Transcriber's Note

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

THE BUSY WOMAN'S
GARDEN BOOK

An outside window box that harmonizes with the general
architectural scheme

THE BUSY WOMAN'S
GARDEN BOOK

BY
IDA D. BENNETT
BOSTON
SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1920,
BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)

INTRODUCTION

This little book has a very definite aim—a big aim too, though two little words or even one will serve to define it—To help, or better still, perhaps—helpfulness. It does not aim to tell everything there is to tell about gardening; that would be encyclopedic and quite out of the scope of a small, practical work on gardening, but it does aim to give, in plain, everyday language sufficient and clear directions for caring for an ordinary kitchen garden in a way the least exhausting of time and strength and with all unnecessary expenditure eliminated. It covers all necessary detail except that of personal equation; that—Dear Woman, when the spring time calls and you go forth full of enthusiasm, is, in the language of the day—"Up to you." Your garden will give back to you just What you put into it—no more, and the more you give to it the less it will exact of you; neglect it ever so little and it will prove a hard taskmaster indeed, or a living reproach—a reproach that will burgeon and bloom in noxious weeds and sickening plants, a garden where the worm dieth not and the aphis and grub revel undisturbed and unchecked.

There is nothing so easy as to keep a garden in perfect order, free from weeds and pernicious insect life, nothing easier than to have the reverse of this. One cannot garden successfully on the principle that one can work in the garden when there is nothing else to do, no one to play with, nowhere to go. The garden should be first to a certain extent, and this is not an arbitrary or exacting condition for the toll exacted is paid for many times over in the peace of mind that comes from work well and conscientiously done, to say nothing of the economic value of thrifty vegetables.

There are always critical times in the life of the garden;—the gardener must recognize these and be prepared to give just the assistance the condition requires at just the time it is required; if this is done promptly it will surprise one who has had no system heretofore in the garden work to see how little time is really required to care for a garden successfully. The failure to co-operate with nature at the right time may result in many hours of wearisome work.

Take the matter of weeds;—if the planting is closely watched and the weeds cut off as quickly as they show a seed leaf above ground, and before they have stuck their roots deeply enough into the ground to make more than a mere stirring of the soil necessary, an entire week's crop of weeds will be destroyed with one stirring of the soil. Weeds come in relays a week or ten days apart, come not at all if the soil is kept properly stirred—which should be after every rain and between if the rain is infrequent, and it is well worth one's time to exercise a little self-denial and give this cultivation even though it may mean letting something else go that one would like to do.

And one need not worry too much about being scientific in one's gardening; insecticides, fungicides and the like are the allies of the careless gardener, but the wide awake, industrious gardener has little need of them. Healthy, vigorous plants are not especially susceptible to insect attacks and with the exception of potato bugs, squash bugs and cabbage worms the danger from them is merely negligible, but the careless, slovenly gardener is a real and pestilential danger.

There is much in choosing the right time of day for work in the garden; it is delightful to wield the rake and hoe in the cool of the afternoon, but where the object is the destruction of weeds the morning hours of a sunny day will give permanent results as the weeds will be killed by the hot sun, while those hoed up in late afternoon will often be revived by the coolness and dew of night and be ready to withstand the morrow's sun, so take the morning hours for destroying weeds, and the cooler hours for planting seeds, staking up plants, thinning out plants and the like but always the bright, dry sunny hours for tying up such vegetables as need blanching: cauliflower, endive and the like. This will make for success in the various operations and comfort in working.

Where it is necessary to water the garden this should if possible be done after the sun has nearly or quite gone from it in order to reduce the loss of moisture by evaporation; this is especially desirable in city gardens where the water is metered and always, if possible a night's watering should be followed by shallow cultivation the following forenoon to restore the dust-mulch and necessitate as little watering as possible. These are a few of the little attentions which make for success in the garden and minimize the sum of the season's work.

CONTENTS

THE BUSY WOMAN'S
GARDEN BOOK

THE BUSY WOMAN'S
GARDEN BOOK

CHAPTER I
PLANNING THE GARDEN

The favorable location of the garden is the initial step in its planning. The kitchen garden—always an important auxiliary of the kitchen—is now, in these days, something more; it is becoming more and more a part of the domestic routine; it is a woman's garden, to be planned for and cared for by the women of the family, and in that relation must be considered from all its points of view. Location, then, becomes of first importance. It must be accessible, that its care may demand as little extra work as possible, and that little be given to the actual cultivation and care and not to going back and forth. If one can run out and cultivate a row of lettuce or train up a row of peas while waiting for the irons to heat or the kettle to boil, then one will find the sum total of the garden work far less onerous than where one must calculate on going over the entire plat, or a stated portion of it, at one operation.

A location close to the house, more or less secluded, that one may work free from interruption and espionage and where the vegetables may bask in the sun from early morning till late afternoon, is desirable, and this is best achieved in a southern exposure with the garden rows running north and south.

If the garden plot is protected by buildings or a high fence, or a wind-break of evergreen on the north it will afford a favorable position for the necessary hotbeds and cold frames and the close relationship of the two will work for efficiency in handling.

A warm, mellow, sandy loam is the ideal soil for the vegetable garden, but even a poor soil may be so built up and redeemed by proper cultivation and fertilising as to make the quality of the soil of secondary consideration, but if one can have both at once then one is happy indeed. Tenacious, clayey soil or newly broken sod ground should not, however, be undertaken by a woman, such ground is a man's job.

But it is the warm, sunny location that is vital to the successful cultivation of the garden. All the early vegetables—peas, lettuce, endive and the like—call for abundant sunshine in the cool days of early spring, and, as the season advances and the fall chill is in the air at nightfall, then the warm sunshine will hasten the maturity of such late comers as tomatoes, winter squash, citron and any late-sown vegetables that are used to succeed the earlier growths. Again in the late days of winter or early spring those vegetables that were left in the ground for early use—the parsnips, and salsify, will be available much earlier if given a warm location where the ground thaws readily, rather than a cold exposure that holds frost late in the season.

A piece of ground adjoining other cultivated areas is far preferable to an isolated plot as it may be ploughed in conjunction with the larger piece and so kept in a better grade and condition. An isolated garden plot, which must be prepared separately necessitating a dead furrow in the center, becomes, in the course of a few years a dish shaped area very disagreeable to cultivate; an open area, on two sides at least, obviates this in a measure and renders the ground more level and easily prepared.

Any garden spot, however, should always be ploughed rather than spaded and as deep ploughing as possible should be the rule. If the soil is good go as close to the bottom of it as possible, the shallow ploughing so universal—seldom more than six inches in depth, does not give a mellow bed for any but shallow rooted vegetables. Carrots, salsify, parsnips and similar long-rooted things must fairly drill their way into the hard ground below the shallow cultivation, this resulting in deformed, stunted or many twigged roots, unsalable and of little value for the home table. The long, smooth, beautiful bottoms are only produced by deep cultivation to start with and, of course, the subsequent cultivation must efficiently supplement this. A very excellent method of preparing the ground would be to turn a deep furrow with the plough and follow this with the subsoil plough, stirring up the subsoil, but not mixing it with the top soil; this would give several inches of loose soil beneath the first furrows that the roots could readily penetrate. So many consider that all the fertility in a soil is contained in the few top inches of soil, and in a measure this is true—the available fertility is right there—but there is a wealth of unused fertility in the lower strata, but lack of cultivation, lack of moisture and most of all, lack of the humus which makes the soil retentive of moisture, render it unavailable, but if it is broken up and gradually mixed with the humus of the upper soil it becomes available and the soil is increasing in fertility instead of growing thinner and poorer year by year.

Following the ploughing comes the smoothing and leveling of the ground by dragging with a spiked or spring tooth harrow; this part of the work should be very thoroughly done; too fine a seed bed can never be produced, whatever the means employed and the use of drags and harrows by no means spells the whole operation of fitting a garden for planting. After the dragging the garden rake is in order and the ground must be raked over and over until thoroughly fine and free from roughage of sticks, stones, clods and the like. If any weeds have been drawn to the surface in dragging they must be pulled out and thrown aside. If there is a dead furrow in the middle of the plot then the raking should be towards that from both directions so as to fill it in as much as possible and so restore the level of the ground.

It is not necessary to rake the entire garden at once if time and strength are at a premium. One may rake a space sufficient for the first planting and when that is done rake another space and so equalize the labor, but it is easier to rake soon after the preliminary fitting is done than to leave it until a rain has packed the earth and made it heavy to move. A good rain, however, should always precede the planting, if possible, as newly worked ground is not sufficiently settled for sowing seed and not so desirable for setting out of plants.

The arrangement of the vegetables in the garden has much to do with the convenience of caring for it. It is always a good arrangement to plant the early vegetables, such as lettuce, radishes, beets, endive and onions at the end of the garden nearest the house where they are most easily available as one has occasion to use them in preparing a meal. Then, too, all these small things are planted a standard distance apart—usually twelve or fifteen inches,—twelve if the gardener is addicted to trowsers, fifteen if skirts are in evidence, for it is difficult to work in a narrower space, especially among the tender tops of seedling onions, in petticoats. So, with the rows running north and south, that the vegetables may receive the greatest possible amount of sunshine, and the vegetables planted in consecutive rows of increasing distances apart, one has a planting schedule economical of space and labor.

This order of planting should also be made to include height as well as distance apart of the rows of vegetables. Low growing things should always occupy the front rows of space and not be overshaded by tall growths. For this reason the planting of sweet corn in the garden plot is not desirable; it is best to give this a space by itself—preferably on the north side of the garden. Vine vegetables, too, have little place in the garden proper—a place for them on the south side of the garden should be reserved if possible, for with the best of management they will break bounds and encroach on other plants. I recall a planting of English marrows which were placed in the garden next to a row of red peppers. They were bought for bush marrows but proved to be the vine variety and in a month's time had practically taken possession of that end of the garden; peppers and tomatoes were smothered under a luxuriant growth of squash vines whose luxuriance was only equalled by the astonishing amount of fruit they bore. In desperate effort to check their encroachments great lengths of vines, bearing half grown marrows, were ruthlessly removed with no more apparent result than to encourage a still more luxuriant growth and to increase the gardener's knowledge of the amount of pruning a really ambitions, vigorous vine will stand.

The bush varieties of many vegetables are a great boon to the small home gardener as most of them are prolific bearers and require no more room than a hill of potatoes or an eggplant. Squash, melons, lima beans—all have dwarf forms that are preferable to the usual vine varieties.

The home garden should not be too large—a plot forty by eighty feet will grow all the summer and winter vegetables a small family can make use of and a considerable surplus for sale, especially is this the case where the corn and vines are planted outside the garden proper. Potatoes, too, are excluded from this estimate, though a few rows of early potatoes may find room available.

The accompanying planting table, while intended to be merely suggestive will be of use as indicating the amount of room required for the several varieties of plants and a convenient arrangement. The amount to be grown of any one variety however, must be decided by the individual gardener and it will be time well spent to make a diagram for one's self, based on the amount of various vegetables that experience shows to be needed. To those vegetables to which the family are most addicted should always be added a few that are grown with the occasional guest in mind and the few things that one likes to try from season to season, and that add zest to gardening but should never be allowed to occupy space needed for more standard sorts.

PLANTING-TABLE FOR A SMALL GARDEN APPROXIMATELY FORTY BY EIGHTY FEET

CHAPTER II
HOTBEDS, COLD FRAMES AND FLATS

So important is the preparatory work performed by a well started and conducted hotbed that its use cannot be too insistently recommended. The smallest, least ambitious home garden is dependent upon the use of artificial heat in the starting of such plants as cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes and the like, either in hotbeds on the home grounds, flats in the windows or plants grown in commercial greenhouses; these, owing to the long season required to bring them into bearing, cannot be started in the open ground; especially is this true of such heat loving things as peppers and tomatoes.

Owing to the quite general practice of buying these plants of the commercial gardeners or florists a much smaller area of ground is devoted to their growth than would be the case were the plants grown in one's own hotbeds where the initial cost would have been that of a few packets of seeds. Purchased plants are by no means immune from late frosts or the assaults of cut worms and not infrequently demand successive replantings before a satisfactory stand is secured. With a well stocked hotbed this does not spell so great a disaster, as only the labor of resetting is demanded and this is not of much moment as the lines and points of setting are already laid down and the hills of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers already supplied with their spade full of manure. In a generous sized garden where perhaps a hundred plants of a kind are grown the saving in the cost of plants will cover the construction and maintenance of an ordinary hotbed and the cost of a bed of the best concrete construction, which will last almost a lifetime, will be covered in a reasonably short time.

There is nothing about the construction or care of a hotbed that offers any obstacles to its possession and I have about come to the conclusion that the only reason more gardeners do not have them is because they cannot borrow them; they are the only thing about a garden that some one can't and doesn't borrow and if some one would invent a portable one it would undoubtedly become popular.

The requirements are simple:—A sunny location, protected from prevailing winds—usually from the west, and on the north by a wall, building or fence. Being started in the early days of spring—from February, in the vicinity of the Ohio river, to late March or early April in the vicinity of the Great Lakes; they require a background that will hold the heat of the sun instead of allowing it to escape.

A well-drained position should be chosen and it should be as handy to the house and garden as practicable, especially the former as, once it is planted and plants up and growing, it will require frequent supervision in the changeable weather of early spring. Under a bright sun the temperature rises very rapidly in a glass-covered hotbed and it is necessary to see that it does not rise high enough to injure the plants; equally the temperature falls rapidly in an open bed when the sun goes under a cloud, and the sash must be adjusted to meet these deviations of temperature; often a moment's work in raising or lowering the sash will spell success or failure in the conduct of the bed.

A pit or excavation in the ground for holding a supply of fermenting manure to furnish heat for the bed is the first step in the construction of the hotbed; the size and depth of this will depend somewhat upon the number of plants it is desired to produce and upon the rigors of the climate and the prevalence of late springs and frosts. As a general thing, for the ordinary home garden a bed three feet by twelve is sufficient, but the added expense of a few additional feet is so slight and the use of a bed so appeals to one once one realizes its convenience, that it is seldom a mistake to make it too large as, aside from the sowing of seed, it may be used for starting roots of bedding plants, cannas, dahlias, begonias, tuberoses, caladiums; the striking of cuttings and many garden operations that have formerly been done in a bungling, cumbersome way in the house or with the costly assistance of the florists.

The depth of the pit should not be less than three feet and four, from the top of the frame, is better, as it is upon the depth of the manure that the length or duration of the heat depends. A shallow pit will give a quick heat which soon gives out, usually when most needed, during a sudden cold wave, and as the expense of a foot more or less counts for little it is best to be on the safe side and have sufficient heat.

If economy must be observed or the bed is for temporary use, a rough frame of boards will answer every purpose; it need not even extend below the surface of the ground, but merely rest upon it, but such construction is not to be recommended except for temporary structures or where it is desired to remove the frame as soon at it has served its purpose in supplying plants for spring planting; but a well built, permanent hotbed has by no means served its mission with the passing of the spring months, it may be profitably kept in commission the year around.

If, however, the construction must be along economical lines waste lumber and old window sash may be employed very satisfactorily. Having dug the pit of the required depth and width and length—three feet if old sash are to be used will be the best width and is desirable anyway as it can be easily reached across and can be placed close to a building and so occupy much less ground than where the usual florist sash is used, a frame consisting of four upright posts two by four inches and six feet long for the two rear posts and five feet long for the front, to give the necessary slant to the frame, should be used; on these the boards for the sides and ends should be nailed, the end boards sawed to a true slant that the sash may rest evenly upon them; the frame is then lowered into the pit and the soil leveled off around it and made firm so that no cold air finds entrance. To such a frame the sash may be hinged at the back and notched sticks adjusted to hold it at any desired angle.

In the permanent cement hotbed the pit is dug as before, then interlined with boards to form a mould and the space filled in with a good cement mixture, paddling it smooth on the side next to the boards and allowing the boards to remain in place until the cement has hardened.[¹] Before the cement has set, however, a frame of two by four must be fitted on top of the cement to receive the sash. Long spikes should be driven through the timbers at intervals to be pressed into the cement to insure a good joint. It is also an advantage to arrange for partitions through the bed by nailing cleats of wood on the inside of the wooden form at points where the sash will meet. This will form slots in the concrete into which thin boards can be slipped to separate such plants as require much heat from those requiring less heat and much air. The partitions should not extend much, if any below the surface of the soil so the slots need not extend below the top foot of wall. These partitions are not really necessary but often come in very handy and are so easily arranged for that their occasional use justifies their presence. Where they are employed the sash can be left open where required far more safely than if they were not in use. Cabbage and cauliflowers do best if given plenty of air and even a tinge of frost will not injure them, while it would be fatal to such heat loving plants as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and many tender flowers and bulbous plants.

The double sash is a great protection for hotbeds started very early, but as a rule there is little occasion for starting the beds before the middle of March or early April in the northern states as it is only necessary to give the plants about six weeks' start of open ground operations. Usually we make our out-of-door planting about the twentieth of May at the north and correspondingly later as we go south, but if we count back six weeks from "Corn planting time," the country over we will have reliable data for starting the hotbed. Plants left too long in the bed deteriorate and should be scheduled to be got into the ground as soon as they are fit; if this is done they will not suffer from over crowding nor will it be necessary to transplant; though this is always an advantage with certain plants. If to the hotbed is added the convenience of a cold frame to which the cabbage and cauliflower can be transplanted as soon as they show rough leaves it will be a decided advantage and the room thus secured in the hotbed can be used to transplant tomatoes, peppers and the like, thus giving better rooted, stockier plants.

Fresh horse manure is used for heating the bed and must be procured from stables where a number of horses are kept that sufficient may be obtained at one time. It is not necessary for the small hotbed to pile the manure and turn it over two or three times before putting it into the pit; much time and labor is saved by putting it at once in the pit, tramping it down as filled in until it is within five or six inches of the level of the ground outside. Care must be taken that it is tramped down evenly, especially in the corners, or it will settle unevenly and cause the soil to sink in places. The earth may be placed on at once if the manure is steaming when put in the pit. Good, mellow loam, containing a portion of humus or leaf mould is the best hotbed soil and it should be fine and free from all roughage of sticks and stones and hard lumps of soil. Putting the top inch or two through a sand screen is a good practice as this gives a fine soil suitable for the finer seeds.

Usually the bed will be in condition for sowing in twenty-four hours, if the manure is heating well—and this can be ascertained by thrusting a fork down into the bed and leaving it a few moments, withdrawing and feeling of the tines, when the temperature can be quite accurately gauged—or a thermometer may be forced down through the soil upon the manure for a test. From four to five inches of soil will be sufficient if the season is late—slightly more if the season is early and the plants likely to remain long in the beds, and it must be leveled off as flat as possible so that in watering the water will not run and wash the seeds out of the ground.

The sowing of the seed is one of the fascinating phases of gardening that every born gardener enjoys and the watching for the breaking of the soil with the tiny green seed leaves is a joy indeed. Unlike open air planting, there is rarely a failure in seed germination if good seed is used. The ideal conditions of warm soil, mellow, moist soil of just the right consistency; protection from changes of weather all make for a high per cent of plants from the sowing, and the chief difficulty is often an embarrassment of plants—that is they come up too thickly, a trouble that is easily obviated by sowing quite thinly, holding back a portion of the seed for later sowings if needed, or for a later crop.

Each variety of seed must be given a little plot of ground by itself and should be separated from its neighbor by thin strips of wood pressed into the soil; this not only helps in identifying plants of similar appearance, but also prevents the washing together of the seed when too much water is applied. Where two or three different varieties of the same plant—as Early Dutch Cabbage, Danish Roundhead, Early Summer, etc., are sown it will be well to alternate the plots with some other vegetable so as to leave no chance for mistakes in setting out the plants later on. A row of lettuce or radishes may be interposed if desired; at any rate the presence of the strips of wood will aid greatly in keeping them distinct.

Each plot of seeds must be plainly labeled with thin strips of wood marked with the name of the seed and the date of sowing. If seeds of certain plants have been purchased of different seedsmen it will be well to indicate the source on the labels, in this way one can compare the fertility of the two purchases of seed and decide which is the more desirable.

There is a great difference in the germination of different garden seeds, certain varieties appearing in from three to five days—as cabbage, radishes, etc. Others—like peppers, parsley and the like—require from two to three weeks to appear above ground and one should not lose faith in the "Quickness" of the seed until a reasonable time has elapsed, nor will it be desirable to dig them up every day or two to see if they are growing; this will discourage rather than accelerate the process.

If the soil in the hotbed appears dry when sowing the seed it should be carefully watered by means of a fine-nosed watering pot or a whisk broom dipped in water, care being taken that not enough water is used at a time to wash the soil or disturb the planting. If any seed is uncovered it must be recovered. Seed sown under the protection of sash, either in hotbed or cold frame, does not require to be covered as deeply as when in the open ground, often about as much soil as will entirely cover it is sufficient, always so in the case of fine seed which should be sown broadcast in sections and covered by sifting fine soil or clean sand over and pressing all down firmly with a piece of board. Larger seeds may be sown in drills, opened a quarter of an inch deep and the earth drawn over them and pressed down.

Plants that make a rather high growth, even in the hotbed, like tomatoes, should not be planted in front of lower growing things, but should be in the rear or extend entirely across the bed; tomatoes, for instance, are apt to overtop such plants as peppers, which grow quite slowly in the hotbed. Endive, parsley, lettuce and onions, all are plants which do not assert themselves very strongly at first and should not be crowded for room or sunshine.

When all the planting is in and the soil watered, if necessary, newspapers should be spread over the soil and the bed closed and germination awaited. If the sun is very hot it may be necessary to raise the sash before the plants appear, but where this is done care must be taken that the papers are not disturbed by the wind, as if blown about the soil will dry out and check or kill germination.

As soon as a plot of seeds breaks ground the little seedlings will need air and light and the paper should be removed from this portion and replaced on top of the glass, held in place with pieces of wood or anything that will prevent its blowing about; this will only be necessary until the plants are able to stand full sunlight, which will be as soon as they have grown their first pair of real leaves. As the young plants increase in size more and more air and sunshine should be given them and due attention to watering must be carefully observed. Lath screens to temper the sun will be necessary and will be needed to replace the sash when the plants are large enough to dispense with it during the heat of the day; these, in turn, may be replaced by wire screens if there is any danger of predatory cats, chickens or children, for it is the work of but a few moments for an entire planting to be destroyed by any one of them. Puss likes nothing better than to get into that nice warm hotbed and roll on the soft warm ground and as for Biddy!

It is surprising the number of things that may be started in the hotbed and transplanted into the open ground as soon as the weather permits, thus gaining at least a month's start in the garden. A great many of the vegetables that are always sown in the open ground—beets, string or lima beans, endive, lettuce—all may be started in the hotbed and planted out and will give one very tender and succulent vegetables to use while the main crop is maturing from open ground sowing. Once one has acquired the hotbed habit one will never have quite room enough for one will always be wanting to try something more. One of the most satisfactory pushing forward of vegetables is achieved in planting melons and cucumbers and squash on pieces of sod in the hotbed. Of course cucumbers for pickles should always be sown rather late in the open ground but fruit for slicing for the table may very profitably be started on sod and transferred to the open ground when all danger of frost is passed and so be ready a good month sooner and what is, perhaps, quite as important, escape the ravages of the striped cucumber beetle, that exasperating foe to vine culture.

A cold wet spell at planting time often results in a loss of the entire planting of Lima and string beans, but if one has taken the precaution of planting a half pint of seed in the hotbed and transplanting them along about the twenty-first of May, one can wait until the first of June, if necessary, to plant the main crop and be assured of a successful stand of plants which will bear quite as early as if planted in unsuitable weather and soil; this is of especial moment owing to the high price of this class of seed; all varieties of seeds have advanced in price but the difference is most marked in seeds of the various legumes—peas and beans, of all varieties which command a price that makes especial care in their planting advisable.

Cold Frames

Supplement effectively the hotbed or, in mild climates, take their place. They are, to all effects and purposes a hotbed—minus the heat—and so do not require the excavation of a pit. The part above the ground is similar to that of the hotbed, being supplied with sash and given the same slant to shed water and concentrate as much sunshine as possible. For spring use it should front the south and occupy a well-drained position, but for mid-season use an east exposure is often desirable. If one wishes to use it to transplant things from the hotbed, then a temporary frame of boards made to bolt together may be constructed that may be taken apart and stored away when no longer required; if used for transplanting the sash should be in a position a week before it is needed so that the soil may become warm and friable, then the little plants of cabbage, cauliflower and the like may be transferred without any appreciable check in the growth and what there is will be advantageous as it will result in the formation of a mass of fibrous roots which will give them an additional chance in the struggle for life in the open. Even screens of cheese cloth will give sufficient protection in any but frosty weather and blankets may supplement these on cold days if glass is prohibitive on account of its excessive price.

A well-spaded bed of good soil, enriched with a little well decayed manure—that from last year's hotbed will answer, or bone meal may be used or a commercial fertilizer, for the plants will need food at this stage of their growth, should be prepared and the frame set on this or sunk a few inches into the ground to insure warmth and prevent the ingress of small rodents which somehow show a peculiar penchant for hotbeds and cold frames and have been known to destroy a whole planting of seeds in a single night. A little nitrate of soda scattered between the rows of cabbage and cauliflower will work wonders in the growth of these plants and is to be recommended at this stage of their growth and again when transplanted into the open ground.

Other forms of plant protection are found in the frameless beds protected by lath screens; these are used mainly during the summer months and are especially adapted for growing pansies from seed to be transferred to cold frames in the fall and grown on until time to plant out in permanent beds in spring; for growing violets in like manner and also for starting cabbage seed to be held over winter in cold frames for early spring planting.

The Sand Box

Is used as an auxiliary to the hotbed for a nursery for those plants which are to be used in the house or conservatory during winter and must be kept in a growing, but not blooming, condition during summer and shifted from pot to pot as occasion requires. Though mainly essential in the growing of house plants it is often found of much use as a place to carry on such vegetable plants as one may desire to pot off for sale or for stockier growth, previous to setting in the open ground. The sand box consists of any shallow box of sufficient size to hold a considerable number of two to four inch pots. It should not, preferably, be over three feet wide but may be of any desired length. Five inches is a good depth. It should be elevated on some kind of support, at a convenient height to work at when sitting on a stool or box. When used for growing house plants it is usually placed in a rather shady spot on the east side of the house, but if used for vegetables it may be given a more sunny, exposed position; it should be filled with clean sand into which the pots are plunged to their rims and the sand is kept constantly wet. The pots should be turned around in the sand every day or two to prevent the roots, which escape through the hole in the bottom of the pot, growing in the sand; to prevent this also place a piece of broken crock or glass over the drainage hole. In potting off plants from the hotbed use a small thumb-pot at first and re-pot in one a size larger as soon as the roots form a network around the outside of the ball of earth: this condition may be ascertained by tapping the pot against the side of the box which will loosen the ball of earth and allow it to drop out on the hand. Plants that are to go into the ground in late May will probably not require re-potting, certainly not more than once, but this treatment makes stocky, well-rooted plants that command a better price than the untransplanted plants from the beds, though there is always an excellent market for all the products of the hotbed.

Sowing Seed in Flats in the House

Is the simplest, and least satisfactory form of advance work in the garden; it belongs in the class of being "better than nothing," but for some plants is quite as successful as a hotbed, unfortunately that particular class is not embraced in a book on vegetable gardening, but belongs particularly to flower gardening and the special sorts dedicated to the warm conservatory and window garden.

However, if one has not, and cannot achieve, the advantage of a hotbed then one must make the most of what is attainable and resort to flats. These may be of any shape or size, but the usual florists' flats—about fifteen inches wide and twenty long and not over five inches deep—are of a practical size for general use; narrower ones which may be set on a window sill are also useful but will not give a large number of plants. Very convenient plant boxes which simulate a miniature hotbed, being about six inches high in the back and about four in front, of the usual flat size and supplied with a hinged lid of glass, are sold by the florists but are easily manufactured at home and are better than the open flats as they enable one to regulate moisture, the principal trouble—owing to the dry air of the living rooms, the shallowness of the soil, in growing plants in flats.

Several holes for drainage should be made in the bottom of the boxes and these covered with pieces of shard or glass and the boxes filled to within a half inch of the top with a good compost consisting of fibrous loam—that shaved from the bottom of sods—leaf mould, clean white sand and a little well-rotted manure, all thoroughly mixed and free from roughage.

The seeds should be broadcasted, if fine, drilled in if coarse, and the soil pressed down snugly over them. In the case of fine seed it is a good idea to cover with fine white sand instead of soil as this is less subject to the minute fungus which causes the deadly "damping off" so destructive to plant life and especially troublesome in growing plants in the house.

As in the planting in the hotbed, the seed plots should be carefully labeled with name and date of sowing. After planting the seeds the flats should be set in a pan of water until the surface looks dark but not wet. They should then be covered with a sheet of white paper and glass and set in a warm, sunny window until germination takes place. Then the glass should be raised sufficiently to admit air and the paper removed and placed between the box and the window or a width of cheese cloth may be interposed between the glass and the box to temper the sunlight until the little plants have acquired their first pair of true leaves when they will be able to endure more heat and air which should be steadily increased until on mild days the window may be opened that they may benefit by full sunshine and air. As soon as the little plants are an inch high, transplant into other flats, setting an inch or more apart each way, and grow on as before or until they again crowd each other, when they may be transferred to small two or three inch pots and the sand box until time to go into the ground.

[1] Or a trench as deep as the completed pit and as narrow as can be handled may be dug to outline a pit of the required dimensions, and filled with grout, well tamped down; when this has had time to harden sufficiently, the earth may be removed from the center and the cement given a finishing coat, and the wall brought to the required height above ground by the aid of a frame of boards.

CHAPTER III
PLANTING SEED IN THE OPEN GROUND

Is important for it is just the form that most of the garden sowing will take. The sowing of seed in hotbeds and flats in the house is of much interest and importance, but the garden, for the most part, will go directly into the open ground, and upon the care and judgment with which the planting is done will depend the success of the season's work.

The ground should be in as good condition for sowing as possible—neither too dry nor too wet. It should, and this is of much importance, be warm. The best of seed will not germinate if sown in wet, cold soil, especially is this true of peas and beans, failures with these being almost invariably due to too much haste in planting or unfavorable weather immediately following. It is no unusual thing in a cold, late spring for these legumes to require repeated replanting and with the enormously advanced price of all kinds of seeds it will not pay to take too long chances by undue haste in planting. Usually it is quite safe to plant nearly all of the garden truck by the tenth of May at the north but the weather for the recent seasons has been unusual and much loss was occasioned by adhering too closely to an established schedule; so, if the season promises to be in any way, except for earliness, abnormal, it is best to go slowly and not trust all one's seed to an initial planting but to hold a little in reserve to replant unfilled areas. Cutworms, too, have caused much devastation the past few seasons—usually these are troublesome to transplanted things, mainly cabbage, peppers and tomatoes, but last year they destroyed beans and other plants impartially, causing much loss.

In planting a seed drill attached to a hand cultivator will be of great assistance as seed may be drilled in rows or dropped in hills at different distances apart so rapidly that the entire garden may be planted in little more time than it takes to do an hundred foot row by hand, and the drill will do it better, opening up the rows, sowing the seed and covering all in one operation. If, however, one is not possessed of this convenient implement one can do very well without by removing one hoe of the hand cultivator, or by reversing both hoes and bringing the points together and opening a drill to receive the seed and covering it with the hoe or rake, or it may even be opened with a trowel, which though laborious, is a very effectual way.

The soil must always be firmed above the seed after sowing, either by means of a flat piece of board, with a handle on one surface or, in the case of large seeds by tramping the rows with the feet; this firming of the soil is most important, it brings the soil close about the seed so that the first little root—a very tiny, delicate little root, feeling its way about in search of nourishment can come at once into contact with the warm soil and obtain the food and moisture so critically needed at this juncture of its little life. The firming of the soil conserves the moisture, preventing the entrance of dry, hot air, and to obtain this further the ground after being tramped down should be gone over lightly with rake or trowel and a dust-mulch produced. In fact, all through one's gardening processes one must keep the dust-mulch in evidence for it means conservation of moisture and fertility and freedom from weeds.

Seeds of different sizes, hardness and germination qualities, require different treatment; fine seeds may be sown in shallow drills, scattering seeds whose germinary power is known to be low or questionable quite thickly in the drills; beets are usually sown quite freely, while radishes—nearly every seed of which may be trusted to grow—may be scattered at about the distance they are wanted to stand in the rows; beans, too, may be dropped at about the distance they will require—six inches or more apart for limas, and as these seeds are sensitive to cold and dampness it is a wise precaution to set them on edge, eye down, in the drills. Seeds that germinate slowly, like peas, are hastened considerably by being soaked over night in warm water, and many seeds that require considerable time to start are hastened if warm water be poured into the trenches before the soil is filled in; this is especially beneficial in very dry soil where germination might otherwise be delayed until after a rain.

An orderly arrangement of garden beds

It is not necessary that new seed be purchased every spring; if one has seed of his own saving so that its age is known one can use it with confidence. Seed purchased of the seedsman is more or less problematical, but is usually supposed to be of the previous season's crop, especially is this true of those seedsmen who produce their own seed on farms located in different sections of the country, and whose seeds are usually very reliable. However there are many seedsmen, or jobbers, who purchase the bulk of their seeds in the open market and cannot guarantee the quality in any way. It is always a great mistake to purchase cheap seed; it is better to buy seed of a reputable seedsman who puts his name and reputation back of it, though the price may be considerably higher than one would pay for the same seed of the local store or seedsman.

Where one has sufficient old seed of different kinds it is a good idea to test them out during the late days of winter and so ascertain their fitness for use. The testing is a simple matter, warmth and moisture being all that is required. A long tray covered with an inch of sand kept moist may be marked off in squares and the seed it is desired to test scattered evenly over the surface, labeling or numbering each square, then a thick piece of flannel should be wet in warm water and placed snugly over all and the tray put in a warm place—back of the furnace, over a radiator or on the back of the kitchen reservoir if a fire is kept there all the time, until the seeds germinate; it will then be seen what proportion germinate and how freely one will need to sow in order to obtain a good stand of plants. If the supply of seed is large a germination test of seventy-five per cent. will justify its use but if there is only a limited supply it will be better to purchase fresh seed or at least sufficient to supplement the home supply. It is always worth while to save one's own seed if the vegetables have exceptionally good qualities; this insures trueness to name and often an improvement over the parent stock; it is not, however, desirable where a number of varieties of any vegetable is grown in the same garden as the seed is quite certain to be mixed and the good qualities of the parent stock to be lost.

In sowing seed in the open ground cultivation should begin as soon as the seed is sown and covered. In the case of large seed which is tramped down in the rows and covered an inch or more it is not always necessary to rake over the rows for a dust-mulch, rarely if it is likely to rain immediately. Under this condition the rows will be quite distinct and as soon as the rain is over and the ground slightly dried off the scuffle-hoe may be run along the rows restoring the dust-mulch, or creating one. Where the planting is shallow it is an excellent plan to drop radish seeds at intervals along the row as these will appear in from three to five days, thus marking the rows so that there will be no difficulty in following them. When this is done it will not be necessary to use ground especially for planting radishes so that there will be a saving in room that may be utilized to advantage for other vegetables. Lettuce, too, may be grown to advantage by planting a short strip of seed at the end of rows of other vegetables, where full rows are not required, as this saves space in the garden and the lettuce if placed at the ends of the rows nearest the house is easily accessible and does away with the necessity of walking on the garden after it has been cultivated, a thing the careful gardener avoids.

With the intensive gardening practised on the small plot where the vegetables are planted in close rows from a foot to two feet apart, the ground should be at all times in a fine tilth, free from unworked strips and trodden paths. It is of little value to cut off the weeds with the hoe or cultivator if they are to be trodden back in the ground and so given a new lease of life. The scuffle-hoe is a real boon to the gardener in obviating this difficulty as in using it one walks backwards, pushing the hoe from one instead of drawing it towards one as is done with the common garden hoe; this leaves a beautiful, clean tilth, absolutely free from trampled areas and nothing cut off by the hoe will take on a new lease of life over night. More real work can be accomplished by the use of the scuffle than with any other tool in the garden; it does not supplant altogether the wheel cultivator but does its work when used alternately with it; the cultivator breaking up the soil to a greater depth, and more rapidly than the scuffle, but the latter destroys far more thoroughly all weeds and reaches closer to the plants, slipping underneath the leaves and close to the stems and routing out any and all weeds lurking there. The cultivator leaves the ground in ridges and aerates it, the scuffle levels it again and produces a fine dust-mulch which will preserve the moisture until another rain calls for the use of the cultivator.

Unless the season is a very rainy one, one good cultivation a week, either with scuffle or cultivator, will keep the garden in excellent shape, but every rain MUST be followed by cultivation of some sort, for there is great loss of moisture if this is not done and weeds follow quickly after rain.

The various weeds with which the garden is afflicted come at separate intervals—not all together, and when one has eradicated one set of weeds there is usually a brief interval before the appearance of the next detachment. But one must have them continually in mind and keep a sharp lookout for the first tiny seedlings and destroy them before they have made even one pair of true leaves. Working around individual plants with a trowel or hand weeder has this advantage that it spies out the enemy before it would attract attention if the rows were worked with hoe or cultivator. The severe thinning that such plants as beets, carrots, endive, salsify, onions and the like require clears the rows of weeds and helps materially in general cultivation. This thinning out should always be done prior to cultivating between the rows, then the paths are left clear and untrodden and the garden is a delight to look upon. A basket should be carried along the rows to drop the plants removed so that they may be out of the way when ready to run the cultivator. Nearly all plants which require thinning may be used in setting out fresh rows of vegetables and where there are vacant places in the rows the spaces may be filled up with plants removed from too crowded areas.

The first weeds to appear in the spring are the chickweed and the malice[²] that has remained over from the previous year, being a perennial and a very hardy and persistent one; these two are ploughed under and give little or no trouble if the work has been well done. The new crop does not appear until late in the season—usually in July. Purslaine comes along in June and soon after appears that particular pest of the garden—red root. All these are very easily eradicated when small but the red root is an exceedingly hard weed to pull once it has got a grip on the ground and it must be taken out root and all or it will come up again with not one but several stout stalks, and a more tenacious hold than ever on the soil; it is one of the weeds which are constantly eluding detection until they have gained several inches in height when they defy the hoe and cultivator and call for strenuous hand work!

Many of the garden weeds may be utilized for feeding stock. Belgian hares are fond of the fresh green leaves of malice and pigs enjoy both that and the purslaine and as the former comes at a time when there is little green feed available for the hares it may be pulled and fed rather than turned under. Ragweed is relished by horses and they will frequently go into a patch of it and eat it in preference to good clover growing near by.

[2] Common name "malice" from its bad reputation; properly, mallow (malva rotundifolia).

CHAPTER IV
TRANSPLANTING

Transplanting is one test of a good gardener, another is the care of the plants after they are gotten into the ground—the careful cultivation that forbids a weed to show its head above ground, or a crust to form on the soil after a rain; these two successful operations spell success in the garden—their absence failure.

For several days before the young plants in the hotbed are to be put into the ground they should be hardened by leaving the sash entirely off and by occasionally withholding water that they may be accustomed to the irregular water supply of the open ground, but the beds should be well watered the night before transplanting that the plants may absorb enough moisture to carry them through the ordeal of transplanting and that the soil may have sufficient moisture to adhere to the roots.

The planting lines in the garden should be drawn and the holes for those plants which are to stand some distance apart—such as tomatoes, peppers and the like, should be already dug and, where extra fertilizing is called for, the hills enriched with a good spadeful of well decayed manure and the ground all ready for the plants. In this way transplanting will go forward with the least possible delay and the plants will suffer little, if any, from the change.

It is not at all necessary to wait for a rainy spell as so many think desirable; the most successful planting can be done on a clear, bright day if the work is handled properly; indeed this is just the weather that gives best results, a period of rainy weather with cloudy intervals between is also favorable except for the discomfort of working in the wet but when planting time comes one must not think too much of one's personal comfort,—it is up to one to get things into the ground and growing; we can be comfortable later on when there is time for it.

A rainy spell, broken by hot, sunshiny, muggy days is of all times the worst for transplanting; plants wilt and die in spite of one, fairly cooked by the hot steam engendered by the rain and sunshine, and such planting weather should be avoided unless the season is late and the planting urgent. Only as many plants should be lifted at one time as can be put into the ground before they wilt. Do not try to lift plants separately but lift them in clumps, pressing the trowel well down below the roots and lifting the plants with as little disturbance as possible—never pull up the plants by the tops as one sometimes sees done; this strips off the tender, fibrous roots on which the plant depends for gathering its food. The tap root which remains has little foraging value, it serves, principally, to hold the plant in the ground while the fine, lateral roots are busy collecting food to feed the growing top; if these little feeding roots are destroyed the plant must make a new supply before top growth can be resumed.

Do not attempt to separate the plants at once but carefully release each plant as it is required; in this way they retain their freshness and loss from wilting is minimized.

Make a hole large and deep enough for the roots, setting them deeper than they were in the hotbed, and fill in part of the earth, pressing it down firmly, fill in the hole with water and when it has seeped away fill in the remainder of the earth, leaving it dry, fine and smooth about the plant. Each of these three operations may be completed for the entire row of plants before going on to the next: the plants set in the hole and the first earth drawn up, then all the holes filled with water and by the time the last hole is filled the first will be ready for final filling in with earth. This is a more efficient method than to complete one hole at a time and keeps the plants in better shape.

When the whole planting of one variety of vegetable is completed go over them carefully, noting any wet spots that may appear on the surface and cover them with more dry earth. Remember that it is upon the integrity of the dry mulch that the success of the planting depends. Do not try to protect the plants in any way; if sufficient water has been placed in the hole, the earth firmed sufficiently and an efficient dry mulch provided the plant will be much better off than if protected in any way. Do not water after transplanting until the plants have become established and need it. If for any cause some of the plants show signs of wilting while the dust-mulch is still perfect a hole should be made at one side of the plant and water poured in, recovering the spot with dry earth. If it rains immediately after planting, clearing off with fair weather, the beds must be gone over with the scuffle-hoe to replace the dust-mulch as soon as it can be worked to advantage. One has only to bear in mind that the secret of successful planting is moisture at the roots and dry earth above to succeed.

CHAPTER V
GARDEN TOOLS

Are so important in the proper care of the garden and for the ease with which it may be worked that only the best should be considered; the best, however, need not be the most expensive, but they should be the best adapted to the work to be attempted. It is not necessary that their number be large, indeed, the number of tools really indispensable is relatively small, but definite. A good steel garden rake will be one of the first tools required and this should be of the steel variety, neither too light nor too heavy. Get a good spade with a "D" handle that fits the hand and foot. A wheelbarrow of the wooden sideboard construction will also be required; to these will be added a garden line and a hand cultivator and as this is the most expensive and important tool its selection is of much moment. There are three forms of wheel hoes on the market: the high single wheel, the medium wheel and the low double wheel made to straddle the rows. The double wheeled machines have the advantage of working each side of the row, close to the plants as well as between the rows and if the hoes or cultivator teeth are properly adjusted will do twice the work of a single wheel. Some of the double wheeled cultivators are readily changed into single wheels by removing one wheel. Too high a wheel is not desirable, and as the wheel is the part of the cultivator that bears most of the strain it should be of substantial construction. Most of the machines on the market have as attachments a set of plough blades, four harrow teeth and hoe. My own—a Planet Junior, two-wheel cultivator has also an attachment for creating a dust-mulch, similar to a scuffle-hoe, but this was made especially for the machine by a local blacksmith and is a very useful addition to the outfit.

If one does not object to the extra expense a seeding attachment can be added that will minimize the work of planting the garden. A good machine with seeder that will plant in rows and with all the attachments can be purchased for $16.00 or the same machine which will sow in rows and also in hills 4, 6, 8, 12, or 24 inches apart can be purchased for $19.00 and is a good buy, for a good machine of this kind, if properly cared for, kept under shelter when not in use, oiled occasionally, the attachments kept sharpened and given an occasional coat of paint as required is good for twenty years at least. There are still cheaper machines on the market, single wheel implements with the usual attachments, that will do good work, for as little as $5.25 and $7.50, and two wheelers at $10.00 and one single wheel that is especially designed for wear, with an iron instead of wire wheel, built for service at $7.00.

To this assortment of tools should be added a straight edged garden hoe, or any preferred shaped edge, and a scuffle-hoe. This last is obtainable in 6, 8, 9, and 10 inch blade and costs ninety cents for the 6 inch and $1.00 for the 9 inch size; the ten inch does more rapid work and can be run between rows planted twelve to fifteen inches wide, clearing the entire space between in one operation so that one goes over the ground very rapidly. Useful in any one's hands it is preëminently a woman's tool, no lame and aching back accompanies its use as one does not lean over in hoeing as with the common garden hoe. If I could have but one tool to garden with I think it would be a scuffle-hoe, for no other tool will keep the garden so free from weeds. With the common garden hoe my paths through the garden are usually marked by the wreckage of plants, for use as much care as I can sooner or later I get to hoeing too vigorously and off goes a cabbage, tomato or onion. The scuffle-hoe does not seem to arouse an excess of energy; one goes along smoothly and serenely, leaving clean tilth and undepleted rows of vegetables in one's wake and looking back at the end of each row sees that it is good.

A trowel—or a number of them is better—is a very necessary implement and because one is prone to mislay trowels, or leave one at the hotbed when going for plants it is well to have one for each place and either to attach it to a string to one's belt—if only one is possessed, or to attach a bright red cloth to the handle that it may be identified if dropped among weeds, loose earth or grass for the trowel seems to have a chameleon like nature and takes on the color of its surroundings and becomes invisible to the eye once it has left one's hand. The bright color will save many moments wasted time in looking for it and has proved its worth on more than one occasion. In purchasing a trowel selection should be made of the sort that has the blade and handle in one; this construction, if of steel, will insure a tool that will last until worn out by use, the trowel with a wooden handle has usually a flimsy blade and a handle that is not dependable.

A garden line and reel that may be purchased for $1.75 is a convenient thing to have when laying out lines for planting, but a very good substitute can be produced from an old broom handle and a ball of butcher's twine by sawing the handle into two eighteen inch lengths, boring a hole in one end of each piece and sharpening the other end, passing the ends of the cord through the hole and making a knot too large to slip through the hole, makes the line more convenient to handle than if tied around the stick, as it cannot slip in winding, or any ingenious boy with simple tools can copy the regular reel in a short time. A very simple, home made tool for marking rows equal distances apart consists of a straight pole of wood with a cross piece at one end, fifteen, eighteen or twenty-four inches on each end from the center pole and provided with triangular pieces at the ends and in the center for markers, or wooden rake teeth may be set in holes provided for them. This is drawn along the ground and makes one, two or three rows at one operation. The construction of two or three of these markers is a short job and they save a considerable amount of time in laying out the garden. The twenty-four inch marker can also be used for marking the twelve inch rows by adjusting the pegs. The hand cultivators with seeding attachments have also a marker which while seeding one row marks out the following one.

A watering pot and some kind of spraying apparatus for the use of insecticides will also be needed. A rubber bulb with perforated metal top and bent neck, such as is used for spraying house plants is an excellent thing to use where the use of wood alcohol is indicated. Paris green may be applied from a fine-nosed watering pot if liquid form is used or if a dry application is preferred a common mason quart can with the porcelain lining of the top removed and the latter punched full of holes makes an effective distributor when filled with dry lime or flour and Paris green or hellebore. I have never seen a hand atomizer or spray pump or powder blow gun that was a particle of use; the tyrian sprinklers, however, are practical and useful for spraying in a small way for aphis, red spider and for squash bugs. A knapsack or auto-sprayer with galvanized iron reservoir can be purchased for $6.25, with brass reservoir for $9.50 and is a good investment where there are small fruits—currants, gooseberries, and small trees—and is profitable for a neighborhood garden investment if one does not wish to go to the entire expense for a small garden. Something of the kind is indispensable where potatoes are grown, though for a small patch hand picking of bugs is preferable. A garden fork will be needed in the fall when the potatoes, carrots, parsnips and other root vegetables are to be dug and as wide a one as available should be purchased as the more roots one can lift at a time the more quickly the work will progress. A spading fork is very useful in the garden in loosening the earth about plants, planted a considerable distance apart, when heavy rain has beaten the earth down hard and is especially useful for cultivating about berry plants, young fruit trees and grape vines, where the use of a spade would injure the roots of the plant.

A manure barrel, while not a tool, is a valuable accessory of the garden and its use will notably increase the yield of certain vegetables. A large lard barrel is a good sort to use and it must be prepared by burning out the lard which will likely adhere to it, or it may be washed out with strong soapsuds or lye—a more tedious process. A hole large enough to receive a wooden spigot should be bored a couple of inches above the bottom of the barrel. The barrel should be placed on a firm support—a heavy wooden box answering the purpose, high enough to allow a watering pot to stand beneath the spigot; three or four inches of straw are then placed in the bottom of the barrel for drainage and should come well above the spigot hole; the barrel is then filled full of manure and water turned in until brimming full; a close cover to exclude flies completes the preparation. When the manure liquid is required it is only necessary to place the watering can in position, open the spigot and allow the liquid to run until the can is full. After drawing off a supply of liquid an equal amount of water should be returned to the barrel to keep it always full and ready for use. When first established the liquid will be very strong and it will be best to dilute it, using half water and half liquid, and liquid manure should never be used when the ground is dry, but always after a rain or artificial watering.

A barrel once filled can be used over and over again until the liquid begins to appear pale in color, when the manure should be removed from the barrel and fresh supplied. If there is only a limited demand for this fertilizer, one filling will last out the summer, but where there are a number of uses for it it will need one or more renewals. Any kind of animal manure may be used—that from the horse stable being usually the most available but use may be made of the manure from the cow stable, the sheep pen or the rabbit hutches, but not from the poultry houses as this form is too strong to be used in liquid form, though its use in dry form is excellent for many vegetables.

Tomato supports are among the useful adjuncts of the garden and very good home made ones can be provided by utilizing the wire hoops that come around barrels, stapling them to four stout stakes; by their use a considerably larger number of plants can be grown in a given area and the care and gathering of the fruit will be far pleasanter than where the vines are allowed to lie on the ground.

CHAPTER VI
HOLDING AND INCREASING THE FERTILITY
OF THE SOIL

There is no one thing that the gardener so needs to keep always in mind of more importance than that the soil needs additional fertility; it does not matter how good it may have been originally or how good it was last year; this year it must have returned to it the food that was taken from it last year by the crop that was grown upon it. Any soil that is not virgin soil—soil that has never been used, and that sort of soil is not available in towns and villages if, indeed, it is anywhere in an old, settled country like ours—must have returned to it, year after year, an equivalent of the fertility extracted from it in growing the previous season's crop. It may be that the loss of many seasons must be made good, it may be that the soil was originally deficient in many, or only one, of the elements that make fertility; probably it will lack that most important element of productive soil—humus. Humus, be it understood, is that element in the soil that causes it to appear dark. What it really consists of is decayed vegetable matter and it is always found forming the top soil of virgin, or uncultivated land. It is present in large amounts in woodlands where the falling leaves and surface growth lie on the ground, year after year, and decay and form what is technically known as leaf mould. We know how admirably it is adapted to the growing of house plants, and its value is often erroneously attributed to the plant food it is supposed to contain, but its great value is not so much in its food content as its influence on the soil with which it is combined; by its presence it makes the soil retentive of moisture and this moisture in turn unlocks the chemical elements of the soil so that they become available for food. Soils that are deficient of humus, though otherwise fertile, dry out so badly in summer that unless artificially watered, they will produce little, and even where a sufficient water supply is available the result will fall far short of what would have been produced were the supply of humus sufficient.

Fortunately there are ways of restoring the humus to worn out soils and on the small area of the kitchen garden the process presents little if any difficulty. The most readily available source of humus is found in a liberal application of barnyard manure; this for the quickest and most satisfactory results should be well rotted, but not fired or leached—that is, it should have been saved in such a way that the rain has not washed the fertility out of it in the form of liquid manure, or lack of moisture caused it to heat and burn. The most satisfactory method of handling manure is under shelter in a cement bottom pit with a depression or well for the liquid contents to drain into; this is seldom available in the town or city garden, but an enclosed pen for the manure, where it can be kept in a compact pile and where water can be turned on often enough to prevent firing, answers very well; better still is it to draw the manure on the land as it is produced; this, too, is seldom practicable in the small garden, but a heavy dressing of manure can always be applied in the fall, spread evenly and allowed to lie and rot over winter and be turned under in the spring while it is wet. The rapidity of decay, and hence the availability of the plant food it contains of any vegetable matter turned under in a garden is greatly increased if it is turned under wet, dry material turned under rots very slowly and may be a detriment rather than a help to the crops that are grown over it that season. If a plant sends its roots down into a mass of dry leaves, straw or other material it has no chance to gain either moisture or nourishment and must exist on what little its surface roots can extract from the top layer of soil.

In spading manure into a small strip of land or a bed I usually allow at least one large wheelbarrow to a square yard and this proportion should be observed for the whole garden. Practically about twenty tons of manure per acre will be required for good results, market gardeners often use far more, or a large, two horse load for a strip of land fifty feet square. If the land is light and sandy the manure should be well rotted but on clay or heavy tenacious soil fresh manure gives better results as it breaks apart the particles of the soil, by the expansion caused by heating, and adds sand, which is also a mechanical disintegrant, permanent in effect.

There is another way in which humus can be immediately supplied and that is by applications of woods earth or marsh earth-muck, directly to the soil. Where a supply of either form of humus is available it pays well to employ it. For a number of years I made a practice of keeping track of available sources of humus, noting as I drove about the country where new land was being broken up and especially where marsh land was being ditched and drained; then in the spring I would engage the owner to haul me as many loads as I required, but as the time passed it became necessary to go farther and farther afield until the cost of hauling became prohibitive.

There has been considerable discussion of late in agricultural papers as to the value of raw muck when applied to the land. Muck in its unsubdued state is more of a fuel-peat than a fertilizer; it needs to be subdued by lying out over winter so that the frost may disintegrate it and make it available for plant food, but I have found that it may be made immediately available in its raw state by burying or covering it with a layer of soil to exclude the air and retain moisture; in this form it gradually changes to humus and plants grown in it do exceedingly well. Among interesting experiments conducted to test its use was this conclusive one: deep holes were dug in beds that were to be planted to bedding plants—cannas, salvias and the like; these holes were filled with the raw muck and covered with the soil of the garden and into this the plants were set and the usual culture followed; the results were surprising; salvias, that ordinarily made a growth of about thirty inches reached the astonishing height of nearly five feet and were a mass of blooms; still more astonishing results were discovered in clearing the beds in the fall when it was found that the muck had practically disappeared, the plants having literally consumed it. Left on the surface of the soil the muck would have dried into a hard, intractable mass, fit only for fuel.

If one had a supply of raw muck available and wished to apply it to the garden it could be handled by following the plough and shovelling the muck into the open furrow; the next furrow turned would cover it. It would be of much benefit and would be turned to the surface again in the following spring ploughing. This should not be expected to take the place of barnyard manure, as it would lack some elements contained in that but it could be combined with such commercial fertilizers as the condition of the soil might suggest—lime, for instance, might be indicated by the sourness of the soil. If sorrel is plentiful on the ground it is a pretty good indication that lime is in order, but one need not depend upon its presence for data as these may be quickly attained by the use of blue litmus paper which may be obtained of any druggist. Its use is simple; if the soil is very wet, simply pressing a strip of litmus paper down into it and examining it in an hour's time will indicate, according as it retains its color or turns pink—the acid reaction—the presence of acidity in the soil, or a cupful of the soil may be mixed with water to a thin paste and the paper inserted with the same diagnosis.

Lime is more in the form of a stimulant or indirect fertilizer than a real plant-food; it is in a medical sense an alterative, changing the nature of the soil. It not only sweetens, but mechanically, it binds loose soil, but flocculates or opens up tenacious clayey soils, affording freer passage of air and water and lessening the tendency to wash. It should be applied, on light, sandy soils at the rate of about five hundred pounds per acre or twenty-five pounds to every fifty square feet of garden plot; ten times this amount can be used on a heavy clay soil, but liming of the soil is not necessary every year, about once in five being desirable, so that considered as an expense it is nearly negligible. Slaked lime is best, and wood ashes, which contain about thirty-four per cent. of lime, are valuable aids in building up the fertility of the soil. They should not, however, be mixed with the manure or applied at the same time as they tend to release the ammonia contained in the manure and as ammonia spells nitrate—the most costly of all our commercial fertilizers—the ashes should rather be broadcasted over the ground after the manure is turned in and then mixed with the soil by dragging and harrowing.

There are fourteen different chemical elements that are necessary for plant growth—carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, silicon, calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, magnesium and manganese; the first four are derived directly or indirectly from the air, the remainder from the soil. Virgin soil contains all these soil-derived elements in available form and in sufficient quantities for plant growth, and it has the power to absorb the elements which are derived from the air, but our short sighted methods of soil cultivation, or robbery, deplete the soil of some of its elements faster than it can convert them into available food for the plants. Liberal applications of manure replace the loss more quickly and economically than any other treatment and if this is supplemented with such chemical elements as the soil may seem to be particularly in need of the fertility of the soil will be assured.

The most economical and practical treatment of the soil would be through the analysis of the soil by a soil chemist; this can readily be done by sending a sample of the soil to your state agricultural college which will analyze and advise as to its requirements, or a sample can be given to your county agent who will attend to it and advise you. In this way one works intelligently and wastes neither time nor money in experiments with no definite aim.

Not all of the fourteen different chemical elements required for plant food need to be artificially supplied; there are but three important elements which we need to consider in this connection—nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash and only one of these may be lacking; a soil analysis will indicate which one. Nitrogen is the most expensive of the three; it is available, commercially, in three forms—organic nitrogen, ammonia and nitrates. The organic nitrogen is commonly and most economically derived from tankage and dried blood—by-products of slaughter-houses—dried fish, and refuse from fish canneries and cottonseed meal; they contain, approximately—in dried blood, ten to fifteen per cent.; tankage, seven to nine; dried fish, seven to eight; cottonseed meal, six to seven per cent. These decay rapidly when added to the soil and are particularly valuable when applied to light soils, where nitrates or ammonia leach too rapidly and should not be applied until the crops are up and growing. They make available during their processes of fermentation the phosphoric acid and potash already present in the soil. Sulphate of ammonia, containing about twenty per cent. of nitrogen is a valuable chemical form in which to secure nitrogen as it does not leach from the soil as nitrate of soda does and so can be made available by the plant without loss.

Phosphoric acid is found commercially in the form of superphosphates; these come from phosphate rocks and are first ground, then treated with sulphuric acid. Bone is rich in phosphoric acid and is a very excellent form in which to supply this element to the garden, as it is obtained in several forms—raw bone, coarsely ground, fine ground and bone meal. One may by applying two or more grades secure the fertility of the garden for several years as raw bone decays slowly and will give results for a period of four years while bone meal is immediately available. Potash is most economically supplied by applications of wood ashes. But it must be borne in mind that the use of commercial fertilizers is not intended to replace that of barnyard manure, but rather to supplement it until the soil has regained what it has lost by poor management. Commercial fertilizers will of themselves produce a crop, but it is at the expense of the after-fertility of the land, just as the application of the whip will spur a jaded horse to one more final effort. Liberal applications of manure, leaf mould or muck and bone meal will bring any land that has soil at all, up to a satisfactory condition of fertility in a very few years.

Nor is it necessary to go far afield for the humus for so small a piece of land as a kitchen garden for the material for the finest kind of mould lies right at hand in every bit of outdoors. What nature does in a field and woods she will do in one's dooryard if one will only watch her methods and co-operate with her. In the woods, for instance, she shakes down the ripe leaves from the trees, cuts with frost and age the undergrowth and sends the wind to drift them into piles where she waters and compacts them until in process of time they lose their identity as leaves and plants and become a fine, black mould, fine and warm to the touch and blended with a clean, sharp, white sand, or silicate. To imitate her methods successfully we have only to collect the dead leaves in the fall instead of wastefully burning them, pile them in a heap in some convenient place; surround them with a frame to keep them from being distributed about the premises by fowls or wind and to the nucleus thus formed add any waste matter—animal or vegetable—that will decay, about the place—the weeds from the garden, the wastings from the house and laundry. It is amazing, once one has started to conserve fertility, how much one can find to add to this compost heap; I recall that one spring, from a well-tended compost heap and one horse stable, I had hauled on to the garden ten large, two-horse loads of fertilizer, and put the garden in excellent shape, and not only this,—it had kept the premises tidy as nothing else would have done. The gatherings of the summer and fall will, by spring, have rotted down into available form and the action of the soil, sun and rain will complete the process.

The growing of pet stock on a place adds so greatly to the upkeep of the land that it constitutes an object in itself. Poultry is an abundant source of manure which may be composted in barrels with alternate layers of soil, of lime or of any absorbent material or may be piled on the compost heap and mixed with the vegetable matter. To this will be added the litter from the hen house floors which is rich in droppings and full of earth and ground up leaves and straw. But another source of manure, not enough considered, is found in the droppings from the rabbit hutches. If one raises Belgian hares, as every one who wishes to conserve meat, should, one will find that, in addition to a supply of delicious meat, one has also produced a valuable garden asset in the form of a highly concentrated manure; one will also find that one has practically done away with all waste from the garden as the hares will have consumed all the unusable parts of the vegetables—all such early things that run to seed, as lettuce, endive, swiss chard and the like. A large part of the weeds incident to a garden will also be consumed if pulled and offered them, thus minimizing the weed growth for the coming year, as every weed consumed means just so many less to appear the following year. It will be many years before the lesson of the home garden so insistently brought before us by the war will be lost, but we shall not have gained the full measure of its lesson if we do not realize that the critical shortage of meat is not up to the farmer and stockman altogether, but is a matter for each individual householder to adjust by producing, as far as his environment will permit, his own meat supply, by raising chickens and hares if only room for small stock is available, and pork if it is possible to find room and feed for a pig—and a pig does not require a great amount of room—a six by eight pen will do and a paddock, with grass and fresh water, which need not be more than two rods square, and reasonable attention to sanitation will render him a contented and unobjectionable member of the family and a very savory and profitable member, too, come butchering time. These three things should go hand in hand;—A garden to produce vegetables for the family; live stock to consume the waste from the garden and live stock to furnish fertility for the garden; these three spell fertility for the soil and prosperity for the family.

Where the supply of manure is limited so that the entire garden area cannot be covered, quite as good returns may be secured by following the plough with a load of any manure available, and dropping it in the furrow that will correspond with the planting row—if for corn, every three feet of furrows, setting stakes to indicate the fertilised strips. In a small garden fertiliser may be trundled along in a wheelbarrow and shovelled in with fork or spade. This is an excellent plan in preparing ground for peas.

CHAPTER VII
ASPARAGUS

Is one of the garden assets. Once established an asparagus bed is good for a lifetime, almost; certainly it is a permanent feature of the garden, showing little if any deterioration if well cared for and kept free from weeds.

The starting of an asparagus bed is not the serious undertaking it was a few years ago, as the deep planting then thought so necessary is seldom practised now; instead it is thought sufficient to open a furrow—with the plough, if the planting is large, with the spade, if small—set the plants and fill enough earth to cover the crown of the plant, and, as growth starts, to gradually fill up the furrow until the ground is level. The ground should be of the best and heavily fertilised before planting, for asparagus is a gross feeder and an additional application of coarse ground bone in each hill is well worth while as it furnishes food for two or three years independently of such annual dressing as the bed may receive.

For garden culture where hand cultivation is to be practised, the plants may be set in hills two or three feet apart each way, leaving room to cultivate between each way for the first few years. Two year old roots are the best to use and in planting a little mound of earth should be made in each hill, the roots of the plant spread out around this so that the earth will fit in beneath, close to the under side of the crown, then the earth should be firmed about the roots, a handful of bone meal sprinkled over the soil and the remainder of the soil filled in. Asparagus beds may be set in spring or fall; good results follow either setting. The asparagus bed must be kept free of weeds and grass from the start as once allowed to become infested with foul seed and grass it is a very discouraging proposition. One of the worst weeds to combat is the young asparagus plants which come up every year from self-sown seed; to avoid this the tops should be cut, as soon as the berries are red, and burned. If the tops are burned on the bed the resulting ashes will be of benefit. It has been my observation for many years that the spots where the tops were burned always gave finer stalks than the rest of the bed; this suggests the application of wood ashes as a top dressing after the dressing of manure, which should be applied every spring, has been worked into the soil. A heavy covering of barnyard manure may be applied in the fall and spaded under in the spring, or it may be applied in February; if this is not feasible it is an excellent plan to spade into the space between the hills any available manure—poultry, rabbit or sheep or stable manure that is well rotted. The space between the rows, or paths, should not be broken up when this is done as, if unbroken and hard, it is easier to keep the beds clean and an application of some good herbicide may even be used to keep down weeds here. When the bed has been thoroughly spaded and enriched in this way in the early part of the season I have found the after care of the bed very much more successful than when all over culture was attempted.

The variety to plant is largely a matter of taste—some prefer the green, some the white grasses. Lately a preference is being shown for the green. These will always be preferred by those who like a tender asparagus. The white sorts—Bonvilete and Argenteuile—are unbelievably tough as they appear in the market though beautifully white and of mammoth proportions that make them very attractive; possibly if cut, as the green grasses are, just below the level of the ground they would prove more edible. All asparagus is tough below the ground, green as well as white, and, for this reason, should not be cut much lower than the surface.

Of the green grasses Conover's Colossal and Dreer's Eclipse are excellent sorts, and Columbian Mammoth White is a white variety that is good.

If one wishes young plants for setting one can obtain them very easily by cutting the tops of asparagus when the berries are nearly ripe and piling them in some convenient place where the ground is mellow and free from weeds and grass and leaving them undisturbed for a year; the seeds will germinate and produce a large quantity of thrifty young plants that later may be taken up and set where desired, and all without any care or labor further than the cutting of the tops.

One may begin cutting the asparagus when the bed is two years old, though small stalks will be produced at that age. Cutting at this age should not extend over a period of two weeks and in an established bed should be limited to four. All small stalks should be cut and not allowed to grow during the cutting period as they would exhaust the plant if allowed to grow, but when the cutting period is over they should, of course, be allowed to grow.

Salt was formerly considered essential to successful asparagus culture and certainly does no harm, but its chief value is in keeping down weeds and this can be quite as successfully done by hand cultivation; this is better than to form the habit of depending on some quick, laborless road to clean beds—in the annals of gardening "There ain't no such animule."

CHAPTER VIII
EARLY SPRING VEGETABLES

May be classified under two heads: those that remain in the ground over winter and are ready for use as soon as the frost is out of the ground and those vegetables that, owing to the short time required to bring to maturity, are first available from the present year's planting; among the first may be cited such forms as asparagus, parsnips, salsify, parsley, kale, onions and a few others.

The latter class include such vegetables as beets, lettuce, radishes, endive and early peas, all of which may be planted as soon as the ground can be worked in spring, but for very earliest results use should be made of the hotbed, sowing the seed in February or March according to the latitude and transplanting as soon as the ground can be worked in spring. By doing this from three to six weeks' time may be gained. At the same time that plants from the hotbeds are transplanted seed may be sown in the open ground in adjoining rows or as a continuation of a short row of transplants, to come into use about the time the first planting is exhausted; in this way a succession may be maintained and the ground made to produce a more profitable amount of vegetables as seed may be sown where the transplanted vegetables were grown as soon as they are removed.

BEETS

Which may be planted in open ground as soon as it can be worked in spring, do best on a fibrous loamy soil, but any good, warm, rich loam will grow them satisfactorily; the cleaner the ground and the more thorough the cultivation, however, the more uniform the crop which will be produced. Sow the seed in drills fifteen to twenty inches apart and about ½ inch deep, covering and tramping down the rows. It is customary to sow the seed rather freely when sown by hand, but if the seed is good rather better results follow sowing with a seeder, owing to the more even distribution and the lessened amount of thinning required; if vegetables of this class did not need thinning their cultivation would be robbed of its chief burden; unfortunately they do need it and quite drastic thinning at that; thinning should commence as soon as the beets are large enough to handle, leaving them standing about one inch apart. In about two weeks another thinning may be given. By this time the young beets will be large enough for greens and they may be thinned to stand two inches apart in the row; a third thinning will be final and should leave about four inches between the beets; this will allow room for full maturity and perfectly formed roots. Beets are at their best when about an inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter and this is the size which is utilized for canning; when used of this size about an inch of the top may be left on and they are served whole, dressed with butter and seasoning.

The old Egyptian beet has long been acknowledged as standard, but Crosby's Egyptian is a distinct improvement upon the old form. It is earlier, the color fine and the quality very sweet and tender. Early Model beet is a new comer with an excellent reputation and both are good selections for the home or the market garden.

In sowing in the hotbed it is not necessary to cover more than a fourth of an inch; scatter the seed thinly and transplant in about three to four weeks from the sowing of the seed, or when the plants and weather make the successful planting most assured; set the plants about an inch to an inch and a quarter apart and in using remove every other one; this leaves abundant room for them to develop and makes cultivating and freedom from weeds more assured.

A light application of nitrate of soda will work wonders in growing early beets; scatter the nitrate thinly along the rows and cultivate in, or the nitrate may be dissolved in water and applied from a watering can, care being taken to apply to the soil only and not to the plants. A handful of nitrate, about the usual quantity applied to a two-gallon watering-pot of water, will be sufficient, or a hundred pounds to the acre—this would amount to about twenty-five pounds to the ordinary garden.

Beets may be sown for succession up to the middle of July and will mature a crop for winter use. Late sown beets are less care to cultivate owing to the fact that the season's crop of weeds is by that time pretty well under control.

SWISS CHARD

Has been for several years much exploited by seedsmen as the one indispensable vegetable for the city garden. It is no doubt a dependable source of greens, making a rapid growth of succulent leaves and is one of the showy, effective things in the garden that gives an air of abundance and successful gardening unsurpassed by any other vegetable, but, in my opinion, its merit ends right there and if it were not for its value in furnishing green food in the greatest quantity in the least time I should not give it space in the garden; the midrib, so much recommended for cooking like asparagus, has an unpleasant, earthy taste that, to me at least, is very disagreeable.

Its culture, however, is so easy that it is worth while for any one who likes it to grow it. It can be planted in the open ground as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring, or sown in the hotbed and transplanted, thus gaining three weeks or more; sow in drill, scattering the seed thinly and thin out the plants to stand six inches apart in the rows. A light dressing of nitrate of soda will hasten the growth and render the leaves more tender and succulent. This plant does not need to have successive sowings made as by cutting down to the ground it will make a new growth, and the outside leaves may be gathered, the same as is done with spinach, and so produce a continuous growth of tender, crisp leaves.

There are two varieties of the chard, the Giant Lucullus and the Silver Beet; the latter variety being more delicate in flavor, having less of the earthy taste. A novel variety—a cross between the Swiss Chard and the table beet—is now offered by Luther Burbank which combines with the usual chard qualities, much beauty of foliage, the leaves being gorgeous in pink, yellow, green and white and it would certainly add to the joy of gardening to have so beautiful a thing to tend, for this reason and because the bunnies must have food, I am growing it in my garden this year.

CHINESE CABBAGE

Though not a spring vegetable it is so similar in some respects to Swiss Chard that it may well be a companion vegetable. It much resembles the Romaine or Coss lettuce in its lush, upright leaves. It should not, however, be planted until about the first of July as early plantings run quickly to seed and do not develop the fine big leaves of the type. It may be planted in short rows and transplanted to about nine inches apart when large enough to handle. Nitrate is again indicated for this quick-growing, succulent plant and as soon as the leaves have attained considerable size they should be confined by tying with bast or strips of soft cloth, to prevent their falling apart rather than to blanch them. The outer leaves may be gathered as they mature, leaving the inner leaves to grow and be gathered later. It is eaten raw or cooked like cabbage, being more delicate in flavor and without the objectionable cabbage odor when cooking. The large, fleshy midribs, stripped off the leaf, may be eaten raw with salt like celery or cooked like asparagus. When tied up the plant much resembles a very large, handsome stalk of celery, but with big, broad leaves instead of the feathery fronds of the latter plant.

ENDIVE

Classes with the foregoing vegetables, requiring practically the same treatment. It should be started in the hotbed for early use, transplanting to the open ground when the weather is favorable. As it does not make very rapid growth at first it may as well remain under the favorable guardianship of the warm hotbed until the middle of May, when it should be transplanted in rows, setting the plants six inches or more apart. When the plants are about two-thirds grown they must be drawn together and tied for blanching, without which they are unfit to use; this must be done when the plants are perfectly dry—in the middle of a bright, sunny forenoon, being the best time for the work, otherwise they will rot as they are very sensitive to moisture and prone to decay—as a Japanese friend said of chrysanthemum seed;—"They are very corruptible."

They are a most acceptable addition to salads and combine acceptably with lettuce having a tangy bitterness very piquant, but it is as a garnish that they excel; the fringed and curled fronds, pure white or tinged with green in the less well-blanched specimens, are beautiful indeed and they may well be grown for this alone.

Covering with boards is sometimes resorted to instead of tying, two boards being laid along either side of the row to form a cap. It takes about three weeks to properly blanch endive and the plants should be used as soon as ready. If desired plants may be taken up in the fall and planted in pots or boxes and placed in a light warm cellar or an upstairs window for winter use. As the endive makes a mass of fibrous roots it can be lifted without in any way checking its growth.

The Giant Fringed Endive is one of the best kinds. The Self-blanching Endive is not a satisfactory sort as it lacks the beautiful color of the blanched sort and is more prone to run to seed; either sort when running up can be cut and fed to the rabbits and so turned to good account, in fact I consider it worth planting for this purpose alone. The Staghorn Endive is an excellent sort for spring growing as, started in the hotbed and transplanted, it does not run to seed—a fault most other varieties are addicted to; this sort may be planted for early salads and the Giant Fringed later for fall and winter. Like all plants which depend upon rapid growth for crispness and flavor an application of nitrate is beneficial to endive and mellow, rich soil should be selected for its growth.

LETTUCE

For the very earliest use plant seed in hotbed and transplant to open ground about the middle of May, setting the plants about a foot apart if head lettuce is desired and, of course, no one who is acquainted with the superior excellence of head lettuce over the leaf variety will care to grow the latter. There are so many excellent varieties of lettuce on the market that one hesitates to recommend any special sort but some are more reliable headers than others. One of the surest headers and an excellent sort to plant in summer as it is more resistant of heat than most sorts, is the Improved Hanson; this variety makes a large, globe-shaped head, so compact that the inner leaves are beautifully blanched and the quality is excellent. For those who like a brown-leaved lettuce and in my opinion this sort excels in flavor all others, the old May King is one of the best and should always find a place in the garden whatever other varieties are grown. It is not as large as lettuce and permits of closer planting than Hanson or All Season—another most excellent head lettuce—a sure header and slow to run to seed; it makes an immense head—almost as large as a Flat Dutch Cabbage, with beautifully blanched inner leaves and a fine, buttery flavor.

Gratifying evidences of your own care and industry

Of the loose-leaved lettuce the Grand Rapids Forcing Lettuce is the best known. This is a good sort to grow in the hotbed and may be allowed to remain after the other vegetables are removed, resetting to stand a few inches apart. The leaves are upright and loose, beautifully green and curled and the flavor crisp and delicious. It may be grown to use while the other sorts are heading.

Romaine or Coss Lettuce is the sort served in the big hotels as Romaine salad. It requires transplanting either from the hotbed to the open ground or from the seed row in the open ground to another row. It should stand about four inches apart in the row as the growth is upright, rather than spreading, and when of sufficient size the leaves must be tied together to blanch. It is very crisp and delicious lettuce when quickly grown by the aid of much fertilizer, good culture and moisture, but lacking these is rather tough and bitter. Nitrates may be used to advantage, applied along the rows after the plants are transplanted.

All lettuce is at best in spring and early summer. It is very difficult to grow good lettuce in hot weather. If a width of cheese cloth is stretched over the row and the soil kept moist much better results can be secured. Leaf lettuce is more easily managed in mid-summer than head lettuce and unless one can give special attention this is a better sort to sow for succession.

ONIONS

Are an all-the-year-round vegetable and belong to each season according to how they are handled. For green onions, early in spring, the White Potato, or Multiplier, Onions are deservedly popular; these are usually raised from sets planted in drills where they are to form a permanent bed and cultivated during summer; they form a clump of tender shoots which are ready for use in May. If, however, the bed is neglected and allowed to form sod or weeds the onions deteriorate and become tough and woody; their principal merit consists in their earliness. For first class bunching onions, however, onions with bottoms, one should sow seed in August in a fine, clean seed bed that has been heavily manured, scattering the seed thinly in drills one foot or fifteen inches apart and thin the plants to stand two inches apart in the rows. Onions are quite hardy and will usually winter without protection but in severe climates a light covering of straw or of evergreen boughs will be beneficial; this practice gives very fine green onions early in the spring.

Another practice, very satisfactory for the home garden, consists in planting in early spring the old onions placed in storage for winter use; usually these will have begun to grow by March and are useless for cooking, but if pulled apart and each shoot planted out in good garden soil they will start at once into growth and in a few weeks' time produce a delicious green onion, sweet and of the utmost tenderness. I have found it a good thing to spade the flower beds intended for the growing of annuals and bedding plants early in the season and plant the onions in these, thus saving room in the garden and getting a greater use of the flower beds.

Unlike many vegetables the onion can be grown year after year on the same ground, providing it is well fertilized each year with barnyard manure, so that the humus content of the soil is not depleted. Clean tilth is essential, so that as little hand work as possible may be required for onions tops are exceedingly tender and injury to them checks the growth of the bulbs. The garden overalls adopted by many women for working is a distinct advantage in the onion bed. For onion sets sow seed in drills early in spring; gather the sets when ripe and store in a dry place till spring; slight freezing will not injure them but they must be protected from thawing and freezing.

But for winter onions of notable size and quality the New Onion Culture should be adopted:—This consists in sowing the seed in the hotbed in early spring and transplanting to the open ground when the weather is suitable. Set the tiny plants an inch apart in the rows, thin when big enough to use as green onions, removing every other one leaving them standing two inches apart, thin again to stand four inches apart and grow on until fall. If seed of Prizetaker or Ailsa Craig are used onions quite the equal of the fancy Spanish onions sold in the fruit stores will be produced. The soil must be more than ordinarily rich; besides the spring dressing given the garden before ploughing the space selected for the onions should have well-rotted manure trenched in at the rate of a wheelbarrow load to every square yard: in trenching lay back a spade's depth of soil across the end of the onion bed; fill this space with manure, trench a second row, throwing the soil on top of the manure, fill the fresh trench with manure and continue till the whole bed has been worked over. Rake the bed until the surface is perfectly fine and smooth and sow the seeds in drills fifteen inches apart or set the plants as directed.

Onions are occasionally attacked by root lice which if not at once exterminated will quickly destroy the plants; the lice work on the roots of the onion and the first evidence of their presence is a sickly yellowing of the tops; if an onion is pulled up and examined the presence of the tiny white lice will at once be evident: the remedy is salt and the method of applying is to open a shallow trench beside the rows and scatter salt quite plentifully along it, filling in the earth again; one application will exterminate the lice. Attacks of root lice are by no means common, but the fact that they do occur and are very deadly should make one watchful for the first sign of discoloration in the tops.

When the onion tops show signs of ripening they should be broken down; this is sometimes done by rolling a barrel over them. A light home-made roller may be easily constructed by taking a length of nine inch stove pipe, fitting a piece of wood in each end with a hole through the center to admit a bar of wood or iron which should be attached at the ends to a handle adjusted so as to allow the cylinder to roll; this being light can be rolled over the bed, leveling two or more rows at a time according to the length of the cylinder; it can be quickly constructed of waste material about the place and any piece of wood of suitable length—a couple of lathes, even, will answer, will do for handles. It is a good idea when it is found necessary to employ help in cultivating the garden to have a few little jobs like this on hand in case rain interferes with the work; in this way neither the time of the help nor the money of the employer is wasted and I have found that it gives far better satisfaction to the help if there is something of the kind for him to do so that he need not lose his day's or forenoon's work. Sharpening tools is another job that it pays to remember in the odd moments. A memorandum of things that can be done when it rains, tacked up in a conspicuous place in the work room, toolhouse or barn is a very useful reminder and avoids an awkward delay while one tries to think of something to do.

If possible onions should be dug on a warm, bright day and allowed to lie on the ground until dry and clean; they should then be stored in a dry, airy loft or on a scaffolding. On the hay in a barn is a good place for onions and they can be left there until freezing weather, for the shorter time they are in a warm house the better they will keep. If the temperature drops suddenly a little hay can be thrown over them. Slight freezing does not injure onions, but repeated freezing and thawing does. An upstairs room is better for storing than a cellar unless the latter is unusually dry and not too warm. Onions will, usually, keep in perfect condition until the middle of February or the first of March, when they will begin to grow and should be sorted out, and the sound ones given a cool, dry place and sold or used as quickly as possible and the remainder saved for planting in the open ground.

PARSLEY

So universally used for garnishing and for flavoring soups and salads is of very slow germination and for that reason is more successfully grown when started in hotbeds and transplanted into the open ground in May. The ancients held that parsley should never be sown as they claimed that the seed had to make a journey to Hades and remain six weeks; when sown in the open ground it seems to bear out that theory, so slow is its appearance above ground. In the hotbed it requires about three weeks. England, too, has its superstition of the parsley, believing like the ancients, that it should be planted, not sown, that it must make the long journey to the infernal regions and return and that there the devil takes his tithe of it, for proof of which they point to the fact that a small part only of the seed comes up. A better explanation would be found, I think, in the quality of the seed, the home grown seed coming up quite as well as other seed, the boughten seed sometimes proving unsatisfactory.

The Greeks held the plant in great respect. A crown made of dried and withered leaves was given to the victors in their games. A crown together with a bunch of laurel was dedicated to the god of banquets while all the guests at these feasts wore crowns of parsley under the impression that the herb created quiet and promoted appetite. The Romans also decked themselves in like manner upon similar occasions because they believed that the plant had the power to absorb the fumes of wine and thus prevent drunkenness.

It was parsley that Hercules selected for the making of his first garland of victory. Greek gardens were bordered with parsley and rue, giving rise to the saying, "Oh, we are only at the parsley and rue." As these ancients used the plant in their rejoicing and merrymaking, so, too, it was brought into use in their funeral decorations. Sprigs of the herb were strewn over their dead. According to old folk lore parsley should be sown on Good Friday.

Parsley is a biennial plant, making a fine clump of edible leaves the first year which in mild winters or protected positions survives the winter and starts into growth the following spring. It soon, however, runs to seed and is of no further value except to produce seed. If, however, one wants a small supply of parsley without the annual trouble of sowing and transplanting a small bed of it may be allowed to go to seed and self-sow, when it becomes, practically, a perennial but does not attain the fine quality that the specially grown plant does. A single row through the garden will furnish parsley for an entire neighborhood as the older leaves are gathered as needed and the crown allowed to produce new leaves; this should be done whether the leaves are needed or not as the quality of the new growth will be finer in every way, for leaving the old leaves to mature checks the growth of the crown leaves. Nine inches at least should be allowed between the plants and twelve is better, though when the tiny plants are first transplanted it may seem a long and lonely distance between them, but the plants soon fill up the space.

Very little cultivation is needed between the plants when once they attain full size; the plants are so dense and spreading that they effectually choke out the younger weed growth, but the space between rows should be kept clean.

Of the varieties to plant, only the fine moss curled should be selected. The Champion Moss Curled is a standard sort and one of the best, rich green in color and so crumpled and curled as to have the appearance of moss. Nearly all florists or seedsmen have their own especial brand of seed and one can select those which promise the best product. If desired bunches of the parsley may be lifted in the fall and potted or planted in window-boxes for winter use. They make a most attractive plant for the window and a pot of parsley, one of well-blanched endive and one of red celestial peppers make a most cheerful window decoration for the kitchen or dining-room, as well as furnishing crisp decorative material for the table.

PARSNIPS

May be classed among the early spring vegetables as they are planted as early as the ground can be worked in spring and are likewise ready for use as soon as the frost is out of the ground so that they may be dug; like all root vegetables they require rich, deeply dug or ploughed land. Not less than twelve inches in depth is required for successful cultivation; with shallow cultivation crooked and many branched roots are produced which are unsalable and of little value for home consumption. The long, smooth, beautifully white roots—two inches or more at the crown, are only produced in well-prepared soil.

Parsnips are planted directly in the open ground as soon as the ground can be worked in spring, sowing the seed in drills an inch and a quarter deep, covering and tramping down the rows if the weather is dry. They should be thinned to stand from four to six inches apart in the row that the roots may make perfect development. The rows should be eighteen inches apart and the ground kept loose and clean throughout the growing season.

The usual practice is to let the parsnips remain in the ground over winter, taking up and storing in boxes of slightly moist earth or sand, in the cellar, a supply for winter use. The parsnip is improved in quality by a touch of frost but must be dug before growth starts in the spring.

Parsnips are eaten quite readily by Belgian hares and imperfect or small roots may be sorted out and fed to them, avoiding any loss in grading.

PEAS

Of the very earliest kinds, and that is distinctly the smooth peas, should be gotten into the ground very early in spring. Most of the early sorts will stand considerable cold, but the wrinkled sorts are tender and should not be planted until the weather and soil are warm and reasonably dry. More failures in growing peas come from planting in cold, wet soil, in a mistaken hurry to get early peas than from any other cause.

Ground for peas should be very rich; it is not sufficient that the garden plot has been well manured before ploughing;—the strip allotted to the growing of peas should have additional fertilizer trenched in, especially is this necessary in growing the wrinkled sorts and especially the dwarf peas, such as Nott's Excelsior and the like. These dwarf peas cannot bear a big crop on their abbreviated tops unless forced to production by heavy feeding, but as the wrinkled, medium early and mid-season peas are the most delicious of all in quality, the extra care required is well repaid. Another object in heavy fertilizing is that by this means a succession of peas may be grown on the same ground. Personally I prefer peas that require support to the very dwarf sorts; in the first place you have more vine for the production of pods. You cannot, with the best intentions, get as big a crop from one foot of vine as you can from three, all things being equal. Again, the labor of gathering pods from upright growing vines where the pods are easily seen and reached is far less than from the prostrate vines which must be lifted or looked under in search of pods. Wire netting furnishes a better support than brush and where the gardener is a woman is much pleasanter to work about. Brush has an unpleasant habit of catching on the clothing and twisting around, often to the injury of the vine, but the netting gives a firm support, to which the vine readily attaches itself.

In the home garden the best way to plant peas is in double rows a foot apart, making the trench about three inches deep and dropping the peas as evenly as possible. Early sown peas do not require as deep planting as the wrinkled sorts which may be planted four or five inches deep to avoid blight. As the wrinkled sorts are very tender they should not go into the ground before corn planting time and not then unless the nights and soil are warm.

An excellent arrangement for a succession of peas in the home garden is to prepare the rows by trenching in manure and then make two furrows a foot apart and in one furrow plant the earliest peas and in the other a second early pea, stretching a four or five foot width of wire netting between the rows; this extends the bearing season a couple of weeks. When all the pods have formed on the earliest varieties of vines a second furrow may be opened beside it and a wrinkled sort of medium earliness be planted; these will be ready to climb about the time the first vines are turning yellow when they may be pulled up, leaving their place for the new vines. This system of succession of planting may be repeated on the other side of the netting, thus giving four sowings of peas to one strip of netting and a succession of peas for several weeks.

The germination of the seed may be hastened by soaking the seed over night in warm water and when sowing unsoaked seed, in dry weather, germination is hastened by pouring hot water into the trench before covering the seed.

The experienced gardener will have his pet variety of peas but the amateur will be somewhat afield in selection so I would suggest as a desirable early sort the Gradus or Prosperity Pea, a delicious sort of the tall kind that has much to recommend it. American Wonder is another extra early pea of a wrinkled sort that appeals to those who prefer a dwarf pea, being but a foot in height and compares in general excellence with Nott's Excelsior. On the same trellis with Gradus may be planted the Senator Pea; this is a number one pea in every respect—quality, quantity and appearance; following these one may plant more Senators and the Telephone; these will give a succession of peas for several weeks.

So many enemies conspire against the pea that close watch must be kept from the planting of the seed until the plants are well above the ground. Usually the chief depredation comes from moles which run along underneath the seed and destroy it; poisoned bait placed in the trench along with the seed often destroys the moles before much damage is done. A mole trap set at each end of the row or at the point where the mole enters the run will often prove effective. A very successful home made trap consists of a large can or crock—a lard can is good, sunk in the ground and a trap consisting of a long, endless box with about a third of the bottom sawed apart and pivoted on nails driven through the side, so that anything entering at one end will drop through the swinging trap into the can beneath, which should be kept full of water; this arrangement will catch more moles than any steel trap with which I am familiar, and as the presence of the moles in the garden threatens other vegetables as well as the peas it will be time well spent to prepare one or more of these traps for use when occasion arises; the making of these traps may well be put on the list of rainy day tasks.

Cutworms sometimes take the peas as fast as they appear above the ground; poisoned bait along the rows before the peas break the ground will dispose of this enemy. Blackbirds often destroy a planting of peas before their presence is suspected and English sparrows have been known to do much damage, so if one would enjoy fresh, home grown peas one must exercise due vigilance.

The use of Mulford and other cultures for inoculating peas is growing in practice among the most progressive gardeners and is a very wise precaution to take; especially is it desirable in intensive culture suggested by growing two crops of peas on the same strip of land. Peas, like all legumes, are nitrogen feeders and gatherers and the use of the culture supplies the young plant, at the start, with nitrogen and puts it in shape to begin the accumulation of nitrogen from the air by its own efforts. The nitrogen gathered from the air is stored up on the roots in the form of nodules or bunches, and it is for this reason that the growing of all legumes is so beneficial to the soil. If when the first planting of peas is matured and gathered the vines are cut or broken off close to the ground, instead of being pulled up, root and all, this supply of nitrogen will remain in the soil and be available for the succeeding crop.

The inoculating of the seed is very simple: the small bottles, which, by the way, cost but twenty-five cents for garden size, are only one-fourth full; simply fill up the bottle with water and moisten the seed before planting; this is all, and the same bottle will supply inoculating material for the beans which also being legumes respond favorably to the treatment.

RADISHES

A few radishes may be grown in the hotbed for very early use, but the main planting should be in the open ground. It is hardly worth while to devote any definite part of the garden to radishes as room can be found for them among the other vegetables. An excellent way to grow them is to drop seeds at intervals along the rows of beets, carrots, parsnips and salsify. All these seeds are slow in germinating and by dropping in occasional radish seeds which germinate in from three to five days the rows will be marked so that they may be kept cultivated without waiting for the plants to appear and indicate the rows. A surprising amount of radishes will be grown in this way, without any special labor and loss of ground; and they will be out of the way before the ground is needed for the permanent occupant of the row.

The turnip rooted sorts are the most quickly and easily grown, the Twenty Day as its name indicates being ready for use in twenty days and the French Breakfast and Improved Breakfast Radish being ready in twenty-five; both of these are very tender, crisp and mild sorts and beautiful in appearance, white at the base and scarlet above, making a beautiful appearance when prepared for the breakfast table with a bit of the green top for contrast. For those who prefer a white radish the Icicle Radish is a fine sort, crisp and tender and does not grow coarse or pithy until quite large.

If one wishes to devote a definite space to radishes and maintain a succession of plants it will be a good plan to drop a seed in the ground for each radish pulled; in this way there will be a constant supply of young, crisp radishes all summer.

Where only a few are desired it is a good plan to plant a short space of the rows devoted to other vegetables to radishes and lettuce and perhaps a few plants of endive and parsley next to the path and near the house so that they may be easily got at without walking on the newly cultivated ground.

SALSIFY

Is another plant that is started very early in the spring and eaten as soon as the frost is out of the ground. It is one of the most useful and delicious of this class of plants and is not nearly as much cultivated as it should be. Sliced and cooked tender it makes, when combined with milk, seasoning and cracker crumbs, a most acceptable substitute for oyster soup or, cooked, mashed and mixed with a little flour and seasoning and butter, dipped in egg and bread crumbs, it makes delicious little cakes when fried. Its culture is simple, any good, light fertile soil producing a good crop, but to produce clean, smooth roots it should be deeply dug and well cultivated. Sow the seed in shallow drills early in the season; thin to stand six inches apart in the row. It is hardy and may remain in the ground all winter, but a supply for winter use should be dug at the approach of cold weather and stored in boxes of sand or earth in the root cellar. As soon as the frost is out of the ground in spring and before growth starts they must be dug. If it is desired to grow seed the plants should be set out again, or may be left where they are if the ground is not needed for other vegetables, and cultivated the same as seedling plants.

SPINACH

The most important of the vegetables grown for greens, should be sown in the open ground as early as the ground can be worked if wanted for early spring and summer use. For fall and winter use sow in September. For a succession sow every two weeks. Sow in drills one foot apart and one inch deep, in soil as fertile as one can compass; the soil cannot be too rich for spinach, as upon the rapidity of its growth depends the tenderness and succulence of its leaves; in poor soil, especially if allowed to suffer for water, the leaves will be tough and ill-flavored. Light applications of nitrate of soda have a magic effect on spinach and should be applied lightly every two weeks.

The Round Seeded Savoy is a standard sort, with thick, fleshy leaves, curled and crinkled; the New Zealand is a good sort for summer as it withstands heat well and is slow to run to seed. In gathering the spinach the entire top may be cut off a bit above the crown; this induces a new, quick, tender growth of leaves.

In planting for spring and winter use the beds should be covered with straw at the approach of cold weather. Spinach often self-sows and gives a volunteer crop the following spring. When the spinach begins to send up seed stalks it may be cut and fed to the rabbits and so waste that would otherwise ensue may be avoided.

CHAPTER IX
MID-SEASON VEGETABLES

BEANS

Being somewhat tender, should not be planted until the ground is warm in spring. Corn-planting time will do for the field and navy bean, but the white podded string bean and the lima bean should not go into the ground until all danger of frost is past and the ground is in growing condition. At the present advanced cost of seed—fifty-five cents a pound for the string and lima sorts with postage added by some dealers, it will not do to take any chances by being in too much of a hurry to get seed into the ground; neither will it pay to buy seed of any but reliable dealers. There has never been a time when so much importance attaches to choosing one's seed merchant wisely. Cheap seed never pays, for the time lost in replanting seed of poor germination, or, worse still, that comes untrue to name, giving one inferior or mongrel vegetables, offsets, many times, the amount saved in money.

String beans are the first form in which this favorite vegetable appears on the table and a very delicious and attractive dish they make when such white wax or golden wax as Wardwell's Kidney, Davis's Kidney Wax, Improved Golden Wax are selected; well grown plants of these varieties, well laden with their long, wax-like pods are a joy to the gardener; and if the pods are gathered as fast as they mature, and this may be done as soon as they whiten, up to the time they are fully grown, when they will still be sweet and tender, the bushes will continue to bear heavily until cut down by the frost; this should always be done whether the beans are wanted for use or not; they can be canned, sold, or given away or fed to the pig—anything rather than to check the vines' bearing. If one wishes to save seed for the next year's planting, and this is worth while when such high prices prevail, it will be well to set aside a row, or portion of a row, for seed, allowing the first pods to ripen as this establishes the early bearing characteristic of the plant.

In planting beans good soil should be chosen, but beans do not need rich soil as many other garden vegetables do. It is said that beans will grow on soil that will not grow anything else; this is rather an extreme statement, but it is a fact that they will thrive where more exacting plants will languish; this is accounted for by the fact that the bean is a legume and so empowered to draw an important part of its nourishment from the air in the form of nitrates, which it stores in little pockets or nodules on its roots and so has a larder of its own to draw on.

Open a drill a couple of inches deep and drop the beans at regular intervals two or three inches apart, or they may be planted three or four in hills, six inches apart; cover and tramp down the rows and draw the rake lightly over them. Except for the distance at which they are planted, all beans require practically the same treatment; they should never be cultivated when wet or gathered or handled in any way; the rule should be to give them a wide berth in wet weather; working among them when wet is the cause of the disfiguring rust that makes them unsalable and in bad cases uneatable. Wardwell's and Davis's Kidney Wax are as free from rust as any of the white podded varieties and are the best selections the amateur gardener can make.

For those who like a green podded bean the Stringless Green Pod is a fine variety and very popular with gardeners. Giant Stringless, Green Pod and Longfellow make up a trio of beans hard to beat.

Boston pea bean or navy bean is the best selection for baked beans; these should be allowed to ripen their pods until quite dry. The usual method of harvesting is to wait until all the beans are ripe in late summer and harvest by pulling the vines and piling in heaps until dry; this is not an economical way, however, nor specially adapted to the small home garden; a better way is to gather the pods as fast as they ripen, storing them in a dry, airy place until ready to shell easily; if this is done many more beans will be produced and there will be no loss from the earlier beans shelling out on the ground as they will when the vines are left for the entire crop to ripen. Usually it will be necessary to go over the vines about four times but the result will be a much greater quantity of beans and all in the finest possible condition; when left until all are ripe it will be found that there is a considerable amount of mouldy or injured beans.

Lima beans require somewhat different treatment from the string or navy bean; to begin with they require a much richer soil and the ground should be well manured and a supplementary dressing of hen manure, rabbit droppings or ashes about the plants when well established will be of much benefit; they require more room in the row than the string beans, not less than eight or nine inches with the rows two feet apart; the beans should be planted about two inches deep, setting the seed with the eyes downward and covering and tramping the rows. Rather late planting is advisable for limas than for string beans and for very early beans a few may be started in the hotbed and transplanted in the open ground about the twentieth of May at the north—add or subtract a week for each hundred miles north or south. The bean, having no tap root and a broad spread of lateral roots, is one of the easiest plants to transplant and by starting a hundred plants in the hotbed a much earlier crop will be obtained; that will be filling up the time while the open air planting is coming forward.

Another very important advantage in starting seed in the hotbed is the larger per cent. of plants obtained; if good seed is used every one may be depended upon to grow. The hotbed also affords protection from the enemies that destroy the lima, one of the most destructive being hens, and it will be wise to assure Biddy's absence from the garden until the beans are showing their first leaves as the succulent looking white seeds that first break through the ground have an irresistible attraction for her and she will walk along the rows, nipping off every pod as it appears; this seems to be due to curiosity as she does not eat, but drops them on the ground; I have seen whole plantings of lima beans destroyed in this way. English sparrows also are known to destroy the tops. String beans do not offer the temptation that the limas do so are seldom molested.

For the home garden the bush limas are to be preferred as they take less room and are easier to handle. The Improved Fordhook Bush Lima is one of the best varieties if not the best. The New Wonder Bush Lima is highly recommended. Beans may be planted every two weeks for succession up to August. Dry limas that remain on the vines in fall may be used for cooking in winter. Limas are not injured by light frosts as much as the other varieties of beans; the pods cuddling under the thick foliage are protected and one can frequently gather a mess after the frost has cut everything else in the garden; the thick pods, too, are a protection to the beans inside.

If it is desired to grow pole limas set the poles four feet apart each way and plant five or six beans to each hill and thin to three when the plants are up; when the plants have reached the top of the pole pinch out the top; add a spadeful of well-rotted manure to each hill before planting, mixing it thoroughly with the soil. Carpenteria is about the best of the pole limas and Early Leviathan Lima is another good sort. Wire netting may be used in place of poles and will be found more convenient and economical. Treating the beans with farmogerm, Mulford or other culture is advisable.

CABBAGE

For early cabbage sow seed in the hotbed or in flats in the house and transplant to the open ground in May. Cabbage are not injured by light frosts and can go into the ground earlier than most other garden stuff; usually the early sorts are selected for first planting but the late and winter sorts will, if started in heat, do about as well as the early; it is largely a matter of handling. The Late Flat Dutch is an excellent sort for the first planting as it is a very sure header, giving large, flat heads of the best quality. In twelve years' experience in growing this variety I have never found a diseased plant nor, except in a year of very exceptional weather, a soft head. They keep well over winter and are altogether a very satisfactory all round cabbage.

In transplanting the plants from the hotbed to the open ground all but the upper pair of leaves should be removed and these may have the upper half clipped; this gives the roots a chance to establish themselves before they are called upon to support top growth. Set the plants about two feet apart each way, or the rows two feet apart and the plants twenty inches; the nearer distance is tenable if one raises rabbits as the lower leaves may be removed and fed to them, thus giving the plants more room; they should close up the gaps between them when fully grown as this shades the ground and conserves moisture—an important feature in a dry season. The ground should be kept well cultivated and free from weeds as long as work can be carried on among them and when the cultivator can no longer be used the scuffle-hoe can be introduced under and between them without injury to the leaves. In hoeing or cultivating draw the earth up towards the plants.

When the heads are filled out and hard and it is not desired to gather them they may be kept from splitting by pulling the roots loose on one side and bending them over.

The principal enemy of the cabbage is the white butterfly and its offspring—the green caterpillar. There are many ways of combating this pest; the most effectual way, early in the season is dusting with Paris green mixed with flour. A convenient way to apply is to take a quart Mason jar, take the lid, remove the porcelain lining and punch the top full of holes, fill the can with flour mixed with one teaspoon of fresh Paris green and sift over the plants while wet with dew at the first appearance of the pest; this should not be used after the heads have formed; after this sprinkling with salt and working it in between the loose leaves of the head is often effectual. Dusting with dry earth sometimes has a deterrent effect on the worms.

The grey aphis is another most troublesome pest; this comes so insidiously that the plants are well infested before their presence is suspected. Spraying with kerosene emulsion is sometimes effectual if the heads are not too far advanced. Spraying with zenoleum—a tablespoonful to two quarts of water—will kill every louse it touches and by its odor discourage any intending arrivals, but this should not be used where the heads are at all advanced, though a hard rain would rid the plants of the odor of both zenoleum and kerosene. Soapsuds, especially whale oil and nicotine, are suggested and hand picking of worms is not without its value. Spraying with hot water 140° is effectual and safe and cleanses and stimulates the plants.

Cut worms are very destructive to cabbage when first set out; their depredations may be guarded against by enclosing the stem of the plant in a band of stiff paper when planting; this should go into the ground an inch and extend up the stem two or three inches. Strewing poisoned bait along the intended rows for a night or two is suggested but this is a dangerous practice where there is poultry at liberty; baiting after the plants are set is often successful, too, but the best safeguard is to have a good supply of surplus plants in the hotbed. The rows should be looked over the first thing in the morning after planting to discover what plants have been cut and wherever a plant is missing the worm should be looked for, and when found killed; this is really the most satisfactory way of eradicating the pest. The worm never goes more than two or three inches from the plant and will be found somewhere just below the surface of the ground, usually under some bit of roughage that makes a little hollow. If there is a piece of sod or clover-land near the garden the cut worms will usually begin their work from that side and if a planting of cabbage is made a few days in advance of other plants this will serve as a trap for the worms and hunting and killing them for a few days will make the planting safe for the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.

A little nitrate of soda sprinkled around the plants is a great incentive to growth.

For winter cabbage sow seed in the open ground in May and transplant into permanent rows as soon as large enough, giving the plants more room than early cabbage. Late Flat Dutch, Wakefield, Danish Roundhead and Dutch Winter or Hollander are all good sorts which will prove good keepers and sellers.

If in setting out plants of winter cabbage it is found that there are more plants than are needed, they may be allowed to remain where they are and given a little protection, such as boards, cornstalks or evergreens, and can be used for setting out the following spring.

CAULIFLOWER

Require the same general treatment as cabbage. They are set somewhat closer in the rows and cultivated the same as cabbage; however, for the best results it is desirable to transplant the cauliflower from the hotbed into cold frames as soon as they have their second pair of leaves, setting three inches apart each way and as soon as they resume growth giving a light application of nitrate of soda, then transplant when the weather is favorable. Cauliflower are quite hardy and not injured by early fall frosts, making steady growth until severe cold weather and many heads that have failed to fill during the fall will fill out finely in November.

As soon as the curd, or head, forms and has made a little size the leaves must be drawn over it and tied to exclude rain and light; this must be done when the plants are perfectly dry and the weather clear, a sunny day about noon is the best time for the work. If tied up when wet or damp the heads will rot. If not tied up growth will start in the heads, they will turn purple and green and be unfit for food. It is upon the successful tying up of the cauliflower that its successful culture depends; like the cabbage it requires a rich, well fertilized soil and applications of nitrate of soda once a week during the growing season will hasten the development of the head; wood ashes, too, are beneficial.

The insect enemies of the cauliflower are those of the cabbage, but they molest it in a somewhat lesser degree. The remedies to be employed are the same.

There are two important varieties of cauliflower—the Snowball and the Dry Weather. The former is a poor cropper in dry seasons unless artificial irrigation can be supplied. The Dry Weather Cauliflower, on the other hand, seems to be at its best in a dry season and will give fine heads when the other fails. As one can not forecast what the rainfall of any given season will be it is well to be provided against any contingency by planting both varieties of cauliflower; by this forethought one will be assured of a crop whatever the weather and the snowballs that failed to head during August and September may come on in October and November and give a late crop for pickling.

In the majority of gardens cauliflowers are grown exclusively for pickling; this is a mistake for there is no vegetable more delicate and toothsome than this; it outclasses cabbage and when fried in batter or breaded with egg and cracker crumbs, it affords a most excellent substitute for meat, indeed, it is really more acceptable when no meat dish accompanies it; for this reason—its desirability as a table vegetable—special pains should be taken to produce early heads, by starting in hotbeds, transplanting into cold frames, fertilizing with nitrate and giving special attention to thorough cultivation throughout its growing period. If water can be supplied, a thorough drenching of the roots once or twice a week, followed by a cultivation the following morning to restore the dust-mulch, will be of much benefit.

The green cabbage worm is sometimes very troublesome on the heads and leaves of cauliflowers and one should watch for the presence of the white cabbage butterfly as this will indicate whether one may expect an attack of caterpillars. If once the worms have become established spraying with hot water of from 130° to 140° will exterminate all with which it comes in contact, as worms are far more sensitive to hot water than are the plants which they infect.

CORN

Is one of the most profitable of the garden's offerings; there is, practically, no loss connected with it; a delicious vegetable for the table in its green state, fresh from the stalk; it is equally welcome when it appears sweet and toothsome from the can in winter or, conserved in a dried state, is soaked and cooked the same as fresh corn. There is no waste in the unused corn that remains ungathered on the stalks for it may be saved for seed another year or fed to the poultry, while the stalks, cut and cured, make excellent feed for cow, horse or rabbits. Cut while green and made into ensilage it is the best substitute for green feed in winter for any animal that eats green food. Much green feed for stock may be secured from the corn patch in summer by removing all the side shoots that do not bear ears and feeding them to the pigs or rabbits. This is of benefit to the corn as it allows all the strength of the plant to go into the ears instead of being wasted in growing useless foliage.

Corn is a gross feeder and requires a deep, mellow, fertile soil, well enriched with barnyard manure. Clover sod well manured and ploughed will give the maximum amount of corn, but any good soil if fertilized will produce good corn.

Corn is somewhat tender and should not be planted until the ground is warm, but in the small home garden where a small amount of seed is required a little risk may be run by planting early in May and replanting if an early frost catches the crop. It is not, as a general thing, the spring frost that does the most damage, especially with field corn, it is the late frost that catches the corn still in the milk that does the damage, so that anything that pushes the crop along to maturity before danger of fall frost is of moment. This is one reason why heavy fertilizing is so important,—it speeds up the maturing of the corn and gets it beyond the danger line in time.

Sweet corn may be planted in drills or in hills, but I prefer the hill method. Even in a small patch that can be worked but one way with a horse or cultivator—there is always a hoe to take care of the space between the hills.

The rows should be three feet apart and the corn in hills three feet apart, or if planted in rows make the rows four feet apart and the corn twelve inches apart. Drop several kernels in each hill and thin to three plants to a hill when the corn is up and danger of frost is passed. One pound of seed will plant a hundred hills or from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet of row. If hard frost threatens just as the corn is coming through the ground, throwing earth over it with a hoe will often afford sufficient protection to save it.

In a small garden patch it is not much work to stick a mark of some kind in the center of each hill and if this is done cultivation can commence at once and a hard crust be prevented from forming; this will hasten the germination of the seed and insure the elimination of weeds at the start.

There are many varieties of sweet corn advertised, each seedsman having his own favorite specialty, but there are really but two that one need take into consideration—the old, reliable Stowell's Evergreen and the new Bantam Evergreen—a cross between that exceptionally sweet corn, the Golden Bantam, and Stowell's Evergreen, and combining the great qualities of both parents, the delicious sweetness and tenderness and earliness of Bantam with the more generous size and more tender skin of the Evergreen. Plant these two varieties and have the best to be obtained in sweet corn. One planting of Evergreen will give big generous ears of late corn, while for succession the Bantam may be planted every two weeks up to July.

When the corn is a couple of feet high it will be well to go through the patch and remove all suckers or barren stalks so as to conserve all the food and moisture for the production of ears.

In addition to barnyard manure, wood ashes is an important fertilizer for corn, supplying the potash so essential to its growth; this may be put in the hill at the time the corn is planted or may be scattered about the plants after they are up and hoed into the soil; it should not be applied in connection with manure as it has a tendency to release the ammonia content of the manure, but should be applied independently. Droppings from the poultry house may be used in the growing of the corn crop, placing about a teacupful in a hill, but not in contact with the seed. Several barrels of dry droppings should be saved during the winter for just this extra fertilizing in the kitchen garden.[³]

Corn is very easily transplanted so that where there is a failure of the corn to germinate in some hills and an over supply in others, the extra plants may be lifted carefully with the spade or trowel and slipped into holes prepared for them where wanted. Last season I had an interesting experience transplanting an entire row of corn, over a foot high. A row of okra had been planted across the garden but failed to appear on schedule time and was finally given up and corn planted in its place; the corn came up and had made several inches of top when to my surprise the okra appeared. It was evident that the two robust plants could not occupy successfully the same ground and I did not wish to sacrifice either, so an equal number of hills were prepared in another part of the garden, fertilized with poultry droppings and ashes and the hills of corn, then over a foot high, lifted, one hill at a time, on a spade and carried and slipped into their holes, and not a plant seemed aware that anything had happened to it; certainly there was no check to the growth, but, by lifting on the spade with plenty of soil adhering, the roots were not disturbed in the least.

Corn has so few enemies that it is scarcely worth while to consider them, the principal one being earworm—a small worm that eats out the tip of the ear; they can be poisoned by dropping Paris green in the axils of the leaves when the plants are young.

CUCUMBERS

For slicing for the table should be planted as soon as the ground is warm or a few seed may be planted on pieces of inverted sod, or in pots or paper bands in the hotbed and transplanted into the open ground about corn-planting time or when the danger of frost is past; this will give several weeks' start on outdoor planting and will also make the plants practically immune from attacks of the striped beetle. Beetles will of course appear, but by the time of their arrival the plants will have attained sufficient size to withstand their attacks, particularly will this be the case if protected with dry earth, sifted over the leaves to roughen them or the application of tobacco tea or tobacco stems or leaves about the plants.

Pieces of sod, about four inches square, should be cut and placed earth-side up close together in the warmest part of the hotbed and several seeds planted on each piece and the whole covered with a fourth of an inch of earth. When ready to transplant lift the pieces on to a flat board or carrier and slip into a hole prepared for them with as little disturbance as possible and press the soil firmly about them so that the air will not get underneath and dry the roots.

There is not too much room for vine vegetables of any sort in the small kitchen garden and if desired the early cucumbers for table use may be grown on netting. The Japanese cucumber is a climbing sort especially addicted to this manner of growth, bears fine, large fruit of most excellent quality and the position on the wire, away from the soil and damp ground, produces a most attractive fruit, free from the yellow blanching that is present on the cucumbers grown on the ground. Last year among a number of these Japanese plants there occurred one or two plants of a snow white cucumber that I found very superior in crispness and flavor to the green fruit. Owing to early frost I was not able to secure seed of this interloper. Mr. Burbank's cucumber seed did not produce a single white seed. This is not, however, a climbing sort, but all vines which have tendrils can be grown on netting. Squash even will grow, bear and seem to enjoy the experience.

Cucumbers when grown for the table should be gathered as soon as of slicing size, whether wanted or not, as allowing the fruit to ripen on the vine stops production; this is especially imperative in the case of pickles which must be removed as soon as of sufficient size to use. The small pickles of an inch and a quarter or less should be gathered first and larger pickles left until the latter part of the season as gathering the cucumbers while very small increases the vine's productiveness and there will always be enough overlooked to supply the larger sort of pickles.

Cucumbers for pickling should not be sown before June and may be planted at any time after that up to mid-July. Plant in hills from four to six feet apart spading in a spadeful of manure in each hill; thin out to three or four plants in a hill when danger of bugs is past; spray with Bordeaux Arsenate of Lead three ounces to a gallon of water, when in danger of beetles or blight; the combination of lead and Bordeaux mixture covers both emergencies.

Keep the ground well cultivated as long as the vines will allow; pinch off the ends of all the vines when about a foot long to induce branching; when the plants begin to bloom notice the presence or absence of bees. Some years the curcubita family fails signally in setting fruit and this is usually caused by lack of pollenization by the bees. On a small patch one may substitute cross-pollenization by carrying pollen from one blossom to another with a camel's hair brush or by shaking the blossoms against each other, but a preventative measure would be to raise a colony or two of bees. Sometimes the presence of some plant especially attractive to bees will lure them away from the melons, cucumbers and like plants. Two years ago the presence of a patch of vetch proved so attractive to the bees that it was not until late in the season that the flowers of a nearby patch of winter squash and citron received sufficient attention to set any fruit. The air was resonant with the hum of bees, but not one was to be seen on the vines.

There are any number of good cucumbers to choose from for general crop. Early Fortune has proved a favorite in my garden. It is a good bearer and quality and appearance are all that could be asked. The Davis Perfect, Arlington White Spine, and Westerfield's Chicago Pickle are all satisfactory sorts to grow.