of Rural Art and Taste. 



141 



but I am going to try and believe that no one 

 will be so silly as to attempt gardening with- 

 out a good supply of it on hand. 



Before going farther, let me give one gen- 

 eral rule for manuring, which my own experi- 

 ence has shown me to be the best of any that 

 I have ever tried. It is as follows : Spread 

 about one-half of what you design for a given 

 portion of land upon the top of the ground 

 and for this take the coarsest part of the 

 manure and plow it under. Spread the other 

 half upon the top of the ground after plowing, 

 drag it in with a fine tooth harrow. After 

 this it will be necessary to rake the whole 

 ground over with hand rakes. I lay this 

 down not as an invariable rule, but as a gen- 

 eral one, which of course has its exceptions. 



Now comes the selection of seeds, and if 

 there is anything more utterly bewildering to 

 a beginner than this, I am sure that I do not 

 know what it is. For instance, I have one 

 volume in my library in which there are 25 

 varieties of onions enumerated, 34 of potatoes, 

 34 of squashes, 40 of beets, 42 of tomatoes, 

 50 of cucumbers, 54 of cabbages, 56 of tur- 

 nips, 58 of corn, 84 of lettuce, 108 of beans, 

 115 of peas, and so on through the whole list. 

 There is a list of twelve of our standard gar- 

 den vegetables, and 700 varieties of seed to 

 select from. Nor is this all. Not a year 

 passes by but new varieties of each of these 

 and many other kinds are introduced with an 

 almost innumerable host of circulars, that 

 would lead us to believe that we were upon 

 the eve of some great revolution in vegetable 

 and fruit growing. 



If you attempt to introduce all the new 

 kinds and varieties that are recommended to 

 you, ruin is inevitable. Upon the other hand 

 if you ignore all of them, you will soon find 

 yourself lagging behind the age in improve- 

 ments. Hence you perceive, that to make a 

 good selection will require all of your good 

 sense as well as your experience, and if you 

 succeed then without making any mistakes, I 

 have only to say that you will be more fortu- 

 nate than I have ever been in this feature of 

 the business. 



I am tempted here to give you a list of a 



few of our most prominent vegetables that 

 have done the best with me, though it is very 

 possible that some of them may not be the 

 best for all parts of the state. For early 

 onions, the common top or bunch onions : for 

 late or main crop, the Wethersfield, Early 

 Red Grlobe and the. Yellow Danvers, the first 

 named being the most hardy and the best 

 keepers. Tomatoes : Early crop, the Early 

 York ; for late or main crop, the Tilden and 

 the Trophy. Early cabbage, the Jersey 

 Wakefield ; for late crop, the Bergen Drum- 

 head, if you have a heavy soil. If a light one, 

 the Winningstadt. Early potatoes, Early 

 Rose ; late crop, the Peerless. Corn : Cros- 

 by's Early and Stowell's Evergreen for late 

 crop. Bush beans, the Early Valentine. 

 Peas : First crop, the P]arly Kent ; late, the 

 Champion of England. For fall squash, the 

 Turban or the Boston Marrow ; for winter, 

 the Hubbard. Cucumbers, Early Frame and 

 White Spine. Beets : The Bassano and the 

 Egyptian for early crop, and the Blood Turnip 

 for late crop. Strawberries : Wilson's Albany 

 Seedling. 



The above is of course a very limited as- 

 sortment of seeds, and while they are standard 

 varieties, I by no means confine myself to 

 them, but am constantly experimenting with 

 new varieties ; still I would guard you against 

 putting too much confidence in the representa- 

 tions of those who have new varieties to sell. 



Well, we will suppose that we have our beds 

 nicely prepared, with the alleys so made that 

 they will not only carry all the surplus water 

 ofi^ the beds, but so arranged that they will 

 carry it entirely from the garden. No matter 

 how early in the spring it is, if your ground is 

 in good condition to work, you may begin 

 planting, but plant only those kinds that will 

 not be injured by the late spring frosts. The 

 ground may be frozen an inch deep after peas 

 and onions are up, without their being in- 

 jured. Beets, parsnips, carrots, radishes, 

 turnips, as well as some other plants, will 

 endure an ordinary spring frost without injury, 

 while beans, tomatoes, egg plant, melons, cu- 

 cumbers, sweet potatoes and some others, are 

 very sensitive to cold, and will sometimes 



