April, 1890. 
ORCHARD 
GARDEN 
79 
supercede tbe old sort. Ground should be 
prepared and poles set for pole beans, but 
the planting should be deferred until the 
ground is warm in May. But Lima beans 
may be started a little in advance of the 
time it would be safe to put them outside, by 
sticking the bean’s eye down on pieces of 
inverted sod, in a cold frame. Sift fine rich 
soil over them so as t* barely cover the 
beans. The sod with the bean attached can 
then be planted by the poles at the proper 
time. Cucumbers and melons can also be for- 
warded in cold frames. For them four inch 
flower pots are best and most convenient. Fill 
the pots with good potting compost and pack 
them closely together in a frame. Plant 
five or six seeds on each pot and cover light- 
ly. Give a good watering and then keep 
the sash close until they begin to germinate. 
Give them air by tilting the sash at the 
back, and as they advance in growth thin 
them so as to leave but two plants to a pot. 
Finally, wheu the soil is warm in May, knock 
them out of the pots without breaking the 
ball of earth, and plant in well manured hills 
rather deeper than they grow in the pots. 
April 1st is time enough at the North to 
start egg plants in greenhouse or hot bed. 
Grow them on in pots just as you would a 
geranium, not allowing them to get stunted 
or pot-bound, and do not risk them out 
until June. They cannot be hardened like 
tomatoes, and any attempt to do so will 
stunt them. I once made a very good use 
of my frames, after the tomato plants were 
set out, by planting two egg plants to each 
sash from plants growing in pots in a green- 
house, and keeping the sashes over them 
until June, only airing during sunlight un- 
til the nights became warm. T had 600 
sashes of them, and though the situation 
was in Northern Maryland I had egg plants 
in the Phdadelphia market ahead of the 
Norfolk growers ; in fact, my first shipment 
was the only lot in Delaware Avenue Mar- 
ket and sold for $4 a basket Cucumbers 
sometimes pay well grown in the same 
way, only with them a single hill in the 
middle of each sash is sufficient. Every 
market gardener should make his sashes 
serve him for as many crops as possible just 
as long as any extra heat will be beneficial. 
If you risk an early planting of corn it is 
best to use Adam’s Early, as it is not only 
early but is less likely to rot than the sweet 
varieties. South of the Potomac it is as yet 
the only sort we can rely upon for early 
use, as the early sorts of sugar corn are 
worthless here. I am working hard in this 
line trying to develop an early corn of bet- 
ter quality than Adam’s which Southern 
gardeners can use, ai d have every prospect 
of success ere long. We plant Adams in 
March and follow by the last of the month 
with Stowell’s Evergreen to succeed it. It 
is a good practice to plant here some early 
sugar corn along with Adam’s merely for 
pollen, and the Adam's ears are certainly 
better quality thereby, though the sugar 
corn does not amount to much. Corn more 
than most other plants avoids self-impreg 
nation, and a plant grown by itself under 
glass and fertilized with its own pollen only 
will hardly make a perfect grain even when 
covered with pollen. 
If the early cabbage plants are not set out 
lose no time in setting them if properly 
hardened off previously. These hardy plants 
are not easily hurt unless in sappy growth. 
Here our cabbage plants which had come 
safely through the winter were killed by 
the breeze the first of March simply because 
they were in a regular midsummer growth. 
— W. F. Massey. 
Building ®p a market. 
There are many little towns in our great 
country where a poor man could, if he 
would use energy and take hold with a 
“ vim,” make up a good business at grow- 
ing fruits and vegetables lor market. The 
demand at these little towns is not sufficient 
to cause fruit to be shipped from other 
places, consequently there is generally no 
foreign market to fear. The market may 
not be very good at first, but patience and 
enterprise soon tell. I know that the busi- 
ness of fruit growing for small towns may 
be increased until a good market is built 
up. In every town may be found a few 
families ready and desirous to buy good 
fruit if brought to their doors, who now go 
without it from year to year. In this way 
a business grows ; but to secure success the 
man who undertakes it must possess both 
will and brains. 
In my experience at growing fruits for 
market I have found it more profitable to 
add vegetables. In small markets there 
will not be at first, perhaps, sufficient de- 
mand to make a profitable business, but by 
adding vegetable growing the two may be- 
come quite profitable. I always have early 
radishes, beets and peas to market with my 
strawberries ; beans, cucumbers, early cab- 
bages and tomatoes to market with raspber- 
ries. Thus both fruit and vegetables can 
be marketed in the same time and much 
time and expense are saved. 
To have beets, radishes and peas early 
the ground should be prepared an J manured 
in the fall. Well rotted manure is the best, 
but long manure will answer ; spread it on 
the ground and then with a large turning 
plow through the soil up into ridges, the 
higher the ridges the better. The nex. 
spring the ridged soil will be in good work- 
ing order several days earlier than that not 
ridged. Level the soil and broadcast hen 
manure on the ground for beets and rad- 
ishes, as liberally as possible, working it 
well in the soil. Rake it level and fine, line 
off rows ten inches apart and sow to beets 
and radishes in alternate rows. As soon as 
the plants are up sprinkle ashes thickly 
over the beds. Planted this way the rad- 
ishes can be sold off before the beets need 
the room. As soon as the beets have bot- 
toms two inches in diameter they are large 
enough for market. In pulling the first 
beets they should be drawn so as to thin the 
rows and give the remaining crop more 
room to grow. Where one has plenty of 
land plant in rows three feet apart, prepared 
as above stated. Planting at this distance 
gives more room to work the crop and 
much culture hastens their growth ; a few 
days’ tarliness in market makes a great 
gain in profits. Henderson’s Early Dark 
Scarlet Turnip is in the lead of all radishes 
for earliness, tenderness and beauty that I 
have as yet tried, and the True Egyptian 
the earliest and best for the first market. 
In preparing the ground for peas I plough 
very deeply and work it mellow. Mark off 
the rows, three feet apart, with a shovel. 
Two furrows are run in the same place as 
deep as the plow can be made to go by 
bearing on the handle. These furrows are 
filled with a rich compost of one -third sta- 
ble manure and two-thirds rotted leaf mold, 
so that two inches of soil will make level 
with the surface. The seed is scattered in 
these furrows on the manure and then two 
inches of soil raked over the seed. As soon 
as the plants are up they are cultivated 
with a shovel plow as deep as the plow can 
be made to go, and the soil then raked 
level. In this way they are cultivated four 
or five times. In picking, the best-filled 
pods only are taken off, and care is taken 
not to injure the vines. I have picked good 
marketable peas for twenty-five days from 
the same vines. 
SELECTION OF VARIETIES. 
A proper selection of varieties of veget- 
ables is of prime importance, for through 
inferior sorts much money, time and labor 
may be lost. The gardener's profits are 
made on many articles ; some of them are 
quite small, but every item is of importance 
with him. In this, as in other lines of busi- 
ness, money is an important factor, but 
labor, land, manure, time and reputation 
are equally so to the market gardener. In 
growing a variety which proves worthless 
he sustains a loss on each of these items. 
When I began marketing fruit hnd veg- 
etables I » as quite anxious to build up a 
good reputation by offering varieties of 
superior quality, therefore I sought for the 
best strains of vegetables which 1 ecu d ob- 
tain for testing, and after many failures 
and considerable loss I have found the fol- 
lowing varieties to be among the best to 
grow for the home market ; others may be 
tested slowly. The Early Egyptian beet is 
extra early, a rapid grower and sells well. 
Early Improved Red Valentine oean is very 
early, tender and safest for early market. 
For early the Early Russian cucumber is 
best ; for pickles I like the Green Prolific 
or Improved White Spine ; in quality Fail- 
by’s Hybrid far surpasses any I have lasted. 
Early Jersey cabbage is my favorite for 
early ; the heads are very hard, of excellent 
quality and, since the introduction of the 
green worm, I find early cabbage the most 
profitable, as they are too early for most of 
the swarms. I have found no watermelon 
so safe for market or so delicious for family 
use as the Icing Rind (Ice Cream it is called 
by some); red flesh, fair size, nearly round. 
The Cuban Queen is a fine, showy melon, 
but inferior in quality to the Icing. I find 
