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Manual of Gardening (Second Edition)

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In stubborn, heavy soil the best method to pursue in making a permanent
bed is to throw out all the dirt from the trench and replace with good,
fibrous loam.

In setting, 1-year-old plants will prove more satisfactory than older
ones, being less liable to suffer from injury to the root system than
those that have made a larger growth. Two years after setting the crop
may be cut somewhat, but not sooner if a lasting bed is desired, as the
effort to replace the stalks has a tendency to weaken the plant unless
the roots are well established. The cutting should cease in June or
early July, or the roots may be much weakened. In cutting, care should
be taken to insert the knife vertically, so that adjoining crowns will
not be injured (Fig. 296).

[Illustration: Fig. 296. Good _(A)_ and poor _(B)_ modes of inserting
the knife to cut asparagus. Some careful growers pull or break the
shoots rather than cut them.]

The yearly treatment of an asparagus bed consists of cleaning off tops
and weeds in the fall and adding a dressing of well-rotted manure to the
depth of 3 or 4 inches, this manure to be lightly forked into the bed
the following spring; or the tops may be allowed to stand for winter
protection and the mulch left off. A top-dressing of nitrate of soda, at
the rate of 200 pounds per acre, is often beneficial as a spring
stimulant, particularly in the case of an old bed. Good results will
also follow an application of bone meal or superphosphate at the rate of
some 300 to 500 pounds per acre. The practice of sowing salt on an
asparagus bed is almost universal; yet beds that have never received a
pound of salt are found to be as productive as those having received an
annual dressing. Nevertheless, a salt dressing is recommended. Two rows
of asparagus 25 feet long and 3 feet apart should supply a large family
with an abundance throughout the season, and if well taken care of, will
last a number of years.

Conover Colossal is the variety most generally grown, and is perhaps the
most satisfactory sort. Palmetto, a variety originating at the South, is
also very popular.

ARTICHOKE.--The artichoke of literature is a tall, coarse perennial
of the thistle tribe, producing edible flower-heads. Cardoon is a
related plant.

The fleshy scales of the head and the soft "bottom" of the head are the
parts used. The young suckers or shoots may also be tied together and
blanched, using them like asparagus or Swiss chard. But few of these
plants would be needed for a family, as they produce a number of
flower-heads to a plant and a quantity of suckers. The plants should be
set from 2 to 3 feet apart in the row, the rows being 3 feet apart. This
vegetable is not quite hardy in the North, but a covering of leaves or
barnyard litter to the depth of a foot will protect it well. The plant
is perennial, but the best yield comes from young plants. If the heads
are allowed to ripen, they reduce the vitality of the plant.

Artichokes have never become so popular in this country as to have
produced a long list of varieties. Large Green Globe is most commonly
offered by seedsmen. Edible heads should be secured the second year from
seed. Seedlings are likely to vary greatly, and if one is fond of
artichokes, he would do better to propagate by suckers from the
best plants.

These plants make no mean decorative subjects, either massed or in a
mixed border, and from the rarity of their culture are always objects
of interest.

ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM, is a wholly different plant from the above,
although it is commonly known as "artichoke" in this country. It is a
species of sunflower that produces potato-like tubers. These tubers may
be used in lieu of potatoes. They are very palatable to hogs; and when
the plant becomes a weed,--as it often does,--it may be exterminated by
turning the hogs into the field. Hardy, and will grow anywhere.

BEAN.--Every garden grows beans of one kind or another. Under this
general name, many kinds of plants are cultivated. They are all tender,
and the seeds, therefore, should not be planted until the weather is
thoroughly settled; and the soil should be warm and loose. They are all
annuals in northern countries, or treated as such.

The bean plants may be classified in various ways. In respect to
stature, they may be thrown into three general categories; viz. the pole
or climbing beans, the bush beans, and the strict-growing or upright
beans (as the Broad or Windsor bean).

In respect to their uses, beans again may be divided into three
categories; viz. those used as string or snap beans, the entire pod
being eaten; those that are used as shell beans, the full-size but
immature beans being shelled from the pod and cooked; dry beans, or
those eaten in their dry or winter condition. The same variety of bean
may be used for all of these three purposes at different stages of its
development; but as a matter of fact, there are varieties better for one
purpose than the other.

Again, beans may be classified in respect to their species. Those
species that are best known are as follows:

(1) Common bean, or _Phaseolus vulgaris,_ of which there are both tall
and bush forms. All the common snap and string beans belong here, as
also the Speckled Cranberry types of pole beans, and the common
field beans.

(2) The Lima beans, or _Phaseolus lunatus._ The larger part of these are
pole beans, but lately dwarf or bush varieties have appeared.

(3) The Scarlet Runner, _Phaseolus multiflorus,_ of which the Scarlet
Runner and White Dutch Runner are familiar examples. The Scarlet Runner
is usually grown as an ornamental vine, and it is perennial in warm
countries, but the seeds are edible as shelled beans. The White Dutch
Runner is oftener cultivated for food.

(4) The Yard-Long, or Asparagus bean, _Dolichos sesquipedalis,_ which
produces long and weak vines and very long, slender pods. The green pods
are eaten, and also the shelled beans. The French Yard-Long is the only
variety of this type that is commonly known in this country. This type
of bean is popular in the Orient.

(5) The Broad beans, of which the Windsor is the common type. These are
much grown in the Old World for stock feed, and they are sometimes used
for human food. They grow to one strict, central, stiff stalk, to a
height of 2 to 4 or 5 feet, and they are very unlike other kinds of
beans in appearance. In this country, they are very little grown on
account of our hot and dry summers. In Canada they are somewhat raised,
and are sometimes used in the making of silage.

(6) The cowpea, which is really a bean (species of _Vigna_), much grown
in the South for hay and green-manuring, is also a very good table
vegetable and one that is destined to increase in popularity for
domestic use.

The culture of the bean, while of the easiest, often proves a failure as
far as the first crop is concerned, from planting the seed before the
ground has become warm and dry. No vegetable seed will decay quicker
than beans, and the delay caused by waiting for the soil to become warm
and free from excessive moisture will be more than made up by the
rapidity of growth when finally they are planted. Beans will grow on
most any land, but the best results may be secured by having the soil
well enriched and in good physical condition.

From the 5th to the 10th of May in the latitude of central New York, it
will be safe to plant beans for an early crop. The beans may be dropped
2 inches deep in shallow drills, the seeds to lie 3 inches apart. Cover
to the surface of the soil, and if the ground be dry, firm it with the
foot or the back of the hoe. For the bush varieties, allow 2 feet
between the drill-rows, but for the dwarf Limas 2-1/2 feet is better.
Pole Limas are usually planted in hills 2 to 3 feet apart in the rows.
Dwarf Limas may be sown thinly in drills.

A large number of the varieties of both the green-podded and the
wax-podded beans are used almost exclusively as snap beans, to be eaten
with the pod while tender. The various strains of the Black Wax are the
most popular string beans. The pole or running beans are used either
green or dried, and the Limas, both tall and dwarf, are well known for
their superior flavor either as shelled or dry beans. The old-fashioned
Cranberry or Horticultural Lima type (a pole form of _Phaseolus
vulgaris_) is probably the best shell bean, but the trouble of poling
makes it unpopular. Dwarf Limas are much more desirable for small
gardens than the pole varieties, as they may be planted much closer, the
bother of procuring poles or twine is avoided, and the garden will have
a more sightly appearance. Both the dwarf Limas and pole Limas require a
longer season in which to mature than the bush beans, and only one
planting is usually made.

The ordinary bush beans may be planted at intervals of two weeks from
the first planting until the 10th of August. Each planting may be made
on ground previously occupied by some early-maturing crop. Thus, the
first to third plantings may be on ground from which has been harvested
a crop of spinach, early radish, or lettuce; after that, on ground where
early peas have been grown; and the later sowings where beets or early
potatoes have grown. String beans for canning are usually taken from the
last crop.

One quart of seed will plant 100 feet of drill of the bush beans; or 1
quart of Limas will plant 100 hills.

Limas are the richest of beans, but they often fail to mature in the
northern states. The land should not be very strong in nitrogen (or
stable manure), else the plants will run too much to vine and be too
late. Choose a fertile sandy or gravelly soil with warm exposure, use
some soluble commercial fertilizer to start them off, and give them the
best of culture. Aim to have the pods set before the droughts of
midsummer come. Good trellises for beans are made by wool twine
stretched between two horizontal wires, one of which is drawn a foot
above the ground and the other 6 or 7 feet high.

Bean plants are not troubled by insects to any extent, but they are
sometimes attacked by blight. When this occurs, do not plant the same
ground to beans again for a year or two.

BEET.--This vegetable is grown for its thick root, and for its
herbage (used as "greens"); and ornamental-leaved varieties are
sometimes planted in flower-gardens.

[Illustration: Fig. 297. Bastian turnip beet.]

Being one of the hardiest of spring vegetables, the seed may be sown as
early in the spring as the ground can be worked. A light, sandy soil is
the best on which to grow beets to perfection, but any well-tilled
garden land will raise satisfactory crops. On heavy ground the turnip
beet gives the best results, as the growth is nearly all at or above the
surface. The long varieties, having tapering roots running deep into the
soil, are liable to be misshapen unless the physical condition of the
soil is such that the roots meet with little obstruction. A succession
of sowings should be made, at intervals of two to three weeks, until
late summer, as the beets are much more desirable in their young stage
than when they have become old and woody. The mangel-wurzel and the
sugar-beet are usually grown as a field crop, and will not enter into
the calculations of the home garden.

In order to hasten the season of the extra-early crop of beets, the
seeds may be sown in boxes or in the soil of a hotbed in February or
March, transplanting the small plants to the open ground at the time the
first sowing of seed is made. As the flat or turnip-rooted varieties
grow at the surface of the ground, the seed may be sown thickly, and as
the more advanced roots are large enough to use they may be pulled,
leaving room for the later ones to develop, thus growing a large
quantity in a small area and having a long season of small beets from
one sowing.

For winter use the late July-sown seed will give the best roots, growing
through the cool months of the fall to a medium size and remaining firm
without being tough or stringy. These may be dug after light frosts and
before any severe cold weather, and stored in barrels or boxes in the
cellar, using enough dry dirt to fill spaces between the roots and cover
them to the depth of 6 inches. These roots, thus packed in a cool
cellar, will be fit to use through the entire winter months. When it can
be had, florists' or sphagnum moss is an excellent medium in which to
pack roots for winter.

The early round or turnip varieties (Fig. 297) are best for early and
summer use. The long blood beets may be used for storing, but these
require a longer season of growth.

BROCCOLI.--is almost identical with the cauliflower, except that it
usually requires a longer season and matures in the fall. It is grown
more generally in Europe than in this country. The special merit of
broccoli is its adaptability for late summer planting and its rapid
growth in the late season. It is said that a large proportion of
broccoli is used in the manufacture of pickles. The culture is the same
as for cauliflower,--deep, moist soil well enriched, cool weather, and
the destruction of the cabbage worm.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS.--The plant is grown for the buttons or sprouts
(miniature cabbage heads) that grow thickly along the stem (Fig. 298).
It should be more generally known, as it is one of the choicest of the
cabbage family, and may be had at its best after the season for
cauliflower has passed. It is the better for being touched by the fall
frosts. The buttons should be cut off rather than broken. The very small
hard "sprouts" or buttons are the best. The culture is essentially the
same as for late cabbage or broccoli. One ounce will sow 100 feet of
drill, or make upward of 2000 plants. Set plants in field 2 to 3 feet
apart, or dwarf varieties closer. They require the entire season in
which to grow.

[Illustration: Fig. 298. Brussels sprouts.]

CABBAGE.--The cabbage is now so extensively grown as a field crop,
from which the market is supplied, and the plants require so much room
that many home-gardeners incline to give up its culture; but the early
varieties, at least, should be grown at home.

For an early crop in the North, the plants must be started either in
February or early March, or the previous September and wintered over in
coldframes. This latter method was once a common practice by gardeners
near large cities, but the building of greenhouses to replace the many
hotbeds of the market-gardener has changed the practice in many
localities, and now most of the early cabbages in the North are grown
from seed sown in January, February, or March. The plants are hardened
off in March and early April and planted out as early as possible. The
private grower, or one with a small garden, may often procure his early
plants from the market-gardener much cheaper than he can grow them, as
usually only a limited number of early cabbage plants are wanted; but
for the midseason and main crop, the seed may be sown in May or June in
a seed-bed, setting the plants in July.

The seed-bed should be made mellow and rich. A good border will do. The
seed is sown preferably in rows, thus allowing thinning of the plants
and the pulling of any weeds that germinate. The young plants will well
repay attention to watering and thinning. The rows should be 3 or 4
inches apart. When the plants are large enough to transplant, they may
be planted where early vegetables have been grown. Set the plants from
18 to 24 inches apart in the row, the rows being 3 feet apart for the
medium-growing kinds. One ounce of seed will furnish about 2000 plants.

All cabbages require deep and rich soil, and one that holds moisture
well. Regular cultivation should be given so that moisture may be saved
and the growth be continuous.

For early planting, the number of varieties is limited to three or four.
For an intermediate crop the list is more extended, and the late
varieties are very numerous. The early list is headed by the Jersey
Wakefield, a variety that heads very quickly, and, although not one of
the solid kinds, is generally grown. The Early York and Winnigstadt are
good varieties to follow it. The latter especially is solid and of very
good quality. For the midseason, the Succession and All Season are of
the best, and for the winter supply the Drumhead, Danish Ball, and Flat
Dutch types are leaders. One of the best of the cabbages for table use
is seldom seen in the garden--the Savoy cabbage. It is a type with
netted leaves, making a large, low-growing head, the center of which is
very solid and of excellent flavor, especially late in the fall, when
the heads have had a slight touch of frost. Savoy should be grown in
every private garden.

The best remedy for the cabbage worm is to kill the first brood on the
very young plants with Paris green. After the plants begin to head,
pyrethrum, kerosene emulsion, or salt water may be used. On a small
area, hand-picking may be recommended (p. 200).

The maggot is the most serious cabbage pest. After studying the seventy
odd remedies proposed, Slingerland concludes that six are efficient and
practicable: growing the young plants in closely covered frames; tarred
paper cards placed snugly about the base of the plants to keep the fly
away; rubbing the eggs from the base of the plant; hand-picking of the
maggots; treating the plants with emulsion of carbolic acid; treating
them with carbon bisulfide. The insecticidal materials are injected or
poured into the soil about the base of the plant (pp. 187, 201).

The club-root, which causes the roots to become greatly thickened and
distorted, is difficult to manage if cabbages or allied plants are grown
continuously on land in which diseased plants have been raised. Changing
the location of the cabbage or cauliflower patch is the best procedure.
If very different crops, as corn, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, are grown on
the land, the disease will be starved out in two or three years
(p. 208).

There are many ways of storing cabbages for winter and spring use, none
of which are uniformly successful. The general subject is discussed on
p. 158. On this point T. Greiner writes as follows: "I have heretofore
piled a lot of cabbages cut from the stump in a conical heap in the
field, and covered them with clusters of the outer leaves cut off with a
piece of the stump. The leaves are carefully placed over the heap in
shingle fashion, so as to shed water. Cabbages thus piled and covered
may be left out until real winter weather sets in. But I find that slugs
and earthworms frequently infest the cabbages thus stored, and do a good
deal of damage. It might be well to place a solid floor of lime or salt
upon the ground, and then pack the cabbages upon this. If to be left out
after severe freezing has set in, one should put additional covering,
such as straw, corn-stalks or marsh hay, over the whole heap." Mr.
Burpee's little book, 'Cabbage and Cauliflower for Profit,' written by
J.M. Lupton, a prominent cabbage-grower, suggests the following plan for
early winter sales: "Take the cabbages up with the roots on, and store
in well-ventilated cellars, where they will keep till mid-winter. Or
stack them in some sheltered position about the barn, placing one above
the other in tiers, with the roots inside, and covering deeply with
seaweed; or if this cannot be obtained, something like cornstalks may be
used to keep them from the weather as much as possible (Fig. 299). When
thus stored, they may be obtained any time during the winter when prices
are favorable."

[Illustration: Fig. 299. A method of storing cabbages.]

CARROT.--While essentially a farm crop in this country, the carrot
is nevertheless a most acceptable garden vegetable. It is hardy and
easily grown. The extra-early varieties may be forced in a hotbed, or
seed may be sown as soon as the ground is fit to work in the spring. The
stump-rooted, or half-long varieties (Fig. 300), are sown for the
general garden crop.

[Illustration: Fig. 300. A half-long carrot.]

Well-enriched, mellow loam, deeply dug or plowed, is best suited to the
requirements of carrots. The seed for the main crop may be sown as late
as July 1. Sow thickly, thinning to 3 to 4 inches in the row. The rows,
if in a garden that is hand-worked, may be 12 inches apart. If the
cultivation is performed with a horse, the rows should be from 2 to 3
feet apart. One ounce will sow 100 feet of drill.

CAULIFLOWER.--This is the choicest of all vegetables of the cabbage
group, and its culture is much the most difficult. While the special
requirements are few, they must be fully met if good results are to
be expected.

The general culture of cauliflower is much like that of cabbage, except
that the cauliflower, being more tender, should be more thoroughly
hardened off before setting out, the heads must be protected from hot
suns, the plants must never suffer for moisture, and the greatest care
must be taken to secure only highly bred seeds.

It is essential that the plants be set out as early as possible, as the
warm weather of June causes them to make imperfect heads unless the soil
is filled with moisture. No garden crop will so well repay the cost and
time of thorough irrigation, either by running the water between the
rows or applying it directly to the plants. When it is impossible to
furnish water and there is danger of losing the soil moisture, it is a
good plan to mulch heavily with straw or some other substance. This
mulch, if put on just after a heavy rain, will hold the moisture for a
long time. Cauliflower prospers best in a cool climate.

When the heads begin to form, the outside leaves may be brought
together and tied above the head, excluding the direct sunshine and
keeping the head white and tender. Fig. 301 shows a good head.

[Illustration: Fig. 301. Cauliflower head with leaves trimmed off.]

No vegetable will respond more quickly to good culture and well-manured
soil than the cauliflower, and none will prove such an utter failure
when neglected. It is imperative that care be taken to destroy all the
cabbage worms before the leaves are tied in, as after that it will be
impossible to see or reach them. From 1000 to 1500 plants may be grown
from 1 ounce of seed. Good cauliflower seed is very expensive.

For winter crop, seeds may be started in June or July, as for late
cabbage.

Erfurt, Snowball, and Paris are popular early varieties. Nonpareil and
Algiers are good late kinds.

CELERIAC.--A form of the celery plant in which the tuberous root is
the edible part (Fig. 302). The tuber has the celery flavor in a
pronounced degree, and is used for flavoring soups and for celery salad.
It may be served raw, sliced in vinegar and oil, or boiled.

The culture is the same as given for celery, except that no earthing or
blanching is required. About an equal number of plants are obtained from
the same weight of seed as from celery seed. Celeriac is extensively
used abroad, but, unfortunately, little known in America.

[Illustration: Fig. 302. Celeriac or turnip-rooted celery.]

CELERY.--Although celery has now become a staple vegetable with all
classes of people, the home-gardener is likely not to attempt its
culture; yet it is not difficult to raise in small quantities in most
any good garden land. While the commercial celery is largely grown on
reclaimed swamp lands, such areas are not at all essential to its
cultivation.

The self-blanching varieties have simplified the culture of celery so
that the amateur, as well as the expert, may have a good supply at least
six months of the year. The so-called new culture, which consists of
setting the plants close together and causing them to shade each other,
can be recommended for the garden when a supply of well-rotted manure is
to had, and when any amount of water is available. This method is as
follows: Fork or spade into the soil a large quantity of manure to the
depth of 10 to 12 inches; pulverize the soil until the ground for the
depth of 4 to 6 inches is in very fine condition. Then set the plants in
rows 10 inches apart and the plants but 5 or 6 inches apart in the rows.
It will be seen that plants set as close as this will soon fill the soil
with a mass of roots and must have large amounts of plant-food, as well
as a large quantity of water; and the making of such a bed can be
recommended only to those who can supply these needs.

The common practice in home gardens is to plow or dig a shallow trench,
setting the plants in the bottom and hoeing in the soil as the plants
grow. The distance apart of the rows and plants will depend on the
varieties. For the dwarf varieties, such as White Plume, Golden
Self-blanching, and others of this type, the rows may be as close as 3
feet and the plants 6 inches in the rows. For the large-growing
varieties, as Kalamazoo, Giant Pascal, and, in fact, most of the late
varieties, the rows may be 4 1/2 to 5 feet apart and the plants 7 or 8
inches in the row.

The seed for an early crop should be sown in February or early in March
in shallow boxes, which may be placed in a hotbed or sunny window, or
sown directly in the soil of a hotbed. Cover the seeds thinly and press
the soil firmly over them. When the seedling plants are about 1 inch
high, they should be transplanted to other boxes or hotbeds, setting the
plants 1 inch apart in rows 3 inches apart. At this transplanting, as
with the following ones, the tall leaves should be cut or pinched off,
leaving only the upright growth, as with the utmost care it is almost
impossible to prevent the outside leafstalks from wilting down and
dying. The roots should also be trimmed back at each transplanting in
order to increase the feeding roots. The plants should be set as deep as
possible, care being taken, however, not to allow the heart of the plant
to be covered up. The varieties usually grown for an early crop are the
so-called self-blanching varieties. They may be made fit for the table
with much less labor than the late crop, the shade required to blanch
the stalks being much less. When only a few short rows are grown in a
private garden, screens of lath may be made by driving stakes on each
side of the row and tacking lath on, leaving spaces of an inch or more
for the light to enter; or each head may be wrapped in paper, or a tile
drain pipe may be set over the plant. In fact, any material that will
exclude the light will render the stalks white and brittle.

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