Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 235 



in the fall a supply of these winter vegetables can be dug and put 

 in the cellar for convenience, and if they are covered with damp 

 earth they will keep fresh and plump until used. In this mild 

 winter we are still using ours from the garden. This holds good 

 for all roots and tubers. 



A great many object to the tedious cultivation all summer of 

 such minute plants as salsify, parsnips and carrots, but we have 

 found a plan to save much of this hand labor while plants are small. 

 Our plan is to mix the seeds and thus plant with them a good 

 sprinkling of radishes, and as you daily pull the radishes you weed 

 and work the other growing plants. This has worked very success- 

 fully with us. 



After planting such spring vegetables as lettuce, radish and 

 spinach our next seeding is green peas, using both dwarf and tall 

 varieties. This crop we rotate so as never to be without them on 

 the table until regular summer vegetables are abundant, or from 

 early in May to the last of July. In 1911 we planted two quarts of 

 Nott's Excelsior and gathered between four and five bushels. Of 

 course, the surplus of this crop was canned for winter use, using 

 the steaming process. 



Too much cannot be said about the simplicity of the steaming 

 process for canning, which process we have used most successfully 

 and conveniently. We believe it possible and practicable to can 

 almost anything by this process and to save time and labor by its 

 use. 



At a cost of two dollars we have a home-made steaming vessel. 

 It is made of heavy galvanized iron. It is ten inches wide by fourteen 

 and a half inches long and twelve inches deep. It has a perforated 

 false bottom, with short legs to raise it off the bottom of the vessel. 

 On this false bottom the jars are placed to prevent burning or 

 scorching. The cover is close fitting and braced across with strips 

 of the same metal to prevent warping. 



It holds six-quart or half-gallon jars and is invaluable and 

 indispensable. In this way we make a kind of wholesale job of 

 canning, and often, for the sake of economy, place the steamer on 

 the kitchen stove while the cook is preparing dinner. Oftentimes 

 we use the coal oil stove to avoid the heat of the cook stove, prepar- 

 ing the vegetables in a cool place, or out on the porch, not touching 

 them until steamed. 



The potato crop for summer use is put in just as soon as the 

 weather will permit — provided it is the dark of the moon or on St. 

 Patrick's Day ( ?) . Last year a bushel of Early Triumph seed sup- 



