1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 41 



the cold-frames about March 10 or 15, and make fine plants 

 to transplant to the open ground any time after the 1st of 

 April, if they have been carefully attended to by watering, 

 airing and protecting from frost. These dates refer particu- 

 larly to the vicinity of New York City, where we can plant 

 out usually in the open ground all kinds of cabbage, 

 cauliflower and lettuce plants from April 1 to 10. If in dis- 

 tricts where they cannot be planted out sooner than the end 

 of April, then the sowing should not be made before the 

 15th of February; and the process of transplanting, etc., 

 gone through as before stated, so that the plants will be 

 in condition to plant in the open ground by the end of 

 April. In sections where cabbage cannot be planted in the 

 open ground before the 1st of May, the sowing should 

 be delayed until nearly the 1st of March, and the process of 

 transplanting in the boxes or frames the same. 



Twenty-five years ago the market gardeners of New Jersey, 

 mainly located in Hudson County, grew better vegetables 

 than the Long Island men ; but their limited area of land, 

 getting less and less annually, in consequence of the inroads 

 made by buildings, does not allow them to give their lands 

 the needed relief of laying a portion yearly down to grass, 

 so that their grounds have become actually surfeited with 

 manure; and, for this reason, vegetables, such as cabbage, 

 lettuce and celery, do not now average as good as those 

 grown on Long Island, or other districts adjacent to New 

 York, where the land is cheap enough to allow one-third to 

 be put down annually with some grass or clover crop. I 

 believe that, in a garden of fifteen acres, if one-third is laid 

 down in grass each year, and the balance kept under the 

 plough, the gross receipts will be greater and the profits 

 more than if the whole fifteen acres were under tillage ; for 

 less labor would be required, and manure tells better on sod 

 land than on land under tillage. 



The subject of manure is one of never-failing interest to 

 the gardener and farmer. I can tell you nothing new on the 

 subject, except to say that the dried peat moss, now being 

 used in the cities for bedding, is likely to be of great value 

 to the market gardener, if it can only be had in sufficient 

 quantities. We have had it in use in our own stables for 



