THE PATRIOTIC GARDEN 



SOMEBODY HAS TO PAIJE EVERYTHING YOU EAT 



July Planting ^riuccessibn and WinJet Suppty 



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Directions as to time given in these columns apply generally to *"fr the latitude of New York as a standard. Except where spec- 



ifically otherwise mentioned allow a difference of about a week earlier or later for each hundred miles south or north, as the case may be 



J 



ULY is truly the turning point 

 in the campaign of the garden. 

 Nearly everything is then 

 either at its best, or is ex- 

 hausted and ready to make room 

 for other crops. Much space is 

 really available — between the rows 

 of crops now reaching eatable size — for further 



Elanting. Look at the early rows of beans, 

 eets, carrots, lettuce, onions from sets, rad- 

 ishes, etc.; some will soon become exhausted. 

 Why wait? Transplant plants from crowded 

 rows into the paths between the rows. By 

 the time these transplanted plants have taken 

 root and begin to spread those of the old row 

 are "gone" and you have new rows developed 

 in position. 



Bringing Up the Supports 



Onions growing from seeds require special 

 care. Keep the rows free from weeds. Once a 

 week scatter wood ashes or a "complete fer- 

 tilizer" along the rows and work it into the 

 soil. If rain is lacking, irrigate! Onions are one 

 ofthe most profitable of garden crops. At pre- 

 sent prices, a crate of onions stored for winter 

 use is worth all the work required to grow them. 



Beans planted last month will be ready for 

 the first "hilling" this month. Do not work 

 over the young plants when the leaves are wet 

 with rain or dew. It spreads blight and cur- 

 tails the crop. 



If cucumber vines run rampantly — pinch 

 back. It does not curtail the bearing power 

 of the vines, but encourages more rapid de- 

 velopment of fruits already "set." 



The tomato is really a rank growing weed. 

 Plants need staking and pruning luring the 

 first part of July or when about two feet high 

 and two feet across. For full directions as to 

 staking and pruning, consult The Garden 

 Magazine for July 1912. Splendid plants may 

 yet be made from branches and "suckers" 

 removed in pruning. Just stick a cut-off 

 branch in the ground and it will root promptly. 

 Very profitable crops may yet be secured from 

 plants started thus, of early kinds like Earliana, 



iune Pink, Chalk's Jewel, Bonny Best, Globe, 

 lagnus and Beauty. Later varieties are apt 

 to be caught by early frosts. 



In starting and managing the July garden 

 two things are of paramount importance, viz.: 

 induce prompt germination by firming the soil 

 well over seeds; and encourage rapid growth by 

 frequent cultivation and seasonable irrigation. 



July Garden — A Goldmine 



PHESE things there are to be done:(i) Start- 

 ing a mid-season garden at the beginning. 

 (2) Continuing the early garden by making 

 succession sowings. (3) Coaxing all the crops 



The Seed Necessity for 1918 



We have given most of our attention to discussing the 

 present production of food. There is another vital neces- 

 sity — seed for next year. A critical situation has devel- 

 oped for the seedsmen of America — and consequently for 

 the world. For the world war has made us the world's 

 custodian of these precious germs. 



Following the President's appeal and the subsequent 

 nation -wide movement for more gardens, an unprece- 

 dented demand arose for seeds of all kinds. There were 

 enough seeds of most vegetables to supply the demand. 

 But a shortage akin to famine in seeds of biennial vegeta- 

 bles developed. 



Biennial vegetables are those that require two years to 

 produce seeds from seeds sown. From seeds sown this 

 year, the vegetables are harvested by fall, stored in pits 

 or cellars, planted again the next spring, and the*seeds are 

 gathered late in the summer or in early fall. This group 

 of vegetables includes such staples as beets, carrots, the 

 entire cabbage family (brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauli- 

 flower, etc.), leeks, onions, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, 

 and some others of less importance. 



Up to fall of 1914, Europe supplied us with nearly 75 

 per cent, of the seeds of all these plants excepting onions 

 and beets. Carrot seeds come from France and Germany: 

 cabbage and cauliflower seeds from Denmark and Hol- 

 land; turnips, rutabagas, etc., from England and other 

 countries. Suddenly in the spring of 1915, the seed grow- 

 ers of those countries found themselves confronted by the 

 necessity of conserving their seed stocks, and even of 

 securing additional supplies from elsewhere. Many of the 

 roots stored to produce the seed crops of the following 

 year were used for food, or destroyed. 



It is to the credit of American seedsmen that they did 

 their " bit " three years ago to offset the situation now 

 confronting us. In August, 1914, a group of wholesale 

 seedsmen gathered in New York City to " take stock " 

 of the Nation's needs. Supplies of all biennial vegetable 

 seeds were immediately supplemented by contracts abroad. 

 In the fall of 1914, America had a three-year seed supply 

 of all the important vegetables of this kind. 



In the meantime, values of American farm staples — 

 corn, potatoes, wheat, etc. — soared, and so did the aspira- 

 tions of the American farmers who grow the seeds of these 

 crops. The ever-present temptation to sacrifice future 

 rewards and ideals for the sake of immediate returns 

 proved too great and^the seed stock dwindled. 



With farm products selling at highest prices ever heard 

 of, and his mind full of speculative ideas, Mr. Average 

 Farmer does not care to consider seed contracts that fix a 

 price in advance for the seed crop to be harvested a year 

 hence. Yet, with France clamoring for tons of carrot and 

 beet seeds and our own needs greater than ever before, 

 American seedsmen and seed-growers have to assume the 

 responsibility of providing seeds for the world. 



In attempting to do this, the leaders of the movement 

 may find themselves handicapped by the lack of in- 

 terest and knowledge — lack of interest on the part of 

 capital, whose aid is required to see the country through 

 the crisis; lack of knowledge on the part of the farmer 

 who is willing to undertake the work. 



A proper meeting of this situation would help Amer- 

 ica a long way toward fulfilling her obligations to her 

 allies and the world at large; it would also help her along 

 the road to that leadership in seed production for which 

 her natural resources are unrivaled. As to *' skill avail- 

 able " let the seedsmen call on those most expert seed- 

 growers in the world — the American market gardeners! 



An Eleventh-hour Call 



July presents the last chance in 1917 to market garden- 

 ers to rally to the flag, to perform a patriotic duty by 

 coming to the rescue of a precarious situation. All space 

 available this month should be sown to early maturing 

 kinds of beets, carrots, turnips, and any other " biennial " 

 crops- that will produce roots large enough for planting 

 out next spring. Sacrifice immediate returns on these 

 crops; store them to be planted in spring for seed crop. 



Few investments will bear bigger interests, few things 

 that our market gardeners can do will benefit the country 

 more. Unless all signs fail, the prices obtainable in 1918 

 for skilfully grown seeds of the kinds of vegetables named 

 above will reach just as high new levels as food products 

 maintain at present. 



to quicker maturity and heavier 

 bearing by frequent cultivation, 

 timely fertilizing and occasional 

 irrigation. 



Everything planted in any early 

 garden can still be started in the 

 July garden (except late limas and 

 pole beans, sweet corn requiring longer than 

 eighty days to reach roasting ear stage, late 

 sorts of eggplant,pepper,pumpkin,and squash. 



You can still grow lots of ripe tomatoes if 

 you secure May-started plants of Sparks' 

 Earliana, Chalk's Tewel, Livingston's Globe 

 or Red Sunrise. 



The coming of cool nights in August and 

 cool days in September makes practical July 

 planting of such "cool" season crops as lettuce, 

 peas and spinach. The very varieties that were 

 planted in early spring are again the order of 

 the day, because weather conditions in early 

 fall and spring are similar, with the compara- 

 tive results from spring or fall gardens strongly 

 in favor of fall gardens ! 



The Way to Start the New Garden 



SUCCESS or failure with July planted gar- 

 dens is largely determined by the condition 

 ofthe soil, and the method of sowing the seeds. 

 In most cases the soil is in ideal condition — 

 warm, mellow, with all the annual and sur- 

 face weeds killed by previous cultivations or 

 spaded or plowed under so deeply that they 

 have no chance to do further harm. . 



If the soil is dry (as is usual, soak thoroughly 

 with water the day before you expect to plant. 

 If time or circumstance do not permit this, the 

 handicap may be partly overcome by sowing 

 seeds deeper — twice as deep as before: or say, 

 beets and radishes one half inch; lettuce, en- 

 dive, carrots; and other fine-seeded classes, one 

 quarter inch; beans, peas and corn three to 

 four inches. It all depends on the nature of 

 your soil, of course; the lighter the soil the 

 deeper to sow. 



Decide which vegetables you want from 

 August first until frost. For sowing early in 

 the month are beans, beets, carrots, endive, 

 kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, 

 turnips and rutabagas. By setting out plants, 

 you can provide cabbage, cauliflower, celery, 

 celeriac, and tomatoes. 



GATHERING THE HARVEST 



Supposing you sow, during the first week of 

 this month, two fifteen-foot rows each of the 

 dozen vegetables that will yield crops from 

 seeds before frost. Here is the way in which 

 returns should come in: 



Beans. Red Valentine, ready between August 25th and Sep- 

 tember 1st; Bountiful, between September 1st and 5th. First 

 picking per 30 foot of row should yield two quarts of pods. 



Bills. Faust's Early Crimson readv in fifty-five days, 



Eclipse, 60 days, Crosby's, 62 days; Detroit Dark Red, 65 days. 



Carrots. Oxheart, 55 days; Chantenay, 60 days; Danvers, 70 

 days. 



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