* The Farm and Garden. 



Vol. IV. 



JUNE, 1885. 



No. X. 



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OUILO BROS. Ai CO., Publlaliers, 

 No. 786 filbert Street, Plilladelphia, Penna. 



THE FARMER'S HOME GARDEN. 



By Joseph. 



Slowly the returns come in,— a head of lettuce, 

 a bunch of radishes, some green onions. How 

 we all relish these things after having been de- 

 prived of garden " sass " for so long a time. Keep 

 pushing, keep planting, and do not tire of weed- 

 ing. Do not neglect to make successive sowings 

 of peas, lettuce, radish, early sweet corn, etc. It 

 is still time to set out tomato and pepper plants. 

 The latter do well on rather moist ground. In 

 planting tomatoes, I would advise setting the 

 plants very deep, particularly if they are not 

 well root«d or have but little or no soil adhering 

 to their roots. They will do well if almost 

 buried out of sight, with but the top end sticking 

 out of the ground. The whole of the .stalk will 

 throw out roots and rootlets at once, and thus 

 furnish the basis for a strong growth. 



Strawberries will soon begin to turn. The 

 plants should now be disturbed as little as possi- 

 ble. Cultivation had better cease until after 

 picking time. Pull up the weeds among the 

 plants by hand or kill them with the hoe, but do 

 not strike in very deep. Strawberries need an 

 abundance of moisture. Irrigation is often of 

 more importance and effective in the production 

 of a fine crop than manure and cultivation. 



By the way, if you have plenty of strawberries, 

 would it not be well for you to tempt your near- 

 est neighbor wh 

 read the Farm 

 few quarts of 

 kind of missionary 

 health, comfort, 

 needed. You 

 heathen that 

 will eat the mi, 

 send him. They 



vert him to your latm, ana n /^ 

 hereafter he will grow straw- - ~^'- 

 toerrles. -^ 



Professor Riley publishes 

 Chas. H. Erwin's (Painted 

 Post, N. Y.) plan of killing the 

 the cabbage worm with ice-cold 

 water on a hot, sunny day, 

 method is simple enough, and 

 home grower should try it. Yet, as even 

 a severe frost does not 

 kill the worm, I am led 

 to believe that it may be 

 merely stunned by the 

 Budden shock, and after- 

 wards come to life again. 



height of the bug season, we must consider the 

 best ways of fighting them. When the yellow- 

 striped squash-bug is full fed and fastidious, 

 almost any nauseous substitjiee, lime, road dust, 

 cow dung, tobacco, etc., will turn his stomach. 

 But when he has to go three days without a warm 

 meal, he will relish his •' vittles " with a keen ap- 

 petite, no matter what flavoring extract the 

 cook has put in, or how it is adulterated. He will 

 take his greens with cayenne pepper, salted, with 

 kerosene, or with whatever it may be. The ker- 

 osene (coal oil) emulsion I believe to be one of 

 the most reliable remedies after all. Care must 

 be taken, however, to have the emulsion com- 

 plete, by thorough churning, else the application 

 may prove fatal to the plants. Take two gallons 

 of kerosene, one of water, and one-half pound of 

 soap. Mix and churn by means of a force pump 

 or otherwise, and for a sufficient length of time. 

 When done, the mixture should have the con- 

 sistency of soft butter. Mix one gallon of this 

 (soluble) substance with ten gallons of water, 

 and spray the plants to be protected. It is a good 

 remedy for the cabbage worm, lice on animals, 

 and for many other insects. 



Primroses can be easily grown from the seed. 

 Now is the time to sow them if you want nice 

 winter-blooming plants. Buy a package of 

 mixed seed for your wife, even if It in expensive. 



CUTTING THE SEED.' 



From many other tests, which brought forth 

 similar results, we will mention only our own of 

 last season, 1884. 



The soil selected for the test is a rich loam, hav- 

 ing been used as an onion field for a number of 

 years, and repeatedly and heavily manured with 

 hog and hen manure, salt, ashes, kainit, high- 

 grade super-phosphatj, &c. Variety selected- 

 Early Gem. Planted in drills three feet apart, 

 eighteen inches apart in the drill.On acco'nt 



of the high fertility of the soil, we did 



not expect to see a <J|, great differ- 



ence in favor of hea q^*'V <^x>- "'y need- 



ing. A quantity of 



(.<„<■'< 



smooth potatoes, .%V'?'.^''/% -t-^. 

 a pound in /•>^>''''A>*''t.:- 

 weight each, s^/^< "..%''*'/< SS* 

 ..„,„,..,.j >ii> .•<,'?««.» J/. ■/<( .^•' 



arge, 

 half 



.X' 



Tfc^^ <V. ■ f- *? "V- *>> 'o r 



were selected 

 for seed. 



of the Q.^S«7<;:>->/ ,. 



m^'m.y^'^^ 



Now, as we are in the 



To get .'iOOO new aubscr 

 offer. For FOUR yearly snb 

 club, free, by mail, a copy of Wor 

 deflnitions of 1.5,000 words, mea 

 for apelline. and niimerouH use 

 in cloth, and is profusely iliustrat 

 being shown in this. It is well worth 



ER'S DICTIONARY FREE! 



ibers before hot weather, we make a niosl liberal 



scribers at '2.5c. each, we will tiive the seiitler of the 



tester's Abridged Dictionary. Tins contains the 



^nings^ot luaiiy fureisn words and plirases^ rules 



II 's \T'eir printed, haufls 



four weeks after planting, indicated the exact 



proportion of the yield afterwards. 

 With yield from whole potatoes taken as 100, 



the result was as follows, viz. :— 

 Whole potatoes, . . . 100.00 per cent. 

 Single eye on whole potato, 66.10 " 



Single eye, cut from N. W. 1 .„ .„ 



to.S. E I *2.40 



Seed end half, .... 61.02 " 



Stem end half, .... 61.00 " 



M'hole large potatoes, with- 1 ,,„, .„ ,, 



out seed entf, . . . J 106.(8 



while Prof. Sanborn's tests show the following 

 per centage: — 

 Whole large potatoes, . . ISO.OO per cent. 

 Whole small potatoes, . . 79.02 " 

 Single eye, .... 36.16 " 

 From our own tests we must infer that even a 

 high state of fertility of the soil, or a sufflciency 

 of moisture during the whole season, (which were 

 the conditions of our soil), does not always mar 

 terially lessen the benefits derived from heavy 

 seeding. 



A very common circumstance bears testimony 

 In favor of liberality in seeding. Every farmer 

 has occasionally come across a sel/seeded plant, 

 grown from n whole potato which had happened 

 to escape the vigilant eye of the digger, and if he 

 is the least observing, the unusually large yield 

 of such a hill, often growing under unfavorable 

 conditions— in the shade of a corn hill, or right 

 in the midst of a potato patch, perhaps between 

 the rows— can hardly have failed to attract his 

 notice. 



Prof. Sanborn's experience coincides with our 

 own, and serves to fortify our position. He says, 

 (Bulletin 12.):— "The growth of the tops, in the 

 early season, displayed more diflerence in favor 

 of large seed than the harvest indication, show- 

 ing that a vigorous leaf at the early period of 

 potato growth is of much importance. This dif- 

 ference has been noted every year of the trials." 

 * « * ;r « * 



"The leaf is broader, the stem stronger, and 

 the whole top always, in my experience, much in 

 advance of those tops grown from severely cut or 

 from small potatoes." 



Incidentally, we have mentioned some advan- 

 tages of a mere mechanical nature, resulting 

 from heavy seeding. The tops from large seed 

 pieces, appearing above ground /mm ime to 

 two weeks earlier than those from single eyes, 

 soon meet, shade the ground, retain the 

 moisture (and perhaps, ammonia), and 

 choke out weeds' growth, thus saving 

 a considerable amount of labor 

 in cultivation and in fighting 

 the bugs. There is a great 

 ^ difierence in the innate vigor 



,. ^.p ' of the varieties. Low tops, as a 

 *\_ "■■ rule, yield less than taller varie- 

 of constitutional 

 terbalanced, and 

 do it. We can 

 combination of 

 ght prevent a cor- 

 yield from heavier 

 The peeling off 

 with many eyes, 

 large tubers con- 

 decreases that of small 

 tubers. With early varieties, our choice of seed, 

 therefore, is as follows, in the order named : 



l.-Large potato, peeled at seed end. 2,-AVhoIe 

 large potato (4 ounces or more). 3.-Small potato 

 (less than 4 ounces). 4. -.Seed-end half of large or 

 medium potato. 5.-Stem-end half of large or 

 medium potato. 



The tops of even dwarf varieties should cover 



the ground, and stimulation, high feeding with 



potato pulp is necessary for the purpose. Late, 



that is, strong-growing 



sorts generally do that 



with lighter seeding even 



on common farm-soils ; 



yet with so vigorous a 



grower as «•*«»« 



lul taoies. It iii well printed, hantfaoniely bound 



.f "ai nvi'""* ??9 pises, the st.vle of l.vpe and illustrations From new book by "Joseph," 

 tue 91. UU which we nsk for it and 4 subscribers, tlUed, " UoDey in Fotatoei." 



