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DREER'S GARDEN CALENDAR. 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN— ROTATTOX OF CROPS, a rotation of crops is as essential in 

 vegetable gardening as in farming, as dilferent plants appropriate ditierent ingredients from the soil. Care should 

 be taken that deep-rooted plants, such as Beets, Carrots, Parsnips, etc., are not planted successive seasons on the same 

 soil, but should be followed by those plants whose roots extend but little below the surface, such as Onions, Lettuce, 

 Cabbage, Spinach, etc.; plants of the Brassica, or Cabbage tribe, are apt to become diseased at the roots (club-rooted, 

 as it is termed), if too frequently planted in the same ground. 



HOT-BEDS. Xhere are several aids to the economical management of the garden, which are almost indis- 

 pensable : one of these is the hot-bed for growing early plants or vegetables. A frame, such as is shown in the illus- 

 tration, may be made of various sizes, according to the size of garden, from two sashes upwards. The sashes are 

 generally made 6 feet long by 3 feet wide, but we con- 

 sider 4 feet preferable. Use S by 10 glass. The entire 

 frame of four sashes is 16 feet 5 inches by 6 feet — allow- 

 ing 1 inch separation on the bearers. The glass should 

 be imbedded in the putty and secured with points, and 

 well painted every year to keep in repair. After the 

 season for use is past, store them away from the weather 

 or keep in a pile with a board covering. Care in these 

 respects will save considerable annual expense. The 

 hot-bed should have a southern or southeastern ex- 

 posure, and should be made with fresh horse manure, which must be laid in a heap preparatory to being used ; when 

 in a proper state of fermentation, place the frame on the heap. Six inches of rich loamy soil must be spread over 

 the manure, then cover the frame with the sashes, and after standing a few days to allow the rank heat and steam to 

 pass off, the seed can lie sown. The heap should be made two feet longer and wider than the frame. Where the 

 ground is well drained, a better plan is to dig out a space the size of the frame from 1 to 2 feet deep, according to 

 the season and the heat required, in which the manure is placed, care being taken to pack it firmly and evenly. 



In addition to the hot-bed frame, mats or shutters will be required to cover the sash during cold days and nights. 



^^i^^^^^^^^ The cold frame for wintering Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuce Plants, etc., should be con- 

 structed of 1-inch boards 1 foot high at the back and 9 inches high in front; short posts, set four feet apart, will keep 

 the frame in position. For ordinary gardens a frame 12 to 16 feet long and 6 feet wide will answer all requirements. 

 The shutters should be 6 feet 4 inches long by 3 feet wide, made of common rough boards. The soil should be 

 enriched by old and well-decayed manure ; the object being to preserve and not to grow the plants during the winter. 

 Give plenty of air every mild day, but do not expose the plants to the sun when the ground or plants are frozen, as it 

 will destroy them. 



Very many who read this article on hot-beds and cold frames do not require the expense for a few vegetable and 

 flower plants. To such there is an excellent substitute on hand in most dwellings, in the kitchen or basement windows, 

 facing south or east, inside of which is a temperature usually not for from that required for the vegetation of seeds, 

 and where seeds of early vegetables, or tender plants for the flower border, may be raised nearly as well, and with far 

 less attention, than in a hot-bed. 



i^^^i*^J^^£^* The necessary implements to work the garden are a spade, spading fork, shovel, rakes, hoes, 

 trowel, garden-line and reel, watering-pot, wheelbarrow, and combined seed-drill and cultivator; prices of which will 

 be found in the Tool Department of this catalogue. 



WHY SEEDS FAIL. 



From a conviction that the Seedsman's fair reputation is often unjustly defamed, 



through the failure of seeds, we would briefly state some of the causes. 



Some cultivators, through ignorance or forgetfulness of the fact that the products of a garden, being natives 

 of various soils and climates, require peculiar management, sow the seeds in the ground at improper seasons. To aid 

 such we have prepared brief directions, founded on practical experience in the vicinity of Philadelphia, where gar- 

 dening operations are generally commenced early in March. These directions may, however, be applied to all other 

 parts of the United States, by an observance of the difference in temperature. Thus, to the North, the directions for 

 March will apply to April ; and at the South to January, February or whatever season gardening operations may 

 commence in the respective States. The early and most hardy species and varieties should not be planted until the 

 ground can be brought into good condition, as some species of plants, that in an advanced stage of growth will stand 

 a hard winter, are often out off by a very slight frost while young, especially if exposed to the sun after a frosty night. 



Some species of seed, such as Beans, Beet, Cabbage, Lettuce, Radish, Salsify, Turnip, etc., being from their nature 

 apt to vegetate quickly, are often destroyed while germinating through variableness of the weather, and some are 

 liable to be devoured by insects in forty-eight hours after they are sown, and before a plant is seen above the ground, 

 unless a suitable remedy is applied in time to destroy the insects. 



Other species, such as Carrots, Celery, Leek, Onion, Parsley, Parsnip, Spinach, etc., being naturally of tardy 

 growth, take (in unfavorable seasons) from two to three or four weeks to vegetate, are apt to perish through incrusta- 

 tion of the soil, or other untoward and unaccountable circumstances, which cannot always be controlled. 



Failures often occur through seeds being deposited too deeply in the ground, or left too near the surface. Some- 

 times, for the want of a proper quantity of seed in a given spot, solitary plants will perish, they not having suflScient 

 strength to open the pores of the earth, and very frequently injudicious management in over manuring and improperly 

 preparing the soil causes defeat. 



In some sowings of seed made during dry weather, with a drought following, a total failure often occurs from / 

 neglecting to firmly press or roll in the seeds, so that when thej- germinate the action of the heat and drought may 

 not affect the germ. We are satisfied that thousands of pounds of Turnip, late Cabbage and other summer-sown seeds 

 are annually lost from this neglect. Never tread or roll in the seeds when the ground is wet. 



Do not raise Egg Plants, etc., in the same hot-bed with Cabbage, and other half-hardy plants that require air every 

 mild day ; by such management one or the other must suffer— heat being the principal requisite of tender plants, and 

 air that of the more hardy varieties. 



^E^^^I^-STS^ fQf ^}jg protection of the planter and the benefit of the seller, are made thoroughly before 

 the selling season at our extensive greenhouse establishment, where each variety is subjected to the most critical test, 

 which places us in a position to determine the germinating power. 



The trial grounds at our Riverton Farm are devoted to the growing of all new and old varieties, and furnish 

 opportunity for comparison of their relative merits, and we are thus enabled to quickly ascertain for our customer's 

 interest, which sorts to recommend or discard. 



The annual offerings of supposed new sorts are large, but the real increase of standard varieties is comparatively 

 small. Everything that is of an)' apparent value is bought and subjected to rigid comparison; if valuable, our cus- 

 tomers will find it in our next season's catalogue. The quality and permanency of the novelties we have listed prove 

 the truth of our assertions regarding novelties. The standard varieties are also subjected to careful examination in 

 order that thier purity and value may be maintained. The sources of supply are noted, and we are thus enabled to 

 prove which section produces the best of any given article. 



