Vegetables From the Home Garden 



By W. N. Craig, ••■ Massachusetts. 



Horticulture has its full share in the ceaseless activ- 

 ity of the present age. Changes in the vegetable gar- 

 den, the varieties grown, and methods of culture shoAv 

 just as great changes as are to be witnessed in the 

 present improved methods of locomotion, lighting or 

 sanitation. There have been, within the last twenty- 

 five years, particularly striking improvements in po- 

 tatoes, peas, tomatoes, beans, and in fact, all standard 

 vegetables. There are now practically no periods in 

 the year, even in midwinter, when a good assortment 

 of vegetables, either of greenhouse or Southern out- 

 door culture, is not obtainable. 



We hear much nowadays of trusts, and the high 

 cost of living is dwelt on, not only here, but in prac- 

 tically every civilized community on earth, and a late 

 President suggested an international tribunal to con- 

 sider the causes of high prices and suggest remedies. 

 Perhaps the most practical remedy which could sug- 

 gest itself would be for more families to plant fruits 

 and vegetables in their home gardens. The European 

 countries are far in advance of us in this respect ; there, 

 every workingman who has the least ambition, rents a 

 piece of ground if he has none attached to his home, 

 and grows a fine variety of vegetables ; in Great 

 Britain, large numbers of workmen even have small 

 greenhouses in their gardens, in which to grow a few 

 fiowers and early vegetables, and start their seedlings 

 in. It should be possible for many to have modest 

 greenhouses here ; they need not necessarily be heated 

 through the winter, but utilized for starting early 

 plants for the home garden, both flowers and vege- 

 tables. Where a greenhnuse is not possible, it does 

 not cost much to have a cold frame with two or more 

 sashes, which can be used as hot-beds for starting to- 

 matoes, celery, lettuce, egg plants, cabbages and other 

 plants. It is simply astounding that so many residents 

 in these United States prefer to buy their vegetables 

 the year through, wdien they, in many cases, have 

 facilities for raising the same at home. We see manv 

 fine homes with their lawns and shrubs, veritable 

 Queen Anne fronts, but too often, alas ! what we might 

 say, "Mary Ann" backs. For it is too true that beyond 

 collections of junk, ashes, and other rubbish, what 

 might be in many cases a garden of utilit^■ is onlv an 

 eyesore. 



Vegetable gardens should always, if ])ossil)le, be 

 made where they can get a warm, sunny exposure; if 

 sloping south the crops will be earlier, but this is not 

 essential. Vegetables will grow well in almost any 

 soil in which water does not stand. Such soils re- 

 quire drainage to produce good crops ; drainage warms 

 as well as sweetens the soil. The best manure for 

 nearly all vegetables is well rotted cow manure or 

 horse manure, if applied and worked in. In the fall, 

 fresh manure can be used to advantage, but it is better 

 not to use such when near planting time. It is always 

 well to save and bury as much of the humus or vege- 

 table matter as possible ; too often this is thrown on 

 the rubbish heap. 



In considering any general order for work in the 

 vegetable garden the leading principle should be that 

 its productive powers should be taxed fully. There 

 need be no resting of the ground, and it is very easy 

 if there should, perchance, be a surplus of any crops, 



•Extracts from jiaper read before Horticultural Society of New York, 

 Tanuary 20. 1915. 



to give them away, and in the case of the Brassica 

 family, to return them to the soil for manure. Hard 

 cropping, of course, is not possible unless the land is 

 liberally manured and the surface soil kept constantly 

 tilled. To ])Ut little in and take out much means vir- 

 tual exhaustion ; a whip will not work as a substitute 

 for corn for a horse with hard work to do ; nor will a 

 candle burn long if lit at both ends. Always dig 

 deeply, and when occasion will permit trencli a couple 

 of spits deep. Change crops from year to year where 

 this can be done ; this is not absolutely necessary and 

 it is not always possible to do it, but the majority of 

 vegetables do better with a change of ground. 



Soils which are sour i_ir acidy should have a liberal 

 dressing of lime ; this is best applied in the fall after 

 the crops have been gathered. Sufiicient lime is not 

 used in America ; once in three years the bulk of soils 

 are benefited by an application ; do not apply the lime, 

 however, at the same time as manure, as the lime will, 

 release much of the nitrogen from the latter. Barn- 

 yard manure cannot always be procured, but good 

 crops can be produced, with chemical fertilizers alone ; 

 these, however, must be used with greater precaution 

 than the manure. Too often fertilizer is used in seed 

 drills, and the seedsmen are blamed for selling" poor 

 seed, where the seedings have been practically de- 

 stroyed by the fertilizer : the safer plan is to broad- 

 cast anil harrow it in well, also to use it between rows 

 of growing cro])s to stimulate them. 



A list of vegetables of proved excellence and a few 

 words on their ctilture is apt to be tedious, but there 

 are so many starting a garden each year that some- 

 thing must be said on this subject. These remarks are 

 intended rather for small growers, and not for those- 

 who are operating market gardens. The best growers 

 of vegetables are not necessarily market growers or 

 practical gardeners at all. In Great Britain much 

 finer leeks, potatoes, celery and cauliflower are grown 

 by the artisan classes, who take a keen interest in 

 vegetalile culture, than by the professionals, and there 

 is no reason why it cannot be accomplished here. 



Peas are one of the important vegetables and the 

 first sowing should be ptit into the grounrl as soon 

 after it is open as possible. We hear it commonly 

 stated that it is too early to sow peas because the 

 ground has not become warmed. The warmer and 

 drier the soil gets the poorer the peas will do. We 

 have sown these as early as March 10, and in late sea- 

 sons not until the first week of April ; but just as soon 

 as the frost has left the ground it should be spaded 

 and plowed, manured liberally, and a first sowing 

 made : successional sowings can be made until the end 

 of May, after which time it does not pay to sow them,, 

 but for a fall crop, a sowing can be made about July 25. 

 Dwarf peas are to be recommended for small gardens ;■ 

 probably the best of these is Sutton's Excelsior : Nott's 

 Excelsior is very good also ; both of these are heavy 

 croppers. Later varieties, such as Thomas Laxton, 

 and Gradus, are excellent, but should have good sup- 

 ports. Birch brush is the best support for peas : wire 

 netting may be used where birch is not procurable. 

 Good succession peas to follow those already nam" ! 

 are Alderman, Dwarf Champion, Sutton's Dwarf D-"- 

 fiance, Juno, Improved Stratagem, Advancer, Quite 

 Content, and the old Chamjnon of England : the latter 

 should not be grown where it cannot be given good 



