1892 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



587 



faiuiliar liyiiiii. ami prcny soon 1 was looking 

 in at tin' oixmi lioor. It was so near tfaiii time 

 I did not dai-f to <;o in and tal«' a scat, so I 

 stood lluTt" listening, with a (."liinanian on one 

 side and an Indian on tln> otlior. Tliry looked 

 at the andienre, listened to the inn>ie, then 

 stared at me inqnirinsly: hnt either they did 

 not nnd(>rstand my lingo or else thev did not 

 choose to talk, and so I did not do very much 

 missionary work that (>vening — or. at h^asl. if I 

 did I didiiot know it. A bystander informed 

 me that it was a ininHing of the Salvation Ar- 

 my: and though I have said, during my trip, a 

 great many times. "God bless the Salvation 

 Army."" I said it again then and there. They 

 were right on the streets, among the people. 

 The audience was matle up of common peopl(>. 

 not very much unlike the Chinaman and Indi- 

 an. Thoy all looked friendly, and they acted 

 friendly: "and I am sure that Christ .b^sns was 

 in their midst, for he went about among the 

 very same sort of people, and. in many fespects, 

 in liuich the same way that they did. 



I could not iielp feeling a little uit sad when I 

 thouglit of leaving California, even though it 

 was the tirst step toward (lohuj Jiome. Before 

 we quite take leave of California, however, I 

 want to give you some beautiful pictures of the 

 vineyards and orange-groves of that land. But 

 Ernest tells me. however, that there are so 

 many nice pictures laid out for this issue that I 

 must save mine for next time. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 

 THE AMERICAN PEARI. ONIOX. 



Ours wi^re harvested July 1.5. and they are at 

 present spread out on trays in the sun, right in 

 front of our plant-garden across the street. 

 The sight of great large white onions, fully ma- 

 tured and dry at this season of the year, calls 

 attention from many passersby. We are at 

 {)resent retailing them at 8 cts. per lb., which is 

 about equal to .■s4.(XJ per bushel. People do com- 

 plain some of the price: but there is no opposi- 

 tion, and nothing like them in the market any- 

 where; and they are so handsome, and mild in 

 flavor, that they sell, even though the price is 

 high. I confess I can not understand why it is 

 that they winter over in our locality, and fail in 

 so manyother places. Perhaps it niay be owing 

 to our "very rich market ground. We use no 

 mulch whatever, and a part of all our plot was 

 under water perhaps half a dozen times, and 

 sometimes for nearly 24 hours. This seems to 

 indicate that they are very hardy. Where they 

 had been wet so much, however, we noticed 

 some inclination to rot. On this account they 

 were harvested and put in the sun a little soon- 

 er than thev would have been otherwise. We 

 shall offer the sets for sale again another sea- 

 son: but the sale will doubtless be limited, ow 

 ing to the many failures reported in wintering. 



THE OXIOX-PT.AXT HfSINESS. 



In our locality, all that I have heard from 

 who purchased onion-plants of us'have nothing 

 to report but a big success. Will those who re- 

 ceived onion-plants hy mail or express please 

 tell US whether they have succeeded likewise? 

 We are anxious to know how onion-plants bear 

 shipping to di.-iant points. 



THAT C^UAHTEIJ-ACIiE I'LANT-G.AHDEX. 



After all lhe.se preliminaries, we are now 

 ready to consider the best manner of going to 

 work to put up our little plant for gardening 

 under glass. I have said before, that your 

 ground should, ii possible, slope toward the 



south. However, this is not imperative. Y(ni 

 can give the same slant to glass by having the 

 back side of the beds al)outso much higher than 

 the front. If you can affonl the expense I 

 would advise you to havt^ tin; whole l)lot of 

 ground graded like a nice lawn. Have it high- 

 est in the ci'iiter, and lowest all around except 

 on the north side. Every path and every street 

 should act as a stu-face drain: and it should be 

 so graded that no water will stand an hour in 

 any of the paths. If you propose to u.se steam 

 under your beds 1 would have two lines of tile 

 under each bed. Let these tile be about a foot 

 below the path near it. As the soil in the beds 

 will he something like (l inches high(>r than the 

 path. 'his will give Is; inches of depth IksIow the 

 surface of the hi'd. If the beds are (l fo.p.i wide, 

 as I have advised, the lines of tiles should be 

 about ;? feet apart. Supi)0sc the heat to extend 

 IS inches each way, this will just warm all the 

 ground under the bed. Now, I would have 

 these same tile laid in such a manner as to 

 carry off the suridus water; that is, let them 

 act as underdrains as well as for steam-pipes. 

 Be sure you provide ample outlets at each end, 

 or wherever the lowest spot is. 



Aside from these lines of tile I think it would 

 be well to have other lines at right angles to 

 these, and. say. (> inches below them. These 

 latter would be 2 feet below the surface of the 

 beds, and 18 inches below the paths. These 

 latter lines may be 20 feet apart. You may 

 think so much drainage is unnecessarry: but 

 with extremely wet seasons I am sure It will 

 pay. Another thing. I am more and more con- 

 vinced that the office of tile drains in letting 

 air down into the soil is a most important mat- 

 ter. If the tile used be the smallest -ize. say 2}i 

 inches inside, the expense of it will not be very 

 great, neither will the expense of digging^ be 

 verv much for only a quarter of an acre. With 

 all "the underdraiiiing and surface draining we 

 have had on our plot during the past season, 

 several times the paths have been muddy and 

 sloppy. The steam is admitted to the tiles at 

 one end of the bed, and at the opposite end the 

 tiles are turned up so as to reach out of the 

 ground, say about a foot: then when you open 

 the valve to let in the steam, you simply intro- 

 duce enongh^steam to let it get out of the oppo- 

 site end so as to be visible. A very little steam 

 will warm up the beds, and a very moderate 

 pressure is all that is needed. I have not found 

 it necessary to put any collars nor any thing of 

 the sort over the joints of the tile. If the steam 

 gets out around the end of the tile where it is 

 tirst let in. a little packing and tamping of clay 

 seems to answer every purpose. 



MAKIXG THE 1?EI>S. 



For making the sides of the lieds I would use 

 common pine or hemlock boards. 1 inch thick, 

 ti inches wide — say such as are comtnonly used 

 for fencing. For beds long enough to hold 14 

 sash, boards li"> feet long are about what you 

 want. You can now nail them to oak stakes 

 driven, say, every four feet apart in a straight 

 linis in the usual way of making hot-beds. We 

 have found these stakes convenient made 2 

 inches square, and about 2 feet long. This al- 

 lows for driving them into the ground about 18 

 inches. Of coiirse. the fence-boards are to be 

 nailed to the stakes. Now. I want to tell you 

 that, after using stakes for several years. I am 

 decidedly in favor of something more substan- 

 tial. The constant exposure to sun and rain 

 and frost verv soon ros and uses up the best of 

 timber. For the Inst two years we have made 

 our beds by boring holes into an edge of the 



*On our lowest ^ouiid we have placed an inch or 

 more of coarse cinders, along the paths that were 

 inclined to be wet. 



