3*4 



' ' ' GARDENING. 



July /, 



vegetable grower can breathe more freely 

 as most ol his land is occupied and judi- 

 cious watering of moisture loving plants, 

 with frequent cultivation of the soil, and 

 the almost constant use of the hoe to 

 keep weeds in cheek w ill be the principal 

 work during July and August. 



Celery is one of the most important 

 crops in the vegetable garden and one, in 

 the successful cultine and winter storing 

 of which, many excellent gardeners fail. 

 We have had failures ourselves, but have 

 always been able to profit by them and 

 now manage to grow our celery perfectly 

 free from rust and keep it in good condi- 

 tion until the beginning of April. Celery 

 is a moi-ture loving plant and to have 

 the be>t success with it, the roots should 

 never be allowed to get thoroughly dry. 

 We always plan to plant our crop where 

 it can be artificially watered in dry 

 weather with a sprinkler which is allowed 

 to revolve several hours in one place until 

 the ground is thoroughly soaked; wetting 

 merelv the surface does more harm than 

 good and is a far too common habit. Our 

 early batch of celery planted out early in 

 June is now growing vigorously. We 

 mulch among the plants with spent mush- 

 room manure or rakings from the lawns, 

 both of which are excellent mulching ma- 

 terials. Our latest lot for winter supply 

 is planted about July 10; our favorite 

 varieties here are Boston Market, Giant 

 Pascal and Kalamazoo, the first named 

 keeping in good conditjon the longest. 

 None of these sorts are used before Janu- 

 ary, the supply prior to that being from 

 Paris Golden or Golden Self Blanching, 

 White Plume and Pink Plume. The last 

 named kind we like very much and are 

 growing it more largely this season. 

 Paris Golden for early use is probably 

 more extensively grown in the east than 

 all other sorts combined. It can be planted 

 quite late with success. Last season one 

 or two rows set out early in August 

 made excellent heads. In planting celery 

 too much care cannot be taken to lift a 

 good ball with each plant and see that 

 it is thoroughly soaked before setting. 

 Celery so treated will grow right ahead 

 and give satisfaction, which is more than 

 can be expected when there is scarce a 

 vestige of earth adhering to the roots. 

 To have a regular supply of good celerv 

 all winter should be the aim of every 

 owner of a vegetable garden. The "How 

 to keep it" is a conundrum which many 

 have been unable to answer to their sat- 

 isfaction. We have tried lifting and stor- 

 ing it, but have come to the conclusion 

 that to have the best results the celery 

 must be protected and kept where it is 

 grown We therefore earth our plants 

 up as much as possible and later fill the 

 trenches between the rows and over the 

 plants with leaves or meadow hay of suf- 

 ficient thickness to exclude frost, boards 

 being nailed together in form of a span 

 roof to lay along the top of the ridges to 

 keep out moisture. This system may not 

 commend itself to commercial growers, 

 but for private establishments we do not 

 know of any better method. Celerv kept 

 in this natural way with roots fresh and 

 growing tastes very different from that 

 stored in pits, caves or cellars. 



We try each year several new varieties 

 of tomato s, both under glass and out- 

 doors. Our outdoor crop generally does 

 not amount to much before the middle of 

 July, although we can make pickings a 

 fortnight earlier from plants well started 

 in 6-inch pots before planting out. The 

 varieties grown under glass which have 

 given us the heaviest crops are Sutton's 

 Best-of-All, Eclipse, Frogmore Prolific 

 and Faultless Early. The first three sorts 



are of good size; all set very freely and are 

 of a fine color. Faultless Early and 

 Early Essex are good midwinter sorts. 

 The fruit is rather small compared to 

 other kinds, but as they are borne in 

 clusters of from eight to twelve they make 

 up in quantity what they lack in size. 

 None of these indoor sorts have proved of 

 much value outdoors, while our best all- 

 around open air varieties, such as Stone, 

 Perfection and Beauty are of very little 

 value under glass. Most tomato grow- 

 ers, at least on private places, now train 

 their outdoor plants in some way, either 

 to a fence, pole or some other support; 

 the little time required during the season 

 in tying up the plants is more than com- 

 pensated for by their better appearance 

 and the superior quality of the fruit 

 which can get light and air, which is im- 

 possible when the vine is lying on the 

 ground. About the middle of Julv we 

 make a sowirg of tomato seed to grow 

 for our earliest winter crop. These will 

 give ripe fruit by the time the outdoor 

 crop is exhausted; the plants are potted 

 as required and grown outdoors until 

 the end of August when they are trans- 

 ferred to their winter quarters where a 

 night temperature of 55° to 60° is main- 

 tained. 



For several years we have adopted the 

 old plan of sowing our onion seed in a 

 gentle hotbed, and planting out about 

 April 20 Manj' commercial growers 

 now adopt this plan exclusively and it 

 has much to commend it. Only a frac- 

 tion of the seed is required as compared 

 with those sown outdoors, a regularcrop 

 is assured, there is no tedious thinning 

 and weeding to be done and far finer 

 bulbs are the result. Our plants are 

 allowed two feet between the rows and 

 are from six to eight inches apart in the 

 rows Commencing early in July some 

 liquid stimulants are regularly given dur- 

 ing the rest of the growing season; once a 

 week after a rainfall, or artificial watering 

 with the sprinkler, the plants are gone 

 over with guano water, sheep manure, 

 or some other liquid fertilizer, changing 

 the food from week to week and increasing 

 the strengthof thedoseasthe bulbs swell. 

 A scattering of special chemical fertilizer 

 between the rows, which can be hoed 

 over afterwards, is also advantageous 

 but must be used with cau' ion. Onions 

 are quite gross feeders but we have seen 

 fine batches looking as if a fire had been 

 over them because of too heavy applica- 

 tions of fertilizer. To grow extra fine 

 onions a copious supply of water, occa- 

 sional soakings of liquid manure and fre- 

 quent stirrings of the soil are three things 

 to be attended to. For all-around pur- 

 poses there is nothing superior to a 

 good strain of Yellow Globe Danvers and 

 Red Wettersfield, both of which are fine 

 keepers. Where an extra large handsome 

 onion is desired, Prizetakcr is the one to 

 grow. Two English kinds which give us 

 immense, firm bulbs are Ailsa Craig and 

 Cranston's Excelsior; both these varieties 

 keep well, but they are almost too large 

 for market purposes. W. N. Craig. 



Taunton, Mass. 



Miscellaneous. 



The Texas Agricultural Congress 

 will be in session at College Station, 

 Texas, July 13, 14 and 15. Reduced 

 rates have been secured and a large at- 

 tendance is anticipated. An elaborate 

 programme has been prep-red. The con- 

 gress will be made the occasion for the 

 meeting of a number of allied societies, 

 amongthem the Texas State Horticultural 

 Society, State Swine Breeders' Associa- 

 tion, etc. 



THE JAPANESE NAME FOR TAB CRIMSON 

 RAMBLER. 

 The Journal des Roses states that 

 among some plates of Japanese roses 

 (principally wild ones) published in that 

 paper, in 188C>, is a plate corresponding 

 exactly to Crimson Rambler. The dis- 

 cription is exact as well as the plate and 

 it is no doubt the same rose. The Japan- 

 ese name is given as Sakoura-Ibara, 

 literally cherry rose. 



CRAFTING TOMATOES ON POTATOES. 



In a paper read before the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society of England, Mr. Neild 

 describes some successful graftings both 

 of tomato on potato and vice versa. The 

 tomatoes on the potato produced a good 

 crop of fruit. It was noted that the 

 potato tubers, however, produced roots 

 where ordinarily eyes are formed. The 

 potatoes grafted on tomato stocks did 

 not grow so freely and produced small 

 green tubers in the axils of the leaves. 



FUMIGATING WITH SULPHUR. 



Constant advice is given to fumigate 

 houses with sulphurafter they are cleared. 

 This is a most excellent thing to do, but 

 before burning the sulphur the hose 

 should be put on and the whole house 

 thoroughly wet down inside, roof and 

 all, reaching every crack and cranny pos- 

 sible. The water absorbs the fumes of 

 the sulphur and carries them into the 

 dirt and so reaches the depths of many 

 cracks that the dry fumes would not 

 reach. 



WINTER FORCING IN T«E OPEN FIELD. 



A bulletin of the Missouri Experiment 

 Station describes a method of forcing as- 

 paragus in the open field which has proved 

 very successful. 



Ditches were dug between the rows in 

 which 4-inch blocks were laid at the sides 

 on which boards were placed, the ditches 

 being then filled in. Through the pass- 

 ages thus formed steam was forced. As 

 the bottom and sides were formed by 

 earth only the steam readily found its 

 way into the soil, moistening as well as 

 heating it. About one foot of soil was 

 placed over the crown of the plants and 

 the whole covered with six inches of horse 

 manure. The horse manure not only re- 

 tains the heat but ferments quickly and 

 adds to the heat from the steam. The 

 asparagus was forced during December 

 and January, the best results being during 

 the coldest weather when the thermome- 

 ter frequently went below zero. The 

 stalks were cut as soon as they reached 

 the surface of the soil and were very fine. 

 It is claimed that one season's growth 

 leaves the forced plants in perfect con- 

 dition for a second forcing. 



The expense was very small. For a 

 plot 25x25 feet, which was run for fifty- 

 eight da3'S, the time of running the steam 

 averaged seventeen minutes daily, and as 

 there were six ditches the average was 

 only three minutes daily for each ditch. 

 The coal consumed, by careful measure- 

 ment, amounted to $1.82 in value. The 

 temperature of the beds was not allowed 

 to go much below 60°. This experiment 

 would, if carefully carried out, be quite 

 promising as to hastening the blooming 

 period of hardy flowers and even shrubs. 



