72 
April, 1891. 
/ ORCHARD 1r H pf oRRDEN \ 
Suggestions for April. 
Proper time to plant— Cabbage and Collards— How 
to So u? Celery— The Beet Radish— Beware of the Ous- 
ter Soup Bean— Starting Cucumbers and Mush Mel- 
ons in Frames— Wire fretting for Peas- -Nitrate of 
Soda for Cabbage , Etc-— The Best Beet to Plant— 
Ea rl u Ca rrots— Tomato Pla n ts— Forward ing Pepper 
and Egg Plants— Mush Melons and Water Melons— 
To Keep Bugs .f rom Cticumbers and Melons- 
The advent of April sets gardeners astir 
all over the land. Fiom Virginia south- 
ward the more tender seeds, such as snap 
beans, etc. , should go into the ground at once 
if not already planted. Lima beans should 
be deferred until later in the month. In 
fact it is hard to regulate these things by 
the calender, but it is always best to defer 
the planting of the main crop of tender 
vegetables such as corn, cucumbers, squash- 
es, melons, okra and beans until the ground 
is warm and danger of frost is past. In 
the northern States this will mean deferring 
them until late in May. We always take a 
little risk on a few string or snap beans for 
early use, and in this latitude put a few in 
before the last of March. In Maryland we 
commonly risked some by the middle of 
April and generallv brought them through. 
The Mohawk and Refugee beans are gen- 
erally tnouglit to be a little hardier than 
others, but there is really little difference 
in this regard Last spring our early plant- 
ing of Valentine beans came through a frost 
in just as good order as the Mohawks and 
were earlier. The little Bush Lima (Hen- 
derson’s) can be planted earlier without 
danger of rotting than the Large Lima can, 
and is ready for the table weeks before the 
climbing sorts. H. A. Dreer this year sends 
out a bush variety of Dreer’s Improved 
Lima. The seed look identical with the 
old cliipbing Drter’s Lima, which has al- 
ways been a favorite with us. The old 
Large Lima has always been unsatisfactory 
and unproductive in the South while Dreer’s 
Improved Lima has always given great sat- 
isfaction. We therefore hope great things 
for the Bush variety and will watch it with 
a great deal of interest this season. 
* * 
* 
Now is probably the best time to sow 
cabbage seed of such sorts as Fottler’s 
Brunswick, Succession and Winningstadt 
for autumn use. It is also the common 
practice to sow' here the first of April seed 
of the winter collards. We are of the opin- 
ion. however, that summer sowing will be 
better, and will test some at intervals. It is 
also a common notion in the South that 
cabbage and collards must not be cultivat- 
ed during 'Dog-days.” This is certainly an 
error in Virginia, w hen, against the warn- 
ings of our neighbors, we cultivated our 
cabbage all through the dog-days and beat 
the whole neighborhood. In fact we be- 
lieve in constant and thorough culture for 
all crops during their growth. 
Celery seed should be sowed at once. We 
usually sow on the shady side of a fence. 
Make the soil very fine, mark out shallow’ 
lines for the rows and sow the seed nearly 
on the surface. Beat the bed over with the 
back of a spade and cover at once with old 
matting, bagging or old carpet, to be re- 
moved when the seed germinate. Dwarf 
celeries are probably best at the North, but 
in the South the tall growing sorts are 
better. The new sort called Giant Paschal 
did well here last year. It seems to be 
identical with a sort I grew to great perfec 
tion years ago in Maryland under the name 
of “Seeley’s Leviathan.” 
* * 
* 
Beckert’s Chartier Radish is the best for 
sowing at this season. It grows to a very 
large size before becoming pithy and w T e 
esteem it the best out door spring radish. 
* * 
* 
We received from some one recently a 
circular, describing the wonderful “Oyster- 
soup bean,” and enclosing one of the seeds. 
It was the common “Broad Windsor” bean, 
very commonly planted in England, but en- 
tirely unsuited to our climate. Look out 
for the “Oyster-soup Bean” and don’t waste 
any time with it; we can grow better things. 
* * 
* 
It is a very good practice to plant a few 
seeds of cucumbers and musk melons in 
four-inch pots of rich soil, and pack the 
pots closely in a frame covered with sashes. 
They can be there watered and cared for 
until the soil is warm and then knocked out 
in a ball and planted in the hills. The pots 
are more convenient and cheaper in the 
“long-run” than invented sods, hollowed 
out turnips, etc. The Neponset waterproof 
paper pots are very cheap and convenient 
for this purpose. 
* * 
* 
Planting of peas will now be in order in 
the North, while our peas will be going to 
market. While it may not pay the market 
grower to train his peas off the ground it is 
always better for the private gardener to 
give them some support. For this purpose 
there is nothing neater nor cheaper than the 
galvanized wire netting which I recom- 
mended last year. As a matter of experi- 
ment last season I sent men and team to 
the woods to cut brush for peas, and kept 
an account of the actual cost. The result 
was that I found the brush cost more than 
the wire netting in the first place, was more 
unsightly, and was good for but one season, 
while there is no reason why the wire net- 
ting will not last ten years if taken care 
of. This galvanized wire netting can now 
be bought in rolls 150 feet long and of vari- 
ous widths up to six feet wide for half 
a cent per square foot. And as pea brush 
is a hard thing for most suburban gardeners 
to get, at any price, I feel sure our readers 
will thank me for calling attention to so 
neat and cheap a substitute. 
* * 
* 
The spring crop of cabbage and cauli- 
flower will now be growing rapidly. It will 
be found of great advantage to scatter ni- 
trate of soda along the rows once or twice 
during the season of cultivation. 
* * 
* 
If early beets have not been sown sow 
them as soon as hard frosts are over. For 
family use we still prefer the old Bassano 
beet. Its disadvantages are its large tops, 
and some object to its light color. But it 
is of far better quality than the Egyptian 
so much used by market growers merely 
because it is early, has a dark color, and 
a small, neat top for bunching. But in 
quality for table use the Egyptian is very 
inferior and rapidly becoming entirely 
worthless. The newer Eclipse beet is better 
than the Egyptian but not so good as Bas- 
sano. As a succession there are several 
strains of Blood Turnip beets, between 
which I never could see much choice. For 
late use the Pine Apple beet is very good 
and for winter the old Long Blood is still 
best. 
* * 
* 
Seeds of Early Horn carrot can be sown 
as early as the ground can be worked. N jv- 
er sow the large sorts like the Long Orange 
for table use. The intermediate carrots are 
much better and can be sown as late as 
From North Carolina southward tomato 
plants that have been properly hardened off 
in cold frames can now go in the open 
ground, and by the last of the month they 
can he set out in Virginia and southern 
Maryland. Tomato plants properly hard- 
ened off will go through a white frost un- 
hurt, while plants taken directly from a 
hot-bed will succumb. In fact tomato 
plants grown in a hot bed and never trans- 
planted until set in the open ground are in- 
ferior to plants raised in the open ground. 
* * 
* 
Peppers and egg plants raised in hot-beds 
or greenhouses in March should be shifted 
out in pots and finally turned out when 
the ground is finally warm in this latitude 
in May. Northward not until first of June. 
The Crimson Cluster pepper is the most 
wonderfully productive of all the small 
flavoring sorts. Ruby King is a good large 
sort for pickling purposes. 
* * 
* 
In musk melons the Emerald Gem is still 
our favorite. It is late, however, and Jen- 
ny Lind will do for early. The new sort 
sent out this year as “Banquet” is promis- 
ing and we will grow it. As a rule avoid 
musk melons of gigantic size. They are 
generally of inferior quality. Some of our 
northern friends criticised me for saying 
the Montreal Market melon is worthless. If 
they will come south in melon season and 
try some of ours I feel sure they will never 
want to eat a Montreal Market melon 
again. 
* 
In watermelons, if you are growing for 
market and want to ship a long distance 
plant Kolb’s Gem, but if you grow melons 
