140 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



allowing a new shoot from near the ground 

 to take its place. Under this system the 

 fruit will, much of it, be borne near the 

 ground, au essential point with us, as such 

 fruit ripens earlier and is richer in flavor 

 than that borne higher up. 



Prune after leaf fall. At first there will 

 only be four straight canes; later there will 

 be spurs which trim back to two or three 

 buds. By fall pruning the vine is so re- 

 duced in size that it is easily buried. 

 The tallest of the pruned canes should 

 ;be no longer than the posts. In the 

 summer when all the canes have been 

 confined to the post, new rapidly grow- 

 ing shoots will spread out in all direc- 

 tions forming a somewhat umbrella 

 shaped top. Cut these new shoots off 

 about four leaves below the last fruit 

 cluster, keeping the vine in a compact 

 mass near the post. 



Cultivation. Vineyards, as a rule, 

 are not half cultivated. By having the 

 vines eight feet apart each way, ctilti- 

 vators and harrows can be freely used 

 and there is no excuse for weeds. The 

 vines respond to this thorough culti- 

 vation in a remarkable manner, and it 

 seems to hasten the maturity of the 

 crop and increase its ability to resist 

 insects and disease. Let the ground be 

 given up wholly to the vines and no 

 attempt made to double crop it. For 

 the first two or three years when the 

 vines are small, it may do to grow Potatoes 

 or hoed-crops in the vineyard, but not after 

 the vines commence bearing. 



Burying the Vines. As well let cqttle 

 go unhoused in winter as Grape vines un- 

 buried. Both may possibly survive, but at 

 entirely too great cost, nor is the labor of 

 properly protecting them great. A trimmed 

 vine is bent over, a man standing with his 

 foot upon it. The foot is then removed and 

 both men continue the covering until the 

 vine is buried out of sight. The object of 

 covering is not to keep the vine from frost 

 but rather to keep it frozen all winter. It is 

 alternate freezing and thawing, not the 

 steady cold, that injures the vine. Bear this 

 in mind and do not cover deep. Before the 

 buds start, but as late as possible, imcover 

 the vines by gently lifting them wltha four- 

 tinedforkout of the earth that encases them. 

 Fertilizing. Of course the land should 

 be kept rich, and well-rotted barnyard 

 manure will accomplish this. In our own 



From an average Delaware we obtained 

 fine fruit at the rate of nearly three tons per 

 acre. Corn and Potatoes to give the same 

 rate of product would have to yield about 

 100 bushels per acre. The best loaded 

 Salem vine yielded at the rate of over six 

 and one half tons to the acre. Putting the 

 yield at .5,000 pounds per acre which would 

 sell at something like four cents per pound, 

 there would be a gross income of $200 per 



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acre, leaving a good profit after all ex- 

 penses are met. 



Early Vah'ntine Bean. 



case, as the land was rich to start with, we 

 have applied very little manure up to date. 

 Yield of Fruit. For several reasons it 

 is impossible to give the yield of the entire 

 vineyard. The following is some of the 

 weights of fruits of single vine for fall of 1888: 



THE COMPLETE GARDEN. 



XXIV. 

 BY A WELL-KNOWN HORTICULTURIST. 

 {Continued frovi page 118.) 

 {The class letters given in parenthesis refer to the 

 chart on page 95.) 



Artichoke, Globe (class C). This escu- 

 lent has not yet found a place in the garden 

 of the average home grower; and even in 

 our markets it is yet rarely seen. It is read- 

 ily grown from suckers or by division of 

 old plants, also from seeds sown early in 

 spring, resetting the plants the following 

 season. Have rows from three to four feet 

 apart, and plants two feet apart in the rows, 

 or set two or three plants in hills three feet 

 apart each way. Water in a dry season to 

 make the newly set plants take hold. A 

 perennial giving full crops after the first 

 season; needs winter protection of six inches 

 or more of litter at the North; a deep, rich, 

 moist loam is best. Green Globe is about 

 the only variety cultivated. The unde- 

 veloped flower-head is the part generally 

 used, either raw or boiled as a salad. Some 

 people blanch the young shoots and use 

 them for salad timber. 



What is known as the Jerusalem Arti- 

 choke (class C) is really a tuberous-rooted 

 hardy Sunflower, liable to become a noxious 

 weed, when left to run freely, the tubers of 

 which have the true Artichoke flavor and 

 taste and are esteemed in the raw state for 

 pickling or as a salad. It mil thrive in al- 

 most any soil and location; plant the tubers 

 two or three inches deep, nine to twelve 

 inches apart In three foot rows. Pigs turned 

 into a patch of Artichokes will hunt up 

 every tuber, and thrive on this diet about 

 as well as they would on Potatoes. 



Asparagus (class A). No other vege- 

 table gives to the grower so much for so 

 little expense. Plants are easily grown by 

 sowing seeds in rich soil in one foot drills, 

 early in spring. Thin to two or three inches 

 in the row, and give clean ctiltivatiou; set 

 into the permanent bed either the next 

 or second spring following. To get a bed 

 quickly in good bearing, use strong, two- 

 year old plants, setting in the garden at one 

 foot by two feet. Market gardeners plant 

 much wider to admit of horse cultivating 



one or both ways. For the best product 

 plant rather shallow, say four inches deep; 

 but when bleached stuff is wanted, 

 crowns must be placed six or eight inches 

 deep, and the rows ridged in spring. Cut 

 sparingly the first season after the year the 

 plants are set. Cut down and remove the 

 stalks in the autumn before the seeds can 

 fall out to fill the ground with young 

 plants, as these are worse than weeds. 

 Apply an annual liberal top-dressing of 

 well rotted compost or other nitrogen- 

 ous manure in auttimn or in winter. 

 Nitrate of soda and hen manure, how- 

 ever, which are of especial value, 

 should not be applied until spring. 

 Conover's Colossal is the variety now 

 ~X ™ general cultivation. Barr's Mam- 

 moth and Palmetto are being offered 

 as improved sorts. Asparagus beetle 

 and its larva, often so destructive to 

 plantations in some localities, can be 

 fought successfully by the free use of 

 air-slacked lime, perhaps also by kero- 

 sene emulsions, or confinement of small 

 chickens in the Asparagus patch. 



Balm, (class F). A perennial herb 



of pleasant,lemon-like fragrance. Seed 



may be sown early in hot-beds, and 



plants transplanted to the open ground 



12 inches apart in the one foot rows. 



Propagation by root division is simple 



and easy if old roots can be had. 



Basil, Sweet (class F). An annual of 



highly aromatic odor and flavor, used as a 



condiment in the preparation of stews, etc. 



Sow the seed in drills one foot apart, and 



thin to five or six inches in the rows. 



Beans,Bush or Snap Varieties (class D). 

 Plant when danger from late spring frosts 

 is past in drills not less than two feet apart 

 and two inches deep. The plants should 

 stand from three to fotir inches apart in the 

 drills. Rich soil favors rapid development 

 and early pods, for a succession plant every 

 two or three weeks. To avoid rust, (anthrac- 

 nosf,) the great enemy of the crop in many 

 localities, shift the crop to new quarters, and 

 avoid handling plants while wet. Select 

 varieties: Early Valentine, China Red Eye, 

 Early Mohawk, Black Wax, Golden Wax, 

 Perfection Wax, the White Marrowfat, the 

 Kidneys, and the Little Navy or Pea Beans 

 are generally grown for dry Beans. 



Beans, Pole Varieties (class C). These 

 need a rich, warm soil and sunny location. 

 The Limas are the best of this class, but 

 very sensitive to cold and wet, and require 

 a long season. Plant them eye downward, 

 and btit few (3 or 4) to each hill. Set poles 

 three feet by four, or four by four, the Beans 

 two inches deep around them. The Limas 

 can easily be forced a week ahead of their 

 natural season by planting on inverted sods 

 in a cold frame or spent hot^bed, and trans- 

 ferring to the open ground in due season. 

 Where poles are scarce, a single stout wire 

 may be stretched over and between two 

 eight or nine foot posts, planted four feet 

 deep, the wire running over stakes set at 

 intervals of 35 feet. A light wire is then 

 fastened near the foot of one of the main 

 posts, and run along near the ground to the 

 other post, being twisted once around each 

 stake at same height. By winding cheap 

 cotton yarn around the two wires, a cheap 

 and excellent trellis is formed to which the 

 vines planted directly under it will take 

 readily, almost without any assistance. 

 The difference in season between the var- 

 ious Lima Bean varieties is not very large. 

 Select varieties: The Large Lima, King of 

 the Garden, Dreer's Lima, Jersey Extra 

 Early Lima, the Red and the Spotted Lima. 

 Of other running Beans the Horticultural 

 or Cranberry Bean, the Dutch Case Knife 

 and White Runner are all quite popular 

 as shell Beans. 



{To be Continued.) 



