29^ 
THE AMERICAN 
December, 
SEASONABLE HINIS. 
All crops that are to be wintered out-dooi’s 
should now receive then’ final covering. 
Celery, if left in thegroimd where it grew, 
should be hilled up to the tips of the leaves, 
and afterwards be covered udth an addition¬ 
al layer of six inches of soil. Later in the 
month, all is to be covered with several 
inches of leaves, or straw, and finished up 
with stalks or any other coai-se material; 
some old boards laid on the top will give ad¬ 
ditional secvu-ity. In wet or veiy heavy 
.soil this method wll be found moi-e success¬ 
ful than ■ndntering Celery in trenches. 
Seed Potatoes. —Good crops are sometimes 
raised fi-om poor seed, and poor crops have 
been grown from good seed, yet the results 
of a large number of carefully conducted 
experiments show unmistakably that it pays 
to plant only pei-fect seed. 
Potatoes that have been exposed to so low 
a temperature as to have become “chilled,” 
are materiallj^ deteriorated for seed—al¬ 
though they may still be in good condition 
for eating. The same is true of Potatoes 
stored in so warm a place as to make sprout¬ 
ing necessary. 
The best temperature to keep Seed Pota¬ 
toes in is from to 40°. The cellar in 
which they are stored should be neither wet 
nor too dry: a moderately moist atmosphere 
is most favorable. 
Cold Frames for Storing Soots.—Our last 
winters experiment nith wintering Carrots, 
Beets, Turnips, etc., proved so satisfactory 
that it may serv’e as a suggestion to those 
similarly situated. 
Finding our fmmace-heated house cellar 
too warm and dry for the best preseiwation 
of vegetables, we made our hot-bed serve 
the purpose, and are just now doing the 
same thing. After all the soil and decom¬ 
posed manure was shoveled out and banked 
around the frame, the roots were spi’ead in 
layers over the ground in the frame, giving 
the space of a sash to each kind. All were 
then covered with about four to six inches 
of soil. The space between the surface of 
the soil and the top of the frame uas then 
filled out with dry leaves, and the sashes put 
in their places. The sashes were uevei’ re¬ 
moved except when something had to he 
taken from the frames. The leaves exclud¬ 
ed fro.st completely and at the same time 
served as a non-conductor of the sun’s heat, 
so that when, at the time of starting the liot- 
bed for spring use, the remainder of the 
roots were taken out, they were as fresh and 
good as the day they were dug. 'J'hus a liol^ 
bed may be used profitably the ye;ir round. 
Compost.—A compost heap should be a 
permanent feature in connection with evei-y 
well managed garden. Now is a sidtable. 
time to start one in an out of the way cor¬ 
ner where it may be screened fi-om view by 
a. eiurnp of bushes or an evergreen Iiedge. 
«wanip muck is the best material tor Uie 
basis of a compost hcaj), but sods or ricii 
soil fi-om a roadside oi- pasture may be made 
to serve tlie purpo.se. All refuse and o/I’al 
from the house and garden tliat will decay 
should find its jdaee on the compost heap 
together with all the stable manurt!, and 
be mixed with the absorbing material. 
OARr>®N__^ 
crease, as the acreages were greater, 
HAEKET GAEDENING IN THE SOUTH, 
History.—Social Questions Involved.—Orowtlt 
— Locations. — Soils. — Methods .— Hoiv to 
Grow the Different Crops.—Some Great Sucr- 
cesses.—Causes of Faihtre. 
BY Dll. A. OEMLEB. 
rKEsmENT CHATHAM COUNTY TRUCK FARMERS’ wlth thosc fi'om Norfolk, 
ASSOCIATION. 
Second Paper. 
Commencing at Norfolk upon a small scale, 
truek farming has gradually extended down 
the Atlantic coast to all the larger cities 
whose trade vdth the North sufliced to sup¬ 
port frequent and regular steamship com¬ 
munication, and along the lines of railroads 
into and through the whole of Florida, and 
encoiu’aging the building of new lines, until 
it reached Mobile and Galveston. 
At present Norfolk has during the ship¬ 
ping season a dailj’’ line to Baltimore, and, 
except Fi-idays, one to New York, and steam¬ 
ers thrice weekly to Philadelphia, Baltimore 
and AVashington. Perhaps a half-dozen 
times in the season the Old Dominion Line 
finds it necessary to dispatch two steamers 
in one day to New York, and even with this 
augmented facility a large quantity of prod¬ 
uce has been known to be left on the wharves 
for want of transportation to market. In 
the matter of frequency of steamship de¬ 
partures and their adaptabilitj'^ to the pur¬ 
pose, through sulHcient ventilation between 
decks. Savannah comes next in order with 
three steamers weekly to New York and one 
each week to Boston, Philadelphia and Bal¬ 
timore. The railroads olVer facilities from 
Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, etc.. North 
and AA'est, but the bulk of produce goes, by 
preference when possible, by sea. This ap¬ 
plies both to local and through-freights. Of 
Melons, however, large numbers are sent 
from the interior by rail Nortli and North¬ 
west, taxing the capacity of the various 
lines to the utmost. 
'file fact that the variety of vegetables 
grown at Norfolk includes such as the long¬ 
er passage from more remote soutlieru points 
precludes from the list of the latter, must 
increase the bulk of shipments from the 
forrnei-. Such for instance as Eadishos, Let¬ 
tuce, .Spinacli, and, in a measui-e, Muskmel- 
ons. The two first named wilt too much to 
command sure and fair ])rices. Spinach is 
too liable to heat in the i)ackage and Musk- 
melons or Cantclopes must be picked so 
very green only as far South as Savannidi 
to endure tlie i)assago, that the income froin 
the crop becomes too uncertain. Incrca.sed 
competition from nearer points than former¬ 
ly, however, lias reduced the area of certain 
crops at Norfolk, iiici-easing that of otliers 
tnoportioiiately. Siicli has hcen tlie case 
wltl. 'J'omatocs, wliicli, lieing an expensive 
and troublesome crop to cultivate, in conse¬ 
quence of tlie necessity of using glass Ui 
grow the (ihints, liave failed of late to he as 
remunerative as licreUifore, and liave tlior'e- 
fore iiartially given way to Cabbages and 
Potatoes. Only a few years ago an exten- 
sive larnicr iiad r,0 acres in 'romatocs ||„ 
gathered and slii)ipcd in one day 1)00 crafes 
hut for wmit of labor liad to leave ,|,o,ood 
lulls unjiicked. ’ 
Neither of tlie last two 
Plor- 
id^fai’mers suffered, of course, less from the 
vicissitudes of the weather than those fur- 
Hier Forth. Two disastrous spnng frosts 
Iher killed some of the early vegetables in 
Geor-ia and South Carolina outright, or re¬ 
tarded them, bringing the crops into market 
reducing the value of all, and, in some Cases, 
completely glutting the market. Later ■ on, 
continuous wet weather impaired their car¬ 
rying and keeping capacity by loading the 
produce with that superabundance of moist¬ 
ure which always tends to induce heating 
and decay in the packages, however care¬ 
fully handled. This tendency to decay is 
greater to occur with crops grown on heavy 
soils, retentive of moistm-e, and less on the 
more sandy and porous soils. 
Below are such statistics of the later 
years’ crops as could be obtained to date. 
SniFMENTS BY WATER FROM CHARLESTON. 
BY O. S. S. CO. 
1881 1882 1883 1884 188.5 
Miscellanoous 
vccrclafilcs—erts 47,115 02,133 81,332 86,761 90,530 
Strnwbcrrics-cits 430,000 708,680 504,970 669,565 
rotatocs—barrels 46,349 51,460 43,296 60,000 
AV'atcrmclons. 25,000 300,000 
SnlPJUSNTS BY WATER FROM 
Miscellaneous 
vegetables—erts 
Miscellaneous 
barrels. 
Potatoes—barrels 
Watei-nielous. 
SAVANNAH. 
1884 1885 
262,060 237,317 
29,203 41,438 
MOBILE. 
18^ 1883 
73,.535 67,719 
30,769 33,571 
18,700 8,770 
355,370 457,687 
SHIPMENTS FROJI CHARLESTON- by water. 
1878 1879 
Potatoes—barrels 
Tomatoes-crates 
(Incumbers “ 
Peas " 
Snap Beaus “ 
Squasbes “ 
Beets “ 
Lettuce “ 
Miscellaneous 
packages. 
Strawberries—qts 
Penebes—crates.. 
43,000 
6,500 
7,800 
20,2.50 
3,000 
800 
100 
300 
28,659 
5,000 
6,500 
17,000 
500 
100 
300 
12,000 10,000 
600,000 734,093 
1,000 
SHIPMENTS BY ILUL 
Strawberries-qts 
Ivisb Petal oes—bl 
Watermelons. 
A'egctablos—erts. 
figures are only partial, as will be 
seen, and will be supplemented m an early issue 
by tuore complete figures. ^ 
379,700 534,070 
25,540 23,659 
22,176 20,602 
73,116 38,530 
HCIIHOIIH liiiH bcoh 
favorablc; bu(;,if til, 
chh SO till,.,, the I,recoding tlio Hhipmonts 
would liiivo almwii a more conaidcrtiblc In- 
HOW LETTUCE SEED IS GSOATO. 
Since tvriling the account of Mrs. Muller’s 
I.ettuco, it has occurred to me that a few ad¬ 
ditional remarks are needed. As a rule, the 
only w.ay to be sure of getting good Lettuce 
seed i,s to grow it yourself. 
As tlnng,8 nou- are, no seed grower can af¬ 
ford to raise Lettuce seed as it ought to be 
grown. Tile seedsmen will not pay over 75 
cents or .sil.00 per II). for it. 
.\ letter just received from John M. llun- 
ler of Houston, T,.xas, ordering (thanks to 
LIm and 'I'm,; Amkkican GiVRokn) one- 
quarter of a ixiund of Deacon Lettuce seed, 
«‘iys: “If your .seed is pure ami you can 
Kfifip >1. pure and as good as it now is you 
ofight 1,0 have a tremendous trade from mar- 
gardeners, and it you liave a l)oy or .rirl 
wlio takes an Interest In the growing crop of 
'; I will give .Iffi.OO for a lb. of Deacon 
-b luce .seed from selected heads. I would 
l>'LV«10 or.till peril), for such stmd 
Ilian have the common run for nothing.” 
Mr. Hunter speaks of keeping It jmro. 
11 I, is not where the triith comes In. Any 
iuV),) {fowing his 
I of seeil separate from other varieties, 
'llllloulty Is this: '[.'he seed grower 
