184 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
kinds will make tolerable heads, and be excellent.— 
The leaves may be gathered and tied, as directed for 
endive, with great advantage to their quality. Let¬ 
tuce may be sown very early, and small sowings may 
be made, at intervals, till midsummer. 
29. Marjoram. —There is an annual and a peren¬ 
nial—the latter generally cultivated here, as a sweet 
herb. It should be sown early, cut before it is out of 
bloom, and hung up in little bundles to dry for winter 
use. 
30. Melons. —In northern latitudes we recommend 
the treatment, both for water and muskmelons, which 
we suggested for early cucumbers; that is, burying 
under each hill a half barrow full or more of hot dung. 
The melon is sensitive to cold and to moisture—the 
hot dung imparts heat and induces dryness. If the 
melons can have the benefit of boxes, covered with 
glass, through June, these will greatly facilitate their 
growth, as well as protect them from the striped bug. 
Our boxes, which have been several years in use, are 
18 inches square, six inches deep in rear, and four in 
front, and are covered with a moveable sash, contain¬ 
ing six 6 by 8 panes of glass. Both the water and 
muskmelon like a sandy dry soil. The hills should 
be planted six feet apart at least, and not more than 
four plants should be left to grow in a hill. The old 
species of muskmelon are far inferior to many new 
varieties, as the citron, pine apple, cantaloupe, &c. 
When you get a good kind, save your own seed, and 
plant no other variety with it. 
31. Mint. —The spearmint is often used in season¬ 
ings and salads—the peppermint for distillation and 
medical purposes. A few roots of each are desirable 
in the garden. 
32. Mustard. —The leaves of the white kind are 
used in salads with pepper grass. The black seeded 
is used for greens, and is cultivated for the seed, to 
be manufactured for table use. When intended for 
seed, it should be sown in rows, two feet apart, early 
in the spring, and the plants thinned to four or five 
inches apart. It will ripen in July. Every farmer 
may raise his own mustard for the table, and manu¬ 
facture it too ; and though not so comely in appear¬ 
ance, it will prove, in eating, much superior to much 
that is imported from Europe. We have seen it 
f towdered by rolling a junk bottle over it upon a po- 
ished stone or hard board. But we have manufactu¬ 
rers who pay a liberal price for the seed, particularly 
in our cities. 
33. Nasturtium. —This is an annua], with a hand¬ 
some flower, whose berries, preserved in vinegar, are 
an excellent substitute for West-India caper sauce. 
Sow early in May. The vines may be supported by 
brush laid upon the ground. 
34. Onion. —This is a vegetable that every farmer 
can raise, and should raise. It serves many purposes 
in kitchen economy, and is healthful, and generally 
grateful to the palate. The onion is sown here about 
the 25th April, in drills one foot apart, the ground 
being rich and well pulverized. The plants are ordi¬ 
narily thinned to the distance of three or four inches ; 
though if two to four are left together, they often 
bottom well, and grow to a sufficient size. The tree 
or top onion, may be planted in September; a slight 
covering of straw will protect it during winter, and it 
then comes into early eating in the spring. The 
common sorts are also sown and preserved through 
the winter in this way. Some people break down the 
tops in July, to increase-the bottoms. This practice 
may facilitate the maturity of the crop, though it does 
not increase it. The best way we know of, of pre¬ 
serving onions for family use, is, after they have been 
pulled and dried upon the ground, to take a stick, of 
two inches in diameter, six to ten feet long, split it 
through the centre into two or four parts, to within one 
foot of the but; then to begin at the bottom and draw the 
tops of the onions through the slits, letting them close 
as you progress, till you have reached the top, when 
the whole is made fast with a stout cord. In this 
way the onions are kept dry, and will not grow, and 
occupy but a small space. The onion gives from two 
to five hundred bushels the acre, and we have known 
the product greatly to exceed the latter. Some tread 
the ground, after the seed is planted, and then give it 
a slight raking, to render it smooth and even. The 
crop should be drawn when the collar, or lower part 
of the stem, shrivels and dries. They should be tho¬ 
roughly dried, before they are housed for winter.— 
Sometimes the onion is planted in hills, four or five 
seeds being dropped in each hills, with intervals of 
five or six inches between them, and in this way they 
often do well. Another mode of raising the onion, 
and we believe it the prevailing one in the middle and 
southern states, is to sow in June, in drills six inches 
apart, and thick. They will form small bottoms, 
about the size of a filbert, the first season. They 
are then planted out the following spring for a crop. 
35. Parsley. —This seeds the second year, and is 
therefore a biennial. Sow in drills at eight inches, in 
May, or later. A bed four feet square will supply a 
famil y. To have it for use in winter, it may be sown 
in any vessel filled with earth, and kept in the kitchen- 
36. Parsnip. —This root requires the same culti¬ 
vation and tillage as the carrot. It should be gather¬ 
ed late, as it continues to improve in flavor even till 
spring, till which time the main crop is permitted ge¬ 
nerally to stand in the ground, unless wanted for win¬ 
ter market or use. When put in the cellar in autumn, 
the roots, like those of the carrot and beet, should be 
covered with earth. 
37. Pea. —This is a favorite with almost every one, 
and every one may enjoy it, who has a garden, with 
but little labor. The first crop may be sown as soon 
as the frost is out of the ground, and the surface suffi¬ 
ciently dry, and the sowings may be continued at inter¬ 
vals to the first of August. The early sorts, most 
cultivated, are the June, early Charlton, Bishop’s 
dwarf, &c.; the later ones, marrowfats, Knights, &c. 
&c. Plant in double drills one foot apart, with inter¬ 
vals between the double drills of two to four feet, ac¬ 
cording to the growth of the pea. 
38. Potato. —For early use, a few hills may be 
planted in the garden ; and these should be of an early 
variety. The tubers or sets may be mixed with earth 
m a vessel, and set in the kitchen, or slightly covered 
in a hot-bed, and afterwards planted ; and this will 
cultiate their maturity. 
39. Potato, (sweet,) may be raised here in favorable 
seasons ; though they seldom acquire the rich flavor 
that distinguishes them at the south. To cultivate 
them here, make a bed of hot dung in May, of one to 
two feet thick, and a yard square, cover the dung 
with four or five inohes of good mould, on which lay 
the seed, and cover it with as much more earth. The 
heat of the dung will soon cause the potato to grow, 
and when the plants are of the size of cabbage plants, 
they may be drawn, and planted out with the dibble 
like cabbages, in hills four feet apart, or the plants 
eight inches apart in ridges. The soil should be 
sandy and dry, and the earth should be gathered into 
cones or ridges, as for melons. The quality of these 
potatoes is improved, by exposing them some days 
after they are dug, to the ameliorating influence of the 
sun’s rays. They can not be well preserved long in 
this latitude. 
40. Purslane, a vexatious weed, which Cobbett 
says Frenchmen and pigs eat raw, when they can get 
nothing else. It however makes a very good pot 
green, when boiled. 
41. Radish —several varieties. Sow very early, 
and at intervals, in drills eight inches apart, and thin 
to two or three inches between the plants. The early 
purple top and turnip rooted succeed best for early 
crops. The black Spanish may be sown in July with 
fall turnips, and used through the winter and spring. 
42. Rhubarb. —This is an excellent article, and 
should be in every garden. It is perennial, and re¬ 
sembles the burdock much in its growth. The stock 
of the leaf, which is large and tender, is in high es¬ 
teem for tarts and pies, and in this way the plant is 
believed to be highly conducive to health. Peel the 
stocks, cut them into half inch length, and put them 
into tarts, pies or puddings, just as you would green 
gooseberries or currants. Give the plants two square 
feet each, in good ground, and a dozen of them will 
supply a family from May to August. The rhubarb 
may be propagated by offsetts, or from seed, which 
ripens at midsummer, and maybe sown as soon as 
gathered. There are several varieties. This is get¬ 
ting into great demand as a market vegetable. The 
seed stocks should be cut in, except one or more left 
to produce seed. 
43. Rue is a handsome littie shrub, of occasional 
use in the family. Two or three plants are enough. 
44. Sage, is much employed in seasonings and 
stuffings, and is sometimes used for tea. It is propa¬ 
gated by seed and by slips. Sow in May, in drills, 
and transplant the second year, leaving intervals of 
eight to twelve inches between the plants. Cut the 
tops before they come into bloom, and dry for winter 
use. 
45. Salsafy, or vegetable oyster, very much re¬ 
sembles the parsnip, in its root, in its hardiness, its 
culture, and in its properties and manner of cooking 
for the table. Enough should be gathered in autumn 
for winter use. 
46. Spinach. —There are two kinds, both excellent 
pot-herbs, one of which should be sown early in Sep¬ 
tember, for early spring use ; and the other early in 
the spring. Sow either broadcast, or in drills, and 
cover the bed of the winter sort, in November, 
slightly, with straw or coarse litter, and keep it on 
till the breaking up of frost, when you may begin to 
use the crop. 
47. Squash. —There are many varieties, both for 
summer and winter use ; and they are continually 
multiplying by cross impregnation. For summer va¬ 
rieties, those termed bush, which do not send out 
vines, are to be preferred. The best winter varie¬ 
ties, for garden culture, are the crook-neck, Valpa¬ 
raiso, under most of its modifications, and vegetable 
marrow. The only caution necessary in the culture 
of squashes is, that the hills be at least six feet apart, 
and that but two plants of the winter varieties be left 
to grow in a hill. To preserve the squash in winter, 
give it a cool, and particularly a dry berth, where 
it will be protected from the frost. 
48. Tansy. —A perennial medicinal herb, worth 
having. A single root will soon generate a supply. 
46. Tomato. —There has been, of late, so much 
said in commendation of this vegetable, as promotive 
of health, that ive need not recommend its culture. 
It is a grateful and healthy vegetable, in many ways, 
to those who become accustomed to its use. To have 
it in season, during the summer heats, the seed should 
be sown in a hot-bed, like cabbages, from which the 
plants may be transferred when the season will ad¬ 
mit of it. They are an excellent ingredient in soups, 
make a good catsup, stewed in their own liquor they 
are a fine sauce with meats; they may be dried or 
pickled ; and they are made the basis of a medicine, 
which, if we are to credit the declarations of the ven¬ 
ders, is an infallible cure for most ail sorts of dis¬ 
eases which man is heir to. 
50. Turnip. —None but the early sorts are usually 
cultivated in the garden, and these seldom escape the 
depredations of the fly, either in the top or root. They 
may be sown very early, and at all subsequent peri¬ 
ods, before the first of August; yet those designed 
for winter use, and for farm stock, are generally cul¬ 
tivated upon the farm. 
51. Wormwood is an herb purely medicinal; yet 
as almost every family has an occasional use for it, no 
one should be without a root or two of it in his gar¬ 
den. 
We have thus given the names of fifty vegetables, 
exclusive of what are termed fruits, which may be 
usefully cultivated in the farmer’s garden, and which 
are all valuable as articles of diet, as wholesome con¬ 
diments, or for their medicinal properties—and which 
require no great skill in their culture. Each man can 
select from the list such as suit his taste, his wants, 
or his garden grounds. We know it will be objected 
by some, that the care ef the garden requires too 
great an expense of labor, and that it will not repay, 
in its products, for its cost. In reply to this objection 
we would remark, that the master, and the unproduc¬ 
tive inmates of the family, may perform most of the 
labor, and find in it a recreation, when they are not 
engaged in more useful employments ; that there are 
always intervals, in the business of the farm, when 
farm laborers may be profitably employed in the gar¬ 
den ; that, when a market is contiguous, for the sale 
of its surplus products, garden culture has been found 
to be the most profitable of any description of ru¬ 
ral labor; and finally, that every man may limit his 
garden to the space which he is conscious he can cul¬ 
tivate to advantage. We toil for wealth, not to car¬ 
ry it with us to another world, but to purchase and 
enjoy the comforts and rational indulgencies which 
belong to this. Let us then act accordingly, and avail 
ourselves of those blessings which a kind Providence 
has placed at our hands, for our benefit and use. 
We shall next treat o! the ornamental department 
of the garden. 
New Mode of applying Lime. 
We observe, in the Farmers’ Cabinet, a communi¬ 
cation from E. Tatnall, describing the mode in which 
he had successfully applied lime to his corn crop. He 
applies it with manure, and yet so as that the dung 
and lime do not come in contact. His practice is to 
apply, late in the fall, 25 ox-cart loads of manure to 
the acre, spread it evenly, plough the ground, and 
harrow it well, in the fall. In the spring following, 
he applies 60 bushels of lime to the acre, and again 
harrows until the ground is in good order for planting. 
In the culture of the corn, he takes care not to dis¬ 
turb the manure buried by the plough, preferring that 
it should decompose without exposure 10 the sun and 
rain. After the corn is taken off, he ploughs deep, 
so as to mix the manure with the earth, sows broad¬ 
cast, and harrows in wheat. In this way he raises 
60 to 70 bushels of corn, and 25 to 30 bushels of 
wheat, upon an ordinary soil. By ploughing for corn 
in the fall, Mr. T. thinks lie destroys the cut-worm, 
as he is never troubled with it. We think it more 
likely that the worm is destroyed by the caustic lime 
which is applied in the spring. 
Whether the lime contributes to increase the corn 
crop or not, we have some doubt; though as a carbo¬ 
nate, we have no doubt it improves the mechanical 
texture of the soil, and benefits the wheat. The 
dressing of manure is a heavy one, and should of it¬ 
self, in our mode of planting, and if unfermented, 
give the crop of corn obtained by Mr. Tatnall. The 
manure had, however, been probably fermented, and 
the distance of planting, in Pennsylvania, is greater 
than it is with us. The mode of applying the lime, 
to the same crop, and yet not coming in contact with 
the manure, we think a decided improvement. 
The utility of lime was, however, strikingly shown 
in another experiment of Mr. Tatnall. He applied 
