114 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[August, 



SEASONABLE HINTS, 



A good gardener will keep his ground 

 under tillage through the entire season, if 

 for no other reason than to prevent weeds 

 from going to seed. There are many crops 

 which may still "be sown and yield profitable 

 crops. 



Bush Beans for using fresh may he sown 

 up to the end of the month. If sown early 

 in August and proper care is given they will 

 ripen before frost, and may be preserved for 

 winter use, or sold. There is no more nour- 

 ishing and easier grown vegetable than 

 Beans, yet in most gardens there is seldom 

 more than one planting made. 



Sweet i "orn. — Darlings, Dolly Dutton, Early 

 Minnesota, and other early varieties, if 

 planted now, will still produce "roasting 

 ears," unless unusually early frosts should 

 occur. It is well worth running a little risk, 

 and even if the stalks should become nipped 

 by frost, there can be no great loss, as they 

 can be fed to cattle, or may be used for 

 covering Strawberry and other plants. 



Peas, to give satisfaction in hot weather, 

 have to be planted deep, about six inches. 

 They should be covered but three inches 

 at first, and have the soil drawn toward 

 them as they grow, until the furrow is en- 

 tirely level. 



Onions should be gathered as soon as the 

 tops fall down and the roots begin to shrivel. 

 They should then be raked in winrows and 

 left a week or two to cure. When dry, the 

 tops should be cut off about one inch from 

 the bulb and the Onions spread thinly over 

 the floor of an out-building, where they are 

 to be turned over occasionally. Treated in 

 this way they keep better than when left in 

 the ground till fall. 



Late Cabbages, for winter use, may still be 

 planted. Ground that has been well man- 

 ured in spring, and from which early Potatoes, 

 Peas, Beets, or other vegetables have been 

 removed, is in the very best condition for a 

 good crop of Late Cabbages. A top-dressing 

 of some good, concentrated fertilizer, raked 

 in before planting, will give the young plants 

 a vigorous start. If a moist or cloudy day 

 can be selected for planting, so much the 

 better. If not, it is best to set the plants out 

 toward evening. The long tap-roots should 

 be shortened in and the soil pressed firmly 

 around the newly set plants, so that each 

 plant is fastened so firmly, that, when the 

 edge of one of the leaves is taken hold of by 

 the thumb and finger, the piece of leaf would 

 be torn off before the plant could be pulled 

 out of place. 



Saving Seeds. — Many of our best varieties 

 of vegetables were produced by careful and 

 continued selection. Every one who has a 

 garden may improve his stock from year to 

 year so that it will become better than any 

 that can be bought. It is a poor plan to sell 

 or use all the best and save for seed what is 

 left. It is like ' ' selling the goose that lays 

 the golden eggs." The earliest and best 

 should always be saved for seed, by marking 

 off a part of each row from which no one 

 should be allowed to pick until the seed is 

 selected. It is better to plant separate plats 

 for seed-beds than to sow what is not good 

 enough to eat. 



OUR PREMIUM PEAS. 



The American Bacer Pea offered as one of 

 j our premiums this year seems to have given 

 general satisfaction. All the reports received 

 so far speak of its great productiveness and 

 excellent quality. 



Mr. Horace C. French writes from Western 

 New York: "As you requested a report on 

 the American Racer Pea, I send my experi- 

 ence with it, and the American Wonder, so 

 you can better judge of the former by the 

 latter. Both were planted in ordinary garden 

 soil, with no fertilizer, save a little stable 

 manure, and with ordinary amateur culture, 

 which, as you are probably aware, is gener- 

 ally not the best. 



"Both were planted on May 4th ; came up 

 on May 1 8th. The Wonder was in blossom 

 June 16th; Racer, June 14th. The Wonder 

 has (at this date, July Sth) five to ten pods, 

 each containing seven to eight peas ; the 

 Racer has fourteen to twenty pods, contain- 

 ing seven peas. The Wonder is twelve inches 

 high ; the Racer, three and a half to four and 

 a half feet. The Wonder was through flower- 

 ing on July 7th, on which date the Racer was 

 still in flower and more coming. The first 

 mess was picked off the American Wonder 

 on the 4th of July, when the Racer had, also, 

 some large enough to eat. 



" The American Racer, commencing from 

 about the fourth whorl of leaves above the 

 ground, sends out a branch from each whorl, 

 on the end of which are two pods. These 

 vines seem to be growing yet, and as they 

 grow, new blossoms appear. From pres- 

 ent indications they will bear till killed by 

 frost. 



"The season was so backward, cold, and 

 wet, that both kinds grew slowly and came 

 to maturity with a degree of slowness that 

 agitated my anxious waiting, which latter 

 expression, I believe, intelligently expresses 

 my feelings upon the periods aforesaid." 



TURNIPS. 



The easiest grown and least expensive 

 vegetable for the garden as well as the farm 

 is the Turnip. It adapts itself to nearly all 

 soils and succeeds on clay as well as on light 

 loam. Hardly a farm can be found which 

 has not land admirably suited to its growth ; 

 many nooks and corners near the barn-yard, 

 which have received the washings and drain- 

 age from the manure-heap, are highly en- 

 riched and are in the best possible condi- 

 tion for successful cultivation. Land from 

 which early Potatoes, or other early sum- 

 mer crops have been taken will produce 

 a fine crop of Turnips, especially if it was 

 manured in spring ; if not, a light top-dress- 

 ing of fertilizers will produce the desired 

 results. 



Any of the Strap-Leaved or Globe varieties 

 may be sown up to the end of this month, 

 and every spot in the garden that is not 

 needed otherwise should, as soon as it be- 

 comes vacant, be sown with Turnips. The la- 

 bor and cost of seed is so inconsiderable that 

 even if there should be a larger crop than 

 can be used in the family or disposed of 

 otherwise, they are worth more than their 

 cost as green manure if left in the ground. 



Rata Bagas require more care and better 

 cultivation. They have to be planted in 

 drills and kept thinned out and cultivated 

 carefully, and have to be sown not later than 

 the first of August. 



THE WHITE HORTICULTURAL BEAN. 



To my article some time since, in The 

 Garden, upon White Beans, I want to make 

 the addendum of a white variety of the 

 Horticultural Pole Bean, which has lately 

 come to my notice. The Horticultural has 

 long been a favorite garden Bean in New 

 England, and, notwithstanding its color, is 

 used in many families as a baking Bean. 

 The white variety will be welcomed, there- 

 fore, as an improvement for that purpose. 

 It is as great an advance on the speckled 

 Horticultural as that was on the old red 

 Cranberry Bean. 



Dr. T. H. Hoskins. 



CORN CULTURE IN GARDENS. 



We have often urged the planting in drills 

 of all vegetables grown in the garden, as not 

 only more economical but easier. Many 

 have adopted this plan within latter years, 

 but with Corn the old prejudice holds on 

 more tenaciously than with other vegetables, 

 in relation to which the Germantown Tele- 

 graph says: 



"In field-culture Corn is planted in hills. 

 Some have tried growing it in lines or drills, 

 and have obtained more Corn. There is not 

 the same chance for three or four plants 

 feeding together in one hill that there is for 

 a single plant alone, and with nothing nearer 

 to it than a foot or so. Three plants a foot 

 apart will give more Corn than three plants 

 in one hill, three feet from another hill. This 

 is not only reasonable, but it has been veri- 

 fied by actual facts. But the increase crop 

 does not pay. The horse-hoe cannot work 

 but one way when the Corn is in drills, and 

 then the horse has to be idle in the stable 

 while the driver takes the slow hand-hoe to 

 clean out the weeds in the row. But the 

 field-practice — proper enough in the field- 

 has been carried to the garden, and Sweet 

 Corn for the table is treated just as if it were 

 a field-crop. In gardens where hand-labor is 

 exclusively used, there is no reason what- 

 ever for growing Corn in hills. One can 

 have better Sweet Corn by sowing in rows 

 than in hills, while the labor is in nowise 

 any more. -\ 



' ' To insure a constant supply of Sweet Corn 

 for the table, there should be several differ- 

 ent plantings through the season. The first 

 planting (of dry seed) should be made not 

 earlier than the 20th of April ; the next 

 planting ten days after, and then follow 

 other plantings, from ten to twelve days 

 apart. These plantings will afford a daily 

 supply of the most delicious of all vegeta- 

 bles set upon a table, up toward the end of 

 October, or until sharp frost intervenes. 



" Some weeks ago we referred to a method 

 communicated to us by Judge Miller, of Mis- 

 souri, anoted horticulturist and nurseryman, 

 of obtaining corn for the table a full week 

 earlier than by the ordinary way. This was, 

 that, as soon as the ear was formed, to break 

 down the top, but leaving it sufficiently erect 

 that the pollen of the tassel may dust the 

 silk of the ears, as they may not be fully im- 

 pregnated should the stalk be topped and 

 the tassel be removed. Repeated experi- 

 ments made had convinced him of its real 

 value, and we mention the matter again in 

 order — as the time is near at hand when the 

 experiment may be tested — to recall atten- 

 tion to it and reap whatever advantage there 

 may be in it." 



