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THE WESTERN POMOLOGlST. 



129 



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Horticultural Notes Troiu tlie College Farm. 



By E. C. Bessv, April IS. 1S71. 



Ed. Pomologist : This is emphatically our busy 

 season, for with the inside work of getting classes 

 under full hcadwaj', and the outside work of plow- 

 ing sowing, planting, etc., we find that each day 

 has more than enough to keep us busy. In the 

 garden we have been planting potatoe-s, beets, car- 

 rots, lettuce, etc., for the earlier crops, and prepar- 

 ing the ground for the later sowings. 



HOW WE GROW A8PAK.4GUS. 



We have been engaged during a portion of the 

 time in making an asparagus bed. As this is a 

 much neglected plant in most farmers' gardens, 

 allow me to tell how we have prepared the bed at 

 less expense than is ordinarily supposed to be nec- 

 cssarj'. A year ago we manured tlie ground at 

 the rate of about one hundred and twcn(y loads per 

 acre with well rotted barn-yard manure. Plowed 

 up and planted to peas — kept free from weeds, and 

 in the fall i)lowed and subsoilcd as deep as the sub- 

 soiler could be run. This spring covered tlie whole 

 surface witli fine manure, re-plowed and subsoiled 

 again, gaining in depth several inches above the 

 plowing of last fall. After leveling down, laid off 

 the ground into beds six feet wide and planted 

 three rows of asparagus on eadli, putting the outside 

 rows one foot from the edge, with the third in the 

 center, making the rows two feet apart. Set the 

 plants from thirty to thirty-six inches apart, at a 

 depth of from two-and-a-half to four inches. Used 

 two year old plants, of the Giant Purple Top varie- 

 ty. Have been adding to our rhubarb bed also, 

 intending by next year to have enougli to supply 

 the demands made by the boarding hall. 



In the Small Fruit Department large and impor- 

 tant additions are being made. The strawberry list 

 has been enlarged, and the raspberries have had 

 several thou.sand added to tlieir numbers. Prof 

 Mathews, who has charge of this department, is also 

 making a beginning for a nursery by planting quite 

 a quantity of apple .seed. He is also making addi- 

 tions to the orchard and vineyard. 



On the farm some important experiments have 

 been instituted for the purpose of testing a large 



number of grasses and grains. The grasses number 

 above twenty-five, and include some not often seen 

 in cultivation. 



The Institution has this spring secured for its 

 several departments quite a number of valuable 

 seeds and plants from nurserymen and gardeners in 

 the State. The plan of sending plants to the Col- 

 lege is undoubtedly a good one, and one which will 

 perhaps be productive of as much good as any other 

 that could be suggested. Aside from the direct 

 benefit which the individuals sending would derive 

 from the publicity given to their plants, the State 

 as a whole would realize a large profit from having 

 its young men and women taught by actual exper- 

 iment what varieties are best and most profitable. 



I wisli, Mr. Editor, j'ou could impress upon your 

 horticultural friends the fact tliat they have duties 

 relating to the College to perform, as well as those 

 of us who are in more Immediate charge of its 

 departments. If the College must bvy every plant 

 it tries, it will be a heavy tax upori its finances, and 

 many things would have to be passed by for a year 

 or two that we might be testing upon our ground 

 as well as not, if the owners would but .send us 

 samples. 



. Celery.— Nenr Mode of Cultivation. 



The old-fsishioned way of cultivating celery in 

 trenches dug deep with the spade has been aban- 

 doned by the market gardeners and is now consid- 

 ered a useless expense. It is found to do much bet- 

 ter grown on the surface, makins a quicker and a 

 greater growth, on which the quality so much 

 depends, and the labor of digging the trenches is 

 .saved. We hope, therefore, it will be found more 

 easy to grow it, and that it will come into more 

 common use. 



Celery does best on a deep, rich loam. If the 

 land is not sufficiently rich, apply old and well rot- 

 ted manure. It may be sown fruni tlie 20th of June 

 to the 1st of August, or even later, according to the 

 object in view. "Planted about the middle of July, 

 it 'would be large enough to "blanch" by the mid- 

 dle of October, and be ready to use about the 1st of 

 November. It has always been regarded as an 

 expensive and troublesome plant to raise, but it is a 

 great luxury. — Mws. Plowman. 



