* The Farm and Garden. 



Vol. IV. 



JULY, 1885. 



No. XI. 



INSTRUCTIONS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



SabscrlpttoiiB n 



them from Jaiitjarv o 



'legLTi with am ijumtier, bui wl' jireler ti> dale 

 cli \ear. Price lifiyceuts a vear, in advance- 



KenewaU can be eent dow. do maiter wlieii ihe Bubscription 

 expires, and ihe lime will be added to that to which ihe subscriber 

 ie already entitled. 



KeiiilttanceB may be made at, our risk br Post Office Order, 

 Postal Note, Kegiitered Letter, :^lamps and Canadian Wunev are 

 taken, but ir sent in ordinary kiiira are at »our risk. We do not 

 mdviae you w send mobey )r hi aiiipB without regmeriog. See instruo- 

 tlona oa page 12 



Keeeipt^. — We send a receipt 'nr all monev lent ui. If job do 

 Dot hear Iroui ui in a rurasoiiable nine, write again. 



AddrCHses.— No matter how often you have written to us. please 

 ElwavB give your full name, post office and Slate. We have do wav 

 to And your name except from the addres*. 



Names canom he guessed, lo write them plaiaW and !n full. If a 

 Udy, aUvavs write it the same— not Mrs, Samaiitha Allen one lime 

 and Mri. Josiah Alle- neit. If yon do ri..i write Miss or Mrs. before 

 your signature, do not t>t offended iT we make a mistake on this point. 



Error*.— We mnke them; so dots every one, and we will chcerrullv 

 correct them if you write us. Try to write us good naturedh, but if 

 you cannot, then write to us any way. Do not complain to anr 

 one else or let it pass. We want an ea'rly opportunity to make right 

 any iujustice we ma* do. 



ADVEKTISIXU K\TE«.-From Isaue ot January, 

 1H85, to Ikeci-mber, 1 M85, IiicluNt%-e, €0 cenla per Acute 

 line each Inxertlun. 



C1IILI» BROS. Je CO., Publlahers, 

 No. 725 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, Penna. 



only one-fourth that amount of labor If It were 

 judiciously laid out and systematically planted, 

 and if the laborer was provided with a good 

 horse cultivator and one of the modern improved 

 wheel-hoes. How easy this could be done! What 

 an improvement in appearance ! What a saving 

 in labor! - 



Clear the old radish and lettuce beds from rub- 

 bish and replant with other stuff. Have evei'y 

 spot occupied by healthy, growing vegetation. 

 Keep the garden in cultivation and looking line. 



Turnips should be planted this month. Do not 

 neglect to dust the young plants with plaster or 

 ashes, to keep the flea beetle off. 



CULTIVATING.* 



THE FARMER'S HOME GARDEN. 



Here we are, all out of breath, running with 

 might and main after knowledge; yet alj we can 

 expect to do Is to get hold of truth's coat tails. 

 Before we can get abreast of it we are called off 

 the race, and from this reasoti alone do I deplore 

 the shortness of human life. 



If woman is a delusion and life is a delusion, It 

 Is wonderful how men will liug a dfeluslon, and I 

 confess that 1 would like to live two (»r three 

 lives or stick to the one I have quite light, as 

 long as I am In trim for the pursuit of knowledge 

 and truth. Or are these delusions also? 



Yet we are apt to lag behind in This cnase after 

 agricultural knowledge, or get careless in its dis- 

 tribution. Who is infallible? 1 leel like thank- 

 ing W.C.Steele, of Florida, for his sharp criti- 

 cism of my May article of Farm and (jtarden. 

 Il I am in prror, please correct me, and I will 

 thank you fur it every time. 



I have no prejudice whatever against hand- 

 drills. I have used Matthews' a great deal, and 

 perhaps am prejudiced in its favor. Many others, 

 like Mr. Steele, prefer the Planet Jr., which has 

 the points of superiority mentioned by him in 

 June number. Still, Matthews' drill is an old 

 friend of mine, and 1 have used it for sowing 

 almost all kinds of seeds with the exception of 

 salsify. ^ 



My remark that I consider It "shiftless to sow 

 seeds with a hand-drill," must be construed as 

 limited to beet seed entirely. I, as well as every 

 other grower of experience, can plant confidently 

 and successfully with Matthews' or Planet Jr. 

 drills or any other, or by hand either. But the 

 way described in my May article is the easiest 

 and safest for the novice, and good enough for 

 all. If you have a drill wliioh will sow soaked 

 seeds perfectly, and drop from three to five seeds 

 in a bunch every twelve inches or so apart, I 

 would advise planting in that way. We also 

 have to consider that the home gardener hardly 

 ever has a hand-drill at his command. 



In sowing peas, beans, corn, etc., per hand- 

 drill, I make it a practice to mark off the ground 

 with a one-horse mariner, making tlie marks 

 quite deep, then plant in the bottom of these fur- 

 rows. In such a case Matthews' drill, with its 

 one wheel, is greatly to be preferred to the double 

 wheel drills. , 



•V 



During the last few weeks I have seen many 

 very fine home gardens In the South, with 

 tomato plants by the hundred and cabbages by 

 the thousand. Two things, however, are sadly 

 needed, namely : System in planting and good 

 tools. As It Is, a southern garden of little over 

 one acre In extent, requires one man's work 

 during the season. The garden would require 



HaiTOw and Culliialur. Sliotel Plow. 

 Leiel CuUiiuiittg vs. Hilling, 



Hoe. 



The object of the cultivation given to the potato 

 held Is three-lold;— 1. To keep down every sign 

 of weed growl li; 2. To keep the soil weU pul- 

 verized, tine and mellow; 3. To prune the roots; 

 and all this restricted to the earlier period of 

 growih. 



For Mie first two or three weeks after planting 

 and up to the time when the vines are three or 

 lour inches high, a common light harrow or 

 drag IS Ihe only tool required. It answers all 

 three purposes perfectly; and, indeed, with an 

 inslgnillcant amount of labor. One harrowing 

 actually does more good and shows more lasting 

 efTecls than three cultlvatings. It Is better than 

 liand hoeing. The cultivator, like Saul, slew 

 thousands (of weeds). The harrow is the David, 

 wlio slays his ten thousands. The harrow makes 

 the ground mellow in and around every hill, and 

 leaves not a weed. 



'Wie slight root-pruning caused by the drag 

 teeth, seems to be a decided benefit In this early 

 stage of growth, and to result in an increased 

 development of the rootlets, which act as feeders 

 and supporters. The plants respond to this 

 treatment with astonishing quickness. They 

 seem to grow visibly. 



Some farmers understand this principle very 

 well, and not con- 

 tented with lig:hl 

 pruning, tear the 

 Mgure 6 roots to pieces quite 



thoroughVy with a home-made iron hook, 

 lastened to an old hoe handle. (See Figure 6). 



The drag perforins its work lo our perfect satis- 

 faction, and we do not recouimeud the use of 



Then the cultivator should take the place of the 

 harrow. Cultivate shallow, and repeat at short 

 intervals, until the tops cover the ground and 

 forbid further working among tliem. 



The shovel plow is not needed for cultivation 

 purposes. The practice of piling up great moun- 

 tains around each plant, will soon be a thing of 

 the i; ast. Soils on which this hilling is necessary, 

 are not desirable for potato growing. 



The Editor of the Rural Neiv Yorker claims for 

 himself the priority of the level-culture idea. He 

 has been an enthusiastic advocate of the new 

 method, and his phenomenal yields have given 

 strong testimony in its favor. 



A test, made by us in 1884, for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the relative yields resulting from 

 the old and the new methods, was, for certain 

 reasons, not as reliable as we could wish; still, 

 we will give the figures:— Hilled, Early Gem, 

 quartered lengthwise, land rich, moist, plent.v of 

 rain ; yield per acre, 201.46. Level, under same 

 conditions ; yield per acre, 294.61 bushels. The 

 tubers under level cultivation, were much larger 

 than with hilling. 



supplementary tools, in particular. If it involves 

 a great deal of hand labor. Enough is a feast. 



Harrow the field thoroughly, first in the direc- 

 tion of the rows, then crossways, every five or 

 six days, and stop only when the plants get so 



MiUed. 

 large that injury to them must be feared. If a 

 sufUclency of seed is used, this will be soon 

 enough. 



SLOBOOTS IN HIS GARDEN. 



B;/ Bredy Aich. 



Sloboots' garden is improving. The first crop 

 of weeds has been plowed under. This was a 

 grand slaugnter of the pigweeds and pusley, the 

 burdock and birdweed, the dandelion and the 

 docks. To be sure, in order to do this, the early 

 crops were withheld. There was no rush to see 

 how soon after the last snow was off that the 

 squashes could be in. Sloboots held his vaulting 

 ambition by a close rein, and when the garden 

 was fairly overflowing with sorrel and lapin, he 

 went in and plowed the whole area except the 

 borders, when the strawberries calmly awaited 

 their late in the forming sod. The plowman was 

 a neighbor who had a honey horse and a plow to 

 match. The furrows could be easily counted, as 

 each one was neatly separated from the two ad- 

 Joining by a lace-like fringe of grass and fine 

 herbage. The design that the plow had cut upon 

 the whole surface of the garden was peculiar, 

 and seemed to please those who passed by. AVhen 

 Sloboots returned home that June evening, he 

 found nearly all of his garden plants had their 

 feet, so to speak, caught in the furrows, and in 

 their own peculiar way, were imploring to be re- 

 lieved from the traps the plowman had set ftir 

 them. 



Sloboots felt that theirdeserts were met ; It was 

 good enough for them, and began the assorting 

 of the seeds he had brought from town that day. 

 The lettuce was first planted in hills 

 in one corner of the garden, and so 

 exact was he in this, in order that no 

 one hill should crowd the others, 

 that some of the seeds fell in the 

 grassy depressions,while others found 

 a resting-place upon the furrow tops. 

 Some people can be exact when they 

 once make up their minds that no 

 favors must be shown— not even to 

 garden plants. The reader knows 

 that Sloboots was not a man to favor any crop 

 in particular. It was enough that seeds were per- 

 mitted to have a place in his estate. He was a 

 thoroughAraerican, and was filled with the spirit 

 of independence, especially so on the 4th of July. 

 If a plant had rights, all it had to do was to as- 

 sert them, and they were granted. 

 The weeds, having been brought up 

 on the ground for years, knew this, 

 while the Innocent seeds, coming 

 from a far-away seedsman, who had 

 shown their parents special privi- 

 leges, did not realize their precarious 

 situation until it was too late. They 

 had not been reaied to fight, but on 

 the other hand, to dwell In peace 

 and rapidly reproduce their kind. 

 The beets started out on their mis- 

 sion as well as any beets could, under the cir- 

 cumstances, but they were soon beaten. The 

 cabbages stretched up their necks and 



^I'Vom new book by ''Joseph, " entifUd,"Money in Potatoes." 



