1883.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



183 



WINTER RADISHES. 



Early Radishes from hot-beds or the open 

 "•round are among the most highly valued 

 spring vegetables, and may be found in every 

 garden worth the name. To produce them at 

 the earliest date possible is one of the great 

 aims of every ambitious gardener. Yet it 

 seems strange that while many persons are 

 so fond of Radishes that they would have 

 them on their table the year round if they 

 could only procure them, but few are aware 



that this spicy relish may be had at any 

 time without much trouble. 



Winter Radishes are sown in August and 

 September, and later even where the soil is 

 dry and warm. The ground, as is the case 

 with spring Radishes, must be light, warm, 

 and well drained. The seed is sown in 

 drills about fifteen inches apart, covered 

 about half an inch, and as soon as the plants 

 appear above ground they have to be 

 hoed and kept cultivated through the season, 

 thinning them out from time to time so that 

 they stand two to three inches apart in the 

 rows. Light frosts do not injure them, but 

 the crop should be taken up before heavy 

 freezing sets in. They are best stored in 

 boxes or barrels in a cool cellar, covering 

 each layer with sand or dry earth. 



The Rose-colored China is the best known 

 variety. It is of bright rose color, very 

 smooth, elongated cylindrical, somewhat 

 swollen toward the lower extremity, and 

 rather obtuse on both ends. The flesh is 

 pure white, firm, and pungent. 



California Mammoth White Winter is, to 

 our taste, superior to the above, as it is less 

 pungent and keeps better. Its skin and flesh 

 are pure white, shape long, tapering cylin- 

 drical. 



Long Black Spanish. This is the hardiest of 

 all the winter varieties, and keeps till spring. 

 Its flesh is very Arm and of sharp flavor. 

 Skin black, somewhat rough ; shape elongated 

 conical, grows to a large size. There is 

 also a Bound Black Spanish Winter Radish, 

 which differs from the long in form only. The 

 pungency of these two varieties may be con- 

 siderably moderated by slicing and salting 

 the Radishes about half an hour before use. 



HOEIN&. 



Hoeing is, I fear, likely to become a "lost 

 art." The object of hoeing, as I understand 

 it, is to loosen and aerate the soil, and to 

 destroy weeds, and the office of the hoe is 

 to do this work where the cultivator and 

 kindred implements cannot reach ; and yet- 

 how few laborers there are who have even 

 a vague idea of using a hoe for this purpose. 

 From an experience of twenty years with 



i "hired help," [ verily believe there is not 

 one in ten — and I am not sure there is one 



j in twenty — that, if left to themselves, will 

 or can hoe a hill of Corn or Beans properly. 

 If such exist, it has not been my fortune to 



j find them. 



The great majority must have a broad hoe, 

 and when set to work with it will proceed to 



1 hill up the Corn, so that any rain that may 

 chance to fall will run away from the hills, 

 which are made to resemble miniature vol- 



j canoes as pictured in the geography of my 

 schoolboy days, the Corn representing very 

 well the smoke issuing from the summit. 



It is just so with Potatoes ; they are banked 

 up so that in a dry time the moisture is all 

 drawn out of the soil below the roots ; and 

 as for weeds, the modern hoer never stoops 



i to pull one out (of his own accord, I mean). 

 Oh, no ; he has too much backbone for that. 

 He sometimes covers them up, or gives them 

 the benefit of a little fresh earth, as he does 

 the Corn ; but what he considers finished is 

 generally not half done. You may show and 

 endeavor to teach, but the lesson seldom 

 lasts longer than the giving of it. The work- 



| man soon lapses into the slipshod style. To 

 look over a Potato field after it has been 



| hoed, and see weeds overtopping the Pota- 

 toes, is a sad commentary on the efficiency 

 of the labor we are compelled to employ. 

 Our agricultural societies used to have 



staying out of the field ; and yet I have no 

 doubt said hand claimed "going wages." 

 That is the kind of help that costs $1.50 

 and .$1.75 per day here, a price which 

 should entitle the employer to better service 

 than he receives. 



The truth of the matter is that labor of 

 all kinds, mechanical as well as agricult- 

 ural, is year after year becoming more ineffi- 

 cient. Notwithstanding the improvements 

 in tools and implements, work is not as well 



ROSE-COLORED CHINA WINTER RADISH. 



plowing-matches, which not only tested the 

 plows, but the skill of the plowman, and the 

 influence was widely beneficial. But the 

 time has come when good plowmen are 

 scarce. Why not revive these contests be- 

 fore the race of skilled workmen becomes 

 extinct f Would it not be wisdom also to 

 institute hoeing-matehes as a means of im- 

 provement in that art! 



Colonel Curtis stated recently that he 

 had a hand to help plant Corn, which it 

 would have been more profitable to pay for 



SLACK LONG SPANISH WINTER RAD I S 



done as formerly. Then it took four to five 

 years to make a carpenter or mason, but in 

 this fast age six months' service with ham- 

 mer and saw, at mixing mortar or carrying a 

 hod, suffices to graduate and demand jour- 

 neymen's wages, and if there is a strike for 

 wages this is the class that make the most 

 noise. The wages paid by the husbandman 

 ought to secure better service than they do. 



Technical and industrial schools have done 

 much to provide skillful labor required in 

 manufacturing and various other industries; 

 but the few attempts to make the help needed 

 by the husbandman more efficient have not 

 produced the desired results. The wide- 

 spread opinion that any one can make a 

 farmer, and that all the bright boys must 

 enter the professions, is erroneous in the 

 extreme ; while, to the contrary, there are 

 few callings in which skill and intelligence 

 are more essential to success than in agri- 

 culture and its twin sister, horticulture. 



E. Williams. 



TOMATOES ON POLES. 



A convenient way of training Tomatoes is 

 described by W. P. Woodworth in the Rural 

 New Yorker, as follows : 



"My plan of growing Tomatoes in the gar- 

 den is to set poles about eight feet long 

 firmly in the ground three feet apart each 

 way. A plant is allotted to each pole, with 

 an old fruit-can with both ends cut out set 

 in the ground near each plant, in which to 

 pour water when needed. Cut out all laterals, 

 and tie up the main vine to the pole, as it 

 grows. This permits the use of rich soil and 

 insures much earlier, larger, sweeter and 

 more abundant fruit, besides keeping it 

 clean, and rendering it less liable to rot," 



