Tfft RURAL NEW-YORKER 
423 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
A friend asked me why it is that some 
things in the garden get hurt worse in a 
mild Winter than in a severe one. A lit¬ 
tle thought will at once suggest a reason. 
I find that my Yellow Potato onions 
planted last Fall have had their tops 
damaged worse than they were last Win¬ 
ter, when it was very much colder. The 
reason is evident. There has been so 
much mild weather that hardy plants 
have, time and again, got to growing, and 
a cold snap damages them far more than 
if they had not been excited and more ten¬ 
der. Hence the greater risk of damage 
to all things as the sun gets higher and 
higher, and the treacherous weather of 
March comes in. Here we do not ex¬ 
pect very severe weather after the middle 
of February, and are liable to have too 
many warm spells, making all the greater 
risk for the half-hardy and hardy plants 
we try to get. in as early as possible. 
But it is a risk we have to take if we are 
to be among the earliest. I always try to 
get in some early beet seed as soon as we 
have passed the middle of February. Xow 
if the cold strikes these just as they 
come through, there will he more seeding 
needed. But if we get the plants into the 
true leaf they will stand very considerable 
frost. Spinach is like unto beets. It 
does not mind the cold when its true 
leaves are out, hut is easily killed in the 
seed leaf. It looks now as though the 
Fall-sown spinach has been hurt nearly 
as badly as last Winter. I shall sow 
some this Spring, though I rarely sow 
spinach in Spring, since the Fall sowing 
will not run to sed any more quickly than 
the Spring sowing. 
With the early peas in the ground and 
the tomato plants growing in the green¬ 
house, the rush of Spring planting will 
soon be on us. The leek and onion seeds, 
the radishes and lettuce must be started 
where there are no plants at hand. 
Fortunately my lettuce plants have win¬ 
tered well in the seed bed outdoors, and 
having these hardy plants at hand it will 
be easy to get a bed well manured and 
the plants set. We seldom get good 
heads of lettuce from .seed sown outside in 
Spring here. By the time the plants 
should be heading the weather gets so hot 
that they bolt to bloom instead of heading. 
But with good plants wintered over we 
are pretty sure of getting fairly good 
heads. But I have long ago found that 
in our sandy soil, no matter how rich or 
how heavily fertilized, we canno* make 
the hard, white heads that we have made 
on a more clayey loam. 
On a heavier «oil I have made lettuce 
heads as firm as Flat Dutch cabbages, but 
have never seen a really solid head made 
on light sandy soil here. The best chance 
for good heads of lettuce from seed sown 
early outdoors is through use of the Han¬ 
son and the Wonderful or New York va¬ 
rieties. which endure the heat far better 
than the butter lettuces'like Big Boston. 
Seed of Grand Rapids sown on a very 
rich bed. and let stand to grow together, 
will make very tender, half-blanched 
leaves. The dwarfed and closer-growing 
varieties of cos or romaine lettuce can be 
grown from Spring-sown seed and blanch 
nicely if lightly tied in. 
In growing leeks it is important to get 
them in early, so as to have stout plants 
for transplanting after some early crop. 
Leeks are gross feeders and the seed bed 
should be very rich. For onions to keep 
next W inter do not sow the Spanish or 
Italian varieties except for Summer and 
Fall use. but sow the Globe varieties, like 
Danvejs and Southport Globe, and get 
them iu as soon as the soil can be worked 
to advantage, fertilize heavily and you can 
by proper thinning and clean cultivation 
make good onions from the black seed. 
For the Prizetaker and' others of the 
Spanish type seed should be sown in early 
Winter under glass sashes and trans¬ 
planted later, or sets grown for Spring 
planting. 
I find it very important to have some 
nitrate of soda at hand to sprinkle be¬ 
tween the lettuce and cabbage plants, and 
on any crop grown for the leaves. It 
makes a wonderful difference in the 
growth at once. In the greenhouse my 
early tomato plants have had their first 
transplanting into other Hats, setting the 
little plants deeper and wider apart. 
From these they go to cold frames iu 
March. w. f. massey. 
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««o. u.s.PAT. orf. 
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COPYRIGHT 
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