138 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
Turnip. The leading tender vegetables are : 
Beans, Cucumber, Okra, Pumpkin, Squash, 
Sweet Corn, Tomato, Watermelon, and Musk- 
melon, to be sown at corn-planting time. 
In even a moderate sized garden a seed 
sower and hand cultivator save time and do 
the work better than by hand. There is a 
variety of these garden implements to 
jchoose from, and it is impossible for us to 
say which is the best. There are a number 
of home-made aids that should be provided 
before they are needed, such as markers, 
dibbles, etc. A garden line and reel is a great 
convenience in laying out rows, beds, for 
sowing in straight lines, etc. Two hard-wood 
sticks about two feet long, pointed at one 
end, with the twine wound upon one makes a 
cheap and satisfactory substitute for a reel— 
much better than the poorly made iron reel. 
Those who wish to give their potatoes an 
early start can do so by placing the “ seed” 
in boxes of earth in a warm room. They 
require to be handled with much care at 
planting time, not to break the sprouts. 
Rake off the coarse litter from the asparagus 
bed and fork in the fine manure, taking care 
to not injure the crowns of the plants. 
Tomatoes are among the most tender vege¬ 
tables, the slightest frost killing them, and a 
cool night gives them a chill from which 
they are long in recovering. In a garden the 
plants can be protected by a screen of some 
kind if a frosty or un¬ 
usually cool night is 
apprehended. Any 
light fabric that may 
be at hand, or even 
newspapers will an¬ 
swer ; stakes may be 
put around or near 
the plants to prevent 
the screen from rest¬ 
ing upon them. If the 
tomafoes are provided 
with a trellis, the ar¬ 
rangement of the 
screen is much easier. 
Those who have once 
grown tomatoes upon 
a support or trellis, will never go back to the 
slip-shod manner of field culture. Not only 
are neatness and convenience secured, but 
the fruit is really enough finer to pay for all 
the trouble of making the trellis. The num¬ 
ber and varieties of tomato trellises given in 
former volumes, is very large, but we give 
one more which is different from any other, 
an account and drawing of which comes 
from Mr. D. M. Sharpnack, Ritchie Co., West 
Ya. He rips strips from l‘/ 4 or l*/ a inch 
boards, four feet long, and sharpens on one 
end. Three or four of these are driven 
around a plant 10 inches apart, and flaring 
outward to be 2‘A or 3 feet apart at the top. 
Take a ball of common wool twine, make the 
end fast to a stake at 8 inches from the 
ground ; wind the twine around the trellis, 
taking a turn around each stake, in a spiral 
manner, with about 6 inches between the 
turns. Mr. S. finds that twine will not in¬ 
jure the plant or the fruit like a square cor¬ 
ner, and the vines may be trained more 
readily. By fall the strings will be useless, 
and the stakes may be pulled up, tied in 
bundles, and laid away for another year. 
Three heaps are needed, if not in every 
garden, adjacent to it. One heap should be 
for all vegetable and animal matter that may 
be converted into manure ; it is perhaps bet¬ 
TOMATO TRELLIS. 
ter to have for this a pit, instead of a heap, 
as unless it can be occasionally watered, it 
will dry out too much in the hot months. 
To this heap or pit should go all the weeds 
that will not ripen seeds, all refuse vege¬ 
tables, bits of sods, coarse lumps of manure 
raked off of the surface, with cats and dogs 
that may have died suddenly, and other ani¬ 
mal matter. If watering is needed to induce 
fermentation, that from the family washing 
is preferable. By adding all that can be con¬ 
verted into manure, this heap will, during 
the season, accumulate a valuable compost. 
The second heap is the “ Bum Heap,” and 
must be away from all buildings. This 
should receive whatever will bum ; old stakes 
and labels ; trimmings of trees and shrubs ; 
old pea-brush and the like. If any weeds 
have been allowed to become so old that they 
wall ripen seeds, they should go here rather 
than to the compost heap. When this heap 
is large enough it should be burned in a dry 
time, and the ashes carefully saved to use 
upon the garden. The third is the “ Rubbish 
Heap,” for that which will neither decay nor 
burn. All stones raked from the garden, 
broken crockery, old tin and worthless iron¬ 
ware, and all other unsightly rubbish should 
go here. The contents of this heap may be 
used from time to time to fill in low places in 
road making or elsewhere. It will often be 
best if circumstances allow to have a pit or 
dry well in place of this heap. A pit may 
be dug in a suitable place, and provided with 
a cover for safety. When filled within a few 
feet of the top, the contents may be pounded 
down solid, and earth used to complete the 
filling, and a new pit made. This provision 
for all kinds of rubbish and the prompt de¬ 
positing of each in its proper p’^ce will make 
it easy to keep the garden neat, and utilize 
much that would be wasted were everything, 
as is often the case, put upon one heap. 
It is often desirable in the garden to mea¬ 
sure a certain distance, as between rows and 
between plants. It will take but a short time 
to make upon the hoe and rake-handles 
marks for feet and half-feet. These may be 
put on with black paint, or cut with a knife 
or chisel; they should not be where they 
will interfere with the comfort of handling. 
Flower Garden and Lawn. 
If any seeding of grass or turfing is to be 
done, attend to it early, that the grass may 
become well established before hot weather 
comes. In turfing, select the sods with care, 
and endeavor to introduce no weeds. For 
seeding, on light soil, Red-top is best, and for 
heavy clay soils use Kentucky Blue-grass. 
Either of these, with a quart of White Clo¬ 
ver seed to the bushel, is likely to give as 
good a lawn in our climate, as when a mix¬ 
ture of a dozen kinds is sown. Select only 
the best seed, as there is a great difference in 
quality in grass seeds. A good top-dressing 
of ashes, plaster, guano, or fine bone, should 
be given the lawn each spring. In the plant¬ 
ing of trees and shrubs, always preserve the 
balance between the tops and roots, as men¬ 
tioned under Orchard Notes. While the lawn 
is put in proper shape, the appearance and 
comfort of the exterior of the house should 
not be overlooked. Most houses have a pi¬ 
azza or veranda of some kind, and this should 
be furnished with an abundance of climbing 
vines. The following are among the best for 
this purpose : Akebia, Virginia Creeper, Wis¬ 
tarias, Dutchman’s Pipe, Everblooming Hon¬ 
eysuckle, and climbing Roses. For lower 
climbers the large-flowered kinds of Clematis 
are desirable. With these properly arranged, 
the veranda of a house may be made at¬ 
tractive and afford a comfortable shade. 
Greenhouse and Window Plants. 
As the days get warmer, the attacks of in¬ 
sect pests will be more vigorous, and frequent 
fumigation, with more thorough syringings, 
will be necessary. A free admission of air 
will be needed at all times when the temper¬ 
ature outside will permit. Shade will soon 
be required, and is best provided by using or¬ 
dinary lime wash upon the glass. To make 
a gradual shade this is flirted from the brush 
in drops, and increase the spattering as more 
shade is required. For windows this method 
will not answer. A screen of common mus¬ 
lin is most convenient and satisfactory. It is 
easy to keep the greenhouse attractive all 
through the summer, when a large share of 
the plants have been moved outside. Bal¬ 
sams grown in pots are very showy, and a 
group of Gesnerias is a pleasant object. A 
number of other rapid growing annuals, and 
other plants, may help to fill up the other¬ 
wise empty shelves with attractive plants. 
Propagation of all kinds of stock for bed¬ 
ding plants should be going on rapidly. 
Science Applied to Farming—LXVIII. 
More About the Field Experiments of Fer¬ 
tilizers. 
Of the experiments, the continuation of 
which, during the fourth season, 1880, I am 
speaking, some 350 have come to my personal 
knowledge. How many others may have 
been made. I have no means of knowing. I 
have received some 225 reports on the blanks 
sent out with the fertilizers.* They come 
from nearly all the States east, and from some 
west of the Mississippi, and from several of 
the British Provinces. 
The outcome of so much systematic work 
must have great value. I wish here to speak 
of one phase of its utility, the information 
the experiments give as to what commercial 
fertilizers farmers may advantageously pur¬ 
chase for use, as illustrated especially by the 
‘ ‘general ” experiments referred to last month. 
Experiments for Testing Soils. 
The principle upon which these experi¬ 
ments is based is briefly this : The chief of¬ 
fice of fertilizers is to supply the plant-food 
that our crops need and soils fail to furnish. 
It is not good economy to pay high prices 
for materials which the soil may be made to 
yield in abundance, or which may be sup¬ 
plied by the carefully husbanded manures of 
the farm, but it is good economy to supply 
the lacking ones in the cheapest way. The 
most important ingredients of our common 
commercial fertilizers are Phosphoric Acid, 
Nitrogen, and Potash, because of both their 
scarcity in the soil and their high cost. It is 
in furnishing these that Guano, Phosphates, 
Bone Manures, Potash Salts, and most other 
* The blacks for reporting experiments were sheets, 
about 12 by 19 inches, having spaces for noting, on one 
side: (1) Description of soil; situation, kind, texture, 
dry or wet, depth of surface soil, character of subsoil, 
etc., etc.—(2) Previous treatment, manuring, and yield. 
—(3) Weather during experiment.—(4) Fertilizers and 
how applied.—(5) Method of sowing, planting, tillage, 
etc.—(6) Other details and remarks. The other side was 
devoted to details of size of plots, dates of planting and 
harvesting, amounts, quality, and value of produce in 
grain, roots, tubers, stalks, etc., by pounds and bushels ; 
calculated profit and loss, etc. They were sent out with 
the request that any who cared to take the needed 
trouble should fill them out and mail to me. 
