VEGETABLE-GARDENING 



VELLOZIA 



3439 



divided as follows: asparagus, 800,380; string beans, 

 81,905; peas, 188,667; tomatoes, 1,183,705; other 

 vegetables, 119,525. 



In addition to the foregoing there is the dry-bean 

 product, which reached a total of 3,670,000 bags of 80 

 pounds each in 1915, and of sugar beets which was 203,- 

 200 tons in 1915. 



California conditions affecting vegetable-growing are 

 wide and various. Nowhere else perhaps is it more 

 essential that certain things should be done just at the 

 right time and in the right way. If these requirements 

 are fairly met the product is large and fine; if they are 

 neglected the failure is sharp and complete. This fact 

 has given rise to the impression that California is a 

 hard place to grow vegetables, which is not true unless 

 one lacks local knowledge or the nerve to apply it. One 

 of the chief causes of failure is in following seasons and 

 methods which have yielded success under conditions 

 prevailing in the states east of the Sierra Nevada Moun- 

 tains. If one begins garden-making in the springtime 

 the plants do not secure deep rooting, which is necessary 

 to carry them to success in the dry season, and the 

 garden is likely to be a disappointment. If, on the 

 other hand, all the hardier vegetables are sown in suc- 

 cession from September until February or March, there 

 will be continuous produce through the winter and into 

 the early summer. The chief shipments of vegetables 

 from Calif ornia are made during the late fall and winter 

 and are taken right from the ground to the cars without 

 protection or storage. Tender vegetables, like corn, 

 beans, tomatoes, and the like, however, can be grown 

 in the winter only in a few f restless places. They must 

 either be pushed to a finish in the fall or sown early in 

 the spring and carried into the dry summer as far as 

 necessary either by natural moist land or by irrigation. 

 There are a few localities, however, where tomatoes will 

 fruit early in the spring from fall plantings, and peppers 

 will live through the winter and bear a second season's 

 crop on the old plants. 



The possession of an irrigation supply is the secret of 

 full satisfaction in California vegetable-growing, but a 

 small amount of water, if skilfully applied, will work 

 wonders. Irrigation will enable one to have something 

 crisp and delicious in the garden every day in the year 

 in the California valleys. It is true, however, that much 

 can be done without irrigation by beginning at the open- 

 ing of the rainy season in September, growing the hard- 

 ier vegetables while moisture is ample even on the drier 

 lands during the late fall and winter, and keeping the 

 lower lands well plowed and cultivated to prevent 

 evaporation until the tender vegetables can be trusted 

 in the open air, and continuing cultivation assiduously 

 afterward so that moisture can be conserved in the soil 

 as long as possible for them. That this is thoroughly 

 practicable is seen in the fact that the large lima-bean 

 product is grown almost entirely without irrigation 

 from plantings made as late as May and the whole 

 growth of the plant is achieved without a drop of water 

 except that stored in the soil. The same is true of the 

 corn crop ; perfect corn can be grown without a drop of 

 rain or irrigation from planting to husking. In such 

 cases, however, the winter rains are retained in the soil 

 by cultivation. If winter growth is made by rainfall, 

 summer growth can be had on the same land by irriga- 

 tion. In this way irrigation becomes eminently desira- 

 ble in securing all-the-year growth, which cannot be 

 had by rainfall. With good soil and abundant irriga- 

 tion it is possible to secure four garden crops in rotation 

 within the year the hardy plants in the fall and winter 

 months; the tender plants in the spring and summer. Of 

 course the adjustment of all these means to desired 

 ends requires good perception and prompt action, and 

 explains why those who have been accustomed to plant 

 at a fixed date and do little but cut weeds afterward 

 may find it hard to secure the best results in California. 

 And yet the Californian grower has great advantages 



in his deep rich soil, in freedom from many diseases 

 (which thrive in a humid atmosphere) and in an 

 exceedingly long growing season. 



Local adaptations for different vegetables are some- 

 times quite sharply drawn and selection of lands for 

 large specialty crops must be made with reference to 

 them. The result is that the earliest vegetables come 

 from practically frostless places in the Colorado River 

 region of southeast Calif ornia; almost all the lima 

 beans are grown on a coast plain from Santa Barbara 

 southward; the celery for eastern shipment is nearly 

 all grown on the peat lands of Orange and San Joaquin 

 counties; the cabbage comes largely fron San Mateo 

 County; asparagus and tomatoes from Alameda County 

 and river islands of Sacramento and San Joaquin coun- 

 ties, and so on. Smaller areas of these products and 

 others not mentioned are more widely scattered, but 

 everywhere the local soil, exposure, and climate are 

 chief considerations. 



There is prospect of great increase in all the vege- 

 able products of California. Fresh and dried vegeta- 

 bles enter largely into ocean traffic with distant Pacific 

 ports. Interstate trade is constantly increasing and 

 canned vegetables are contracted in advance to Euro- 

 pean distributors as well as to dealers in all the Americas. 



E. J. WICKSON. 



VEGETABLE MARROW: see page 2861. V. Orange: Cucumis 

 Melo var. Chito. V. Oyster: Salsify. V. Pomegranate: Cucumis 

 Mdo var. Dudaim. V. Sponge : Luff a. 



VEITCHIA (James Veitch, of Chelsea, famous Eng- 

 lish nurseryman). Palmacese. About 4 species of pin- 

 nate palms native to the Fiji Isls. and New Hebrides. 

 The genus belongs to that section of the Areca tribe 

 characterized by a parietal ovule which is more or less 

 pendulous and fls. spirally disposed in the branches of 

 the spadix, and is distinguished from Hedyscepe and 

 allied genera by the following characters: sepals of the 

 male fls. chartaceous, connate at base; female fls. much 

 larger than the males. It is doubtful whether any spe- 

 cies is now in the trade. V. Jodnnis, H. Wendl., was cult, 

 early in 1880-90. Lf.-segms. with a wide and rather 

 shallow notch at the apex or obliquely truncate; sheath, 

 petiole and rachis a dark blood-color and covered when 

 young with a gray tomentum interspersed with lanceo- 

 late, thin, dark red scales: fr. 2J^xlJ^ in., ovoid- 

 ellipsoid, orange, with a red base. G.C. II. 20:205. 

 R.H. 1883, p. 344. Has been cult, in S. Calif, but is 

 tender there. It has been conjectured that Kentia Van 

 Houttei advertised in 1895 by American dealers may be 

 a species of Veitchia. The genus is imperfectly known 

 and of minor importance horticulturally. 



VELLOZIA (Velloz, a Portuguese naturalist). Vettozi- 

 acese; or Amaryttidacex. Usually shrubs, sometimes 

 arborescent, adapted to the warmhouse. Sts. fibrous- 

 woody, usually dichotomously branched: Ivs. linear, 

 rigid, tufted at the ends of the branches: peduncles 

 1-fld. : fls. usually white; perianth funnel-shaped; segms. 

 subequal, ovate-lanceolate; stamens 6, sometimes many; 

 ovary clavate, 3-celled; ovules many, superposed: caps, 

 coriaceous, dehiscing at the apex. About 65 species, 

 Trop. and S. Afr., Madagascar and Brazil. Vellozia is 

 closely related to Barbacenia but distinguished by hav- 

 ing more than 6 stamens, whereas Barbacenia has only 

 6. V. trichophyUa, Hemsl. (V. equisetmdes, W. Wats., not 

 Baker. V. equisetoides var. trichophyUa, Baker). Shrub 

 having a thick caudex, 1 ft. or more diam. and short 

 thick primary branches: Ivs. numerous, grass-like, 

 scarcely stiff, 3-9 in. long in cult, specimens (often 1-2 

 ft. long and more rigid in wild specimens), about Hin. 

 wide: peduncles usually in 3's, 1-fld.: fls. reddish lilac, 

 very fragrant; perianth-segms. lanceolate, acute, 1-1 H 

 in. long. E. Trop. Afr. B.M. 7962. G.C. III. 34:425. 

 Very little known in cult. 



