NOTES FROM A WOMAN'S GARDEN. 



487 



cial sorts good, and also wood ashes. Last season, in an 

 experiment tried here by the Delaware Experiment Sta- 

 tion, muriate of potash was found to give by far the best 

 results. Whether or not it will continue to do so in 

 years to come, or on different soils, remains to be seen ; 

 but in that one particular instance the results were so 

 plain that we shall this year use it quite largely, having 

 full faith and confidence in it. 



If the ground is clean and free from dead grass or 

 trash, a Planet Jr. cultivator with the horse hoes turned 

 so as to make a bed, will make one sufficiently high for 

 the plants. If the cultivator cannot be used, the bed 

 may be made up with a plow. Plants should be kept 

 wet, and if convenient, set right after a rain. If the sun 

 is hot, it is best to set them in the afternoon. One man 

 drops while four or six set out in two rows at a time. 

 The soil must be firmly pressed around the roots. The 

 patch is replanted till a stand is obtained, as worms and 

 mice destroy a good many of the first setting. In a week 

 or so cultivation commences. The land is harrowed, 

 hoed and kept free from grass till the plants begin to run 

 so that they cannot be easily cultivated. 



Here the crop is usually dug in September and sold 

 directly to buyers, who ship them largely to the interior 

 cities in New York, Pennsylvania and other states, the 

 price running from 20 to 30 cents a basket, according to 

 quality and other conditions. The yield runs from 100 

 to 400 baskets per acre, 250 to 300 baskets being consid- 

 ered a good yield. Large quantities are often kept for 

 the winter market in houses built especially for the pur- 

 pose, and heated all the time ; but, as a rule, we find it 

 best to sell the crop as soon as dug. 



The varieties usually planted are the Yellow Nanse- 

 mond or Jersey Chunck, and the Gold Skin. The latter 

 is an immense yielder, though a poor keeper ; but it is 

 sought after by buyers, who are often willing to pay an 

 advanced price for it. Numerous other varieties are be- 

 ing tried, among them the Virginia Antichoke or Arti- 

 choke, the Extra Early Carolina and the Big Stem Jer- 

 sey. If the season is favorable, an immense crop may 

 be expected this year, as an unusually large acreage is be- 

 ing planted to "sweets." 



Charles Wright. ' 

 Sttssc'x Co., Delaware. . 



NOTES FROM A WOMAN'S GARDEN— AUGUST. 



An August day : A dreamy haze 



Films air, and mingles with the skies : 

 Sweetly the rich, dark sunshine plays, 

 Bronzing each object where it lies. ■ 



— A. B. Street. 



'AVING heard that sunflowers 

 ward off malaria, and feeling 



(T^ '^^^^^ilil duty bound to obey every 



1 v,,v. health and beauty that 



we possibly can in our be- 

 loved garden, one niay look 

 in almost any direction, and 

 the eyes rest on a sunflower. 

 Their stately heads nod here and there above the 

 rows of corn. A splendid specimen stands proud 

 and alone in the middle of the melon patch. 

 Smaller, weaker ones are seen under the trees. 



Some top-heavily lean almost across the closely-cut 

 grass path, which forms the main entrance to the garden ; 

 in fact, they are everywhere. Although the plants are so 

 huge, the roots are small and we have never found them 

 to do any harm ; and we do not have malaria. 



The row of asters set out close in front of the currant 

 bushes is beginning to bloom ; some, alas, to wither, 

 being attacked at the root by the blue aphis ; fortunately 

 only a few of the plants fall by this enemy, for whose 

 ravages we have found no sure help. 



In August the garden is full and overflowing with all 

 the good things dear to a vegetable lover's heart. There 

 is almost too much ready and waiting to be eaten each 

 day. By the third week in August our lima beans are in 

 perfection. We gather and use them while yet of a 



bright green color, and not fully grown. Some are dried 

 at this stage, and are delicious stewed in the winter. As 

 the successive plantings of corn are used, the stalks are 

 cut, dried and stacked. 



We save a great deal of our own seed, and old Levi is 

 very careful that it is always of the earliest and best of 

 each crop, and in the case of peas and beans, that it is 

 gathered from all over the plants. 



He says, for instance, if we should save only the top 

 pods of bush beans that the product of that seed would 

 grow tall the next year, and by-and-by develop into pole 

 beans. This may be true ; we do not know, having 

 never dared to try the experiment. 



The garden, if previously well cared for, needs com- 

 paratively little hoeing at this season ; but it is not well 

 to let a single weed go to seed. In spite of what seems 

 to us great care, a weed now and then escapes old Levi's 

 sharp hoe. 



We have scolded so much over valuable plants de- 

 stroyed, that he now religiously saves any plant unknown 

 to him. After a short absence we were horrified and 

 surprised to see some purple thorn-apples (Datura Tatula) 

 in full bloom. How did these vile, poisonous weeds get 

 into our cherished garden ? We never saw any in town 

 before. Another stranger we gladly made welcome, so 

 pretty and fragrant — the yellow, sweet Melilot clover 

 [Melilotits officinalis). 



Now is the time to set out strawberry plants ; we find 

 this quick, easy work when done with a dibble, provided 

 the beds are well spaded and raked fine. Punch a hole, 

 put in the plant ; punch another hole close to the first — 

 this firms the plant nicely ; then keep on in the same 

 way. Select a damp, cloudy day with signs of rain, if 



