of this author. 
Improved Long Orange carrot is an 
ideal winter variety 
practised in the “old country” with 
the average home garden on this side 
of the Atlantic, even the casual ob- 
server is impressed with the preponderence 
of such vegetables as carrots, beets, turnips, 
etc., in European gardens and the neglect 
of these crops in ours. Of course, there are 
weighty reasons for this. A large percent- 
age of our leading vegetables are practically 
unknown. to the majority of European 
planters. Their seasons are shorter and 
they have to start early to make provision 
for the long winter months that do not 
bring them the quantities of fresh vege- 
tables which we get from the sunny South. 
Still, the possibilities of keeping down the 
high cost of living during the winter with the 
help of carefully stored root crops will 
appeal to some of our planters. Others will 
learn to consider them an important factor 
in the efficient management of the garden. 
The health of all classes of gardeners will be 
benefited greatly by having more of these 
crops form part of the daily menu through- 
out the year. And all this may be accom- 
plished by doing a little planning whereby 
the waste spaces will be utilized the latter 
part of the season to produce crops other 
than weeds. 
I COMPARING kitchen gardening as 
THE IMPORTANT CROP 
The most important root crops for use 
during the winter are beets, carrots, pars- 
nips, salsify, turnips and rutabagas. Of 
these, beets, carrots and turnips are short 
season crops which will mature before 
frost even if planted after July first. Pars- 
nips, salsify and rutabagas require all 
season to reach practical size and therefore 
are be considered separately. 
Beets are of such importance even for the 
early home garden that they have been dis- 
cussed at length in THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
of April, 1913. Let, it suffice, therefore, 
when I state that the variety generally 
grown for winter use is Long Smooth Blood. 
For general all-round use Chantenay is the best type of carrot 
Start Root Crops for Winter 
Supply 
ADOLPH KRUHM, ¥x 
A PROFITABLE BY-PRODUCT OF THE WELL MANAGED KITCHEN 
_GARDEN— HOW TO WORK THEM INTO YOUR PROGRAMME — 
THE MOST:PROFITABLE SORTS OF THE POPULAR CLASSES 
[Eprtor’s Note: — This is a continuation of the “Which and Why” series 
The possibility of raising crops for winter consumption is 
too often lost sight of in otherwise efficient gardens.]| 
Fully developed roots of it grow 8 to 10 
inches long by 2 inches in diameter at the 
crown. ‘They are of firm texture, of deep, 
black-red color and keep splendidly. But 
Long Smooth Blood requires all season to 
mature and should be planted early in May 
to reach good size before frost. Where a 
winter supply of beets appears desirable 
as crop rotation after June 1st, some of the 
rows that yield early lettuce, radishes or 
onions may be sown to either Crosby’s 
Egyptian or Detroit Dark Red. Splendid 
crops of these two kinds for winter use have 
been raised from seeds sown even after 
July rst, with the help of irrigation and fre- 
quent cultivation. 
Carrots. Few root crops are of greater 
usefulness than carrots. Due to the fact 
that among them we find.early, midseason 
and late varieties, they may be had from 
early in July (when they form part of the 
delicious dish of “carrots and peas”) until 
the spring of the following year when the 
last of the stored supply may be utilized in 
stews and soups. Carrots may be made to 
become one of the best paying crops in the 
home garden. ‘The earliest sorts are ready 
at the same time as the earliest peas from 
seeds sown middle of April. The most im- 
portant of these are French Forcing and 
Scarlet Horn. They may be grown between 
rows of other, later maturing vegetables, 
thus utilizing otherwise waste space. These 
extra early, small rooted sorts need little 
“thinning” and cultivation. 
For a main crop, sowings should be made 
about May 1st of either Chantenay or 
Danvers. Both these will reach good size 
in 75 days from date of planting. For a 
winter supply, sow Improved Long Orange 
at the same time or make repeated sowings 
of either Danvers or Hutchinson—a very 
fine new sort of the Danvers type—not 
later than July 1st. The seedlings of all 
these larger sorts should be thinned out to 
stand 4 inches apart in the row, with a 
space of 18 inches to 2 feet between the rows. 
330 
Beet Crosby’s Egyptian is good 
for a succession crop 
Turmps. You may have turnips in 
60 days from date of sowing seeds if you 
plant the early Milan varieties. We are 
obliged to the French gardeners for the 
knowledge that spinach and turnip seeds 
may be sown into one row at the same 
planting. The spinach comes on first. 
By the time it is ready for pulling, the tur- 
nip seedlings are just large enough to be 
“thinned out.” Both Purple Top White 
Globe and Purple Top Strap Leaf may be 
harvested in July from seeds sown late in 
April and the space that becomes available 
then may be devoted to early bush beans 
for a late crop. 
The main sowing of turnips for winter 
use is made late in June or early in July. 
They form an ideal succession for such 
crops as lettuce, radish, spinach, peas and 
other early vegetables, the rows of which 
have outlived their usefulness by then. 
They may also be sown among the rows of 
Golden Bantam corn which, just about 
the same time, receives the last cultivation. 
But by far the best results are secured with 
this crop if seeds are sown in rows, seedlings 
thinned out to stand four inches apart in 
the row and cultivated every time you hoe 
other crops around it. 
Parsnips should be sown quite early, 
since they require a long season to grow to 
good size; and don’t attempt to grow them 
unless you have deep, rich soil, free from 
stones or hard subsoil. Where condi- 
tions are right, this delicious vegetable will 
grow eight to twelve inches long, and 2 
to 25 inches in diameter at the crown, be- 
tween April 15th and frost. You need not 
dig parsnips in fall unless you want to. 
Frost improves their quality and they may 
be left all winter where they grew or they 
can be dug and stored in the cellar to be 
within easy reach when wanted. Hollow 
Crown is the sort generally grown, though 
in recent years, Offenham Market, an 
English variety, has made many friends. 
This is a half long sort, top-shaped, gener- 
