THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



61 



^o^g 



64. The household pets — young tomato 

 plants in tomato cans 



65. Spindly squash that remained in- 

 doors too long. Started in tomato cans 



66. Transplanting melons, using paper 

 in strawberry baskets 



ai!§f§i^P 



Doldirames made out c 

 boards and storm sash 



on January 28th and had tomatoes from 

 July 8th until frost. A dozen plants should 

 supply a small family all summer and 

 enable one to put up fifty cans. On 

 my ten plants I tried experiments with 

 soils and fertilizers, and though the one 



68. "Corn caKes for dinner." Every hill of corn should 

 yield six to eight ears 



treated with muck and wood ashes ripened 

 the first tomato, the vine that had no fertilizer 

 at all did as well as any. Bordeaux mixture 

 will prevent leaf blight on tomatoes. 



THE FIRST PEAS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD 



In the small garden I found that it is best 

 to grow the high or brush peas, since it is 

 more certain and saves space. Wire-netting 

 two or three feet high can be used, and, 

 though not as good as brush, saves labor. 

 Peas want potash and lime. To have the 

 first peas in the neighborhood, proceed as 

 follows: In March, or as soon as the frost 

 is out of the top of the ground, spade up a 

 strip of ground, putting in a little lime, 

 wood-ashes, and enough dry, sifted coal- 

 ashes to make the soil dry and mealy. On 

 each side of the wire-netting plant a row of 

 peas, at the rate of a quart to ninety feet, 

 using extra- early seed, putting them on top 

 of the ground and covering only half an inch 

 deep. Then down each side run a piece of 

 thin cheese-cloth, fastening it to the netting 

 above and the ground below, making an 

 "A" tent over the peas that will throw off 

 snow and hard frosts. On warm and sunny 

 days it should be let down, and only put up 

 cold nights and during snow storms. 



MDSKMELONS OF THE BEST QUALITY 



Melons have a hard reputation for home 

 planting, but I believe that even in heavy soil 

 one can have melons in spite of drouth, blight 

 and insects. In my garden the soil is heavy 

 and clay, but from nine hills of Hackensack 

 melons I had nearly a hundred cantaloups, 

 some as large as small pumpkins and of such 

 delicious flavor and sweetness that we 

 jumped up and down and laughed when we 

 ate them. Under each hill I put manure, 



muck and sifted coal ashes, and on the sur- 

 face I worked in wood ashes, half a barrel to 

 the nine hills, and some sand. Next yeai 

 I shall plant the Emerald Gem and cover the 

 ground with the darkest-colored sand I can 

 get. The sand draws the sun and the heat 

 develops the sugar in the melons. Early 

 potatoes, lettuce, radishes, etc., can be grown 

 between the hills, and a row of Peep-o'-Day 

 corn each side of them, all of which will be out 

 of the way by the time the vines begin to run. 

 They must not be shaded, however. Melons 

 require nitrogen and potash. Besides the 

 manure, next year I shall put in a compost 

 and dried blood, also ashes and sand on the 

 surface. Liquid manure, diluted three times 

 with water, is the best fertilizer of all. It 

 should not, however, be allowed to touch 

 the foliage. For blight use Bordeaux mixture, 

 four pounds of copper sulphate and six of 

 lump lime to fifty gallons of water, mixed 

 cold. As this mixture settles rapidlv, it 

 should be stirred to the very bottom thor- 

 oughly every few minutes. Otherwise, one 

 will burn the foliage. It can be put on with 



69. A beginner's triumph over insects injurious to 

 vines of the cucumber family. One day's picK 



a broom, or for $4.55 one can obtain a brass 

 pneumatic pump, which is invaluable for 

 spraving beans, potatoes, rose bushes, grape 

 vines, etc., as well as melons. 



OUTWITTING THE ENEMIES OF VINES 



The striped cucumber beetle is the worst 

 enemy of the muskmelon. To fight him, 

 first start the melons in the house or hotbed 

 in pots or pasteboard boxes. This will 

 not only give earlier melons, but also it will 

 give them a start on the bugs. This year I 

 started them on March 20th and had melons 

 on August 10th. Second, dust the vines 

 with tobacco dust, to prevent their eating 

 them. Third, put air-slacked lime, mixed 

 with turpentine, in and on the hill around 

 the vines, or tobacco dust all around each 

 vine where it comes out of the ground. 

 This will prevent the beetle from going down 

 and laying her eggs on the roots. These eggs 

 hatch into a grub that eats the vines off 

 underground. Fourth, plant a "trap" vine 



of Hubbard squash nearby — this will call 

 all the bugs away from the melons to the 

 squash, where they can be destroyed with 

 kerosene. Lime in the hill will help to keep 

 away wireworms and cutworms, or they can 

 be killed with kerosene emulsion or carbon 

 bisulphide. The bugs can be caught on a 

 tarred board or piece of fly-paper held on one 

 side of the hill while they are fanned on it 

 from the other. 



The only effective way that man has yet 

 been able to devise to fight the deadly 

 squash vine borer, which is the larva of a 

 night-flying, clear-winged moth, is to bury 

 every joint of the running vines as thev grow, 

 thus letting them take root at many places. 

 Then when a vine is seen wilting in the sun, 

 examine the stalk and destroy every grub. 

 Sometimes he can be removed without kill- 

 ing the vine by using the thin blade of 

 a penknife and care. Other insects can be 

 fought the same as for melons. 



THE COST OF LAST YEAR'S GARDEN 



Seed $2.10 



Manure (three loads; not enough). 3- 00 



Ashes (three barrels, of wood) 1.20 



One-half bag of potato fertilizer 1 .25 



150 feet of wire netting for peas. t . 20 



VALUE OF THE PRODUCTS 



Melons, 100 at 10 cents $10.00 



Squash, twenty at 20 cents 4.00 



Peas, four bushels at $2. 00 8.00 



Beets, four barrels at $1.00 4.00 



Lettuce, 100 heads at 5 cents 5 .00 



Corn, 400 ears at 1 cent 4.00 



Beans, 1 .00 



Tomatoes, three bushels at $1.00.. 3-00 

 Cabbages, late cauliflower, radishes, 



onions 2 . 00 



S41 .00 

 Next year I expect to do better than this, 

 especially on corn, melons and Lima beans. 



70. Three good crops were raised on this ground. 

 Potatoes were dug July 5th: squash planted June 

 10th ; and corn planted July 6th 



