1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



99 (!' 



|)oittl)0' IBcpartmmt. 



i 



A WALK IN THE GARDEN. 



It is now the month of April, the snow has disap- 

 peared, the ground has become thawed, and partially 

 dry. It is now time to commence gardening opera- 

 tions, and we will take a walk in the garden, as it is 

 a favorable time to see the commencement of the 

 work for the season ; and if you are observing, you 

 can hardly fail to learn much that will be useful. 

 You notice the frames and glass on the south side 

 of the high and tight fence. This is the hot-bed. 

 It was probably prepared about the 1st of March. 

 We will examine it, and see what it contains. — 

 There you see lettuce large enough for the table, 

 radishes growing finely, cucumbers in blossom. In 

 another frame you see cabbage, and tomato, and cel- 

 ery plants. These you see can all be raised much 

 earlier in a hot-bed than in the open ground. Plants 

 are thus raised for planting out in the open ground, as 

 soon as we could plant the seed. The heat is obtain- 

 ed from the pile of manure on which you see the frame 

 placed. You have often seen the steam ascend from 

 a pile of manure when turned over. About six 

 inches of earth is placed on the manure, and the 

 seeds planted in the earth. 



You see that the greater part of the garden was 

 dug in the fall, and left in ridges. This was done to 

 allow the frost to enter the ground for the destruction 

 of worms and insects that would be apt to injure the 

 crops. Frost mellows the ground. You notice how 

 soft the roads become after frost. A little further on 

 we see a man digging. We will look at him a little 

 while. He has a new spade, and see how deep he 

 drives it in with his heavy boot. Some plants 

 send their roots deep into the ground, in search 

 of nourishment, and it is best to dig or plow deep to 

 allow them an opportunity to penetrate the earth. 

 The rains, too, descend to nourish the plants ; when, 

 if the ground wa« dug only a few inches, the greater 

 part would either lay on the surface or run oiF. 

 Some times gardeners dig two spades deep, and this 

 they call trenching. Digging and plowing are both 

 for the same purpose — to make the ground light and 

 mellow, so that roots of plants can penetrate it in 

 search of their proper food. If we were to sow seeds 

 or plant trees or shrubs in the hard ground, if they 

 grew at all it would be a very poor and sickly growth. 

 Notice what pains the gardener takes to have every 

 spade-full well broken up. He turns it bottom up- 

 wards, as he throws it from his spade, and if this does 

 not entirely loosen the particles of earth, he strikes 

 it with his spade. Weeds are thus buried, where 

 they rot, and form manure. These trenches you see 

 open, are to drain the surplus water from the ground. 

 They will be partly filled with stones or tile, so as to 

 leave a channel for the water, and then covered. 



Now that he has dug quite a piece, he rakes the 

 surface with an iron-tooth rake, and you see how 

 much pains he takes to break every large piece of 

 earth, and before he leaves it, not a stone or lump of 

 earth is to be seen. This is intended for fine seed, 

 and you can readily imagine how much better this 

 nicely prepared land will be for such seed, than 

 though it was rough and uneven, where many of the 

 eeeJs vvovjlJ be uncovered and thus perish, and even 

 those seeds that happened to fall in a favorable spot, 

 would find their roots obstructed before they had 

 proceeded far, by hard balls of earth, and crevices, 



into which the drying winds penetrate, causing their 

 destruction. 



The peas are already up and growing finely. — 

 This must be some early sort, probably the Early Em- 

 peror, which is the earliest kind. The gardener, if 

 he wishes green peas for a long time, will sow o, few 

 every two or three weeks. 



The Pie plant is just making its appearance, and 

 it has received a good dressing of well rotted manure. 

 Manure is dug in around all the fruit trees, and the 

 ground looks as though it had received a liberal sup- 

 ply ; for every good gardener knows he cannot raise 

 good vegetables without plenty of manure. 



The grape vines, currant bushes, and fruit trees, 

 have all been pruned and put in order, the gardener 

 taking off such branches as he thought necessary to 

 make them of a good form, and bear Jine fruit — 

 We have not time now to talk of pruning, but some 

 other time we will try to show you how and why, 

 the gardener prunes his trees. 



You will observe that all the peach trees have had 

 the ends of the shoots cut off. This was done early 

 last month. Nearly all the old peach trees you see 

 in gardens have three or four ong branches, with- 

 out a leaf or branch, except at the extreme ends. 

 They are easily broken by the wind, soon become 

 old and useless, not living out half their days. But 

 these trees have a very different appearance, and for 

 future reference we will make a drawing of one of 

 them. We may not 

 get every limb in its 

 place, but we can easily 

 get the general form 

 and appearance. The 

 sap which furnishes the 

 tree with nourishment 

 has a disposition to go 

 to the ends of the shoots, 

 causing the buds there 

 to grow, and leaving 

 the buds further back to 

 perish. By cutting off 

 the tops of the shoots, the buds at the lower ends of 

 the branches obtain sufficient sap to nourish them ; 

 and thus they grow, and the tree is supplied with 

 enough branches to make a fine shaped head, as we 

 have made in the drawing. 



In this part of the country it is yet too early to 

 sow radishes, beets, beans, and other tender vegeta- 

 bles. The earth is not yet warm enough, and they 

 would be apt to be destroyed by frosts. But some- 

 times gardeners put in a few, and if the season Ir 

 favorable, they succeed and very early vegetables 

 are obtained ; if not, the ground is planted again. 

 No sensible gardener will put in the main crop till 

 there is little danger of frost. Peas and lettuce being 

 quite hardy, they can be sown very early. 



In the border on the north side of the garden early 

 potatoes are planted. The ground being yet cold, 

 they are slow in coming up ; but as the sun gets a 

 little warm, they will make their appearance, and 

 we shall have potatoes fit to dig by the first of July. 

 The raspberries are all nicely tied up, and the 

 strawberry beds have all been raked over, and the 

 dead leaves removed. The black looking mold that 

 you see mixed with the soil, is well rotted manure 

 that has been dug in with the fork. Every thing 

 appears to be in good order, and during the summer 

 we shall see the fr«its of this good management. 

 We will visit the garden again next month. 



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