THE VEGETABLE PATCH IN MAY 



WM. HUNT, ONT. AGRI. COIvI^EGE;, GUEIvPH. 



A sowing of white mustard for salads can 

 be made now. Sow the seed quite thick in 

 drills half an inch in depth. Cut for table 

 when the second tier of leaves has de- 

 veloped. Sowings of this delicious table 

 relish are not advisable after May 15. i\s 

 soon as the seed onions are about six inches 

 in height, give them a good sprinkling of 

 dry dusty soot or wood ashes, or both mixed 

 together. Sprinkle this on very early in 

 the morning when the dew is still on the 

 plants, so that it will stick well to the 

 growth. Put on directly after a shower will 

 answer as well. If this dusting process is 

 done thoroughly about once a week until 

 July you will not be troubled with the onion 

 maggot, as the fly that produces that mag- 

 got will not go near the plants if they are 

 thoroughly dusted. A half pound of pow- 

 dered sulphur thoroughly mixed with a pail- 

 ful of dry soot or ashes will also help to pre- 

 vent the onion mildew that has been so pre- 

 valent and so destructive to onions the last 

 season or two. , , 



CABBAGE AND CAULII^LOWER. 



A few plants of the early variety of cab- 

 bage should be planted now. The Jersey 

 Wakefield and the Early Winningstadt are 

 good. Early cauliflower should also be 

 planted at once ; these, however, are a very 

 uncertain summer crop in most seasons. 

 Early Erfurt or the Snowball are the two 

 best kinds. Early cauliflower requires a 

 deep, rich, moist soil to grow well in. They 

 are also much benefitted by a mulch of par- 

 tially rotted strawy stable manure, spread 

 an inch or two in thickness on the ground 

 around the plants. This mulch should be 

 applied as soon as the hot dry weather sets 

 in. Lawn grass cuttings make a very good 



mulch to retain moisture, but has very little 

 fertilizing property in it. Manure makes 

 the best mulch for cauliflower. 



If you wish to raise your own cabbage 

 and cauliflower plants for late crops the 

 seed should be sown early in May on a piece 

 of fairly rich light garden soil. A square 

 yard would raise several hundred plants. 

 Sow the seed rather thinly in drills nearly an 

 inch in depth and six or eight inches apart. 

 The best varieties are Erfurt and Snowball 

 cauliflower and All Season's autumn cab- 

 bage and bavoys. These latter are of a very 

 hardy nature, and are at their best after be- 

 ing exposed to a sharp frost of eight or ten 

 degrees. In favorable seasons I have cut 

 splendid heads of these well on into Decem- 

 ber from the open ground. 



The Savoy cabbage has not that rank, 

 strong flavor that makes the common^ flat- 

 head cabbage so disagreeable and objection- 

 able to vegetable lovers. In England and 

 all parts of northern Europe the Savoy cab- 

 bage ranks close, and is often preferred to 

 the popular Brussels sprouts, that is con- 

 sidered to be par excellence in this class of 

 vegetables by connoisseurs. In point of 

 quality the Dwarf Ulm and Victoria Savoy 

 rank first. The Savoy cabbage should be 

 more universally grown than it is, more es- 

 pecially when grown for one's own use. If 

 quantity more than quality is desired, the 

 drumhead Savoys are just as heavy yielders, 

 and will keep as well or better than the com- 

 mon flathead winter cabbage. 



Surface-stir and cultivate the soil well 

 around all growing crops. It kills all 

 weeds out almost before they start to grow, 

 and assists plant growth in a marked degree. 



