1882.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



171 



followed hereafter, is to attach a garden-hose 

 to the force-pump at the kitchen door, with 

 a sprinkler attached. But the flooding 

 method was pursued this last summer with 

 good success. 



Lying west of the flower garden is a 

 newly made Currant and Gooseberry plan- 

 tation : one thousand bushes of the first, 

 one hundred of the last. These are in rows 

 of twenty-five each, four feet apart. To 

 irrigate these, the volume of water is al- 

 lowed to flow past the south end of the 

 flower garden, turning north at the corner 

 of the Currant rows, and running along their 

 eastern edge. Here the water, dammed at 

 convenient distances, fills up furrows thrown 

 up with a ten-inch plow, and flows off into 

 Plot 27 — an Alfalfa bed. 



When these are well watered, the dam is 

 removed and the current earned farther 

 north, where a large patch of over a hun- 

 dred rows of seed Onions are growing. 

 Here the ground is kept fairly level, though 

 there is a slight slope to the west. Rows 

 are made eighteen inches apart, and at 

 every tenth or twelfth row sectional dams 

 are made with earth, and the water runs 

 until it flows into and fills all the channels 

 made in the rows ; then the first dam is re- 

 moved and the process repeated, section by 

 section, until the bed is all irrigated, the 

 surplus water going into the Alfalfa patch. 



Plot 24 contains rows of winter Cauli- 

 flowers and Cabbage, and takes the water 

 next, the same method being pursued. It 

 then passes on until it reaches Plots 23 and 

 22, where Raspberry and Blackberry bushes 

 are set in rows. As these are as yet young 

 plants, the large space of ground they oc- 

 cupy has been utilized by planting Pickles 

 and Squashes between them, in a line with 

 the bushes, so that the water as it flows past 

 is made to do double duty. 



As has been noted, all the waste or over- 

 plus of water, from 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, 

 flows into the strip of Alfalfa on the western 

 side of the garden, which, from this cause, 

 generally gets moisture enough without any 

 further labor on the part of the gardener. 



The time and labor involved in thus irri- 

 gating a plot of four acres is neither long 

 nor tiresome. It is more in the nature of a 

 pleasure. In one day a thorough saturation 

 of the ground, sufficient for a week, can be 

 given. The only implement required is a 

 long-handled shovel to break and fill up 

 banks, check laterals, and guide the rapidly 

 running water into the furrows provided for 

 it. Through the season some rainfalls may 

 be counted on, so that two or three weeks 

 may pass without requiring irrigation. 



The profit in it all ? The expense ? 



Well, at Shadyside the most of the stuff 

 raised is for home consumption, and the 

 work, in greater part, done by the writer 

 during the hours that precede and follow 

 office work, which takes up the day between 

 the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The expense 

 for seeds is not very heavy. The amount of 

 produce raised in Plot 14 — the kitchen 

 garden proper — is far beyond the needs of 

 a family of seven, even in the appetite- 

 encouraging climate of Colorado. Of ber- 

 ries and small fruits there is a surfeit. The 

 east half of the garden is for the sole use of 

 the family, and nothing is sold, though 

 something given away to friends not so 

 fortunately situated for garden products. 

 The Currant plantation and the Onion patch 



are expected to yield a revenue ; the first in 

 the near future — the second, each year. 

 Two hundred bushels of choice, Yellow 

 Danvers can easily be raised on the plot of 

 ground allotted to the culture of this es- 

 culent, selling readily at from $1.25 to 

 $1.50 per bushel in October and Novem- 

 ' ber, and bringing $2 if kept until the fol- 

 lowing April. The one thousand Currant 

 bushes, two years hence, will yield at least 

 two quarts each of choice fruit, or two 

 thousand quarts ; the very lowest price for 

 these, even if wholesaled, will be 15 cents, 

 or $300. Later, and for years after, from six 

 to eight and ten quarts may be expected ; 

 when, even if the price falls to 10 cents per 

 quart, at least $600 worth of Currants can 

 be safely calculated upon in a country where 

 I the Currant-worm is unknown. 



In the spring we have found that the 

 I labor of one man for a month is required to 

 I prepare the ground, plant seeds, and dress 

 i up bushes. Through the summer, two hours 

 each night and morning, spent in the gar- 

 den, will — with the help of two boys, Willie, 

 fourteen years old, and Edgar, twelve years 

 old — keep the garden in good tillage, ex- 

 cept as to the Onions, if from seed ; if from 

 sets, no extra help is needed to keep the 

 patch cleanly cultivated, with the excellent 

 hand-cultivators now so generally used. In 

 all, two months of extra help, at $25 per 

 month and board, equivalent to $100 for 

 the season, enables us to keep Shadyside 

 measurably free from weeds, and in a fair 

 condition. 



OUR EXHIBITION TABLE. 



Moore's Early Grape. —A plate of large, 

 beautiful bundles of this variety, received from 

 J. B. Moore & Son, Concord, Mass., furnishes 

 convincing proof of its distinctness from Con- 

 cord. A bunch of the latter, grown iu the same 

 vineyard, and received at the same time, was not 

 nearly as ripe, and of but half the size. True, we 

 have seen better bunches of Concord, and there 

 were at the rime finer ones for sale in our markets 

 than the one from Captain Moore. Yet in coin- 

 pnring the best bunch of Concord we could find, 

 with Moore's Early, the berries of the latter were 

 still larger, sweeter, and of purer flavor. 



The Jessica Grape. — A bunch of this new 

 variety was received from Mr. D. TT. Beadle, St. 

 Catharine's, Ontario, who considers it the earliest 

 White Grape in cultivation. Its color is greenish 

 white, bunches and berries small, about the size 

 of Delaware, or a little larger, but not as com- 

 pact. As far as we can judge from the samples 

 which was not fully ripe, its quality is very good, 

 of a rich, aromatic flavor, with a peculiar spright- 

 liness, and free from any foxy odor. Its great 

 earliness, combined with its other desirable 

 qualities, will, no doubt, make it a most valuable 

 Grape for northern climates. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, 

 Old Tuberose Bulbs.- C. M. S., Dodge Co., 

 Wis.— Tuberose bulbs will occasionally bloom a 

 second time. Whether they flower or not, they 

 | will produce a great number of offsets, which 

 I may be broken off and planted out next season, 

 when they will make good-sized bulbs for flower- 

 ing the year following. All the offsets must be 

 removed before planting, if fine flowers are ex- 

 I pected. 



Asparagus Roots — E. K., Schoharie Count;/, 

 JV. T.—It is not advisable to plant three-year-old 

 Asparagus roots. If the plants are strong and 

 healthy, at least half of their roots are cut off in 

 digging, so that there is no advantage over 

 younger ones, and if they are small and puny, 

 they are not as good as strong one-year-old ones. 

 Unless extra strong one-year-old roots can be 



had, two-year-old ones are best for general 

 planting. 



Planting Fruit-Trees.— A. W., Chattanooga, 

 Tenn.— February and March is a good time for 

 planting fruit-trees iu the latitude of Tennessee. 

 There is nothing gained by planting very large 

 and older than three-year-old trees. With smaller 

 trees the roots can be preserved better and suc- 

 cess is surer. In orchard culture, Apples should 

 be planted thirty-five feet apart each way ; Pears 

 and Cherries twenty to twenty-five feet; Peaches 

 and Plums, sixteen to twenty feet. 



Potting Bedding Plants.— A. 8. A. ¥., Fort 

 Wayne, Ind.—In potting plants, Geraniums, 

 Fuchsias, and other kinds which have been 

 bedded out during summer, they become neces- 

 sarily deprived of a part of their roots; in fact, 

 all long, straggling roots should be cut off. Iu 

 proportion to this loss of roots the branches 

 should also be cut back. In the average it is safe 

 to cut off about one-half of the tops. There is 

 hardly any danger in cutting away too much, but 

 a great deal in not cutting enough. 



Prickly Couifrey.— Subscriber, Bryan, Ohio. 

 —Prickly Comfrey is grown from root-cuttings. 

 The proper season for planting is early spring, 

 but it will grow at almost any time, when the 

 ground is not frozen. The roots may be out in 

 very small pieces, about an inch long, and split 

 again lengthwise, if thicker than a pencil. In 

 field culture they are planted in rows three feet 

 apart, and about two feet in the rows. The sets 

 should be covered with fine soil, and firmly 

 pressed down. 



Potting Old Azaleas. — M. E. M. M., Put- 

 nam, Conn.— Azaleas and many other plants 

 may be replanted in the same pots iu which they 

 are growing, by shaking or washing out the old 

 soil, and replacing it with new. Care must be 

 taken not to injure the fine fibrous roots, but the 

 old dead and decaying matter, generally found 

 around the ball, had better be cut off with a 

 sharp knife. The pots should also be thoroughly 

 washed before using them again. 



Propagating Wistarias Win. S., Johnson 



County, Mo.— Wistarias may be easily propa- 

 gated by layering. All that is necessary is to 

 bend down early in spring a vigorous shoot of the 

 previous season's growth, cover about a foot of 

 its length near the stem, or farther away if more 

 convenient, with soil, and place a flat stone on 

 the top of it, leaving the end of the cane un- 

 covered. Cutting a few notches on the part to be 

 covered facilitates the formation of roots. In the 

 following spring the connection with the parent 

 plant should be severed, and the layer trans- 

 planted. 



Two Crops of Potatoes in One Season.— C. 

 W. '/'., New Zealand.— A crop may be raised 

 from tubers grown in the same season, but much 

 dependence can not be placed on the second 

 crop. The Potatoes require a period of rest be- 

 fore sprouting again. In the long seasons of New 

 Zealand better success may be had. The first, 

 sets should be planted as early as possible, and 

 the crop from these kept in a cool, dark place, 

 and not planted sooner than to allow them suffi- 

 cient time to mature before severe frosts occur. 



Bouvardias.— Mrs. G. X. D., Montrose, Penu. 

 —There may be various causes that make " a 

 plant full of buds droop." Probably there is 

 some defective root action, in which case the 

 plant should be repotted in a proportionately 

 small pot, using a soil composed of equal parts of 

 loam and leaf mold, or decomposed cow manure, 

 with a little sand. Perfect drainage is neces- 

 sary. Bouvardias are generally bedded out dur- 

 ing summer, kept well pinched in to produce 

 bushy plants, and potted again in September. 



Jerusalem Artichokes.— P. J?. JR., Fresno, 

 Ca I. —Artichokes are ordinarily not grown from 

 seed, but from tubers similar to Potatoes, which 

 they resemble. It requires from two to three 

 barrels to plant an acre of ground. They may be 

 planted whole or cut into pieces, and covered 

 and cultivated exactly like Potatoes. They grow 

 on almost any soil, and under any favorable con- 

 ditions yield an immense amount of nutritious 

 food for cattle of all kinds. Swine especially are 

 very fond of them. 



