Notes from the Jefferson Gardens. 
BY Q. A. LOBINGIER. 
We gave Kanit (German Potash Salt) a 
fair trial last season on cabbage and celery 
and were highly gratified with the result. 
For the celery a niece of common farm 
land—clay loam—was chosen. It contain¬ 
ed about half an acre. It was carefully 
plowed and subsoiled and furrowed out 
with a common plow, as is often done for 
potatoes, the drills being three feet apart. 
Bone Dust and Kanit, which had been 
mixed in equal parts, was sown very thick¬ 
ly in these drills, about three bucketfuls to 
a drill of three hundred feet. The clod 
crusher was then passed over the ground, 
filling up the drills and making a nice sur¬ 
face upon which to plant. Lines were 
drawn with the marker directly over these 
drills and the plants set six inches apart in 
the row. The crop made very little prog¬ 
ress until the fall rains and cool nights 
came, after which the growth was remark¬ 
able and the crop the finest we ever grew. 
For the cabbage, street sweepings, equal in 
bulk to both bone dust and Kanit was add¬ 
ed, and a small shovelful put in each hill 
and thoroughly mixed with a prong hoe 
and the plant set directly in the hill. The 
land was poor. It would not produce more 
than a medium crop of corn, and our neigh¬ 
bors thought it labor thrown away. But 
the growth was marvellous and we felt 
•satisfied with the venture. We purchased 
it in larger quantities this season and feel 
satisfied where wood ashes cannot be had 
it is the best and cheapest substitute. We 
bought directly from the importers at $11 
•per ton and paid $3 per ton for freight. 
I would caution the inexperienced about 
using it for lettuce as it is fatal, and, in¬ 
deed, salt of any kind must be kept away 
from lettuce. We found it beneficial to use 
lime, say six bushel slacked lime to the 
ton, mixed with it to counteract the effects 
of the Magnesia contained m it. 
We were a little disappointed in the new 
tomato, Favorite. Perhaps we expected 
too much. Planted under the same con¬ 
ditions and trained to stakes, it averages in 
size very little above our Perfections. But 
our Perfections (from our own carefully 
selected seed) are at least a third larger 
than they were last year. But the Favorite 
may improve. In quality it is with us 
greatly superior to the Perfection, so su¬ 
perior for slicing that we will plant no other 
next season. 
I desire to corroborate the testimony of 
your correspondent about blanching celery 
with drain tile, by the statement of an old 
gentleman, a native of Holland, wtho lives 
near the city and who built the first green¬ 
house here over thirty years ago. In his 
gardening days celer} r was a luxury and it 
paid to grow it well. He used the tile in 
lengths of one foot each and to overcome 
the difficulty of getting the tile over the 
plant, took a strip of muslin about an inch 
wide, and beginning at the bottom, would 
wind it about the plant in spiral fashion, 
thus drawing the leaves closely together. 
After the tile was on the string was easily 
and quickly withdrawn. For what is 
wanted to use before freezing weather, in 
private gardens, it is an admirable method. 
I doubt if commercial growers, who 
grow by the hundred thousand and wdio 
get often but two cents per stalk, 
would be willing to invest in that way. 
The old gentleman, above referred to, sold 
his at twenty-five cents per plant. 
I would call attention to the exceeding 
usefulness of the weather reports from 
Washington. 
Through the courtesy of our local man¬ 
ager of telegraphy a copy of the report is 
sent to our office every morning at nine 
o’clock. This enables us to plan our work 
for the following day to advantage. 
Our daily papers are all evening issues, 
and until this arrangement was made, we 
did not get the reports until after 6 P. M., 
which was too late to make preparation 
for the next day. Where morning papers 
are issued the case would be different. But 
there are hundreds of localities not reached 
by the daily papers as early as by the tele¬ 
graph. Our Oyster and Ice Cream dealers 
find these reports of great value. 
A few weeks ago, when we had a large 
area of ground prepared for celery plants, 
but were waiting for rain, the report was 
laid on our desk at 9 a. m. “For the Ohio 
Valley, local rains, followed by much cool- 
