1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



127 



SEASONABLE FACTS AND SUGGESTIONS. 



Tomato Plants in Frames. — It frequently 

 happens that tomato plants in frames grow so tall 

 before the season arrives for setting them out, that 

 they touch the sash, and I have frequently seen 

 the sash projipcd up to afford them more room. 

 A much better course to pursue is to cut off the 

 tops of the plants. Tliis causes the plant to throw 

 out lateral branches, and instead of a tall, lank, 

 top-heavy plant, you have a strong, stocky one, 

 that will thrive when set out. 



Climbing Vines. — A neat method of support- 

 ing climbers is to take a strip of two-inch plank, 

 two inches wide, planed the full length of the 

 board, and painted green, which set firmly in the 

 ground. Next, obtain from a wooden ware or toy 

 store, two children's hoops, one the largest, and 

 the other the smallest you can find. Now sus- 

 pend the small one as near the top of the pole as 

 possible, by strings, and fasten the large one close 

 to the ground. Plant your seeds around the out- 

 side of the large hoop, and when up, run strings 

 of soft twine regularly from the top to the bottom 

 hoop. It will look better to have the hoops paint- 

 ed green, and the twine should be dark, and not 

 cotton twine. 



Phloxes. — It is strange that this beautiful class 

 of herbaceous perennials is not more generally 

 cultivated. More attention is paid to the growth 

 of them than formerly, it is true ; but still there 

 are very few gardens Avhich boast of more than 

 the two old varieties of wfeite and pink phloxes, 

 known by most persons only as the "French V/il- 

 low." These persons may be surpi'ised to knoM' 

 that there are several hundred distinct varieties 

 now cultivated. Elwanger &; Barry, in their cat- 

 alogue for the present year, have one hundred and 

 fifty-five named phloxes. The period of flower- 

 ing has been gradually extending, until it reaches 

 from July 1st to the time of severe frosts. There 

 are also several sorts of cree])ing phloxes, bloom- 

 ing in May or June, and which propagate them- 

 eelves by runners. 



The phlox, in all its varieties, is perfectly hardy, 

 and requires no care whatever, except that the 

 plants should be divided (either in the fall or 

 spring,) every three or four years. 



The Phlox Drummondii is one of the most beau- 

 tiful annuals, (we are almost tempted to say the 

 most beautiful,) with which Ave are acquainted. 

 Grown in a mass in a border by themselves, noth- 

 ing can exceed them ; as they embrace every va- 

 riety of tint, and are in bloom for a period of at 

 least three months. 



Ashes for Potatoes. — Rufus Brown, of Chel- 

 sea, Orange county, Vt., says that in an experi- 

 ment tried by him, the gain in the crop of pota- 

 toes by the use of ashes at the rate of a teacupful 

 to the hill, was about a bushel and a half of po- 

 totoes for each bushel of ashes used. The kind 

 of potatoes was the "English Pink-eye," and yield 

 200 bushels per acre. The ground was planted 

 May 7th, with the ashes in holes, and a little dirt 

 over them. It was plowed and hoed June ISth, 

 the rows being four feet apart and the hills three 

 feet. The aslies cost 12^ cents a bushel, and po- 

 tatoes sold at 3-5 cents, returning full oO cents a 

 bushel for the ashes employed. 



Sowing Peas. — S. R. Elliott, of Cleaveland, 

 writing to the Avierican Farmers' Magazine, says : 

 "Some years since, I commenced sowing peas, and 

 covering them at different depths, varying from 

 one inch to one foot. I found those buried eight 

 inches deep appeared above the ground only one 

 day later than those buried only two inches ; while 

 those that were covered twelve inches deep were 

 a little over two days behind. As they grew, no 

 perceptible difference Avas noticed, imtil tliey com- 

 menced blossoming and setting, then the advan- 

 tage of the deep planting exhibited itself; for 

 those that were eight and ten inches deep contin- 

 ued to grow, blossom, and set pods long after 

 those only two to four inches commenced ripening 

 and decaying. If the soil is light and loamy, I 

 will hereafter plant my peas eight to ten inches 

 deep : if the soil is clayey, I would plant six inch- 

 es. I never earth up, but leave the ground as 

 level as possible." 



The Michigan Farmer says "peas maybe plant- 

 ed on any good, dry soil at the earliest moment 

 after the surface is thawed out enough to give 

 earth sufficient to make the furrow in which to 

 sow them. The varieties Avhich we Avould recom- 

 mend to sow first would be the Early Kent, DwarJ 

 Blue Imperial and the large White Marrouifat. 

 These three varieties, if all sown on the same day, 

 will give a complete succession of this desirable 

 vegetable." 



Tar on Potatoes. — A. B. Dickinson stated, 

 at a meeting of the New York State Agricultural 

 Society, that the practice with the potato was to 

 select out the heaviest, as the best to withstand 

 the blight. He tested his potatoes by putting 

 them in very strong brine. Those that were the 

 heaviest were the best to grow. He cut his pota- 

 toes into pieces of two eyes in each. lie also 

 stated that he had not planted or sown any kind 

 of seed for ten years without a coating of tar, and 

 in preparing liis potatoes for planting he dissolved 

 one pint of tar in three pails of boiling water, and 

 added four pails of water afterwards. Tliis solu- 

 tion he either poured over his seed potatoes, so 

 that each got a coating, or the potatoes were 

 dipped in it and then sprinkled with plaster. He 

 stated that he formerly had no trouble in raising 

 five hundred bushels per acre, but of late he could 

 not do this. Though one year he had raised at 

 the rate of fom- hundred and fifty bushels per acre, 

 yet he seldom averaged above three hundred bush- 

 els. — Michigan Farmer. 



Seed Potatoes. — B. K. Williams, of Cold 

 Water, Mich., states that he has been experiment- 

 ing upon seed potatoes for several years, and ho 

 finds one-quarter of the seed generally used is an 

 improvement. From one to two eyes in a hill, 

 he says, will produce more potatoes, of more even 

 size, and less subject to decay, than any larger 

 amount of seed. We think our farmers general- 

 ly have been tending to the same theory for sev- 

 eral years, although they have not perhaps carried 

 it to that extent. The Enghsh and Irish farmers 

 say that Ave use three times the seed they do, and 

 that as a consequence Ave get more small potatoes 

 and less large ones than they do, and not so good 

 aggregate crops. 



