146 



[October, 



(1© YefetaHt §«!«. i 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



No time should be lost now to secure all 

 tender crops and to bring vegetables for 

 winter storage into safety. 



Beets and Carrots lose much of their 

 sweetness and flavor, if not also their 

 keeping quality, when exposed to freezing, 

 and should, therefore, be harvested before 

 heavy frosts threaten. 



Parsnips and Salsify are not injured by 

 frost, yet a light covering of some mulch will 

 prove beneficial during severe winters, 

 especially when the ground is not covered 

 with snow. A sufficient quantity of roots 

 for winter use should be dug and heeled-in 

 in a cool cellar before the ground freezes 

 permanently. 



Tomatoes may easily be protected from 

 early frosts, which generally occur at the 

 beginning of this month, by covering the 

 bushes with sheets or straw during cold 

 nights. After the cold snap is over they will 

 continue to bear for two or three weeks 

 longer. It is also a good plan to pull out a I 

 few plants and hang them up in a cellar ; 

 the Tomato season may thus be prolonged 

 considerably. Last autumn we dug up a 

 bush carefully, so as to retain as many roots 

 and injure the vines as little as possible, 

 and planted it in the ground of a cold green- 

 house, where it was watered occasionally. 

 At first it wilted considerably, but revived 

 somewhat after a few days, and ripened its 

 fruit for more than a month. 



Lima Beans, almost as good as fresh, may 

 be had all winter, by drying them before 

 ripe and before being touched by frost. 

 The dried, green beans are far superior to 

 ripe white ones. They should be gathered 

 and shelled when nearly full grown, and 

 before they turn white, spread upon paper 

 or sheets in a warm, dry, airy place, but not 

 where they are exposed to the direct mid- 

 day sun. If turned frequently, they will, in 

 a few days, become dry enough for putting 

 away for winter. 



Asparagus may be planted now as well as 

 in spring, and on dry ground, fall planting, 

 if carefully done, is to be preferred. On 

 heavy or wet soils, however, spring planting 

 is safer. Asparagus needs rich soil for its 

 best development, but to plant it on a bed 

 of manure, as is not unfrequeutly done, is a 

 sure way of killing it ; nor should the 

 newly set roots be covered with fresh horse- 

 manure. Leaves, straw, or cornstalks make 

 a suitable mulch. 



Celery. — The main stock for wintering 

 should now be hilled up lightly, but only 

 as much as may be wanted for early use 

 should be banked up sufficiently for bleach- 

 ing. The most frequent cause of Celery not 

 keeping through winter is banking it up too 

 early. Care must be taken not to let soil 

 come between the stalks, nor to handle 

 them while they are wet. 



Rhubarb may be divided and planted now. 

 The ground should be rich and light, and to 

 obtain satisfactory results the plants must 

 not be planted nearer together than three j 

 feet. Old clumps do not produce as fine 

 stalks as young plants; the roots should, 

 therefore, be taken up every three or four 

 years, divided, and re-planted. 



FARM GARDENS. 



The Kirby Homestead field-garden was 

 such a success this season that I want to 

 say more about the system, to encourage 

 farmers to adopt it. There is nothing more 

 desirable, in a farm-house where there are 

 hungry men and boys, than a bountiful table. 



The ' old-fashioned way of planting vege- 

 tables in beds involves so much work, and 

 the keeping them clean necessitates so much 

 hand-labor, that the supply is generally 

 very meager. There is nothing more irk- 

 some for boys than pulling weeds with their 

 fingers, and we never knew a man to liks 

 this kind of work. 



In the little pent-up spots which have 

 been used for gardens for generations, there 

 is no room for more extensive cultivation. 

 Many of them are so small, that the ground 

 has to be prepared, in the first place, with a 

 spade, and the work coming after done by 

 hand. This makes the few vegetables which 

 may be raised really cost more than they 

 are worth : and then the caring for them 

 comes in a busy time, when the farm-work 

 is pressing, and they are apt to be neglected. 

 This neglect is the opportunity for the 

 weeds, which they always improve, and the 

 result is that garden-spots become so foul 



YELLOW GLOBE MANGEL-WURZEL. 



that it is almost impossible to keep the 

 weeds down. 



For these reasons our old garden has been 

 set with fruit-trees, and small fruits and the 

 vegetables are raised in the field. Three 

 days' work hoeing have kept this half-acre 

 of garden in fine order. An hour with a 

 horse and cultivator will kill all the weeds 

 between the rows, and make the ground 

 sufficiently mellow. Nobody objects to this 

 kind of garden-work, as it is not tedious 

 nor back-aching. It is a fact, also, that 

 vegetables will grow much faster on the 

 open rows, where there is plenty of sun- 

 shine, and where the ground can be kept in 

 the light and porous condition the cultivator 

 makes it. 



The cultivator should be run through the 

 rows every few days, as frequent stirring of 

 the ground in this manner will cause the 

 plants to grow much more rapidly. This 

 work is more important in a dry time. 



As soon as the vegetables in any row are 

 used up, the whole space may be utilized for 

 Swedes, or Flat Turnips, according to the 

 season. No extra work is required, except 

 putting in the seeds. All of the open or 

 vacant space between the rows may be sown 

 with Turnips, which will come on after the 

 other vegetables are ripe, and not interfere 

 with their growth. 



It is wonderful what an amount of food 

 can be produced, and at such a little cost, 

 ! on a field garden. In the manner we have 

 described, a bountiful supply of Turnips can 

 be grown. The seed may be sown broad- 

 east, and covered up with a garden rake — 

 or, if scattered before a shower, the rain 

 will work it in sufficiently. A bunch of 

 brush drawn over the ground will also cover 

 Turnip-seed deep enough. This is so little 

 work that it is best not to wait for the rain 

 to do it. Tiirnip-seed may be sown as late 

 as the middle of August, and the Turnips 

 will grow large enough for table use. The 

 smaller and quickly grown roots are always 

 much better than larger ones which have 

 been growing a longer time. 



It is an excellent plan to plow the field- 

 garden in the fall, and re-plow it again in 

 the spring. If it can be plowed early enough 

 in the autumn to allow the weed-seed in the 

 ground to start, they will be out of the way 

 the coming season. If manure can be plowed 

 under in the beginning of autumn, it will be 

 well rotted and become incorporated with 

 the soil better. Coarse manure is un suited 

 to vegetables, but if plowed under in the 

 early part of the fall it will be all right by 

 spring. When this is not practicable, it is 

 best to compost the manure during winter. 



F. D. Curtis.' 



EXTERMINATING PURSLANE. 



This troublesome weed, commonly known 

 as " Pusley," possesses amazing vitality. 

 During wet or lowery weather, if Purslane 

 be pulled up, root and branch, and dropped 

 on the ground, upside down, the leaves and 

 steins will take root, and the plants will con- 

 tinue to grow almost as fast as if they had 

 not been rooted up. The plant is an annual, 

 but the young plants appear not so early in 

 the growing season as most other weeds. 

 The seeds are usually small, like little grains 

 '< of gun-powder. Every plant that is allowed 

 to grow unmolested until the seed has ma- 

 tured, will yield thousands of seeds, which 

 possess such vitality that they will remain in 

 the soil many successive years without any 

 injury to the germs ; then, as soon as these 

 little seeds are brought near the surface of 

 the ground, they will germinate, and the 

 young plants will cover the ground in a few 

 days. During very hot weather Purslane 

 will flourish with wonderful luxuriance. 



The only way to effect a thorough exter- 

 mination is to allow no plant to go to seed. 

 If no seed is produced for a few years, all the 

 seed that is in the soil will germinate dur- 

 ing hot weather, and the plants will die 

 before cold weather comes on. The true 

 way to manage this weed is to gather up the 

 plants after they have been pulled or hoed 

 up, throw them in a basket, and dump them 

 all in a heap, where they will soon decay. In 

 parts of the garden where there is an abun- 

 dance of this troublesome weed, let the 

 gardener go over the ground with a scuffle- 

 hoe, to root up every plant ; then, with a 

 hand-rake, gather them up and put them in 

 a basket. But, unless the gardener is exceed- 

 ingly diligent and watchful, a great many 

 strong and fruitful "Pusley" plants will 

 mature a bountiful crop of seed, and cast it 

 on the ground, and the tardy gardener will 

 congratulate himself that no seed has been 

 produced. S. E. T. 



