io8 



• • GARDENING. 



Dec, i^, 



prepared as stated for Savoys except that 

 we have to keep it in a pit or well- 

 wrapped frame, and exclude hard frost 

 from it 



Celery is laid past in the trenches, with 

 a month's supply in a pit where we can get 

 at it at anytime. The ridges are packed 

 at top, smoothed and graded on the sides 

 to shed water, boards tilted to the side 

 are placed ovir the rows of plants, and 

 over all some sedge and leaves are laid to 

 exclude frost. Look out for field mice 

 though They love such winter ([uarters, 

 and cut the plants, tunnelling among 

 them and destroying them. 



Chives have died down to the ground. 

 Some clumps of them lifted now and 

 brought into warmth will soon start into 

 fresh growth and give you a nice cutting 

 for salads. 



Curled cress and white mustard are 

 much esteemed fresh salading. Sow the 

 seed thickly in shallow boxes in light soil 

 smoothed on the surface, and bring it into 

 a warm room or greenhouse. In a few 

 daj'S the seedlings appear, and when they 

 are seven to ten days old, cut them clean 

 off at the root, they are then fit for use. 



Greenhouse cucunijiers are all we have 

 now. A night temperature of 60° to 65°, 

 plenty to eat and drink, a syringing in 

 the forenoou, rigid cleanliness against red 

 spider and mealy bugs, and hand fertihza- 

 tion of the flowers, are what is needed. 



Dandelions have been cut and raked ofi' 

 smootTi, and a dressing of light manure 

 spread over the beds to save the crowns 

 from the effects of sudden changes in 

 winter, and we leave them in this way 

 till the first of March, when we cover the 

 beds with frames and sashes to coax the 

 plants to grow that we may cut them for 

 early greens. 



Endive should be tied up, and kept dry 

 overhead in cold frames much as we 

 would lettuces. 



Of horse radish we have dug up enough 

 to last us till spriue, storing it in the pit, 

 and the strong roots which we shall use 

 for new sets in spring are buried or pitted 

 out of doors. We plant in early spring. 

 We never gained anything bv planting it 

 in fall. 



Leeks have been lifted and stored in a 

 comer of a cold frame where we can reach 

 them at anytime. 



Lettuces are in the cold frames in all 

 stages from 2-inch plants to hearting 

 ones. The little ones are pretty hardy, 

 but we cover up the big ones enough to 

 save them from frost. 



We get lamb long before we have out- 

 door green mint in spring, for this reason 

 we cut and dried a few bunches of it, and 

 also lifted a few sods of its roots and 

 planted them in shallow boxes to bring 

 into warm quarters a little while before 

 we want the green mint. 



Mushrooms are a winter crop. Con- 

 tinue to get together fresh horse manure 

 for new beds. But don't use manure from 

 stables where the horses are fed with car- 

 rots. See page 60, November 1 last. 



New Zealand spinach was fine with us 

 up into November, but it is tougher than 

 our common spinach and less palatable. 

 It is all past now. Now, while it will 

 stand heat and drouth, a slight frost 

 kills it. Next year from self sown seed it 

 will come up thickly all around where it 

 grew this year. 



Onions are stored in a cool room. We 

 ])lace a layer of dry marsh hay on the 

 Hoor, then a layer, six or eight inches 

 deep, of onions on top of that, and finish 

 )ff with more hay over all. A sharp frost 



we covered up a row to keep for use till 

 the holidays. In a cold frame there is a 

 nice stand of midsummer sown plants for 

 use over winter and till the end of next 

 June. Most folks have a old soap or 

 cracker box planted full of parsley and 

 stuck in front of the window inside in the 

 cellar. 



Of parsnips we will leave a large bed 

 out of doors and undisturbed over win- 

 ter. If the potatoes in the cellar are 

 sprouting turn them out of the barrels 

 and rub the sprouts off of them. If you 

 have any in outdoor pits, cover them 

 deep enough to exclude frost, but venti- 

 late them too. 



Radishes after this time of year had bet- 

 ter be raised in greenhouses, they won't 

 grow in cold frames, and hotbeds are too 

 close and unsatisfactory in December and 

 January. 



Rhubarb, we put a little earth on each 

 crown to shed water and mark the spot. 

 We will soon begin lifting some roots for 

 forcing. Our market gardeners always 

 lift them and leave them out in the frost 

 for a while before they bring them in- 

 doors to force. 



Spinach that was sown early in Sep- 

 tember is heavy stock now and a good 

 deal blistered with the leaf maggot; that 

 which was sown the middle of the month 

 is giving us the best greens. As soon as 

 there is a good crust of frost on the 

 ground we will spread some sedge or salt 

 hay over it to preserve it from the 

 changes of winter, we wait for the frost 

 on account of the field mice. For a sup- 

 ply in severe weather we have a string of 

 cold frames filled with spinach. Besides, 

 if one were to pull a lot of spinach now 

 and barrel it, leaving the barrels out in 

 the cold or in a cold shed the spinach will 

 keep in them for some weeks. 



Squash are very easy to keep till Decem- 

 ber, now we must keep them warm, say 

 at 60° to have them late in winter. 



Carrots, beets, parsnips, salsify and 

 scorzonera are all up, and in their respec- 

 tive bins in the root house. We must keep 

 a careful watch over them to keep them 

 from sprouting, and we must keep them 

 cool. Look out for damping or rotting 

 among them. 



GL/IRK'S 



fliitonialic 

 spRfly 



PUMP. 



TREES of GOLD ■"■l;E^^^^r"w::■.r?:i 



l'.i)r-l.;ii/k-s 2<) Million ■■n.^wcri' 



KIVALguar- 

 loverlfALF. 



^:^ 



m. STARK, Bi 



A Christmas 

 Present 





won't hurt them 



pro\ 



vou don't 



landle them much while they arc frozen. 

 The outside parsley was so good that 



That will be Appreciated 



By any lover of plants and flowers 



Is a year's subscrip tion to ^ 



GAEDENINS 



The recipient will be reminded of your thought= 

 fulness twenty=four times during 1895. 



Order now and we will send to each one a copy 

 of this issue to reach them Christmas, with a 

 letter advising that it is sent as a Christmas 

 present by you and that the gift includes the 

 twenty-four issues for 1895. 



THE GARDENING CO., 



Monon Building, CHICAGO. 



