42 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[March, 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Those who have acted upon last month's 

 "Hints "will have everything in readiness 

 for starting their hot-beds. For ordinary 

 purposes, there is little gained by making 

 hot-beds before March. If made earlier they 

 require considerable care and attention, and 

 unless additional frames are at hand, for 

 transplanting and hardening, the young 

 plants become too large before they can be 

 planted in the open ground. 



Hot-beds made during this month and 

 later need not be sunk in the ground. The 

 manure may be spread on the surface, mak- 

 ing a bed eight feet wide, two feet high, 

 and two feet longer than the length of the 

 frame. 



The Location, in either case, should be 

 sheltered from cold winds, and facing south 

 or south-east. Market-gardeners erect tight 

 board fences, six or more feet high, on the 

 north and west sides of their hot-beds. 



After the manure has been spread, well 

 packed down, and soaked thoroughly with 

 tepid water, the frame is placed upon and in 

 the center of it. All around, the frame should 

 be banked up with manure or soil. 



The Sashes are then placed in position. 

 Sashes are now made so cheap and con- 

 venient in factories that few will think of 

 making or having them made to order, as was 

 the usual way in former years. The custom- 

 ary and most convenient size is 3x6. The 

 sashes are not removed or opened for two 

 days if the weather is mild and clear ; if cold 

 and cloudy, three or four days may be neces- 

 sary to develop the proper heat, which is 

 about 90°. 



Soil is then loosely and evenly scattered 

 over the manure to a depth of about six 

 inches. This soil should be mellow and rich ; 

 equal parts of old, decomposed hot-bed 

 manure and ordinary garden loam make a 

 suitable composition. After leveling all 

 nicely with a rake, the sashes are replaced, 

 and the following day the bed is ready for 

 sowing. 



The Seeds are best sown in shallow drills, 

 drawn laterally, and about three inches 

 apart, then covered lightly, patted down and 

 watered. The sashes are replaced again, and 

 during cold nights covered with matting. 

 As soon as the young plant appears above 

 the ground air has to be given on all mild 

 days. A good rule to go by is to lift the 

 sashes one hour after the sun strikes them, 

 and to close them one hour before it leaves 

 them. 



As the plants grow larger they have to be 

 thinned out, so as not to crowd each other ; 

 or, better still, "pricked out," that is, to 

 transplant to another bed or another part of 

 the same bed, with sufficient room between 

 each other that they may form strong, bushy 

 plants. "Water has to be given whenever the 

 soil becomes dry, but it must not be kept 

 soaked continually. Of course, the earth 

 between the rows has to be kept loose and 

 clean. 



The most important conditions for the 

 successful management of hot-beds are, that 

 sufficient air is given whenever the weather 

 is favorable, that the plants are never per- 

 mitted to become crowded, and that water is 

 given only when needed, and then copiously. 



CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN GARDENING. 



Success and failure are not so far apart as 

 some people imagine. A good crop is often 

 ruined by severe storms, and we who live in 

 the Connecticut valley have seen acres of 

 Tobacco, all ready to harvest, ruined in a 

 few minutes by a severe hailstorm. There 

 are many conditions in gardening which go 

 far toward making either the farmer's or the 

 market-gardener's business a success, and 

 which teach him the use of means in this 

 difficult and perplexing business. 



The soil is the first important agent to be 

 looked after, for if it is damp, lumpy, or 

 clayey, or barren sand, it is worthless for 

 raising vegetables profitably. A light sandy 

 loam is best suited to all kinds of vegetables, 

 and when thoroughly enriched and carefully 

 cultivated can hardly fail of giving large 

 returns for the labor expended. It is the 

 better way to manure the soil in the fall 

 and give it a heavy dressing, so that it will 

 cover the surface of the soil when plowed in 

 the spring. 



The manure should be as fine as it can be 

 made, else it cannot be spread evenly. We 

 would advise a mixture of all the manure 

 made on the farm for application to the 

 farmer's garden. The market-gardener near 

 our large cities gets all kinds of fertilizers, 

 and often fails of raising good crops from 

 using poor manure heated in the stables, and 

 thereby devoid of ammonia, the great agent 

 in plant growth. 



Another condition of success in gardening 

 is to have the soil as mellow as plow and 

 harrow can make it ; cross plowing and har- 

 rowing are necessary in order to get the soil 

 in the best possible tilth. 



Still another condition of success in gar- 

 dening is the selection of the proper kinds 

 of seeds. Some years ago the writer thought 

 he would increase the area of his Onion 

 patch. Looking over the various catalogues, 

 he at length decided where to order seed 

 from. He sowed the ground with a number 

 of varieties, and the crop grew remarkably ; 

 but when he came to harvest it, nearly one- 

 quarter of the Onions were Scullions, and 

 therefore worthless, causing considerable 

 loss. 



We need hardly say that thorough culti- 

 vation of the vegetables is necessary to suc- 

 cess in gardening. 1 ' A quick growth " is the 

 market-gardener's motto, and it explains in a 

 few words success or failure in the business. 

 Slow-growing vegetables, especially those 

 designed for early spring market, are worth- 

 less. Take, for instance, the Radish, that 

 botheration of all gardeners ; unless it grows 

 very fast it is worthless, being strong, pithy, 

 and wormy. The same may be said of Let- 

 tuce and Cucumbers grown under glass. To 

 obtain early Head Lettuce it is necessary to 

 have the proper amount of heat under the 

 sash, and in warm, sunny days to give them 

 just the right quantity of sunlight. Where 

 so many kinds of vegetables are grown, it 

 will not be strange if some sorts are neg- 

 lected and receive but little culture. 



There are certain vegetables that require 

 repeated hoeing, while others do not. Some 

 need only surface hoeing, while others re- 

 quire the soil to be stirred near the roots. 

 There are a few vegetables grown in the 

 garden that require not much more care 

 than the farmer's field crops, while others 

 should have almost constant care and cult- 

 ure from seed time to harvest. 



Some years since a gentleman presented 

 the writer with a few Tom Thumb Peas. It 

 was the second year of their introduction, 

 and so their habit of growth was little 

 understood. In due time we planted them 

 in the garden, the hired man giving them 

 repeated hoeings, and at length bushing 

 with birch switches five or six feet high. 

 The yield was enormous, and we felt confi- 

 dent that the care given them by our help — 

 using ashes and plaster most liberally — 

 proved profitable in the end, and demon- 

 strated the fact that the crops of the garden 

 cannot receive too much care and attention. 



E. E. Billings. 



WORKING THE SOIL TOO EARLY. 



While we are well aware of the great im- 

 portance of early action in all gardening 

 operations, and are apprised of the fact that 

 hundreds of dollars are often realized by 

 being one or two weeks ahead in market, or 

 that an equal amount may be lost by being a 

 week or two behind a more enterprising 

 neighbor, we find also that heavy losses are 

 often the result of beginning outdoor opera- 

 tions too early, when the soil is not suffi- 

 ciently dry. If soil is worked in early spring, 

 while wet, it is very injurious, not. only to* 

 the present crops, but also to the land for 

 years afterward. A part of my. garden that 

 was worked while too heavy, although sev- 

 eral years since, still shows the injurious 

 effect. The soil cannot easily be made mel- 

 low, and when worked after a rain, even 

 when entirely dry, it breaks up in clods that 

 will bake hard. 



One season the ground remained wet till 

 late, and I was so anxious to get my early 

 Potatoes in the ground that I planted them 

 when the soil was too heavy. I marked the 

 ground off with a long shovel plow, dropping 

 the seed in, filling the furrow nearly level 

 with loamy compost, and then covered with 

 soil. I thought the loamy manure would make 

 a good loose bed for the tubers even if the 

 surrounding ground was too heavy. But the 

 soil that was put on the manure compacted 

 so hard that it was a long time before the 

 plants came through ; consequently my Po- 

 tatoes were very late, the soil was clammy all 

 summer, and the crop was greatly injured. 



Another season I planted Little Gem Peas 

 when the soil was too wet and heavy. They 

 were planted on the 3d of March, and cov- 

 ered with loamy compost. On the 1 6th of 

 March I planted the other part of the same 

 seed, when the soil was in nice, mellow order. 

 As soon as the vines were large enough they 

 were cultivated every three days, if weather 

 would admit. From the first patch, the first 

 Peas were picked May 25th; from the sec- 

 ond, May 27th, the last planting producing 

 the largest pods and yield. 



Thomas D. Baird. 



DISSOLVING BONES, 



Small quantities of bones can be easily 

 dissolved by putting a layer in the center of 

 the manure when making the hot-beds. 

 Here they are kept constantly wet and hot — 

 the most favorable conditions for their dis- 

 integration—and if the larger bones are 

 cracked previously, all will crumble into 

 powder during the season, and, together with 

 the decayed manure, make an excellent 

 fertilizer for any kind of crops. 



