THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



The great manufacturing establishments of our 

 continent are supjiorteil and often driven with 

 work to suj^ply orders caused by these anti-de- 

 tailers. Tools tliat would last years are lost, 

 rusted, or othervrise ruined anil made useless by 

 want of care alias detail. Time in hunting up 

 lost or misplaced tools wheu needed (and some- 

 times actual loss to value of large sums actually 

 occur,) is often more tiian doul^le what it 

 would have cost to put up tlie article when 

 through witli it. Such men and women wonder 

 why John thrives, has plenty of time to go, and 

 yet" do his work, and "always knows where to 

 put his hand on his every tool, even in the dark." 

 If they will stop a moment and think, perhaps 

 they will see some of the good results of attend- 

 ing to details. Witliout constant care there can 

 be no excellence, even witli lai>or. 



To-day I again rode over (piite a long way of 

 the road covered witli weeds, leaves, grass, roots, 

 etc., called refuse, and tliis tune in front of one 

 of one of our best agriculturists. There might 

 have been some wire grjLss in the S|)ringy vege- 

 table pavement, Dut tiiis sliould not have con- 

 demned it for bedding fr)r stock. The season is 

 so very dry it should have l.)een j>laced under 

 cover and kept for winter, if tiiouglit too green 

 for use now. All vegetable refuse should be 

 saved up dry for the needs of the cold, wet, and 

 uncomfortalde days and nights sure to be upon 

 us before many weeks now. The time will 

 surely come when the now mistaken idea that 

 the so-called nuisance, "wire gra.ss," will lie 

 valued at its true worth, and find a place on our 

 best farms. 



Of course, it is of little use to attempt to pro- 

 duceachange in the stereotyped haliits cd' people. 

 Gallileo said, "The world does move, lor all my 

 recantation." So time will mark the dates of 

 the old and new. The roads may l)e i)iled full 

 of that " nuisance " tor years by the average of 

 farmers, yet here it can be seen that this dreaded 

 grass, only a lover of the seldom-tilled soil, is 

 subdued with less trouble than many other sorts 

 of growths. Those that come frr>m seeds which 

 remain year after vear to grow wiien the oppor- 

 tunity occurs, and which in turn produce mil- 

 lions more each year to cover the ground, are 

 a nuisance indeed, as they grow so thitrkly that 

 a green, matted surface surrounds every plant 

 that is hoped to make us a crop. They can 

 only, in many of our crops, be e.\termiuated by 

 hand-weeding. 



Wire grass, though condemned by the thought- 

 less surface workers, is of great value to our poor 

 eoils, keeping it from washing into gullies when 

 heavy rains make rivulets across every acre, and 

 when treated as it should be, will produce a bet- 

 ter ])asture than can be grown by any other grass 

 at our service- When the fields are needed for 

 tlie plow, tlie soil is full of plant food, which is 

 of more value than now dreamed of, and which, 

 being already evenly distributed upon the soil, 

 only Waiting for the hand of the tiller to utilize, 

 is one of the cheapest and most profitable of our 

 forage aud plant-food crops. The cost of reduc- 

 ing this "nuisance" to plant food need not l)e 

 great or troublesome, only cultivate and till the 

 soil, which should be done whether it be for de- 

 struction of weeds from seeds or wire grass or to 

 keel) the soil loose, if no weeds or grass appear. 



Tliis last item, as a basis of success with crojis, 

 is the sumnuvi bonum of the culturist's work. 

 Get your excellence by labor. 



WTNTEB TVOBK. 



By Ehen E. Rexford, Shwcton, TTis, 



It generally happens that the ]>lough or the 

 harrow, in common with most machinery used 

 on the farm or in the garden, goes into winter 

 quarters rather the worse for wear. This thing 

 or that is broken or worn, and needs repair. 

 The winter is a time of considerable leisure 

 among farmers and gardeners, and some of this 

 time should be devoted to putting tools in proper 

 order for the next season's work. If this is done 

 now, it can be done well, for there will be no 

 hurry. If not done now the season will open, 

 and when the article is needed there will be an 

 unavoidable delay in making the necessary re- 

 pairs, and in the haste with which they are done 

 they very likely will be done slightingly, and 

 the consequence will be a break-down in the 

 busiest part of the work, perhaps. I have known 

 such things to happen, and I jiresume most 

 farmers' experience has been similar. 



Take tool by tool and go over it carefully. 

 See that everything is as it should be. If new 

 parts are to be substituted for old and worn-out 

 ones, procure them and put tiiem in place at 

 once. By doing this you will iiave everything 

 in trim for use when it is needed, and there will 

 be no wasting of time or temper in making re- 

 pairs when you are anxious to make every mo- 



ment count. Slight, but needed repairs made 

 now, will often save a good deal of expense that 

 may result from neglect. 



The winter is a good time to plan next sea- 

 son's work. Think out what you want to do. 

 Arrange your work on some sort of system. If 

 you do this you can plan it in such a way that 

 one i>iece of work can be done without inter- 

 fering with another. Too often the spring opens 

 and the farmer finds his work waiting to be done 

 and he has not thought what he wants to do, and 

 in the hurry and bustle of the season he cannot 

 find time to form any definite plans, and he 

 rushes it ahead in any way to get it done. After- 

 wards, he sees where things should have been 

 done differently. There is no reason why he 

 should not have forseen this, and arranged every- 

 thing beforehand. I-'anners do not look on farm- 

 ing in as much of a business light as they ought 

 to. The merchant or the manufacturer plans 

 ahead. In leisure hours they think out what 

 they want to do, and make preparations for it. 

 When it comes time to act they have only to i>ut 

 into execution the plans they have formed. The 

 farmer should do the same. Let the winter 

 leisure be a time of head-farming, and it will 

 help along the farming of the land t)y-and-by. 



PREPARING FOR EARLY GARDENING. 



There are many things to be attended to in 

 Autumn, if we intend to start plants before the 

 frost leaves the earth in spring. If we are to 

 start only a few plants in boxes by the kitchen 

 stove and soutli wind<»w, we need to have the 

 earth, mold, and compost ready, as they can be 

 gotten out and prejiared to much better advan- 

 tage now, than in mid-winter, when they must 

 be chopped out of frozen masses, thawed out, and 

 dried before using. 



If the gardening operations are to be extensive 

 enough to require the use of hot-beds, the trenches 

 should be dug, and the frames erected this fall, 

 so that they will be ready to receive the manure 

 and glass at any time. When this is done, the 

 frames should be covered over with hoards, or 

 ]>oles and straw, to keep the snow out until time 

 for occupyihg. Experience has taught me that 

 it does not pay to shovel the snow and ice off the 

 site, and cho]» a trench in the frozen earth in 

 March, when 1 can do the same work in the quar- 

 ter of the time in November. 



Cold frames should also be constructed and 

 placed in position before snow comes. By this, 

 I mean those cold frames that are to be used over 

 such plants as rhubarb and asparagus, when they 

 grow in the garden. Those who have never 

 tried it, have no idea how much earlier and ten- 

 derer those plants will be wlien surrounded with 

 frames banked up on the outside with manure, 

 and covered with glass during nights and cold 

 days. I have forced them ahead three weeks by 

 such simple inexpensive means. Even a barrel 

 with botli ends out, turned over a hill, will 

 answer the purpose. These frames can be verv 

 easily constructed by driving two stakes on each 

 side of the row, in pairs opposite each other, and 

 far enough apart to suit the length of the boards 

 used. This gives something to nail the side aud 

 end boards to, and holds the whole structure in 

 position. In width the box must not be over two 

 feet, or the size of a narrow sash. It should be 

 boarded up about twenty inches, or two feet. 



These should also be covered over during the 

 winter with any material that may be conven- 

 iently at hand. 



With both hot and cold frames, rugs, mats, old 

 blankets, or straw should be kept at hand, to be 

 used during the cold spell, after the plants have 

 started. 



An early garden is one of the luxuries that 

 every farmer can afford, and why so many deny 

 themselves such inexpensive luxuries, is a ques- 

 tion that I leave for others to solve. There is 

 economy in a good garden, and no garden is a 

 ;/ood garden, unless it furnishes fruit and vegeta- 

 bles in earlv as well as late summer. 



EARLY BEETS AND RADISHES. 



By Thos. D. Baird, GreenvtUe, Ky. 



Perhaps no other garden crop is more profitable 

 to raise, according to the expense, than beets and 

 radishes, if early. None have so few enemies, 

 more especially the beet. Wliere one has a small 

 boy, these crops can be grown and marketed as a 

 catch crop, it you are within one or two miles of 

 market. I have reference to small towns. 



To have these crops early, one should prepare 

 and manure his ground in the fall. Well rotted 

 manure is best, but long manure will do; spread 

 it on the ground and then take a large turning 

 plow and throw the soil u]> in ridges about four 

 feet wide. In this way you leave large, deep, 

 dead, furrows between each ridge, to lead ofl' all 

 surplus water. Next spring, these ridges will do 

 to work four or five days earlier than soil not 

 ridgefi. The warmest soil should be selected. 



Where one ij scarce of ground, I find a good 

 way to plant is to level these ridges, makingbeds 

 four or five feet wide. Work the soil quite mel- 

 low. Rake the beds level and broad; cast hen 

 manure on these beds as liberally as possible, 

 working it well in the soil. Line off rows ten 

 inches apart, and sow to beets and radishes, in 

 alternate lines. As soon as the plants are up, 

 sprinkle ashes thicklv over the beds. Planted 

 in this way, the radislies can be sold off before 

 tlie heels need room. As soon as they are an 

 inch in diameter, they are]>uton the market. Tied 

 in bunches, eight to ten in a bunch, are readilv 

 sold for five cents per bunch. X Jicrt, industri- 

 ous boy can sell two to three dollars worth every 

 morning, and not lose more than two hours time. 



As soon as the beets have bott^ims two inches 

 in diameter, I put them on the market. Three 

 tied iii a bunch, sell readily at five cents per 

 bunch. In drawing the first for market, they 

 are drawn so as to thin the rows and give more 

 room for the crop to grow. Where one has plenty 

 of ground, I prefer to mark ofl rows two and a 

 half feet, and top dress with hen manure, mixed 

 with the soil, and sow in single lines on these 

 furrows, using ashes as above stated. This way 

 gives more room to work the crop, and to work 

 them often, hastens their growth; and three or 

 four days ahead in market, makes a great differ- 

 ance in your profit. 



My favorite radish for early market is Hender- 

 .son's Early Dark Scarlet Turnip. This is cer- 

 tainly in the lead of all radishes for earliness, 

 tenderness, aud beauty. They are very tender. 



Beets. — The Early True Egyptian Turnip has 

 no equal for earliness and good flavor; quite 

 handsome. This is my favorite for early market. 



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