V 
10 
iEED-TI 
HARVES 
9 
Hints to Young' Gardeners. 
Sow in rows and drills rather than in 
beds, running them north and south, so 
that both sides may have the benefit of the 
sun part of the day. Make the beds as 
long as you can—150 feet, and longer if 
possible—as the longer the row, the less 
time will bemused in turning and working 
them. Put them far enough apart to use a 
horse in cultivating, hand culture being 
much more [expensive and tedious. The 
distance apart should be 2 to 3 feet for a 
horse: for hand-hoeing, 12 to 15 inches. If 
your garden is made up in beds, you lose 
the use of the ground devoted to paths, 
beside which nothing will grow very near 
the edge, and if there should, the dragging 
of skirts over them will break and destroy, 
and the trampling upon^tlie edges, B if the 
path be narrow, and the rains, hoeing and 
weeding, will be constantly wearing them 
away, filling up the paths and narrowing 
the beds. 
For sowing such long rows you should 
use a drill, finger work taking too much 
time, and being too wearisome. Com¬ 
mence sowing with any variety of seed you 
choose, and having sown all you wish of 
that kind, keep right on with another, and 
so on until you have finished. As some 
seed may not “come,” and worms, insects, 
rains, &c., may destoy some young plants, 
it is well to keep a small quantity in re¬ 
serve for re-planting where needed. Rad¬ 
ish seed may be sown between the beet 
rows, as the radishes will be taken out 
before you will need to use the horse culti¬ 
vator. So it will be well to sow the beet 
seed in the first or outside rows. Plants for 
late cabbages may be set in the ground 
previously occupied by peas and early pota¬ 
toes. and fiat turnip seed sowed where you 
have cut up your sweet corn, and among 
cucumber, melon, and squash vines. To 
economize thus and secure two good crops, 
the soil must be rich. 
In sowing cucumber, melon, citron and 
squash seeds, prepare the hills by digging 
out to such a depli that, when you have 
put in as much manuae as you wish, cover¬ 
ing it with earth, then sowing the seed 
and covering them, the tops of the hills will 
not be higher than the surrounding sur¬ 
face, but rather below it. In hoeing, do 
not raise a hill, or, if you do, not more 
than 2 or 3 inches high, large and hollow 
like a dish. Never round up a hill, as such 
a hill dries out quickly and the roots are 
deprived of moisture. Hills for these (ex¬ 
cept summer squashes, which may be 4 feet 
apart) should be 8 to 10 feet from centre to 
centre. Pinch off the ends of vines 4 or 5 
feet from the root. 
There are many ways of caring for toma¬ 
toes, but of all, I prefer the stake, as tak¬ 
ing less time and being more satisfactory 
and profitable. To train to a stake, three 
tyings will be necessary, tying each so 
tight to the stake that it will not slip upon 
it, and so loosely about the vine as not to 
obstruct its growth. If hens are allowed 
in the garden, it is well to cut off all the 
lateral branches from the ground up to two 
feet at least. Pinch off the end of each 
bearing branch, leaving but one bunch of 
fruit on it, and stop the upward growth of 
the main stalk when as high as you wish, 
in the same way. A sun-flower stake is the 
cheapest and most profitable, as it saves the 
time required to go the woods or elsewhere 
for stakes, to sharpen and set, and gather 
up and store for next year’s use; besides, 
you have a harvest of seeds better for hens 
than corn. Cut the leaves from the flower- 
stalk a little higher up than the tops of the 
tomatoes to prevent shading. As tomatoes 
in rich ground will grow from four to six 
feet high, use the Russian sun-flower, 
which is the tallest of its kind. 
Hybridizing may not be entirely prevent¬ 
ed, but will be in part by planting the 
seeds of such kinds as are not likely to hy¬ 
bridize as far apart as your land will per¬ 
mit, growing between them one or more 
rows (the more the better, as the greater 
the distance the less likely will the wind or 
1 insects be to carry over the pollen) of such 
vegetables as do not intermix. The taller, 
I also these intervening vegetables are, the 
better—corn, tomatoes, and tall peas like 
the Champion, furnishing the best bar¬ 
riers, especially if the hills stand in a diag¬ 
onal or quincunx position, which will also 
allow of more hills. 
* 
