582 



GLEANINGS IN BEE OULTUUE. 



Aug. 



mention. .Josepli Harris, of the Ajnerican 

 Ayrmilhtrist, lias been writing a great deal 

 about nitrate of soda, especially its pn)perty 

 ot furnishing nitrogen very early in the 

 spring, much cheaper than we can get from 

 stable manure. I bouglit a bagful ; and as 

 some of the jiapers said it was especially 

 suited for spinach, I put a pretty good-sized 

 sprinkling on just one-half of the two rows 

 (when the plants were small) and put it on to 

 the poorest end of the piece of ground. 

 Well, I watched and watched to see any 

 effect produced , until I concluded it was not 

 going to do any good at all upon our soil, 

 and forgot about it ; but wlien I began feed- 

 ing it to the cow I noticed the spinach was 

 a great deal lai-ger and stronger where the 

 nitrate of soda was, although, as T said be- 

 fore, this end of the lield had always been 

 much the poorest ground. 



Well, about the time spinach failed we be- 

 gan to get nice beets from that patch. They 

 came up very thickly, and we did not thin 

 them at all, proposing to use the thinnings 

 for beet-greens. From those two rows of 

 beets we have sold beets all over town — have 

 supplied the lunch - room, and there are a 

 good many tliere yet. The beets were put 

 in between the cabbages, so the ground they 

 grew up on cost notliing, in one sense ; in 

 another sense it did cost, because we tramp- 

 ed the gronnd down so hard around the cab- 

 bages in going for the beets in all kinds of 

 weather. On this account the cabbages 

 have not done as well as they did last sea- 

 son ; but last season we thought they were 

 doing great things when we succeeded in 

 getting 3 cents a pound for them. This 

 year, however, Mr. Weed started them at 5 

 cents a ijound, and they brought it without 

 any trouble, and we are even to-day (July 

 19th) getting 5 cents a pound for every cab- 

 bage as fast as it makes any kind of firm 

 head, and we don't have enough to supply 

 the wagon. 



The peas did beautifully. They were half 

 Landreth's P^xtra Early, and half American 

 Wonder. The American Wonder was only 

 about three days later, and a great deal bet- 

 ter in quality. We got 40 cents a peck, for 

 most of the peas ; but the crop was so great 

 that at one time we feared we should not be 

 able to dispose of all of it in Medina. One 

 week later, however, we discovered that our 

 peas were gone just as we had got a big trade 

 started in them ; and the worst of it was, we 

 hadn't a pea anywhere else on our ten-acre 

 farm that was yet in blossom. A year ago 

 we had too many peas and cabbages in July, 



so I concluded this season not to plant so ex- 

 tensively, and there is where I made a blun- 

 der. The quantity we had last year would 

 have been exactly right for this, for our 

 market has impioved so much. Last year 

 people were discussing my right to raise gar- 

 den-stuff. This season, however, they have 

 all given it up— every one of tliem, and ev- 

 eryl)ody seemed by actual consent and good 

 nature to decide I was the chap to raise 

 garden-stuff, and therefore they would not 

 raise any at all. I am ashamed of my lack 

 of faith. Faith in what, do you askV Why, 

 faith in good gardening and good steady 

 work in any line of agricultural industry. 

 It is impossible for me to say just now how 

 mucli money we receive from the product 

 of the half-acre 1 have been speaking of ; 

 but it would be a large sum. A crop of nice 

 cabbages how stands where the peas stood. 

 The beets and cabbages are pretty much 

 gone ; but even yet they give a good daily 

 income. We are waiting for them all to 

 mature before putting another crop in their 

 place. I hardly believe T shall plant beets 

 between cabbages again. The beets do not 

 get out of the way soon enough. I presume 

 I put more manure on that half-acre than I 

 ever put on any other piece of ground be- 

 fore ; but now that we have got it up to a 

 high state of cultivation, it is only just fun 

 to raise a crop on it. The last cabbages were 

 planted in a dry time, but they took right 

 hold and grew without any rain, almost as 

 if rich ground like that didn't need any rain. 

 The soil has been kept light and soft by 

 constant stirring, keeping what some of the 

 agricultural papers call a "dust blanket"' all 

 around the plants. This dust blanket serves 

 as a mulch ; and when we get just a little 

 shower of rain, the dust blanket takes it all 

 up, much as a sponge would, while hard 

 lumpy soil would let the water all run off 

 and be lost. 



MAKING llEPEATED PLANTINGS. 



It seems hard for us to remember that it 

 costs but little to put in the seed for early 

 stuff, even if it is killed by frost, or does not 

 germinate. You see, it all depends on hav- 

 ing things on the market first; and it is so 

 natural to procrastinate, or delay, that it is 

 almost impossible to avoid falling into the 

 common way of doing things the world over. 

 The man who has his vegetables and fruits 

 on the market first, takes the big prices. 

 Now, there is not any need of saying, " It is 

 no use — somebody else will get ahead of 

 me ;'" for season after season we see it dem- 

 onstrated right before our eyes, that not 



