THE FARM AND GARDEN, 



GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES IN THE SOUTH. 



Continued. By Joseph. 



Market Gardetiing. The writer stands once 

 more ob Southern soil. Tlie villiage from which 

 this letter will be mailed to the Farm and (Har- 

 den, is but small, yet, every summer the houses 

 are crowded with boarders from the cities. The 

 railroads arrange weekly excursions to this 

 neighborhood. There are two or three large 

 hotels and innumerable boarding-houses, all 

 requiring a vast amount of garden supplies 

 throughout the warmer season. Yet, there is not 

 a single, solUari/ market gardener here. The de- 

 mand is large and prices rule very much higher 

 than in city markets. One or two of the hotels 

 receive tlieir supply of vegetables, early berries, 

 Ac, from Philadelphia and Washington. Still, 

 there is not even an attempt made to produce 

 this supply at home. Why not? My readers 

 must find the explanation in the general condi- 

 tion of the South, as previously related in these 

 series of articles. 



The circumstance is sing\ilar, but is met with 

 in very many of these inland towns. In North- 

 ern towns of this size, we generally find an excess 

 of supply over the demand ; or but little demand 

 and live competition, which brings prices down. 

 Here is the demand and profitable prices, and, 

 therefore, many opportunities which good mar- 

 ket gardeners might embrace. 



PUMPKINS. 



JJv John M. Stiihl. St. Louit, Ifo. 



I have seen it stated in agricultural Journals 

 by those who had presumably tested the matter 

 (if they had not they should not have been al- 

 lowed to express an opinion) that there was no 

 economy in growing pumpkins and corn together; 

 that more would be produced by growing the two 

 separately, as the pumpkins would lessen the 

 corn crop to an amount greater than the rent of 

 that area of land, which, devoted to pumpkins 

 alone, would produce the same amount as that 

 grown with the corn. My e.Kperlence of twenty 

 years hiis led me to an exactly opposite conclu- 

 sion. To test the matter I have frequently plant- 

 ed alternate strips of corn with and without 

 pumpkins, and Instead of those strips without 

 pumpkins yielding more corn, there was very 

 • rarely any appreciable dlflference; while this 

 difference was invariably in favor of those strips 

 growing pumpkins. This I attributed to the 

 effect the vines have as a mulch. In my section 

 (Western 111) our corn crop is often lessened by 

 drought in midsummer and later; and the broad 

 leaves of the pumpkin keeps the ground under 

 them moist (retarding the evaporation of the 

 moisture from the soil) and thus Increasing the 

 yield, I am perfectly aware of the fjict that the 

 plant food cannot nourish the corn as well ; and 

 this, If I had no experience in the matter, would 

 lead me to believe that there was no economy in 

 planting corn and pumpkins together. But I 

 have tested the matter long enough to be certain 

 of my position. 



I now use the two-hor.se planter altogether in 

 planting corn, hence must make a second plant- 

 ing of the pumpkins. I wait until the corn ap- 

 pears above the surface; am compelled to do so 

 anyhow, as I prefer to have the pumpkins, at 

 least, ten days later than the corn. When the 

 plants show where the hills of corn are, I take a 

 pointed stick and, walking along the rows, make 

 a hole close to each hill, in which I drop a seed, 

 and then close the hole with the toe of my shoe. 

 In this way I can plant several acres per day. In 

 cultivating the corn I pay no attention to the 

 pumpkins. They do not get of a size to be dis- 

 turbed until the last cultivation of the corn, and 

 then no serious damage is done them. Though 

 partially covered up and turned on their backs 

 until they wither, they revive after a while and 

 seem no worse for the rough usage the cultivator 

 has given them. I pay no attention to them 

 when cultivating the corn, unless one should be 

 covered up entirely— a very rare occurrence. 

 Hence the only expense for the crop is planting 

 and harvesting— both very small items. 1 raise 

 about a thousand bushels each year and consider 

 them the most profitable crop on the farm. Some 

 years I raise twice this amount, and my stock 

 never fails to furnish profitable consumption for 

 all I produce, 



I feed some to both cattle and sheep, but the 

 greater bulk to my hogs. I do not know that I 

 would be such an enthusiastic friend of pumpkins 

 did I feed thent to only cattle and sheep, for I 

 have always, in my opinion, realized the highest 

 price for them when I fed them to hogs. My 

 farm is well suited to swine raising. I have an 

 abundance of timber pasture with a stream run- 

 ning through it, and good clover and corn land. 

 Hence I raise hogs largely, and have always done 

 9 well— a fact which I attribute to largely feeding 

 of clover and Dumeliins. Mr >«oe:s I summer on 



clover and blue grass pasture, without grain. 

 When the pasture fails 1 begin to feed corn, and 

 in the fall and early winter fatten rapidlj'. At 

 this time I feed mostly on corn, but I am too 

 well acquainted with tiie results of exclusive 

 corn feeding to indulge in that expensive luxury. 

 To ward olf disease rather than fatten the animals, 

 I teed pumpkins witli the com. There is not 

 mucli nutriment in pumpkins for their bulk, but 

 they relieve tlie monoton.v of a corn diet. When 

 corn is fed mostly, it taxes the digestive organs 

 to the utmost and will ultimately produce dis- 

 ease unless other foods are given to counteract 

 it. It is almost sure to produce constipation, 

 and a good authority has said (truthfully, in my 

 opinion) that four-fifths of what we call hog 

 cholera has an immediate rise in constipation. 

 Pumpkins have a gently laxative effect, and 

 therefore relieve the constipated condition of the 

 bowels produced by the com. It is this which 

 gives them their chief value — as a medicine 

 rather than a food. Other vegetable foods will 

 have the same effect, and of these I give the hogs 

 all I can ; but they would prove inadequate, and 

 therefore I raise pumpkins. Anyhow, by my 

 plan I can furnish pumpkins to my stock at less 

 cost than any other food, having like properties. 

 I can produce them so cheaply that the nutri- 

 ment they contain would make them profitable, 

 not to speak of their medicinal virtues. In con- 

 clusion, I would urge my brother farmers, es- 

 pecially those having hogs or cows to feed, to 

 make pumpkins one of the principal crops of 

 their farms. 



NOTES ON MAY NUMBER. 



pounds of commercial fertilizer on 2000 plants. 

 This cost a little over twenty dollars, but he sold 

 one hundred and seventy dollars' worth of cab- 

 bage, besides having some thirty-pound heads 

 for the State Fair. , 



Qn page 4jf am made to say that I do not be- 

 lieve that the pollen affects the/lower of straw- 

 berries. I wrote ii/tavor, which is a very differ- 

 ent matter. 



OUR DREADED VISITOR. 



£ij W. C. .Steele, .S'witzeiland, Florida. 



Joseph is usually so correct In his statements 

 that I seldom find anything to criticise in his ar- 

 ticles. But I must dissent very emphatically 

 from his opinion that it is ahi/tfe.f.t to sow seeds 

 with a hand drill. He gives no reason except 

 that it saves labor in cultivating and weeding to 

 sow by hand. If he can sow seeds by hnnd better 

 than it can be done with a drill, then he is a 

 more expert workman than any that I have 

 ever met. In the April number he recommends 

 the Matthews drill, and that probably accounts 

 for his prejudice against alt drills. I presume 

 that the Matthews is as good as any that work 

 on the same plan, but the principle is not good. 



Like Joseph, I prefer to soak many kinds of 

 seeds before planting them, and therefore I have 

 no use for any drill except the Planet Jr., that 

 being the only one that I know of which will 

 sow soaked seed without injuring them. Any 

 drill having an agitator In the hopper will split 

 and mash soaked seed, and spoil a great deal of 

 It. But as the Planet simply rolls the seed over 

 and over, It may be soaked almost to the point of 

 sprouting, and still be sown without injury. I 

 know this to be a fact from ample personal ex- 

 perience. 



Farther, if you wish your seed sown in bunches, 

 it is easily done with the Planet Jr. All that is 

 necessary is to stop up part of the holes in the 

 drum with bits of cloth or paper. I have stopped 

 all the holes but two in sowing some seeds, and 

 thus had them in bunches several inches apart. 



Joseph says farther on, that salsify 7nuM be 

 sown by hand. It is not necessary. If you only 

 wish a very few for home use, it may be as well 

 to sow by hand, as a machine uses more seed. 

 But if growing a quantity for market, stop up 

 every other hole in the drum of the Planet, and 

 sow with the drill. The time saved will much 

 more than pay for the extra seed needed. When 

 sown with a drill the row is so much narrower 

 and straighter that it is more easily cultivated. 



+ 



In "Garden Notes," on page 3, the same mis- 

 take is made, with the addition that parsnips 

 must be sown by hand, t have sown pounds of 

 parsnip seed with a Planet drill, to my own per- 

 fect satisfaction. As in the case of salsify, it 

 takes a little more seed, but the time saved will 

 pay for it over and over again. 



I would not advise sowing peas with a drill on 

 the level surface. But when your furrow is 

 plowed or hoed out, then they can be sown in 

 the bottom of the trench with a drill much more 

 evenly than by hand, and in a narrow, straight 

 row, which will be much easier to keep clear of 

 weeds than when scattered all over a broad fUr- 

 row by hand. , 



The man who took the premium for the best 

 cabbage at our State Fair, in February, used 800 



One who has seen much of Cholera in its sev- 

 eral visits to this country since 1831, gives some 

 suggestions about it whidi are interesting and 

 timely, and are calculated to allay *.he fears of 

 the timid. 



One point especially noted was that " the 

 drunkards died like flies." So did those whose 

 systems were weakened by any evil courses. A 

 prudent person, of good habits, living in a cleanly 

 section, need have little anxiety about the 

 cholera. 



Another fact stated was that chol«'a was no 

 more catching than a broken leg. Others might 

 fall over the same obstacle and break their legs. 

 Foul affluvias inhaled by one person in a house, 

 and causing cholera, may be breathed by others 

 with the same result. No sanitary method has 

 ever improved on the old direction — " wash and 

 be clean." It is a hopeful sign that towns, cities 

 and individual householders are engaging in the 

 work this season with redoubled vigor and thor- 

 oughness, and the chances seem good that, in- 

 stead of a very sickly summer, we may have one 

 of unusual health. 



It is usual, says this writer, for those attacked 

 with this disease to have premonitory symptoms 

 from one to four days before it reaches a danger- 

 ous stage. People of good habits, who take the 

 proper restoratives at this early stage, almost 

 always recover with but little troublfe. 



We have kept in the house for twenty years, or 

 more, a remedy for cholera and all kindred dis- 

 eases, which was employed by Dr. Hamlin, and 

 other missionaries, in Constantinople, when it 

 raged there so violently In 186-5. It proved most 

 efficacious in this early stage, and Is a good 

 household remedy for summer. It is simply 

 equal parts of Laudanum, Spirits of Camphor, 

 and Tincture of Rhubarb. Begin with thirty 

 drops as a dose, and increase it if the attack is 

 violent. Absolute rest and qiiiet is necessary. If 

 one says;— "Oh, I haven't time for that! Re- 

 member that in all probability then you must 

 " take time " to die. 



THE SOUTHTRN FEVER AGAIN. 



By a rtew Settler. 



C. C. says in the May number of Farm and 

 Garden that the "craze" for going South In- 

 creases as time passes. Whether it is a "craze" 

 or not, depends very much on circumstances. 



Since my letter about Florida was published 

 in the January number, I have received over 

 two hundred letters of inquiry. I do not remem- 

 ber that a single one writes as though he de- 

 sired to come South simply to better his condi- 

 tion financially. Some wanted to try a change 

 of climate on account of health, but the usual 

 reason was a desire to escape the long, cold win- 

 ters of the Northern States. They were not all 

 from extremely cold States, such as Minnesota 

 and Maine, though I had letters from both States 

 and also from Canada. But I had more letters 

 from 'Virginia and Kansas than from any other 

 two States. 



I would not advise any one owning a good, pro- 

 ductive farm, which will support his family 

 emnfortably, to sell out and come South or go 

 West, unless necessary on account of health. But 

 for persons of small means who think of going 

 West to start on the plains, I do claim that 

 Florida offers greater advantages than can be 

 found in Kansas or Nebraska. 



I know nothing of the educational advantages 

 of any other Northern State, but I think they 

 are as good in Florida as is usual in new settle- 

 ments at the West. Though our school fUnd is 

 small, compared with those of older and more 

 thickly-settled States of the North, yet we have 

 a special advantage as to teachers. 



Though we cannot pay large salaries, yet we 

 have no difficulty in securing first-class teachers, 

 owing to the fact that so many teachers come 

 here every year on account of health, who are 

 glad to teach at a low price to help pay their 



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;.A.i^:e3. 



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