1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
51 
plants unprofitable and, in addition to this, these 
plants do not have such a mass of fibrous roots as the 
Spring sowings. Cauliflower is much more susceptible 
to cold than cabbage, consequently, there is more risk 
of loss in wintering them over, and nothing is gained 
by Fall sowing. 
Sowing and Hardening. —Excepting the fall-sown 
Wakefield, the earliest sowings are made about Christ¬ 
mas. these being in preparation for the southern 
trade, and other sowings follow in succession until 
March. The main crop is sown between February 1 
and March 1. Seed is sown on the benches in a rose 
house, in soil from which stock rose plants have been 
removed, or in shallow boxes ; the temperature aver¬ 
ages about 70 degrees. The very early 
sowings are not transplanted until they 
have made about four leaves. The seed¬ 
lings are transplanted into “flats”— 
shallow boxes made by cutting ordinary 
soap or condensed-milk boxes into three 
sections. These flats are about 14 x 20 
inches, and two to three inches deep. 
In preparing for transplanting, one 
inch of well-rotted manure is put in the 
bottom of the flat, and one inch of rich 
light soil over this, the surface being 
well smoothed and leveled. Immedi¬ 
ately after moving to the flats, the 
young plants are transferred to an airy 
greenhouse with a temperature of 55 to 
68 degrees. After this preliminary 
hardening, the flats are moved to a 
second house still lower in temperature, 
and from this, they go to still another, 
where the temperature falls almost to 
freezing at night. After this, the flats 
are transferred to the frames, without 
any fear of damage from cold. As the 
season advances, less care in hardening 
is required, and some of the later sow¬ 
ings may be transferred direct to the 
frame when transplanted. Cauliflower 
is treated in just the same manner, but 
is more tender and susceptible to cold. 
Cabbage is sometimes sown directly in the frames be¬ 
tween February 15 and March 1, and plants grown in 
this way are stronger and less spindling than those 
raised in hotbeds. 
Some of the market gardeners sow in the frames 
from which they have removed lettuce, with very good 
results. The frames must be in a warm and sunny 
location, and should be carefully protected with mats 
during cold nights. 
A Disease of Cabbage. —During late years, very 
serious loss among both cabbage and cauliflower seed¬ 
lings has resulted from stem rot, which may attack 
the plant before or after transplanting. The first 
sign of this trouble is the sudden wilting of the tiny 
plant, which flattens down as if scalded. Examination 
shows a rot or blight encircling the stem at, or just 
flower. This, too, was formerly sown in the fall and 
wintered over, but, like the cabbage, it is now spring- 
sown. Fall-sown lettuce is very likely to bolt when 
planted out in the spring and, in addition to this, 
it has not the fresh appearance of spring sowings, and 
does not prove so attractive to buyers. In spite of 
the tender and brittle appearance of the lettuce, it 
is even hardier than cabbage, and will endure more 
cold and knocking about. 
Tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers are usually sown 
about March 1, in flats. They are transplanted from 
the seed flats into others, 100 in a box, but, being 
susceptible to cold, are not transferred to the frames 
till the latter end of April. The eggplants and 
THE QUEEN POTATO. Fig. 19. 
peppers are not transplanted into flats, but potted 
into 3-inch pots, and grown on in the greenhouse. 
They sell for a higher price than the others, hence 
more care may be given them with profit. 
Young celery plants are not so much grown as in 
former years. They are all sown outside. Just as 
soon as it is possible to work the ground, with¬ 
out its being too pasty—from the middle to the 
latter part of March, usually—the celery seed is sown 
in drills. When thinned, the thinnings are sold for 
planting, at comparatively low prices, to be followed 
later by the remaining plants. 
A great many vegetable plants are sold in the mail 
trade, especially pepper and eggplants. Hut this busi¬ 
ness is not nearly so profitable as years ago. The 
spring sowing of cabbage and cauliflower increases 
FERTILE EGGS IN WINTER. 
HOW DO POUU'RYMKN OBTAIN T II E M ? 
Exercise; Keep Them Hungry. 
We find it a very easy matter to get an 80 per cent 
standard of fertile eggs during the Winter. The main 
point is to give the hens all the exercise possible, and 
keep them a little hungry. Give a warm mash of 
wheat bran, Quaker-oat feed, 10 per cent of scraps or 
green bone, with clover or green i*ye in the morning, 
and equal quantities of corn, wheat and oats at night. 
Always keep them a little hungry when confined, as 
that is an incentive to exercise, and enables them to 
assimilate their food. Keep shells and grit constantly 
by them. The most successful of the 
broiler men produce their own eggs, 
and are thus enabled to control the fer¬ 
tility. From 80 to 85 per cent of fertile 
eggs is a fair average in Winter from 
hens confined. JAMES rankin. 
Massachusetts. 
The Litter-ry Hen Is Fertile. 
If fowls are not crowded, are in good 
health, properly cared for, and have a 
good, comfortable house, there is no 
reason why fertile eggs cannot be had 
in Winter as well as in Spring. I have 
frequently had them average upwards 
of 90 per cent fertile in midwinter, 
which is good enough for most people. 
In the first place, one must have good 
healthy stock that has not been inbred ; 
then give the hens plenty of room ; if 
they are confined to the house, a pen 
12 x 20 feet is none too large for 20 
fowls. Of course, they will do in smaller 
pens with good care, but the larger the 
pens the better, and the smaller, the 
more extra care. The floor must be 
covered with litter of some kind, the 
more the better ; a foot deep is none too 
much, and all grain should be thrown 
into this litter. Anything will answer 
for the litter—old meadow hay, straw, or cut corn 
stalks—only there must be plenty of it. 
1 would feed a mixture of ground feed, including 
wheat bran, ground oats, hominy meal, cut clover hay, 
ground meat, linseed meal and peanut meal, if I could 
get it. The bulk of this feed I would make cut clover, 
and enough meat to give them about one pound to 30 
hens each day. I would vary the mixture occasion¬ 
ally, to give them the necessary change, as most peo¬ 
ple like beefsteak, but few want it all the time. 
Never feed any more soft feed than will be eaten 
quickly, and always feed it in a rather dry, crumbly 
condition, and never hot. 1 use for grain feed, oats, 
corn, wheat, buckwheat and barley, at noon, giving 
them a small quantity to induce exercise by scratch¬ 
ing, which is one of the principal necessities for good, 
! 0 . 
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY POTATO. Fig. 21 
For Description of Potatoes, see Ruralisms, Page 54. 
THE STEUBEN POTATO. Fig. 
below, the point where it enters the ground. Where 
the plant is not so badly wilted, it may start to grow 
again, the only trace of its disease being a cal¬ 
loused ring about the neck, where the outer skin has 
sloughed off, but this is rare. Ordinarily, the little 
plant is in a hopeless condition, as soon as the wilting 
shows itself. So far, no prevention for this trouble 
has been found. The use of Bordeaux Mixture has 
been advised, but where these plants are grown in 
vasx, quantities, to be sold at a very low price, it seems 
doubtful whether such treatment would really pay. 
The origin of the trouble is still a mystery. 
Lettuce and Other Plants. —Lettuce is sown 
under the same conditions as the cabbage and cauli- 
the cost of production, while the places realized are 
much diminished. While the plants must be carefully 
wrapped for mailing, no expensive package is used in 
shipping, though the city stores show tomatoes, pep¬ 
pers and eggplants put up in little splint baskets for 
the convenience of suburban gardeners. Ornamental 
bedding plants, assorted, are put up in the same way. 
It would appear that there is not much profit in young 
vegetable plants unless handled in very large quanti¬ 
ties by those with facilities for pushing the sale. Ap¬ 
parently, the market gardeners raise their own plants 
largely, improvements in vegetable houses benefiting 
this work. Improvements in greenhouse structures 
have been of benefit to vegetable growers, e. t. r. 
strong, fertile eggs. At night, I give them-a full feed 
of either of the grains, changing from one to the 
other, using oats and corn more than the others. 
Don’t be afraid of the corn making them too fat when 
laying, unless fed exclusively ; in cold weather, espe¬ 
cially, it is a very good food, and if I could have but 
three kinds of feed, I would take corn, cracked 
coarsely, ground meat, and clover hay. Oats are an 
excellent food for producing fertile eggs, as I have 
found by experience. I use the No. 1 clipped oats, the 
heaviest that can be had. The water should be looked 
after, also, and in severe weather, they should be 
watered three times per day, and the drinking vessels 
emptied before the water has time to -freeze. ^DoZnot 
