A LITTLE PLACE IN THE COUNTRY. 



139 



Thus the soil close about the roots, and from which 

 the plant must draw its first sustenance, will con- 

 tain an amount of plant food which it would be 

 almost impossible to put within its reach by broad- 

 cast fertilizing. 



Although cabbage may be a very common and 

 plebeian vegetable, hardly to be named in the same 

 garden that is to produce the more aristocratic 

 cauhflower and the crisp celery, it is an item never- 

 theless which we will tolerate this season for the 

 profit which it may afford. It may be true that 

 every garden about 

 us will contain cab- 

 bage, and trust ev- 

 eryone can grow it. 

 But not everyone 

 can manage to 

 have it very early, 

 to have good-sized, 

 solid heads, and to 

 have a proper suc- 

 cession. If we can 

 accomplish this, 

 and grow in all a 

 couple of thousand 

 heads of early and 

 summer sorts, we 

 shall have an item 

 of steady income 

 for a couple of 

 months, and we 

 may have the 

 ground upon which 

 it is grown cleared 

 in plenty of time 

 to be used for cel- 

 ery. To secure a 

 good crop of cab- 

 bage, the cultiva- 

 tion must be thor- 

 ough and constant. 

 The nearer one ap- 

 proaches to the good old rule of 

 bage every morning before breakfast," the nearer 

 they will be to assured success. 



But it is not upon cabbage that we must rely for 

 showing the first proof that we are good gardeners. 

 Early lettuce and early onions, early radishes and 

 early beets are all good enough in their proper 

 times and places. But it is the early peas, after 

 all, that make the mouth water, and the heart of 

 the gardener glad. To achieve success here, is to 

 my mind almost glory enough for one season. And 

 it is a beautiful crop to handle, from the time of 



Planning the Summer Work 

 hoeing the cab- 



sowing the round, creamy seeds, to the "day in fair 

 May " when we gather the first plump green pods. 

 Here, perhaps more than with any other garden 

 crop, we can get satisfactory evidence that our 

 efforts to promote earliness are being rewarded. To 

 secure this desideratum my method is as follows : 



I select a piece of mellow land lying level, or 

 sloping gently to the south, and as soon as it is 

 dry enough to permit I prepare this with the spad- 

 ing fork and the rake, until it can be refined no 

 further. Through this I open furrows with the 



garden plow, mak- 

 ing them two feet 

 apart (for economy 

 of space must be 

 observed when we 

 work land by hand- 

 power instead of 

 horse-power) ; then 

 scatter in the fur- 

 rows some of the 

 same fertilizer that 

 was used for the 

 cabbage hills, and 

 mix with the soil 

 by running the 

 plow through the 

 furrow again. In- 

 to this furrow I 

 scatter the seed, 

 not dropping them 

 in a single straight 

 line, but in a row 

 perhaps three 

 inches wide, and 

 so thickly that 

 there are probably 

 50 seeds to each 

 foot of the row. 

 They are then cov- 

 ered b y running 

 the plow alongside 

 the row and throwing the furrow over on them. But 

 before planting the seed, there is an important item 

 of preparation that must not be omitted. Twenty- 

 four hours previous to sowing, I mix the seed with 

 rich, fine soil, in about equal portions, and keep the 

 mass damp and warm until ready to use. In that 

 time the hard epidermis will become softened and 

 usually broken, and often a tiny sprout will be put 

 forth. They are then ready, when put in the 

 ground, to avail themselves of every advantage 

 that nature offers for their sustenance and growth. 

 If purchasers are not found for the surplus hot- 



