18 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[February, 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



With this month every forehanded gardener 

 will commence the season's work in earnest, 

 and those who have not already made ample 

 preparations should lose no time to do so. It 

 is surprising how much valuable time is lost 

 during the busy season, when "every hour 

 tells," in procuring requisites for the garden 

 which might as well, if not better and cheaper, 

 have been obtained during winter. Bean poles, 

 Pea brush, Tools, Seeds, are of this class, and 

 especially Fertilizers. When stable manure has 

 to be brought from outside the premises it is 

 best to procure it during winter when it may be 

 carted on the land without packing and cutting 

 up the soil. It should either be 

 thrown into a solid heap, to be 

 composted or forked over when- 

 ever it becomes heated, or be spread 

 directly upon the land. In the 

 latter case the fertility becomes 

 evenly distributed over the entire 

 surface and, unless the inclination 

 of the ground should be very 

 steep, no material loss can result. 

 The most wasteful way of apply- 

 ing manure is to dump it in little 

 heaps here and there, so as to 

 have it convenient for spreading 

 in spring. A large amount of 

 fertility becomes thus washed out 

 during winter and soaks in the 

 soil beneath, surcharging it with 

 nutriment, while of the heap, 

 which was intended to fertilize 

 the whole ground, there is little 

 more left than dry stalks and lit- 

 ter. The benefits of decomposi- 

 tion, derived from a great bulk of 

 manure are entirely lost in heaps 

 so small that they cannot become 

 warm enough to ferment. 



Cold Frames need particular 

 attention during this month. Air 

 must be given on every sunny 

 day. and when the temperature 

 rises a few degrees above the 

 freezing point, the sashes should 

 be removed altogether during day 

 time. Without this "hardening 

 off," as professionals call it, plants 

 grow tall and spindling and be- 

 come of little value. 



Hot-Beds are now considered 

 indispensable in every good vege- 

 table garden. The pleasure and 

 often profit derived from a hot-bed are certainly 

 worth many times its cost, and the labor be- 

 stowed upon it, In the latitude of New York 

 the best time for making a hot-bed is from the 

 middle to (lie end of February, or, to give a 

 rule which is applicable everywhere, six weeks 

 before it is thought safe to transplant Cabba- 

 ges, Cauliflowers. Lettuce, etc., in the open 

 ground. A few sashes and boards, and a load 

 or two of fresh horse manure is all that is re- 

 quired. For very early hot-beds, it is best to 

 dig a pit of the size of the frames and about 

 eighteen inches deep. This is filled with fresh 

 horse manure, and the boxes placed upon it. 

 Later in the season the manure may be placed 

 on the level ground, in which case more copi- 

 ous watering is required than with the exca- 

 vated beds, which retain moisture longer. 



THE MAYFLOWER TOMATO, 



Those who have seen the Tomato grown as a 

 garden vegetable only, to supply the wants of 

 the family, can hardly be aware of the impor- 

 tant position which it now occupies among 

 market crops. In some localities, in fact, it 

 rates in importance before any other product of 

 the soil. This is owing to the immense quanti- 

 ties used in the canning factories, amounting 

 in some establishments to over a million of 

 cans a year. 



The principal points to be desired in a To- 

 mato are earliness, firmness, good, uniform size 

 and shape, bright color, pure flavor, perfect 

 ripening, good keeping quality and produc- 

 tiveness. To unite all these in one variety has 

 been the aim of originators of new seedlings. 



The Mayflower is the latest competitor among 

 these claimants. It was raised by Mr. F. H. 



THE MAYKLOWER TOMATO 



Hosford of Vermont, and after several years' 

 trial considered superior, in several respects, to 

 any of the older kinds. It is very early, ripen- 

 ing but a few days later than Little Gem, and 

 averaging in size about one-third larger than 

 Acme. It is of a glossy, bright red color, 

 ripens evenly and completely up to the stem, is 

 perfectly smooth and almost globular, slightly 

 flattened ; flesh solid, with few seeds, and of a 

 rich pure flavor. Its productiveness and ship- 

 ping qualities are claimed not to be equaled 

 by any other variety. The Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Society, at its last exhibition, held in 

 connection with the American Pomological 

 meeting, awarded the first prize for the best new 

 Tomato to the Mayflower, which strengthened 

 our opinion of it, and induced us to offer it as a 

 premium to subscribers. 



COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



A knowledge of the most advantageous and 

 judicious modes of applying concentrated or 

 commercial fertilizers is as important as the 

 selection of the proper kinds. As usually ap- 

 plied a large portion of their fertility remains 

 unavailable or is lost altogether. 



There is always more or less loss in applying 

 fertilizers in their pure state, and far better 

 results are obtained by mixing them, a few 

 weeks before use, with four or five times their 

 bulk of dry muck or soil. Thus their particles 

 become more evenly divided and distributed 

 and less liable to injure the germs of seeds, 

 while at the same time their fertilizing proper- 

 ties become sooner available as plant food. 



To obtain the very best results from concen- 

 trated fertilizers, however, they should be used 

 in connection with stable manures, and not to 

 ' ' lengthen out " only as is usually 

 the case. They should be scat- 

 tered broadcast and harrowed in 

 on land which has previously 

 received a dressing of yard ma- 

 nure or they may be composted 

 with muck and stable manure, 

 worked over occasionally, and 

 then harrowed in or applied in 

 he hills. For gardening pur- 

 poses and- wherever fine seeds 

 are used this mode is especially 

 to be recommended. Numerous 

 experiments could be cited to 

 prove this truth. Those of our 

 esteemed neighbor, Mr. Lewis 

 leach, a practical farmer, and 

 areful experimenter, we have 

 r atched with considerable inter- 

 st. His experiments extend 

 irough a series of years, all 

 showing a decided gain from the 

 combined use of stable manure 

 and concentrated fertilizers. We 

 give below the average yield of 

 1880 and 1881, which, these sea- 

 sons having been exceedingly un- 

 favorable in this locality (West- 

 chester Co., N. Y.), falls rather 

 below the ordinary yield. 



The yard manure, in each case, 

 was spread on the land and plowed 

 under; the fertilizer was applied 

 in the hills at the time of plant- 

 ing and lightly covered with soil 

 before dropping the seed. 



The cost of the yard manure 

 as well as of the commercial fertil- 

 izer, labor of application included, 

 was. in each case, twenty dollars 

 per acre. 



Yield per acre without manure, 154 bushels. 

 Yield per acre with barnyard manure, 203 bushels. 

 Yield witli Mapes's complete manure, 253 bushels. 

 Yield with barnyard and Mapes's manure, 333 bushels. 



The Potatoes, at the time of digging, were 

 worth $1 per bushel, so that, after deducting 

 the cost of the manure, the profits per acre were : 



From yard manure alone, $29. 



From Mapes's complete manure alone, $81. 



From Yard manure and Mapes's combined, $139. 



In other words, the additional outlay of $20, 

 without more labor, produced in the latter 

 case, an additional 75 bushels of Potatoes, 

 yielding a net profit of $55. 



Results will, of course, vary with different 

 soils and seasons, but it is only through such 

 experiments, which can easily be made by every 

 one that we can learn the needs of our soil and 

 the requisites for its successful cultivation. 



