174 
October, 1891. 
r_ 6 RCH PlRdIuhh V OPiRD e n \ 
October. 
Y the time this reaches 
them most of the north- 
ern readers may have 
had a light touch of 
frost, and by the last of 
the month he may be 
expected to pay his first 
visit to this section. These first frosts are 
apt to be followed by a long spell of bright 
frostless weather, and a light protection to 
tender plants during these cold nights will 
prolong their usefulness much beyond the 
usual time. We often put some of our late 
crops in this latitude on low and moist 
land, for the sake of the moisture, These 
localities are good for this purpose if the 
crop is cabbage, but bad if the crops are 
Irish or sweet potatoes, tomatoes or egg 
plants, for we frequently have frosts that 
kill all tender plants in the low grounds 
weeks before those in the upland are hurt 
at all. Last fall we had two patches of late 
Irish potatoes, one of them was on a warm 
sunny slope but down near the base of the 
hill, the other was on a colder soil, but 
nearly fifty feet higher. The patch on the 
lower slope had its tops cut by frost the last 
of October, the patch on the hill was not 
hurt by frost until the second of December. 
With cover at hand in the shape of hot- 
bed sashes or plant-bed cloth, it is an easy 
matter to carry tomatoes and egg plants 
through the first frosts, and continue their 
use through the sunny weeks thereafter. I 
always like to have a late set of tomato 
plants just in their prime in September and 
October, so that when a killing frost final- 
ly comes the vines can be pulled up full of 
green fruit and hung up in a grapery, if 
you have one, or in a cellar, where they 
will ripen off much better than if pulled 
from the vines. If you have a surplus of 
egg-fruit on the plants when frost threatens, 
they can be put up in tin cans as tomatoes 
are. and when taken out in winter, made 
into cakes and fried are fully as good as the 
fresh article. I do not know why our en- 
terprising canners do not put up the egg 
plant regularly. 
To those in districts where sweet potatoes 
are hard to keep in winter, and that means 
everywhere where frosts are severe, I 
would suggest drying them in a portable 
evaporator for wiuter use. I mentioned 
this a short time ago in another journal, 
and the types made me say I had not tried 
it. Now, I never recommend a practice I 
have not tried. We cut the potatoes in 
slices, having first removed the skin — and 
they dry very quickly and perfectly. They 
are restored to their edible conditicn by 
scalding or steaming, and if then placed in 
an earthen pan with a little sugar and but- 
ter over the top and baked, they make a 
dish fit for a farmer king. 
We always find it good to have a full crop 
of snap beans coming into perfection late in 
fall. These we gather as rapidly as they 
come into the best condition, and pack down 
in strong brine for winter use. To use they 
must be soaked in fresh water for twenry- 
four hours previously, and then they make 
a nice dish. 
Our amateur friends must not be fright- 
ened by the first cool weather and go to 
covering things prematurely for winter. 
Don't worry about such hardy things as 
cabbage and celery yet, so far as wintering 
is concerned. The earthing of celery may 
go forward now, with the cooler weather as 
fast as the plants grow. Cabbages that are 
headed now had better be used or sold, as 
they will not keep in winter. When it is 
necessary to bury cabbage in winter to pre- 
serve it, and this means anywhere north of 
Washington, it is best to have them just 
beginning to head when buried if they 
are to be kept till spring and they should 
never be buried until hard winter is evi- 
dently at hand. In this latitude cabbage 
and collards should be sinply bent over with 
their heads towards the North, and a shovel- 
ful of earth banked over the entire stem and 
base of the head. The head is thus protect- 
ed from the winter sun, which does more 
damage than the frost, while the tender 
parts, the stem and base of head, are to- 
wards the South and protected by the earth 
cover. I mention this because many peo- 
ple,! find, turn the heads toward the South 
or East, which should never be done. But 
Christmas will be early enough for this here. 
Sweet potatoes should be dug as soon as 
the vines are cut at all by frost. Clean all 
the frosted vines off at once for if left at- 
tached to the dead vines the tubers will be 
injured. After the vines are off you can 
take your leisure in digging, unless the 
weather should get cold. Sweet potatoes 
we keep without trouble by placing a good 
bed of pine straw beneath them, piling them 
in sharp conical heaps and covering them 
thickly with pine straw. A rough board 
shed is then built over the rows of heaps to 
keep the straw from getting wet. They 
are allowed to remain in this way until 
freezing weather is apprehended, and then 
a heavy coat of earth is put over the heaps 
and beaten smooth. This course gives the 
potatoes a chance to sweat and dry off un- 
der the pine straw cover and when the earth 
cover is put on it is kept dry by the shed, 
and the dry earth keeps out frost much bet- 
ter than if it was allowed to get wet with 
rain. 
At the North, onion seed sown now in 
frames or sheltered beds, and transplanted 
in spring will give extra large bulbs for the 
family garden. From Baltimore south- 
ward, seed of the Italian 6orts. sown in Oc- 
tober, will give the best results. We sow 
them thickly in beds, and transplant in Feb- 
ruary. Giant Rocca makes a much larger 
crop treated this way. So also will the 
Bermuda and Mammoth Pompeii. All the 
Italian sorts will give fair crops in this lati- 
tude sown in February. The early white 
sorts like the Queen and Marzajola should 
not be sown in fall, as they do better for 
spring sowing, and for sowing in August 
for a fall crop. The Giant Rocca never 
makes as fine a crop from spring sowing as 
it does by being sown in October and trans- 
planted. 
If Kale was not sown last month it may 
still be sown in this latitude. Any time in 
the month, but in the first half if possible, 
the seeds of Early Wakefield and Early 
Summer cabbage should be sown in south- i 
ern Va., and North Carolina. I prefer to 
make two sowings, one the first of the month 
and one about the middle. The thing to 
avoid is getting the plants so much advanc- 
ed in the fall that they will run to seed in- 
stead of heading in March and April. Seed 
sown in the hot-bed January 1st and trans- 
planted to cold frames, hardened off and 
put out early in February, will none of them 
run to seed, and will be about as early as 
the fall-sown ones. So if you miss it in the 
fall be sure to try again in winter. 
Late-sown carrots, parsnips and salsify 
will be making their best growth now, and 
should be kept clean. All these are usual- 
ly sown too early, in this latitude at least, 
and if our friends here have taken our ad- 
vice and made a sowing in July or August 
they will doubtless now have better roots 
than if sown in spring. 
Lettuce seed, for plants to winter over in 
frames at the North, or in the open ground * 
South, can yet be sown. We find that here 
it is a good practice to sow seeds of Tennis 
Ball or Boston Market lettuce at intervals 
from September 1st to October 15. Set the 
plants in frames as soon as the first are 
large enough and keep the glass off until 
the weather gets quite frosty and then give 
all the air possible. The first set plants will 
head well by Christmas, and by filling their 
places from the plants outside as fast as 
they are cut out, a constant succession can 
be had for the table all through the winter, 
well headed. Those who get accustomed 
to lettuce headed in this way can’t care 
much for the more inferior stock raised out 
doors in spring and summer. 
With Irish potatoes in this latitude, the 
chief difficulty is in keeping them cool 
enough. If put in a dry shed and heavily 
covered with pine straw, without any earth 
covering, they w ? ill keep well. But the heajA 
must not be large and the cover must be 
thick enough to entirely exclude the light. 
Darkness and a temperature as near 35° as 
possible is best for them. — W. F. Massey, 
Raieich. N. C. 
