58 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



September, 1917 



thinly and the seedlings promptly thinned to 

 3 inches apart. 



Snatching Victory from Frost's Assaults 



' I HMELY cultivation and systematic water- 

 _ ing will keep crops growing and in full 

 vigor. Any backward crops of cabbage, 

 celery, lettuce, cucumber, bean (anything 

 other than root crops) can be urged on by 

 weekly watering with nitrate of soda solution 



made by dissolving a teaspobnful of nitrate of 

 soda in four gallons of ,water — failing this use 

 sulphate of ammonium or plain household am- 

 monia equally diluted. 



Tomato vines must now be severely pruned, 

 cutting out superfluous branches that have 

 borne fruit and "suckers" that develop at 

 leaf-joints and at the base of the plant. Trim 

 the tops of every branch, and cut off every 

 flower, for remember, tomatoes require from 30 



to 50 days from date of pollenization to de- 

 velop to fair size and frost is likely to come 

 soon. Remove some foliage, to give the sun 

 free access to the fruits. 



Blanch celery by means of earthing up or 

 using paper or cardboard "blanchers." It stim- 

 ulates the growth, improves the quality and 

 acts as insurance against unexpected frosts. 

 If crops get frozen remember: to preserve them 

 is to spray cold water on them before they thaw. 



ONE factor of prime importance 

 to every garden owner who looks 

 forward to next year's production 

 is the growing difficulty of pro- 

 curing an adequate supply of fertilizer 

 to add to the natural food stores of 

 the soil. Chemical fertilizer is becoming 

 more and more difficult to procure, and in 

 many parts of the country stable manures 

 are almost unobtainable. And yet to the 

 gardener who looks forward and plans ahead 

 the prospect is not as gloomy as might be 

 supposed. In the best of circumstances 

 chemical fertilizers are a short cut, an easy 

 means of attaining an end necessitated be- 

 cause the course of management of the land 

 has been exhausting, not enriching. We are 

 prone to exact the uttermost yield from a 

 garden under forced conditions instead of so 

 managing as to build up a self-perpetuating 

 machine. We have at our hands this potent 

 means of maintaining fertilizer value in the 

 soil — cultivation and cover crops. The 

 former practice pulverizes the mineral par- 

 ticles of the soil and exposes others to the 

 chemical action of the air. The cover plants 

 turn in vegetable matter, humus, and so we in 

 our gardens do mechanically and in a short 

 space of time what the elements do naturally in 

 wearing down rocks and making soils over the 

 centuries. 



A Practical View 



("•OVER CROPS, those plants used solely 

 for the benefit of the soil and the crop to 

 follow, are of such inestimable value in en- 

 riching the garden that they should be used to 

 the limit of practicability. The great majority 

 are fairly quick growing annuals, many of 

 them hardy so far as winter is concerned. 

 Their general strong points may be summed up 

 as follows: 



(1) They prevent washing of the soil during 

 autumn and spring rains. Both roots and 

 tops aid in this matter. 



(2) They make the surface pleasant under 

 foot during winter when work must be done 

 upon the land. 



(3) They save soluble plant food that would 

 otherwise be washed over the surface or down 

 to lower levels out of reach of the succeeding 

 roots. 



For these three reasons, then, on land likely 

 to be washe'd, the cover crop should have a 

 large amount of top that will form a good 

 obstruction to water and a good holder of 

 snow. It should also have a large and fibrous 

 root system so as to hold the soil grains; of the 

 two probably the former is the more important. 



Other Services Rendered 



A\/"HEN sown in late summer or early 

 autumn quick growing cover crops tend 

 to take considerable water and nitrogenous 

 plant food from the soil and thus serve to 

 check late growth of fruit trees and bushes and 

 thus to prevent the winter killing of imperfectly 

 ripened wood. The branches mature better 



CAN'T BUY FERTILIZER? 

 THEN GROW IT 



where a cover crop is used. A tender crop such 

 as buckwheat must be sown either much earlier 

 than a hardy one, because it may be killed by 

 an early autumn frost; or, it may be sown with 

 a slow growing hardy crop (such as rye) 

 which will take its place and function during 

 the latter part of the autumn and the winter. 

 Such a combination is often specially valuable 

 where the trees are bearing large loads of fruit 

 because the effect of the rye will rarely be pro- 

 nounced before spring. 



In both garden and fruit plantations cover 

 crops add humus, or vegetable matter, to the 

 soil and this material may contain relatively 

 large quantities of mineral matter which they 

 have secured from comparatively insoluble 

 sources. They thus take the place of both 

 stable manure and commercial fertilizers to a 

 large extent. No matter whether the soil be 

 heavy or light the supply of vegetable matter 

 must be kept up. Hence the cover crop that 

 makes the largest amount of vegetable matter in a 

 given time is generally the best to select. To 

 aid in getting such a growth manure or ferti- 

 lizer or both may be added to the soil before the 

 cover crop is sown. 



What May Be Sown Now 



MANY cover crops add nitrogen to the soil 

 but some of these must be sown too 

 early in the season to be of value in the garden, 

 red, alsike, sweet, and white clovers are 

 thus out of the question. But crimson 

 clover may often be used following early po- 

 tatoes and other crops which are harvested be- 

 fore midsummer or shortly after. It may also 

 be sown among tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, 

 cantaloupes and other crops that die with the 

 first frost. The time to sow among these is 

 after cultivation has stopped and the vines 

 occupy the ground. 



Why You Can Sow at Once 



A S THE seed may not germinate for three 

 "^^ or four weeks, and as the plants use very 

 little moisture while small, they will do no 

 damage to the vegetables, and the vegetable 

 vines will not interfere with their development 

 after the harvest. Hairy vetch sown alone or 

 with rye is the other first class garden and 

 orchard cover crop. It is more hardy than 

 crimson clover and may be sown as late as 

 early October on. Long Island. This matter of 

 adding nitrogen is of special importance during 

 these war times when chemical manures are 

 several times more costly than hitherto. In 

 orchard and small fruit practice it is possible 

 by continued annual use of legumes to make 

 the soil too rich, but such cases are rare. The 

 corrective is the use of nitrogen consuming 

 cover crops such as buckwheat and rye. 



Cover crops, especially the erect and stiff 



stemmed ones catch and hold leaves and 

 snow during fall and winter. The former 

 add vegetable matter; the latter adds the 

 small quantity of available nitrogen that 

 water from the sky always contains. 

 Those crops that form a mat beneath trees 

 may protect fruit from injuries which follow 

 falling on the ground. This is especially 

 noticeable with soft fruit like peaches, pears, 

 plums, and early apples. Cover crops also 

 protect the roots of trees and bushes during 

 winter since they check the alternate thawing 

 and freezing of the soil. An area protected 

 will often continue frozen whereas one not 

 covered may thaw deeply and settle, then 

 freeze and heave seriously enough to in- 

 jure the plants, especially if only recently 

 planted. 



Now For the Other Side! 



CUCH being the main points in favor, what 

 of the points against cover crops? The 

 one often raised that they are killed by frost 

 is of small importance; for the roots and the 

 remains of the tops are still available. As a 

 matter of fact practically everything is saved 

 even in such cases; the only loss is water! 

 some people raise the opposite objection; 

 namely, that the plants do live over winter! 

 Here is where danger is most likely to lie: 

 the crop may be allowed to grow longer than 

 it should in spring. The only safe general rule 

 to follow is to dig or plow in spring as early 

 as the ground can be worked, because every 

 day's growth reduces the amount of soil 

 water and hardens the plant stems. 



Best for the Garden 



pOR the garden the best cover crops to 

 sow are: buckwheat, if sown before 

 September first and in a section where the first 

 fall frosts come as late as mid-October; cow- 

 horn and ordinary turnips and rutabagas are 

 hardy any time during September or early 

 October where there are at least six weeks be- 

 fore winter sets in (some of the turnips may 

 grow large enough for home use) ; Dwarf Essex 

 rape, is good for the same reasons; rye, very 

 hardy, almost sure to grow but is likely to get a 

 serious start in spring — it must be plowed 

 under early; crimson clover, a nitrogen 

 collector, best of the clovers for garden work, 

 often winter-kills in cold sections; winter or 

 hairy vetch, hardy, excellent for collecting 

 nitrogen and adding vegetable matter to the 

 soil is best used with rye. Failing all other 

 cover crops, don't despise those weeds which 

 spring up during the fall. They are mostly 

 annuals and may be easily killed by spring 

 digging. In the meantime they will have held 

 leaves and snow, prevented washing of the sur- 

 face soil, checked the losses of plant food by 

 seepage, added their vegetable matter to the 

 soil, prevented injury to the tree and bush 

 roots and in other ways played the full note of 

 sown cover crops. If you haven't any weed 

 seeds in your own garden be thankful to the 

 neighbors for their unwitting donations. 



