The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
877 
Garden Notes From New England 
Frost Damage. —Not a few garden- 
makers in New England have had to do 
their planting all over again as a result 
of late Spring frosts. The amount of 
damage done by these frosts is greater 
than commonly realized. In some sec¬ 
tions the peach crop has been ruined, and 
in others plume, cherries and even apples 
have been frozen. The loss to strawberry 
growers will be heavy, although undoubt¬ 
edly there will be a late crop. Market 
gardeners who saw whole fields of tomato 
plants ruined in one night naturally feel 
rather blue. All these things, however, 
go with the business of tickling the soil 
in order to make it laugh with the har¬ 
vest. Some of them are no laughing mat¬ 
ter for the harvester, though. But, speak¬ 
ing of tomato plants, I have seldom seen 
“better plants offered in the markets and 
never so many of them. It would seem 
as though growers everywhere had pro¬ 
duced plants to sell. They have sold 
without difficulty, too, and the demand 
has been increased by the necessity in 
many instances of setting out a second 
lot. _ 
Training Tomato Plants. —For a 
time many amateur garden makers tried 
the plan of training their tomato plants 
to a single stalk and tying it to a stake. 
Most of them have found, though, that 
the results are not commensurate with the 
amount of time and labor demanded. The 
average market gardener allows his plants 
to sprawl over the ground without much 
attention, but some kind of support is 
often of advantage in the home garden, 
if onlv to save space and making picking 
easier. The A-shaped trellis is very sat¬ 
isfactory. When built of light scantling 
almost nothing. They grow a berry 
known as Echo, which stands shipping 
well and seems to be perfectly adapted to 
Cape Cor conditions. Some of the farm¬ 
ers grow other fruit, and I know of one 
very successful peach, orchard which is 
growing in what looks like pure sand. 
The owner combines peaches and poultry, 
and finds the combination a profitable 
one. 
Home Acre Asparagus. —I have 
strayed a long way from my asparagus, 
but, returning for a moment, I wish to 
emphasize the value of the new strains 
known as Martha Washington and Mary 
Washington, for the home garden, as well 
as for commercial plantings. These 
strains are comparatively rust-free, and 
good producers, having been, evolved by 
careful work at Concord. It is important 
to have strong, husky plants, when start¬ 
ing an asparagus bed, and the ground 
should be plowed deeply. It is often 
recommended that a layer of manure be 
placed under the roots, but as these roots 
grow sidewise and all through the ground, 
it seems to me more necessary to have the 
soil on each side of the rows well fertil¬ 
ized. Cutting of even well-established 
beds usually stops the last of June, but I 
know one grower in New Hampshire with 
a Summer resort market who keeps on 
cutting until August. He says that his 
beds bear just as well, but that he has to 
renew them a little oftener. There is a 
question as to the value of salt on the 
beds, but this man thinks it helps. Ar¬ 
ticles on asparagus culture, usually advise 
cutting down the stalks in the Fall to 
prevent scattering the seed, but many 
New England growers let them remain un- 
Hamemade Trellis for Tomatoes 
and the two sections hingeu at the top, 
this kind of support can be folded up and 
put away in the Fall, being used season 
after season. The books used to tell us 
that tomato plants did not require much 
fertilizing, but experience seems to prove 
that they like good feeding. Well-rotted 
manure is excellent at planting time, and 
liberal doses of liquid manure help to 
boost along growing plants. A teaspoon¬ 
ful of nitrate of soda may be worked into 
the soil at the base of the plants (but not 
touching the stems) when the fruit begins 
to Change color. 
Farming on Cape Cod.— Asparagus is 
rather expensive when purchased in the 
markets, but very easy to grow, and should 
have a place in every home garden. This 
vegetable is always in demand, too, and 
nobody having a surplus need waste it. 
In fact, there are few crops from which 
the backyard garden-maker can so readily 
obtain a little extra money. Concord has 
been the banner asparagus town in Mas¬ 
sachusetts, but growers have found that 
excellent asparagus can be grown on the 
Cape, and that region may become as 
well known for its “grass” as for its 
strawberries. Forty acres of this vege- 
taole are being set out on the big farm in 
Falmouth managed by Wilfrid Wheeler, 
formerly Secretary of Agriculture and a 
well-kuown market grower of Concord. 
The farm which is being developed by 
Mr. Wheeler is probably the largest in 
the State, containing some 15,000 acres. 
About 1,00 acres are being put into culti¬ 
vation, and it is an unusual sight in 
Massachusetts when half a dozen tractors 
are to be seen at work in one field, and 
plowing single furrows a mile long. Some 
remarkably fine, level, deep land has been 
found on the Cape, and when cleared 
promises to make as good farms as can 
be found in New England. 
Portuguese Farmers. —The Portu¬ 
guese settlers have done very well with 
their little farms, especially since the 
strawberry growers have been organized. 
These growers now have an association 
with a manager, which handles the out¬ 
put of about 100 members. Nearly all of 
them are Portuguese, and even the mana¬ 
ger cannot tell what is said at the meet¬ 
ings, but for the past two or three years 
they have averaged practically 25c a box 
for their berries. In former years when 
they acted individually they often made 
til late Winter, as they hold the snow and 
keep the beds covered. 
Attractive Hedges. —I sometimes 
wonder why so few good 1 hedges are seen 
in country towns. Here and thei’e one 
finds an old arbor vitae hedge, which usu¬ 
ally looks rather moth-eaten near the 
ground, and owners of new houses fre¬ 
quently surround them with hedges of 
California privet. Most of the other 
very good hedging material is overlooked, 
which is unfortunate. As I write this I 
think of a Spiraea hedge which is glorify¬ 
ing a modest country home not far away. 
Of course it is loveliest when in flower, 
but it is pretty to look upon throughout 
the Summer and not at all difficult to care 
for. Near the seashore Rosa rugosa 
makes a splendid hedge, with occasionally 
flowers d'uring much of the Summer. 
The common lilac makes an excellent 
hedge, and if desired' can be trimmed 
quite as neatly as privet. It does not ob¬ 
ject to shearing, and can be kept breast 
high all the year around. Of course, 
however, it will not flower when cut back 
in this manner. After all, though it is 
not easy to beat the Japanese barberry 
unless a very tall hedge is wanted. It 
appeals to the man with but little leisure, 
because it requires a minimum amount 
of trimming, it pleases the mistress of the 
household because its sharp spines turn 
cats and dogs, and it delights the whole 
family with its beautiful red frujt carried 
on the branches until Spring. What 
more could one ask of a hedge? 
Baby Tractors Popular. —The small¬ 
er garden tractors are being given an ex¬ 
tensive try-out this season. You see them 
everywhere, and in gardens of all sizes. 
Apparently the kinds first put out were 
too heavy. Market gardeners in this sec¬ 
tion like a very light machine, and one 
that is easily turned around at the end 
of the rows. Some of the tractors now 
being used are well spoken of, and seem 
likely to find a permanent place in the 
tool list. They are being adopted, too, 
in the face of a falling labor market. 
The help question is no longer a serious 
one. Good men can be hired for $8 a 
day, and will work L a-der than at any 
time in the past five years. Less school¬ 
boy labor will be used this year, although 
some of the boys have proved so intelli¬ 
gent and industrious that they will be 
welcomed back. 
E. I. FARRINGTON. 
Harvest—and Your Fall Work 
AS HARVEST approaches and passes, with the finishing-up of work 
JLjL on this year’s crop in sight, another beginning looms up just ahead 
• —fall plowing—and commands its share of attention, even in the 
crowded hours of harvest. Where crops grew this year there will be, in 
most cases, crops again next year. And in many places there will be crops 
on land that was unproductive this year. 
Forward-looking farmers are thinking about this—planning just what land 
is to be plowed for next year’s crop and what additional machinery will be 
needed in order to handle the work in a way that will bring the greatest 
profit return. Are you equipped to start the new beginning right? To 
carry through your fall work the way you’d like to do it? 
Case Machines for Fall Work 
Case Kerosene Tractors —10-18, 15-27 and 22-40 H. P.: Grand Detour Power 
Plows —2, 3, 4, 5 and 6-bottom sizes; Grand Detour Disk Harrows —6, 7, 8, 
9 and 10-ft. sizes—will, as usual, play important parts in helping thousands 
of progressive farmers carry out their plans regarding next year’s crops. 
These machines are built up to the high standards of an organization that 
has been building Case Threshers since 1842, Grand Detour Plows since 
1837, Case Steam Engines since 1876 and gas tractors since 1892. 
In the development and building of Case Machines and Grand Detour im¬ 
plements, the experience of the power-farming pioneer has been combined 
with the practical knowledge and down-to-earth common sense of the 
farmer, in such a way as to produce farm tools that do the work for which 
they are intended with the greatest degree of economy, ease and efficiency. 
That is the chief reason, we believe, why so many farmers prefer Case 
Tractors and Grand Detour Plows and Disk Harrows. 
Write for our catalog and the name of the nearest Case dealer. 
J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company 
Dept. G27 Racine, Wisconsin 
NOTE: We want the public to know that our plows and harrows are NOT 
the Case plows and harrows made by the J. I. Case Plow Works Company 
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