156 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



April, 



commands high prices; many of the market gar- 

 dens in Arlington and Belmont are worth $1,000 

 to $1,400 per acre for gardening purposes. The 

 facility with which the owners of these farms 

 can supply any temporary scarcity of the market 

 by means of orders by telephone and quick de- 

 livery over easy roads gives them immense ad- 

 vantages over their more remote competitors. 



The Bight Han. Experience, He must be one 

 of untiring energy and tact in managing the labor 

 of other men, must be a shrewd buyer and seller 

 and a keen observer of nature and of methods of 

 working, and above all must have a love for his 

 work and patient perseverance that 

 will make light of its severe toils and 

 disappointments. Another essential is 

 capital; while many men have begun in 

 this business with little more than their 

 own energy as capital, and are now 

 independent, the opportunities now for 

 such advancement are not so good as 

 formerly. Some of the most successful 

 gardeners use a capital of $30,000 to 

 $50,000 or more, invested in glass, horses, 

 manure, watering apparatus, and tools. 

 But even with abundant capital, good 

 land and a near market, there are many 

 details of working and variations in 

 management which can only be learned 

 by experience; some men acquire the 

 necessary experience in a far shorter 

 time than others, but no one can well do 

 without it. Hence, I always advise 

 young men who wish to. engage in 

 market gardening to work for a few 

 years as field hand or marketer for some 

 experienced and successful gardener, 

 and thus acquire the needed experience 

 without risk. 



The Manure Question. The great 

 staple is horse manure, and it is in haul- 

 ing it easily that the gardener near a 

 large market has one of his chief ad- 

 vantages over the more remote farms. 

 It is no uncommon thing for lands near 

 the market to be manured with 20 to 30 

 cords of manure per acre every year. The cost 

 now is lower than for many yeais, being one to 

 two dollars per load at stables where there is a 

 good chance to load, and much of it is given 

 away where loading is difficult. 



Within six or eight miles of Boston there Is 

 not much else used on the market gardens but 

 horse manure and night soil, with some wood 

 ashes. The horse manure and night soil furnish 

 the nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and the wood 

 ashes the potash, all in a state to be quickly ab- 

 sorbed by the plants, which is of great import- 

 ance where crops have only six or eight weeks in 

 which to make their growth. An important ad- 

 dition to these manures is sulphate of ammonia 

 for the growing of early Spinach or other greens 

 and for early Cabbage. It furnishes soluble 

 nitrogen early in the season when it is most 

 needed. The late crops have more time to de- 

 velop if well manured without such applications. 

 Preparing the Soil. Whei^ver it can be done 

 we plough under a heavy dressing of coarse 

 manure in the fall to make the land work light 

 early in spring, and this often makes a difference 

 of several days in putting in early crops, which 

 is a matter of great consequence; for the proHt 

 in gardening usually comes from the earliest 

 stuff in market, and when the early crop can be 

 cleared off promptly, the late crop which follows 

 upon the same land has a far better chance. We 

 must begin work as soon as the frost is out, and 

 the land requires at least two ploughings, fol- 

 lowed by the harrow, drag and fork and rake be- 

 fore it will be in suitable condition. I have best 

 success when the land is twice ploughed, apply- 

 ing a good dressing of manure before each 

 ploughing, harrowing thoroughly after each 

 ploughing and finally ploughing again into beds 

 and raking by hand; on such beds can be grown 

 three crops, viz: early Lettuce or Greens or Kad- 

 ish, followed by Beets, and these by Celery. 



The Number of Crops on the Land. We always 

 try to get at least two crops from the land in the 

 course of the year, sometimes three or even four, 

 without counting the weeds, which have no bus- 

 iness in a well-kept garden; exceptions are Rhu- 

 barb, Asparagus and fruits. It is in arranging 

 for a succession of crops, so that they shall not 

 crowd each other or glut the market, that the 

 gardener has room for the exercise of much 

 skill and intelligence, and must use considerable 

 forethought in conducting his work. 



The use of glass in market gardening has 

 grown to immense proportions of late yeai-s. 



There is one firm near Providence, R. I., who 

 use about four acres of glass, more than half of 

 which is heated by steam pipes, almost exclus- 

 ively for Lettuce and Cucumbers. Other gar- 

 dens use a large area of glass in growing for 

 winter and spring market Radishes, Dandelions, 

 Parsley, Cress, Mint, Rhubarb and Asparagus. 

 Melons are also forced for July and August sales 

 under glass, and all the early Cabbage, Lettuce, 

 Tomato, Egg and Pepper plants are grown uuder 

 glass. For plant growing the hot-bed is far bet- 

 ter than the greenhouse, but the latter has de- 

 cided advantages for winter work. 



The Great Advantage of Market Gardeninfr. 



Sales are always for cash on the spot, but the 

 market gardener must take the risk of the 

 seasons; he may be deceived in buying his seeds, 

 he may lose his crops by hail or drouth or flood, 

 yet when once in the market he can carry home 

 their price in cash, and ask no favors of the 

 banker. The life of the market gardener is 

 laborious, but healthy and fairly profitable. It 

 has its trials and disappointments and risks, but 

 it also has its charms for those who love an out- 

 door life, and an honest independence, for though 

 few market gardeners are rich, there are very 

 few who do not honestly pay their bills, 

 and most of them can show as sturdy 

 sons and cheerful daughters as are to 

 be found among any other class In the 

 community. 



There is inseparably connected with 

 gardening much hard and dirty work, 

 but to those who have eyes to see there 

 Is also an unspeakable charm in country 

 life and in witnessing the truly miracu- 

 lous growth of plants by means of which 

 the most offensive refuse is trans- 

 formed before our very eyes into the 

 most delicious and beautiful vegetables, 

 fruits and flowers. 



Insect 



Enemies 

 Currant. 



of the 



INSECT ENEMIES OF THE CURRANT. 



The Water Supply. This is a necessary item, 

 particularly in the successful management of 

 gi'eenhouses and hot-beds. A good twelve or 

 fourteen foot windmill with a large storage tank 

 will furnish enough water for most farms in 

 watering the glass structures and other buildings. 

 The tank should be large enough to hold several 

 days' supply of water, and to make sure of an 

 ample supply in case of calm weather, it will be 

 well to have a steam pump. Where irrigation of 

 field crops is practiced, a much larger supply of 

 water is required, and we have to seek a supply 

 in deep wells and a steam pump. Several of the 

 large market gardens near Boston are provided 

 with irrigating machinery which costs several 

 thousand dollars, and perhaps is not needed at 

 all some .vears, and in others only once or twice 

 in the season for a few days at a time; but the 

 owners of such work agree in believing them 

 good investments on dry, sandy or gravelly land 

 where Early Cabbage, Strawberries, Cucumbers, 

 and Celery are grown, and there are times when 

 it pays to water Tomatoes. 



The water is usually distributed by two-inch 

 or 2^-inch pipes, and one-inch or l^-inch hose 

 leading to the highest point in each row of veg- 

 etables, and is allowed to run along the furrows 

 between the rows. A good watering once a week 

 in a dry time will suffice. 



Preparing Produce for Market. It must be 

 neatly washed and carefully assorted, and 

 although the buyer always expects to find the 

 handsomest specimens on the top of a box or 

 barrel Just as we expect always to see one put 

 on a good hat when he goes to town, still, the 

 buyer has a right to demand that the bottom of 

 the box or barrel shall contain no mean, nor un- 

 salable stuff; and the gardener who attempts to 

 pack his produce in this way will never sell many 

 times to the same person. A good name in this 

 business is worth as much as in any other. 



Good Seed. There is a good deal of cai-e needed 

 to grow good seed and it seldom sells for as much 

 as it is really worth; ffir this reason the best gar- 

 deners raise enough for their own use, and per- 

 haps to exchange with some neighbor for some 

 other choice variety, but seldom for sale. The 

 seedsmen do their best to secure a supply of the 

 best seed to be had; it is their manifest interest 

 to do so, but they do not warrant their seeds 

 generally, and the gardener should plant only 

 seed that can be warranted. That is, he should 

 grow it or exchange it with some equally careful 

 neighbor. 



Abstract from the Ontario Entmnological 

 Report. 



The Currant Saw-fly has come to 

 us from Europe, and is now quite 

 common, although not known here 

 before 18.58. Fig. 1 n represents the 

 male, and h the female fly. The 

 body of the former is black with a 

 few dull yellow spots, yellowish on 

 underside, with bright yellow legs. 

 The larger female is especially dis- 

 tinguished by its yellow body. Often 

 these flies may be captured on the bushes 

 and readily killed. 



The worms resemble caterpillars, but have 

 feet under the middle segments of the body, and 

 more in number. They have a habit of curling 

 the terminal segments. When first hatched they 

 are very small, of a whitish color, with large 

 head and dark round spot on each side of it. 

 Then they are found feeding in companies on a 

 leaf, consuming all the soft parts and leaving 

 only the groundwork. Afterwards they gradu- 

 ally scatter all over the bush. As they increase 

 in size their color changes to apple green, then 

 green with black dots, and finally to green tinged 

 with yellow at each end. The chrysalis, formed 

 within a tough silken cocoon of brownish color 

 and nearly oval shape, is generally hidden in dry 

 leaves, rubbish or in the earth near the surface. 

 The flies soon emerge ready for further mischief. 

 There are several broods in one season. 



White hellebore is a cheap and simple remedy. 

 Take an ounce of the powder and mix with 

 sufficient water to form a paste; then dissolve 

 in a pailful of Water and spray the foliage 

 thoroughly and with sufficient force to reach all 

 parts of the bush. Watch for new broods, and 

 repeat the application promptly when needed. 

 The mode of hand-picking is more laborious, but 

 may be resorted to before the young are hatched 

 or shortly after. Examine the leaves and re- 

 move all that contain rows of eggs along the 

 ribs on under side, as shown in Fig. 3, or small 

 holes eaten through the leaf by the young worms. 

 Much hardier, and not easily overcome by 

 hellebore, unless of double or triple strength, is 

 the Currant Span-worm (Enfitchia 7-ibearia, 

 Fitch) shown In Fig. 3, and easUy distinguished 

 by its paler and more yellow color, and its habit 

 of arching its body into a loop when moving 

 from place to place. When disturbed it often 

 suspends itself by a silken thread. The full- 

 grown worm is about an inch long, of a whitish 

 color, with lengthwise strips of yellow and a 

 number of black dots on each segment. Unlike 

 the sawfly, this is a native insect, and attacks 

 Gooseberries and Currants wherever it finds 

 them, wild or cultivated. Even the Flowering 

 Currant is not despised by the ravenous feeder. 

 Fortunately there is only a single brood of it 

 in the year. 



The Moth, Fig. 4, is a pretty pale-yellow crea- 

 ture. Its wings are adorned with several dusky 

 bands or spots, which vary much in different 

 specimens. In June or July it may often be seen 



