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VOL. III. 



spei:n^gfield, October, isos. 



Noia 



THE 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



IIY 



Bailliaolie <& Baker, 

 Journal Buildings, - - Springfield, Illinois. 



~*9»- 



S. FRANCIS. Editor. 



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Market Gardens. 

 The next best thing to a private garden 

 about the dwelling, is a niai-l-ret fzardeu ia 

 the neighborhood, where vegetables may be 

 procured fresh on the day they are wanted 

 for the table. With all the facilities for 

 email gardens, witli toom and means enough, 

 there are multitudes too lazy and ignorant to 

 have them. You might set before them a 

 section of paradise, and tell them that they 

 have room enough, and time enough to real- 

 ize more beautiful things than Adam and 

 Eve saw, and it is nought to them. You 

 may demonstrate to them, that it is the 

 cheapest and best means of preserving health, 

 and they will not bo moved. You may con- 

 vince them that they can procure vegetables 

 and fruits in their own yards, cheaper and 

 better than they can be had elsewhere, and 

 they will coolly respond, "that may be so." 

 You may bring your arithmetic, and show 

 them that by a little management, they can 

 sell enough to get their own fruits and vege- 

 tables for nothing. They are not inclined 

 to invest. You may appeal to their parental 

 sympathies, and show them that a garden is 

 a good school of industry for their chikhv n, 

 safeguard against vice, an excellent physic I 

 discipline and means of health, and they will 

 triunipiiautly respond that "mother takes 

 care of the children." You cannot get them 

 interested in soil culture by any of the ap- 

 peals that move them on other subjects. 

 They have either no practical acquaintance 

 Avith gardening, or become disgusted with it 

 early in life. It is associated in their minds 

 with weeding onion beds, and back-aches, 

 with the diit and sweat of their boyhood! 



They have an utter distaste for the hoc, and 

 the pruning knii'e. They do not want the 

 bother of a garden, and would not care if 

 they should never see a potato blossom or a 

 cabbage growing ag^in. 



Such people are to be found in all our 

 cities and villages, in groat numbers, for if 

 we add to them those, who have absolutely 

 no facilities for gardening, we shall have the 

 great majority. These unfortunate peoplie 

 arc. to be cared for as a public dut}-. It is a 

 matter of as much importance that thoy 

 should be kept from feeding upon decayed 

 vegetables and- fruits, in which the sun has 

 been gendering poison for a Avcck, as that 

 they should be^kept from swill milk, incijii- 

 ent veal, and other noxious articles. It 

 were a fair field of philanthrophy, if there 

 were no other motives, to induce men to sup- 

 ply this great public WJint. He who £u;>- 

 plants the withering and festering commodi- 

 ties, imported from a distance, that so gener- 

 ally lumber the village hucksters' stalls, and 

 the corner city grocery, with fresh home 

 grown vegetables and fruits, is a public bene- 

 tactor. He is more worthy of a monument 

 in a public square than the hero of a battle 

 field, for his mission is one of life and 

 health. 



But in our call to market gardening, we 

 are not entering upon a missionary enterprise, 

 and calling upon candidates for this honor to 

 disgorge for the public benefit. The busi- 

 ness is as lucrati\-e to the gardener, a$ it is 

 beneficial to the consumer of his products. 

 The grower of strawberries and cabbage only 

 gives the appreciating public a chance to 

 disgorge for his benefit. Gardening, like 

 godliness, is great gain for all parties' con- 

 cerned in it. 



The work in a market ir:irden viropcrlv 

 begins in the fall. There ai-e several vege- 

 tables that must be started at tliis season, 

 and all the ground should be man^^rod cither 

 then, or durin^r the winter. Much of the 

 success of the garden, pecuniarily depends 

 upon having its products anticipate the sea- 

 son a little. Pot^atoes early iu tlie season 

 are worth two dollars a bushel. Three weeks 

 later they are down to a dollar or less. There 

 is a like falling off from most other articles, 

 though hardly anything fails to return a pa}-- 

 ing price. 



Spinach is sown in September and Octo 

 ber, to furnish cuttings in April and 3Iay. 

 Cabbage is sown about the same time, to 

 furnish plants for the cold frame, which are 

 kept through the winter, transplanted in 



April, and furnish heads in June. They are 

 put into the frame in rows, very near together 

 in November, and when the winter sets in, 

 are covered with boards, removing only in 

 mild weather, and increasing light and heat 

 as Spring advances, until the open ^ground is 

 in condition to receive them; These are 

 called cold frame plants, and furnish heads 

 about two weeks earlier than the hot-bed 

 plants started in iSlarcli. The best varieties 

 for this early crop, are the Eaily Y'ork and 

 the Winnigstad, which makes a veiy solid 

 head of excellent quality. 



Lettuce is also sown in the Fall, and with' 

 a little protection, keeps well through the 

 winter. About the first of a\Iarch operations 

 commence with the hot-beds. These are 

 prcp:jred with various quantities of manure 

 according to the heat required. The beds 

 are generally from four to six feet wide for 

 donvenieuce in attending to the plants. They 

 are covered with a sash about three feet wide, 

 the glass being not more than seven by nine. 

 In these beds a great Tai'icty of plants are 

 forwarded, cabbage, tomatoes, pepj)ers, egg 

 plants, etc. 



The whole cround is covered as soon as it 

 sufficiently wanu and arranged so as to allow 

 a succossion crop. . In the first course come 

 radishes, spinnach, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, 

 peas, turnips, corn, Kohl-rabi, etc. 



Potatoes being well appreciated call for a 

 laYgo breadth of laud. The varieties culti- 

 vated are mainly the Carpenters, Stuiley's 

 Seedling, for early varieties, and the Bovers 

 for the main crop.- These varieties have all 

 done well this sea^ron, and have shown no in- 

 dication of the rot. After the early potatoes 

 are harvested, the ground is appropriated to 

 late cabbage. 



lladishes is another early crop, and would 

 be more largely cultivated if there was a large 

 demand. These come ofi' early in June, and 

 are followed by eeleiy, or any other crop that 

 does not demand the whole season. Sweet 

 corn, cabbage or carrots might ibllow, if any 

 exigency of the cultivator, or of the mai-ket 

 demanded them. In cultivating radishes or 

 any of the brassica tribe of plants, care must 

 be taken to seleot ground that has not been 

 .j|ertilizsd with the contents of the stye. This 

 induces diseased tubers. 



Peas-are largely cultivated, and the main 

 crop is a dwarf variety, of lage size, and very 

 prolific, common in the Philadelphia market. 

 The use of brush is found to be troublesome'- 

 and expensive. The Champion of England 

 i3 cultivated, and is regarded as on the whole 



