18 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The care of the growing crops, and plant- 

 ing and sowing of ground which has become 

 vacant by the removal of early Peas, Pota- 

 toes, etc., constitute the principal work in 

 the Vegetable Garden during the midsum- 

 mer months. 



All vacant spots should be filled with some 

 quick-growing vegetables, and most kinds 

 grow and mature much more rapidly now 

 than those sown in early spring. Turnips, 

 Beets, Beans, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Peas, 

 Corn, Carrots may be sown during July ; 

 almost anything is better than weeds going 



Celery. — The planting of this peerless win- 

 ter vegetable is one of the most important 

 operations of this season. With few other 

 crops has occurred such an entire revolution 

 in the modes of culture as in that of Celery. 

 The amount of labor and expense formerly 

 considered indispensable in its culture was 

 hardly less formidable than that of under- 

 draining a swamp. Now no more work and 

 outlay are deemed necessary than in raising 

 any other vegetable. 



It is not essential to apply an unlimited 

 quantity of manure and to have the soil teem- 

 ing with richness. Soil that will grow good 

 early Beets, Onions, or Cabbages will, when 

 properly prepared, produce full-sized stalks 

 of the best varieties. 



Celery is preeminently adapted for a 

 second crop. Ground which has been heavily 

 dressed with stable manure in spring, and 

 planted with early vegetables, is, after their 

 removal, in the very best condition for the 

 production of a good crop. Thorough plow- 

 ing or spading and fine mellowing of the 

 soil is, of course, all-important. 



The old method of digging deep trenches 

 to plant Celery in is now entirely out of use 

 with progressive gardeners, and unless the 

 soil is very rich, and deeper than in most 

 gardens, is detrimental rather than bene- 

 ficial, and retards the growth of the plants. 



The time of planting may be extended 

 through the entire month of July, and up to 

 the middle of August, even ; if a damp, 

 cloudy day can be chosen for the work, so 

 much the better. The rows should be 

 marked out with a line, not closer together 

 than three feet, and the plants set out six 

 inches apart. Before transplanting, one- 

 half of the tops and about one-third of the 

 roots of the plants should be trimmed off 

 with a sharp knife. They are then planted, 

 by means of a common dibble, not deeper 

 than they stood in the seed-bed. 



The hilling or bleaching should not be 

 commenced until the stalks have grown 

 about twelve inches high, previous to which 

 the ground has to be kept loose and free 

 from weeds. In banking up, all the leaves 

 and stalks should be held firmly together, so 

 as to prevent the soil from entering between 

 them, and covering the heart of the plant ; it 

 is also important to bear in mind that Celery 

 should never be earthed up when its leaves 

 are wet from rain or dew. 



Cucumbers, for pickling, should not be 

 planted before the latter part of June, and 

 the season may be extended during the begin- 

 ning and middle of July. Late-grown pickles 

 are firmer and more uniform than early ones. 



CAULIFLOWERS. 



Among the unsolved problems which still 

 puzzle the minds of the intelligent American 

 market-gardeners, stands prominently the 

 one how to succeed every year in raising 

 maximum crops of well-developed Cauli- 

 flowers. The practical and trained gardener 

 gives himself no trouble of mind about grow- 

 ing paying crops of early Cabbages, Lettuce, 

 Beets, or Onions with the present well-estab- 

 I lished practices now in common use. But 

 with Cauliflowers the matter is different. 

 They are capricious, becoming very respon- 

 sive to good treatment one year, while the 

 next year the crop, grown with the same care, 

 j results in failure. Very often, not more than 

 j fifty per cent, of the number planted will 

 j make large, compact heads. This uncertainty 

 i is not in consequence of any neglect or over- 

 sight in preparing the ground, nor in the 

 methods of cultivation, for I have known 

 I dozens of instances of failure where the 

 ground was rich and the culture thorough, 

 from planting-time to the close of the grow- 

 ing season. This serious and expensive 

 obstacle has been partially overcome, of late 

 yeai's, by the introduction of some newer 

 varieties, which are surer to head than the 

 older kinds under the same treatment. 



In growing Cabbages, one may get a fair 

 | crop with light manuring and indifferent cul- 



EARLY ERFURT CAULIFLOWER. 



tivation. But it is a waste of time and money 

 to risk this plan with Cauliflowers, no mat- 

 ter whether the old or newer varieties are 

 planted. To start right, the soil must be deep, 

 ■mellow, and rich. This will be the first step 

 toward insuring success in raising a crop of 

 full-sized Cauliflowers. 



For the fall crop, the seed is sown, in the 

 latitude of New York, from the first to the 

 fifteenth of May, in a seed-bed in the open 

 ground. The rows are usually a foot apart, 

 and the seed sown thickly and covered lightly. 

 When the young plants come through the sur- 

 face they are very frequently attacked by the 

 "black fly," and, unless these are checked, 

 they will destroy every plant. My ]dan is, 

 and has been for years, to soak some tobacco 

 stems in water, and add to this some soft- 

 soap and urine. With this mixture, diluted 

 with water, the plants are syringed early in 

 the morning, and then dusted with air- 

 slacked lime. One or two applications of 

 this mixture, in the way described, never 

 fail to save the plants. It is simple, and 

 not expensive. 



In former years, the varieties which were 

 generally grown included the Half-Early 

 Paris, Early Paris, Early London, and Wal- 

 cheren. Of late years, the Erfurt Early 

 Dwarf, Early Snowball, and the Algiers have 

 taken the place of those named first, and, on 

 my own farm, and wherever I have seen 



them growing, I have become thoroughly 

 satisfied that they are more reliable for a 

 crop. While they attain an equal size, they 

 are fully up to the standard in quality. In a 

 I lot of 3000 plants of the Algiers planted on 

 j my farm last year, over eighty-five per cent, 

 grew to full size and made large, firm, com- 

 pact heads, many of them measuring eight- 

 een inches in diameter. 



As mentioned before, to grow Cauliflowers 

 to full size, the soil must be rich and mellow. 

 We usually plant them on ground after early 

 Potatoes. The ground receives a liberal 

 I dressing of manure in the spring, at the time 

 j of planting the Potatoes. The Potatoes are 

 j dug and marketed early in July, after which 

 the ground is again manured, plowed, and 

 harrowed. The plants are then set out in 

 rows two and a half feet apart, and two 

 feet apart in the rows. They are planted 

 with the ordinary dibble, in precisely the 

 same way that Cabbage plants are set. Prom 

 this time on, the surface of the ground is 

 kept loose and free from weeds and grass — 

 in the open field by horse-tools, and in the 

 garden with the common hand-hoe. 



The time of planting Cauliflowers for fall 

 and early winter use, in the Middle and 

 Northern States, may be extended from the 

 end of June to the latter part of July, and 

 I even up to the first of August. As a matter 

 of course, common sense would dictate that 

 the plants should be set out when the weather 

 is cloudy and moist, and the soil damp. Cau- 

 liflower plants are not so hardy as Cabbage 

 plants, and will need a trifle more care when 

 set out in the garden or open field. Once 

 started, they will grow rank and thrifty. 

 When grown solely for home consumption, it 

 is the best plan to set part of the plants on 

 or before the first of July, and the balance a 

 couple or three weeks later. 



In the latter part of September, when the 

 heads are forming, they need some protection 

 from the hot sun. If left exposed, many of 

 them will ' ' button," as gardeners term it. A 

 simple, effective, and cheap method of avoid- 

 ing this is to go through the growing Cau- 

 liflowers, and, when there is a head forming, 

 turn a few of the long outside leaves over the 

 center or head. By doing this they will grow 

 compact, and become more sightly and valu- 

 able, either for home use or market purposes. 



The American Wonder Pea. — If there are 

 still any readers of The American Garden 

 who are doubting the wonderful productive- 

 ness of this remarkable variety, the follow- 

 ing, from a letter of a correspondent from 

 Santa Clara, California, may cause them to 

 modify their opinion : 



" Having seen it stated that the American 

 Wonder Pea had yielded as much as fifteen 

 pods to one vine, I looked at my Peas, and 

 selected a few single standing vines. I counted 

 the pods, including all that had dropped the 

 blossoms, filled and partly filled, and counted 

 on the first vine examined twenty-seven pods ; 

 on the second twenty-five ; on the third twen- 

 ty-nine ; and on the fourth thirty-five pods. 

 Two days afterward, I was in the patch 

 again, and counted on one vine forty-one 

 pods that were filled and hardening, partly 

 filled, or that had just dropped the blos- 

 soms. The peculiarity of this Pea seems 

 to be that it sends out a branch at every 

 joint or leaf-stalk, and on these the fruit 

 is borne." 



