132 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



October 



m %tQtiiihU §arb£Jt. 



For the Western PomologiBt. 



The Vegetable Garden. 



Althougli tlic farmer may upou hisj" broad 

 acrus" raise, wlicat, rye, oats, corn, etc., in 

 abundance — tliough his orchard may bring 

 him apples, pears, peaches, and cherries — 

 and ibis small fruit garden may load his ta- 

 ble with strawberries, raspberries, currants 

 and grapes, still there is a lack which can 

 only be supplied by the Vegetable Garden. 

 The farm will furnish tlie bread making pro- 

 ducts, the orchard and small fruits the des- 

 ert, but for tlie supply of cabbage and po- 

 tatoes, tomatoes and squashes we must look 

 to the Vegetable Garden. Who would think 

 of housekeeping without thinking of the 

 potato supply, and what cook would be will- 

 ing to superintend the culinary department 

 of any establishment without an assurance 

 that the supply of vegetables whould never 

 run short ? Picture to yourself the state of 

 alTairs, if our tomato-loving friends were to 

 be denied, but for a single season, the luxury 

 of a good tomato stew, or the condition of 

 things in German settlements if cabbages 

 were raised no more. 



The Vegetable Garden being then one of 

 the necessaries of life, it immediately follows 

 that any effort at improving its condition 

 should be hailed as a move in the right di- 

 rection. 



Do the gardens of the country need to be 

 much improved, is a question which scarcely 

 need to be asked. A glance over the fence 

 into the gardens as we ride through the 

 country, will give a belter answer than I 

 need give here. Weeds too often hide every 

 thing else. When these are not present, too 

 often insects, chickens, and other depreda- 

 tors are found in such abundance that the 

 crop is small, and even that is badly injured 

 and almost unfit for use. 



Suppose even, the weeds and chickens and 

 insects are not to be found, in how many 

 gardens will we find the best varieties of veg- 

 etables ? In too many, the same varieties 

 are planted now that were introduced ten 

 or fifteen years ago, as if the owners utterly 

 ignored the fact that improvements can be 

 made in varieties of vegetables, as well as in 

 mowing and reaping machines. 



In others, it can not be said that there are 

 any varieties, or perhaps a better way of 

 putting it would be to say, that in others the 

 vegetables are all varieties and notldng else. — 

 No distinct type can be found, while modi- 

 fication and mixtures of all known and un> 

 known forms can be found in the greatest 

 abundance. Is this over-drawn? I judge not, 

 for the majority of gardens. There are in 

 the aggregate many exceptions, it is true, 

 and to the owners of these exceptional gar- 

 dens I would give all honor, and would call 

 upou them to throw in their weiglit and in- 



fluence to aid in bringing about abetter state 

 of things. 



One of the first requisites in securing a 

 good garden, is a permanent location. The 

 practice which is quite common among 

 very many farmers, of moving their gardens 

 every year or so, is a bad one for several 

 reasons. It is a well known fact that the 

 physical condition of the soil is under good 

 culture, very greatly improved by deep 

 plowing, and repeated stirring year after 

 year. Let any one attempt to bring our 

 prairie ground into good garden condition 

 and he will be well assured before the end of 

 one year, that although the soil may appear at 

 first siglit to be in good condition, yet it does 

 not work easily, is full of the germs of weeds 

 and in many cases has a very decided tendau- 

 cy to working up in lumps and clods. 



After a few years of deep plowing and 

 thorough hoeing, the ground will be found 

 to work more easily, and if proper care has 

 been bestowed the weeds will have nearly 

 all disappeared. 



Another reason f ir having a permanent 

 location for the garden is, that by repeated 

 manuring and plowing the chemical con- 

 dition of the soil is very much improved. — 

 Take any piece of prairie land and give it 

 one good, deep plowing every year for half a 

 dozen years, keeping the grass and weeds 

 from growing, and tluis exposing the ground 

 to the reducing action of the sun, rain 

 and frost, and at the end of that time even 

 if no manure has been added, the ground 

 will be found to be in a much richer condi- 

 tion than at beginning. 



One great thing that our soil needs is ex- 

 posure to the air, this al<iue would add much 

 in richness to most of our soils. 



If now we add from year to year a good 

 coating of manure, it is readily seen that 

 there will be a great chemical change in the 

 condition of the soil. These results are not 

 reached however in one year, or in two years, 

 but it takes a number of years. 



What folly then to fit a place for a garden 

 this year, and then abandon it next, fiather 

 let a selection of a site be made and then let 

 nothing induce you to move it; plow it, 

 drain it, manure it, year after after year and 

 instead of your garden wearing end it will be- 

 come riclier and far more easily worked. In- 

 stead of cold, wet ground in early spring, 

 you will have a soil wliich though full of 

 moisture, is still porous and warm. Summer 

 drouths will not aft'ect such a soil, to nearly 

 so great an extent as it does (that which is) 

 newer and less thoroughly tilled. In fact, I 

 am inclined to believe lliat it is to deep cul- 

 ture, such as the best gardens now receive, 

 that we must look for a remedy agaiust the 

 terrible drouths we ocwsionaly sufler — nor 

 will the benefits of deep culture be confined 

 to dry seasons alone, for it is found that a 

 deeply tilled field stands a protracted wet 

 spell much better than those wliicli are culti- 

 vated entirely on the surface. 



I trust enough has been said to show the 

 importance of fixing upon a permanent lo- 

 cation, for the Vegetable Garden. B. 



Iowa Kgricvllitral College F^inn. 



For the Western Pomoloijiet. 

 The West. 



In the August No. of the Pomologist, D. 

 B. Wier promised to give us thirty years 

 experience with varieties of apples " in the 

 West," and Dr. Stayman gave a list of Roses 

 •' for the West." Now I submit that though 

 these irentlemen have had verv valuable ex- 

 perience iu their own localities and what they 

 have learned will b'e of great value there 

 yet, to "the West," as a whole, it will not 

 apply. Mr. Wier, of Illinois, Mr. Gide- 

 on, of Minnesota, Dr. Stayman of Kansas, 

 Mr. Tuttle of Wisconsin, and Mr. fcmith 

 of Iowa, are all residents of " the West," 

 and have been long and faithful students in 

 the dear school of experience. Their minds 

 are store houses of costly and valuable 

 knowledge. No one would think of lightly 

 weighing their opinions, yet not one of them 

 is qualified by experience to speak for " the 

 West." Get a list of varieties from each of 

 these gentlemen, best adapted to their par- 

 ticular section and you will find one list that 

 shall not contain one tenth of the names in 

 another, and yet each one, be the best that 

 could possibly be made in the author's home. 



" The West," is no little garden patch of 

 uniform soil and climate, but a vast domain 

 stretching through several degrees of latitude 

 and longitude and embracing great diversity 

 of soil and wonderful differences of climate. 

 Inthe nature of things it is impossible that 

 one selection of varieties, or one mode of culli- 

 avtion can suit all portions. 



Let not us, then, who live in "the West" 

 and fully realize its vast extent and varied 

 requirements, commit the same error so of- 

 ten committed by our Eastern friends, who 

 thoughtlessly including Michigan, Minneso- 

 ta, Illinois, and Kansas in one West, make one 

 recommendation cover the whole ground. 

 As well might we give a list of apples and 

 other fruits for the East, and expect it to be 

 exactly adapted to Maine, Virginia, and New 

 Jersey. 



By all means let us hear from Mr. Wier 

 for we all want to know about the resources 

 and requirements of our different sections, — 

 But at the same time let it be distinctly un- 

 nerstood that the Great West lias many and 

 varied r( quirements that the experience of no 

 one locality can supply. 



D. W. Adams, 



Waulcon, loioa. 



Wilson still Ahead. — The Ed. of the 

 Gardners Monthly for August, sa,ys a rather 

 extensive tour through the Strawberry 

 regions of western and southern New 

 Jersey, revealed to us the fact that the Wil- 

 son's Albany Seedling is still the most popu- 

 lar variety with the market growers. In 

 some instances, the AgricuUxirist was highly 

 depended on, and again Downer's Prolific 

 and Boyden's Green Prolific pistillate, when 

 grown with a fertilizing variety were popular 

 in some instances. It was ratier mortifying 

 to our love of progress, to find sc many of 

 our new and mueh-be-jiraised kinds consign- 

 ed to such an early tomb. 



