T HE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



179 



oiisly to vines. Cut out the manj' 

 spindly, weak shoots, which only take 

 I he strength and vitality of the plant 

 from the larger branches. Get larger 

 and better tomatoes by letting in 

 some of God's sunlight and daylight. 



Draw up the earth carefully around 

 the leeks to blanch them well. You will 

 get enough more for your crop to pay 

 for the little extra labor. Onions should 

 not be hilled up as they naturally grow 

 on the surface of the ground. 



If you have a vacant spot in the 

 garden in some corner, where nothing 

 has been planted, utilize it by setting 

 out late cabbages in July. iShould the 

 midsummer bring with it the pretty 

 little white butterflies, whose young 

 are so destructive to your cabbage, 

 they can be turned out of your domain 

 by dusting with hellebore or some 

 special preparation used for such pur- 

 poses. 



When the lima beans have reached 

 the limit of their supports, they should 

 be topped off, to throw their strength 

 into the pod and beans proper. 



No amount of care will produce good, 

 tender vegetables, should they once 

 get a check in their growth. Hot 

 weather is bound to check them un- 

 less they are given plenty of water. A 



good way to look after this is to keep 

 in the ground the moisture already in 

 it. It is not pleasant to hoe the gar- 

 den in the scalding sunshine, with the 

 thermometer at 90 deg. or more. Get 

 a little wheel hoe and go out in the 

 early morning or after sunset, and note 

 the difference in the garden and your- 

 self as well. 



An Inexpensive Shade for Your Lettuce Plants 

 During July 



Black seeded varieties of lettuce are 

 much the best for hot weather. At 

 the hottest period of summer, the let- 

 tuce will become bitter and run to seed. 



Screen the lettuce with an inexpensive 

 home-made affair like the one shown 

 in the illustration. Cheesecloth is used 

 to stretch over the frame, made but 

 roughly out of available sticks around 

 every one's place, and such a screen, 

 stretched over the lettuce bed suffi- 

 ciently far above the plants to allow a 

 circulation of air, will help out won- 

 derfully. The summer crop might be 

 planted in that shady corner you were 

 wondering what you would use for 

 earlier in the season. 



Keep surface soil well loosened around 

 the maturing beets, or their growth 

 will be checked. Keep them well 

 thinned. 



The runners of the squash and melon 

 vines are making growth while the sun 

 shines, and are using up all the good 

 moisture for themselves, while the 

 fruits are thirsting for a drink. Cut off 

 these beggars and throw the growth 

 into the melons and squashes. Give 

 the vines plenty of manure water, 

 which will satisfy tkeir hunger as well 

 as their thirst at the same time. Pinch 

 out the ends of the main vines, and stop 

 the lateral shoots, making your fruit 

 sweeter, and of better flavor as the 

 sun gets at it, and who or what is not 

 better for the sunshine? 



MaKing tKe Most from tKe MarKet Garden 



VEGETABLE growers in the vicinity 

 of Toronto are forced to make the 

 most out of their land. Property is 

 valuable and taxes are high; market 

 gardeners, therefore, cannot be satisfied 

 with obtaining one crop in a season. 

 Everything possible has to be done to 

 make the land yield returns through- 

 out the growing season. 



Various ways are tried by different 

 growers with the object of obtaining 

 maximum profits. A representative of 

 The Canadia.v Horticulturist, who 

 visited Mr. Geo. Syme, Jr., of Carleton 

 West, president of the Toronto branch 

 of the Vegetable Growers' Association, 

 was much interested in the methods 

 adopted on the Syme farm, which com- 

 prises about 30 acres. The farm is in 

 excellent condition. Part of it com- 



fmses some flat, low land, of black, 

 Oamy soil, and the remainder is higher 

 land and more of a sandy loam. This 

 gives an excellent chance to grow the 

 various garden crops, and have them 

 coming in at different seasons. 



The lower part of the farm is specially 

 adapted to celery growing. On ac- 

 count of its location it is naturally in- 

 clined to be wet, but a thorough sys- 

 tem of drainage, with tile drains about 

 15 yards apart, has remedied that de- 

 fect. vSix inch sewer pipes of second 

 grade are used in the main drains, 

 j while in some of the laterals ordinary 



two inch tile are used. The small pipes, 

 however, do not give entire satisfaction 

 as they frequently become plugged. 



"Authorities," said Mr. Syme, "claim 

 that a rotation of crops should be prac- 

 tised. On part of our farm, celery has 

 been grown every year for 30 years, 

 and last year's crop has been as good 

 as any that has been grown there. In 

 fact, the celery seems to be better every 

 year. Every year we put on as much 

 manure as can be plowed under. Within 

 certain limits vegetable growing pays 

 in proportion to the amount of manure 

 added to the soil. Some growers say 

 that black loam adapted to celery 

 growing requires no manure, but this 

 is not so. In the spring, as soon as 

 the ground can be worked, it is plowed 

 and harrowed. Then a coat of fertil- 

 izer is used, and the harrow again run 

 over it. The young plants are then 

 put in, and as soon as they become 

 established, more fertilizer is scattered 

 between the double rows. We use 

 Bradley's Fertilizer at the rate of about 

 800 to 1,000 pounds per acre. In apply- 

 ing it, however, special care must be 

 taken not to let any of it touch the 

 leaves of the plants as it is very strong 

 and burns them. 



"In setting the early crop of celery, 

 I prefer planting in double rows, be- 

 cause more can be grown to the acre, 

 and the bleaching can be done more 



easily. The inside of the rows is 

 bleached by their own shade, and by- 

 placing boards on either side, the 

 bleaching can be completed in 10 to 14 

 days. If the ground is not rich, how- 

 eyer, the plants should be set in single 

 rows. The first planting is done about 

 May 10, and frequent plantings are 

 made until July 1. Then, for a very 

 late crop, more is put in as late as 

 August in soil from which potatoes have 

 been taken. Before planting it is wise 

 to pack the soil firmly where the plants 

 are to be placed. 



Each plant is planted by hand, the 

 roots being placed over the ball of the 

 thumb and pressed under the surface 

 of the soil. In this way the work can 

 be done very quickly. One man can 

 easily plant over 1,000 in an hour. 

 (One of Mr. Syme's men was planting 

 while the representative of TiiK Hor- 

 ticulturist was there. He took out 

 his watch and timed the planter with- 

 out his knowing it. Twenty-seven 

 plants were put in in one minute.) 



"The double rows are placed three 

 and a half to four feet apart and a 

 space of six inches left between the 

 rows with the plants 12 inches apart, 

 those of one row being opposite the 

 spaces of the other. Careful cultiva- 

 tion is necessary, and it is essential 

 that the weeds be kept down. In the 

 early part of the season, shallow horse 



