118 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



same kinds. The amateur should quickly make himself competent 

 in the art of transplanting. 



Cuttings and Layers. Many herbaceous stems of garden vege- 

 tables root readily from cuttings. Higher heat and greater moisture 

 are as a rule requisite for such cuttings than for hardwood cuttings 

 of fruiting and flowering plants, but some, like the potato, sweet 

 potato, globe artichocke, etc., root quickly in open ground taken 

 from sprouts taken from the parent stock, and others, like the 

 tomato, grow from cuttings of aerial stems. In the open ground 

 the soil must be warm and moist and the air moist also. These 

 conditions usually occur in California at the beginning or especially 

 toward the end of the rainy season, or they can be produced in 

 a hot-bed at any time. The cuttings should not wilt, and shade is 

 of advantage when practicable, for cuttings made from aerial stems, 

 as they are more prone to collapse than sprouts from the tuber or 

 root crown. 







Layering is often a handy way to multiply many vegetables 

 with branching stems. Cover the stems with moist earth and they 

 usually root readily. In some cases a short slit with a knife length- 

 wise of buried stem aids in rooting. 



A Consideration of Cans. It would not do to ignore the can 

 method of vegetable growing and deny this refuse tinware its place 

 in amateur gardening, for really some very creditable things are 

 done in cans. If one prepares the right kind of soil, with such 

 texture that it will form neither a leach nor a brick, and then strives 

 for correct temperature and moisture conditions and makes drain- 

 age holes enough, a plant will grow in a tin can as well as in some 

 more distinguished receptacle. Many housewives grow very cred- 

 itable tender plants for planting out by using old cans and a sunny 

 window shelf. Some devoted city gardeners make surprising suc- 

 cesses on the old can foundation. In San Jose a few years ago 

 there was a back yard twelve by twenty-five feet surrounded by 

 high whitewashed fences and sheds which cast a blinding glare in 

 the eye of the visitor. Gardening enthusiasm and tin cans trans- 

 formed the scene. Tomato vines ran above the eaves of the shed, 

 being trained to the wall like grapevines. Between the tomato plants 

 were squash vines from which the laterals and leaves were cut as 

 they grew toward the roof, so that they were little more than a 

 bare stem below the eaves, but had a most luxurious growth at 

 the eaves and on the roof of the shed and back porch and along top 

 of fences. Large squashes ripened on the roof and shelves at the 

 eaves and fence tops. Lima beans ran in various directions. String 

 beans, peppers, and mint grew below the running vines. Tomato 

 plants over six feet in height were severely pruned near the ground 

 to a bare stalk, giving free circulation to cats, breezes, and a little 

 direct but more reflected sunshine. Cans of all sizes were used ; old 

 rusty five-gallon cans with the bottoms punched full of holes ; small 

 cans, one set over another and filled half full of fresh bones, and 



