THE FARM AND GARDEN, 



learn from those who, having been here several 

 VL-ars, liave thus acquired tlie necessary experi- 

 ence. It is not enoutjh to know that crops must 

 he planted at a different season ; they -require 

 different treatment l)ath in growing and in mar- 

 keting.. It is not niy Lntention .to, give a treatise 

 on market gardening, with specific directions for 

 the cultivation and marketing ot each'crop, to do 

 so would fill all tlie pages of the Fakm and 

 Garden, to tlie e.^Lclusion of much more interest- 

 ing and valuable matter. As an illustration, 

 however, I will say, that in packing tomatoes for 

 shipment, eacli one is wrapped in light manilla 

 paper, such as is used in ])acking oranges. They 

 are picked before they begin to turn red, and if 

 when wrapping them^ the packer finds one that 

 is colored at all, it is thrown out as being loo 

 ripe. 



The principal crops grown in this State are 

 strawberries, tomatoes, string beans, cucumbers, 

 cabbage, watermelons, and Irish potatoes. There 

 are also smaller quantities of Bermuda onions, 

 peas, egg plants, &c., &c. All things considered, 

 tomatoes are probably the most profitable crop, 

 and therefore the most extensively grown. 



A neighbor realized, two or three years ago, a 

 net profit of $300 per acre from a crop of tomatoes, 

 and in the expenses he counted the cost of labor, 

 but such success is unusual. The lift profit will 

 seldom reach $200 per acre, the average will not 

 exceed .$100. 



Strawberries would usually be the most profit- 

 able crop, if it were not for the lack of good 

 shipping facilities. The berries cannot be sent 

 except in refrigerators. As the business is small 

 yet, there is but little competition, and the 

 owners of the refrigerator lines and the commis- 

 sion men between them, manage to get the lion's 

 share of the proceeds, and eat up about all tlie 

 profits. Tiiough small as yet, still there are 

 thousands of quarts sent north every winter, but 

 the expense of freight, rent of refrigerators, 

 commission &c., &c., eat up the profits so that 

 berries which sell in the northern market for 

 from two to three dollars per quart, return the 

 grower less than one dollar per quart' Tiie 

 average net price to the grower in ^his State 

 seldom exceeds twenty to thirty cents per quart. 

 Still at that price they would be very profitable 

 if the crop would all rijien up in a few weeks as 

 at the north. But they begin to ripen here in 

 January or February, and last until June, or 

 about six months. It does not pay to semi straw- 

 berries North much later than .\pril 1st, and 

 often not so late as that. The crop from an acre 

 here will not exceed, in a year, that of a good 

 bed at the North, and as it is scattered over a 

 period of six months, of course single pickings 

 are small. 



Wherever a grower has means to go into the 

 business largely and buy and use his own refrig- 

 erator for shipping the fruit, the jirolils may be 

 more than doubled. Several growers in one 

 neighborhood might Cfimbine and do the same 

 thing. ' As it is, growers have realized in favora- 

 ble seasons, from $600 to $1000 per acre. The 

 two greatest drawbacks, which render the croi< 

 uncertain and deter many from attempting to 

 grow strawberries, are droutli ami frost. The 

 hot summers usually burn up most of the old 

 plants, so that to be successful a new bed should 

 be set every year. This must be done in Sep- 

 tember or October, and often at that time there 

 is so great a drouth tliat it is almost impossible 

 to get the plants to live. A neighbor set a large 

 bed last fall, some forty or fifty dollars worth of 

 I>lants. Owing to severe and protracted drouth 

 many died outright and those that lived were so 

 stunted that he did not sell a quart of berries, in 

 fact, hardly a l>erry ripened before the shipping 

 season was over. 



Last fall, many plants in one old bed near me, 

 survived the drought, blossomed in November, 

 and ripened some berries in December, a small 

 mess being jiicked Christmas day. But the first 

 week in January we had an exceptionally cold 

 spell, which destoyed all the green fruit, bhissonis 

 and buds, so that no more berries ripened until 

 late in February. 



NO EXCELLENCE 'WITHOUT LABOR. 



The Experiences of a Vtrfjinia Farmrr. 



No. '2. 

 The clevis to the plow was not to be found this 

 morning. The "lioys" did not know where it 

 could be, and some little time was spent in look- 

 ing for it, when, as I was going from the shop to 

 the barn, i hit something in the grass that, by its 

 ring, I knew to be iron; There it was. Although 

 ever since they were ir my employ I had done 

 all I could to teach them the necessity of order, 

 a place for everything and to put afl things in 

 their places when the use for them was over, the 



careless tricks still clung to them. Unacetistomed 

 from their earliest life, to discipline, it was hard 

 to be trai' 'd. 



When V Sd, a tool was left with the end of the 

 job, and '.i 'en wanted, to be hunted' up. I re* 

 peatedly U'' uiigUtt.lieni.to uuike.it a'pi?>ctict« to 

 jiut uj) eiTi/rytoi'l, wlu-ii tliryuuh with it, iii the 

 ])roper pUiee,,)iut ^the rcpl^'; eaine tliat, if tiiey 

 always did so so niueh tiriie would be wastrtl 

 that iittle.else' could lie done. The shovels and 

 hoes were left as used, covered with mud and 

 manure, and soon became rusty ahd^in no condi- 

 tion to be used. Harness and other implements 

 were out of repair, but no time could be takeiLto 

 mend them, and soon we could hardly get tools 

 enough to do the work with: 



This careless and disorderly way of procedure 

 in any kind of business is one of the greatest 

 hindrances to success, and is the worst to con- 

 tend with of almost any phase of life. Although 

 I thought'I had been thorough in expressing my 

 wishes to make order the first as well as the con- 

 tinned duty in every move that was made, I 

 found that it had to be understood that it must 

 be complied with. Here on the farm it was as 

 imperative to observe it as in a factory or the 

 supposed higher and more refined and elevated 

 departments of life. Earth's laboratory, where 

 the food is generated, stands at the foundation of 

 the pyranjid of existence, and here order should 

 be the watchwortt,'aiid every workman its faithr 

 ful servant. 



Finally, when I saw I coulil not teach to efl^ect 

 by advice through kind words, and though an 

 effort was now and then made to j>ut up the tools, 

 the general tendency being a continuance of 

 thoughtless, heedless carelessness, I told them, 

 at last, if they wished to stay with me I must be 

 allowed to tell them how I desired my work 

 done, and that they must follow out my wishes 

 or else seek other situations. At first argument 

 and objections to this request were made, but 

 like the excuses of all careless ones, they were 

 oui of place, as they admitted that they received 

 pay from me for their work, which was performed 

 for me, not them, and that it was their duty to 

 work in my interest and follow out my plans. 

 The problem was solved when they saw their re- 

 lation to their employer. I could not exjiect 

 perfect order at once, but the disposition grew 

 apace, and soon all the tools were cleaned when 

 through their use and put up in their places. 

 Pride took the place of indifference, and care and 

 promptness made my help more reliable every 

 month. The "boys" now began to see that there is 

 no excellence without labor. 



The place just oceu])ied by us had been rented 

 out for many years to those who cared only for 

 what could be gathered with the smallest amount 

 of work possible. Of course, there could be no 

 I>erraanent improvements expected from a tenant 

 where capital was required to make them, and 

 when labor was all the eai)ital possessed. This was 

 sparely used, outside of that which was thought 

 to be of present return as compensation. So it 

 went from year to year. The worms were al- 

 lowed to denude the fruit trees, which laid bare 

 their boles to the scorching heat of the fierce 

 summer's sun, and most of them lost the bark 

 from that side so exposed. Few remain that are 

 not as good as dead. Fences all destroyed, 

 hedges and weeds and patches of brush dot this 

 pretty -surfaced land, while the buildings, though 

 apparently in good condition, are sadly out of 

 repair. 



Little, save by dint of hard work, could be ex- 

 pected the first year. To know what is really 

 most profitable to be done requires a little time 

 to become acquainted with the different qualities 

 and conditions of the soil. So we make this an 

 experimental year, hoping to make less mistakes 

 each succeeding year from the past failures. One 

 jirineiple must be followed or failure may any- 

 where be the sequel of our ever so hardly-per- 

 formed work. This is to do well all we under- 

 take, and in fiirming, though it is on a rented 

 place, we can only meet with success by thorough 

 work. It will not pay to get a half crop. The 

 same time is expended that is required for more ; 

 save that when lar(je crops are made more work 

 must be done. 



The old saying that " it takes a year to make a 

 kernel of corn," is not appreciated, but when it 

 is said that but one crop of corn can be made per 

 year, it is easily seen as a fact. The whole year 

 is passed and has to be provided for while one 

 crop is produced. Now, if but a half crop is 

 made, there is usually a waste somewhere, and it 

 matters not whether it is in stingily working our 

 land, and as stingily supplying food for the crops, 

 or in any other manner of bad planning, or ac- 

 tual waste of time. It all amounts to the same 

 result — small pay for whatever work is done. As 

 the man who, to evade th« encroaching briers 

 and brush that are growing around his field, in- 

 stead of cutting them off and making a thorough 



job of destroying the hedges that year by year 

 grow wider until he is surrounded, with hut a 

 small area left him in the- centre. So he who 

 tills in a slip-shod manner, year by year, allows 

 the subsoil to -grow harder and nearer, the sur- 

 .|.fUee, and> l»nil,iget:s/jKivr«p i.ij.-|'lABt tbodtwbere 

 ■^he .roots can reaeh it. ^wiujfhe farm is'^run 

 ilif,"~auil>Iie)SBeks for anew fieUI'lo again be )'«« 

 ««?, becan'se' J)»IJirailyJ>^ will folkiw this same 

 course. ■ ■ ■ 



PRESER'TING 'WATERMELONS AND SQUASHES. 



Bij W. V. Soynton, Appleton, WU. 



It is not generally known-, I think, that water- 

 melons can be* kept iii good condition up to' tlie 

 fore, part of winter. I am led to think that it is 

 not generally known from the fact that it is. but 

 little practiced. The watermelon is too 'fi,»e a 

 fruit to be restricted to any two, or three weeks 

 of the year, when it may be enjoyed for almost 

 as many months. . ■ . ; 



Many of the readers of THE Farm and 

 Garden may know how this desirable., result is 

 to be obtained, but I think that it will not come 

 amiss to give them a fresh reminder, .while the 

 mass-who have never given thesubjjtct a moments 

 thonght may gain an idea, th»t,lfpnr^to actual 

 practice, will add much to their eiijoyiuent and 

 satisfaction. 1 hardly need tell you /«/«• itjcaii 

 be done, as the process is so simple that it is the 

 first that would naturally come to mind. The 

 main idea with me in writing this, is to tell you 

 that it can be done. 



The melons that are to be preserved, should be 

 picked as late in the season as the frost will per- 

 mit, and those that are to be stored away should 

 be just a little green — say a week before ripening. 

 If picked at that particular stage, and laid away 

 as hereafter directed, they will ripen verj' slowly, 

 occupying about three weeks, perhaps, after 

 which they will retain their best qualities for 

 many days, and then commence a gradual deter- 

 ioration. 



The melons should be packed in sawdust, bran, 

 oats, chaff, or any such ilry, tine material that 

 will keep the fruit cool, but still prevent decay. 

 A large packing box placed in the woodshed or 

 any such airy, dry place, may be filled with 

 melons, and packing material, at very little labor. 

 X dry, cool cellar woulil no doubt be still better. 

 Try a few this season, and see if you are not Weil 

 repaid for your pains. F>emeniber that late 

 varieties of large size are usually the best keepers. 



I always pride myself on having a good supply 

 of sound squash all Winter, and along into the 

 Spring. It is not a hard matter to tlo this if one 

 goes at it right, yet I find that comparatively few 

 manage to keep them even up to mid-winter. 

 It is not at all surprising that they do notsucceed 

 ill keeping them longer, when we consider the 

 methods of handling jiracticed nifist comnionlv. 



In the first place they must be carefully gath- 

 ered. The usual way of driving along with the 

 wagon box and pitching the squashes into it from 

 both sides, will not answer. They are sure to be 

 jammed and bruised by this means, and whenever 

 they are bruised they will soon decay. A sled or 

 stone-boat should be used for hauling them to the 

 cellar, for they may be picked and carefully laid 

 into a low conveyance of this kimt. Instead of 

 being jiiled in a heap in the cellar, place them 

 in tiers on broad shelves or staging, that the 

 weight of many may not press upon one. I will 

 warrant squashes so treated to last all winter. 



COAL TAR IN THE GARDEN. 



By Anna (rriscom. 



A lady, with ample grounds and skilled in the 

 culture of fVuit, gave us her experience in using 

 coal tar water among her plants. 



She found it a certain remedy for rose slugs, 

 cabbage worms, mildew on gooseberries, and a 

 preventive of mildew on grape vines. One 

 vine subject to it, never had it after a yearly 

 application of tar water. She thought it might 

 even destroy potato bugs, as it had done such 

 good work in other respects. 



She used it in the following proportions. To 

 three gallons of coal tar she used a barrel of 

 water. To one gallon of tar, three gallons of 

 water. She stirred it up well and then let it 

 settle. The quantity of tar given here will last 

 for five or six years, using it once a year. She 

 has never been troubled with destructive insects 

 since she has used it. As its odor is healthy, it 

 deserves a trial in lieu of so majiy poisonous 

 substances recommended as fatal to insects. 



