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THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[December, 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The provident gardener will not close the 

 year without making all possible preparation 

 for the following season. The mild autumn 

 weather and delightful Indian summer days 

 have been unusually favorable for this pur- 

 pose, so that there is hardly any excuse for 

 any one to be overtaken by frosts and snows 

 before everything is in readiness for going 

 into winter quarters. Whether we may con- 

 sider it the close of the present or the 

 beginning of the coming season, no work 

 that can be done before the ground remains 

 frozen — unless it be draining swampy places 

 — is of as much importance as plowing. 



Fall, Flowing and its beneficial results are 

 pretty well understood by intelligent farm- 

 ers, but in gardens its great advantages are 

 too frequently regarded with indifference. 

 The advantages of fall plowing are manifold. 

 If properly done, that is, if the ground is 

 plowed in narrow lands with deep, clean, 

 dead furrows, sloping with the formation of 

 the ground, between them, it serves the 

 purpose of surface drainage ; it exposes the 

 soil to the action of atmospheric influences 

 which disintegrate and make available the 

 fertilizing elements of the earth. The action 

 of the frost loosens and mellows the soil, 

 preparing it for an early and warm seed 

 bed. 



In small gardens where plowing is not prac- 

 ticable spading serves the same purpose. In 

 either case the ground should be left rough 

 as turned over, and not leveled or raked off. 



Hot-bed Soil for early spring use must be 

 secured and protected before severe winter 

 weather sets in, else when hot-bed making 

 time comes it may be frozen so hard as 

 to make digging impossible. The decayed 

 manure from a spent hot-bed, forked over 

 and mixed with an equal quantity of fresh 

 garden loam, makes an excellent soil for a 

 new bed. It should be thrown in a compact 

 heap in a sheltered place, and covered with 

 any coarse mulching material that is con- 

 venient ; or a rough roof of old boards may 

 be laid over it, so as to keep the soil dry, and 

 prevent frost from penetrating very deep. 

 Protected in this way the soil will be avail- 

 able at any time. 



Sods from old pastures make excellent soil 

 for seed beds, and when the ground is not 

 yet frozen it will prove a good investment 

 to lay in a supply. They should be pared 

 off thin, not more than two inches thick, and 

 laid up in alternate layers with cow manure, 

 leaving a flat top to the pile. When the 

 sods crumple to pieces, which will not be the 

 case before several months, all should be 

 forked over and well mixed together. This 

 furnishes a good compost for almost all re- 

 quirements, and with the addition of a small 

 portion of sand makes a potting soil suitable 

 for most plants. 



Onions, if kept dry, are not injured by 

 moderate cold, provided they are not handled 

 while frost is in them. When large quanti- 

 ties are to be stored, they may be put in 

 barrels, headed up, and covered with hay or 

 straw. We have frequently wintered them 

 successfully by spreading them on a barn 

 floor and covering with a few inches of Oats 

 chaff or finely cut straw. 



WINTER CARE OF VEGETABLES. 



There are several conditions necessary to 

 the wholesome preservation of winter vege- 

 tables. A very large class of farmers and 

 gardeners seem to labor under the impres- 

 sion that the only requisite is frost-proof 

 storage — the closer and warmer the better. 

 This idea is fully exemplified in their practi- 

 cal mangement and construction of cellars 

 and storing-rooms. To be sure, it is impera- 

 tively necessary that the frost be excluded 

 from such storing places; but there are other 

 conditions fully as important, if we would 

 have pure air about our dwellings and whole- 

 some vegetables to eat. 



Proper drainage and ventilation of our 

 cellars should never be neglected, for there 

 are more vegetables lost each year from 

 lack of attention to these points than there 

 are from exposure to frost, to say nothing of 

 the impure gases rising and penetrating 

 through the dwellings, with all the at- 

 tendant evils and disease following in their 

 train. 



The labor of draining and ventilating is 

 usually slight, and a few hours cannot be 

 better invested than in this most necessary 

 work. For ventilating and purifying the air 

 of a cellar there is nothing better than a 

 small stove or heater. A light fire should 

 be built occasionally, and kept up until the 

 air of the cellar becomes quite dry. The air 

 thus warmed and lightened escapes through 

 the chimney, and pure air comes in from 

 openings provided below to take its place. 

 In case of a very cold spell the temperature 

 of the cellar can be kept up to the required 

 point by the aid of the stove. 



Vegetables, even in a condition of good 

 preservation, exude a great amount of moist- 

 ure. This moisture, unless carried off, will 

 permeate the whole establishment. The 

 vegetables will soon begin to decay and, if 

 piled closely together, as is usually the case, 

 the whole mass rapidly becomes affected. 



We are often too economical in regard to 

 the amount of space devoted to the storing 

 of vegetables. Some varieties will stand 

 piling and crowding into bins and heaps, 

 while others can be preserved but few weeks 

 in this way. I have often noticed that those 

 who piled their Squashes in a heap in one 

 corner, were obliged to go without that most 

 excellent vegetable a good share of the 

 winter. If carefully placed in single tiers, 

 on shelves or over bins, they may be kept in 

 good condition until late spring. Onions, 

 too, need to be spread out over considerable 

 surface, and should be given a cool, dry 

 place. Tiers of bins or crates and boxes 

 are much better for many kinds of vegetables 

 than the deep bins so common in cellars. 

 They can then be watched and handled over 

 much more expeditiously. 



All vegetables should be sorted over occa- 

 sionally, and those that are decayed, or that 

 seem inclined to rot, carefully removed not 

 only from the mass, but out of the cellar en- 

 tirely. The work of cleaning out the cellar is 

 too often postponed until spring, while it 

 should always be "kept clean. 



Many of the vegetables intended for spring 

 *use may be more perfectly preserved by 

 pitting. They will always come out crisp 

 and fresh in the spring, if properly buried. 

 This is not a difficult task, if plenty of straw 

 is used between the layers of earth to effect- 

 ually exclude frost. 



There are many who succeed well in 



raising vegetables, but from lack of care, or 

 from ignorance, allow them to go to waste 

 during the winter. This is an unnecessary 

 loss, as a little intelligent attention to the 

 condition of the cellar will prevent it. 



W. D. Boynton. 



THE CABBAGE-WORM AGAIN. 



It is with insecticides as with medicines : 

 the more remedies we find recommended 

 against a certain disease, the surer we may 

 feel that the infallible specific has not yet 

 been found. No physician is in doubt what 

 to prescribe against fever and ague ; so does 

 every farmer know what kills Potato-bugs ; 

 but when it comes to remedies against Cab- 

 bage-worms or some incurable disease flesh 

 is heir to, the number to select from becomes 

 overwhelming. 



A correspondent from Westchester County, 

 N. Y., gives high praise to "Hammond's 

 Slug Shot." He says : 



"About one half of a lot of Cabbages was 

 dusted over with Slug Shot, as soon as the 

 worms appeared, repeating the operation in 

 about a week. The dusted ones grew right 

 along, making fine heads ; while those left to 

 themselves and the worms were almost 

 entirely destroyed, none being fit for use." 



A market gardener in northern New-York, 

 writes : 



"I have no trouble from Cabbage-worms. 

 I use road-dust and wood-ashes, about half 

 and half, mixed thoroughly, and dust it ovei 

 the plants about once a week, while the dew 

 is on them. It does the work effectually." 



Eed Pepper tea applied hot, is recom- 

 mended by a correspondent from Tennessee 

 as a sure cure for the pest. 



BIRD'S EYE PEPPER. 



This little gem, which seems unknown in 

 the North, is a great favorite here for season- 

 ing and making pepper-sauce, and about 

 Mobile it is grown in large quantities. It is 

 a perennial ; that is, with slight protection 

 it withstands our winters, and bushes are 

 often seen several years old. On Dauphin 

 Island, at the entrance to Mobile Bay, it 

 grows wild, and the plants are seldom killed 

 by the cold ; the roots, at least, survive and 

 sprout again in the spring. What its econo- 

 mic value may be at the North as a con- 

 diment I cannot say ; but its compact, tree- 

 like growth, quite different from most 

 Peppers, its delicate foliage and its great 

 beauty, when loaded with its diminutive 

 berries, makes it well worth a place in the 

 conservatory. Grown in a pot it would be a 

 i pretty ornament for the dinner-table, and 

 not a useless one to those who have acquired 

 the southern taste for Peppers at their 

 meals. 



Jos. J. Dklchamps. 



A LARGE YIELD OF POTATOES. 



Mr. B. N. Lewis, of northern New-York, 

 after experimenting with a great many vari- 

 eties of Potatoes, says: " I am more than 

 pleased with the ' Kosy Morn ' Potato, and 

 consider it the best early Potato in exist- 

 enee. I planted three and three-quarter 

 pounds last spring, and grew from them 

 twenty-two hundred and forty pounds (2240 

 pounds). They are of the best quality and 

 the earliest I have grown." 



