iSS;. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



107 



From this at such a distance from the center 

 on each side, as you want the rows apart, at- 

 tach a piece of chain to drag on the ground. 

 Then pass back and forth across the patch to 

 be marked, being guided by the last mark made. 

 The idea in using a wheelbarrow is, that there 

 is little chance of its diverting sideways, and 

 straight rows may be easily made. 



Offending the Little Ones. 



BY CHAS. W. GARFIELD, GRAND RAPins, MICH. 



There is a good deal of human nature in men, 

 as we find them, that needs to be bred out of 

 them before we approach the time when God's 

 will shall be done on earth " as it is done in 

 Heaven. " I have sat at the table with men who 

 fervently thanked the Lord for his provision 

 there manifested, and then found fault with 

 every morsel later. I have hstened to men as 

 they grew eloquent over the delightful results 

 of teaching horticulture in schools, and have 

 later seen these men getting just as much 

 labor out of their berry pickers as it was possi- 

 ble, without a thought of kindly instruction 

 that could have been given incidentally to the 

 little people, that would have gone with them 

 for a life-time. 



I am glad we have apostles and evangelists 

 in horticulture who ai'e willing to put in a 

 good word for progressive measures on every 

 available occasion. But for net results com- 

 mend me to the people who are willing to give 

 a little time to th» instruction of their own chil- 

 dren in the simple elements of horticulture; 

 who are willing to spend a few hours with the 

 boys and girls who go to their school in enter- 

 taining them with the products of horticulture ; 

 who are delighted to make happy the bands of 

 children who pick their berries, by giving them 

 lessons in horticulture garnished with the fruits 

 of the season. 



Children need guidance in their amusement 

 as really as in their studies and work. The 

 active inquiring child who is not given the de- 

 lightful occupation of planting seeds and watch- 

 ing their germination, during the winter 

 months, when confinement to the house is a 

 necessity during many long cold days, loses 

 tuition in horticulture that never can be taken 

 later in life with such keen satisfaction. 



Children enjoy making original observations. 

 It is far better for them to learn by seeing that 

 a Bean seed has two leaves bound up in it and 

 Corn but one, than to learn to read and get 

 this lesson from some book when old enough 

 to read a botany. 



If a parent has any idea of giving his child 

 the information which will afterwards secure 

 to hun the most enjoyment, he can find his 

 richest field in the element of horticulture. A 

 boy or girl six years old can learn to graft and 

 bud, trap injurious insects, observe their haliits, 

 and even go into the mj'steries of cross fertiliza- 

 tion, securing a fund of enjoyment not excelled 

 by a visit at the circus or chasing a squirrel. 



We need to go more into details about this 

 matter of tuition in horticulture. We have 

 been soaring away above the level where the 

 best work can be done. The teacher who will 

 take her pupils into the woods next Arbor Day 

 and has a faculty of entertaining them success- 

 fully with observations of their own making, 

 and will return to the school premises with 

 bulbs, plants, shi-ubs and trees, securing them 

 safely in their new home near the school house, 

 is a queen in her profession and is doing more 

 to lay a foundation for .successful horticultural 

 occupation than all the book writers or essayists 

 upon the art. 



Even the Sunday-school teacher has a horti- 

 ciUtural duty to perform which few are fitted 

 to do successfully, but which, if well done, can- 

 not but give to the children nobler ideas of (lod's 

 perfection manifested in the works of his crea- 

 tion than any amount of catechetical work 

 upon the dogmas of theology. How can the 

 beautiful Lily lesson of our Saviom- be enforced 

 so delightfully as by observations upon the 



Lily family ; the imif orm character of its mem- 

 bers ; object and delicacy of the perfume of its 

 flowers, and utility of the members of the 

 familj- most used by man. In the vine lesson 

 how attractive may the central thoughts be 

 made if the instructor will but bring to bear 

 a knowledge of botany and horticulture. I am 

 a firm believer in leading chilih'en to love God 

 through a knowledge of the details of His won- 

 derful works ; and a knowledge of horticulture 

 and the sciences, which thread into and through 

 the fabric of the art, can be made of the best 

 use in rendering attractive to the little ones the 

 lessons that aie usually a burden upon their 

 young lives. 



The most delightfid remembrances of my 

 early boyhood are connected with object lessons 

 given me by my parents upon the farm and in 

 the garden. If the facts conned had been 

 worthless to me the beautiful recollection pays 

 for the energy expended in that early enter- 

 tainment. But when I recall how efficient has 

 been that information acquired under those 

 pleasant conditions, I am led to awaken in my 

 own boy a love for observing the behavior of 

 plants; and by giving him the hints which lead 

 to original investigation, stimulate in him the 

 desire for wide knowledge in the constantly 

 widening field of horticulture. 



Years ago I often watched my teacher and 

 friend. Prof. W. J. Beal, take his little girl by 

 the hand and stroll into the woods on tours of 

 botanical observation; and as I noted the keen 

 delight of the little one and the interest of her 

 father in the child's observations, I could not 

 but thiidi how few children are given the ex- 

 quisite delight of such exciu-sions, when it 

 might be possible with almost every familj- 

 who live in the country. Oh, these people who 

 live in towns and go into ecstasies over rural 

 life, and then other people who live near the 

 woods and scorn the soarings of their city 

 cousins ! None of them have an adequate ap- 

 preciation of what joy may be given to the life 

 of children who are taught to observe the 

 truths of Nature under th3 guidance of those 

 who have before seen the lessons to be learned 

 in the book that is always open before them. 



Strawberries— Something: About 

 Varieties, etc. 



Those who think of setting out a bed of this 

 most delicious and easily grown of fruits will 

 find the following summary of results concern- 

 ing varieties, etc., by the Agricultural College 

 of Indiana (Pardue University), of value: 



Among forty varieties grown at the experi- 

 ment grounds, we have found nothing quite 

 equaling the Crescent as a market berry. It 

 was among the very first to ripen, beginning 

 June l>, and continuing untU July 9. Green 

 ProUflc comes next, and, for near market, I 

 would add the Cumberland. The Kentucky is 

 about a week later, and deserves third place. 

 In fact, many growers in this locality prefer 

 the Kentucky for their main crop of late ber- 

 ries for the home market. Wilson is still a 

 favorite with many ; it does not do well with us. 



For family use I prefer the Cumberland, 

 Black Defiance and Crescent, with a few Sharp- 

 less to tone down the sharp, acid flavor. I 

 would drop, as unworthy of cultivation, the 

 Big Bob, Phelps, Finch's Prolific, Piper, and 

 Nigh's Superb. 



Having set StrawbeiTy plants both in spring 

 and autmun, and at almost all other seasons 

 during warm weather, I am convinced that 

 those set in the spring do the best, are in the 

 best condition to stand the winter, and produi'e 

 the most berries the next year. 



The past two winters here at Lafayette 

 have also proved conclusively that careful win- 

 ter protection is one of the essential requisites 

 of success in Strawberry culture. A light cover- 

 ing of wheat straw or other litter, free from 

 weed seeds, is put on early in winter and left 

 until warm weather, when a portion is raked 

 off and left between the rows. This keeps the 

 ground moist, and prevents weed growth. 



Peter Henderson on the Cultivation 

 of Early Beets. 



This is one of the leading and most valuable 

 crops of oiu- market gai'dens, and, next to 

 Cabbages, is perhaps the most extensively 

 grown as an early crop. 



The soil best suited is that which is rather 

 light than otherwise, always provided that it 

 is thoroughly enriched by manure. We make 

 little difference in the manner of working or 

 manuring the ground for any of our leading 

 early crops of vegetables. The ground must, 

 in all cases, be thoroughly pulverized by 

 plowing, subsoiling and harrowing, and when 

 stable manure can be procured, plowed in at 

 the rate of seventy-five to one hundred tons 

 per acre. It must be borne in mind that this 

 large quantity of manure is used where two 

 crops are taken off the land in one season, for 

 Celery always follows crops of early Beets, 

 Cabbages, Onions, etc. 



As early in spring a6 the ground becomes fit 

 to work, the Beets are usually sown in rows 

 one foot apart, made by the "marker," about 

 three inches deep. We prefer to sow rather 

 thickly by hand (not less than eight pounds 

 per acre), for the reason that late frosts often 

 kill off a portion of the young plants; but 

 when sown thickly, enough are usually left to 

 make a crop which amply repa3's the differ- 

 ence of a few pounds of seed. After sowing, 

 the seed is pressed in by the feet, and if the 

 weather is dry, the whole surface is also 

 rolled, which firms the soil better around the 

 seed and also leaves the ground level, making 

 it easier to be hoed. This fii-ming of Beet seed 

 is very important, as hundieds of acres, par- 

 ticidarly of the Sugar Beet grown on farms are 

 annually lost for want of this precaution. 



Beets ai-e occasionally planted two feet 

 apart, and the intei-vening row sown with 

 Radishes. The Radishes mature early, and 

 are used or sold off soon enough to allow more 

 room for the Beet crop. It makes but little 

 difference with us in the profits of the crop 

 which way it is done, the results being nearly 

 the same in each case. But in places where but 

 limited quantities of vegetables can be dis- 

 posed of, perhaps the latter plan is the best. 

 The young Beets are thinned out to six 

 inches apart when the rows are one foot apart, 

 but when at two feet apart to only four 

 inches, as they have more space between the 

 rows for air. The thimiings of the Beets are 

 used like Spinach, and, when carefully han- 

 dled, they wUl always sell for more than the 

 cost of the labor of thiiming the crop. 



In the neighborhood of New York Beets 

 sown the first week in April are begun to be 

 marketed the first week in June and entirely 

 cleared off by July 1st, when the ground is 

 prepared for the second crop. It -n-ill be un- 

 derstood that they are, at this early date, sold 

 in an immature state, before the root has 

 reached complete development ; but the great 

 point is eai-liness, the public being well satis- 

 fied to pay more for it half-grown, if early, 

 than when full-grown, if late. 



This crop I have always considered a very 

 profitable one, even at the seemingly low 

 price of seventy-five cents jier 100 roots, the 

 average wholesale price in New York mar- 

 kets. But 80,000 roots grown per acre when 

 sown at one foot apart, and although the la- 

 bor of pulling and bunching up is greater than 

 in some crops, yet at seventy-five cents per 100 

 it will give an easy profit of $350 per acre. 



Beets are an excellent article to ship, and the 

 price paid in New York for the first lots from 

 Savannah and Norfolk, etc., is often as high 

 as $3 per 100 roots. 



The foregoing all relates to the crop in the 

 green state for an early market, but they are 

 also extensively grown for use in fall, winter 

 and spring. For this they are usually sovm 

 later, often in some sections as a second crop, 

 as late as July 1st, although in the Northern 

 States the roots hardly develop enough when 

 sown after June.— New "Gardening for Profit. " 



