BETTER FRUIT 



A MONTHLY ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST 

 OF MODERN AND PROGRESSIVE FRUIT GROWING AND MARKETING 



THE FRUIT GROWERS' SMALL VEGETABLE GARDEN 



BY W. H. WICKS, AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, MOSCOW, IDAHO 



HALF an acre of the horticul- 

 tural grounds of this station was 

 selected by Professor J. R. Shinn 

 in the spring of 1908 for use as a vege- 

 table garden. This area was maintained 

 for such a purpose for two years. The 

 object of this work was to secure definite 

 data on methods of culture, yield, cost 

 of production and the advisability of 

 maintaining such a garden on the farms 

 of Idaho. This garden was planned to 

 give the greatest possible variety and 

 continuous supply of vegetables as may 

 be readily grown in the home garden, 

 and which are very frequently not grown 

 on account of the supposed expense and 

 time required in their production. 



The garden was laid out in the form 

 of a rectangle with rows running length- 

 wise in order to admit horse cultivation 

 and to reduce the expense of labor to the 

 minimum. The ground was worked as 

 early as advisable in the spring and put 

 in shape for seeding and planting by the 

 most approved method of this region. 

 No fertilizer was applied during the two 

 years of the experiment. 



This garden was located on the south- 

 western slope of one of the hills which 

 comprise the station gardens, and is 

 typical of the average farm and garden 

 land in this region. It is but a short 

 distance to the market center of Moscow, 

 so practically all the produce was deliv- 

 ered to the general market or retailed 

 to parties coming to the garden. This 

 area is so situated that it admits the 

 earliest possible cultivation in spring. It 

 is free from all fall frosts until late in 

 September. 



The more desirable locations for vege- 

 table gardens are to be found on the 

 warm slopes of the rolling hills which 

 comprise this country. These aspects are 

 to the east, the south and southwest. In 

 locating the garden care was taken to 

 secure the best possible air and soil 

 drainage, freedom from frost and aver- 

 age soil. 



While all vegetables are not adapted 

 to the same kind of soil for their best 

 production, the dark, rich, friable soil 

 that is found in the Palouse region 

 will grow satisfactorily those vegetables 

 which are adapted for culture in a fruit 

 grower's garden. The soil of this gar- 

 den is friable, deep and retains moisture 

 well when proper surface tillage is given. 

 It washes considerably and puddles 

 readily during severe rain storms. Its 

 texture is exceptionally good and root 

 crops have no difficulty in penetrating to 

 the greatest possible depth. Irrigation is 

 not necessary. No alkali is present to 



Contents 



FRUIT GROWERS' SMALL VEGETABLE 

 GARDEN, 19 



INSECTS AND MITES, 27 



TWO DESTRUCTIVE PLANT LICE, 31 



FRUIT INDUSTRY OF NORTHWEST, 34 



CHERRY HEAVEN, 38 



ORCHARD SPRAYS AND SPRAYING, 40 



EDITORIAL, 50 



FALL BREAKING AND PREPARATION 

 OF SEED BED, 65 



STANDARDIZING FRUIT, 71 



interfere with the growth of vegetables. 

 Due to the physical nature of the soil, its 

 management is comparatively easy. The 

 cost of cultivation in this garden will 

 probably be less than it would be in the 

 case of heavier soils containing a large 



PROFESSOR W. H. WICKS 

 New Associate Editor of "Better Fruit" 

 Professor of Horticulture Idaho Experiment Station 

 Moscow, Idaho 



percentage of clay, or those that are 

 under irrigation. 



This area was plowed, harrowed and 

 made ready for planting by dragging 

 with a common planker. This is usually 

 all that is necessary to put the soil of 

 this region in first class shape for gar- 

 dening. Future cultivation is easily 

 accomplished and not expensive. A dust 

 mulch is easily secured after rains, and 

 this kind of mulch is effective in check- 

 ing evaporation from the soil. 



In 1908 the garden was made ready for 

 planting by plowing April 7, harrowing 

 and leveling April 8. The soil worked 

 well at this date. Planting of various 

 vegetables was done as early as advisable. 

 All perennials were planted on one side 

 of the garden, so they could remain for 

 several years without interfering with 

 the growing of annual plants. The plan 

 of planting (see Figure 1), and vegetables 

 used, with space allotted to each kind is 

 given as follows: 



Row 1, Conover's Colossal asparagus, one-half 

 row; rhubarb, one-fourth row Wyatt's Victoria, 

 one-fourth row St. Martin's. Row 2, Hollow crown 

 parsnips, one-third row; Emerald parsley, one-third 

 row; Sandwich Island Mammoth salsify, one-third 

 row. Row 3, Prizetaker onions, one-half row; Large 

 Rouen leek, one-fourth row; Australian Brown 

 onion, one-fourth row. Row 4, Golden Self-Blanch- 

 ing celery, one-half row; onions, one-half row. 

 Row 5, Onion sets, one-fourth row; Deacon lettuce, 

 one-fourth row; Long Standing spinach, one-half 

 row. Row 6, Early potatoes, one row; radishes, 

 one-fourth row each of French Breakfast, Celestial, 

 Scarlet Turnip, New White Icicle. Row 7, Peas, 

 Nott's Excelsior. Row 8, Crosby's Egyptian beets, 

 one-fourth row; Blood Red beets, one-fourth row; 

 Golden Ball carrots, one-half row. Row 9. Late 

 potatoes. Row 10, Grand Rapids lettuce, one-fourth 

 row; Giant Fringed endive, one-half row; Improved 

 Guernsey parsnips, one-fourth row. Row 11, Early 

 York cabbage, one-fourth row; Best Early cauli- 

 flower, one-fourth row; Fordhook Bush Lima beans, 

 one-fourth row; Burpee Improved Bush Lima beans, 

 one-fourth row. Row 12, Prosperity peas, one-third 

 row; Horsford Early Market, one-tliird row; Tele- 

 phone peas, one-third row. Row 13, Extra Early 

 Refugee beans. Row 14, Bismark Black Wax Pro- 

 lific, one-half row; Dwarf Horticultural beans, one- 

 half row. Row 15, American Drumhead Savoy cab- 

 bage, one-half row; Tall Green Curled Scotch kale, 

 one-half row. Row 16, Burpee's Danish Prize brus- 

 sels sprouts, one-fourth row; Tabasco peppers, six- 

 teen hills; Sweet Upright peppers, twenty hills; 

 Early Freedom tomatoes, one-half row. Row 17, 

 Golden Bantam sweet corn, one-half row; Cory 

 early sweet corn, one-half row. Row 18, Early 

 Long Purple egg plant, one-half row; Sparks 

 Earliana tomatoes, one-half row. Rows 19 to 24, 

 Burpee's Extra Early White Spine cucumber, 

 twelve hills; Early VVhite Bush summer squash, 

 ten hills; Hubbard squash, twelve hills; Small 

 Sugar pumpkin, twelve hills; Cole's Early water- 

 melon, twenty-four hills; Fordhook muskmelon, 

 twenty-six hills. Rows were three feet apart, 

 excepting the vine crops, which were six feet apart. 



All seeds were purchased from W. 

 Atlee Burpee & Company, Philadelphia, 

 Pennsylvania. The catalogue prices of 

 1908 were paid. No seed was saved for 

 sowing in 1909. The cost of seed used 

 in 1909 is listed in the expense account 

 for that year. It is seldom wise for the 

 fruit grower to grow his own seed. 

 While seed growing is attracting much 



