B»c  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1419 
BEUABILitC 
The  Home  Acre 
Ben  Franklin  Would  Have 
Paid  $1000  for  This  Book 
Notes  from  a  Maryland  Garden 
Spinach. — My  first  sowing  of  spinach 
in  August  was  a  dismal  failure,  as  not  a 
seed  germinated  so  far  as  could  be  ascer¬ 
tained.  In  September  I  sowed  the  same 
rows  over  again,  and  I  have  never  seen 
spinach  grow  faster ;  we  have  been 
having  good  cuttings  the  past  week.  The 
late-sown  spinach,  which  is  intended  to 
winter  over  for  Spring  cutting,  is  now 
just  well  up.  This  sowing  was  made 
broadcast  the  first  of  October.  I  have 
never  found  that  it  was  of  any  advantage 
to  sow  spinach  in  the  Spring,  for  the  win- 
tered-over  plants  will  not  run  to  seed  any 
sooner  than  the  Spring-sown,  and  will 
give  earlier  cutting. 
Sweet  and  Irish  Potatoes. — Killing 
frost  came  a  week  or  two  earlier  than  w  _ 
usual,  on  the  14th.  Last  year  our  first  ought  to  be  given  an  old  asparagus  bed? 
killing  frost  came  October  20th.  With  bild  flourishing  for  10 
„  ,  ...  years  or  more;  has  never  failed  to  give 
the  very  dry  weather  now  prevailing  we  ample  asparagus  in  souson  for  a  large 
will  have  a  good  season  for  lifting  the  family.  The  ’  ’  *  * 
Cannas  and  Dahlias.  The  digging  and  have  been  in 
storing  in  the  curing  houses  of  the  great 
The  Terrapin  Beg,  Murgantia  his- 
trionica,  one  of  the  many  pests  that  came 
from  Mexico,  has  been  troublesome  for 
years  in  the  South  on  cabbages.  This 
season  they  arrived  here,  and  have  about 
cleaned  up  my  turnips.  I  sprayed  with 
various  miscible  oil  preparations,  but  did 
not  accomplish  much.  About  the  only 
way  to  handle  them  is  to  sow  something 
they  are  particularly  fond  of,  like  mus¬ 
tard,  and  get  them  on  that,  and  then 
spray  with  clear  kerosene,  and  in  this  way 
keep  them  down  on  more  valuable  plants. 
Gardening  in  these  days  is  a  constant 
battle  with  insects  and  fungi. 
W.  F.  MASSEY. 
>ed  is  1UU  feet,  square.  I 
the  habit  of  enriching  it 
by  application  of  nitrate  of  soda  after 
,  , .  .  the  cutting  season  and  have  used  arti- 
sweet  potato  crop  ot  this  section  is  near-  ficial  fertilizer  early  in  the  season.  This 
ly  completed.  These  houses  at  the  rail-  year  the  land  was  under  water  for  a  long 
road  station  store  potatoes  for  the  smaller  f  I'P *n  *-lu>  Spring  and  the  crop  of  'weeds, 
...  -  ,  cluck  weeds  mostly,  was  terrible.  The 
growers  and  ship  on  orders.  Most  of  the  continued  wet  weather  made  it  almost 
larger  growers  have  their  own  houses,  impossible  to  cultivate  between  the  rows 
The  area  planted  here  in  late  Irish  po-  an^  .a  deplorable  condition  ensued.  The 
tatoes  is  kq.  .baa  usual,  and  the  pros-  WaVf 
pect  for  a  fine  crop  is  excellent.  With  have  it  weeded  by  hand,  then  cut  the 
the  short  crop  north  this  crop  will  be  tops  and  dig  over  oven,  or  leave  ridges 
valuable  to  the  growers,  and  the  pros-  and  hollows  between  the  rows?  Do  you 
^  .  advise  manure  to  cover  the  entire  bed? 
pects  for  the  early  crop  next  Spring  seem  i  have  an  idea  that  the  weeds  came  from 
to  be  good,  for  with  the  prosperous  con-  such  a  covering  last  Fall.  E.  L.  c. 
ditions  prevailing  there  will  be  money  to  Marion,  Mass. 
buy  them,  and  with  scarcity  of  the  old  Working  the  whole  surface  with  a  disk 
potatoes  north  the  Southern  early  crop  or  cutaway  harrow  as  early  as  possible 
should  have  a  good  market.  in  Spring  will  dispose  of  weeds.  Harrow' 
The  Garden  Mulch. — -The  garden  is  both  ways;  using  cutaway  first  and  the 
noiv  ready  for  its  Winter  mulch.  I  disk  crosswise,  setting  all  disks  not  to 
spread  manure  over  the  whole,  mulching  cut  quite  down  to  the  crowns  of  the 
between  the  Winter  crops  and  covering  all  plants.  The  weeds  will  serve  as  Winter 
the  bare  space  thickly  enough  to  hide  protection.  But  if  there  is  danger  that 
every  spot  of  bare  ground.  As  I  can  buy  the  lot  will  not  get  harrowed  early  in 
only  fresh  manure,  I  fiud  that  this  heavy  Spring,  it  may  be  done  now,  and  ma- 
cover  applied  in  the  Fall  gives  far  better  mire  applied  for  Winter  protection, 
results  thau  fresh  manure  applied  in  Growers  apply  it  broadcast  with  a 
Spring.  In  the  Spring  it  gets  a  heavy  spreader,  but  if  unusually  full  of  weeds, 
dressing  of  bone  meal  to  supplement  the  manar6  from  a  poultry  shed  where 
manure,  and  crops  grow  as  a  matter  of  c*Aa®  heen  used,  the  manure  may  be 
course.  Of  course  it  would  be  better  to  aPPhed  between  the  tows,  or,  better  still, 
have  all  the  bare  spots  growing  Crimson  yiSt?d  only  on  grassland.  The  usual  plan 
clover  to  turn  under  in  the  Spring,  but  *°  aPh].v  the  nitrate  early  in  the 
in  a  garden  too  closely  planted  for  horse  ’  Pnn£  ’"bile  harrowing,  the  idea  being 
pow’er,  it  is  a  big  job  to  get  a  heavy  green  tIiat  act8  quickly  enough  to  help 
growth  buried  by  hand.  So  I  depend  on  fr°P  t  u'  samc  s<>a80a* 
the  manure,  though  there  may  be  some  chemicals  and  the  manune  may  be  applied 
loss  during  the  Winter  after  cuttlng  18  0Ter*  The  best  plan  of 
Pail  St, Writing  this  «*•  **-*»■ 
a  t  -,/*  t  e  .  .  rowing  described  is  to  follow  soon  with 
October  10,  I  can  see  from  my  window  ” 
....  ....  a  smoothing  harrow  and  then  to  use  cul- 
that  the  Progressive  strawberries  are  still  .....  .  , 
. .  .  T,  ,  ,,  .  ,  ,  „  .  .  tivators,  horse  hoes  and  weeders  as  often 
blooming.  But  this  patch  of  last  year  .  ,  ,  ,  .  .  .  . 
...  ,  .  .  ,  ,  as  needed,  and  some  hand  hoeing  may  be 
will  be  turned  under  now’,  and  the  Win-  .  .  ,  .  ,,  ,,  ?  ... 
.  .  .  .  A  r,  .  ,Tr  ,  -  , ,  ,  required,  especially  on  a  small  place  with 
ter-set  plants  of  Early  Wakefield  cab-  ..  „  ..  ..  ,  „„  .  .  -  ,  ,  , 
,  . , ,  .  ,  ,,  ,  ,  ,  only  a  limited  assortment  of  horse  tools, 
bages  will  take  the  place  of  the  straw-  Aw  Jnne  ^  a  light  ridge  is  thrown 
berries.  A  new  bed  of  the  Progressive  ovep  the  r0W8  from  both  sides,  burying 
has  been  set,  and  as  I  have  before  said.  I  mogt  of  the  wee<Js  for  the  TemaindeP  of 
intend  to  treat  this  variety  as  an  annual,  the  cutting  season.  After  ruttillg  is  ovori 
planting  some  every  year  and  turning  tb(?  wbole  surfaee  is  barrowed  !evel  and 
them  uuder  in  the  late  1  all.  Kept  over  a  kppt  cloan  with  cultivation  between  the 
year,  the  plants  seem  to  get  stunted  and  rows  until  about  Sept.  1.  Sometimes 
make  poor  fruit.  While  our  home  mar-  iu  ol(1>  sballow-set  beds,  the  crowns  are 
ket  has  been  fairly  well  supplied  with  very  c]ose  to  the  top,  and  the  whole  sur. 
the  fruit  at  10  ceuts  a  quart  this  Fall,  I  face  eannot  be  worked  over ;  a  great  la- 
cannot  think  that  these  Fall-bearing  bor-saving  plan.  In  such  cases,  a  good 
strawberries  have  much  of  a  commercial  job  may  be  done  against  such  plants  as 
future.  Out  in  the  country,  on  soil  far  chickw’eed  by  using  a  one-horse  disk  har- 
poorer  than  my  garden,  they  seem  to  row’  set  to  run  astride  the  row’s. 
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