232 
Garden Notes from New England 
(Continued from page 230) 
Of course, it is necessary to dig out 
enough soil inside the bed to allow for the 
manure. Not infrequently a temporary 
bed is made on top of the ground, the 
frame being made proportionately high. 
Fairly good results are obtained in this 
way if horse manure is used to bank the 
bed thoroughly on the outside. Some¬ 
times the manure is prepared by being 
placed under a shelter and turned fre¬ 
quently to prevent burning, being occa¬ 
sionally wetted down. At other times the 
manure is placed directly in the bed and 
well trodden, being wetted down at in¬ 
tervals. Four or five inches of good loam 
is thrown on top and carefully smoothed 
down. Then glass is put on and the 
hotbed is allowed to remain until the 
temperature drops to 90 degrees. It is 
best to have a thermometer pressed lightly 
into the soil. If the bed dries out in the 
meantime, thoroughly soak it again. You 
can always figure on having the bed set¬ 
tle three or four inches, and in preparing 
it you should consider the crop which is 
to be grown. Low-growing vegetables, 
like lettuce and radishes, can be planted 
nearer the glass than those which grow 
taller. 
Sowing Tomato Seed. —In New Eng¬ 
land it is customary to plant tomato seeds 
in the hotbed on Washington’s Birthday 
or close to that date. This means, of 
course, that the beds must be made up 
some time in advance. In starting other 
Hotbed Marker 
crops the work may be deferred for a few 
weeks. The colder the weather is the 
more attention a hotbed requires, as a 
matter of course. In cloudy weather 
The RURAL N 
there is always much danger of the young 
plants damping off. especially if the top 
soil is rather moist. Ventilation and 
moisture must be kept close track of. If 
damping off begins it can be checked to 
some extent by sprinkling dry, sharp sand 
over the bed. Some growers like to use 
a little sand in any event soon after the 
seedlings have come up, especially if the 
soil is rather heavy. It is necessary to 
remember that some plants, like tomatoes, 
egg plants and peppers like a higher tem¬ 
perature than cooler growing kinds, like 
lettuce and cabbages. The two classes 
are not easily grown together in the same 
bed. 
TnE Useful Cold Frame. —A cold 
frame is simply a hotbed minus the heat. 
It cannot be made as early in the season 
as a hotbed, but, on the other hand, it is 
very much easier to prepare and to man¬ 
age. Many farmers who would not have 
the time or inclination to look after a 
hotbed can get excellent results from a 
cold frame, unless they are looking, for 
extra early plants. Then, too, it is a 
common plan for a farmer to start early 
plants, like tomatoes, in flats in the house 
and to transplant them to cold frames 
when the season is far enough advanced. 
In fact, a cold frame is almost indis¬ 
pensable if a considerable number of 
plants are to be started indoors, because 
they can be cared for readily when well 
grown, and can be hardened off easily, this 
being an important point, for unless the 
little plants are gradually inured to an 
outside temperature they will prove very 
tender when set in the open ground, and 
may be caught by even a light frost. In 
fairly thickly settled communities or near 
towns there is always a heavy demand for 
tomato plants, cabbage plants, lettuce 
plants and pepper plants in the Spring, 
and raising these plants proves a profitable 
side line. 
Herbs and Watercress. —A consider¬ 
able number of herbs which before the Avar 
were largely imported are now being 
grown in this country, and sometimes 
with considerable profit. I know of one 
man who has not much land, but who 
adds to his income by producing herbs of 
various kinds in his back yard. The 
herbs are neatly dried in racks or by be¬ 
ing hung on the wall of the garage, and 
apparently are disposed of without dif¬ 
ficulty. The principal source of this 
man’s income is a curious one, but per¬ 
haps has suggestions for other people, 
lie grows watercress for the Boston mar¬ 
ket but in the brooks of other people. 
He’has made arrangements, with farmers 
covering a radius of 30 miles by which 
he has the exclusive privilege of using the 
brooks which run through their land for 
EW-YORKER 
watercress production. A small cash 
rental is paid in each case. This man is 
very careful to see that the brooks are 
not contaminated by cattle, and always 
traces them back to their source. If 
necessary, he runs a light fence along the 
brook to exclude stock. Picking is con¬ 
tinued until very late in the season, but 
care is taken not to pick the leaves when 
they are frosted, for if that is done they 
will turn black. Each day a trip is made 
to a series of brooks, a light automobile 
truck being used for bringing in the crop. 
The cress is bunched at home and then 
taken to market. Of course, it is neces¬ 
sary to keep renewing the plants, but this 
is a simple matter, as the cress will start 
from seeds sown on the banks of brooks 
or just as readily from cuttings pressed 
into the earth close to the water. In 
some sections of the country large beds 
are made and flooded at intervals to keep 
insect pests in subjection, but this man 
gets a good living from cress which grows 
in the natural way, and often in places 
where it has already adapted itself. It 
seems quite possible that many boys and 
girls living in the country could at least 
provide pin money from the growing and 
sale of cress, which finds a ready market. 
E. I. FARRINGTON. 
Flowir Lovers and Housekeepers 
Juet aa I was eaying to my husband “I 
wish The R. N.-Y. printed something 
more about flowers,” I came across Prof. 
Massey’s “Notes from a Maryland Gar¬ 
den” of October 25, apropos of the farmer 
who regretted that this series contained 
so much of so “useless’ a subject. The 
article’s freshness and originality are 
charming—qualities too often missing 
from writings on flowers, and Prof. Mas¬ 
sey’s discovery of the close connection be¬ 
tween a flourishing garden and delectable 
cookery is worthy of remembrance by 
travelers in rural parts, and very striking 
to one like myself, who is both cook and 
gardener—happily with a husband sympa¬ 
thetic to both lines of endeavor. 
A year, and three months ago we 
bought this attractive, though unim¬ 
proved old house on an acre of excellent 
ground, determined to eke out a small 
income by raising, for our own use, chick¬ 
ens, eggs, fruits and vegetables; and inci¬ 
dentally have more fun than could be 
bought in New York (where we formerly- 
lived) for four times the money, to say 
nothing of storing up a reserve fund of 
health, instead of depleting what remained 
to us after life in that unbalanced city. 
Well, it has all proved to be a hugh suc¬ 
cess. 
Our hens laid so well they were the 
marvel of the neighborhood ; our chicken 
February 7, 1020 
Corn was 11 ft. high, with ears in propor¬ 
tion as to quality and size; our eggplants 
brobdingnagian ; our tomatoes of a noble 
flavor and so numerous it was a problem 
Garden Herbs For Sale 
to know what to do with the surplus ; all 
this plenty being conducive to a neighbor¬ 
ly interchange of gifts which are so pleas¬ 
ant to receive, and cost the giver nothing 
but a little agreeable trouble. The suc¬ 
cess we ascribe primarily to our naturally 
good land; though enthusiasm makes an 
excellent, if unlisted, fertilizer; and in 
my heart I cannot hut have a wifely con¬ 
viction that my partner is a person of su¬ 
perior intelligence. 
In a moment of fierce enthusiasm I ar¬ 
rogated a plot 60x30 ft. which lies but a 
few yards from the kitchen window’, for 
the flower garden ; and undertook in the 
intervals of cooking and cleaning, to fill it 
with flowers the first season. This, with 
the aid of numerous gifts of perennials 
from generoue and sympathetic neigh¬ 
bors, was actually accomplished, even to 
laying out some of the paths myself. From 
the first of July until Fall, when it was 
still at its best, my garden had been a 
mass, a riot, of delight and color and per¬ 
fume. Tired old men and children, and 
girls, and sad-looking women, stopped to 
admire it as they pass, so that I have 
come to feel that my ow r n joy in its loveli¬ 
ness ie but a small share of the happiness 
it has given to my fellow humans. 
M. L. R. 
We Will Teach You 
Gardening Fundamentals 
Add to your success and pleasure by mastering 
the fundamentals of gardening. Avail yourself of 
the HOME STUDY COURSE IN GARDENING, 
published in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, under the 
direction of Mr. Arthur Smith, widely known as 
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help you to grow more delicious vegetables, more 
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This HOME STUDY COURSE 
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to the home garden appears regularly each month 
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The Gardeners’ Chronicle also contains other 
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