428 STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



AUTIIMN GARDEXING. 



It seems a little unseasonable to plant or sow in tlie garden in autumn, but 

 market gardeners have learned long since, by experience, that to make their 

 business profitable they must have vegetables in market out of season, and that 

 they make the most profit on truck requiring extra labor, skill and knowledge 

 to jiroduce it. Take, for instance, lettuce. It may be grown so easily after 

 the time for sowing it in the open air, that tlie low price for which it would sell 

 would not compensate for tlic cost of growing it, but when jiropagated by skill, 

 under glass so as to be put upon the market in early spring, it is a paying crop. 



There are some vegetables which, sown in the open ground early in Septem- 

 ber, and properly protected by those having the requisite knowledge, may be 

 perfected so early in spring or summer as to sell at a good profit. Cabbage is 

 one of this class, and if sown about tiie first of September in good, rich ground, 

 transplanted before heavy frost into cold frames, and properly cared for through 

 the winter, may be transplanted again into the open ground as early as the soil 

 is in condition to work in spring, and will be ready for market before the first 

 of July, when they will generally sell at rates that will pay well for all the 

 labor. 



Spinach is another vegetable that can be sown about the first of September, 

 and without any protection will generally pass though the winter with little 

 injury, and be ready for market before the end of April. In some sections 

 they cover it with straw, but we think the gardeners inthe vicinity of lloches- 

 ter seldom cover it. 



Potato onions may be set during the first half of September, and will gen- 

 erally keep better in the ground during the winter than elsewhere, and ripen, 

 or attain a suitable size for bunching and selling green, long before those 

 planted in the spring. We have raised onions from the seed from fall sowing, 

 but they are liable to send up seed-stalks before the bulbs have attained the full 

 growth. — Rural Home. 



HOME-GROWN GARDEN SEEDS. 



The "running out" of varieties of vegetables may in most cases be attribu- 

 ted to careless cultivation and improper selection of seed. With due respect 

 to the good intentions of reputable seedsmen, it is still to be said that there are 

 weighty reasons for the belief that prevails among some of our forehanded 

 gardeners that the '' home-grown seeds" are of more value than those obtained 

 from the dealers. The man who depends on seeds of his own raising and 

 gathering knows what he has, while he who thinks it "cheaper" to purchase 

 his supplies will frequently be disappointed in the liarvest. Much depends on 

 choosing the parent plants. Vegetables can be gradually improved by careful 

 selection and cultivation, while slovenly culture, with poor soil, will cause any 

 variety to deteriorate. We knew a man whose crops were always superior to 

 those of his neighbors, and yet his tillage was the same as theirs. The secret at 

 last leaked out; they begged a little of his seed and were as successful as he. 

 Take, for example, tomatoes. ]iy selecting only such specimens as are per- 

 fectly smootli — of a certain prescribed form, large, and of haiulsome color — 



