JCLY, im 
138 
ORCHARD 
OARD^TT\ 
A Few Hints. 
When working your early corn for the 
last time, chop in a shovel full of manure 
between the hills in each row and plant a 
few cucumber seed in each. Then when 
the corn is eaten the stalks can be cut away 
and you will get an abundant crop of pick- 
les. 
When space is scarce, cucumbers can also 
be grown between the Raspberry plants 
after the fruit is gathered. Those who 
grow celery in single rows will find it a 
good plan to set the plants between the 
rows of early corn. The shade will protect 
the young plants, and by the time the corn 
is removed they will be able to stand the 
sun. Don't forget to properly thin such 
creeping things as cucumbers and melons. 
It is a good plan to put plenty of seed in the 
hills on account of bugs, but when a good 
stand is sure pull out the extra plants before 
they crowd each other too much. The 
advancing crops of melons will be very 
much helped by having the earth kept well 
drawn up around the stems. Care should 
be taken not to work any of these tilings 
when the foliage is wet. Another thing 
some gardeners seem ignorant of. That is 
that parsnip tops, when wet with dew are 
worse f or most people to handle than the 
poison oak (Rhus Tox.) Two years ago my 
foreman put his hands at weeding and 
thinning parsnips before the dew was off the 
tops. I went into the field soon after and at 
once stopped the men, who were working 
with their sieves rolled up, but it was too 
late, for every man's arms were soon cover- 
ed with watery blisters to the elbow, and for 
several days they were unable to do any 
work. So many people seem ignorant of 
this poisonous character in parsnip leaves, 
we think it well to warn them. 
Egg Plants will now be coming into 
fruit, keep the Potato Beetle larvae off by 
hand jacking. Here in Virginia the insect 
enemies of the Beetle are rapidly thinning 
them. For two years past, though growing 
about fifteen acres of Irish potatoes annually 
1 have used no poison for them, as their 
numbers are now so insignificant that it is 
better to leave them to their natural ene- 
mies than to poison friend and foe alike. 
It seems hard to keep a variety of toma- 
toes ]>ure. Last season the Dwarf Cham- 
pion was fine and uniform, but as 1 have 
them jilanted with several other sorts we 
saved no seed, thinking to buy again and 
get ] Hire stock. But this season seed from 
the same source have produced many plants 
of an entirely different character. As all 
are now in fruit and the saving of seed will 
only continue the mixture, we propose to 
take a lot of cuttings from the best plants of 
the true type, grown them for winter forc- 
ing under glass and from these raise in spring 
a good lot of cutting plants from which we 
can next season save perfectly pure seed. 
Any plant made by crossing varieties is 
liable to run back or sport towards one of 
its ancestors, and the tomato is particularly 
liable to do so. We do not therefore consider 
the rogues in our patch this year the result 
of any dishonesty on the part of the seeds- 
man. Our large seedsmen are now extre- 
mely careful to get good and j>ure stocks. 
The keen competition in their business 
compels them to this if no higher motive 
influenced. 
Long White French Turnip. 
In the rush after new things in vegetables 
and flowers we are apt to leave some tried 
old friends behind so that they are almost 
forgotten. I want therefore to remind 
those readers of Orchard & Garden who 
are fond of good turnips that the best of 
all table turnips is the old Long White 
French. It belongs to the Ruta Baga class 
and must be sown at once if a good crop is 
desired. This turnip was grown in Virginia 
in my boyhood under the name of sugar 
turnip, and it certainly' is the sweetest of 
all turnips. In this latitude it can remain 
where it grew and will keep solid and sw eet 
all winter just as Parsnips are treated, and 
in Spring will furnish the best of greens, 
far better than Kale and almost eqnal to 
Spinach. This turnip will keep in the open 
ground much futher North than Virginia, if 
covered over with Pine boughs as we now 
cover the flat turnips. 
Growing Celery In Beds. 
The following method of growing celery 
is that in use by the market gardeners 
around Baltimore and Southward, and 
while better adapted m some respects to a 
mild climate we have no doubt that it could 
be used much further North with profit, 
particularly in private gardens. There is a 
good deal of labor connected with it but no 
more, if as much as is required in the prac- 
tice of growing it in single rows, common 
around New York. We save all the labor 
and risk of lifting and storing in winter, 
wliich is a large item. 
Having the plants ready as advised in our 
last number, the middle of July will be 
early enough to set them in their final quar- 
ters. Here we defer this until August 1st 
to 15th. We use a piece of level moist land 
which has been heavily manured for an 
early croj) and in which the manure has 
therefore been well mixed with the soil. If 
the spot is located so that it can be irrigated 
so much the better, for celery hates dry 
soil. Having the land then in the finest 
j)OSsible condition we set the jdants in beds 
ujjon the surface five feet wide and any 
convenient length. In planting we use a 
jdanting board, which is simply a jiine 
board six seet long and one foot wide. Care 
is taken that the ends of the board are cut 
exactly square. On each edge of the board 
are cut notches, beginning six inches from 
each end and six inches from each other. 
Thus there will be eleven notches on each 
side, thus: 
6 feet. 
Planting Board. 
Stretch a garden line tightly along one 
side of the intended bed. Now begin at 
one end and place the end of the jdanting 
board exactly parallel with this line, so 
that the board will be exactly at right 
angles with it. Standing on the board set 
a plant at each notch on one side, and then 
at each notch on the other. Now move the 
board and set it again exactly square with 
the line and so that the last row of jdants 
will coincide with the notches. Set a row 
by the notches on the other side, and con- 
tinue thus the whole length of the bed. 
This will make a bed of plants in rows five 
feet long, one foot apart and six inches in 
the row. All that is now necessary is to 
keep the bed cultivated and free from 
weeds until the jdants have grown so large 
that earth is needed to keep the outer leaves 
in an erect position. Now we use the hill- 
ing boards. These are made of light wood, 
white jdne or pojdar ten inches wide by 
eight feet long. They r should be dressed 
smooth, and a foot at each end should be 
cut and rounded off into a handle. Two of 
these boards are needed. The soil between 
the beds, if more than one, must be well 
cultivated and made loose and mellow 
^four feet of space on each side will be 
needed by each bed for earthing) two work- 
men stand on opposite sides of the bed and 
set the earthing boards on edge bet ween the 
first row of plants, keejiing them in nearly 
a perpendicular position by means of two 
stout pegs on the outside of each end. The 
loose earth is then shoveled in between the 
boards. Each workman then grasps the 
handles of the boards and brings their upper 
edges together with a few sharj) taj)s, when 
each man releases the board in his left hand 
and grasjis the one in his right, ready to in- 
sert it in the next space. This jirocess is 
continued over the entire bed and the earth 
is left standing between the rows in little 
sharp ridges. 
Now comes the ‘'handling” jirocess.” 
Each man kneels on his side of the row, 
and beginning at the middle of each row, 
grasps each plant in his left band and pulls 
the ridge of earth in around it closely, leav- 
ing the soil between the rows level again. 
The boards are now used again and a sec- 
ond row of ridges placed between the rows. 
These are now allowed to remain in jiosition 
until the plants have grown well above 
them, whexi they are leveled down and an- 
other set j>ut in. Care must be taken in the 
earthing to carry up a bank of earth a foot 
or more wide on each side of the bed. We 
continue this hilling jirocess in this latitude 
(Virginia) until the early part of Decem- 
ber when hard freezing may be expected, 
avoiding the final covering as late as possi- 
ble. When it is evident that hard freezing 
is coming the whole bed is covered with 
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