1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
74i 
EVERYBODY'S GARDEH. 
A Prosperous Year. —Not for many 
years, in this section at least, have the 
returns from gardening been as satis¬ 
factory as in the past season. Crops in 
all lines have been nearly or quite up 
to the average, while the demand has 
been far in excess of former years, with 
correspondingly high prices. These fea¬ 
tures doubtless have by no means been 
general the country over, for weather 
conditions in many regions have been 
anything but favorable, and shortage in 
some localities has been largely respon¬ 
sible for brisk demand and high prices 
in other sections. The respite from the 
usually sharp competition has been 
highly appreciated by the gardening 
craft, and flushed with the season’s suc¬ 
cess, they go forward on more extensive 
operations for next year. But with the 
increased efforts for more extensive 
operations, will come the almost ever 
present contingency of competition, not 
always turned aside from its natural 
trend by weather conditions such as 
have prevailed the present season. As 
these favorable conditions must be con¬ 
sidered only periodical, and not to be 
continuously looked for, the lessons gen¬ 
erally to be learned from the prevailing 
contingencies of close competition and 
high price of labor are in economy of 
production. This can only come through 
more intelligent efforts in intensive cul¬ 
ture, larger yields and higher qualities. 
Making one acre produce what two acres 
have heretofore grown must be the con¬ 
stant aim of every producer; and this 
implies the closest attention to every 
detail of the work. Watch the small 
leaks, make the by-products which in 
gardening are usually the refuse, go just 
as far as possible in meeting expenses. 
The pigs and the chickens are the most 
economical means of converting this in¬ 
to cash and fertilizer. 
The Compost Heap. —^This is also a 
safe deposit for much that otherwise 
would be lost, and is, I think, a neces¬ 
sary adjunct of every well regulated 
garden. At the same time some judg¬ 
ment is necessary to determine what 
ought and what ought not to be con¬ 
signed to the compost heap. Evidently, 
the fire is the safest and most economi¬ 
cal place for all noxious weeds contain¬ 
ing any percentage of seed, all vines or 
brush likely to harbor and become the 
breeding place of insect pests. To han¬ 
dle over and doctor them suflflciently ef¬ 
fectively to destroy the germinating 
power of the seed and the insect life, 
requires more time than the fertilizing 
value of the rubbish will ever compen¬ 
sate for. However, sufficient other rub¬ 
bish will iisually accumulate around the 
average farm or garden to make the 
compost heap very useful and desirable. 
Winter Greens. —If the spinach bed 
for Winter greens has not materialized, 
a substitute equally as good may be 
provided and grown very easily. Select 
some of the overgrown beets too large 
and woody for table use, and set them 
in sand or soil on the cellar bottom, or 
other convenient place, where they can 
receive sufficient heat to grow the tops 
raiidly. The hotbeds banked up with 
manure sufficiently to turn the frost will 
grow a good crop. In this case, manure 
underneath the beets, and the sash on 
top will be necessary. Lacking these 
the rhubarb or house cellar will do, as 
they will grow equally well in the dark. 
Turnips may also be grown in the same 
manner; but growing in the hotbed 
with exposure to the light will be most 
generally satisfactory, as when grown 
Can You m 
do a little pleasant and profitable work 
for us in your own town? No experience 
necessary. We will explain just what 
you have to do. The work will be light, 
and we will arrange for the time you 
shall be able to give to it. We can give 
you work for all your time or just for 
your spare time. Write for full par¬ 
ticulars. THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
New York. 
In the light they will retain the natur¬ 
ally green color, instead of the lemon 
color which is the result of growing in 
the dark. 
Charcoal for Potting. —Good soil is, 
of course, necessary for successful re¬ 
sults in potting bulbs, hut even good 
soil coming directly in contact with the 
bulbs is very liable to cause bulb rot. 
To avoid this, the precaution to line the 
hole or receptacle for the bulb with 
sand is usually necessary. Many suc¬ 
cessful growers, however, prefer char¬ 
coal dust to sand, and claim It to be an 
almost certain preventive of the trouble. 
The method is certainly worthy a trial, 
and to be successful the bulb should be 
entirely covered with the charcoal, al¬ 
lowing no soil to come in direct con¬ 
tact with the surface of the bulb. For 
those unaccustomed to its use, it is safe 
to try a part in this way and the re¬ 
mainder in the way with which they 
are acquainted; and this will prove to 
a certainty which is the better way. In 
experimental matters it is always safe 
to “make haste slowly.” The charcoal 
broken in small pieces (not powdered), 
and placed in the bottom of the pots is 
without doubt the best of drainage. 
h'ooD FOR the Window Plants.— 
Many ready-for-use plant foods are put 
up by different companies, and while 
most if not all of them are genuinely 
good, they are often hard to procure as 
they are sold only by dealers in certain 
lines. The following formula can be ob¬ 
tained by qny druggist, and is one of 
the very best plant foods in use: So¬ 
dium nitrate, three-fourths pound; so¬ 
dium phosphate (dry), one-fourth 
pound; sodium sulphate, one-half 
pound. Pulverize and thoroughly mix 
the ingredients dry. It may be kept for 
any length of time by covering closely. 
When required for use, dissolve in the 
proportions of one rounding tablespoon¬ 
ful to a gallon of hot water, using a half 
teacupful to a six-inch pot. Apply once 
in two weeks by pouring the solution 
on to the soil (not on the plant), vary¬ 
ing the amount used according to the 
size and vigor of the plant and also the 
size of the pot. 
Early Sweet Peas. —For the first 
sowing of sweet peas, the ground should 
be prepared this Fall, any time before 
the ground freezes too hard to work 
thoroughly. Select a warm sunny spot, 
sheltered from the north and west 
winds, arranging if possible to run the 
rows east and west. Spade the ground 
deeply, working In a liberal supply of 
well rotted manure, and top-dress with 
air-slaked lime and wood ashes, one 
quart of the former to four quarts of 
the latter for 12 or 15 feet of double row. 
This should be thoroughly worked into 
the soil, and the bed should then be 
covered with coarse manure or any kind 
of mulch to prevent freezing too deeply. 
Remove the mulch early in the Spring 
and as soon as the surface is sufficiently 
dry to work nicely, rake the soil until 
well fined and sow the seed. Sow in 
shallow drills five or six inches apart 
and cover not to exceed an inch depth. 
Sow as soon as the ground will admit of 
working, even if the frost is not out 
below, as there will be little if any dan¬ 
ger of injury from freezing. In this way 
the blooms may be had long before they 
can be obtained from the seed sown for 
later blooming. Sowing for late and 
continuous blooming requires far differ¬ 
ent treatment and will be treated at 
length later on. J. e. morse. 
Michigan. _ 
Selling a “Balanced Ration.” 
Reader, Ohio.—I have a quantity of corn 
to dispose of. Do you think It probable 
that I can grind it, mix it with oil meal, 
bran, shorts (bran for cattle, shorts for 
hogs), or other feed rich in protein, mak¬ 
ing a “balanced ration” with a nutritive 
ration of say 1:6, and sell it at a reason¬ 
able profit to eastern stockmen at $22 to 
$24 per ton? 
Ans.—W e doubt it. The chances are 
that the expenses would more than eat 
up your profits. You would find it diffi¬ 
cult to interest buyers in your feed. Sev¬ 
eral eastern States have laws governing 
the sale of mixed feeds, and the cost of 
license and analyses must be consider¬ 
ed. You would, no doubt, make a good 
mixture, but we question your ability 
to comiiete with the large firms that use 
the refuse of oat or hominy mills as the 
base of their mixtures. If you cut the 
price too low a large class of buyers 
would become suspicious at once. We 
think it would pay you better to sell the 
whole corn at the present high price, or 
feed it to hogs. 
How to Store Celery. 
0. 8., Fitchburg, Maas .—I have a quantity 
of celery and would like to know how to 
store It away after taking it from the field. 
Can it be put in a hotbed, and if so, how 
should It be managed? Can early kinds be 
planted so close as to bleach themselves? 
How early can it be put on the market? 
What Is the latest method for keeping 
cabbage through cold weather? Is there a 
book on celery? 
Ans. —A hotbed is not a good place 
to store celery. It would be quite cer¬ 
tain to rot or start into growth with 
any covering that could be placed over 
it. Where celery sheds are not avail¬ 
able the plants may be closely packed in 
a trench dug just as deep as tho celery 
is tall, in any well-drained place. The 
trench should not be more than a foot 
wide. The celery plants are packed 
closely, in an upright position, the roots 
resting on the earth floor. It may be 
trenched from November 1 to 15, taking 
care to avoid hard freezing. A covering 
of leaves or straw should be put on 
gradually, until by the last of December 
it is a foot or more thick. If put on too 
heavily at first the celery is quite sure 
to rot or heat. Boards may be placed 
over the covering to keep out most of 
the rain, though a little moisture is 
beneficial. Celery may also be stored in 
a cool cellar, covering the roots with 
moist soil, which may be carefully 
watered when it shows signs of drying 
out. Boards should be placed on edge 
at intervals of a foot or so to divide the 
celery, and insure ventilation. Early 
celery may be planted about a foot apart 
each way in very rich soil, and watered 
well during dry weather. It will grow 
tall and tender, and sometimes bleaches 
well. This method is not growing in 
popular favor. Cabbages are wintered 
in root houses built partly underground, 
or stacked upside down in the field on 
a dry place, and covered with a foot or 
more of earth, which is protected from 
hard freezing by a thick coating of 
straw or long stable manure. A good 
book on the required topic is Celery for 
Profit, by Greiner; 20 cents from this 
office. 
During the slxty-two years that Dr. D. Jayne's 
Expectorant has been used in the treatment ot Pul¬ 
monary disorders, the percentage of cures has largely 
increased. Undeniably, IT HEALS THE LUNGS.— 
Adv. 
BARGAINS IN 
StJacobsOil 
W1H cur* surely, right away, 
and aare time, money and 
suffering. It 
Conquers Pain 
Price* 25c and 50c. 
BOLD BT ALL DEALERS IN HEDICINB. 
BUBEBOID 
■I'zzxa 
POULTRY-HOUSE 
ROOFING 
As a water-proof covering for Poultry-1 
I Houses, KUBEROiDhas no equal. Keeps 
tne houses cool during the warm weather, 
and warm In Winter, and the chicks dry and [ 
I comfortable. The sun cannot melt It. 
THE STANDARD PAINT CO., 
100 William Street, 
NEW YORK. 
This vital question is answered as soon as yon 
see the woven wire, ready-built 
AMERICAN Field & Hog FENCE 
Best steel wire, heavily galvanized. Sold every 
where. If your dealer liasn’t it, write to 
AMERICAN STEEL A WIRE CO. 
Chicago. New York, Sau Francisco* DeuT«r 
cider Machinery .—Send for catalogue to Boomer & 
Boschert Press Co., 118 West Water St., Syracuse,N.Y 
LIME FERTILIZER. 
Special preparation giving splendid satisfaction. 
Correspondence solicited THE SNOW FLAKE 
LIMB CO., Bowling Green, Ohio. 
SAN JOSE SCALE. 
Fruit Packages, 
Berry, Grape, Peach, Crates, 
Tills, Baskets, etc. 
Onr mills must dispose of surplus stock. Buy your 
supplies early. 
COLES & COMPANY, 
109 & 111 Warren Street, New York. 
And other Insects can be ControUed by Using 
Good’s Caustic Potash Whale- 
Oil Tobacco Soap No. 6. 
Kegs, SOlba. ea., 5Hc.lb. Bbl., about275 lbs., 4e. lb 
Kegs, 100 lbs. ea., 5c. lb. Bbls., about 435 lba.,^o.lb 
Kegs, 170 lbs. ea., 4!4c. lb. 
Large quantities Special Rates. Send for Clronlart. 
JAMES GOOD, 937 N. Front St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
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THE U. S. ELECTRIC MEG. CO. 
300 Etna Street, Butler, Pa. 
WATCH THIS SPACE NEXT ISSUE. 
