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MARKET GARDENING AROUND NEW YORK. 



During the past twelve or fourteen years 

 there have been many and marked changes 

 brought about in the business of market gar- 

 dening in the vicinity of New York and other 

 large northern cities. Up to the date of the 

 closing of our late civil war the bulk of all the 

 perishable vegetables and fruits consumed in 

 these large centers of population in the north 

 and west were grown by gardeners who were 

 located within short distances of these distrib- 

 uting points. The vegetables and fruits raised 

 on an extensive scale by northern gardeners 

 prior to 1866, would include Early Cabbages, 

 Lettuce, Tomatoes, Onions, Beets, Peas, Beans, 

 Celery, Horse-radish, Radishes, Cucumbers, 

 and Early Potatoes. These, with the small 

 fruits, constituted two large and lucrative 

 branches of gardening which, of late years, 

 have been seriously broken into by gardening 

 in the south, where land and labor is cheap, 

 and with the advantages of climate and cheap 

 and reliable facilities of transportation, gives 

 southern gardeners advantages against which, 

 on many of the vegetables named, the northern 

 gardener cannot compete. Under these cir- 

 cumstances the cultivation of many of these 

 has been entirely given up because they cannot 

 be raised with profit. 



In order to give a clearer idea of the changes 

 southern gardening has brought about I will 

 state that previous to the war the Tomato was 

 grown extensively and with large profit by 

 professional market gardeners. The plan in 

 general practice at that time was to sow the 

 Tomato seed in a hot-bed early in February. 

 These young plants were re-set in other beds, 

 prepared for them, twice before planting in the 

 open ground early in May, and by this time 

 they were stocky and the bulk of them ready 

 to bloom, The first ripe Tomatoes would reach 

 market in July and they would sell freely at 

 from four to five dollars a basket. These prices 

 would slowly but gradually drop from week to 

 week, until towards the close of the season, and 

 when the price fell below fifty cents, the mar-_ 

 ket gardener would stop picking. Things are 

 very different now. Ripe Tomatoes raised in 

 Florida and South Carolina reach our northern 

 markets in June and those from Norfolk. Vir- 

 ginia, -a month later, and when those grown in 

 the vicinity of New York are marketable the 

 prices have dropped to fifty cents a basket and 

 half of that sum is usually the prevailing price 

 unless in such instances as last summer when 

 everything was burned up by the long pro- 

 tracted drought. This is a fair sample of the 

 kind of changes southern gardening has brought 

 about during the last few years, changing the 

 whole system and leaving the margins of profit 

 much less than they formerly were, even with 

 the crops which are still grown on a large scale 

 by northern market gardeners. 



Among these, and in fact the leading one, 

 is early Cabbage. The seed for this crop is 

 sown in the open ground in the beginning of 

 September, and the young plants are planted 

 in frames early in November, where they are 

 protected by sashes during the winter months. 



In the spring, when the ground is dry enough 

 to be worked it is heavily manured, with not less 

 than one hundred two-horse loads of well rotted 

 manure to the acre, and very often a third 

 more loads are used. This manure is plowed 

 under and the surface leveled and made 

 smooth. The Cabbage plants are then set out 

 in rows two feet apart and eighteen inches 

 apart in the row. 



Then there is a row of Lettuce set out be- 

 tween each two rows of Cabbages. The Let- 

 tuce plants are set a foot apart in the row ; of 

 course these are kept in frames through the 

 winter. The work from the time of planting 

 until the crops are matured is done with hand 

 hoes. 



The Lettuce is marketed in June and the 

 Cabbage in July. The ground is plowed just 

 as soon as the Cabbage crop is taken off, giv- 

 ing it a top dressing of guano or superphos- 

 phate of lime, at the rate of half a ton to the 

 acre, and then smoothed off and planted with 

 Celery. These are planted in rows from two 

 and a half to three feet apart, and the plants 

 in the rows from five to six inches. 



Through the months of August and Septem- 

 ber, at intervals of ten or twelve days, a horse 

 cultivator is run between these rows of Celery, 

 and when necessary the plants in the rows are 

 gone through with hand hoes, often enough to 

 keep the ground loose and free from weeds. 

 Later in the season, say the first of October, 

 gardeners begin to draw the soil towards the 

 Celery to start the process of bleaching. This 

 is continued until the close of the growing sea- 

 son, when the Celery is stored in narrow 

 trenches for winter use. 



Before southern competition began it was 

 not an unusual thing to get $1,000 gross re- 

 ceipts from an acre of ground planted in the 

 way described. But of late years the profits 

 on these crops have been cut down materially 

 because large quantities of early Cabbages are 

 shipped to New York and other northern mar- 

 kets, from the south, in advance of the ripen- 

 ing of our crop. The same is true with Peas, 

 Beans and Cucumbers. Northern markets are 

 abundantly supplied with these, weeks before 

 the crop here is ready for sale, so that fancy 

 prices for the vegetables named, grown north, 

 are a thing of the past. P. T. Quinn. 



THE ONION SMUT, 



The Onion is one of the leading crops in 

 many localities in the eastern states and in 

 some of them the culture of this vegetable, has — 

 within the last ten years, greatly diminished, 

 and has even been abandoned because of the de- 

 structive prevalence of the Onion Smut. This 

 pest is closely related to the Corn Smut, and 

 makes its appearance upon the Onions while 

 they are quite small. The smut plant in its 

 early stages of growth consists of a multitude 

 of small filaments or threads collected in knobby 

 masses within the tissue of the Onion bidb and 

 narrow parts of the leaves just above the bulb. 

 A little later the epidermis or skin of the leaves 

 bursts open and a vast number of dark brown 

 particles of dust are found, which are the spores 

 of the fungus. The Onion is still small when 

 the spores are produced and it seldom contin- 

 ues to grow. 



It is thought by those who have investigated 

 the trouble that the smut has come from the 

 wild Onion or Garlic, and this suggests as a 

 precaution that all of the wild Onions should 

 be destroyed. When the smut plant has per- 

 fected itself and ripened its myriads of spores, 

 the soil becomes more or less charged with 

 these seeds, and spores are seeds as far as their 

 functions are concerned, of a destructive pest, 

 and give truth to the expression often heard 

 among afflicted Onion growers, that "the dis- 

 ease is in the ground." A remedy is always 

 the desired thing when there is any disorder. 

 If the spores have already infested the ground 

 they must be destroyed. The best way to do 



this is to cease growing Onions on that land 

 for a term of years sufficient to exhaust the 

 vitality of the dormant smut spores. Put 

 other crops on the land and after about six 

 years it will be safe to try Onions again. 



The Onion smut is still somewhat limited in 

 its range and every precaution should be taken 

 to keep the pest from getting widespread. 

 Great care should be exercised in not taking 

 seed from a smutty locality. The spores being 

 very small they may cling to the rough surface 

 of the Onion seed and be sown with it. As a 

 precaution soak the seed, that the water may 

 remove, as it will, many of the adhering spores. 



Onions grown from sets are not so much 

 troubled with the smut as those from the seed, 

 j It is probable that the tender substance of the 

 young seedling offers much more favorable 

 conditions for a successful growth. It is a 

 fact (if general application that the stronger 

 (and it would seem as if even young Onions 

 were strong enough) the plant, the more vig- 

 orous its growth the less liable is it to attacks 

 from fungi. Dr. Byron D. Halsted. 



KEEPING POTATOES. 



When very large quantities of Potatoes have 

 to be stored for a short time or even during the 

 entire winter, out-door pits may be resorted to, 

 but for convenience of handling and the facility 

 with which they are accessible at any season, a 

 good cellar is worth more than the best of pits. 

 A Potato cellar should be so constructed that 

 the floor is entirely dry at all times, that frost 

 and light can be excluded completely and that 

 perfect ventilation of every part can be given 

 rapidly, sufficient to keep the air pure and the 

 temperature as low as possible without falling 

 below the freezing point. Although Potatoes 

 do not become spoiled by a few degrees of cold, 

 especially when they are dry, their eating qual- 

 ity as well as their germinating power do cer- 

 tainly deteriorate when exp< >sed to a tempera- 

 ture below 30 degrees. In cellars not entirely 

 frost proof the heaps should be covered com- 

 pletely with old carpets or matting and these 

 with six inches of straw or hay. Such a pro- 

 tection will afford safety against almost any 

 amount of cold possible in a cellar. When the 

 weather becomes warmer, the windows and 

 doors should be kept closed in day time and 

 opened during night. 



FORCING RHUBARB, 



At any time during winter, when the ground 

 is not too much frozen, a few (lumps may be 

 lifted — taking care not to injure the roots more 

 than is unavoidable — and moved with as much 

 soil as can be made t o adhere, to the warmest 

 part of the cellar-floor, underneath a window 

 if feasible. Fine soil should be shaken be- 

 tween and over all exposed roots, and the 

 whole covered with loose straw or hay. An 

 occasional sprinkling with tepid water, soon 

 forces the stalks into growth, which although 

 not as large as those grown out-doors, are more 

 delicate and furnish many a dainty dish, at a 

 season when no other fresh vegetables are ob- 

 tainahle. 



AMERICAN POTATOES IN EUROPE, 



Of the eight First Class Certificates awarded 

 for Potatoes, by the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety of England, six were given for American 

 varieties, viz. : Adirondack, Queen of the 

 Valley, Matchless, Vermont Champion, and 

 two unnamed Seedlings sent by B. K. Bliss & 

 Sons. Second class certificates were awarded 

 for White Elephant, St. Patrick and Trophy. 



