1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
251 
EVERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
Garden Tools. —It will pay many 
times over to invest in a few good tools, 
and a list of the much needed ones will 
show what each reader lacks, so they 
may be supplied at once and be ready 
for use. Hoe, garden rake, fork (four 
tine), shovel, spade, wheelbarrow, gar¬ 
den line, dibber, seed drill, double 
wheel hoe with attachments and weeder. 
Any smooth stick 12 or 15 inches in 
length, nicely rounded at one end to 
prevent bruising the hand, and well 
sharpened at the other, will make a good 
dibber. An old spade or shovel han¬ 
dle sawed the same length will be far 
better. A carpenter’s chalk line (heavy) 
or tarred matting twine with two small 
stakes will make this outfit complete. 
Many of the seedsmen advertise a very 
cheap and convenient hand-drill cost¬ 
ing about $1.25. If a more expensive 
one cannot be afforded, these will be 
found very satisfactory. Drilling seed 
by hand is slow and tedious work, and 
some sort of a drill should be at hand. 
There are many very excellent wheel 
hoes manufactured, and all, so far as I 
know, do good work, only do not bother 
with a single wheel. The double hoe 
costs but little more and in actual prac¬ 
tice is worth many times more. Per¬ 
sonally, I use the Planet Jr., with plow, 
rake, cultivator and hoe attachments, 
also a weeder of my own make. With 
these attachments, 1 have never seen 
any tool capable of so many kinds of 
work, and for a garden of these dimen¬ 
sions, I would give very little for the 
use of a horse after the ground is once 
fitted. The weeder is simply a strip of 
board one inch by four and three feet 
long. Draw a line three-quarters of an 
inch in from each edge, and drive a row 
of spikes (40-penny wire), along one line 
four inches apart. Drive the spikes along 
the other line so that they will stand 
midway between the spikes of the first 
line. In the single line they stand four 
inches apart, but by the double line they 
run only two inches distant. Bolt this 
either squarely or at an angle to the 
under side of the wheel hoe and you 
have a weeder that is death to the weeds, 
and a sure preventive of damage from 
ordinary drought. It is too wide to 
push easily as we work the other at¬ 
tachments, but works easily when 
pulled. It may be weighted or not as 
desired, and may be used to run over 
the surface either before or after the 
plants are up. if worked in time and 
often enough, very little weeding is 
necessary in any kind of vegetables, and 
this saving of labor is a great item. Use 
it from before the seeds are sown until 
the size of plants prevents further use. 
Potatoes. —If you are ambitious to 
be ahead of your neighbors in early 
potatoes, and the Spring should prove 
cold and backward, start your potatoes 
in sand. Use broad shallow boxes not to 
exceed three inches in depth, with an 
inch of sand in the bottom. Cut pota¬ 
toes, two eyes to the piece, or more if 
you desire; put them into a pail or 
other deep vessel and cover them with 
a generous sprinkling of sulphur. As 
you pick the pieces out one by one, the 
sulphur will rattle down through the 
mass and pretty throroughly cover 
them. Set them eyes up, closely to¬ 
gether in the sand, and when the layer 
is complete sprinkle on sufficient sand 
nearly to cover them. Moisten well 
and set in a partially darkened room 
with a temperature of 45 or 50 degrees, 
and leave them to grow until ready for 
planting. When ready to plant, put the 
plows on to the wheel hoe, set them 
closely together and open the trenches. 
Ih'op the seed pieces 15 inches apart, be¬ 
ing very careful not to break off the 
sprouts in handling. Now reverse the 
plows with moldboards turning in and 
set widely apart; run the machine 
astride the rows, which will throw the 
soil back into the furrow, and the pota¬ 
toes will be covered as rapidly as one 
cares to walk. They will be up in from 
three days to a week, owing to length 
of sprouts when planted, and they will 
stand head and shoulders above those 
planted in the old way, from start to 
finish. The sulphur is, to some extent, 
a preventive of scab, and it also pre¬ 
serves the seed pieces much longer, 
which I think is a decided advantage. 
Early Peas. —For the first early peas, 
sow only smooth varieties, and cover 
one inch deep. They should be sown as 
soon as the soil will work nicely. For 
this reason I would discard the wrinkled 
varieties, as they are liable to rot when 
sown too early. Do not cover deeply; 
they will stand lots of cold after they 
are once up, but any variety will rot if 
covered too deep while the soil is cold 
This for the first early varieties only, 
culture for medium and late will follow 
later. 
First Early Corn. —The chief diffi¬ 
culty with planting sweet corn very 
early is the danger of rotting before 
germination takes place. With this dif¬ 
ficulty eliminated, many days’ time will 
be gained in maturing the crop. Take 
shallow pans or a dripping pan (pie tins 
will answer), and put a half inch of 
sand in the bottom; spread a thin cloth 
over this, and sprinkle the corn on 
thinly. Place another covering of cloth 
on and cover with more sand; one- 
fourth inch will be sufficient. Keep it 
moist and moderately warm by placing 
it near a stove or in the warming oven. 
If kept moist and warm, the corn will 
sprout in a few days, and may be plant¬ 
ed even if the weather and soil are still 
quite cool. Cover shallow, however, 
that it may get all possible benefit from 
the sun. The medium and late varieties 
will not require this treatment, as they 
need not he planted until danger of cold 
weather and soil is past. 
Later Peas. —Both medium and late 
for best results should be planted deeply, 
but not until the soil is warm enough to 
preclude danger from rotting. The 
wrinkled varieties will now be in order, 
and should be used, as the flavor and 
bearing qualities are much superior to 
the earlier, smooth sorts. Open the 
trenches three to four inches deep, with 
the plows on the wheel hoe, same as for 
potatoes. Sow the seed thickly enough 
to insure a good stand (one quart to the 
100 feet of drill is not too much), and 
cover not to exceed one inch. When the 
peas are up, fill in with soil as rapidly 
as the growth of vines will permit, and 
when the trenches are fully filled, the 
roots will have sufficient depth to with¬ 
stand the hot sun and drought of the ad¬ 
vancing season to a much later period 
than if planted shallow as for very early 
crops. 
Vine Crops. —Sow the early cucum¬ 
ber seed in the small plant or berry 
boxes, as nearly as may be, about four 
weeks before they could be safely trans¬ 
planted to the open ground; not too 
early, as they should not become over¬ 
grown before transplanting, and they 
should not go into the open ground un¬ 
til all ordinary danger of frost is past. 
When transplanting, great care in hand¬ 
ling is necessary, as disturbing the roots 
will seriously check, if not altogether 
ruin the plants. My own method is to 
plant the seeds in the small berry bas¬ 
kets and place them in the hotbed. If 
from any cause there is delay in plant¬ 
ing out, so that the roots begin to pene¬ 
trate the hotbed soil and grow fast, I 
place the baskets on barrels. When 
ready to transplant, soak the boxes thor¬ 
oughly and remove the bottoms with a 
sharp knife, and plant box and all right 
in the ground at least an inch below the 
surface. Carefully draw in fine soil 
about the plants until the surface is 
level, and if well done the plants will re¬ 
ceive no check. The plants should, of 
course, be hardened off in the cold frame 
before going into the open ground. Fol¬ 
low the same plan with the muskmelons 
and watermelons. The late cucumbers, 
squash and pumpkins will do well 
enough planted in the open ground. The 
best preventive of the ravages of the 
Striped squash-beetle and Black squash- 
bug is very rich soil and good culture, 
and the best remedies are Cayenne pep¬ 
per, tobacco dust, air-slaked lime, ashes 
and Bordeaux Mixture. These in their 
order named and applied while the dew 
is on. Use tobacco dust very sparingly 
if at all on watermelon vines; it may be 
used more plentifully on all other vines. 
Hunting and killing the Black squash- 
bug is the best preventive or remedy 
against its ravages. Other varieties will 
follow as nearly as possible in the order 
of planting. 
Note. —The figures between lines at 
top of diagram on page 207 indicate in 
inches the distance apart that the rows 
should be planted. j. e. morse. 
Michigan. 
WHY WILL YOU BOTHER 
with mixing chemicals, oil, etc., for spraying, when 
Black Soluble Insecticide Soap 
will effectively destroy every known insect pest, and 
is ready for use simply by dissolving In cold water. 
Used for years In Italy and France where It has been 
awarded medals and diplomas at all expositions and 
fairs, and has met with great success since Its intro¬ 
duction into this country. For further Information 
address V. CASAZZA & BRO., 190-192 Prince Street, 
New York, Sole Agents for United States and Canada 
LIME FERTILIZER 
Special preparation giving splendid satisfaction. 
Correspondence solicited THE SNOW FLAKE 
LIME CO., Bowling Qreen, Ohio. 
Use Nitrate Of Soda 
CORN, WHEAT, FRUIT and VEGETABLES. 
You get your share of profit when you use 
this Standard High-Grade Ammoniate. 
Formulas and other valuable information free. 
WILLIAM S. MYERS, Director, 
12 John Street. Chilean Nitrate Works, New York. 
