1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



127 



have Peas in greatest abundance for a family of 

 eleven. If nothing better can be had for sup- 

 ports use common lath stuck in slanting one 

 way going down the row and a directly oppo- 

 site slant returning, which forms a kind of 

 diamond lattice work for them ; but brush is 

 better. Where Norway Spruce is abundant, to 

 cut Pea sticks in fall of these, the spines all 

 dropping away, leaving bare stems, would give 

 a grand bush for Peas. 



A Fine Vegetable Garden. — Its Re- 

 wards and Pleasures. 



Last season I had quite a large and handsome 

 vegetable garden. It was about SO feet wide 

 and 150 feet long. Myself and a German girl 

 did nearly all the work in it, she being as much 

 interested in gardening as I am, and I have a 

 sort of passion for it. 



After the ground was plowed I had a man 

 make paths through it and get it ready for 

 planting. Garden beauty depends much on 

 the laying out. The paths of a vegetable gai'- 

 den should be straight, the main ones from five 

 to six feet wide. The others need be only foot 

 paths, at right angles with the main path. In 

 the number and width of paths most amateurs 

 make a mistake, thinking that they are so 

 much ground wasted. I think not. Many 

 clean paths, besides adding to appeai'ances, 

 allow the sun to warm the ground, making the 

 vegetables earlier and better. 



I did all the planting, except Potatoes and 

 Corn. I had neai'ly every kind of vegetables 

 in the catalogue — Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, 

 OnioDS, Salsify, Parsnips, Fern-Leaved Pars- 

 ley, (the two latter I used as an edging along 

 the main paths, the Parsley was especially fine 

 and would be beautiful as an edging in a flower 

 garden) Peas, Corn, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, 

 Turnips, Radishes, Muskmelons, Squash, Cab- 

 bage, Beans, Cauliflower, Potatoes, Nastur- 

 tiums, and Egg Plant. 



When one has plenty of ground there should 

 be several plantings of the same thing at inter- 

 vals ; for instance Beets should be sown three 

 or four times during the season, as they ai-e 

 much sweeter and tender when young ; Peas 

 should be planted about three times ; Potatoes 

 twice and Sweet Corn about five or six times 

 for a succession ; on May 6th I made the fii-st 

 planting of Cory, Marblehead and Crosby 

 Sweet Com, and after that, at intervals of two 

 weeks, 1 put in Crosby and the late varieties 

 until the middle of July, and from the 2.5th of 

 July to October 1.5th had plenty of the sweet> 

 est Corn that could be grown, both for oiu" own 

 use and to give away. 



On one side of the main path that ran 

 through the middle, I had a border about three 

 feet wide, in which I had flowers that greatly 

 added to the beauty of my garden. They were 

 mostly annuals, Phlo.x, Sweet Peas, Zinnias, 

 Mignonette, Convolvulus, etc. 



To be successful in raising vegetables one 

 should make the kind of soil, time and place of 

 sowing them and planting considerable of a 

 study. Of this one thing be certain — every 

 weed must be kept out, as it is worse than 

 useless to spend the time raising a crop of 

 weeds; in a garden, which should be a thing of 

 beauty, every weed should be excluded, a very 

 easy thing to do if taken like a " stitch in 

 time." I cut every small weed down with a 

 scuftle hoe ; with one of these I can go over a 

 large space in a short time. Then weeding is 

 comparatively easy. 



Let weeds but once get ahead and I know of 

 no more difiicult task, at least for a woman, 

 than attempting to do much with a garden. If 

 a garden is neglected for a few days only, the 

 weeds gain a foot-hold which they tenaciously 

 contend for the remainder of the season, and 

 it would be a wonder if the garden would not 

 be swallowed up, the fate of many an one that 

 started promising enough early in the season. 



Good gardening means light but well-directed 

 work, and such work will be crowned with 



success, and the pleasure will more than repay 

 for the toil. My garden is a great source of 

 pleasure to me. I enjoy the work; I enjoy 

 watching everything grow. Every hour every 

 day there is something new and interesting to 

 look at, and then to gather the vegetables and 

 pick the flowers; what a reward it is? How I 

 wish more ladies would employ their spare 



THE WAX OR BUTTER BEAN. 



moments in the same delightful work; how 

 much happier and healthier they would be. 



E. W. L. 



The Wax or Butter Beans. 



For home use, as well as for market, no class 

 of Beans excels (few equal) the Wax or Butter 

 Beans in desirable qualities. If not among 

 the very earliest varieties, they have the valu- 

 able merit of remaining green and fit for 

 table use longer than any other in cultivation. 

 The pods of all are large, stringless, exceed- 

 ingly tender and rich flavored, and as for 

 beauty, with their golden, almost transparent, 

 shells and black (in the main) beans, they stand 

 at the head of all others. 



Among the best varieties of the class are 

 the Common Wax or Butter Bean, a popular 

 variety wherever grown; the Golden Wax, 

 perhaps the earliest and best variety for general 

 use that can be grown, being at least a week 

 in advance of the preceding; the Ivory Pod 

 Wax, bearing long pods of a waxy white 

 color. The foregoing are dwarf or bush 

 Beans. Among running kinds there is the 

 Giant War, with thick, fleshy, creamy-yellow, 

 waxy-looking pods, that are as tender as a 

 Snap Bean, and which keeps long in bearing. 



In garden culture the Wax Beans should be 

 given a light, warm soil, if possible, and the 

 planting may be done as early as the first 

 week in May in the latitude of Bufl'alo — 

 earlier, in fact, than is generally supposed. To 

 plant half a pint of the Golden Wax as a 

 start, following with a succession of sowings, 

 two weeks apart until July, and there should 

 be an abundance of the crop for an ordinary 



family. They may be planted in rows 15 to 

 18 inches apart, a bean to each inch of the row. 



Strawberry Crowing In Illinois. 



.K)IIN M. STAHL, ADAMS CO., n.L, 



This section — Middle Western Illinois — is 

 quite a Strawberry-growing locality. The nat- 

 ural conditions are favorable, and Quincy, 

 Chicago, and especially St. Paul and Minne- 

 apolis, furnish good markets for all grown. 

 The Strawberries are carried to St. Paul and 

 Minneapolis on the fast express (passenger) 

 train, and reach those cities in good condition. 

 Planting is done in both spring and fall, but 

 spring planting largely predominates. The 

 earlier in the spring and the later in the fall 

 this is done the better, as a general thing ; but 

 there are exceptions to this, too. Here we can- 

 not plant before the last of AprU. This is not so 

 much on account of lack of warmth as of an 

 excess of moisture, though the ground is well 

 drained; if not naturally, then artificially. 

 But our springs are wet, and the rains some- 

 times continue long and copiously enough to 

 injure the quality of our berries slightly, 

 but compensating for this by a larger yield. 



We test the newer sorts as they come up, 

 but hold fast to the old varieties that we have 

 foimd good. The Crescent Seedling is given a 

 lai-ger area than any other variety. It is very 

 productive and the berry is of a good shape; 

 but if the vines are allowed to bear more than 

 two years the berries become small. Next 

 comes the Sucker State, a varieiy used al- 

 most altogether for fertilizing the blossoms 

 of the Crescent Seedling. One row of the 

 Sucker State is set to two rows of the Crescent 

 Seedling, thus putting a row of the former 

 between two of the latter. The Sucker State 

 is also largely grown alone, on its own merits. 

 It produces more ben'iesthan any other perfect 

 variety yet tried here. The berries are large 

 and of unusually good shape, ship splendidly, 

 are held well off the ground and are of good 

 size and quality to the last. The Captain 

 Jack is likely third, though it is not so good as 

 the Sucker State ; the berries are not so large, 

 are of light color, a considerable percentage 

 are small, and the seeds are large and promi- 

 nent ; but the berries are of good shape and 

 ship well. We find three serious objections to 

 the Bidwell: it blights badly; the blossoms 

 are often caught by frost, and one side of the 

 berry ripens before the other. The Iron Clad 

 is perfectly hardy here — on the fortieth parallel ; 

 but like the BidweU, it blights and the blos- 

 soms are apt to be caught by frost, and the 

 berry is rough. The Sharpless is frosted three 

 years out of seven, at the least. 



The matted-row system of culture prevails. 

 I know that some will object to this. I have 

 only to say that we grow Strawberries for the 

 money there is in the business, and that we 

 have no trouble in raising berries that bring 

 the top of the market. The hiU system does 

 not recompense for the additional expense. 

 True, we use manure liberaUy, but this in- 

 creases the crop while it betters its quality. 

 Where labor is cheap it may pay to grow in 

 hills, but not with us. The rows are put three 

 feet apart and the plants a foot apart. Some 

 varieties should not be allowed to fruit more 

 than one year ; others may well be allowed to 

 fruit two years; and some will bear good 

 berries the third and even the fourth years. I 

 believe that the older varieties, as a general 

 thing, will fruit well for a longer time than 

 the newer varieties. The length of time a 

 plant will bear well has something to do with 

 its value, but is rarely, if ever, considered. 

 Thus to prepai-e a bed and set out the plants is 

 no small task ; as many of us find it best and 

 more practicable to plant, we must wait a year 

 for a crop ; if this work and waiting need bij 

 done only every fourth year it is much better 

 than if it must be done every other year. 



When the proper time comes I shall write of 

 our methods of keeping accounts with pickers. 



