Yegetables. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
Harvesting crops that may still be in the 
ground, gathering decaying vines and rub¬ 
bish, raking up leaves, bringing under shel¬ 
ter Bean poles and Pea brush, and cleaning 
and tidying the grounds generally, are now 
in order. But nothing adds so much to the 
neat appearance of a garden during winter 
than to have it plowed or spaded up be¬ 
fore the ground freezes. 
Fall Ploioing not only impi-oves the ap¬ 
pearance of a garden, but it ameliorates the 
ground materially, and fits it for earlier cul¬ 
tivation in spring. For the amount of labor 
and expense devoted to it, hardly anything 
brings ’ so great a return as fall plowing or 
spading, especially on heavy or wet soils. 
Jfo implement can mellow and pulverize 
the earth nearly as thoroughlj’^ as frost does; 
and if the plowing is done in narrow lands, 
with deep, open, intervening furrows run¬ 
ning with the slope of the land—as it should 
be whenever practicable—the additional ben¬ 
efit derived from surface drainage is of no 
small account. 
Parsnips and Salsify not required for win¬ 
ter use may be left in the ground without in¬ 
jury, 3 "et in the Northern States a light cov¬ 
ering of leaves or stalks will generally pre¬ 
serve them in better condition. IMiere no 
suitable winter storage can be had, a part of 
the row or bed may be covered thick enough 
to exclude frost, thus enabling one to dig 
the roots at any time. 
Improving Varieties. —“Plant the most ma¬ 
ture and perfect seeds of the most hard^^, 
vigorous, and valuable varieties,’’ has been 
President MarshallP. Wilder’s injunction for 
many years, in regard to the improvement 
of fiTiits. It applies with equal force to the 
improvement of vegetables, as instanced bj^ 
the following experiment: 
Last fall we selected seed of Caseknife 
Beans from pods having six or more seeds 
in each pod. This j'ear the crop showed a 
marked improvement, six, seven and eight- 
seeded pods being common. The selection 
has now been made from pods having not 
less than eight seeds, nine-seeded pods ap¬ 
pearing frequently. 
Keeping Onions .—The principal requisition 
for keeping Onions in good condition during 
winter is dryness. If kept in a dry place, 
they are not easily injured by frost, pro¬ 
vided they are not handled while frozen. 
Packed in barrels with any kind of chall', or 
finely cut straw, they will winter safely in a 
barn or any ouUmilding. Ordinary cellars 
are too damp for Onions. 
Asparagus stalks should now be cut oft 
and burned, and a liberal coat of manure be 
8i»read over the rows. Manuring at this sea¬ 
son has a much better efleet upon next year’s 
crop than if defeired till spring. 'J'he same 
apj/lies to llhubarb. 
Col(Ffrarnes should be covered only during 
freezing weather. The principal cause of 
non-success with cold-frames lies in their 
being kept too much closed. 
Cabbages keep bettei- if not jjulled till cold 
weather sets in, but care should be taken to 
prevent their becoming frozen hai-d, as this 
injures their keeping quality considerably. 
Market gardeners up them out-doors, 
covered with soil. 
JIAEKET &ABDENIHG IN THE SOUM^ 
History.-Social Questions ' 
-Locatioits.-So i I s .-Methods.- Mow to 
Grow the Different Orops.-Some Great Suo- 
cesses.—Causes of Failure. 
by DU. A. OEMLBR. ^ 
PRESIDENT CUATIIAM COUNTY TRUCK FAUME 
ASSOCIATION. 
First. Paper. 
About the year 1840, the Hon. Mark A- 
CooperandDr. W. C. D.anlell of Savannah, 
imported each a German to manage then- 
private gardens. As soon as the latter 
(George Ottand Nicholas Wolfl) learned to 
appreciate their capabilities and the oppoi- 
tunities presented by their new surroundings, 
they left their employers, located in the im¬ 
mediate vicinity of Savannah, and engaged 
in the cultivation of vegetables for the local 
market. In so far as Savann.ah is concerned 
they were the pioneers iu truck farming. 
Both acquired competencies. The former 
died in Savannah years .after he had retired 
from active work, while the Latter still lives 
in comfort at Wiesb.aden, Germany. 
Previous to 1856, when, abandoning the 
pr.aetice of medicine, the writer commenced 
truck farming, no crops except W.atermelons 
were exclusivel)’' planted for the northern 
markets. Small shipments were made, how¬ 
ever, of the surplus of the local market 
crops. Nor had any large consignments of 
Melons ever been made, nor a crop ever been 
grown in Georgia, nor probablj- elsewhere 
at the South, expresslj-^ for northern mar¬ 
kets prior to 1852. A few ma}' occasionally 
h.avebeen sent to New Fork bjrfruit dealers, 
to fill orders. 
In 1851, Mr. E. B. Barstow of Wilmington 
Island, placed on board the packet barque, 
Isaac Mead, about fifty fine Melons for the 
consumption of a party of our relatives dur¬ 
ing the voyage to New York. Only a few of 
them h.aving been used during the quick trip, 
the balance were preseuted to the c.aptain, 
who sold them at such high prices, that Mr. 
Barstow, induced by the evident demand, 
planted the first crop for shipment in 1852. 
NotwithsUnding many dr.awbacks, the ven¬ 
ture resulted so satisf.actorily that two other 
Sea Island Cotton planters, R. T. Gibson and 
\V. K. Pritchard, of the neighboring islands 
of 'Whitmarsh and Skidaway, respectively, 
were tempted to follow suit the next season. 
Outrageous stealages in transit (not yet even 
completely abated on some transjjortation 
lines) made it advisable to entrust the ship¬ 
ments to the care .and custody of captains, 
or persons who disposed of them for onc- 
half the net jiroceeds. When communica¬ 
tion with the North was interi-upted at the 
commencement of the war, W. R. Pritchard 
had 60 .acres in Melons. 
General shipment of vegetables increased 
annually, but the truck interest could neven- 
have reached its jircsent imjjortance, but for 
the result of tlic war. Emancipation, or the 
death of slavery, has certainly been, so to 
say, tlic birth of truck farming on an exten¬ 
sive scale along the .South-Atlantic and Gulf 
coasts. 
Glider the old order of things largo truck 
crops would liavo been impossible, as one of 
the chief requisites to the successful pursuit 
of this Industry, Is proximity to the point of 
shipment and source of manure supply, or 
thevlcliiity of the lurgercoastcltlos. Several 
farmers near Savannah employone or two hun¬ 
dred hands during the picking season. J. R. 
Young had 150 acres in Strawberries near 
Norfolk, Va., in 1879 and employed about 
1000 hands during the harvest. He put in 
an additiomal 100 acres the following year. 
From 4000 to 5000 bushels were then being 
daily picked in the neighborhood of Norfolk, 
and as each picker averaged about one bush¬ 
el, it follows that a force of from 4000 to 
5000 hands was required to gather the fruit. 
The only plantations in the vicinity of Sa^ 
vannah with large labor forces, were those 
of the Elver Rice planters .and none of the 
negroes could ever have been hired. I was 
the largest slave-owner engaged in vegeta¬ 
ble growing, and at no time could I have 
made available for field Labor more than 
twenty-six adults, the remaining forty being 
children or mechanics and house servants. 
Ex-Governor Hammond’s prediction^ that “in 
case of emancip.ation the negroes would seek 
the towns, and rapidly accumulate in groups 
upon their outskirtSji’ has certainly been 
verified, and it is the better element of this 
popuLation which is willing to do some 
work, and supplies the truck farmers with 
the necessary labor during the busy season 
of gathering their crops. 
This industr)’^ has gradually developed into 
astonishing proportions, especially iu the 
vicinity of the larger se.aport cities of the 
South. Where favorable conditions are want¬ 
ing it is pursued less successfully, and with 
a more limited variety of products, as is the 
case inland along r.ailroads and in Florida. 
Market gardening affords support, and in not 
a few cases more than a mere competency, 
to many farmers along the South-Atlantic 
and Gulf coasts from NorfoUt to Mobile, 
and furnishes sustenance to a population 
that would otherwise either steal or starve. 
During that period of the year when the 
planter is often without readj’’ cash, many of 
those along the railroads, who cultivate 
Melons, or other truck, as an adjunct to 
their cotton crops, rejoice over the net pro¬ 
ceeds of their shipments, although these 
would be quite unsatisfactory to tiie special 
truck farmer. During the season of busi¬ 
ness stagnation at the South, the movement 
of their truck crops, and the inflow of monej- 
in icturn, tends in the earlj’’ spring and sum¬ 
mer to enliven .southern coast cities. Fi¬ 
nally the income resulting therefrom to the 
various transportation companies, on land 
and sea, is of very great importance at a sea¬ 
son when other freiglit would not pay the 
expenses of their northwai’d trips. 
Chatham Co.., Georgia. 
A SECOND CROP OF PEAS. 
iMy Ameri(ain Wonder 1‘eas have excelled 
tlicm,selves this year, yielding two very 
good erops. I have often noticed—as 1 
suppose oth(M-s have done—(hat, soon after 
picking th(( gia'cn pods from the vines, a new 
growth would start from near the roots, pro¬ 
duce, blo.ssoms, l)ut seldom pods (It for use. 
'I’bc plant becomes so exhansteil in the effort 
to prodiuio another crop (hat, unless special 
sUmulants are givtm, it dies in the effort. 
I Ills suggest,ed (he id,-a, that under favor¬ 
able, coialil.ions aiui i)roper ('are a second 
m-op^ might he grown profitably, and this 
year’s experience confirmed the correctness 
of the supposllhm, to our grea t pleasure. 
