162 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[November, 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Preparation for a good garden next year 

 should be made now, and no investment in 

 it will give better returns than the plowing 

 of the ground before it freezes up. By plow- 

 ing the land in narrow ridges, with deep 

 open furrows between them, so that the 

 surface water can drain off readily, the gar- 

 den will be in better and earlier working 

 order in spring. The alternate freezings and 

 thawings during winter will loosen and mel- 

 low the soil, enabling it to absorb much 

 fertilizing matter that would otherwise be 

 lost, and prepare it for a most favorable 

 seed-bed. 



Washing Vegetables. — It is often remarked 

 that vegetables bought in the market or 

 store are not as good when cooked as those 

 from one's own garden, and the only reason 

 for this inferiority is sought generally in 

 their not being so fresh. With Beans, Peas, 

 Corn, and other vegetables borne above 

 ground, want of freshness is certainly the 

 principal cause, but the flavor and sweet- 

 ness of root-crops is more damaged by wash- 

 ing any considerable time before use than 

 by anything else. Of course, it is not to be 

 supposed that any real gardener would 

 think of such a thing as washing Parsnips, 

 or any other roots, before storing them away 

 in the cellar ; but, as we knew at least one 

 "side-walk farmer'' who did so, and then 

 wondered why his Parsnips did not keep after 

 all the trouble he had taken with them, it 

 may not be out of place to say : Do not 

 wash vegetables until immediately before 

 preparing them for cooking. 



Cabbages do not suffer from light frosts, 

 ;ind should not be pulled before hard freez- 

 ing weather sets in. The method for keeping 

 Cabbages, usually recommended in books, 

 is to make narrow beds on dry ground, and 

 to place on these the Cabbages upside down, 

 close together. In this state they remain, 

 without covering, as long as the weather is 

 mild. Afterward they are covered with soil, 

 so that only the roots are visible, in which 

 condition they may be left until wanted, 

 adding, perhaps, an additional covering of 

 straw or hay during the coldest weather. 

 Immense quantities are stored in this way 

 by some market gardeners near New York, 

 but for some reason we have never had 

 much success with this method, and, finding 

 it also too laborious, with only a small quan- 

 tity for family use, have adopted a method 

 which gives entire satisfaction. 



About the middle of November, varying 

 according to the state of the season, the 

 Cabbages are pulled, or dug, better, preserv- 

 ing as many roots and as much soil attached 

 as possible, and are placed, heads up, closely 

 together in an outhouse, or under a shed, 

 protected from hard frosts, where they re- 

 main until severe cold weather sets in. They 

 are then removed to the coolest part of the 

 house-cellar, and planted close together in 

 loose, dry soil, kept there for this purpose. 

 Here they are easily accessible at any time, 

 and keep in perfect condition till spring. 



Cauliflower, Brussels-sprouts, and similar 

 vegetables, may be kept in the same manner 

 for a long time ; the latter especially will 

 continue to produce small heads. 



GARDEN EXPERIMENTS. 



The results of some of the experiments 

 made at the New York State Experiment 

 Station show conclusively that : 



The period required for the germination of 

 peas varies with the temperature of the soil ; 

 in other words, with the earliness of planting. 

 Those planted on April 4th and 5th required 

 for vegetation from twenty-three to twenty- 

 five days; while others, planted on May Gth, 

 required only from twelve to fourteen days. 

 The earlier plantings were fit for use in sev- 

 enty-seven days, the later in fifty-four days. 

 The period of ripening the seeds varied from 

 seventy-four to one hundred and nine days. 



The Earliest Cabbages, out of a list of 

 twenty-nine sorts, were Early Oxheart and 

 Nonpareil, the latter producing six heads in 

 thirteen plants, while the former produced 

 twenty -three heads out of twenty- seven 

 plants. 



The Mayflower Tomato (one of the Ameri- 

 can Garden Premiums) is considered a very 

 promising variety. Sown in a hot-bed April 

 7th, it vegetated April 12th, was trans- 

 planted into the garden May 29th, blos- 

 somed on June 16th, and furnished ripe 

 fruit August 8th, two days before the Early 

 Acme. These fruits measured three inches 

 in diameter, somewmat larger than the Acme, 

 and were nearly or quite as smooth. The 

 plants were very prolific. 



Potatoes raised from eyes cut large yielded 

 more and were of better quality than those 

 from eyes cut shallow. Single eyes cut deep 

 yielded one hundred and fifty-two bushels ; 

 ordinary cuts yielded one hundred and twen- 

 ty-seven bushels ; anS whole Potatoes yielded 

 eighty-three bushels of merchantable Pota- 

 toes per acre. 



PEPPERMINT. 



An out-of-the-way bush in some neglected 

 corner of the garden furnishes usually suffi- 

 cient Mint for flavoring of the few dishes 

 for which it is used. The commercial value 

 of Peppermint, however, for the distillation 

 of its oil, is much greater than is generally 

 supposed. Many hundred thousands of dol- 

 lars' worth of Peppermint oil is exported 

 annually, and its production forms a leading 

 farm-crop in some sections of our country. 



The plant thrives best in moist ground ; a 

 half-drained swamp, or moist bottom-lands, 

 with deep, mucky soil, are best adapted for 

 its growth. After plowing and dragging 

 thoroughly, the land is marked out with a 

 small plow 7 , as straight as possible, making 

 the furrows twenty inches or two feet apart, 

 and from three to four inches deep. The 

 roots which have been dug previously and 

 pulled apart are then strewn along these 

 furrows, so that they form nearly a con- 

 tinuous line. This work is generally done 

 by boys, a man following and covering the 

 roots with a hoe. 



Mint is usually planted in early spring; 

 but, where water does not stand on the land 

 all winter, it may be planted during autumn 

 as well. As soon as the shoots appear above 

 ground, the plants are carefully hoed, and 

 all weeds and grass thoroughly eradicated. 

 The horse cultivator is afterward passed 

 between the rows, followed by hand-hoeing, 

 two. or three times during the season, until 

 the latter part of summer, when the plants 

 will have covered the entire ground. 



The crop is harvested by mowing all close 



to the ground when the plants are in bloom. 

 It is then dried and distilled. During the 

 two following years, which is about as long 

 as Mint fields are kept without replanting, 

 no cultivation whatever is given. 



To obtain the oil, steam is passed through 

 the herb in tight tubs. The steam extracts 

 the oil, which is afterward condensed by 

 cooling. 



REDUCING BONES. 



Manure is the life of gardening, and no 

 one need expect to succeed without apply- 

 ing yearly a good coat of manure. Stable 

 manure is best, but cannot be procured at 

 all times in sufficient quantity, and it is im- 

 portant to turn everything into manure that 

 can be made available. 



Being situated so that I could not get 

 much manure, I had all the bones that accu- 

 mulated about the house collected and stored 

 in barrels. In the fall and winter, when 

 beeves and hogs are killed, is the time to 

 save bones. When cold weather set in, and 

 we had large fires, ashes were put in alter- 

 nate layers with the bones — the bulk of 

 ashes were three times as large as the bones. 

 This was kept moist with soap-suds and 

 chamber lye, and when the barrels were 

 j dumped next spring all the bones were 

 I found soft and powdery. 



The process, though sure, was too slow, 

 and as I did not have ashes early enough 

 in sufficient quantities to reduce bones last 

 fall, I stored away all the bones I could get 

 in barrels, and in the spring, when I had 

 plenty of strong ashes, I boiled them in lye. 

 The ashes were put in a hopper made of 

 boards, standing in a trough and flared at 

 the top, making it like an inverted house- 

 top. The ashes were firmed down, first put- 

 ting straw or husk at the bottom ; water 

 was poured on these ashes until a sufficient 

 quantity of lye was obtained. A kettle was 

 filled with bones, lye poured in until full, 

 and kept boiling until the boi^s were boiled 

 to dust. This is a slow way of getting man- 

 ure, but it costs nothing but labor where 

 one burns wood. 



In the last kettleful I boiled the lye was 

 rather weak, and did not reduce the bones 

 entirely, but softened them so that chickens 

 could eat them. This kettle was stored in 

 the poultry house, and by midsummer the 

 hens had eaten the bones all up, in conse- 

 quence of which I had eggs when my neigh- 

 bors had none. Thos. D. Baird. 



CLEANING ONION SEED. 



In answer to several inquiries about this 

 subject, J. H. H. gives, in the Country Gen- 

 tleman, the following directions : 



" To thresh Onion seed clean, it must be 

 very dry. Put it out in the sun on canvas 

 sheets until it crumbles easily in the hand ; 

 then thresh with an ordinary flail ; run through 

 the fanning-mill slowly on suitable sieves, 

 then take the seed and pour it into a barrel 

 or tub of water, stirring it slowly, so that all 

 the good seeds sink. Let it settle, and then 

 pour off the water and light seeds ; drain the 

 water out of what seed is in the barrel as 

 soon as possible, and spread out thin on 

 sheets to dry, stirring it frequently. It 

 should be done on a clear day, as it is liable 

 to sprout. By this method nothing but the 

 best quality of seed is secured." 



