190 
November, 1891. 
O R CH RRbfc^f GARDEN \ 
W MWmMW , ,W W w q»WA-to>i,».M>A,^WAA^g 
In The Kitchen and Market Garden. 
irintering Cabbage and Cauliflower Plants. Treat- 
ment of Celery. Forcing Lettuce in Frames. 
Burying Cabbage for Winter. Storing Potatoes. 
Handling and Keeping Sweet Potatoes. The 
Late Crop of Irish Potatoes. Wintering Par- 
snips and Salsify Out-of-Doors. Winter Rad- 
ishes. Covering Spinach and Kale. Keeping 
Onions. Autumn-Sown Onion Seeds. 
T THE North the plants 
of cabbage and cauli- 
flower intended to be 
wintered over in 
flames should now be 
transplanted therein. 
Set them quite thick- 
ly, and deep enough 
to cover .he entire stem so as to preveut iu- 
jury by hard freezing. But kt ep the sashes 
off during day-light until real severe weath- 
er sets in. The object is to get the plants 
into a tough condition and not to promote 
active growth. An ordinary 3x6 hot-bed 
sash will shelter eight hundred plants. 
From Baltimore southward these fall 
sown plants should be set on the south side 
of a sharp ridge, putting them in deeply 
like those set in frames. Make the ridges 
far enough apart to admit of horse culture 
in the spring and set the plants thick enough 
to allow for some loss in winter and some 
running to seed in spring. Wakefield is 
still the best early sort if a good strain is 
used, and although not so ranked by north- 
ern gardeners we hare always found Win- 
ningstadt very little later and much larger. 
In fact for family use I prefer to use the 
Winningstadt for earliest and have often cut 
it the same week with Wakefield. 
Snowball cauliflower is the most relia- 
ble header for early use, but a good strain 
of Erfurt and Early Paris will give good 
results. Cauliflower will not do so well out 
on ridges in winter north of southern Vir- 
ginia. Even here I much prefer to sow the 
seed first of January, under glass, and hard- 
en them off in boxes of very rich soil in 
cold frames until late in February. Cab- 
bages treated the same way and set here in 
the open ground the first week in February 
will do better as regards crop and be but 
little later than the fall sown plants. 
The earthing up of celery should now go 
on rapidly, and from Philadelphia north- 
ward should be entirely completed, and the 
crop secured for the winter, by the last of 
the month. If grown in beds, as practiced 
by the Baltimore gardeners, it should re- 
main where grown and the earthed-up beds 
covered with forest leaves to prevent hard 
freezing. The great difficulty in the South 
with this crop is to stop it growing. From 
some experiments I have made I am not 
sure but it may be best for us here to adopt 
the New York plan of burying in trenches, 
not for protection from cold, but to check 
its rapid growth when in ridges above 
ground. In the trenches here it will only 
need to have a light sprinkle of straw over 
it to shade it. A trench which I filled this 
way bleached better and kept better than 
that left above ground. 
Lettuce in frames intended to head by or 
before Christmas will need close watching 
in localities where hard freezing occurs this 
month, as it is in a more tender state than 
that merely being wintered over. The 
frames should be covered so as to exclude 
frost which quickly spoilsheading lettuce. 
In this latitude it will be safer to put on 
the sashes towards the end of the month. 
Here the frames in lettuce can be kept con- 
tinuously at work in winter by having plen- 
ty of plants in an open bed outside to re- 
plant those under glass as fast as they are 
headed and cut out. 
In cold latitudes the crop of winter cab- 
bages will need attention this month. A 
good plan is to plow out a deep dead fur- 
row in a dry spot, and pack the cabbages in 
it upside down. Then plow the furrow 
back on them and finish covering with 
the shovel so as to make a sharp ridge over 
the roots. In this latitude cabbages and 
collards will seldom meet any weather to 
injure them, but to blanch collards and keep 
cabbages well, they should be loosened at 
the root and bent down with the head turn- 
ed towards the North and then have the 
stems and lower part of the head covered 
with earth, leaving only the upper part ex- 
posed. Some turn them towards the South, 
but this is an error, as the open part is ex- 
posed to the sun’s rays in the morning when 
they may be frozen and be liable to injury 
thereby, while the most tender part, the 
upper part of the stem, is turned north. 
This cover here should be deferred until just 
before Christmas. 
Irish potatoes stored in cellars should be 
looked carefully after. There is more dan- 
ger in their getting too warm than too cold. 
A temperature of 32° won't hurt them if in 
total darkness, as they should be, and pro- 
bably the best temperature while not so low 
as 32° is not over 35° to 40°. An occasional 
overhauling and picking out of any decayed 
potatoes is necessary and plaster or air- 
slaked lime sprinkled through them is a 
good preventive of rot. 
Sweet potatoes on the other hand need 
to be dried off with a high temperature 
when first put away and then kept at a tem- 
perature not lower than 60°. They do not 
do well in large bulks, and a good way to 
store them is to put in slatted crates such as 
peaches and vegetables are shipped in, and 
pile the crates so that a free circulation of 
dry warm air can be had. Here we keep 
them in heaps of moderate size under an 
open shed, and covered thickly with pine 
leaves. As the weather gets colder, after 
they have been allowed to sweat and dry off 
in the thick cover of pine leaves, an addi- 
tional cover of dry earth is added over all. 
If this earth cover is kept dry by a shed 
overhead there will be no trouble in keep- 
ing them. 
The late crop of Irish potatoes which is 
now becoming such an important one in 
the South, should be dug about the last ofT 
this month or so soon as frost has killed the 
tops, which sometimes does not occur until 
December. This crop can be left in the 
ground where it grew, if the land is dry, by 
covering the rows with a good layer of pine 
straw, and can be dug for use or shipment 
just as wanted. 
Where the ground freezes hard I have 
always found it an advantage to lift the 
crops of parsnips and salsify late in Novem- 
ber and heel them in closely in a furrow. 
They then can be gotten at when it would 
be almost impossible to dig them if left 
where they grew. 
Winter radishes sown here last month 
will soon be ready for use, and the second 
sowing later in the month will give radishes 
nearly all winter if lightly covered with 
straw. At the North they should be lifted^ 
and stored like turnips are there. 
Spinach and kale though hardy will be 
all the better for a sprinkling of strawy 
manure around and over them. This will 
keep the plants in better condition, and free 
from brown and crisped leaves. 
Onions whether from sets, or seed sown 
in October, should have the earth slightly 
ridged to the rows and care taken that 
water does not stand about them. Ripe 
onions stored for winter use should be kept 
in a cold, dark and dry place and spread 
out thinly. Freezing will not hurt them if 
they are not handled while frozen. Onion 
sets may still be planted in the South, but 
we prefer to grow onions from Black seed 
either sown in fall and transplanted, or 
sown in February and let grow where 
sown. The transplanting is a heavy job 
but the onions grow much larger. — W. F. 
Massey, N. C. 
The Jersey Red Sweet Potato. 
This red variety of sweet potatoes has 
been raised to a limited extent in this neigh- 
borhood for the past few years and it suits 
us very well indeed. We consider it earlier, 
mealier, and generally better than the Nan- 
semond ; in fact, the best sweet potato we 
have yet grown. 
We learn that it is a very old variety in 
many parts of this state but for several 
years became almost extinct. Ten or twelve 
years ago it started up again and is now 
raised in some sections quite largely and is 
popular in the markets of both Philadelphia 
and New York. On rather heavy soil it will 
do much better than the yellow sorts and be 
of excellent quality in such soils, where the 
yellow potatoes will be poor in form and 
quality. It is not quite as productive on 
poor sandy soil as the yellow sorts but on 
fair soil and with good manuring will pro- 
duce fine crops. People who have not first 
class sweet potato soil will find this red 
variety much more satisfactory every way 
than the Nansemond. 
If you are Bilious, take Beecham’s Pili.s. 
