234 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1909 



Early and Late Plantings of 

 Potatoes 



T 



HIS year I beat my best record for getting 



clever when we ate our very own home-grown pota- 

 toes the last day of June; but this year, the six- 

 teenth of June saw us turn away from "old" 

 potatoes (we joyfully sold a bushel for a dollar) 

 and begin on our new crop. And this is how 

 it came about. 



The last week in February I found the ground 

 in the warmest part of the garden quite free from 

 frost. I also found a lot of nicely sprouting small 

 potatoes in the cellar; so I determined to plant a 

 few potatoes after the next blizzard, just to see 

 what would come of it. Accordingly, on March 

 ioth, I dug trenches about six inches deep (I 

 trenched everything this year), in the bottom of 

 which I put a couple of inches of fine stuff from 

 the floor of the hen's scratching room, then a little 

 earth, and then the potatoes, whole, covering them 

 about four inches deep. 



The weather did all it could. As in the old verse, 



"First it rained, then it snew, 

 Then it friz and then it blew, 

 Then we had a shower of rain, 

 And then it friz and snew again," 



but on April 14th one plant greeted my delighted 

 eyes, and from that time the plants flourished like 

 the green bay tree. And beginning on June 16th, 

 we ate new potatoes. 



This small patch, four rows about thirty feet 

 long, yielded over a bushel of potatoes, and I dug 

 them long before the vines were dead, because I 

 wanted that ground for my celery. The crop would 

 have been larger if I could have left them until 

 the tops were entirely dead. 



Being so successful with early planting, I was 

 inspired to try an extra late one. My main crop 

 was planted at the usual time, and, while fortunately 

 put in deep, was showing the effects of the 

 continued drought, and 

 looked rather discour- 

 aging. The first of July 

 came and found me with 

 a small quantity of very 

 withered, much-sprout- 

 ed potatoes in the cellar, 

 and a small patch of 

 unoccupied ground in 

 the garden. As they 

 would have two full 

 months before frost, I 

 planted those potatoes 

 in trenches about four 

 inches deep and three 

 feet apart, on the fifth 

 of July — just for luck. 

 Fortunately, it was just 

 before one of our three 

 good showers of the 

 summer, and they grew 

 nicely. I weeded the 

 patch once; I did not 

 spray as no bugs appear- 

 ed, and I was not afraid 

 of blight. I did not 

 "work" them, but the 

 first week in September 

 there were perfectly 

 good potatoes, larger 

 than an egg, and the 

 vines still growing. 



A. C. Brown. 



New Jersev. The vegetable garden will 



My Cucumber Patch 



FOR several years I have had success in pro- 

 ducing crops of cucumbers. But this year's 

 success was emphasized by a little incident which 

 occurred in early spring. 



My neighbor, a gardener of considerable experi- 

 ence, said to me one day, "We like cucumbers at 

 our house, but the vines always die so early in the 

 season that it hardly pays to start them." As 

 modestly as I could, I told him that I knew how to 

 keep the vines bearing till frost, and as he was 

 interested, perhaps other readers of The Garden 

 Magazine will be, too. 



I planted my cucumbers between May ioth and 

 15th. I first dug a series of holes and put a pail- 

 ful of manure in each hole. I then placed a 4-inch 

 tile on end in each hole, and filled in the earth, 

 heaping it up around the tile. The seeds were put 

 in rather thick!)', and the plants thinned out later. 

 When the hot, dry days of summer came, I began 

 putting a pailful of water in each tile almost every 

 night, but never wet the surface. The vines grew 

 rapidly, and when the first frost had done its deadly 

 work, I could show my neighbor an abundant supply 

 of fine cucumbers covering the ground. 



Ohio. A. M. Ingraham. 



Improving Tomatoes 



TO INCREASE the early bearing qualities of 

 tomato vines I save seed from the latest fruit 

 that shows signs of ripening, and plant the seeds in 

 the fall. This is done to induce the plant to hurry 

 up the next season to mature its seed. For seeds 

 that are planted in the fall will cut the time of ma- 

 turing their fruit down some two months from the 

 time of germination. If those seed were started 

 in a greenhouse it would give them a season at least 

 two or three months longer, and that would make 

 them lazy in ripening their fruit. 



I now select seed from the earliest fruit that ripens 

 of this generation, and reverse every year. This 

 is necessary to keep up the vigor and constitution of 

 the plant. This method is like that of planting 

 from the tip of an ear of corn, which will ripen 

 earlier than from any other part of the ear. The 

 reason is because the silk of the tip is pollenated 

 later than that of the butt or the middle of the ear. 



All seeds that are to make plants to select seed 

 from should be planted in the fall in rich soil slightly 

 covered. Tomatoes do best when kept up from the 

 ground, but that is hardly practicable in field cul- 

 ture. In the garden I find a very cheap and con- 

 venient plan is to use orange boxes and set two 

 plants so that they will be in the centre of each 

 division of the box. 



Massachusetts. N. B. White. 



repay, with more and tetter vegetables, the intelligent application of fertilizer 



A Garden That Paid 



MY garden plot is only 100 x 125 feet in dimen- 

 sion, but by following the advice given in 

 The Garden Magazine my successions have been 

 without number, and I have been able to keep 

 my household of six supplied with fresh vege- 

 tables from early in June until late in the fall. 

 On October 26th of last year we were enjoving 

 radishes, young lettuce, beets and carrots, and 

 many other vegetables of the most delicate flavor 

 which are usually at their best in the early summer. 



My greatest success, however, was with peas. 

 On August 7th I planted four double rows, 75 feet 

 long, of Early Market peas, on ground that had 

 been used for early corn. The soil was thor- 

 oughly worked over and a small amount of very 

 old, dry manure was spaded in to make the soil 

 light. 



The peas came up well, and were given several 

 cultivations. On September 24th I was able to 

 pick about four quarts of peas, and from that time 

 until October 25th, peas were an every-day dish. 



I experienced considerable trouble with mildew, 

 which appeared on the lower part of the vines just 

 as they came into full bloom, but two sprayings 

 with Bordeaux mixture, at intervals of five or six 

 days, checked its spread sufficiently to save the 

 crop, although it subsequently covered all the 

 vines. That would have been obviated, however, 

 had I continued spraying. 



Swiss chard is a vegetable which I want to 

 recommend to anyone having a garden, no matter 

 how small it be. Plant a good-sized bed, for it 

 makes excellent greens, and the stalks, when fully 

 matured, may be cooked as celery. It makes a 

 more delicately flavored vegetable than celery. 



Connecticut. L. B. P. 



The Value of Fertilizer in the South 



ALL vegetables are strong feeders, and a large 

 quantity of manure is necessary each year 

 on almost any soil for the continual production of 

 fine fruit. It should be applied in the winter or 

 very early in the spring — in fact, any time from 

 December to March 1st — broadcasted at the 

 rate of from three to six tons to every quarter acre. 

 Turn it into the soil at once by deep plowing or 

 spading, so as to prevent the ammonia from evap- 

 orating. 



Horse manure is the most suitable for very early 

 vegetables, as it warms the soil, but it should not 

 be used for summer vegetables unless it is very old. 

 Poultry or cow manure is best for the summer 

 garden, as it has less tendency to heat the soil. 



For the best results both commercial fertilizer 

 and manure are necessary, as the manure alone 

 contains an excess of 

 nitrogen and would pro- 

 duce foliage at the ex- 

 pense of the fruit; and if 

 commercial fertilizer is 

 continually used alone 

 the soil eventually be- 

 comes deficient in 

 humus. The manure, 

 therefore, must be used 

 to supply nitrogen and 

 humus, and fertilizer 

 for potash and phos- 

 phoric acid. 



Apply the manure as 

 stated above, and dis- 

 tribute the fertilizer in 

 the drill ten or twelve 

 days before planting, 

 using it at the rate of 

 from two to four hun- 

 dred pounds of fertilizer 

 to every quarter acre. 

 Mix it well with the 

 soil in order to pre- 

 vent heating or burn- 

 ing. Green cotton 

 seed is also excellent 

 for supplying humus to 

 the soil, and should be 

 used with fertilizer and 

 manure when possible. 

 Thomas J. Steed. 

 Georgia. 



