April 5, 1913 



HORTICULTUEE 



503 



OUTDOOR VEGETABLES AND FRUIT 



CONDUCTJiU BY 



f J^4^7^ Xou^^c^ 



Questions by our readers in line with any of the topics presented on this page will be cordially received and promptly answered 

 by Mr. Jenkins. Such communications should inTarIal)ly be addressed to the office of HORTICULTUKE. 



Some General Thoughts 



There are two ways of treating the vegetable and fruit 

 garden. First the method which is so dear to the hearts 

 of most of us; because it is associated with our early 

 training. This method is generally to treat a piece of 

 land varying in size to suit the requirements of the es- 

 tablishment by laying it out in rectangular plots and 

 dividing it by walks or roads, edged with a strip of turf 

 or a low growing hedge. Next to the walks are flower 

 borders and then behind the flower border a row of fruit 

 trees, such as apples, pears, plums or cherries. Enclosed 

 by the fruit trees is the place where the vegetables are 

 grown. This ensemble makes a very pleasing and satis- 

 factory arrangement especially if the whole is enclosed 

 by a neat evergreen hedge about five to sis feet high. 

 But it means a great deal of labor to keep it as it should 

 be kept and further it means staying there with your 

 vegetables and flowers year after year. This I consider 

 the great drawback of the nicely planned and laid-out 

 vegetable garden. 



The other method is what might be called the field 

 treatment or truck gardeners' style, and this system has 

 much to commend it. From lialf an acre to five acres 

 of a field where the soil and aspect are suitable may be 

 selected and the vegetables planted in long straight 

 rows ; this will facilitate either horse of manual cultiva- 

 tion and will generally mean that the gardener can grow 

 larger quantities of each kind which will enable him to 

 make a better selection of those samples most suitable for 

 table use. It means that in the autumn or winter he 

 can get in with the plow or with the wagon of manure. 

 If after a few years of cultivation of this spot there are 

 any good reasons for changing, the land will be in ideal 

 condition for any farm crops and very little trouble or 

 expense is involved in the change. Under this system 

 one man will produce more good vegetables than two or 

 three would in the more formally laid out vegetable gar- 

 den. 



Working Land in Wet Weather 



We are all so anxious to get the seeds sown and the 

 garden planted in spring that we have no patience to 

 wait for the soil to dry up and providing it is not actually 

 pouring rain we are very apt to get to work on the land. 



By so doing great harm is done as any soil, excepting 

 the very sandy, that is tramped while wet sustains an 

 injury from which it takes a long time to recover. It is 

 impossible to tell in words just the exact state of dry- 

 ness that a given soil must reach before it can be worked 

 without injury, but a little thought and care on the part 

 of the grower will soon enable him to recognize the right 

 condition and it will suffice here to utter the warning. 



Some Good Resolutions 



The new year is not the only time at which good reso- 

 lutions are in order. They are desirable any day in the 

 year and just now is a good time for the vegetable gar- 

 dener to make a few. Resolve not to tramp the soil when 

 too wet if it is possible to avoid it. Resolve to fight the 

 potato bug, the currant worm, the caterpillars generally 

 and all the other insect pests, "from the drop of the 

 hat," giving them no quarter. Resolve to watch all your 

 crops carefully for variations; if you see a pea in a row 

 which flowers and matures its pod a few days earlier 

 that its fellows mark it and save seed from it; you may 

 find that you have a valuable sport. The same will ap- 

 ply to size, quality, or freedom from disease or any other 

 favorable variation. We gardeners are a great deal more 

 keen in watching for a variation or sport amongst the 

 carnations, roses or chrysanthemums than amongst the 

 vegetables or small fruits and still 'tis thus that our 

 early and late kinds have originated. Cross-fertiliza- 

 tion and careful selection are the means of producing 

 all the varied improvements in every crop, and the gar- 

 dener is very favorably placed to watch for and select 

 improved kinds. Resolve to familiarize yourself with 

 the time that it takes each crop to mature on an average 

 (always making allowance for local influences of soil, 

 climate, etc.) so that successions may be kept up. The 

 following list may help. 



String beans, about 50 to 60 days from seed; Lima 

 beans, 70 to 75; beets, 55 to 65; cabbage (early), 100 to 

 110; cabbage (late), 145 to 155; corn, 70 to 80; egg 

 plant, 145 to 160 ; lettuce, 60 to 70 ; onion, 135 to 145 ; 

 pepper, 140 to 150; radish, 30 to 40; tomatoes, 140 to 

 150. 



pairment of vitality which this class of plants has had 

 to suffer during several years immediately preceding. 

 Unless some very unlikely check should ensue, these 

 things can now start ofE under most favorable auspices, 

 well prepared to make a growth and establish a sturdi- 

 ness and restored vigor which will stand them in good 

 stead when Old Boreas again resumes business at the old 

 stand. The situation should be particularly fortunate 



for the quantities of young new material collected by 

 Wilson in the mountain regions of China which is now 

 in the various seedling stages and is certainly entitled 

 to a fair start in life, for it is destined to play a very 

 prominent part in garden planting and garden aspect in 

 the near future and all doubt as to hardiness is often 

 dispelled when a plant has had a chance to become well 

 established. 



