34,2 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
will not exceed $300 per acre, so that it is safe 
to claim a net profit of $300, although extra- 
ordinary crops often do much more than this. A 
near neighbor of mine realized .$900 from three- 
quarters of an acre last spring, getting the land 
cleared early enough in May to succeed the 
Spinacli with a crop of Plat Dutch Cabbage. — 
Spinach is hardy enough to grow in almost an}' 
part of the country ; but in districts where the 
thermometer falls below zero, it is necessary to 
cover it up about Christmas with hay, straw, or 
leaves, to the depth of 2 or 3 inches; it is best 
done just as a snow storm is setting in, as the 
snow settles down the covering, and keeps it 
from blowing ofF. Spinach is yet comparative- 
ly little grown for our Northern markets at the 
South, but no doubt soon will be; in such lati- 
tudes as Charleston and Savannah, it should be 
sown in October and November, and would be 
in fine order for use iii February. At this cool 
season it could be shipped with safety, as it will 
remain in good condition for three or four days 
if packed, and would command a rapid sale at 
the time when our northern crops are still fro- 
zen solid. There is another vegetable but little 
known outside of New York, which is called 
German Sprouts, properly Siberian Kale; its 
cultivation is identical with that of Spinach, ex- 
cept that from 2 to 3 lbs. of seed are sufficient for 
an acre. It sells at nearly the same rates, and 
is used in the same way; hundreds of acres of 
Sprouts are grown in the vicinity of New York 
City (on Long Island and New Jersey). It is 
mainly used by our German population, who 
show their good taste in preferring it to head- 
ing cabbage, of which it is only a variety. — 
Sprouts, like Spinach, might also be successful- 
ly grown at the South ; though I doubt if they 
would bring as high a price early in the season. 
Fruit Ladders. 
In years of plenty it is only the best fruit that 
brings good prices. One step towards having 
good fruit is to secure careful picking, and to 
this end it is necessary to have a sufficient sup- 
ply of convenient ladders. For low trees, step- 
ladders will be found serviceable. Fig. 2 gives 
the ordinary step-ladder used in the peach or- 
chards of Delaware. It is made of two boards 
10 feet long, 6 inches wide, and 1 inch thick for 
the sides ; the steps are of the same material, let 
into grooves in the side pieces. At the top is a 
board about 10 inches wide, upon which the 
basket stauds. The support is of two narrow 
strips, strengthened by cross-bars; this is at- 
tached to the steps by an iron rod passing 
through its ends, and through the side pieces. — 
steps, as in figure 1. The top step has a board 
nailed to it to receive the basket. The other 
two pieces are made to serve as supports as 
shown in the figure. In both these ladders the 
bottom is wider than the. top, in order that they 
may stand firmly. It is often the case that lad- 
ders much taller than these are required. A 
common ladder, which should have iron points 
IS 
Fig. 3. — EXTENSION LADDER.. 
at the bottom of eacli side piece, may be so 
guyed with ropes as to be perfectly safe. It 
takes considerable time to change the position 
of such a ladder, and it will be found more con- 
venient to support it by means of wooden stays 
of a proper length. In September 1868, and 
January 1869, we illustrated two very efficient 
methods of doing this. Another form of ladder 
is proposed by Mr. George H. Russel, which is 
shown in figure 3. It is really two ladders 
lunged together, and ma}' be used by two per- 
sons at once. The dimensions are : side pieces 
9 feet long and 3' by l'k inches. Width of ladder 
1 foot 9 inches, distance between the rounds, 1 
foot 4 inches. Long hinges of malleable iron 
are used to fasten the two parts together, as 
shown at the right hand of the engraving. The 
basket can be placed upon the upper two rounds. 
By opening out this, and using it with the 
hinges down, it will answer as a single ladder. 
In Our Garden. 
Fig. 1. 
A cheaper laddei 
shingling lath. Two of these have strips of the 
same material nailed opposite each other for 
STEP-LADDERS. 
is made of four pieces of 
[The following letter from Galen Oderkirk 
contains numerous good suggestions, but in pre- 
senting it we must dissent 
from the writer's views in re- 
gard to the introduction of the 
Onion Slug. "We do not think 
it could have easily, been in- 
troduced with the seed. — Eds.] 
During the long drouth we 
have experienced here in 
"Wayne Co., N Y., nothing in 
our gardens has excelled the 
cucumbers. I attribute this 
to the fact that we transplant 
to rows rather than hills. The 
seed was started upon sods 
three inches square. It germi- 
nated in the hot-house about 
Fig- 2. 1J] P twenty-fifth of April, and 
the plants have so flourished that we had cucum- 
bers upon the fourth of July. The rows arc five 
feet apart, and the vines are at intervals of three 
feet. "We prefer sprinkling our fertilizers along 
the rows, to manuring in hills, or beneath each 
plant. Had we reared the vines upon hills in 
the usual manner, they would have dried out 
in such a drouth as they have experienced. 
For early cabbage we plant the Winnigstadt, 
with a few Early York, and some new varieties 
for trial. The Winnigstadt being larger and 
tighter-leaved than any other variety, brings a 
better price, or at least finds a more ready sale 
than other early varieties. Between our rows 
of cabbage plants we set lettuce and early 
radishes, which mature without molesting the 
cabbages, and can be out of the way by the tenth 
of July. Since that period we have harrowed 
the cabbages and by aid of the rain thev seem 
beyond injury from any insects. The latter 
have not troubled us much this season; per- 
haps owing to a superabundance of lime and 
salt in the ground. 
In the current season we have had among our 
onions a pest which defied our lime and salt, 
or "snds and tar-water, — an Onion Slug. We 
have heard much of this noxious mollusk, 
but we have raised onions very successfully tor 
fifteen years, and never experienced this pest. 
"Why? Without doubt for the reason that we 
had pure seed to begin with, and have raised 
our own ever since, until last year. The pres- 
ent season we bought seed from Mass. contain- 
ing these slugs in embryo. Perhaps if we had 
fumigated the seed it would have been different; 
but as it is, as much labor has been spent for 
nothing as would have resulted, other things 
being as usual, in four hundred bushels of 
onions more than we will have. We have 
sown turnips in the long gaps where the slugs 
worked ruin to the onions. The turnip seed 
had no larvse in it ; the slugs are done with their 
work, and we live in hope of a crop from the 
rich, moist soil. But we caution purchasers to 
soak in copperas water or fumigate their seeds 
when there is the least apprehension of results 
like the one we experience. We almost always 
raise our own seeds. Onions as a specialty, we 
rely upon, as they usually have resulted in good 
profits. They iiave always brought fifty cents 
per bushel, and sometimes $2. They are more 
profitable at fifty cents than potatoes. Early 
peas and beans have been very prolific with us; 
so also have salad, beets, and early onion sets. 
The raspberries in this locality have been as 
plenty as last season. Prices have averaged less 
than seven and a half cents. The time, toil, and 
expense of producing and marketing a quart of 
berries are more than this sum, with the majority 
who raise raspberries. The Doolittle variety 
has been a drug on the market, selling as low 
as at five cents a quart. Our fruit-growers here 
have as yet, I blush to own it, not associated 
together, either in keeping prices to a profitable 
level or in assembling to interchange ideas 
upon the subjects connected with their business. 
Enthusiast ic writers, — who often judge of the 
fitness of a locality from one unexceptional sea- 
son, — have praised our district as of the highest 
excellence for small fruits. Nearly every one 
has therefore entered the business. If there 
were association among us sufficient to demand 
and require profitable results from investment 
and labor, perhaps no better section exists for 
fruit growing than this. But I think many 
have been induced to spend labor and means 
upon a business which must prove, as it has r 
again and again proved, ttnreinunerativc. In- 
discriminate praise of locality, conceit, and en- 
tire lack of association, among horticulturists, 
are productive of failure everywhere. I hope 
