can save as good seed as he can buy; but the greatest care should be used in doing so, as the quality and quantity will both rapidly deteriorate if inferior specimens are selected from which to save seed. Thus it will not do to take off all the best ears of corn, or the tightest heads of lettuce, using the nubbins and runts for seed, or the next year the nubbins will predominate and the lettuce will go to seed without taking the trouble to form a head at all.
The best plan is to set apart a section of the row of each variety for seed, and not gather any for use from that part; here all the nubbins and inferior specimens could be pulled off, throwing the full strength of the plant into the finest fruits; and the same way with the vines; one or more hills, as desired, could be kept for the purpose of bearing seed only.
All seeds should be thoroughly cleaned and dried, and each package should be carefully marked with name and date before storing. The seed chest should be in some cool place where there is no danger of frost or very warm heat, and, most of all, no danger from dampness. It is important to have the date of saving the seed marked, so that when all is not used it may be kept, as frequently a crop fails from a bad season or other causes, and a new lot of equal merit cannot be obtained, the date serving to tell how good the seed is; seed of some vegetables retaining vitality for only two years, and others as long as ten years.
HOW AND WHAT TO GROW
IN A KITCHEN GARDEN
OF ONE ACRE.
THE SECOND PRIZE ESSAY.
BY MISS L. M. MOLL.
To insure success in horticulture, the first requisite is a deep, rich, well-drained soil. For a garden, nothing can be more important than good drainage. Soil properly drained is warmer, dries faster, and can be worked earlier in the spring; it is easier to work in a wet season, and more open and moist in a dry season. Taking for granted, then, that the ground has perfect drainage, it should be plowed deeply in the fall, so as to allow the frost to penetrate and sweeten the soil. In addition to this, the frost will be out sooner in the spring, and the superfluous moisture drained off more quickly, thus leaving the land in a workable condition at least a week earlier.[17]
Putting manure on the ground in the fall, or during winter, is a practice I would not recommend, because some of its most valuable portions are sure to be washed into the drains by the melting snow and spring rains, leaving the plants rather a meagre supply of nourishment to draw from when they come to need it most. The proper way to do is to give the ground a liberal spreading of thoroughly decomposed barnyard manure in spring, as soon as the land is in a workable condition.[18]
This should immediately be plowed in, and be followed with a sharp, weighted harrow, to thoroughly pulverize and mix the soil. This is important, as the surface of the soil is not so liable to harden or bake afterwards, if the ground is well worked in the spring. The soil is also permeated to a greater depth by the sun and air, causing healthier and quicker growth, consequently better and earlier vegetables. The form of our one-acre patch should, by all means, be a rectangle, made longer than wide, with the rows running lengthwise, and all perfectly straight, and everything else so arranged that as much of the cultivation can be done by horse power as possible. But let me say right here, that no one should undertake the cultivation of a kitchen garden without being willing to do a reasonable portion of the work by hand. This part of the work can, however, be greatly lessened by using the various labor-saving garden implements, to be purchased at reasonable rates, of most seed firms.
If “variety is the spice of life,” it can certainly nowhere be more desirable than in the kitchen garden, which is to supply our table with its yearly demand for choice vegetables; I say _choice_, since every one having the care of a garden should strive to grow everything of the very best, and that, too, in great abundance and variety.
The most convenient mode of arranging the different kinds of vegetables is to; 1st, Place the perennial plants in one bed, running the entire length of the ground; 2d, Plant the vegetables side by side which are to remain out all winter, so as not to interfere with next spring’s plowing; 3d, Arrange side by side those varieties which require the whole season to mature; and, 4th, Put beside each other the quickly maturing kinds, which may be succeeded by other varieties, in order that the ground to be occupied by a second crop may be all in one piece.
The preliminaries being arranged, we are now ready to go into details, and to this end we shall first take under consideration the permanent bed, so called from the fact that it is to contain such perennials as asparagus, rhubarb, horse radish, artichoke, and chives; also parsley, and a collection of herbs, without which no garden is complete.
The herbs are placed here because they require a soil especially prepared for them, by the addition of either fine sand or sifted coal ashes, to make it mellow and dry.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE GARDEN.]
ASPARAGUS.