162 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



November, 19 12 



continuing in business in the city, and one disaster 

 succeeding another, he had been compelled to 

 abandon his anticipated refuge nearly a year before 

 we came along. 



All these facts I learned before beginning to 

 negotiate for the purchase. As the banished man 

 related them to me, going largely into the history 

 of his hopes, his trials, his disappointments, I 

 found cause for renewed thankfulness over my 

 superior condition. With a single exception, his 

 experience had been the counterpart of my own — 

 he had lost all and was loaded with debt, while 

 I had saved something and owed no man. 



Making a Purchase — First Impression 



THE owner of these eleven acres had been for 

 some months in the furnace of pecuniary afflic- 

 tion. He was going the way of nine tenths of 

 all the business flesh within the circle of my ac- 

 quaintance. As a purchaser I did not seek him, 

 nor to his representative did myself or my wife 

 let fall a single word indicating that we were pleased 

 with the property. When fifteen hundred dollars 

 were named as the price I did indulge in some 

 expression of surprise, thinking it was quite enough. 

 Discovering subsequently that the owner was an 

 old city acquaintance, I dropped in one morning 

 to see him, and for an hour we talked over the 

 times, the markets, the savage rates demanded for 

 money, and how the spring business was likely to 

 turn out. On real estate I was as mute as a mouse, 

 except giving it as my decided opinion that some 

 holders were asking greater prices than they would 

 be likely to realize. 



This side-thrust brought my friend out. He 

 mentioned his house had eleven acres, and eagerly 

 inquired if I did not know of some one who would 

 buy. With as much indifference as I could assume, 

 I asked his terms. He told me with great frank- 

 ness that he was compelled to sell, and that 

 his need of money was so great, that he might 

 possibly do so whether the debtor got any- 

 thing or not. He urged me to find him a pur- 

 chaser, and finally gave me the refusal of the place 

 for a few days. 



Now, the plain truth was that my anxiety to 

 buy was quite as great as his was to sell. During 

 the next week we met several times, when he in- 

 variably inquired as to the prospect of a purchaser. 

 But I had no encouragement to offer. When I 

 thought I had fought shy long enough, I surprised 

 him by saying that I knew of a purchaser who was 

 ready to take the property at a thousand dollars. 

 He sat down and indulged in some figuring, for a 

 few moments was silent, then inquired if the offer 

 was a cash one, and when the monej' could be had. 

 I replied, the moment his deed was ready for 

 delivery. 



It was evident that the offer of instant payment 

 determined him to sell at so low a price — cash 

 was everything. Opening his desk, he took out a 

 deed for the property, ready to execute whenever 

 the grantee's name, the date and the consideration 

 should have been inserted, handed it to me, and 

 said he accepted the offer. 



I confess to both exultation and surprise. I had 

 secured an unmistakable bargain. The ready- 

 made deed surprised me, but it showed the owner's 

 necessities. 



The transaction seemed to involve a succession 

 of surprises. His turn for a new one came when he 

 found that I had inserted my wife's name in the 

 deed. So, paying him his thousand dollars, I 

 returned with the deed to my wife, telling her 

 that she had now a home of her own; that, come 

 what might, the property was hers; and that no 

 subsequent destitution of mine could wrest it from 

 her. This little act of consideration was as gratify- 

 ing a surprise to her as any that either buyer or 

 seller had experienced. 



In a week the house was vacated and cleansed, 

 and we were in full possession. My wife was 

 satisfied, my children were delighted, and I had 

 realized the dream of twenty years! One strong 

 fact forced itself on my attention the first night I 

 passed under my new roof. The drain of three 

 hundred dollars per annum into the pocket of my 

 city landlord had been stopped. My family 

 received as safe a shelter for the interest of a thou- 

 sand dollars, as he had given them for the interest 



of five thousand! The feeling of relief from this 

 unappeasable demand was indescribable. Cur- 

 iously enough, my wife voluntarily suggested that 

 the same feeling of relief had been presented to her. 

 But in addition to this huge equivalent for the 

 investment of a thousand dollars, there was that 

 which might be hereafter realized from the culti- 

 vation of eleven acres of land. 



This lodgment was effected on the first of April. 

 When all our household fixings had been snugly 

 arranged, and I took my first walk over my little 

 plantation, on a soft and balmy morning, my feel- 

 ing of contentment seemed to be perfect. I 

 knew that I was not rich, but it was certain that 

 I was not poor. 



(To be continued) 



Prepare for Oats 



IN LATE October prepare for oats. I am speaking 

 to Northern farmers. I do not say sow then, 

 but prepare. It is invariably true that early sown 

 oats bear much more largely and better grain than 

 late sown oats. The cool weather and wet con- 

 ditions that prevail early are especially favorable 

 to the nature of oats, making them thrive. This, 

 then, is the reason why preparation should be made 

 now. Let the soil be plowed and left rough. If 

 plowed early while warm weather continues, all 

 the better, since heat favors the decay of rub- 

 bish and growing weeds turned in and encour- 

 ages the germination of seeds, the plants from 

 which are later destroyed by the winter. Land 

 so treated will be found much freer from weeds 

 next summer, giving the oats opportunity to 

 find nourishment and produce good straw and 

 full heads. 



But the crowning benefits derived from late 

 October plowing for oats will be found in the 

 chance for early sowing of the seed. Long before 

 your neighbors can start a plow, you will find 

 you can harrow October-plowed lands and sow 

 oats. Do it. Give the oats the advantage of one 

 to three weeks and note how they will respond in 

 superb growth. 



There is another dividend also on this early 

 investment: You get a part of the season's work 

 done and out of the way and don't have it to worry 

 about, before the rush. Manuring of the oat lands 

 may be done during winter, spreading it direct 

 from the drops. Unless the surface is decidedly 

 sloping there is no cause for fear of loss, however 

 much the juices discolor the snow. 



In all the great northern country where corn is 

 not especially good, oats should form a much more 

 important crop than is the case at present. The 

 grain is of great value 'to all kinds of stock. Also 

 oat-hay and roughage made of oats and peas, sown 

 together in the proportion of one bushel of peas 

 and two and a half of oats, makes a great weight 

 of valuable fodder. The seed cannot be sown too 

 early if the furrows are mellow. In the case of the 

 peas, let them be sown first and before the harrows 

 are started. They will be covered between the 

 furrows deeply, which is just the condition they 

 like. They do not dry out if deep. After the 

 first harrowing sow the oats. Cut this combina- 

 tion feed when the oats are in the milk or very 

 first dough stage and cure in heaps, the same as 

 clover. Another advantage of sowing oats in 

 late-prepared lands is this: The}' ripen earlier, 

 are housed before the showery weather of mid- 

 summer comes, and a heavy crop of clover is often 

 secured from the same ground before killing 

 frosts. Or the soil may be turned over at once 

 and turnips, barley (for late soiling) or Hungarian 

 grass or millet may be grown. Or the land may be 

 summer fallowed to destroy some infesting weed 

 and seeded from September to November with rye, 

 the farmer's friend and soil binder. This two-crop 

 system is particularly advantageous to the farmer 

 of limited domain. Usually that crop is a ''bumper " 

 which is prepared for methodically, far in advance. 

 Planning to sow oats on a given area with spring's 

 first permit will include sending soon for the seed 

 — getting good seed of the best kind from the best 

 source, even if a long way off, perhaps into the 

 far North. If it should cost a little more than 

 locally grown seed, pay it; then make it yield 

 enough more to make fourfold returns. 



Connecticut. Hollister Sage. 



Keeping Celery Throughout the 

 Winter 



HERE is a simple plan for keeping celery in 

 perfect condition throughout the entire 

 winter, hit upon by a suburban Washingtonian a 

 couple of years ago after more than ten years of 

 experimenting. This man is an enthusiastic 

 gardener after business hours, and raises all his 

 summer vegetable supply and much of those used 

 in winter, particularly celery. 



"Ever since I moved out here and began raising 

 berries and vegetables for my own table, I have 

 been trying various ways of keeping my celery into 

 the winter," he explained to me. "I tried other 

 people's ways that I read of, or heard of, and ways 

 that were of my own invention, but only had 

 indifferent success until I hit upon this plan two 

 years ago. If it continues to give as good results 

 as it has so far, I'm done experimenting. Anyway 

 I think that I've hit upon the right fundamental 

 idea, keeping the plants growing — not growing 

 much, but just growing." 



Judging by the appearance and crispness of the 

 celery he showed me in late December and again 

 in mid-March the plan is a success and a real 

 "find" — at least for home gardeners in latitudes 

 where the winters are not severe — and is de- 

 serving of wider adoption by celery-loving home 

 gardeners. Whether it is practical for adoption 

 by commercial growers retailing to a select city 

 tnde, I leave to their judgment. 



Two years ago Mr. Graves had a fine crop of 

 celery of three classes — early, small late, large 

 late — which he stored in a coldframe. Prepara- 

 tion was begun in mid-October by topping the 

 plants quite severely, so that they would take up as 

 little room as possible in their winter quarters. 

 In a week the wounds had healed over and the 

 plants had begun to grow again. About Novem- 

 ber ist, as freezing weather seemed likely, the 

 plants were taken up, roots and all, with as much 

 soil as would come with them. Next the stalks 

 were tied, about one third of the way from the 

 top, with a strip of old cotton cloth or a soft string 

 This served the double purpose of keeping the 

 stalks compact and straight and of keeping the 

 earth from sifting in during the subsequent opera- 

 tions. Next the roots of each plant, together with 

 the earth adhering thereto, are held in a pail of 

 water about five seconds (seconds, not minutes); 

 then these plants are set in rows almost, but not 

 quite, touching each other in the coldframe. As 

 each row is set it is covered firmly nearly to the 

 top with ordinary garden soil. Care is exercised 

 to keep the foliage dry throughout the operation. 



Mr. Graves places the large late sort in the 

 back of the bed, the shorter growing late sort 

 next, and the early variety at the front or lower 

 side, where it can be gotten at easiest for use early 

 in the season. When the setting was all done the 

 bed was at once covered with double-glass sash. 



"I have used these sash," Mr. Graves explained, 

 "not that it is unnecessary to do any covering 

 and uncovering; but mainly because, owing to 

 their peculiar construction, they allow the rank 

 moist air to escape instead of condensing on the 

 glass and dripping back on the leaves and stalks. 

 To keep the plants healthy and growing a little 

 under glass throughout the cold weather it is 

 necessary to provide the out-of-door conditions 

 of September and October. This I can do very 

 well with my double-glass sash." 



Within a few days after setting the plants in the 

 coldframe they will all have made new roots and 

 become just as green and fresh as they were before 

 being moved. When I first visited this gardener 

 in late December, the frame — which is a large 

 one, requiring five sash to cover it — was packed 

 nearly full of plants and not a single leaf showed 

 a blemish. He pulled some of the early sort and 

 it was as nearly perfect as these early self-blanching 

 varieties ever become, and fully blanched. The 

 late sorts were not then ready, but in mid-March 

 I found them perfectly blanched and without a 

 sign of decay. Care was taken throughout the 

 winter not to expose the plants to freezing, although 

 they were given plenty of cold air, as this is nec- 

 essary to keep them from growing too strongly, 

 thus getting too big for the box before all are used. 



New York. C. W. 



