102 TRAN8ACTI0NS OF THE ILLINOIS 



fall I put upon it all the stable manure T have and all I can buy for money. 

 You may salt and pepper your beds with guano, bone dust, and super- 

 phosphate, to your heart's content, and then put on a little more — it will do 

 no harm, and will do much good. You can now go to bed and sleep 

 soundly, for you have done what you could. 



If at the harvest, after repeating the above for two years and reach- 

 ing the third season, your sales are not sufficient to cover the cost, why, 

 you are just so much out of pocket ; that's all. But persevere — perad- 

 venture another year will repair misfortune and give a profit. But I 

 would have you know that it is the man and the management that makes 

 the profit, and not so much the sort of a crop grown. 



We cut our asparagus green, not white, /. e., at the top of the ground 

 and not below it. It is more tender, and we think far better ; we tie in 

 bunches two and one-fourth inches in diameter, and eight inches long, 

 and pack in one-third bushel boxes, eighteen bunches to a box, and send 

 to northern markets by express. It requires a quick transit, or it will heat 

 and spoil in the box. Early in the season the price is satisfactory, but 

 soon the market fills up, and you are fortunate if you are paid for your 

 labor. I would be glad to learn if there is any difficulty or any profit in 

 canning asparagus ; and also if the quality of the asparagus is well pre- 

 served in the process of canning? 



Cabbage. — Early cabbage should be started in hot-beds in February 

 in the latitude of Alton, transplanted to a cold frame in March, and set 

 in open ground by the first of April. Early cabbage require, on most 

 soils, seventy-five two-horse wagon loads of stable manure per acre to do 

 well. This will push them up firm and large, while to save the manure 

 will be to lose the cabbage. Late cabbage will do on strong soils without 

 the manure. 



The varieties most in favor with us now are, Wakefield, Winningstadt, 

 Fotler's, and Flat Dutch. These are named in their order of maturity. 

 Plant the early kinds two and one-half feet apart each way, and the later 

 varieties from three to four feet apart each way ; give clean culture in all 

 cases. 



Cauliflower and Celery can be grown with us, but not without special 

 attention, that involves a great deal of labor, unless the summer happens, 

 as the last, to be cold and wet. Usually, our seasons are too hot and dry 

 for these vegetables to do well, and we cheerfully turn these over to our 

 northern growers, who can grow these vegetables in perfection. We 

 think it better to attempt to grow only those kinds that are suited to our 

 latitude and climate. 



The Hubbard Squash is another vegetable that it is almost useless 

 for us to attempt to grow. You in the North may have it. 



Lettuce — For early lettuce, it is best to start the plants in the fall, in 

 cold frames, and winter over. Every body can grow lettuce, and the 

 markets are so glutted with this salad, that there is not much money in it 

 for us who live three hundred miles from market. The same may be said 

 of radishes — easily grown and not much profit in it. 



