THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 345 



The Vegetable Garden. 



AN EXERCISE AT LAST ANNUAL MEETING LED BY ALFRED PERKINS, MARKET 



GARDENER, ST. PAUL. 



A Member: I want to ask about raising Brussels sprouts. 



Mr. Perkins: That is a vegetable I have had quite a little 

 experience with, but I find as a general thing the season here is 

 pretty dry for it. We can get plenty of water, yet atmospheric 

 conditions do not seem to be satisfactory as far as I can find out. 

 Down on Long Island they raise very good Brussels sprouts, but 

 they are surrounded by water, and I believe the atmosphere being 

 charged with moisture in the fall of the year and not having the 

 severe frosts we have, develops good Brussels sprouts. I have 

 tried to grow them several years; I have had fairly good crops, 

 but I must say in the majority of cases the crop was not satisfac- 

 tory. 



A Member: Mine seem to have little heads come on them, 

 but the aphis ruin them. 



Mr. Perkins: The best thing you can do is to spray with 

 tobacco, nicofume or tobacco dust. A good plan is to put tobacco 

 dust on the ground around the plants — or tobacco stems are good. 

 I have grown them not so much as a money benefit, but just for 

 an experiment and for exhibition purposes. 



Mr. McBroom: I would like to know if there is anything 

 being done in the way of storing celery by the St. Paul growers 

 to bring it along to, say, Christmas time ? 



Mr. Perkins : Yes, it is practiced to a certain extent. There 

 are a few growers I know that have tried to hold the crop for the 

 holidays, but as a general thing I think most of the growers pre- 

 fer to get rid of it. We are likely to have very severe weather, 

 and then it lets up, and it entails lots of labor to take care of it. 

 If you have it too much covered it is liable to rot, and if you don't 

 have it covered enough it is liable to get frosted. 



Mr. Baldwin: I had quite a little experience a number of 

 years ago. I used to keep it until the latter part of February or 

 March, but in late years that which comes so freely from Cali- 

 fornia looks more attractive than the home grown, and it does not 

 pay as well as it used to. I noticed along Lake Michigan, above 

 Chicago, a very common way with them is to trench the depth of 

 the plants and then put a layer about two plants thick, and then 

 put a layer of dirt, six inches thick, and so on, and finally cover 

 it all over with dirt. Let the dirt freeze until it will bear a man's 

 weight. After you have a crust of frozen dirt over it then cover 

 it with some material to keep it from freezing, using a space ten 

 feet wide and as long as you like. In that way you can keep the 

 tops in fairly good condition until March. 



Mr. Perkins: Through Michigan that is practiced? 



Mr. Baldwin : That was out from Chicago. 



Mr. Perkins: Yes, the winter is not as severe as here. We 

 get a cold spell, and we can't always get it out, and unless you 



