34 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



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SEASONABLE HINTS, 



During this month, and until the ground 

 freezes hard, much can be done to make our 

 next year's gardening successful. Poles and 

 pea-brush should be stored under a shed, 

 and all rubbish and refuse matter raked in 

 heaps and burned, or added to the compost 

 heap. 



Whenever practicable, the land to be 

 planted next year should be plowed or spaded 

 roughly before winter. This not only adds 

 much to the neat appearance of the garden, 

 but also makes the soil lighter, drier, and 

 admits of earlier working in spring. 



Asparagus. — In dry ground, Asparagus may 

 be planted now as well as in spring. The 

 soil must be rich, but the roots should not 

 come in direct contact with fresh manure. A 

 light covering of straw or leaves during 

 winter prevents the roots from being 

 thrown out by frost. , 



Cabbage. — Light frosts do not materially 

 injure winter Cabbages, but if exposed to a 

 few nights of heavy freezing, they will not 

 keep well ; it is therefore safer not to defer 

 harvesting later than the middle of Novem- 

 ber. Small quantities may be heeled in soil 

 in the house cellar. Market-gardeners keep 

 Cabbages out-of-doors by placing the heads 

 down close together and covering with a few 

 inches of soil. 



Celery. — Continue to bank up all that is 

 wanted for early winter use. Small quanti- j 

 ties may be kept in boxes or barrels in a 

 cellar, but generally there is less loss when 

 packed outdoors. In a convenient spot 

 where there is a natural slope, a trench is 

 dug, about ten inches wide and as deep as the 

 length of the stalks. The Celery is then dug 

 up carefully, so as not to break or bruise any ! 

 of the stalks and leaves, and packed in this 

 trench close together in an upright position, j 

 commencing on the upper end. Some loose j 

 soil is then pressed against the tops from the j 

 sides, and later in the season more earth is 

 drawn toward the tops, so that the whole 

 appears like a single row of Celery. At the 

 approach of hard frosts, the whole is covered 

 with straw or stalks sufficient to protect 

 from freezing. By opening the trench at 

 the lower end, any quantity desired may be 

 taken out at any time, with little trouble. 



Potatoes. — The war against the Potato- 

 beetles should be continued " to the bitter 

 end." It is a mistake to suppose that these , 

 pests cannot do any more damage after the 

 vines have reached full growth. The action 

 of the leaves is as necessary for the growth 

 of the tubers of the Potato-plant as are the 

 leaves of a tree to the maturing of its fruits. 

 But another and, perhaps, more serious evil 

 results from igiioring the late broods of the 

 beetle. The bugs which infest the latest 

 crops, if not destroyed, winter in the ground 

 near by, and will be ready to devour next 

 year's crop as soon as it appears above- 

 ground. 



Squashes. — Much disappointment in keep- 

 ing Squashes is caused by leaving them too 

 long on the vines. The slightest frost injures 

 their keeping quality. They should be gath- 

 ered on a dry day, handled with care, and 

 kept on shelves in a dry place, where the tem- 

 perature does not fall below forty nor rise 

 above fifty degrees. 



AUTUMN GARDENING, 



In the spring there is no trouble about 

 knowing what seeds to plant in the garden, 

 but when it is midsummer, and some of the 

 earlier things are gone, and vacant spots 

 appear, then it is more difficult to tell just 

 what to put into the ground. The growing sea- 

 son is so well over we must make close calcu- 

 lation, or the seed and labor will be lost. 

 Where a cow or a pig is kept, one can hardly 

 go amiss in planting, but for the table there 

 must be time to mature. Corn will not grow 

 well after the hot weather is past, and so we 

 must get this in in time for not less than 

 sixty days of warm weather. We cannot de- 

 pend on even the earliest varieties. After 

 the middle of July, Early China and Butter 

 Beans will mature, if we have to wait till 

 nearly, if not quite up to, the first of August. 

 Early Peas, the dwarf varieties, especially, 

 will fill with two months of growth, and not 

 mind frosts — nothing short of a freeze-up. 

 Turnips of the strap-leaf sorts may be planted 

 any time, and they will keep on growing till 

 the winter comes. Turnips sown the first of 

 September, in rich ground,, will have nice 

 bottoms, and they will be tender and crisp, 

 more so than if started earlier. 



After September, we must look forward to 

 the next year, and busy ourselves in the gar- 

 den getting ready. The vacant spots may be 

 spaded up so that Jack Frost can do his work 

 more effectually, and pulverize the groundbet- 

 ter. Ambitious weeds will start to grow, and 

 so the next spring there will be less of them to 

 contend with, and the ground will be light and 

 mellow, and with little labor may be fitted to 

 new seeding. The first of November, a bed 

 may be prepared, and Lettuce sown, which 

 will start the first thing in spring ; and Peas 

 can be put in, which will give them an early 

 growth, as they are hardy, and sprout as the 

 frost leaves the ground. No doubt, Onion 

 seed could be planted in the fall, and so help 

 in the busy spring to get a better start. An 

 Asparagus bed may be prepared in October, 

 and the seed put in as well as in the 

 spring, and better, as the action of the frost 

 will cause the seeds to germinate quicker, 

 and the young plants will get ahead of the 

 weeds, when, if planted in the spring, the 

 weeds would be far ahead of them. If the 

 rows are marked, as they should be, the 

 weeds may be kept under in the spring in 

 both the Asparagus and Onion beds. If 

 weeds should start before the planted seed, 

 they can easily be kept down by scratching 

 the ground with a garden rake, or going 

 over the surface with a hoe. 



Farmers are learning to plow as much 

 as possible in the fall to expedite the 

 work of spring, and so gardeners should 

 prepare the garden, as much as is wise, 

 in the autumn. The Asparagus bed should 

 be spaded deeply, and plenty of manure 

 put in, and the seeds scattered in rows 

 a foot and a half apart. The plants will 

 grow in bunches or tussocks, and the farther 

 they are apart the larger the stems will be. 

 Roots maybe obtained and also planted in the 

 fall ; a slight mulch should be thrown over 

 i them, to keep the frost from heaving them 

 ! out. Roots will furnish an earlier supply for 

 the table than when the bed is started from 

 the seed. 



Rhubarb roots may be planted now, and 

 will thus make an earlier start in spring. 

 They should have a light protection during 

 winter. 



THE POTATO EOT, 



There is probably no disease of cultivated 

 plants that has caused so much suffering to 

 the human family as the "wet rot" in Pota- 

 toes. This disease occurred in a most violent 

 form in 1842, and again in 1845, when it 

 spread over a great part of the United States, 

 Great Britain, Ireland, and portions of Cen- 

 tral Europe, causing a partial or entire de- 

 struction of the Potato crop, and with it an 

 untold amount of suffering to those people 

 who rely largely upon the Potato for their 

 daily food. 



It has been known to botanists for thirty 

 years that the Potato rot is caused by the 

 growth of a microscopic fungus, known to 

 science as Peronospora. infestans. It is 

 a near relative of a number of para- 

 sitic fungi of the same genus, which prey 

 upon other agricultural plants, such as the 

 Grape mildew, P. riticola, Lettuce mildew, 

 /'. gangUformis, etc. This fungus first mani- 

 fests its presence as a frost-like covering on 

 the under side of the foliage of the Potato 

 plant, soon causing the leaves to curl ; and 

 so rapid is its destructive work at times, that 



| in a few hours the green and vigorous vines 

 are changed into a brown mass of decaying 

 vegetation. Next after the leaves, the stems 

 are attacked, and from them the disease 

 passes down to the tubers, where it does its 

 greatest work of destruction. 



The fungus consists of a number of very 

 fine threads, which grow in all directions 

 through the tissue of the tuber, and, absorb- 

 ing nutriment for its growth from the tuber, 

 it induces a decay that is rapid in its work, 

 producing a worthless and disgusting mass 

 of rotten vegetable matter. As a general 



j thing, the disease is of a milder type, and 

 only a few leaves or a few plants may at first 

 be attacked, from which, if left alone, the 

 rot spreads until the whole field is more or 

 less affected. 



The rot makes its appearance from the first 

 to the middle of August, and is always asso- 

 ciated with rains ; that which is called 

 " muggy " weather being the most favorable 

 for its development. 



In midsummer, the farmer should be on the 

 watch for the brown spots on the leaves, and, 

 as soon as found, the crop should be har- 

 vested ; any delay will allow the fungus time 

 to spread to the stems, and from them down 

 to the tubers, and then, should there be a 

 damp spell, the Potatoes are quite sure to 

 rot. After digging, the Potatoes should be 

 placed in a cool and dry place, thus sur- 

 rounding them with conditions the most un- 

 favorable for the further growth of the fungus 

 that may be already present in the substance 

 of the tubers. 



With a knowledge of the time of year the 

 fungus makes its attack, it is evident that, by 

 growing quick-ripening varieties and plant- 

 ing them early, the crop may be gathered be- 

 fore the time for the rot to come. On this 

 account, in particular, the growing of early 

 sorts is recommended. 



As a precaution against the propagation 

 and spread of the fungus, the vines of all 

 the Potatoes should be gathered after dig- 

 ging and burned, thus destroying many mill- 

 ions of minute spores that would otherwise 

 remain to cause further trouble. Any tubers 

 that are at all affected should be thrown out, 

 and either fed to stock or burned. The stor- 

 ing of one such Potato may communicate the 

 rot to the whole bin. 



