February 8, 19] 3 



HORTICULTURE 



179 



Out-door Vegetables and Fruit 



Early Seed Sowing 



Early in the month of February the above heading 

 may look a little incongruous, though the past month 

 has been mostly suggestive of balmy spring, and temiDt- 

 ing us all the time to sow peas and other early vege- 

 tables. However, those who have a greenhouse and who 

 wish to grow some large Ailsa Craig onions or giant 

 leeks must now have them under way, and as soon as 

 they are large enough to handle, should be potted into 

 a light and rather rich soil. If it is practicable, add a 

 little soil from last year's onion patch, for it seems that 

 there is something about the onion as about the legumes 

 which benefits- them by inoculation with soil which has 

 previously been occupied by their kind. Tliis is stated 

 as a hypothesis merely and not as a fact, but if a num- 

 ber of the readers of Horticultuke will co-operate 

 with the writer and each put this siiggestion into oper- 

 ation with about half his plants, and besides using a 

 little of the old onion soil in each successive potting, 

 will plant this half so treated on the same plot as was 

 used for onions last year, treating them otherwise the 

 same as the rest, then by comparing notes next Septem- 

 ber or October, we shall know if this be a fact or not. 

 Be just as kind to the leeks as you are to the onions 

 and never let them get dry, giving a night temperature 

 of about 55 to 60 F. Globe artichokes should be sown 

 now or earlier and don't be afraid of growing too many 

 because only a portion of them will bear this summer. 

 Even if you can carry the old plants through the winter 

 it is always wise to raise a lot of seedlings as they will 

 invariably come in later than the old plants. The 

 young artichokes should have most liberal treatment 

 and be encouraged to make good plants in at least six- 

 inch pots by planting-out time. May first to tenth. Sow 

 ■during this month, lettuce for an early crop in the 

 frames ; we have always liked May King for this. Soon 

 after this, sow a batch of Big Boston, as this variety 

 takes about two weeks longer to mature than the May 

 King. Egg plants, peppers, cabbage, cauliflower and 

 tomatoes for earliest crops may now be sown. If celery 

 is wanted in .June or July it should be started at once ; 

 the varieties golden self -blanching and white plume are 

 the best for early work. If you have not already done 

 so, make a planting plan for the vegetable garden for the 

 ■coming season : it will facilitate the work greatly when 

 the rush comes. 



Saving and Caring iot Manure 



If you were not fortunate enough to get all the 

 manure drawn on the garden last fall, now would be a 

 good time to get some on while the ground is frozen 

 and when it is possible to drive nearly anywhere with- 

 . out doing damage. This matter of manure is a subject 

 worthy of our most painstaking study and it will be 

 dealt with from time to time in these notes in its vari- 

 ous phases affecting crop production. 



Most gardeners have charge of some live stock and 

 consequently have to do with the saving of the manure 

 from these, and, even if not, he certainly should have a 

 thorough knowledge of the most approved methods of 

 conservinsj this important product. Manure should be 

 kept under cover until drawn out and spread on the 

 garden, because if exposed to m^ich rain, the most valu- 

 able fertilizing ingredients are leached away. The 

 lighter manures, such as horse manure, should be con- 

 solidated by tramping and sometimes it is advisable to 

 add a certain amount of water to it. The one great 

 weakness of most systems of manure saving is the lack 

 •of any proper means of saving the liquid excrement. 



The folly of this will be apparent to everyone when 

 tiiey realize that of the total nitrogen in the manure, 

 liquid and solid, two-thirds are in the liquid, and of the 

 total potash four-fifths are in the liquid; therefore, 

 when we remember that nitrogen is at once the most 

 valuable and at the same time the very element that is 

 most likely to be missing in our soils, it is borne in upon 

 us that every provision should be made to gather and 

 to save from waste this extremely valuable source of 

 ■soil fertility — the liquid manure. The best method of 

 accomplishing this will vary with varying conditions. 

 On a small scale where there are but few animals to 

 deal with, the best way would be by tising abundance of 

 absorbent bedding material, but where there is a greater 

 number of animals, a large concrete tank would answer 

 best, the tank to be fitted with a suitable pump to pump 

 the liquid either into a water cart or through pipes to 

 where it is wanted. For some reason gypsum or land 

 plaster (calcium sulphate) has been a favorite material 

 in most places to use in cow stalls, horse stalls and hen 

 houses as an absorbent. While this is a little cheaper 

 than "Floats," or raw ground phosphatic rock, the latter 

 is far and away the best material as it stiffens up the 

 manure pile in the very element in which it is weak, 

 viz, phosphoric acid, and besides this, it prevents to a 

 large extent the burning or fire-fang of manure and in 

 this process of burning there is a loss of ammonia, 

 which is quite serious, as for every seventeen pounds of 

 ammonia gas that escapes, there is a loss of fourteen 

 pounds of nitrogen, equal to a loss of one hundred 

 pounds of nitrate of soda. If, from lack of storage 

 room, as frequently happens, the manure must be drawn 

 out and stacked, it should be topped off so as to shed 

 most of the rain fall. Frequent turning of a manure 

 pile is always beneficial as, by so doing, the growth of 

 bacteria is promoted ; this bacteria is the means of 

 bringinsr about the changes which make manure into 

 available plant food. 



Lenox, Mass. 



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Facts and Fancies 



Mr. Editor: — Truly we did not know what the New 

 Year had in store for us, and each week when Horticul- 

 ture arrives, we look to see what different bottle Friend 

 Jenkins has uncorked, and try to estimate the amount 

 of fizz. We were all anxious for the uplift, and hail it 

 accordingly and trust that a few neighborly comments 

 by the way will add incentive for the future, for we are 

 glad to note that the editor has promised that it shall 

 be continued. 



The tirade against the poor little red spider, who by 

 the way is not a spider in the sense we usually accept 

 him, and this possibly is the reason he is designated by 

 his Latin name, has been with us since boyhood and we 

 l-notv, that a real nice moist growing atmosphere is not 

 agreeable to him, but very good for the plants. He 

 should not be admitted; it is not good policy to wait 

 until he has eaten up the Cyperus because he could not 

 get at the Victoria. Truly "Violence is the watchword 

 in a case like this, applied through the hose with great 

 pressure," but, in the next penful of ink the soft pedal 

 is put on, and that "with this in the hands of the careful 

 and thorough cultivator (coupled with eternal vigilance) 

 the terrors of red sjiider disappear like mist before the 

 morning sun." Which being interpreted means, the old 

 custom of a fine spray of water under pressure applied 



