October, 1910 



THE CANADIAN FTOETICULTURIST 



2.17 



I 



A Ginseng Seed Bed 



peas in rows about six inches broad gave 

 better results than when sown closer to- 

 tjether. 



It was suggested that they should ex- 

 periment at Jordan Station along the 

 line of raising early vegetables by the 

 use of frames and pit houses, the very 

 intense system of French .Suburban gar- 

 dening especially suited to large cities 

 and the relative \alue of commercial fer- 

 tilizers and manure under certain con- 

 ditions or during certain seasons of the 

 year. 



An address on "Irrigation of Garden 

 and (ireenhouse" was given by W. H. 

 Coles, of Troy, Ohio, explaining fully the 

 Skinner System of Irrigation. 



MELON CULTURE 



Melon Culture was discussed by F. G. 

 Fuller, of Hopedale. He said that his 

 first thought would be the variety. Some 

 markets demand a small melon, while 

 others demand a larger melon. A grower 

 should be particular to get a melon suit- 

 able to his market and one that will com- 

 mand a good price. He should .select a 

 melon of good type and flavor ; saving 

 the seed of a good sample in flavor. A 

 melon without flavor would not be a 

 satisfactory one to grow. The hot bed 

 should be prepared about the 25th of 

 .\pril, and should have about ten inches 

 of straw manure well tramped. 



The earth should be tramped before 

 the seed is planted. Four or five inches 

 of good earth would be sufficient. It 

 should then be marked off with six inch 

 marks both ways and in each crease a 

 depression should be made with a tea 

 cup or some similar object and then in 

 the hole thus made four or five seeds 

 should be planted on the outside edge 

 and then covered with fine earth and 

 packed down with a spade and then 

 watered. Care should be taken to watch 

 the patch closely to see that it gets air 

 and plenty of water. 



at Brantford, Ont. 



In planting out a stone boat or low 

 wagon was found satisfactory. Part of 

 the manure should be cut out with the 

 soil to keep it together. A southerly 

 slope is best and if possible it should be 

 of rich sandy loam. It cannot be too 

 rich. The land should be well worked 

 after the plants are set out. About a week 

 after the plants are set out they should 

 be given an application of nitrate of soda. 

 Put a couple of teaspoonfuls around each 

 plant. Two or three applications about 

 ten days apart are sufficient. The melon 

 should not be set out unless the weather 

 is warm, a cold day will give them quite 

 a check. 



An address on "Experiments with Cab- 

 bage, Tomatoes and Asparagus," by 

 Prof. Myers, State College, Pa., was il- 

 lustrated with lantern slides, and demon- 

 strated clearly that there are strains in 

 varieties of vegetables, as well as in 

 breeds of animals, some cabbages going 

 mostly to bunches of leaves, while others, 

 almost without exception, had beauti- 

 fully-formed, solid heads. 



"Insects Injurious to Vegetable Grow- 

 ing" were discussed by Mr. L. Caesar, 

 O.A.C. , Guelph, an extract from which 

 will be published later. A banquet 

 given the evening before the convention 

 by the members of the London Branch 

 to the visiting delegates proved most en- 

 joyable. 



The Ginseng Seed Bed 



E. A. RaHcll, Brantford, Ont. 



'J"he least expensive metiiod of making 

 a ginseng garden is to buy the seed from 

 a reliable dealer and grow all one's 

 plants. Time will be saved, however, 

 if a few one-year-old and two-year-old 

 root.s are planted at the same time, as 

 these win pro\ide all the seeds needed 

 ill the following year. 



The seed of the ginseng plant will not 

 germinate until nineteen months after it 



ripens and is usually packed between lay- 

 ers of moist sand for this period. The 

 seeds thus kept are the "stratified seeds" 

 which dealers sell for planting. This 

 method saves garden space and weeding 

 for one year and is most satisfactory, 

 but if economy of land is no object the 

 new seeds may be planted and left in 

 the ground for the nineteen months re- 

 quired for germination. In either case 

 the best time for planting is in late Sep- 

 tember or October. 



The seed bed should be composed of 

 sandy loam soil which has been under 

 cultivation for a year. It is usually made 

 four feet wide with sides of one-inch 

 rough boards six inches in width. The 

 sides protect the plants and enable one 

 to build up a bed of rich material more 

 easily. Rotted manure should be ap- 

 plied in the proportion of two wheel- 

 barrow loads to forty square feet of 

 ground and be well mixed with the soil, 

 which must be free from stones and 

 lumps. If this can be done in July or 

 August it will be all the better, as the 

 manure will then combine with the 

 earth more completely. The addition 

 of leaf mold or black earth from the 

 woods will be beneficial but is not neces- 

 sary. 



Plant the seeds in rows three inches 

 apart and at intervals of one inch apart 

 in the row and one inch in depth. This 

 can be done most expeditiously and so 

 as to produce a pleasing regularity of 

 appearance in the growing plants by 

 using a dibber or marker, which anyone 

 can make in a short time. P'rom a 

 board three inches wide and one inch 

 thick, cut a piece four feet long or just 

 as long as the width of the bed. Bore 

 half-inch holes an inch apart the full 

 length of the board and in each hole 

 insert a peg made so as to project one 

 inch. Nail a narrow strip of wood for 

 a handle along the side opposite to the 

 projecting pegs. With this tool a row 

 of holes can be made across the bed in 

 a moment all at the proper distance and 

 depth. 



Having planted the seeds, the only 

 thing requiring to be done is to cover 

 the bed with a mulch for protection 

 against alternate freezing and thawing 

 and also more especially to preserve 

 moisture for the plants during the follow- 

 ing summer. Most growers advocate 

 the use of leaves or rotted manure for 

 mulching but the experience of the writ- 

 er shows that for seedlings the best ma- 

 terial is sawdust. Several different 

 methods were tested during the past 

 year. In the bed on which about a 

 half-inch of sawdust was used practically 

 every seed produced a plant which thriv- 

 ed all summer. 



Crushed bone is a cheap and valuable 

 fertilizer. — Rev. P. C. L. Harris, 

 Guelph, Ont. 



