GARDENING. 869 



40 feet would require about seven hours. If a f-inch hose were used with the same head it 

 would require about six times as long to apply the same quantity. Where water may be 

 cheaply had and applied there is little doubt that it will in many cases well repay the trouble. 

 But wherever it is applied the land should have good drainage, otherwise a heavy fall of rain, 

 coming after an artificial watering, might injure the crops. The land, if heavily manured and 

 thoroughly tilled, will endure drouth pretty well without watering. Water, however, is 

 indispensable to the management of the hotbed and green-house; and many gardeners not 

 within reach of public works, or a natural head, have erected private water works, driven by 

 a windmill or small steam-engine. In no particular is the skill of the gardener more con 

 spicuous than in the raising or selection of his seeds. 



Preparing for Market. Another most important part of the business is the wash 

 ing, packing, and assorting of the crops for market. This is usually done under the eye of 

 the gardener himself, or intrusted only to some experienced and trusty man. It is an old 

 maxim of trade that goods well put up are already half sold. In no trade is this more true 

 than in the vegetable and fruit trade; clean, neat, well- washed, attractive goods always sell 

 quickly, at good prices-, while carelessly prepared stock, that is really as good, will be hard 

 to dispose of at a fair price. The wash-house, provided with tubs, convenient benches, and 

 sufficient shelter for the preparation of the crops for the market-wagon, is the necessary 

 appendage of every market garden. Upon the convenient arrangement of this department 

 much of the economy of the labor of preparing the crop depends. 



Storage Of Crops. Among the noticeable devices of the market gardener for keep 

 ing the fall crops for winter use are, the squash-house, the celery -pit, the spinach-house, the 

 cellar. Squashes, for keeping, need a tight house above ground, a dry air, and a temperature 

 from 55 to 60, which is maintained by a stove and by slight ventilation; they need picking 

 over every ten days, to select the decayed ones. The celery-pit needs a dry, cool air, moder 

 ate ventilation, perfect protection from frost. 



The celery-pit is usually made twenty-four feet or twelve feet wide, two feet deep at the 

 sides, covered with boards supported by posts and purlines, and the boards covered with suf 

 ficient litter to keep out frost. The celery is dug in November, and stowed away, placing a 

 little earth over the roots, and will keep well through the winter if well aired and cared for, 

 airing it frequently. It needs to be kept dry, to be protected from frost, and kept as cool as 

 may be without freezing. 



The spinach-house, or cellar, is similar in appearance to the squash-house; the shelves, 

 however, are only fourteen inches apart; as we do not need to work between them, it is made 

 partly underground. As the temperature required for spinach is 30 to 35, we need no 

 stove, but good ventilators, and protection from frost by double walls, and covering of meadow 

 hay, etc. 



The cellar for storage of roots should be well drained and frost-proof, and provided with 

 windows and doors for free ventilation in suitable weather. Apples and onions keep well in 

 barrels in a cool, dry cellar; the other roots do well in bins piled about four feet deep, with 

 openings in the sides and bottom for slight circulation of air, and a light covering of hay 

 over them, to prevent them from wilting. They keep fresher if covered with sand, or 

 earth, to prevent evaporation, but this is not generally practiced. Roots intended for winter 

 marketing are often washed in the fall, and put in barrels and headed up, and then stored in 

 a cool cellar. They come out fresh and clean at any time in winter when thus stored. The 

 temperature of the cellar should range from 35 to 40. If much warmer, vegetation and 

 decay will result. The cellar of a house is not well adapted to the purpose, being too warm; 

 especially if provided with a furnace for heating the house, as is often the case. Moreover, 

 the vegetable cellar in spring is inevitably encumbered more or less with decaying vege 

 tables, which are most unwholesome in the air of the dwelling. 



