14 
SEED-TIME km HARVEST 
profits. Stable manure is chiefly relied 
upon, on account of tlie vegetable matter 
contained, which keeps the land light and 
friable. A five year's rotation with grass 
one year, was recommended for filling the 
soil with decaying roots and stubble. 
Prompt action in spring, and the most 
thorough preparation of the soil is another 
requisite. The surface must be stirred often 
after the young plants come up, and the 
weeds must be subdued. So much depends 
upon pure seed that it is better to grow 
one’s own when practicable. The roller is 
often necessary to compact the soil after 
planting seeds, and as the outlook now is, 
irrigation must soon receive far more at¬ 
tention than it has done. Gardeners work 
harder than farmers, as they keep right 
along, regardless of weather, particularly 
when contracts have been made for delivery 
of crops in the markets. 
Asparagus is a leading crop in Concord, 
where half the amount produced in the 
State is grown. It is a good crop for dry 
land, as it roots so deeply that it seldom 
suffers from drought. His method is to 
plough very deep, twelve to eighteen in¬ 
ches. manure bountifully, plant in furrows 
eight inches deep, gradually filling up level 
as the plants grow. Rows should be four 
feet apart, and plants from twelve to twenty 
inches. Thick setting brings in a full crop 
sooner, but thinner setting gives quite as 
good results in the long run. A bed is in 
perfection at from eight to twelve years 
old. The fourth year’s growth will be of 
full market size, but the third wall give a 
medium crop of medium sized stalks. An 
old bed is hard to kill, but constant and 
late cutting up to August, witli subsequent 
cultivation, will do it. Salt is of no use 
whatever. This old idea of asparagus being 
a marine plant is not well founded in fact, 
but has been handed down from one author 
to another for more than a hundred years. 
W. W. Ravvson of Arlington, the largest 
gardener probably in the State, then follow¬ 
ed the speaker, giving some of Ins own ex¬ 
perience. Mr. Raw son is purchasing Hi 00 
cords of manure a year, and is doing every¬ 
thing upon a similar scale. Expended $-000 
this season, in works for irrigating Iris gar¬ 
dens in. dry weather, and made enough 
from the crops watered to pay all the eo--. 
the first year. His manure costs him from 
six to seven dollars per cord, delivered m 
piles on the fields, but it is old and nth 
rotted down. Fresh manure costs less. 
Mr. W. D. Phil brink of Newton, spoke 
briefly of the necessity oi contiolling, the 
condition of land in dry weather. Low-. 
wetland, if well drained, makes excellent 
garden land, especially lor cultivation ns 
such seasons as the past. If the water liin 
is near the surface, the drains must be nea> 
er each other, perhaps not more than a. 
rod apart. A field in his town was watei 
ed this year, by flushing the drains front, 
a hydrant of the public water works, send¬ 
ing the water in exactly the opposite di¬ 
rection from that of its usual flow. Garden* 
work is ^ ery much harder than ordinary 
farm work. There is a great deal of night 
work, driving into the city to sell eail\ hs» 
the morning, and sitting up nights to- 
watch the thermometer in the greenhouses. 
Mr. George Hill of Arlington, said mar¬ 
keting, like other industries, is constantly 
changing, and to succeed, one must keep* 
up with the demands of the times. South¬ 
ern competition is so severe that our old 
gardeners will have to turnover a new leaf., 
must look deeper, and know more. Near¬ 
ness to market is still in our favor, but tax¬ 
ation is too high on all our farm lands, and 
the valuation near cities is too fictitious. 
He would not recommend a young man to 
run in debt for a farm to grow garden veg 
etables. unless he had first thoroughly 
learned his business by several years of ser¬ 
vice for others. He should begin small, and 
grow up bis business with caution. Knows- 
of no better opening now, than the seed 
business, provided one will grow better seed 
than can now be bought. It is often said 
with truth, perhaps, that the smartest boys, 
leave the farm for other kinds of business, 
and that it is those who are too weak mind¬ 
ed to get away who remain. He had some¬ 
times ih .ii ;ht as he looked abroad, and saw 
how lew ..f hi-' old boyhood companions 
who had left the farm, have ever made a 
ideew.t appioch to success, that he was 
! thankful 1 <' had been one of those siUy 
on. 
h > dol not 
know enough to get 
