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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



July, 191 1 



The Cultivation of Celery 



A. Mclaui, LoBdoa, Oat. 



Where celery is planted in single rows 

 it will be necessary to maintain shallow 

 cultivation between th^ rows. At no 

 time should deep cultivation be practised, 

 as the roots are to be found near the 

 surface of the soil. If a mulch is used, 

 no cultivation will be required, either 

 along the side or between the plants in 

 the row, exc|ept to pull any weeds that 

 may spring up. Where a mulch is used 

 it will be necessary to stir the surface 

 lightly with a wheel ho'e or iron rake, to 

 prevent a crust forming after each rain 

 or watering. Keep the surface of the 

 soil smooth and in no case allow lumps 

 of earth to remain near the plants. 



The Planet Junior is desirable for 

 working b'etween the rows, while the 

 wheel hoe is especially useful in cultivat- 

 ing a small area of celery or for stirring 

 the soil close to plants. When a crop 

 of celery is in good growing condition 

 the roots will be near the surface. Dur- 

 ing a dry season the roots will go deep 

 into the soil in order to secure moisture. 

 This can be prevented by keeping the sur- 

 face of the soil well stirred to a depth of 

 not more than two inches forming a sort 

 of dust mulch, beneath which the mois- 

 ture will be drawn upward and prevent- 

 ed from passing into the air by the pres- 

 ence of the loose soil on top. Under thtese 

 conditions the roots will work near the 

 moisture line and consequently a larger 

 growth and better quality will be ob- 

 tained. 



The effects of a drought may in most 

 cases b'e met by frequent shallow cultiva- 

 tion, supplemented by the use of water, 

 if available. When the water is sprink- 

 led over the entire surface it should b" 

 done late in the day, so that th'e soil may, 

 during the night, absorb the moisture 

 and prevent a crust being formed, as 

 wotild be the case were the water applied 

 imder the direct rays of th'e sun. 



Potatoes in Saskatchewan 



G. T. P*rler, Prince Albtrt, Saik. 



I had occasion to ask one of my far- 

 mer friends for the privilege of planting 

 a few potatoes on his farm, and went to 

 work to plant the way we used to in On- 

 tario — that is to say, by throwing out 

 the furrow in ridges and splitting the 

 furrow to cover the potato. Had the sea- 

 son been wet enough this would have 

 been all right, but dry weather came and 

 I found I had no soil between the rows 

 to bank up with, and as a consequence I 

 had only a small crop of potatoes. 



My farmer friend went at it rather 

 differently. He planted his potatoes 

 every fourth row and kept his sets well 

 apart in the row. When the vines were 

 large enough he threw up a good furrow 

 on each side of the row at a time when 

 the ground was damp. This mound of 



earth kept the ground moist and he had 

 potatoes larger than a man's hand. 



I met another man who had a nice 

 patch of potatoes. He claimed that jx)- 

 tatoes should not be cut in this country, 

 but I could see no difference on that ac- 

 count, as the principal thing is to have 

 a good heavy mould for a dry season. 



The Kitchen Garden 



E. G. Cooper. Alberta 



Any one wishing to get large results 

 from a kitchen garden must invariably 

 practice the following rules : 



In the first place, good seed must be 

 secured of the very best quality; second, 

 the best kinds of the different vegetables 

 and small fruits must be secured, and 

 next to this good soil is needed ; in fact, 

 even if the soil is rich, one must make 

 it more so in order that the strain on 

 the soil can be sustained. You cannot 

 have the ground too rich for close culti- 

 vation. 



There shuld not be any waste ground. 

 Every foot of soil should be made to 

 produce something that will be of use to 

 the family. 



NAMES OF COMMON WEEDS 



Then again no weeds of any descrip- 

 tion should be allowed to start. It 

 may be useful just here to name some 

 of the weeds in question. I will only 

 give the common names. The red root 

 or pig weed, lambs quarter, chickweed, 

 shepherd grass, foxtail ,blue grass, car- 

 pet weed, sour grass, cockel, Canadian 

 thistle, Scotch thistle, milk thistle, milk 

 weed, wild ferns, burdocks, tall dock, 

 twitch grass — this is the most injurious 

 of grasses. Then there is the pursley or 

 flat weed. This is an uncommonly bad 

 weed that cannot be subdued without 

 the utmost vigilance. It does not ap- 

 pear until the warm weather comes, and 

 the ground becomes warm. Not even 

 one plant should be allowed to seed as 

 that one would produce some thousands 

 of seeds. The weeds should be carried 

 off the ground to the compost heap. No 

 weeds should be allowed to run to seed, 

 and if it is possible that any one should 

 be missed and allowed to go to seed it 

 should be immediately burnt, as this is 

 the only way of destroying weed seed. 

 All weeds not ready to seed can be put 

 in compost heap. 



As soon as the onions are large enough 

 to follow the rows, start cultivating, 

 using the wings, and work as close to 

 row as possible. Start hand weeding 

 immediately after cultivating the second 

 time. Use the cultivators or diggers as 

 long as possible, for by so doing you re- 

 tain moisture and keep weeds under con- 

 trol. 



Pollinating Cucumbers 



S. Clark, St. Cathtriaet, Oat. 



I would like to correct a mistake con- 

 tained in the extract from Mr. A. G. 

 Wooley Dod's paper, published in the 

 May issue of The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist. He advises growers of cucum- 

 bers to propagate the flower (I conclude 

 he means pollinate.) My experience leads 

 me to advise quite the opposite. In com- 

 mon with many successful growers, I 

 have always done my utmost to prevent 

 pollination, by pinching off the male 

 flowers, before they have opened and 

 also by keeping out bees in case any 

 male flowers had been overlooked and 

 allowed to open. It is a strictly enforced 

 rule amongst the large growers for the 

 English market, that pollination be 

 avoided. 



Mr. Dod mentions the Telegraph var- 

 iety. I may say that I have grown that 

 particular sort with success. Two years 

 ago I cut 1,667 perfectly shaped cucum- 

 bers from thirty-eight plants of that 

 kind. 



I hope that readers of The Canadian 

 HoRTiCLLTURiST, instead of pollinating 

 the flowers on their cucumbers, will do 

 all they can to avoid pollination, unless 

 they wish to secure seed for another 

 year. 



In case seed is required, I advise pol- 

 linating a few flowers after securing fruit 

 in the early part of the season. Plants 

 do not possess the same vigor after a 

 few flowers have been pollinated and 

 the seeds are forming. 



Fertilizers can only give their best re- 

 turns when good cultivation is carried 

 on at the same time — they cannot take its 

 place. 



Intensive Gardening 



H. R. Franklaad, Toronto 



I thought I would like to give an idea 

 of what a man can do in vegetable and 

 flower gardening if he makes up his 

 mind to do it. Last year, as my wife 

 and daughter were going to Europe I 

 thought to keep myself employed, 1 

 ploughed up a strip one hundred feet 

 wide by two hundred feet long, and 

 planted two bags of potatoes, one pound 

 corn (early), one pound Stowell's ever- 

 green corn (late), two hundred cabbages, 

 two hundred tomatoes seven thousand 

 celery, one ounce carrot seed, one ounce 

 beets, one ounce parsnips, two hundred 

 cauliflowers, forty hills cucumbers, 

 twenty hills muskmelons, besides pack- 

 ages of sage, thyme, etc. I also planted 

 one pound beans, and kept all of this 

 free from weeds, and hoed up the pota- 

 toes and celery myself. 



Besides the vegetables, I had a quar- 

 ter of an acre of flowers, two beds of 

 perennials, two hundred dahlias, gladi- 

 olus, asters and other plants and bulbs 

 that go to make a home look beautiful. 

 I worked early and late from .April until 

 the middle of August with no help, and 

 never had such a good crop of vege- 

 tables, and never did the flowers look so 

 well, nor the grass so green. 



