293 



NEW EXGLAXD F.VR]\IER. 



JUXE 



ilar treatment. Both those fruits should be trained 

 with lian'ls against a fence or wall, and they, as 

 well as strawlicrries, need frequent stirring at their 

 roots, and watering after the fruit is set. 



The strawberry grows everywhere, and is among 

 the most healthful of fruits. Great attention has 

 been paid to its culture, but, though enormously 

 large berries have been gained, the original flavor 

 cannot be improved. Strawberries should have 

 rich, light soil — a sandy loam with leaf-mould. 

 Set the plants in August about one foot apart, in 

 rows ; hoe them frequently, cut off all runners, and 

 keep them free from weeds. It was an old custom 

 to lay straw around the plants to keep down Weeds 

 and to prevent the runners from taking root — hence 

 the name straic-hcrry. Cover them with straw, 

 stal)lc litter, or dead leaves, thi'ough the winter. 

 Rake these off in the spring, and hoe and water them 

 frequently ; keep the soil damp until the fruit is all 

 ripened. The way to provide for a continuance of 

 the strawberry, now brings us to vegetables. 



Side by side with strawberries plant a row of 

 beets, caiTOts, lettuce, radishes, as you please, for 

 family use ; and as they are removed, direct run- 

 nel's into their vacant places to form a new straw- 

 berry bed fur the next year. Make the soil light 

 and fine with fork and rake. Heap it into a nar- 

 row ridge, forming it straight by means of the 

 measuring line, and firming the ground with the 

 spade and hoe. Draw a furrow along the top about 

 half an inch deep, and in this scatter the seeds. 

 Beet seeds should be soaked a day before sow- 

 ing, in cold water ; mix sand or dry loam with 

 carrot and lettuce seed, in order to plant them 

 sparingly. If the beets come up too thickly they 

 can be thinned out and the young plants used for 

 greens. Lettuce must be transplanted to form large 

 heads. For radishes make holes half an inch 

 deep, two inches apart, and drop the seeds singly 

 in these ; cover 'them over lightly with soil and 

 smooth the surface, — also the furrow. After the 

 plants are up use the weed-hoe to stir the ground 

 and to keep it clear of weeds till they attain their 

 full growth. 



Rings, beds and hills, for other vegetables, may 

 be arranged tastily around and about the young 

 trees and the cuiTant and gooseberry bushes. To 

 make a ring about a tree, wind your measuring- 

 line three-quarters of its length around the trunk ; 

 then draw the end thus left straightly towards 

 yourself, and walk slowly around the tree, drag- 

 ging the stake that is attached to the line through 

 the soil, and you have drawn a circle. "Within this 

 mayk, shovel mould from without— sufficient to 

 raise it six inches above the walk that is to sur- 

 round it — pulverize the soil, and firm the edge of 

 the ring as you would a row. Stake out square or 

 oblong beds by means of your measuring line and 

 its stakes, and prepare the soil and finish their 

 edges in the same way. Angular beds you can 

 make by drawing your line from opposite comers 

 of a square; and these may be changed into cres- 

 cent shape, very easily, with your hoe. To draw 



a circular bed, drive one stake of j'our line in the 

 centre of a square whose area will contain the di- 

 ameter of your bed ; wind your line around that 

 stake, leaving just enough to reach the edge of the 

 square ; take the other stake and walk and mark 

 the circumference of the circle as you did for the 

 ring mentioned above. Lay out hills by measur- 

 ing a plot of gi-ound and dividing it equally, — al- 

 low a half yard for each hill (melons and cucum- 

 bers need hills three or four feet apart— squashes, 

 six ;) mark the places and hoe the soil into circu- 

 lar heaps, treading the mould around and between 

 them till it is firm. The hills should be at least a 

 foot higher than the walks. The principal walks 

 through your vegetable garden should be half a 

 yard wide; among your flo^vers you will want 

 them wider. In making Ijeds, rows, etc., all the 

 soil in the walks adjacent, that was loosened in the 

 spading, should be used, then you have a good 

 foundation lefc for paths, which ought to be grav- 

 elled, and, if possible, rolled. 



A few words now about the arrangement of the 

 vegetables, which should be as near the kitchen 

 as possible : Suppose the apple-trees arc along two 

 sides of the garden, distant eight yards from each 

 other and two yards from the fence. Between 

 them and against the fence form a row of hills, in 

 which tomatoes may be set supported by stakes 

 or frames, or trained upon the fence. Or, running 

 beans planted, five in each hill, half an inch deep, 

 and poles set for them to climb. In front of these 

 a walk. Then rings around the trees, or rows 

 between them, for bush beans and peas — the low- 

 est, nearest the trees. Around the pear trees the 

 same. Soak peas and beans till the germ bursts 

 its covering ; plant them in furrows, two inches 

 apart, half an inch deep ; cover them with soil, 

 and press the surface with the spade, or some 

 slight weight. Surrounding the dwarf-pear and 

 other fruit-trees, and currant and gooseberry 

 bushes, narrow beds and rings for sage, thyme, 

 marjoram, savory, parsley, pepper-grass, etc ; and 

 walks dividing them fi-om each other. The seeds 

 of these kitchen herbs should be laid in furrows, 

 one third of an inch deep, covered by soil sifted 

 upon them, and then pressed, as for peas and 

 beans. Peas, excepting th£ dwarf kinds, need a 

 support of frame or sticks. 



Soil for the asparagus-bed should have a gen- 

 erous dressing from the co'mpost heap, with salt. 

 It should be thoroughly mixed, and made fine and 

 light. Plant the seed, one-third of an inch deep, 

 in autumn. The stalks will be small the first 

 year; but keep out weeds, cover the bed with 

 stable litter or dead leaves, in the fall, rake it off 

 as soon as the frost is gone, stir the bed carefully, 

 water it with a decoction of salt, water, and soil 

 from the hen-house, and you will soon get good 

 heads — larger and large each j'enr. 



Melons, cucumbers, and squashes, need rich, 

 fine soil, and the best situation in the garden, 

 facing the south if possible. Enrich the melon 

 plot from the compost heap, with a good supply of 



