A manual of vegetables plants. Containing the experiences of the author in starting all those kinds of vegetables which are most difficult for a novice to produce from seeds

Front matter

R TILLING

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Preface

We offer this little volume to the world, honestlybelieving that its perusal will benefit all its readers who are so situated as to apply its teachings to practice.

As a literary writer we claim no credit, and invite no criticism upon our work as a rhetorical essay, or in a literary point of view.

It has been written entirely during odd hours snatched from business pursuits, and its text must be very imperfect. In its composition we have endeavored to be as brief and concise as possible, knowing well that by the majority of people in this hurrying age the wheat will be considered more valuable without the chaff than with it. Ideas of value are wanted. We have endeavored to supply them.

If, after a careful perusal, the reader agrees with us in thinking that the knowledge herein contained is worth to him more than the price of the volume, he must rest abundantly satisfied with his investment.

We are aware that more printed paper may be obtained elsewhere for less money than in this instance.

4 PREFACE.

But that argues nothing. Good milk may be obtained at a far less cost for a given quantity than cream or butter. We charge for the ideas, which are our own, and not for the paper on which they are printed, or the covers which contain them. The latter are easily obtainable, the former are not. If you buy a pound of sugar for a shilling and the merchant sends it to you in a china bowl, you will thank him for the bowl rather than grumble because he did not send a ten-quart pail.

That all who purchase a copy of this work may be enabled to profit by its teachings, an hundred-fold upon their investment, is the sincere wish of

The Author.

Part First. Tage

GROWING PLANTS UNDER GLASS, . . . .7

The Manure Hot-Bed 8

Fire Hot-Beds, 8

Cost of Sash, . 15

Cotton Sheeting for Covers, . . . . . .IS

Shutters, 16

Use of "Flats," 16

Small BDxes for Single Plants, . . . . 17

Planting Early Cabbage Seeds, ..... 18

Soil for Hot-Beds, 20

Air and Light, ........ 22

Cauliflower and Celery Plants, ..... 24

Tomato, Pepper, and Egg Plants, . . . 24

Lettuce, .24

Sowing Fine Seeds, ... ... 24

Transplanting, ..... . 26

Assorting, 28

Mice — Preventing Depredations, 28

Sweet Potato Plants, 29

CONTENTS.

Part Second. Pagb

GROWING PLANTS IN THE OPEN GROUND, . 36

Cabbage Plants 36

Club Root, 40

The Cabbage Maggot, ..".... 42

The Striped Flea Beetle, ...... 44

Our Preventive, ........ 46

The Radish Maggot, . 53

The Use of Lime, 55

Plaster or Gypsum 56

Special or Commercial Fertilizers, . . .57

Preparing Ground for Cabbage Plants. . . . 60

Cultivation, . . 63

Transplanting, .64

Varieties, .65

The Green Worm, 72

Salting Cabbage, ... 75

Watering Plants in the Seed-Bed 77

Celery Plants, 77

Asparagus Plants, 80

Strawberry Plants, 82

Setting the Plants, 85

Packing Plants for Transportation, .... 87

Care on Arrival, .... . ... 89

Growing Squashes, ........ 90

The Potato 94

Notes on the Newer Varieties, 94

Early Varieties, 97

Late Varieties 99

Part First. Growing Plants Under Glass

In this broad and fair but fickle and undulating clime, where Dame Nature's promises of flowery spring - time are so frequently frowned upon by a polar wave, which drives the life-blood back to the very heart of every unprotected living thing, some kind of protection from the lingering wintry blasts is an absolute necessity to every grower of early garden vegetables, whether he be a producer of them in large quantities for market purposes, or only seeks to supply his own table with early delicacies, or his garden with plants which are to be the germs of future substantiate. Some kind of protection from the cold above, and an addition to the natural warmth below the growing plants, is required ; and to meet this end, the heat which is developed by the slow combustion of vegetable matter or the decomposition of stable manures has generally been the accepted means of accomplishing the desired object.

The Manure Hot-bed has been so frequently described, and the best manner of constructing it so fully dwelt upon by all the principal agricultural journals, works on gardening, and seed catalogues, which have been freely scattered over the land, that we deem a description of it altogether unnecessary in our present work, especially as we think that the day of using manure for fuel will soon be known only in the recollections of the past. The inestimable value which we, as tillers of the soil, long ago learned to put upon manure for plant food, and the cheapness with which the desired amount of heat could be produced from the more natural article of fuel, coal, led us to experiment in this direction, with the result of several years ago abolishing our manure-beds and depending entirely upon our Fire Hot-beds for producing winter headed lettuce and vegetable plants for early spring use. Indeed, our labors in this direction have given us such unbounded satisfaction, and we find that the use of such structures is so illy understood by the gardeners of our country, that we will proceed to describe a fire hot-bed in its simplest form, such a one as may be constructed by any farmer or gardener of ordinary intelligence entirely with his own hands, the only outlay necessary more than in the construction of a common manure-bed being for brick of which to build the furnace, and the pipes for constructing the flue. The bed should be built on ground having a natural rise of about one foot in twenty, at least. We have constructed them with a rise of one foot in every ten, in length of bed, for fifty feet, and then turned at a right angle and run twenty-five feet with scarcely any rise at all, the flue terminating in a wooden chimney twelve feet high, and with no trouble for draught. The warmest part of such a bed is at the angle, fifty feet from the fire, as the heat readily ascends to that point. It will be understood that these beds differ but little in appearance from a common manure-bed. A trench is excavated six feet in width, about two feet in depth, and of any desired length, say from twenty-five to seventy-five feet, or perhaps even longer, though we believe that to be sufficient for one tire. At the lower end of this excavation the

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furnace is built, in the simplest manner, of brick; and the fire id heat flue, through which the draught and smoke pass, runs up through the centre of the trench. Stakes, made of 3 by 4-inch scantling, are driven along the sides of the trench at intervals of eight feet, and it is then boarded up on the inside of the stakes to a height of three feet on the north or back side, and two and one-half on the front, which should be the south side, in order that it may lie to the sun and be sheltered from the north winds. The cross sleepers for the floor should now be placed. Near the furnace, where the pipes get very hot, the floor should be at least twelve inches above the pipes, but after getting twenty feet from the furnace it may be gradually lowered to within two or three inches, care being taken to keep the distance great enough to permit a free circulation of air over the pipes. Above the floor we are to have space for six inches or more of soil, and eight to sixteen inches between the soil and glass for growth of plants. More than this amount will be found unnecessary, and, in fact, damaging, as the whole structure should be kept as low as possible, in order to economize warmth. The spaces between the side boarding and earth

VEGETABLE PLANTS. II

at the sides of the trench should be entirelyfilled with dry forest-i- IB /es or some other good non-conductor. Common 3 by 6 feet sashes are used crosswise of the bed, precisely as on a manure-bed. Perhaps the only part that needs further description is the furnace. Ours have been constructed, in the simplest manner, of common brick, but, of course, fire-brick would be more lasting. The height of the fireplace is two feet, ten inches of this being below the grate-bars for an ash-pit, and fourteen above the grate for fire. The width necessary for the fireplace of a bed of the above size is twelve inches.

The grate-bars are each cast separately, and are about thirty inches in length, which form the depth of the furnace from front to rear. Eight of these bars are required, each occupying a space of one and a half inches. Immediately back of the furnace there should be a rise of six or eight inches, to prevent ashes and cinders from being drawn up into the pipes. The best article for pipes is the common terra-cotta, which is manufactured and used extensively as a substitute for brick chimneys in dwellings. We have found it necessary to construct the first ten feet of the flue of brick, as

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the sudden heating of the pipes, so near the furnace, is quite sure to crack them. Common drain-tile may be safely used at a little distance from the fire, and is cheaper than terra-cotta ware. The pipes, of whatever construction, should be at least six inches in inside diameter. Good terra-cotta pipes of this size can be purchased in our vicinity at about twenty-five cents per running foot, and in this item consists the main cost of this kind of a bed over a common manure-bed. Of fuel, we have the advantage over many sections of country, in being near enough the anthracite-coal region to enable us to procure a supply at very small cost. We have, however, found one ton of chestnut coal amply sufficient to run a bed seventy-five feet in length for six weeks, and there are few sections of country in which the cost of coal is so great as to compare with the value of a sufficient quantity of horse manure, capable of producing the same amount of heat. When using manure for a bed of this size, we found that, to produce a good and lasting heat, at least one wagon-load for each 3 by 6 sash was required. This would cost here at least $2 per load, which, for the twenty-five sashes required to cover the seventy-five feet of bed, would amount to $50, which is much more than the cost of constructing the furnace-bed, including cost of pipes.

So we contend that a bed of this construction is cheaper, even for the first year of use, than the common manure-beds ; while, in after years, when manure-beds have to be refilled entirely, at as great cost as at first, the fire-beds are ready to start any day desired, at no cost whatever. Of course, the spent manure taken from a hot-bed can be used for fertilizing the soil, but in most instances it is so fire-fanged and burned out as to be of comparatively little value.

The time and care required in attending a fire-bed is no more than in those of the common construction. A fierce, hot fire is not required. In moderate weather we have found it necessary to replenish the fuel but two or three times per day, a slow and gentle, but long-continued development of heat being all that is required. For the purpose of keeping a good supply of warm water for watering the growing plants, we place a large pan or kettle over the fireplace.

As it will not do to use cold water, which would chill and injure the plants, early in the season, the importance of having this supply of warm water at hand will readily be appreciated. This furnace is covered or enclosed by a small building, which should be shut off by a partition from the plant-beds beyond, as but little heat is developed in the furnace-room. If the steam from the heating water can be conducted into the beds, its presence will be desirable, as the fire heat has a tendency to dry out the beds rapidly, and this tendency is overcome by the moisture from the condensing steam. It is well, also, to keep a small dish of water standing on the heat -pipe, the arising vapors from which serve the same purpose.

In sections where coal cannot be obtained cheaply enough to enable the gardener to make use of a ton for this purpose, hard wood may, of course, be substituted, with the single disadvantage of the additional time and care thus entailed upon attending the fire.

One great advantage, of which we have not yet spoken, that the fire-bed has over a manure-bed, is the ease with which the temperature may be regulated to conform to the everchanging external temperature.

When a sudden cold snap, with its howling north winds, comes down upon the manager of the manure-beds, his only hope of escape is to closely cover all his beds with blanket and mat, for it is beyond his power to increase the intensity of the heat ; but with the fire-bed, how different ! All that is necessary, on all ordinary occasions, is to increase the fire upon the evening of the coldest nights. Indeed, we have found the use of straw mats almost unnecessary, if the sashes fit as closely as they should, and the sides are properly banked and filled with dry leaves to prevent the escape of heat.

Cost of Sash. — Good 3 by 6 hot-bed sash, glazed and painted, ready for use, can now be bought at Binghamton, N. Y., at $2.25 each. This is the most expensive item in the construction of any ho .-bed, but it is an expense that cannot well be avoided. Various substitutes have been devised for the glass, but, so far as we have experimented, without avail.

Good Cotton Sheeting will sometimes answer a very good purpose for late use, after the danger of very cold weather has passed ; but its use is attended with considerable annoyance, and, although cheaper in the beginning, it has, with us, proved more expensive in the end, as it will last but very few years.

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Shutters.— If glass sashes cannot be afforded in sufficient quantity to cover the desired area, we prefer light basswood shutters to the use of cloth. These are made exactly the size of the sashes in use, and are alternated with them, care being taken to change the position every day, so the glass will cover the space which was covered on the previous day by the shutter, that no part of the bed will suffer for want of light. These shutters will be found very useful in covering the glass frames on cold nights, and also in shading them during intensely sunny weather.

Use of Flats. — We have used both a solid floor in the bottom of the bed, on which the soil is placed to a depth of six or eight inches, and movable " flats," which are best and cheapest made of soap or saleratus boxes sawed in two pieces. When these are used, np other floor is necessary, only a series of cross sleepers on which to rest the edges of the boxes. For some kinds of plants there is much gained in the use of such boxes, as they enable the operator to readily shift the growing plants to a cooler or hotter position in the bed, as may be required. These "flats" are also desirable when selling early plants in the market, as they re-

VEGETABLE PLANTS. I 7

main fresh and vigorous for several days, and need not have the roots disturbed, until sold to the planter.

Smaller Boxes. — The latest device for safety in transplanting is the use of small boxes, but three or four inches square, and without bottom. They are formed of four pieces of thin wood, dovetailed together after the manner of the well-known Crandall's Building Blocks for Children. These boxes fit closely together, and a single plant is transplanted into each box. When ready to plant out in the garden, the sides are taken off and the soil placed in the ground without in the least disturbing the roots. These blocks occupy but little room when packed away, and answer the desired purpose very nicely. They are the invention of Mr. Crandall, and are sold through his general agents, the Orange Judd Company, of New York, and can probably be supplied by most seedsmen in retail quantities.

In most sections of this country it will pay the gardener well to grow a crop of head-lettuce in his beds during winter. Even two crops may be grown, but the ground cannot well be cleared in spring in time for starting

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a good supply of cabbage and tomato plants after the second.

Early-Cabbage Seeds will be the first to be sown in hot-beds in spring, especially if none are wintered over in cold frames, and north of the latitude of New York, as a general rule, it is considered more risky and troublesome to winter them over than to grow them in hot-beds in spring. The seeds are generally sown about the middle of February.

Never sow broadcast, but always in drills about four inches apart, and thinly enough so the plants will not crowd each other and grow spindling. It seems hardly necessary to urge the importance of selecting the very best quality of seeds obtainable. If the seeds are in any way inferior, all the labor of planting and attending the crop, with its attendant risks, is lost. Indeed, we can think of no parallel case in which a supposed saving may result in greater loss and waste than in sowing seeds which you have the slightest idea may be inferior, if those above suspicion can be obtained at any price. Still this rule should not be so rigidly adhered to as to suppose that the dealer or grower who charges the greatest price must necessarily have the best article, for competition has brought the price of nearly all seeds very low at present.

Covering. — Cabbage seed should be covered from one-fourth to one-half inch in depth, and to insure its rapid germination the surface soil should be firmed, or pressed down, so as to lie compactly around the seeds.

Varieties. — There are so many varieties of early cabbage to be found in the various catalogues, that the planter of but little experience is quite at a loss to know which to select. Yet among them all there are a few so far above the majority in actual worth, that we will speak only of what we consider the very best. For earliest use, the Early Jersey Wakefield is still regarded as the standard. Hendersons Early Stcmmer, though not quite as early as the Wakefield, is so far ahead of it in size that most gardeners who have tested it now prefer to await the difference in time, as it is by far the largest very early cabbage grown.

True, there are varieties earlier than the Wakefield, and some may differ with us in classing it as earliest. The Early Y others are undoubtedly earlier, but as

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at their best a mere handful of leaves, we can see no pleasure or profit in growing them.

Next in order of ripening to Henderson's Summer comes the well-known Early Winnigstadt, and closely following this the Fottlers Early Drumhead, which, for a general-purpose cabbage, we consider the best the world has yet seen. There may be other early varieties which have more merit than these four, but if there are such, we have not yet seen them. We have a field of cabbage this season containing forty-five early and late varieties. A report of their comparative merits may be found in the latter pages of this work.

Soil for Hot-Beds. — A great mistake made by many novices in gardening is to use soil in hot-beds which is too heavy, so that the frequent waterings pack it down tightly, and the hot sun bakes it so hard that nothing can grow in it as it ought. The soil for this purpose should be much lighter and looser than common garden soil usually is.

How to obtain it. — When working manure-beds, it was our usual custom to throw out the dirt each summer as soon as through with the beds for the season, and shovel out with the soil a large portion of the underlying manure. This mixture was left in a conical pile which was covered up with fresh stable manure in the fall, which kept the frost out, and allowed it to decompose and decay sufficiently to become fine, loose mould by spring. It can be manufactured in a similar manner for use in the fire-beds. Sandy soil and manure are placed in alternate layers, and "built up into a conical pile which is left for one year.* Then, when cut down and mixed over thoroughly, it is in an admirable condition for use. If it is thought necessary to use a fertilizer in the beds, we have generally found it the safest and best course to apply it in a liquid form by mixing a little hen manure, or guano in the water with which they are sprinkled. If the soil has plenty of well-rotted manure in its composition, there is usually but little use of further enriching it.

Considerable caution is necessary about applying strong fertilizers, or special manures, such as phosphates, guano, etc., to the surface of the beds. The area is so small, and the desire to have the work well done so strong, that it is frequently overdone to such an extent that the germs are killed outright before they see daylight, and then the seller of the seeds is lucky if he does not have to shoulder the blame and receive the charge of selling stale seeds.

Temperature. — Every hot-bed should have one or more thermometers for showing at all times the temperature of the bed, for it is necessary to the health of the plants that it does not vary too much. Considerable variation is allowable. The mercury may run from time to time from 50 to 8o° as extremes, though the mean, which is 65 °, should be as closely kept as possible.

Air and Light. — The influence of light and air is fully as necessary to healthy plantgrowth as it is to animals. If kept from the light and air, a plant grows pale and spindling ; still it is at all times necessary to guard against too sudden an admission of air of a different temperature from that within, as such a change, or perhaps a continuance of a very warm and wet atmosphere, with an occasional admission of cold air, tends to produce what is known as

11 Damping Off " of the plants. This is a shrivelling or wasting away of the body of the plant just above the surface of the ground until but a mere thread is left, which continues to support the plant with considerable vitality for some time, but finally effects its ruin. This disease is seldom seen, however, except among plants which have grown too rapidly for their own good and have been at times kept too warm.

Watering. — Although the covering of glass holds the moisture from escaping as vapor to a considerable extent, the shallowness of the soil will not enable it to hold water for a great length of time during sunny weather, and the beds have to receive an artificial watering frequently. The best time to perform this work is about four o'clock in the afternoon.

Pumps. — The nicest manner of accomplishing this is by use of a small force-pump and sprinkler, which latter is but a small thumbnozzle on the end of a short hose, through which the water is thrown after being drawn by the pump from a pail. The pump known as Page's does good work, but is constructed of tin, and is consequently not very durable. One manufactured by W. & B. Douglas, Middletown, Ct, which retails at $9, is the best and most durable article of this kind we have yet seen. The great advantage these have over the more common method of sprinkling with a watering-pot is in doing away with the necessity of removing the sash at each operation. With the pump, the sash has only to be raised a few inches in front and the end of the hose introduced, to give the whole surface a complete wetting with a fine spray.

Cauliflower and Celery Plants require about the same temperature and general treatment as cabbage. Beds containing these plants should be kept rather cool, say below 6o°.

Tomato, Pepper, and Egg Plants should never be kept in the same beds with the cabbage, but partitions should separate them, so that the tomatoes, etc., can be kept 15 or 20 warmer than cabbage.

Lettuce should be classed with cabbage and all other hardy plants as regards the proper temperature, while most flowering plants are about half-hardy, and require about the same as tomatoes. The main crop of celery plants is generally planted out in open ground ; but for early use a few may be planted to advantage along the front side of the bed where it is partly shaded, as celery revels in a moist, half-shady situation.

Sowing fine seeds is an operation in which a little ignorance frequently leads to much disappointment. By fine seeds we mean such as celery and the seeds of various flowering plants, which are so very small that, if covered with soil to any considerable depth, they will not germinate ; and on the other hand, if left on the surface, they will soon become too dry to sprout. Hence many failures are made, and the seeds are frequently suspected of lacking vitality, when the fault really lies in the bad manner in which they were planted. Such seeds should be sown upon fresh, moist soil, and little or no covering, save, perhaps, a slight brushing of the surface, given them. The proper conditions for stimulating vitality must be brought about by properly firming, or pressing the surface soil around the seed, and a proper degree of moisture and light must be kept until the plant has taken root. One of the best modes of accomplishing these ends is to sow the seeds in slight depressions, or drills, then brush a very slight amount of soil over them, water the surface well with a fine spray, and then cover it by laying directly upon the soil a pane of glass or a piece of cotton sheeting. It must then be watched, and this covering left only until the seeds have sprouted and the first little root started downwards. The coverings are then removed, frequent but small waterings given, and, if the weather is sunny, a partial shade placed over the beds to prevent the tender plants being scorched in their earliest infancy.

Transplanting. — This is one of the most important of all hot-bed operations. An abundance of good, fine, fibrous roots cannot be obtained without several times transplanting the young plants. Different species of plants are, of course, benefited to a different degree by this operation. For instance, the cabbage and kindred plants only require room to develop roots and grow in a natural, short, and stocky form ; hence only one removal from the crowded seed-bed to new quarters, where they are two or three inches distant from each other, is all they require to produce good plants, while tomatoes and other plants of similar habits throw out new roots readily, wherever the stem is covered with soil ; hence, if frequently removed, and each time not only given more room to spread, but each time set deeper in the soil than formerly, an astonishing amount of fibrous roots may be obtained, and the more numerous the fibres in propor-

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tion to the amount of top, the more valuable is a plant considered when ready to plant out in its final stand in the field. For these reasons, in order to produce strictly first-class tomato plants, it is considered necessary that they be transplanted two or three times before being offered for sale or planted out.

To do this work correctly and rapidly is no mean accomplishment, for it will not bear slighting. Here is one of the advantages of having the young plants in flats, as above described, as they can be taken out of the beds, placed upon a table, and the operator allowed to sit in a natural position while transplanting into other flats or boxes which are put in a suitable place in .the bed. Where these are not used, but a solid, floor, covered by a continuous bed of dirt, instead, the transplanting becomes a more laborious business ; but this method has one advantage, at least, in its favor ; that is, a greater depth of soil can be used than can be handled readily in flats, hence less watering, and less liability to dry out rapidly when not closely watched. In transplanting in a permanent or immovable bed, the operator lies upon his breast on a wide board which spans the bed crosswise, A thin strip of siding, a little less in length than the width of the bed, is sharpened to an edge on one of its sides. This is forced into the soil to the depth the plants are expected to require ; a row of plants is then placed in this groove, at a proper distance apart, and the soil placed firmly against them. Care must be taken that they are placed straight or upright ; for if laid over horizontally, they must necessarily grow crooked. The distance apart will depend upon the size of the plant and length of time it is expected to remain before another removal.