State Agricultural Society. 335 



TIME FOR PLANTING. 



Ono of the greatest mistakes connected with gardening in this coun- 

 try is in planting many varieties of seed at the wrong time of the year. 

 Our Winters are so mild in this State that many varieties of vegetables 

 will grow better and be more tender, juicy, and more delicately flavored 

 if grown in the Winter or rainy months than if grown in the Summer or 

 dry season. The seeds of such kinds should be planted in the Fall 

 instead of Spring. 



Our professional gardeners, especially the Portuguese, Italians, and 

 Chinese, understand this, and hence we are so often found admiring the 

 luxuriant growth of the vegetation in their gardens when our own gar- 

 dens arc not yet planted; and hence, too, the " China vegetable man" 

 takes many a dollar from our pockets for vegetables before ours of the 

 same varieties have made their appearance above ground. 



The markets of our cities and towns ure supplied with beets, carrots, 

 parsnips, cabbage, radishes, lettuce, celery, salsify, small onions, and 

 other kinds of vegetables, fresh from the grounds of the professional 

 gardeners and in good condition, during every month of the Winter 

 season. These vegetables are all grown in the open air. The seeds are 

 planted in August and September while the ground is warm, and with 

 care and attention and irrigation they are made to germinate and grow 

 until the first rains fall. These rains find the soil warm, and the rains 

 themselves are generally warm like Spring showers. The vegetables 

 thus started grow rapidly and continue to grow during the whole Win- 

 ter. Here we have a lesson for our grain farmers to learn and imitate. 

 From a small piece of land, prepared as we have directed and sheltered 

 from the winds, the table of every farmer in our State may be supplied 

 with the greatest abundance of fresh vegetables of all the above varie- 

 ties from October to May. 



From this time on may be added asparagus, rhubarb, early peas, cucum- 

 bers, green corn, early beans, squashes, tomatoes, potatoes, and other 

 early vegetables. As the season advances the later kinds and other 

 varieties come on and supj^ly the place of those that are gone by. Add 

 to these luxuries strawberries, raspberries, currants, grapes, cherries, 

 and other and larger fruits in their seasons, and we have a continuous 

 supply of the most delicious vegetables and fruits the year round. Then 

 by a little forethought fresh milk, butter, and cream may be provided 

 from two or three good cows pastured in a small field of Chile clover that 

 will keep green the year round. 



With these facts before us, all of which may be fully realized by any 

 careful and industrious farmer in this State, we may well exclaim, who 

 can live better or cheaper and more independent than a California farmer! 

 What advantages he jrnxy enjoy over his neighbors of the Atlantic States 

 or most any other part of the world! 



It seems not to be generally understood that pea vines will stand a 

 pretty heavy frost without much injury, and that peas planted in the 

 month of January or February will grow and make vines and be all 

 ready to blossom and bear peas uj:>on the first appearance of warm Spring- 

 weather. Such is the fact, and if peas are planted in February in good 

 warm soil, and in a protected locality, they will generally furnish this 

 delicate vegetable for the table before the time it is now generally the 

 custom to plant the seed. 



Potato tops are easily checked in their growth by a slight frost; but 



