1885. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



•75 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Those who have small gardens and love to grow 

 their own fruits and vegetables, have little idea 

 how great is the advantage in having deep soil to 

 grow them in. Not only can one get double the 

 crop from the same ground, but the quality is vast- 

 ly superior to that of vegetables raised in shallow 

 ground. The old-time gardeners — the men of the 

 spade and the digging fork — understood this matter 

 thoroughly, and a good part of leisure time in win- 

 ter was spent in trenching ground, as they termed 

 it. To do this a trench would be opened about 

 three feet wide and two deep, the earth taken out 

 being wheeled to the end of the plot to be trenched 

 so as to be on hand to fill in the last trench. The 

 top soil — the upper spit or spade-full would be 

 thrown off entirely, and the lower spit being simply 

 dug up and suffered to remain the lower spit. The 

 next trench of three feet wide would then be at- 

 tacked, the surface spit being thrown on the lower 

 spit of the first trench, the lower being loosened as 

 before. In this way the ground would be loosened 

 two feet deep without burying the surface soil. In 

 former times this was hard work, because done 

 wholly by the spade. Since the introduction of 

 the digging-fork it is much easier, and double the 

 work can be done in the same time. But the com- 

 petition of the plow and plenty of manure has so 

 cheapened vegetables that few care to put this 

 labor on ground — but those who want something 

 extra nice and love to see everything growing 

 beautifully, no matter how dry the summer season 

 may be, will find much delight in a small piece of 

 thoroughly deepened ground. This is the season 

 to watch the effect of deep and shallow garden 

 soil, and the lessons learned can be put into prac- 

 tice when the proper time arrives. Some things 

 especially do so remarkably in deep soils, that one 

 will hardly recognize them as the same plants. 



Beans produce an enormous crop in deeply 

 trenched soils, and are improved as much as any 

 crop by surface manuring. We hope this method 

 of fertilizing the soil will be extensively adopted 

 for garden crops this season. Those who have 

 not yet tried it will be surprised at the economy 

 and beneficial results of the practice. 



Peas for a fall crop may be sown. It is, how- 

 ever, useless to try them unless in a deeply trench- 

 ed soil, and one that is comparatively cool in the 

 hottest weather overhead, or they will certainly 

 mildew and prove worthless. In England where 

 the atmosphere is so much more humid than 

 ours, they nevertheless have great difficulty in 

 getting fall peas to go through free from mildew ; 

 and to obviate these drying and mildew-producing 

 influences, they often plant them in deep trenches, 

 made as for celery, and then are much more suc- 

 cessful with them. 



Besides the lessons we may draw from watching 

 deep and shallow soils, there will be much profit 

 in the study of manures, and especially in the cul- 

 ture of fruit trees. 



The hints given in our flower garden depart- 

 ment on pruning may be read with profit here also. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



PRUNING AND CARE OF ORCHARDS. 



BY ERNEST WALKER. 



The old proverb, " Prune when your knife is 

 sharp," has often been repeated, but if we follow 

 it we are some time sure to cut too deep. 



Winter is commonly recommended, but needs 

 some modification. If large limbs are removed at 

 this season, water penetrates the wounds, and 

 freezing ruptures the tissue exposed, dying, de- 

 caying, resulting in large wounds — ulcers that 

 never heal, sapping insidiously the vitality of the 

 tree. Cut the limb at a time when the wound will 

 heal, by what doctors call " the first intention." 

 This is just before the buds swell and active 

 growth begins in spring. But heavy pruning should 

 be avoided — prevention is better than cure. Train 

 the tree up in the way it should go, or grow, as 

 well as the child, from the beginning. 



The business of the fruit-grower should also be 

 fruit-culturist. His business is not merely to gather 

 the fruits and profits of the orchard, but to care 

 for and cultivate it first. Water seeks its level. 

 All forces naturally meet on equilibrium ; when 

 water rises above its level, it is only kept there by 

 force or tension. 



