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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Home Acre, by E. P. Roe
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Home Acre
+
+Author: E. P. Roe
+
+Posting Date: September 8, 2012 [EBook #5418]
+Release Date: April, 2004
+First Posted: July 14, 2002
+Last Updated: August 16, 2005
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOME ACRE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE HOME ACRE
+
+E. P. ROE
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+   CHAPTER I   TREE-PLANTING
+
+  CHAPTER II   FRUIT-TREES AND GRASS
+
+ CHAPTER III   THE GARDEN
+
+  CHAPTER IV   THE VINEYARD AND ORCHARD
+
+   CHAPTER V   THE RASPBERRY
+
+  CHAPTER VI   THE CURRANT
+
+ CHAPTER VII   STRAWBERRIES
+
+CHAPTER VIII   THE KITCHEN-GARDEN
+
+  CHAPTER IX   THE KITCHEN-GARDEN (Concluded)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+TREE-PLANTING
+
+
+Land hunger is so general that it may be regarded as a natural craving.
+Artificial modes of life, it is true, can destroy it, but it is apt to
+reassert itself in later generations. To tens of thousands of
+bread-winners in cities a country home is the dream of the future, the
+crown and reward of their life-toil. Increasing numbers are taking what
+would seem to be the wiser course, and are combining rural pleasures
+and advantages with their business. As the questions of rapid transit
+are solved, the welfare of children will turn the scale more and more
+often against the conventional city house or flat. A home CAN be
+created in rented dwellings and apartments; but a home for which we
+have the deed, a cottage surrounded by trees, flowers, lawn, and
+garden, is the refuge which best satisfies the heart. By means of such
+a suburban nook we can keep up our relations with Nature and all her
+varied and health-giving life. The tired man returning from business
+finds that his excited brain will not cease to act. He can enjoy
+restoring rest in the complete diversion of his thoughts; he can think
+of this tree or that plant, and how he can fill to advantage unoccupied
+spaces with other trees, flowers, and vegetables. If there is a Jersey
+cow to welcome him with her placid trust, a good roadster to whinny for
+an airing, and a flock of chickens to clamor about his feet for their
+supper, his jangling nerves will be quieted, in spite of all the bulls
+and bears of Wall Street. Best of all, he will see that his children
+have air and space in which to grow naturally, healthfully. His
+fruit-trees will testify to his wisdom in providing a country home. For
+instance, he will observe that if sound plums are left in contact with
+stung and decaying specimens, they too will be infected; he will see
+that too close crowding renders the prospect for good fruit doubtful;
+and, by natural transition of thought, will be glad that his boys and
+girls are not shut in to the fortuitous associations of hall-way and
+street. The area of land purchased will depend largely on the desires
+and purse of the buyer; but about one acre appears to satisfy the
+majority of people. This amount is not so great that the business man
+is burdened with care, nor is its limit so small that he is cramped and
+thwarted by line fences. If he can give to his bit of Eden but little
+thought and money, he will find that an acre can be so laid out as to
+entail comparatively small expense in either the one or the other; if
+he has the time and taste to make the land his play-ground as well as
+that of his children, scope is afforded for an almost infinite variety
+of pleasing labors and interesting experiments. When we come to co-work
+with Nature, all we do has some of the characteristics of an
+experiment. The labor of the year is a game of skill, into which also
+enter the fascinating elements of apparent chance. What a tree, a
+flower, or vegetable bed will give, depends chiefly upon us; yet all
+the vicissitudes of dew, rain, frost, and sun, have their part in the
+result. We play the game with Nature, and she will usually let us win
+if we are not careless, ignorant, or stupid. She keeps up our zest by
+never permitting the game to be played twice under the same conditions.
+We can no more carry on our garden this season precisely as we did last
+year than a captain can sail his ship exactly as he did on the
+preceding voyage. A country home makes even the weather interesting;
+and the rise and fall of the mercury is watched with scarcely less
+solicitude than the mutations of the market.
+
+In this chapter and in those which may ensue I merely hope to make some
+useful suggestions and give practical advice--the result of experience,
+my own and others'--which the reader may carry out and modify according
+to his judgment.
+
+We will suppose that an acre has been bought; that it is comparatively
+level, with nothing of especial value upon it--in brief, that the home
+and its surroundings are still to be created.
+
+It is not within my design to treat of the dwelling, its architecture,
+etc., but we shall have something to say further on in regard to its
+location. Before purchasing, the most careful investigations should be
+made as to the healthfulness of the region and the opportunities for
+thorough drainage. Having bought the acre, the question of removing all
+undue accumulations of water on or beneath the surface should be
+attended to at first. The dry appearance of the soil during much of the
+year may be misleading. It should be remembered that there are
+equinoctial storms and melting snows. Superabundant moisture at every
+period should have channels of immediate escape, for moisture in excess
+is an injury to plant as well as to family life; while thoroughly and
+quickly drained land endures drought far better than that which is
+rendered heavy and sour by water stagnating beneath the surface.
+Tile-drains are usually the cheapest and most effective; but if there
+are stones and rocks upon the place, they can be utilized and disposed
+of at the same time by their burial in ditches--and they should be
+covered so deeply that a plow, although sunk to the beam, can pass over
+them. Tiles or the top of a stone drain should be at least two feet
+below the surface. If the ground of the acre is underlaid with a porous
+subsoil, there is usually an adequate natural drainage.
+
+Making haste slowly is often the quickest way to desired results. It is
+the usual method to erect the dwelling first, and afterward to subdue
+and enrich the ground gradually. This in many instances may prove the
+best course; but when it is practicable, I should advise that building
+be deferred until the land (with the exception of the spaces to be
+occupied with the house and barn) can be covered with a heavy dressing
+of barnyard manure, and that this be plowed under in the autumn. Such
+general enriching of the soil may seem a waste in view of the
+carriage-drive and walks yet to be laid out; but this will not prove
+true. It should be remembered that while certain parts of the place are
+to be kept bare of surface-vegetation, they nevertheless will form a
+portion of the root-pasturage of the shade and fruit trees. The land,
+also, can be more evenly and deeply plowed before obstructions are
+placed upon it, and roots, pestiferous weeds, and stones removed with
+greatest economy. Moreover, the good initial enriching is capital,
+hoarded in the soil, to start with. On many new places I have seen
+trees and plants beginning a feeble and uncertain life, barely existing
+rather than growing, because their roots found the soil like a table
+with dishes but without food. If the fertilizer is plowed under in the
+autumn, again mixed with the soil by a second plowing in the spring, it
+will be decomposed and ready for immediate use by every rootlet in
+contact with it. Now, as farmers say, the "land is in good heart," and
+it will cheer its owner's heart to see the growth promptly made by
+whatever is properly planted. Instead of losing time, he has gained
+years. Suppose the acre to have been bought in September, and treated
+as I have indicated, it is ready for a generous reception of plants and
+trees the following spring.
+
+Possibly at the time of purchase the acre may be covered with coarse
+grass, weeds, or undergrowth of some kind. In this case, after the
+initial plowing, the cultivation for a season of some such crop as corn
+or potatoes may be of great advantage in clearing the land, and the
+proceeds of the crop would partially meet expenses. If the aim is
+merely to subdue and clean the land as quickly as possible, nothing is
+better than buckwheat, sown thickly and plowed under just as it comes
+into blossom. It is the nature of this rampart-growing grain to kill
+out everything else and leave the soil light and mellow. If the ground
+is encumbered with many stones and rocks, the question of clearing it
+is more complicated. They can be used, and often sold to advantage, for
+building purposes. In some instances I have seen laboring-men clear the
+most unpromising plots of ground by burying all rocks and stones deeply
+beneath the surface--men, too, who had no other time for the task
+except the brief hours before and after their daily toil.
+
+I shall give no distinct plan for laying out the ground. The taste of
+the owner, or more probably that of his wife, will now come into play.
+Their ideas also will be modified by many local circumstances--as, for
+instance, the undulations of the land, if there are any; proximity to
+neighbors, etc. If little besides shade and lawn is desired, this fact
+will have a controlling influence; if, on the other hand, the
+proprietor wishes to make his acre as productive as possible, the house
+will be built nearer the street, wider open space will be left for the
+garden, and fruit-trees will predominate over those grown merely for
+shade and beauty. There are few who would care to follow a plan which
+many others had adopted. Indeed, it would be the natural wish of
+persons of taste to impart something of their own individuality to
+their rural home; and the effort to do this would afford much agreeable
+occupation. Plates giving the elevation and arrangement of country
+homes can be studied by the evening lamp; visits to places noted for
+their beauty, simplicity, and good taste will afford motives for many a
+breezy drive; while useful suggestions from what had been accomplished
+by others may repay for an extended journey. Such observations and
+study will cost little more than an agreeable expenditure of time; and
+surely a home is worth careful thought. It then truly becomes YOUR
+home--something that you have evolved with loving effort. Dear thoughts
+of wife and children enter into its very materiality; walks are planned
+with a loving consciousness of the feet which are to tread them, and
+trees planted with prophetic vision of the groups that will gather
+beneath the shade. This could scarcely be true if the acre were turned
+over to architect, builders, and landscape-gardeners, with an agreement
+that you should have possession at a specified time.
+
+We will suppose that it is early spring, that the ground has received
+its second plowing, and that the carriage-drive and the main walks have
+been marked out on paper, or, better still, on a carefully considered
+map. There is now so much to do that one is almost bewildered; and the
+old saying, "Rome was not built in a day," is a good thing to remember.
+An orderly succession of labor will bring beauty and comfort in good
+time, especially if essential or foundation labors are first well
+performed. Few things will prove more satisfactory than dry, hard,
+smooth carriage-roads and walks. These, with their curves, can be
+carefully staked out, the surface-earth between the stakes to the depth
+of four or five inches carted to the rear of the place near the stable,
+or the place where the stable is to be. Of the value of this
+surface-soil we shall speak presently, and will merely remark in
+passing that it is amply worth the trouble of saving. Its removal
+leaves the beds of the driveway and walks depressed several inches
+below the surrounding surface. Fill these shallow excavations with
+little stones, the larger in the bottom, the smaller on top, and cover
+all with gravel. You now have roads and walks that will be dry and hard
+even in oozy March, and you can stroll about your place the moment the
+heaviest shower is over. The greater first cost will be more than made
+good by the fact that scarcely a weed can start or grow on pathways
+thus treated. All they will need is an occasional rounding up and
+smoothing with a rake.
+
+While this labor is going on you can begin the planting of trees. To
+this task I would earnestly ask careful attention. Your house can be
+built in a summer; but it requires a good part of a century to build
+the best trees into anything like perfection.
+
+The usual tendency is to plant much too closely. Observe well-developed
+trees, and see how wide a space they require. There is naturally an
+eager wish for shade as soon as possible, and a desire to banish from
+surroundings an aspect of bareness. These purposes can, it is true,
+often be accomplished by setting out more trees at first than could
+mature, and by taking out one and another from time to time when they
+begin to interfere with each other's growth. One symmetrical, noble
+tree, however, is certainly worth more than a dozen distorted,
+misshapen specimens. If given space, every kind of tree and shrub will
+develop its own individuality; and herein lies one of their greatest
+charms. If the oak typifies manhood, the drooping elm is equally
+suggestive of feminine grace, while the sugar-maple, prodigal of its
+rich juices, tasselled bloom, and winged seeds, reminds us of
+wholesome, cheerful natures. Even when dying, its foliage takes on the
+earliest and richest hues of autumn.
+
+The trees about our door become in a sense our companions. They appeal
+to the eye, fancy, and feelings of different people differently.
+Therefore I shall leave the choice of arboreal associates to those who
+are to plant them--a choice best guided by observation of trees. Why
+should you not plant those you like the best, those which are the most
+congenial?
+
+A few suggestions, however, may be useful. I would advise the reader
+not to be in too great haste to fill up his grounds. While there are
+trees to which his choice reverts almost instantly, there are probably
+many other beautiful varieties with which he is not acquainted. If he
+has kept space for the planting of something new every spring and fall,
+he has done much to preserve his zest in his rural surroundings, and to
+give a pleasing direction to his summer observation. He is ever on the
+alert to discover trees and shrubs that satisfy his taste.
+
+During the preparation of this book I visited the grounds of Mr. A. S.
+Fuller, at Kidgewood, N. J., and for an hour or two I broke the tenth
+commandment in spite of myself. I was surrounded by trees from almost
+every portion of the northern temperate zone, from Oregon to Japan; and
+in Mr. Fuller I had a guide whose sympathy with his arboreal pets was
+only equalled by his knowledge of their characteristics. All who love
+trees should possess his book entitled "Practical Forestry." If it
+could only be put into the hands of law-makers, and they compelled to
+learn much of its contents by heart, they would cease to be more or
+less conscious traitors to their country in allowing the destruction of
+forests. They might avert the verdict of the future, and prevent
+posterity from denouncing the irreparable wrong which is now permitted
+with impunity. The Arnolds of to-day are those who have the power to
+save the trees, yet fail to do so.
+
+Japan appears to be doing as much to adorn our lawns and gardens as our
+drawing-rooms; and from this and other foreign lands much that is
+beautiful or curious is coming annually to our shores. At the same time
+I was convinced of the wisdom of Mr. Fuller's appreciation of our
+native trees. In few instances should we have to go far from home to
+find nearly all that we wanted in beautiful variety--maples, dogwoods,
+scarlet and chestnut oaks, the liquid-amber, the whitewood or
+tulip-tree, white birch, and horn-beam, or the hop-tree; not to speak
+of the evergreens and shrubs indigenous to our forests. Perhaps it is
+not generally known that the persimmon, so well remembered by old
+campaigners in Virginia, will grow readily in this latitude. There are
+forests of this tree around Paterson, N. J., and it has been known to
+endure twenty-seven degrees below zero. It is a handsome tree at any
+season, and its fruit in November caused much straggling from our line
+of march in the South. Then there is our clean-boled, graceful beech,
+whose smooth white bark has received so many tender confidences. In the
+neighborhood of a village you will rarely find one of these trees
+whereon is not linked the names of lovers that have sat beneath the
+shade. Indeed I have found mementoes of trysts or rambles deep in the
+forest of which the faithful beech has kept the record until the lovers
+were old or dead. On an immense old beech in Tennessee there is an
+inscription which, while it suggests a hug, presents to the fancy an
+experience remote from a lover's embrace. It reads, "D. Boone cilled
+bar on tree."
+
+There is one objection to the beech which also lies against the white
+oak--it does not drop its leaves within the space of a few autumn days.
+The bleached foliage is falling all winter long, thus giving the ground
+near an untidy aspect. With some, the question of absolute neatness is
+paramount; with others, leaves are clean dirt, and their rustle in the
+wind does not cease to be music even after they have fallen.
+
+Speaking of native trees and shrubs, we shall do well to use our eyes
+carefully during our summer walks and drives; for if we do, we can
+scarcely fail to fall in love with types and varieties growing wild.
+They will thrive just as well on the acre if properly removed. In a
+sense they bring the forest with them, and open vistas at our door deep
+into the heart of Nature. The tree is not only a thing of beauty in
+itself, but it represents to the fancy all its wild haunts the world
+over.
+
+In gratifying our taste for native trees we need not confine ourselves
+to those indigenous to our own locality. From the nurseries we can
+obtain specimens that beautify other regions of our broad land; as, for
+instance, the Kentucky yellow-wood, the papaw, the Judas-tree, and, in
+the latitude of New Jersey and southward, the holly.
+
+In many instances the purchaser of the acre may find a lasting pleasure
+in developing a specialty. He may desire to gather about him all the
+drooping or weeping trees that will grow in his latitude, or he may
+choose to turn his acre largely into a nut-orchard, and delight his
+children with a harvest which they will gather with all the zest of the
+frisky red squirrel. If one could succeed in obtaining a bearing tree
+of Hale's paper-shell hickory-nut, he would have a prize indeed.
+Increasing attention is given to the growing of nut-trees in our large
+nurseries, and there would be no difficulty in obtaining a supply.
+
+In passing from this subject of choice in deciduous trees and shrubs, I
+would suggest, in addition to visits to woods and copse, to the
+well-ornamented places of men who have long gratified a fine taste in
+this respect, that the reader also make time to see occasionally a
+nursery like that of S.B. Parsons & Co., at Flushing, N.Y. There is no
+teaching like that of the eyes; and the amateur who would do a bit of
+landscape-gardening about his own home learns what he would like and
+what he can do by seeing shrubs and trees in their various stages of
+growth and beauty.
+
+I shall treat the subject of evergreens at the close of this chapter.
+
+As a rule, I have not much sympathy with the effort to set out large
+trees in the hope of obtaining shade more quickly. The trees have to be
+trimmed up and cut back so greatly that their symmetry is often
+destroyed. They are also apt to be checked in their growth so seriously
+by such removal that a slender sapling, planted at the same time,
+overtakes and passes them. I prefer a young tree, straight-stemmed,
+healthy, and typical of its species or variety. Then we may watch its
+rapid natural development as we would that of a child. Still, when
+large trees can be removed in winter with a great ball of frozen earth
+that insures the preservation of the fibrous roots, much time can be
+saved. It should ever be remembered that prompt, rapid growth of the
+transplanted tree depends on two things--plenty of small fibrous roots,
+and a fertile soil to receive them. It usually happens that the
+purchaser employs a local citizen to aid in putting his ground in
+order. In every rural neighborhood there are smart men--"smart" is the
+proper adjective; for they are neither sagacious nor trustworthy, and
+there is ever a dismal hiatus between their promises and performance.
+Such men lie in wait for newcomers, to take advantage of their
+inexperience and necessary absence. They will assure their confiding
+employers that they are beyond learning anything new in the planting of
+trees--which is true, in a sinister sense. They will leave roots
+exposed to sun and wind--in brief, pay no more attention to them than a
+baby-farmer would bestow on an infant's appetite; and then, when
+convenient, thrust them into a hole scarcely large enough for a post.
+They expect to receive their money long before the dishonest character
+of their work can be discovered. The number of trees which this class
+of men have dwarfed or killed outright would make a forest. The result
+of a well-meaning yet ignorant man's work might be equally
+unsatisfactory. Therefore, the purchaser of the acre should know how a
+tree should be planted, and see to it himself; or he should by careful
+inquiry select a man for the task who could bring testimonials from
+those to whom he had rendered like services in the past.
+
+The hole destined to receive a shade or fruit tree should be at least
+three feet in diameter and two feet deep. It then should be partially
+filled with good surface soil, upon which the tree should stand, so
+that its roots could extend naturally according to their original
+growth. Good fine loam should be sifted through and over them, and they
+should not be permitted to come in contact with decaying matter or
+coarse, unfermented manure. The tree should be set as deeply in the
+soil as it stood when first taken up. As the earth is thrown gently
+through and over the roots it should be packed lightly against them
+with the foot, and water, should the season be rather dry and warm,
+poured in from time to time to settle the fine soil about them. The
+surface should be levelled at last with a slight dip toward the tree,
+so that spring and summer rains may be retained directly about the
+roots. Then a mulch of coarse manure is helpful, for it keeps the
+surface moist, and its richness will reach the roots gradually in a
+diluted form. A mulch of straw, leaves, or coarse hay is better than
+none at all. After being planted, three stout stakes should be inserted
+firmly in the earth at the three points of a triangle, the tree being
+its centre. Then by a rope of straw or some soft material the tree
+should be braced firmly between the protecting stakes, and thus it is
+kept from being whipped around by the wind. Should periods of drought
+ensue during the growing season, it would be well to rake the mulch one
+side, and saturate the ground around the young tree with an abundance
+of water, and the mulch afterward spread as before. Such watering is
+often essential, and it should be thorough. Unskilled persons usually
+do more harm than good by their half-way measures in this respect.
+
+Speaking of trees, it may so happen that the acre is already in forest.
+Then, indeed, there should be careful discrimination in the use of the
+axe. It may be said that a fine tree is in the way of the dwelling.
+Perhaps the proposed dwelling is in the way of the tree. In England the
+work of "groving," or thinning out trees, is carried to the perfection
+of a fine art. One shudders at the havoc which might be made by a
+stolid laborer. Indeed, to nearly all who could be employed in
+preparing a wooded acre for habitation, a tree would be looked upon as
+little more than so much cord-wood or lumber.
+
+If I had a wooded acre I should study the trees most carefully before
+coming to any decision as to the situation of the dwelling and
+out-buildings. Having removed those obviously unworthy to remain, I
+should put in the axe very thoughtfully among the finer specimens,
+remembering that I should be under the soil before Nature could build
+others like them.
+
+In the fitting up of this planet as the home of mankind it would appear
+that the Creator regarded the coniferae, or evergreen family, as well
+worthy of attention; for almost from the first, according to
+geologists, this family records on the rocky tablets of the earth its
+appearance, large and varied development, and its adaptation to each
+change in climate and condition of the globe's surface during the
+countless ages of preparation. Surely, therefore, he who is evolving a
+home on one acre of the earth's area cannot neglect a genus of trees
+that has been so signally honored. Evergreens will speedily banish the
+sense of newness from his grounds; for by putting them about his door
+he has added the link which connects his acre with the earliest
+geological record of tree-planting. Then, like Diedrich Knickerbocker,
+who felt that he must trace the province of New York back to the origin
+of the universe, he can look upon his coniferae and feel that his
+latest work is in accord with one of the earliest laws of creation. I
+imagine, however, that my readers' choice of evergreens will be
+determined chiefly by the fact that they are always beautiful, are
+easily managed, and that by means of them beautiful effects can be
+created within comparatively small space. On Mr. Fuller's grounds I saw
+what might be fittingly termed a small parterre of dwarf evergreens,
+some of which were twenty-five years old.
+
+Numbers of this family might be described as evergreen and gold; for
+part of the perennial foliage shades off from the deepest green to
+bright golden hues. Among the group of this variety, Japanese in
+origin, Mr. Fuller showed me a "sporting" specimen, which, from some
+obscure and remarkable impulse, appeared bent on producing a new and
+distinct type. One of the branches was quite different from all the
+others on the tree. It was pressed down and layered in the soil
+beneath; when lo! a new tree was produced, set out beside its parent,
+whom it soon surpassed in size, beauty, and general vigor. Although
+still maintaining its green and golden hues, it was so distinct that no
+one would dream that it was but a "sport" from the adjacent dwarf and
+modest tree. Indeed, it reminded one of Beatrix Esmond beside her
+gentle and retiring mother. If it should not in the future emulate in
+caprice the fair subject of comparison, it may eventually become one of
+the best-known ornaments of our lawns. At present it appears nowise
+inclined to hide its golden light under a bushel.
+
+What I have said about forming the acquaintance of deciduous trees and
+shrubs before planting to any great extent, applies with even greater
+force to the evergreen, family. There is a large and beautiful variety
+from which to choose, and I would suggest that the choice be made
+chiefly from the dwarf-growing kinds, since the space of one acre is
+too limited for much indulgence in. Norway spruces, the firs, or pines.
+An hour with a note-book spent in grounds like those of Mr. Fuller
+would do more in aiding a satisfactory selection than years of reading.
+Moreover, it should be remembered that many beautiful evergreens,
+especially those of foreign origin, are but half hardy. The amateur may
+find that after an exceptionally severe winter some lovely specimen,
+which has grown to fill a large space in his heart, as well as on his
+acre, has been killed. There is an ample choice from entirely hardy
+varieties for every locality, and these, by careful inquiry of
+trustworthy nurserymen, should be obtained.
+
+Moreover, it should be remembered that few evergreens will thrive in a
+wet, heavy soil. If Nature has not provided thorough drainage by means
+of a porous subsoil, the work must be done artificially. As a rule,
+light but not poor soils, and warm exposures, are best adapted to this
+genus of trees.
+
+I think that all authorities agree substantially that spring in our
+climate is the best time for the transplanting of evergreens; but they
+differ between early and advanced spring. The late Mr. A. J. Downing
+preferred early spring; that is, as soon as the frost is out, and the
+ground dry enough to crumble freely. Mr. A. S. Fuller indorses this
+opinion. Mr. Josiah Hoopes, author of a valuable work entitled "The
+Book of Evergreens," advises that transplanting be deferred to later
+spring, when the young trees are just beginning their season's growth;
+and this view has the approval of the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder and Mr.
+S. B. Parsons, Jr., Superintendent of City Parks. Abundant success is
+undoubtedly achieved at both seasons; but should a hot, dry period
+ensue after the later planting--early May, for instance--only abundant
+watering and diligent mulching will save the trees.
+
+It should be carefully remembered that the evergreen families do not
+possess the vitality of deciduous trees, and are more easily injured or
+killed by removal. The roots of the former are more sensitive to
+exposure to dry air and to sunlight; and much more certainty of life
+and growth is secured if the transfer can be accomplished in cloudy or
+rainy weather. The roots should never be permitted to become dry, and
+it is well also to sprinkle the foliage at the time of planting.
+Moreover, do not permit careless workmen to save a few minutes in the
+digging of the trees. Every fibrous root that can be preserved intact
+is a promise of life and vigor. If a nurseryman should send me an
+assortment of evergreens with only the large woody roots left, I should
+refuse to receive the trees.
+
+What I have said in opposition to the transplanting of large trees
+applies with greater force to evergreens. Mr. Hoopes writes: "An error
+into which many unpracticed planters frequently fall is that of
+planting large trees; and it is one which we consider opposed to sound
+common-sense. We are aware that the owner of every new place is anxious
+to produce what is usually known as an immediate effect, and therefore
+he proceeds to plant large evergreens, covering his grounds with great
+unsightly trees. In almost every case of this kind the lower limbs are
+apt to die, and thus greatly disfigure the symmetry of the trees.
+Young, healthy plants, when carefully taken up and as properly
+replanted, are never subject to this disfigurement, and are almost
+certain to form handsome specimens."
+
+Any one who has seen the beautiful pyramids, cones, and mounds of green
+into which so many varieties develop, if permitted to grow according to
+the laws of their being, should not be induced to purchase old and
+large trees which nurserymen are often anxious to part with before they
+become utterly unsalable.
+
+When the evergreens reach the acre, plant them with the same care and
+on the same general principles indicated for other trees. Let the soil
+be mellow and good. Mulch at once, and water abundantly the first
+summer during dry periods. Be sure that the trees are not set any
+deeper in the ground than they stood before removal. If the soil of the
+acre is heavy or poor, go to the roadside or some old pasture and find
+rich light soil with which to fill in around the roots. If no soil can
+be found without a large proportion of clay, the addition of a little
+sand, thoroughly mixed through it, is beneficial. The hole should be
+ample in size, so that the roots can be spread out according to their
+natural bent. If the ground after planting needs enriching, spread the
+fertilizer around the trees, not against them, and on the surface only.
+Never put manure on or very near the roots.
+
+Fine young seedling evergreens can often be found in the woods or
+fields, and may be had for the asking, or for a trifling sum. Dig them
+so as to save all the roots possible. Never permit these to become dry
+till they are safe in your own grounds. Aim to start the little trees
+under the same conditions in which you found them in Nature. If taken
+from a shady spot, they should be shaded for a season or two, until
+they become accustomed to sunlight. This can easily be accomplished by
+four crotched stakes supporting a light scaffolding, on which is placed
+during the hot months a few evergreen boughs.
+
+Very pretty and useful purposes can often be served by the employment
+of certain kinds of evergreens as hedges. I do not like the arbitrary
+and stiff divisions of a small place which I have often seen. They take
+away the sense of roominess, and destroy the possibility of pretty
+little vistas; but when used judiciously as screens they combine much
+beauty with utility. As part of line fences they are often eminently
+satisfactory, shutting out prying eyes and inclosing the home within
+walls of living green. The strong-growing pines and Norway spruce are
+better adapted to large estates than to the area of an acre. Therefore
+we would advise the employment of the American arbor vitae and of
+hemlock. The hedge of the latter evergreen on Mr. Fuller's place formed
+one of the most beautiful and symmetrical walls I have ever seen. It
+was so smooth, even, and impervious that in the distance it appeared
+like solid emerald.
+
+The ground should be thoroughly prepared for a hedge by deep plowing or
+by digging; the trees should be small, young, of even height and size,
+and they should be planted carefully in line, according to the
+directions already given for a single specimen; the ground on each side
+mulched and kept moist during the first summer. In the autumn, rake the
+mulch away and top-dress the soil on both sides for the space of two or
+three feet outward from the stems with well-decayed manure. This
+protects the roots and ensures a vigorous growth the coming season.
+Allow no weeds or even grass to encroach on the young hedge until it is
+strong and established. For the first year no trimming will be
+necessary beyond cutting back an occasional branch or top that is
+growing stronger than the others; and this should be done in early
+October. During the second season the plants should grow much more
+strongly; and now the shears are needed in summer. Some branches and
+top shoots will push far beyond the others. They should be cut back
+evenly, and in accordance with the shape the hedge is to take. The
+pyramidal form appears to me to be the one most in harmony with Nature.
+In October, the hedge should receive its final shearing for the year;
+and if there is an apparent deficiency of vigor, the ground on both
+sides should receive another top-dressing, after removing the summer
+mulch. As the hedge grows older and stronger, the principal shearing
+will be done in early summer, as this checks growth and causes the
+close, dense interlacing of branches and formation of foliage wherein
+the beauty and usefulness of the hedge consist.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+FRUIT-TREES AND GRASS
+
+
+It is a happy proof of our civilization that a dwelling-place, a
+shelter from sun and storm, does not constitute a home. Even the modest
+rooms of our mechanics are not furnished with useful articles merely;
+ornaments and pictures appear quite as indispensable. Out-of-doors the
+impulse to beautify is even stronger; and usually the purchaser's first
+effort is to make his place attractive by means of trees and shrubs
+that are more than useful--they are essential; because the refined
+tastes of men and women to-day demand them.
+
+In the first chapter I endeavored to satisfy this demand in some
+degree, and now will ask the reader's attention to a few practical
+suggestions in regard to several of the fruits which best supply the
+family need. We shall find, however, that while Nature is prodigal in
+supplying what appeals to the palate and satisfies hunger, she is also
+like a graceful hostess who decks her banquet with all the beauty that
+she can possibly bestow upon it. We can imagine that the luscious
+fruits of the year might have been produced in a much more prosaic way.
+Indeed, we are at a loss to decide which we value the more, the
+apple-blossoms or the apples which follow. Nature is not content with
+bulk, flavor, and nutriment, but in the fruit itself so deftly pleases
+the eye with every trick of color and form that the hues and beauty of
+the flower are often surpassed. We look at a red-cheeked apple or
+purple cluster of grapes hesitatingly, and are loth to mar the
+exquisite shadings and perfect outlines of the vessel in which the rich
+juices are served. Therefore, in stocking the acre with fruit, the
+proprietor has not ceased to embellish it; and should he decide that
+fruit-trees must predominate over those grown for shade and ornament
+only, he can combine almost as much beauty as utility with his plan.
+
+All the fruits may be set out both in the spring and the fall seasons;
+but in our latitude and northward, I should prefer early spring for
+strawberries and peaches.
+
+By this time we may suppose that the owner of the acre has matured his
+plans, and marked out the spaces designed for the lawn, garden, fruit
+trees, vines, etc. Fruit trees, like shade trees, are not the growth of
+a summer. Therefore there is natural eagerness to have them in the
+ground as soon as possible, and they can usually be ordered from the
+same nursery, and at the same time with the ornamental stock. I shall
+speak first of apples, pears, and cherries, and I have been at some
+pains to secure the opinions of eminent horticulturists as to the best
+selections of these fruits for the home table, not for market. When
+there is a surplus, however, there will be no difficulty in disposing
+of the fine varieties named.
+
+The Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, the veteran President of the American
+Pomological Society, writes as follows: "Herewith is the selection I
+have made for family use; but I could put in as many more in some of
+the classes which are just as desirable, or nearly so. These have been
+made with reference to covering the seasons. Apples--Red Astrakhan,
+Porter, Gravenstein, Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, Roxbury Russet,
+and Sweet Bough for baking. Pears--Clapp's Favorite (to be gathered
+August 20), Bartlett, Seckel, Sheldon, Beurre Bosc, Buerre d'Anjou, and
+Vicar of Winkfield for baking, etc. Cherries--Black Eagle, Black
+Tartarian, Downer, Windsor, Cumberland, and Red Jacket."
+
+Mr. Wilder's honored name, like that of the late Charles Downing, is
+inseparably linked with American fruits, and the country owes these two
+men a debt of gratitude which never can be paid for their lifelong and
+intelligent efforts to guide the people wisely in the choice and
+culture of the very best varieties. A moment's thought will convince
+the reader that I am not giving too much space to this matter of
+selection. We are now dealing with questions which wide and varied
+experience can best answer. Men who give their lives to the cultivation
+and observation of fruits in all their myriad varieties acquire a
+knowledge which is almost invaluable. We cannot afford to put out
+trees, to give them good culture, and wait for years, only to learn
+that all our care has been bestowed on inferior or second-rate
+varieties. Life is too brief. We all feel that the best is good enough
+for us; and the best usually costs no more in money or time than do
+less desirable varieties. Therefore I seek to give on this important
+question of choice the opinions of some of the highest authorities in
+the land.
+
+Mr. A. S. Fuller is not only a well-known horticultural author, but has
+also had the widest experience in the culture and observation of fruit.
+He prefaces his opinion with the following words: "How much and how
+often we horticulturists have been puzzled with questions like yours!
+If we made no progress, were always of the same mind, and if seasons
+never changed, then perhaps there would be little difficulty in
+deciding which of the varieties of the different kinds of fruit were
+really the best. But seasons, our tastes, and even the varieties
+sometimes change; and our preferences and opinions must vary
+accordingly. Apples--Early Harvest, Fall Pippins, Spitzenburgh, Rhode
+Island Greening, Autumn Sweet Bough, and Talman's Sweet.
+Cherries--Early Purple Guigne, Bigarreau of Mezel, Black Eagle, Coe's
+Transparent, Governor Wood, and Belle Magnifique."
+
+The choice of Mr. E. S. Carmen, editor of the "Rural New Yorker:"
+"Apples--Early Harvest, Gravenstein, Jefferis, Baldwin, Mother,
+Spitzenburgh. Pears--Seckel, Tyson, Clapp's Favorite, Bartlett, Beurre
+d'Anjou, and Dana's Hovey. Cherries--Black Tartarian, Coe's
+Transparent, Governor Wood, Mezel, Napoleon Bigarreau."
+
+The authorities appear to differ. And so they would in regard to any
+locality; but it should be remembered that President Wilder advises for
+the latitude of Massachusetts, Messrs. Fuller and Carmen for that of
+New Jersey. I will give now the selection of the eminent horticulturist
+Mr. P. O. Berckmans for the latitude of Georgia: "Cherries (this is not
+a good cherry-producing region, but I name the following as the best in
+order of merit)--Buttners, Governor Wood, Belle de Choisy, Early
+Richmond, and May Duke. Pears (in order of maturity)--Clapp's Favorite,
+Seckel, Duchesse, Beurre Superfine, Leconte, Winter Nellis, or Glout.
+Morceau. Apples--Early Harvest, Red June, Carter's Blue, Stevenson's
+Winter, Shockley, Buncombe, Carolina Greening."
+
+He who makes his choice from these selections will not meet with much
+disappointment. I am aware, however, that the enjoyment of fruit
+depends much upon the taste of the individual; and who has a better
+right to gratify his taste than the man who buys, sets out, and cares
+for the trees? Some familiar kind not in favor with the fruit critics,
+an old variety that has become a dear memory of boyhood, may be the
+best one of all for him--perhaps for the reason that it recalls the
+loved faces that gathered about the wide, quaint fireplace of his
+childhood's home.
+
+It is also a well-recognized fact that certain varieties of fruit
+appear to be peculiarly adapted to certain localities. Because a man
+has made a good selection on general principles, he need not be
+restricted to this choice. He will soon find his trees growing lustily
+and making large branching heads. Each branch can be made to produce a
+different kind of apple or pear, and the kindred varieties of cherries
+will succeed on the same tree. For instance, one may be visiting a
+neighbor who gives him some fruit that is unusually delicious, or that
+manifest great adaptation to the locality. As a rule the neighbor will
+gladly give scions which, grafted upon the trees of the Home Acre, will
+soon begin to yield the coveted variety. This opportunity to grow
+different kinds of fruit on one tree imparts a new and delightful
+interest to the orchard. The proprietor can always be on the lookout
+for something new and fine, and the few moments required in grafting or
+budding make it his. The operation is so simple and easy that he can
+learn to perform it himself, and there are always plenty of adepts in
+the rural vicinage to give him his initial lesson. While he will keep
+the standard kinds for his main supply, he can gratify his taste and
+eye with some pretty innovations. I know of an apple-tree which bears
+over a hundred varieties. A branch, for instance, is producing Yellow
+Bell-flowers. At a certain point in its growth where it has the
+diameter of a man's thumb it may be grafted with the Red Baldwin. When
+the scion has grown for two or three years, its leading shoots can be
+grafted with the Roxbury Russet, and eventually the terminal bough of
+this growth with the Early Harvest. Thus may be presented the
+interesting spectacle of one limb of a tree yielding four very distinct
+kinds of apples.
+
+In the limited area of an acre there is usually not very much range in
+soil and locality. The owner must make the best of what he has bought,
+and remedy unfavorable conditions, if they exist, by skill. It should
+be remembered that peaty, cold, damp, spongy soils are unfit for
+fruit-trees of any kind. We can scarcely imagine, however, that one
+would buy land for a home containing much soil of this nature. A sandy
+loam, with a subsoil that dries out so quickly that it can be worked
+after a heavy rain, is the best for nearly all the fruit-trees,
+especially for cherries and peaches. Therefore in selecting the ground,
+be sure it is well drained.
+
+If the acre has been enriched and plowed twice deeply, as I have
+already suggested, little more is necessary in planting than to
+excavate a hole large enough to receive the roots spread out in their
+natural positions. Should no such thorough and general preparation have
+been made, or if the ground is hard, poor, and stony, the owner will
+find it to his advantage to dig a good-sized hole three or four feet
+across and two deep, filling in and around the tree with fine rich
+surface soil. If he can obtain some thoroughly decomposed compost or
+manure, for instance, as the scrapings of a barnyard, or rich black
+soil from an old pasture, to mix with the earth beneath and around the
+roots, the good effects will be seen speedily; but in no instance
+should raw manure from the stable, or anything that must decay before
+becoming plant food, be brought in contact with the roots. Again I
+repeat my caution against planting too deeply--one of the commonest and
+most fatal errors. Let the tree be set about as deeply as it stood
+before removal. If the tree be planted early in spring, as it should
+be, there will be moisture enough in the soil; but when planting is
+delayed until the ground has become rather dry and warm, a pail of
+water poured about its roots when the hole has been nearly filled will
+be beneficial. Now that the tree is planted, any kind of coarse manure
+spread to the depth of two or three inches on the surface as a mulch is
+very useful. Stake at once to protect against the winds. Do not make
+the common mistake of planting too closely. Observe the area shaded by
+fully grown trees, and you will learn the folly of crowding. Moreover,
+dense shade about the house is not desirable. There should be space for
+plenty of air and sunshine. The fruit from one well-developed tree will
+often more than supply a family; for ten or fifteen barrels of apples
+is not an unusual yield. The standard apples should be thirty feet
+apart. Pears, the dwarfer-growing cherries, plums, etc., can be grown
+in the intervening spaces. In ordering from the nurseries insist on
+straight, shapely, and young trees, say three years from the bud. Many
+trees that are sent out are small enough, but they are old and stunted.
+Also require that there should be an abundance of fibrous and
+unmutilated roots.
+
+Because the young trees come from the nursery unpruned, do not leave
+them in that condition. Before planting, or immediately after, cut back
+all the branches at least one-half; and where they are too thick, cut
+out some altogether. In removal the tree has lost much of its root
+power, and it is absurd to expect it to provide for just as much top as
+before.
+
+In many books on fruit-culture much space has been given to dwarf
+pears, apples, and cherries, and trees of this character were planted
+much more largely some years ago than they are at present. The pear is
+dwarfed by grafting it on the quince; the apple can be limited to a
+mere garden fruit-tree in size by being grown on a Doucin stock, or
+even reduced to the size of a bush if compelled to draw its life
+through the roots of the Paradise. These two named stocks, much
+employed by European nurserymen, are distinct species of apples, and
+reproduce themselves without variation from the seed. The cherry is
+dwarfed by being worked on the Mahaleb--a small, handsome tree, with
+glossy, deep-green foliage, much cultivated abroad as an ornament of
+lawns. Except in the hands of practiced gardeners, trees thus dwarfed
+are seldom satisfactory, for much skill and care are required in their
+cultivation. Their chief advantages consist in the fact that they bear
+early and take but little space. Therefore they may be considered
+worthy of attention by the purchasers of small places. Those who are
+disposed to make pets of their trees and to indulge in horticultural
+experiments may derive much pleasure from these dwarfs, for they can be
+developed into symmetrical pyramids or graceful, fruitful shrubs within
+the limits of a garden border.
+
+When the seeds of ordinary apples and pears are sown they produce
+seedlings, or free stocks, and upon these are budded or grafted the
+fine varieties which compose our orchards. They are known as standard
+trees; they come into bearing more slowly, and eventually attain the
+normal size familiar to us all. Standard cherries are worked on
+seedlings of the Mazzard, which Barry describes as a "lofty,
+rapid-growing, pyramidal-headed tree." I should advise the reader to
+indulge in the dwarfs very charily, and chiefly as a source of fairly
+profitable amusement. It is to the standards that he will look for
+shade, beauty, and abundance of fruit.
+
+Since we have been dwelling on the apple, pear, and cherry, there are
+certain advantages of continuing the subject in the same connection,
+giving the principles of cultivation and care until the trees reach
+maturity. During the first summer an occasional watering may be
+required in long periods of drought. In many instances buds will form
+and start along the stem of the tree, or near the roots. These should
+be rubbed off the moment they are detected.
+
+One of our chief aims is to form an evenly balanced, open, symmetrical
+head; and this can often be accomplished better by a little
+watchfulness during the season of growth than at any other time. If,
+for instance, two branches start so closely together that one or the
+other must be removed in the spring pruning, why let the superfluous
+one grow at all? It is just so much wasted effort. By rubbing off the
+pushing bud or tender shoot the strength of the tree is thrown into the
+branches that we wish to remain. Thus the eye and hand of the master
+become to the young tree what instruction, counsel, and admonition are
+to a growing boy, with the difference that the tree is easily and
+certainly managed when taken in time.
+
+The study of the principles of growth in the young trees can be made as
+pleasing as it is profitable, for the readiness with which they respond
+to a guiding hand will soon invest them with almost a human interest. A
+child will not show neglect more certainly than they; and if humored
+and allowed to grow after their own fashion, they will soon prove how
+essential are restraint and training. A fruit tree is not like one in a
+forest--a simple, unperverted product of Nature. It is a result of
+human interference and development; and we might just as reasonably
+expect our domestic animals to take care of themselves as our grafted
+and budded trees. Moreover, they do not comply with their raison d'etre
+by merely existing, growing, and propagating their kind. A Bartlett
+pear-tree, like a Jersey cow, is given place for the sake of its
+delicious product. It is also like the cow in requiring judicious
+feeding and care.
+
+Trees left to themselves tend to form too much wood, like the
+grape-vine. Of course fine fruit is impossible when the head of a tree
+is like a thicket. The growth of unchecked branches follows the
+terminal bud, thus producing long naked reaches of wood devoid of fruit
+spurs. Therefore the need of shortening in, so that side branches may
+be developed. When the reader remembers that every dormant bud in early
+spring is a possible branch, and that even the immature buds at the
+axil of the leaves in early summer can be forced into immediate growth
+by pinching back the leading shoot, he will see how entirely the young
+tree is under his control. These simple facts and principles are worth
+far more to the intelligent man than any number of arbitrary rules as
+to pruning. Reason and observation soon guide his hand in summer or his
+knife in March--the season when trees are usually trimmed.
+
+Beyond shortening in leading branches and cutting out crossing and
+interfering boughs, so as to keep the head symmetrical and open to
+light and air, the cherry does not need very much pruning. If with the
+lapse of years it becomes necessary to take off large limbs from any
+fruit-tree, the authorities recommend early June as the best season for
+the operation.
+
+It will soon be discovered--quite likely during the first summer--that
+fruit-trees have enemies, that they need not only cultivation and
+feeding, but also protection. The pear, apple, and quince are liable to
+one mysterious disease which it is almost impossible to guard against
+or cure--the fireblight. Of course there have been innumerable
+preventives and cures recommended, just as we see a dozen certain
+remedies for consumption advertised in any popular journal; but the
+disease still remains a disheartening mystery, and is more fatal to the
+pear than to its kindred fruits. I have had thrifty young trees, just
+coming into bearing, suddenly turn black in both wood and foliage,
+appearing in the distance as if scorched by a blast from a furnace. In
+another instance a large mature tree was attacked, losing in a summer
+half its boughs. These were cut out, and the remainder of the tree
+appeared healthy during the following summer, and bore a good crop of
+fruit. The disease often attacks but a single branch or a small portion
+of a tree. The authorities advise that everything should be cut away at
+once below all evidence of infection and burned. Some of my trees have
+been attacked and have recovered; others were apparently recovering,
+but died a year or two later. One could theorize to the end of a volume
+about the trouble. I frankly confess that I know neither the cause nor
+the remedy. It seems to me that our best resource is to comply with the
+general conditions of good and healthy growth. The usual experience is
+that trees which are fertilized with wood-ashes and a moderate amount
+of lime and salt, rather than with stimulating manures, escape the
+disease. If the ground is poor, however, and the growth feeble,
+barnyard manure or its equivalent is needed as a mulch. The
+apple-blight is another kindred and equally obscure disease. No better
+remedy is known than to cut out the infected part at once.
+
+In coping with insects we can act more intelligently, and therefore
+successfully. We can study the characters of our enemies, and learn
+their vulnerable points. The black and green aphides, or plant-lice,
+are often very troublesome. They appear in immense numbers on the young
+and tender shoots of trees, and by sucking their juices check or
+enfeeble the growth. They are the milch-cows of ants, which are usually
+found very busy among them. Nature apparently has made ample provision
+for this pest, for it has been estimated that "one individual in five
+generations might be the progenitor of six thousand millions." They are
+easily destroyed, however. Mr. Barry, of the firm of Ellwanger & Barry,
+in his excellent work "The Fruit Garden," writes as follows: "Our plan
+is to prepare a barrel of tobacco juice by steeping stems for several
+days, until the juice is of a dark brown color; we then mix this with
+soap-suds. A pail is filled, and the ends of the shoots, where the
+insects are assembled, are bent down and dipped in the liquid. One dip
+is enough. Such parts as cannot be dipped are sprinkled liberally with
+a garden-syringe, and the application repeated from time to time, as
+long as any of the aphides remain. The liquid may be so strong as to
+injure the foliage; therefore it is well to test it on one or two
+subjects before using it extensively. Apply it in the evening."
+
+The scaly aphis or bark-louse attacks weak, feeble-growing trees, and
+can usually be removed by scrubbing the bark with the preparation given
+above.
+
+In our region and in many localities the apple-tree borer is a very
+formidable pest, often destroying a young tree before its presence is
+known. I once found a young tree in a distant part of my place that I
+could push over with my finger. In June a brown and white striped
+beetle deposits its eggs in the bark of the apple-tree near the ground.
+The larvae when hatched bore their way into the wood, and will soon
+destroy a small tree. They cannot do their mischief, however, without
+giving evidence of their presence. Sawdust exudes from the holes by
+which they entered, and there should be sufficient watchfulness to
+discover them before they have done much harm. I prefer to cut them out
+with a sharp, pointed knife, and make sure that they are dead; but a
+wire thrust into the hole will usually pierce and kill them. Wood-ashes
+mounded up against the base of the tree are said to be a preventive. In
+the fall they can be spread, and they at least make one of the best of
+fertilizers.
+
+The codling-moth, or apple-worm, is another enemy that should be fought
+resolutely, for it destroys millions of bushels of fruit. In the
+latitude of New York State this moth begins its depredations about the
+middle of June. Whatever may be thought of the relation of the apple to
+the fall of man, this creature certainly leads to the speedy fall of
+the apple. Who has not seen the ground covered with premature and
+decaying fruit in July, August, and September? Bach specimen will be
+found perforated by a worm-hole. The egg has been laid in the calyx of
+the young apple, where it soon hatches into a small white grub, which
+burrows into the core, throwing out behind it a brownish powder. After
+about three weeks of apple diet it eats its way out, shelters itself
+under the scaly bark of the tree--if allowed to be scaly--or in some
+other hiding-place, spins a cocoon, and in about three weeks comes out
+a moth, and is ready to help destroy other apples. This insect probably
+constitutes one of Nature's methods of preventing trees from
+overbearing; but like some people we know, it so exaggerates its
+mission as to become an insufferable nuisance. The remedies recommended
+are that trees should be scraped free of all scales in the spring, and
+washed with a solution of soft soap. About the 1st of July, wrap
+bandages of old cloth, carpet, or rags of any kind around the trunk and
+larger limbs. The worms will appreciate such excellent cover, and will
+swarm into these hiding-places to undergo transformation into moths.
+Therefore the wraps of rags should often be taken down, thrown into
+scalding water, dried, and replaced. The fruit as it falls should be
+picked up at once and carried to the pigs, and, when practicable,
+worm-infested specimens should be taken from the trees before the worm
+escapes.
+
+The canker-worm in those localities where it is destructive can be
+guarded against by bands of tar-covered canvas around the trees. The
+moth cannot fly, but crawls up the tree in the late autumn and during
+mild spells in winter, but especially throughout the spring until May.
+When, the evil-disposed moth meets the 'tarry band he finds no
+thoroughfare, and is either caught or compelled to seek some other
+arena of mischief.
+
+We have all seen the flaunting, unsightly abodes of the tent
+caterpillar and the foliage-denuded branches about them. Fortunately
+these are not stealthy enemies, and the owner can scarcely see his acre
+at all without being aware of their presence. He has only to look very
+early in the morning or late in the evening to find them all bunched up
+in their nests. These should be taken down and destroyed.
+
+Cherry and pear slugs, "small, slimy, dark brown worms," can be
+destroyed by dusting the trees with dry wood ashes or air-slacked lime.
+
+Field-mice often girdle young trees, especially during the winter,
+working beneath the snow. Unless heaps of rubbish are left here and
+there as shelter for these little pests, one or two good cats will keep
+the acre free of them. Treading the snow compactly around the tree is
+also practiced.
+
+Do not let the reader be discouraged by this list of the most common
+enemies, or by hearing of others. After reading some medical works we
+are led to wonder that the human race does not speedily die out. As a
+rule, however, with moderate care, most of us are able to say, "I'm
+pretty well, I thank you," and when ailing we do not straightway
+despair. In spite of all enemies and drawbacks, fruit is becoming more
+plentiful every year. If one man can raise it, so can another.
+
+Be hospitable to birds, the best of all insect destroyers. Put up
+plenty of houses for bluebirds and wrens, and treat the little brown
+song-sparrow as one of your stanchest friends.
+
+A brief word in regard to the quince, and our present list of fruits is
+complete.
+
+If the quince is cultivated after the common neglectful method, it
+would better be relegated to an obscure part of the garden, for, left
+to itself, it makes a great sprawling bush; properly trained, it
+becomes a beautiful ornament to the lawn, like the other fruits that I
+have described. Only a little care, with the judicious use of the
+pruning-shears, is required to develop it into a miniature and fruitful
+tree, which can be grown with a natural rounded head or in the form of
+a pyramid, as the cultivator chooses. It will thrive well on the same
+soil and under similar treatment accorded to the pear or the apple.
+Procure from a nursery straight-stemmed plants; set them out about
+eight feet apart; begin to form the head three feet from the ground,
+and keep the stem and roots free from all sprouts and suckers. Develop
+the head just as you would that of an apple-tree, shortening in the
+branches, and cutting out those that interfere with each other. Half a
+dozen trees will soon give an ample supply. The orange and the pear
+shaped are the varieties usually recommended. Rea's Mammoth is also
+highly spoken of. Remember that the quince equally with the apple is
+subject to injury from the borer, and the evil should be met as I have
+already described.
+
+There is a natural wish to have as much grass about the dwelling as
+possible, for nothing is more beautiful. If there are children, they
+will assuredly petition for lawn-tennis and croquet grounds. I trust
+that their wishes may be gratified, for children are worth infinitely
+more than anything else that can be grown upon the acre. With a little
+extra care, all the trees of which I have spoken can be grown in the
+spaces allotted to grass. It is only necessary to keep a circle of
+space six feet in diameter--the trunk forming the centre--around the
+tree mellow and free from any vegetable growth whatever. This gives a
+chance to fertilize and work the ground immediately over the roots. Of
+course vigorous fruit-trees cannot be grown in a thick sod, while
+peaches and grapes require the free culture of the garden, as will be
+shown hereafter. In view, however, of the general wish for grass, I
+have advised on the supposition that all the ornamental trees, most of
+the shrubs, and the four fruits named would be grown on the portions of
+the acre to be kept in lawn. It may be added here that plums also will
+do well under the same conditions, if given good care.
+
+Grass is a product that can be cultivated as truly as the most delicate
+and fastidious of fruits, and I had the lawn is mind when I urged the
+generous initial deep plowing and enriching. Nothing that grows
+responds more promptly to good treatment than grass; but a fine lawn
+cannot be created in a season, any more than a fine tree.
+
+We will suppose that the spring plantings of trees have been made with
+open spaces reserved for the favorite games. Now the ground can be
+prepared for grass-seed, for it need not be trampled over any more. If
+certain parts have become packed and hard, they should be dug or plowed
+deeply again, then harrowed and raked perfectly smooth, and all stones,
+big or little, taken from the surface. The seed may now be sown, and it
+should be of thick, fine-growing varieties, such as are employed in
+Central Park and other pleasure-grounds. Mr. Samuel Parsons, Jr.,
+Superintendent of Central Park, writes me: "The best grass-seeds for
+ordinary lawns are a mixture of red-top and Kentucky blue-grass in
+equal parts, with perhaps a small amount of white clover. On very sandy
+ground I prefer the Kentucky blue-grass, as it is very hardy and
+vigorous under adverse circumstances." Having sown and raked in the
+seed very lightly a great advantage will be gained in passing a
+lawn-roller over the ground. I have succeeded well in getting a good
+"catch" of grass by sowing the seed with oats, which were cut and cured
+as hay as soon as the grain was what is termed "in the milk." The
+strong and quickly growing oats make the ground green in a few days,
+and shelter the slower maturing grass-roots. Mr. Parsons says, "I
+prefer to sow the grass-seed alone." As soon as the grass begins to
+grow with some vigor, cut it often, for this tends to thicken it and
+produce the velvety effect that is so beautiful. From the very first
+the lawn will need weeding. The ground contains seeds of strong growing
+plants, such as dock, plantain, etc., which should be taken out as fast
+as they appear. To some the dandelion is a weed; but not to me, unless
+it takes more than its share of space, for I always miss these little
+earth stars when they are absent. They intensify the sunshine
+shimmering on the lawn, making one smile involuntarily when seeing
+them. Moreover, they awaken pleasant memories, for a childhood in which
+dandelions had no part is a defective experience.
+
+In late autumn the fallen leaves should be raked carefully away, as
+they tend to smother the grass if permitted to lie until spring. Now
+comes the chief opportunity of the year, in the form of a liberal
+top-dressing of manure from the stable. If this is spread evenly and
+not too thickly in November, and the coarser remains of it are raked
+off early in April, the results will be astonishing. A deep emerald hue
+will be imparted to the grass, and the frequent cuttings required will
+soon produce a turf that yields to the foot like a Persian rug. Any one
+who has walked over the plain at West Point can understand the value of
+these regular autumnal top-dressings. If the stable-manure can be
+composted and left till thoroughly decayed, fine and friable, all the
+better. If stable-manure can not be obtained, Mr. Parsons recommends
+Mapes's fertilizer for lawns.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE GARDEN
+
+
+We now approach that part of the acre to which its possessor will
+probably give his warmest and most frequent thoughts--the garden. If
+properly made and conducted, it will yield a revenue which the wealth
+of the Indies could not purchase; for whoever bought in market the
+flavor of fruit and vegetables raised by one's own hands or under our
+own eyes? Sentiment does count. A boy is a boy; but it makes a vast
+difference whether he is our boy or not. A garden may soon become a
+part of the man himself, and he be a better man for its care. Wholesome
+are the thoughts and schemes it suggests; healthful are the blood and
+muscle resulting from its products and labor therein. Even with the
+purse of a millionaire, the best of the city's markets is no substitute
+for a garden; for Nature and life are here, and these are not bought
+and sold. From stalls and pedlers' wagons we can buy but dead and dying
+things. The indolent epicure's enjoyment of game is not the relish of
+the sportsman who has taken his dinner direct from the woods and waters.
+
+I am often told, "It is cheaper to buy fruit and vegetables than to
+raise them." I have nothing to say in reply. There are many cheap
+things that we can have; experience has proved that one of the BEST
+things to have is a garden, either to work in or to visit daily when
+the season permits. We have but one life to live here, and to get the
+cheapest things out of it is a rather poor ambition.
+
+There are multitudes who can never possess an acre, more or less, and
+who must obtain Nature's products at second hand. This is not so great
+a misfortune as to have no desire for her companionship, or wish to
+work under her direction in dewy mornings and shadowy evenings. We may
+therefore reasonably suppose that the man who has exchanged his city
+shelter for a rural home looks forward to the garden with the natural,
+primal instinct, and is eager to make the most of it in all its
+aspects. Then let us plunge in medias res at once.
+
+The ideal soil for a garden is a mellow, sandy loam, underlaid with a
+subsoil that is not too open or porous. Such ground is termed
+"grateful," and it is not the kind of gratitude which has been defined
+as "a lively appreciation of favors to come," which is true of some
+other soils. This ideal land remembers past favors; it retains the
+fertilizers with which it has been enriched, and returns them in the
+form of good crops until the gift is exhausted; therefore it is a
+thrifty as well as a grateful soil. The owner can bring it up to the
+highest degree of fertility, and keep it there by judicious management.
+This sandy loam--Nature's blending of sand and clay--is a safe bank.
+The manure incorporated with it is a deposit which can be drawn against
+in fruit and vegetables, for it does not leach away and disappear with
+one season's rains.
+
+Light, thin, sandy soil, with a porous or gravelly subsoil, is of a
+very different type, and requires different treatment. It is a
+spendthrift. No matter how much you give it one year, it very soon
+requires just so much more. You can enrich it, but you can't keep it
+rich. Therefore you must manage it as one would take care of a
+spendthrift, giving what is essential at the time, and in a way that
+permits as little waste as possible. I shall explain this treatment
+more fully further on.
+
+In the choice of a garden plot you may be restricted to a stiff,
+tenacious, heavy clay. Now you have a miser to deal with--a soil that
+retains, but in many cases makes no proper use of, what it receives.
+Skill and good management, however, can improve any soil, and coax
+luxuriant crops from the most unpropitious.
+
+We will speak first of the ideal soil already mentioned, and hope that
+the acre contains an area of it of suitable dimensions for a garden.
+What should be the first step in this case? Why, to get more of it. A
+quarter of an acre can be made equal to half an acre. You can about
+double the garden, without adding to it an inch of surface, by
+increasing the depth of good soil. For instance, ground has been
+cultivated to the depth of six or seven inches. Try the experiment of
+stirring the soil and enriching it one foot downward, or eighteen
+inches, or even two feet, and see what vast differences will result.
+With every inch you go down, making all friable and fertile, you add
+just so much more to root pasturage. When you wish to raise a great
+deal, increase your leverage. Roots are your levers; and when they rest
+against a deep fertile soil they lift into the air and sunshine
+products that may well delight the eyes and palate of the most
+fastidious. We suggest that this thorough deepening, pulverization, and
+enriching of the soil be done at the start, when the plow can be used
+without any obstructions. If there are stones, rocks, roots, anything
+which prevents the treatment which a garden plot should receive, there
+is a decided advantage in clearing them all out at the beginning. Last
+fall I saw a half-acre that was swampy, and so encumbered with stones
+that one could walk all over it without stepping off the rocks. The
+land was sloping, and therefore capable of drainage. The proprietor put
+three men to work on the lower side with picks, shovels, and
+blasting-tools. They turned the soil over to the depth of eighteen
+inches, taking out every stone larger than a walnut. Eight or ten feet
+apart deep ditches were cut, and the stones, as far as possible, placed
+in these. The rest were carted away for a heavy wall. You may say it
+was expensive work. So it was; yet so complete a garden spot was made
+that I believe it would yield a fair interest in potatoes alone. I
+relate this instance to show what can be done. A more forbidding area
+for a garden in its original state could scarcely be found. Enough
+vegetables and fruit can be raised from it hereafter, with annual
+fertilizing, to supply a large family, and it will improve every year
+under the refining effects of frost, sun, and cultivation.
+
+It should be remembered that culture does for soil what it does for men
+and women. It mellows, brings it up, and renders it capable of finer
+products. Much, indeed, can be done with a crude piece of land in a
+single year when treated with the thoroughness that has been suggested,
+and some strong-growing vegetables may be seen at their best during the
+first season; but the more delicate vegetables thrive better with
+successive years of cultivation. No matter how abundantly the ground
+may be enriched at first, time and chemical action are required to
+transmute the fertilizers into the best forms of plant-food, and make
+them a part of the very soil itself. Plowing or spading, especially if
+done in late autumn, exposes the mould to the beneficial action of the
+air and frost, and the garden gradually takes on the refined, mellow,
+fertile character which distinguishes it from the ordinary field.
+
+In dealing with a thin, sandy soil, one has almost to reverse the
+principles just given. Yet there is no cause for discouragement. Fine
+results, if not the best, can be secured. In this case there is
+scarcely any possibility for a thorough preparation of the soil from
+the start. It can gradually be improved, however, by making good its
+deficiencies, the chief of which is the lack of vegetable mould. If I
+had such soil I would rake up all the leaves I could find, employ them
+as bedding for my cow and pigs (if I kept any), and spread the
+compost-heap resulting on the sandy garden. The soil is already too
+light and warm, and it should be our aim to apply fertilizers tending
+to counteract this defect. A nervous, excitable person should let
+stimulants alone, and take good, solid, blood-making food. This
+illustration suggests the proper course to be taken. Many a time I have
+seen action the reverse of this resulting disastrously. For instance, a
+man carts on his light thin soil hot fermenting manure from the
+horse-stable, and plows it under. Seeds are planted. In the moist,
+cool, early spring they make a great start, feeling the impulse of the
+powerful stimulant. There is a hasty and unhealthful growth; but long
+before maturity the days grow long and hot, drought comes, and the
+garden dries up. Therefore every effort should be made to supply cool
+manures with staying qualities, such as are furnished by decayed
+vegetable matter composted with the cleanings of the cow-stable. We
+thus learn the value of fallen leaves, muck from the swamp, etc.; and
+they also bring with them but few seeds of noxious vegetation.
+
+On the other hand, stolid, phlegmatic clay requires the stimulus of
+manure from the horse-stable. It can be plowed under at once, and left
+to ferment and decay in the soil. The process of decomposition will
+tend to banish its cold, inert qualities, and make the ground loose,
+open, and amenable to the influences of frost, sun, and rain.
+
+Does the owner of light, warm soils ask, "What, then, shall I do with
+my stable-manure, since you have said that it will be an injury to my
+garden?" I have not said this--only that it will do harm if applied in
+its raw, hot, fermenting state. Compost it with leaves, sod, earth,
+muck, anything that will keep it from burning up with its own heat. If
+you can obtain no such ingredients, have it turned over and exposed to
+the air so often that it will decay without passing through a process
+approaching combustion. When it has become so thoroughly decomposed as
+to resemble a fine black powder, you have a fertilizer superior to any
+high-priced patent compound that can be bought. Further on I will show
+how it can be used both in this state and also in its crude condition
+on light soils with the best results.
+
+It is scarcely possible to lay too much stress on this subject of
+fertilizers. The soil of the garden-plot looks inert: so does heavy
+machinery; but apply to it the proper motive power, and you have
+activity at once. Manure is the motive power to soil, and it should be
+applied in a way and degree to secure the best results. To produce some
+vegetables and fruits much is required; in other growths, very little.
+
+In laying out a garden there are several points to be considered. The
+proprietor may be more desirous of securing some degree of beauty in
+the arrangement than of obtaining the highest condition of
+productiveness. If this be true, he may plan to make down its centre a
+wide, gravelled walk, with a grape-arbor here and there, and
+fruit-trees and flowers in borders on each side of the path. So far
+from having any objection to this arrangement, I should be inclined to
+adopt it myself. It would be conducive to frequent visits to the garden
+and to lounging in it, especially if there be rustic seats under the
+arbors. I am inclined to favor anything which accords with my theory
+that the best products of a garden are neither eaten nor sold. From
+such a walk down the middle of the garden the proprietor can glance at
+the rows of vegetables and small fruits on either side, and daily note
+their progress. What he loses in space and crops he gains in pleasure.
+
+Nor does he lose much; for if the borders on each side of the path are
+planted with grape-vines, peach and plum trees, flowers and shrubs, the
+very ground he walks on becomes part of their root pasturage. At the
+same time it must be admitted that the roots will also extend with
+depleting appetites into the land devoted to vegetables. The trees and
+vines above will, to some extent, cast an unwholesome shade. He who has
+set his heart on the biggest cabbages and best potatoes in town must
+cultivate them in ground open to the sky, and unpervaded by any roots
+except their own. If the general fruitfulness of the garden rather than
+perfection in a few vegetables is desired, the borders, with their
+trees, vines, and flowers, will prove no objection. Moreover, when it
+comes to competing in cabbages, potatoes, etc., the proprietor of the
+Home Acre will find that some Irishman, by the aid of his redolent
+pig-pen, will surpass him. The roots and shade extending from his
+borders will not prevent him from growing good vegetables, if not the
+largest.
+
+We will therefore suppose that, as the simplest and most economical
+arrangement, he has adopted the plan of a walk six feet wide extending
+through the centre of his garden. As was the case with the other paths,
+it will be greatly to his advantage to stake it out and remove about
+four inches of the surface-soil, piling it near the stable to be used
+for composting purposes or in the earth-closet. The excavation thus
+made should be filled with small stones or cinders, and then covered
+with fine gravel. A walk that shall be dry at all times is thus
+secured, and it will be almost wholly free from weeds. In these
+advantages alone one is repaid for the extra first cost, and in
+addition the rich surface soil obtained will double the bulk and value
+of the fertilizers with which it is mixed.
+
+Having made the walk, borders five feet wide can be laid out on each
+side of it, and the soil in these should be as rich and deep as any
+other parts of the garden. What shall be planted in these borders will
+depend largely on the tastes of the gardener; but, as has been
+suggested, there will assuredly be one or more shadowy grape-arbors
+under which the proprietor can retire to provide horticultural
+strategy. This brings us to that chef-d'oeuvre of Nature--
+
+The vine. It climbs by its tendrils, and they appear to have clasped
+the heart of humanity. Among the best of Heaven's gifts, it has
+sustained the worst perversions. But we will refrain from a temperance
+lecture; also from sacred and classical reminiscences. The world is not
+composed of monks who thought to escape temptation--and vainly too--in
+stony cells. To some the purple cluster suggests Bacchanal revelry; to
+others, sitting under one's own vine and fig-tree--in brief, a home.
+The vine is like woman, the inspiration of the best and the worst.
+
+It may well become one of the dreams of our life to own land, if for no
+other reason than that of obtaining the privilege of planting vines. As
+they take root, so will we, and after we have eaten their delicious
+fruit, the very thought of leaving our acre will be repugnant. The
+literature of the vine would fill a library; the literature of love
+would crowd many libraries. It is not essential to read everything
+before we start a little vineyard or go a-courting.
+
+It is said that about two thousand known and named varieties of grapes
+have been and are being grown in Europe; and all these are supposed to
+have been developed from one species (Vitis vinifera), which originally
+was the wild product of Nature, like those growing in our thickets and
+forests. One can scarcely suppose this possible when contemplating a
+cluster of Tokay or some other highly developed variety of the
+hot-house. Yet the native vine, which began to "yield fruit after his
+kind, the third day" (whatever may have been the length of that day),
+may have been, after all, a good starting-point in the process of
+development. One can hardly believe that the "one cluster of grapes"
+which the burdened spies, returning from Palestine, bore "between two
+of them upon a staff," was the result of high scientific culture. In
+that clime, and when the world was young, Nature must have been more
+beneficent than now. It is certain that no such cluster ever hung from
+the native vines of this land; yet it is from our wild species, whose
+fruit the Indians shared with the birds and foxes (when not hanging so
+high as to be sour), that we have developed the delicious varieties of
+our out-door vineyards. For about two centuries our forefathers kept on
+planting vines imported from Europe, only to meet with failure. Nature,
+that had so abundantly rewarded their efforts abroad, quietly
+checkmated them here. At last American fruit-growers took the hint, and
+began developing our native species. Then Nature smiled; and as a lure
+along this correct path of progress, gave such incentives as the
+Isabella, the Catawba, and Concord. We are now bewildered by almost as
+great a choice of varieties from native species as they have abroad;
+and as an aid to selection I will again give the verdict of some of the
+authorities.
+
+The choice of the Hon. Norman J. Colman, Commissioner of Agriculture:
+"Early Victor, Worden, Martha, Elvira, Cynthiana." This is for the
+region of Missouri. For the latitude of New Jersey, A.S. Fuller's
+selection: "Delaware, Concord, Moore's Early, Antoinette (white),
+Augusta (white), Goethe (amber)." E.S. Carmen: "Moore's Early [you
+cannot praise this too much. The quality is merely that of the Concord;
+but the vines are marvels of perfect health, the bunches large, the
+berries of the largest size. They ripen all at once, and are fully ripe
+when the Concord begins to color], Worden, Brighton, Victoria (white),
+Niagara (white), El Dorado. [This does not thrive everywhere, but the
+grapes ripen early--September 1, or before--and the quality is
+perfection--white.]" Choice of P.J. Berckman, for the latitude of
+Georgia: "White grapes--Peter Wylie, Triumph, Maxatawny, Scuppernong.
+Bed grapes--Delaware, Berckman's, Brighton. Black--Concord, Ives."
+
+As I have over a hundred varieties in bearing, I may venture to express
+an opinion also. I confess that I am very fond of those old favorites
+of our fathers, the Isabella and Catawba. They will not ripen
+everywhere in our latitude, yet I seldom fail to secure a good crop. In
+the fall of 1885 we voted the Isabella almost unsurpassed. If one has
+warm, well-drained soil, or can train a vine near the south side of a
+building, I should advise the trial of this fine old grape. The Iona,
+Brighton, and Agawam also are great favorites with me. We regard the
+Diana, Wyoming Red, Perkins, and Rogers' hybrids, Lindley, Wilder, and
+Amenia, as among the best. The Rebecca, Duchess, Lady Washington, and
+Purity are fine white grapes. I have not yet tested the Niagara. Years
+ago I obtained of Mr. James Ricketts, the prize-taker for seedling
+grapes, two vines of a small wine grape called the Bacchus. To my taste
+it is very pleasant after two or three slight frosts.
+
+Our list of varieties is long enough, and one must be fastidious indeed
+who does not find some to suit his taste. In many localities the chief
+question is, What kind CAN I grow? In our favored region on the Hudson
+almost all the out-door grapes will thrive; but as we go north the
+seasons become too cool and short for some kinds, and proceeding south
+the summers are too long and hot for others. The salt air of the
+sea-coast is not conducive to vine-culture, and only the most vigorous,
+like the Concord and Moore's Early, will resist the mildew blight. We
+must therefore do the best we can, and that will be very well indeed in
+most localities.
+
+Because our list of good grapes is already so long, it does not follow
+that we have reached the limit of development by any means. When we
+remember that almost within a lifetime our fine varieties have been
+developed from the wild northern Fox grape (Vitis labrusca), the Summer
+grape (oestivalis), Frost (cordifolia), we are led to think that
+perhaps we have scarcely more than crossed the stile which leads into
+the path of progress. If I should live to keep up my little specimen
+vineyard ten years longer, perhaps the greater part of the varieties
+now cultivated will have given place to others. The delicious Brighton
+requires no more space than a sour, defective variety; while the
+proprietor starts with the best kinds he can obtain, he will find no
+restraint beyond his own ignorance or carelessness that will prevent
+his replacing the Brighton with a variety twice as good when it is
+developed. Thus vine-planting and grape-tasting stretch away into an
+alluring and endless vista.
+
+When such exchanges are made, we do not recommend the grafting of a new
+favorite on an old vine. This is a pretty operation when one has the
+taste and leisure for it, and a new, high-priced variety can sometimes
+be obtained speedily and cheaply in this way. Usually, however, new
+kinds soon drop down within the means of almost any purchaser, and
+there are advantages in having each variety growing upon its own root.
+Nature yields to the skill of the careful gardener, and permits the
+insertion of one distinct variety of fruit upon another; but with the
+vine she does not favor this method of propagation and change, as in
+the case of pears and apples, where the graft forms a close, tenacious
+union with the stock in which it is placed. Mr. Fuller writes: "On
+account of the peculiar structure of the wood of the vine, a lasting
+union is seldom obtained when grafted above-ground, and is far from
+being certain even when grafted below the surface, by the ordinary
+method." The vine is increased so readily by easy and natural methods,
+to be explained hereafter, that he who desires nothing more than to
+secure a good supply of grapes for the table can dismiss the subject.
+On the other hand, those who wish to amuse themselves by experimenting
+with Nature can find abundant enjoyment in not only grafting old vines,
+but also in raising new seedlings, among which he may obtain a prize
+which will "astonish the natives." Those, however, whose tastes carry
+them to such lengths in vine-culture will be sure to purchase
+exhaustive treatises on the subject, and will therefore give no heed to
+these simple practical chapters. It is my aim to enable the business
+man returning from his city office, or the farmer engrossed with the
+care of many acres, to learn in a few moments, from time to time, just
+what he must do to supply his family abundantly with fruits and
+vegetables.
+
+If one is about to adopt a grape-culture as a calling, common-sense
+requires that he should locate in some region peculiarly adapted to the
+vine. If the possessor of a large farm purposes to put several acres in
+vineyard, he should also aim to select a soil and exposure best suited
+to his purpose. Two thousand years ago Virgil wrote, "Nor let thy
+vineyard bend toward the sun when setting." The inference is that the
+vines should face the east, if possible; and from that day to this,
+eastern and southern exposures have been found the best. Yet climate
+modifies even this principle. In the South, I should plant my vineyard
+on a north-western slope, or on the north side of a belt of woods, for
+the reason that the long, hot days there would cause too rapid an
+evaporation from the foliage of the vines, and enfeeble, if not kill
+them. In the limited space of the Home Acre one can use only such land
+as he has, and plant where he must; but if the favorable exposures
+indicated exist, it would be well to make the most of them. I can
+mention, however, as encouragement to many, that I saw, last fall,
+splendid grapes growing on perfectly level and sandy soil in New Jersey.
+
+A low-lying, heavy, tenacious clay is undoubtedly the worst ground in
+which to plant a vine; and yet by thorough drainage, a liberal
+admixture of sand, and light fertilizers, it can be made to produce
+good grapes of some varieties. A light sandy soil, if enriched
+abundantly with well-decayed vegetable and barnyard manures, gives
+wider scope in choice of kinds; while on the ideal well-drained sandy
+loam that we have described, any outdoor grape can be planted hopefully
+if the garden is sufficiently removed from the seaboard.
+
+As a general truth it may be stated that any land in a condition to
+produce a fine crop of corn and potatoes is ready for the vine. This
+would be true of the entire garden if the suggestions heretofore made
+have been carried out. Therefore the borders which have been named are
+ready to receive the vines, which may be planted in either spring or
+fall. I prefer the fall season for several reasons. The ground is
+usually drier then, and crumbles more finely; the young vine becomes
+well established and settled in its place by spring, and even forms new
+roots before the growing season begins, and in eight cases out of ten
+makes a stronger growth than follows spring planting; it is work
+accomplished when there is usually the greatest leisure. If the ground
+is ready in EARLY spring, I should advise no delay. A year's growth is
+gained by setting out the vines at once. As a rule I do not advise late
+spring planting--that is, after the buds have started on the young
+vines. They may live, but usually they scarcely do more, the first year.
+
+In ordering from a nursery I should ask for vigorous, well-rooted
+two-year-old vines, and I should be almost as well contented with
+first-class one-year-olds. If any one should advertise "extra large,
+strong vines, ready to bear at once," I should have nothing to do with
+him. That's a nursery trick to get rid of old stock. The first year
+after the shock of removal a vine should not be permitted to bear at
+all; and a young vigorous vine is worth a dozen old stunted ones.
+
+Having procured the vines, keep them in a cool, moist place until ready
+to plant. Never permit the roots to become dry; and if some of them are
+long and naked, shorten them to two feet, so as to cause them to throw
+out side fibrous roots, which are the true feeders. Excavate holes of
+ample size, so that all the roots may be spread out naturally. If you
+have reason to think the ground is not very good, two or three quarts
+of fine bone-dust thoroughly mixed with the soil that is placed on and
+about the roots will give a fine send-off. Usually a good mulch of any
+kind of barnyard manure placed on the SURFACE after planting will
+answer all purposes. Before filling in the hole over the roots, place
+beside the vine a stout stake six or seven feet high. This will be all
+the support required the first year. Cut back the young vine to three
+buds, and after they get well started, let but one grow. If the
+planting is done in the fall, mound the earth up over the little vine
+at the approach of winter, so as to cover it at least six inches below
+the surface. In spring uncover again as soon as hard frosts are
+over--say early April in our latitude. Slow-growing varieties, like the
+Delaware, may be set out six feet apart; strong growers, like the
+Concord, eight feet. Vines can not be expected to thrive under the
+shade of trees, or to fight an unequal battle in ground filled with the
+roots of other plants.
+
+Vines may be set out not only in the garden borders, but also in almost
+any place where their roots will not be interfered with, and where
+their foliage will receive plenty of light and air. How well I remember
+the old Isabella vines that clambered on a trellis over the kitchen
+door at my childhood's home! In this sunny exposure, and in the
+reflected heat of the building, the clusters were always the sweetest
+and earliest ripe. A ton of grapes may be secured annually by erecting
+trellises against the sides of buildings, walls, and poultry yard,
+while at the same time the screening vines furnish grateful shade and
+no small degree of beauty. With a little petting, such scattered vines
+are often enormously productive. An occasional pail of soapsuds gives
+them a drink which eventually flushes the thickly hanging clusters with
+exquisite color. People should dismiss from their minds the usual
+method of European cultivation, wherein the vines are tied to short
+stakes, and made to produce their fruit near the ground. This method
+can be employed if we find pleasure in the experiment. At Mr. Fuller's
+place I saw fine examples of it. Stubby vines with stems thick as one's
+wrist rose about three feet from the ground, then branched off on every
+side, like an umbrella, with loads of fruit. Only one supporting stake
+was required. This method evidently is not adapted to our climate and
+species of grape, since in that case plenty of keen, practical
+fruit-growers would have adopted it. I am glad this is true, for the
+vine-clad hills of France do not present half so pleasing a spectacle
+as an American cornfield. The vine is beautiful when grown as a vine,
+and not as a stub; and well-trained, well-fed vines on the Home Acre
+can be developed to almost any length required, shading and hiding with
+greenery every unsightly object, and hanging their finest clusters far
+beyond the reach of the predatory small boy.
+
+We may now consider the vines planted and growing vigorously, as they
+will in most instances if they have been prepared for and planted
+according to the suggestions already given. Now begins the process of
+guiding and assisting Nature. Left to herself, she will give a
+superabundance of vine, with sufficient fruit for purposes of
+propagation and feeding the birds. Our object is to obtain the maximum
+of fruit from a minimum of vine. The little plant, even though grown
+from a single bud, will sprawl all over everything near it in three or
+four years, if unchecked. Pruning may begin even before midsummer of
+the first year. The single green shoot will by this time begin to
+produce what are termed "laterals." The careful cultivator who wishes
+to throw all the strength and growth into the main shoot will pinch
+these laterals back as soon as they form one leaf. Each lateral will
+start again from the axil of the leaf that has been left, and having
+formed another leaf, should again be cut off. By repeating this process
+during the growing season you have a strong single cane by fall,
+reaching probably beyond the top of the supporting stake. In our
+latitude I advise that this single cane--that is, the vine--be cut back
+to within fifteen inches of the surface when the leaves have fallen and
+the wood has well-ripened--say about the middle of November--and that
+the part left be bent over and covered with earth. When I say "bent
+over," I do not mean at right angles, so as to admit of the possibility
+of its being broken, but gently and judiciously. I cover with earth all
+my vines, except the Concords and Isabellas, just before hard freezing
+weather; and even these two hardy kinds I weight down close to the
+ground. I have never failed to secure a crop from vines so treated. Two
+men will protect over a hundred vines in a day.
+
+In early April the young vine is uncovered again; and now the two
+uppermost buds are allowed to grow and form two strong canes, instead
+of one, and on this new growth four or five clusters of grapes may be
+permitted to mature if the vine is vigorous. If it is feeble, take off
+all the fruit, And stimulate the vine into greater vigor. Our aim is
+not to obtain half a dozen inferior clusters as soon as possible, but
+to produce a vine that will eventually almost supply a family by
+itself. If several varieties have been planted, some will be found
+going ahead rampantly; others will exhibit a feebler growth, which can
+be hastened and greatly increased by enriching the surface of the soil
+around them and by a pail of soap-suds now and then in May or June--but
+not later, unless there should be a severe drought. There should be no
+effort to produce much growth during the latter part of the summer and
+early autumn, for then both the wood and roots will be immature and
+unripened when frost begins, and thus the vine receive injury. For this
+reason it is usually best to apply fertilizers to vines in the fall;
+for if given in the spring, a late, unhealthful growth is often
+produced. Throughout all subsequent years manure must be applied
+judiciously. You may tell the hired man to top-dress the ground about
+the vines, and he will probably treat all alike; a vine that is already
+growing so strongly that it can scarcely be kept within bounds will
+receive as much as one that is slow and feeble in its development. This
+is worse than waste. Each vine should be treated in accordance with its
+condition and habit of growth. What would be thought of a physician who
+ordered a tonic for an entire family, giving as much to one who might
+need depleting, as to another who, as country people say, was "puny and
+ailin'?" With even an assortment of half a dozen varieties we shall
+find after the first good start that some need a curb, and others a
+spur.
+
+Stakes will answer as supports to the vines during the first and second
+seasons; but thereafter trellises or arbors are needed. The latter will
+probably be employed over the central walk of the garden, and may be
+constructed after several simple and pretty designs, which I leave to
+the taste of the reader. If vines are planted about buildings, fences,
+etc., trellises may be made of anything preferred--of galvanized wire,
+slats, or rustic poles fastened to strong, durable supports. If vines
+are to be trained scientifically in the open garden, I should recommend
+the trellises figured on pages 120 and 142 of Mr. Fuller's work, "The
+Grape Culturist." These, beyond anything I have seen, appear the best
+adapted for the following out of a careful system of pruning and
+training. Such a system Mr. Fuller has thoroughly and lucidly explained
+in the above-named book.
+
+Unless the reader has had experience, or is willing to give time for
+the mastery of this subject, I should advise that he employ an
+experienced gardener to prune his vines after the second year. It is a
+brief task, but a great deal depends upon it. In selecting a man for
+the work I should require something more than exaggerated and personal
+assurances. In every village there are terrible butchers of vines and
+fruit-trees, who have some crude system of their own. They are as
+ignorant of the true science of the subject as a quack doctor of
+medicine, and, like the dispenser of nostrums, they claim to be
+infallible. Skilful pruning and training is really a fine art, which
+cannot be learned in a day or a year. It is like a surgical operation,
+requiring but little time, yet representing much acquired skill and
+experience. In almost every locality there are trustworthy, intelligent
+gardeners, who will do this work for a small sum until the proprietor
+has learned the art himself, if so inclined. I should also employ the
+same man in spring to tie up the vines and train them.
+
+If one is not ambitious to secure the best results attainable, he can
+soon learn to perform both the tasks well enough to obtain fairly good
+fruit in abundance. It should be our constant aim not to permit long,
+naked reaches of wood, in one part of the vine, and great smothering
+bunches of fruit and foliage in another part. Of course the roots,
+stem, and leading arms should be kept free from useless shoots and
+sprouts; but having reached the trellis, the vine should be made to
+distribute bearing fruit-spurs evenly over it. Much can be learned
+about pruning from books and by watching an expert gardener while
+giving the annual pruning; but the true science of trimming a vine is
+best acquired by watching buds develop, by noting what they will do,
+where they go, and how much space they will take up in a single summer.
+In this way one will eventually realize how much is wrapped up in the
+insignificant little buds, and now great the folly of leaving too many
+on the vine.
+
+In my next chapter I shall treat briefly of the propagation of the
+grape, its insect enemies, diseases, etc.; and also of some other
+fruits.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE VINEYARD AND ORCHARD
+
+
+He who proposes to plant grape-vines will scarcely fail to take the
+sensible course of inspecting the varieties already producing fruit in
+his locality. From causes often too obscure to be learned with
+certainty, excellent kinds will prove to be well adapted to one
+locality, and fail in others. If, therefore, when calling on a neighbor
+during August, September, or October, we are shown a vine producing
+fruit abundantly that is suited to our taste, a vine also which
+manifests unmistakable vigor, we may be reasonably sure that it belongs
+to a variety which we should have, especially if it be growing in a
+soil and exposure somewhat similar to our garden plot. A neighbor
+worthy of the name will be glad to give us a few cuttings from his vine
+at the time of its annual pruning; and with, very little trouble we
+also may soon possess the desired variety. When the vine is trimmed,
+either make yourself or have your friend make a few cuttings of sound
+wood from that season's growth. About eight inches is a good length for
+these vine-slips, and they should contain at least two buds. Let each
+slip be cut off smoothly just under the lowest bud, and extend an inch
+or two above the uppermost bud. If these cuttings are obtained in
+November or December, they may be put into a little box with some of
+the moist soil of the garden, and buried in the ground below the usual
+frost-line--say a foot or eighteen inches in our latitude. The simple
+object is to keep them in a cool, even temperature, but not a frosty
+one. Early in April dig up the box, open a trench in a moist but not
+wet part of the garden, and insert the cuttings perpendicularly in the
+soil, so that the upper bud is covered barely one inch. In filling up
+the trench, press the soil carefully yet firmly about the cuttings, and
+spread over the surface just about them a little fine manure. The
+cuttings should be a foot apart from each other in the row. Do not let
+the ground become dry about them at any time during the summer. By fall
+these cuttings will probably have thrown out an abundance of roots, and
+have made from two to three feet of vine. In this case they can be
+taken up and set out where they are to fruit. Possibly but one or two
+of them have started vigorously. The backward ones had better be left
+to grow another year in the cutting bed. Probably we shall not wish to
+cultivate more than one or two vines of the variety; but it is just as
+easy to start several cuttings as one, and by this course we guard
+against failure, and are able to select the most vigorous plant for our
+garden. By taking good care of the others we soon derive one of the
+best pleasures which our acre can afford--that of giving to a friend
+something which will enhance the productiveness of his acre, and add to
+his enjoyment for years to come.
+
+Not only on our neighbor's grounds, but also on our own we shall
+discover that some varieties are unusually vigorous, productive, and
+well-adapted to our locality; and we may very naturally wish to have
+more vines of the same sort, especially if the fruit is to our taste.
+We can either increase this kind by cuttings, as has been described, or
+we can layer part of the vine that has won our approval by well-doing.
+I shall take the latter course with several delicious varieties in my
+vineyard. Some kinds of grapes do not root readily as cuttings, but
+there is little chance of failure in layering. This process is simply
+the laying down of a branch of a vine in early spring, and covering it
+lightly with soil, so that some buds will be beneath the surface, and
+others just at or a little above it. Those beneath will form roots, the
+others shoots which by fall should be good vines for planting. Every
+bud that can reach the air and light will start upward, and thus there
+may be a thick growth of incipient vines that will crowd and enfeeble
+each other. The probabilities are that only two or three new vines are
+wanted; therefore all the others should be rubbed off at the start, so
+that the strength of the parent plant and of the new roots that are
+forming may go into those few shoots designed to become eventually a
+part of our vineyard. If we wish only one vine, then but one bud should
+grow from the layer; if two vines, then two buds. The fewer buds that
+are permitted to grow, the stronger vines they make.
+
+It must be remembered that this layer, for the greater part of the
+growing season, is drawing its sustenance from the parent plant, to
+which it is still attached. Therefore the other branches of this vine
+thus called upon for unusual effort should be permitted to fruit but
+sparingly. We should not injure and enfeeble the original vine in order
+to get others like it. For this reason we advise that no more buds be
+permitted to grow from the layer than we actually need ourselves. To
+injure a good vine and deprive ourselves of fruit that we may have
+plants to give away, is to love one's neighbor better than one's
+self--a thing permitted, but not required. When our vines are pruned,
+we can make as many cuttings as we choose, either to sell or give away.
+
+The ground in which a layer is placed should be very rich, and its
+surface round the young growing vines always kept moist and free from
+weeds. In the autumn, after the leaves have fallen and the wood is ripe
+and hard, cut off the layered branch close to the vine, and with a
+garden-fork gently and carefully lift it, with all its roots and young
+vines attached, out of the soil. First cut the young vines back to
+three or four buds, then separate them from the branch from which they
+grew, being sure to give each plant plenty of roots, and the roots BACK
+of the point from which it grew; that is, those roots nearest the
+parent plant from which the branch was layered. All the old wood of the
+branch that is naked, free of roots, should be cut off. The young
+shoots thus separated are now independent vines, and may be set out at
+once where they are to fruit. If you have a variety that does not do
+well, or that you do not like, dig it out, enrich the soil, and put one
+of your favorites in its place.
+
+We will now consider briefly the diseases and insect enemies of the
+grape. A vine way be doomed to ill-health from its very situation. Mr.
+Hussman, a grape-culturist of great experience and wide observation,
+writes: "Those localities may generally be considered safe for the
+grape in which there are no miasmatic influences. Where malaria and
+fevers prevail, there is no safety for the crop, as the vine seems to
+be as susceptible to such influences as human beings."
+
+Taking this statement literally, we may well ask, Where, then, can
+grapes be grown? According to physicians, malaria has become one of the
+most generally diffused products of the country. When a man asserts
+that it is not in his locality, we feel sure that if pressed he will
+admit that it is "round the corner." Country populations still survive,
+however, and so does grape-culture. Yet there are low-lying regions
+which from defective drainage are distinctively and, it would almost
+seem, hopelessly malarial. In such localities but few varieties of the
+vine will thrive, The people who are compelled to live there, or who
+choose to do so, should experiment until they obtain varieties so hardy
+and vigorous that they will triumph over everything. The best course
+with grape-diseases is not to have them; in other words, to recognize
+the fact at once that certain varieties of the grape will not thrive
+and be productive of good fruit unless the soil and climate suit them.
+The proprietor of the Home Acre can usually learn by a little inquiry
+or observation whether grapes thrive in his locality. If there is much
+complaint of mildew, grape-rot, and general feebleness of growth, he
+should seek to plant only the most hardy and vigorous kinds.
+
+As I have said before, our cultivated grapes are derived from several
+native species found growing wild, and some now valued highly for
+wine-making are nothing but wild grapes domesticated; as, for instance,
+Norton's Virginia, belonging to the oestivalis class. The original
+plant of this variety was found growing upon an island in the Potomac
+by Dr. Norton, of Virginia.
+
+The species from which the greatest number of well-known grapes is
+obtained is the Vitis labrusca, the common wild or fox grape, found
+growing in woods and thickets, usually where the ground is moist, from
+Canada to the Gulf. The dark purple berries, averaging about
+three-quarters of an inch in diameter, ripen in September, and they
+contain a tough, musky pulp. Yet this "slip of wilderness" is the
+parent of the refined Catawba, the delicious Brighton, and the
+magnificent white grape Lady Washington--indeed, of all the black, red,
+and white grapes with which most people are familiar. Our earliest
+grapes, which ripen in August, as well as some of the latest, like the
+Isabella, come from the labrusca species. It is said that the labrusca
+class will not thrive in the extreme South; and with the exception of
+the high mountain slopes, this appears reasonable to the student of the
+vine. It is said that but few of this class will endure the long hot
+summers of France. But there are great differences among the varieties
+derived from this native species. For example, the Concord thrives
+almost anywhere, while even here upon the Hudson we can scarcely grow
+the Catawba with certainty. It is so good a grape, however, that I
+persist in making the effort, with varying success; but I should not
+recommend it, or many of its class, for those localities not specially
+suited to the grape.
+
+I will now name a few varieties which have proved to be, or promise to
+be, the most thrifty and productive whereever grapes can be grown at
+all the labrusca class: Black--Concord, Wilder, Worden, Amenia, Early
+Canada, Telegraph or Christine, Moore's Early. Red-Wyoming, Goethe,
+Lindley, Beauty, Brighton, Perkins (pale red), and Agawam.
+White--Rebecca, Martha, Alien's Hybrid, Lady Pocklington, Prentiss,
+Lady Washington. These are all fine grapes, and they have succeeded
+throughout wide areas of country. Any and all are well worth a trial;
+but if the grower finds that some of them are weak and diseased in his
+grounds, I should advise that he root them out and replace them with
+those which thrive. The Niagara is highly praised, and may make good
+all that is claimed for it.
+
+Of the aestivalis class I can recommend the Cynthiana and the
+Herbemont, or Warren, for the extreme South. Both of them are black.
+There are new varieties of this vigorous species which promise well.
+
+The cordifolia species promises to furnish some fine, hardy, and
+productive grapes, of which the Amber is an example. The Elvira, a pale
+yellow grape, is highly praised by Mr. Hussman. Although the Bacchus is
+distinctively a wine grape, I have already said that its flavor, when
+fully ripe, was agreeable to me. The only difficulty in growing it is
+to keep the ground poor, and use the pruning-knife freely.
+
+I have enlarged on this point, for I wish to direct the mind of the
+reader to the fact that there are many very hardy grapes. I
+congratulate those who, with the taste of a connoisseur, have merely to
+sample until they find just the varieties that suit them, and then to
+plant these kinds in their genial soil and favored locality.
+
+At the same time I should like to prevent others from worrying along
+with unsatisfactory varieties, or from reaching the conclusion that
+they can not grow grapes in their region or garden. Let them rather
+admit that they can not raise some kinds, but may others. If a variety
+were persistently diseased, feeble, and unproductive under good
+treatment, I should root it out rather than continue to nurse and
+coddle it.
+
+When mildew and grape-rot first appear, the evil can often be remedied
+in part by dusting the vines with sulphur, and continuing the process
+until the disease is cured, if it ever is. I have never had occasion to
+do this, and will not do it. A variety that often requires such nursing
+in this favored locality should be discarded.
+
+There is one kind of disease, or feebleness rather, to which we are
+subject everywhere, and from which few varieties are exempt. It is the
+same kind of weakness which would be developed in a fine sound horse if
+we drove him until he dropped down every time we took him out.
+Cultivated vines are so far removed from their natural conditions that
+they will often bear themselves to death, like a peach-tree. To permit
+this is a true instance of avarice overreaching itself; or the evil may
+result from ignorance or neglect. Close pruning in autumn and thinning
+out the crowding clusters soon after they have formed is the remedy. If
+a vine had been so enfeebled, I should cut it back rigorously, feed it
+well, and permit it to bear very little fruit, if any, for a year.
+
+Of insect enemies we have the phylloxera of bad eminence, which has so
+dismayed Europe. The man who could discover and patent an adequate
+remedy in France might soon rival a Rothschild in his wealth. The
+remedy abroad is also ours--to plant varieties which are
+phylloxera-proof, or nearly so. Fortunately we have many which defy
+this pestiferous little root-louse, and European vine-growers have been
+importing them by the million. They are still used chiefly as stocks on
+which to graft varieties of the vinifera species. In California, grapes
+of the vinifera or European species are generally cultivated; but the
+phylloxera is at its destructive work among them. The wine-grapes of
+the future throughout the world may be developed from the hardy
+cestivalis and cordifolia classes. In many localities, even in this new
+land, varieties like the Delaware succumb to this scourge of foreign
+vineyards.
+
+The aphis, or plant-louse, sometimes attacks the young, tender shoots
+of the vine. The moment they appear, take off the shoot, and crush it
+on a board with the foot. Leaf-rollers, the grape-vine sphinx, and
+caterpillars in general must be caught by hand and killed. Usually they
+are not very numerous. The horrid little rose-chafers or rose-bugs are
+sometimes very destructive. Our best course is to take a basin of water
+and jar them off into it--they fall readily--and then scald them to
+death. We may discover lady-bugs--small red or yellow and black
+beetles--among our vines, and many persons, I fear, will destroy them
+with the rest. We should take off our hats to them and wish them
+godspeed. In their destruction of aphides and thrips they are among our
+best friends. The camel-cricket is another active destroyer of
+injurious insects. Why do not our schools teach a little practical
+natural history? Once, when walking in the Catskills, I saw the burly
+driver of a stage-load of ladies bound out of his vehicle to kill a
+garter-snake, the pallid women looking on, meanwhile, as if the earth
+were being rid of some terrible and venomous thing. They ought to have
+known that the poor little reptile was as harmless as one of their own
+garters, and quite as useful in its way. Every country boy and girl
+should be taught to recognize all our helpers in our incessant fight
+with insect enemies--a fight which must be maintained with more
+organized vigor and intelligence than at present, if horticulture is
+ever to reach its best development.
+
+Wasps and hornets often swarm about the sweet and early ripe varieties.
+A wide-mouthed bottle partially filled with molasses and water will
+entrap and drown great numbers of these ugly customers. Some of our
+favorite birds try our patience not a little. During the early summer I
+never wearied of watching the musical orioles flashing with their
+bright hues in and out of the foliage about the house; but when the
+early grapes were ripe, they took pay for their music with the
+sang-froid of a favorite prima donna. On one occasion I saw three or
+four alight on a Diana vine, and in five minutes they had spoiled a
+dozen clusters. If they would only take a bunch and eat it up clean,
+one would readily share with them, for there would be enough for all;
+but the dainty little epicures puncture an indefinite number of
+berries, merely taking a sip from each. Then the wasps and bees come
+along and finish the clusters. The cardinal, cat-bird, and our
+unrivalled songster the wood-thrush, all help themselves in the same
+wasteful fashion. One can't shoot wood-thrushes. We should almost as
+soon think of killing off our Nilssons, Nevadas, and Carys. The only
+thing to do is to protect the clusters; and this can be accomplished in
+several ways. The most expeditious and satisfactory method is to cover
+the vines of early grapes with cheap mosquito netting. Another method
+is to make little bags of this netting and inclose each cluster. Last
+fall, two of my children tied up many hundreds of clusters in little
+paper bags, which can be procured at wholesale for a trifling sum. The
+two lower corners of the paper bags should be clipped off to permit the
+rain to pass freely through them. Clusters ripen better, last longer on
+the vine, and acquire a more exquisite bloom and flavor in this
+retirement than if exposed to light as well as to birds and wasps. Not
+the fruit but the foliage of the grape-vine needs the sun.
+
+Few of the early grapes will keep long after being taken from the vine;
+but some of the later ones can be preserved well into the winter by
+putting them in small boxes and storing them where the temperature is
+cool, even, and dry. Some of the wine-grapes, like Norton's Virginia,
+will keep under these conditions almost like winter apples. One October
+day I took a stone pot of the largest size and put in first a layer of
+Isabella grapes, then a double thickness of straw paper, then alternate
+layers of grapes and paper, until the pot was full. A cloth was next
+pasted over the stone cover, so as to make the pot water-tight. The pot
+was then buried on a dry knoll below the reach of frost, and dug up
+again on New Year's Day. The grapes looked and tasted as if they had
+just been picked from the vine.
+
+For the mysteries of hybridizing and raising new seedlings, grafting,
+hot-house and cold grapery culture, the reader must look in more
+extended works than this, and to writers who have had experience in
+these matters.
+
+We shall next consider three fruits which upon the Home Acre may be
+regarded as forming a natural group-peaches, plums, and raspberries, if
+any one expresses surprise that the last-named fruit should be given
+this relationship, I have merely to reply that the raspberry thrives in
+the partial shade produced by such small trees as the peach and plum.
+Where there is need of economy of space it is well to take advantage of
+this fact, for but few products of the garden give any satisfaction
+when contending with roots below and shade above.
+
+We have taken it for granted that some grape-vines would be planted in
+the two borders extending through the centre of the garden, also that
+there would be spaces left which might be filled with peach and plum
+trees and small flowering shrubs. If there is to be a good-sized
+poultry-yard upon the acre, we should advise that plums be planted in
+that; but we will speak of this fruit later, and now give our attention
+to that fruit which to the taste of many is unrivalled--the peach.
+
+With the exception of the strawberry, it is perhaps the only fruit for
+which I prefer spring planting. At the same time, I should not hesitate
+to set out the trees in autumn. The ground should be good, but not too
+highly fertilized. I prefer young trees but one year old from the bud.
+If set out in the fall, I should mound up the earth eighteen inches
+about them, to protect the roots and stem, and to keep the tree firmly
+in the soil. With this precaution, I am not sure but that fall planting
+has the greater advantage, except when the climate is very severe and
+subject to great alternations. Plant with the same care and on the same
+principles which have been already described. If a careful system of
+pruning is to be adopted, the trees may be set out twelve feet apart;
+but if they are to be left to grow at will, which I regret to say is
+the usual practice, they should be planted fifteen feet from each other.
+
+There are many good reasons why the common orchard culture of the peach
+should not be adopted in the garden. There is no fruit more neglected
+and ill-treated than the beautiful and delicious peach. The trees are
+very cheap, usually costing but a few cents each; they are bought by
+the thousand from careless dealers, planted with scarcely the attention
+given to a cabbage-plant, and too often allowed to bear themselves to
+death. The land, trees, and cultivation cost so little that one good
+crop is expected to remunerate for all outlay. If more crops are
+obtained, there is so much clear gain. Under this slovenly treatment
+there is, of course, rapid deterioration in the stamina of the peach.
+Pits and buds are taken from enfeebled trees for the purpose of
+propagation, and so tendencies to disease are perpetuated and enhanced.
+Little wonder that, the fatal malady, the "yellows," has blighted so
+many hopes! I honestly believe that millions of trees have been sold in
+which this disease existed from the bud. If fine peaches were bred and
+propagated with something of the same care that is bestowed on blooded
+stock, the results would soon be proportionate. Gardeners abroad often
+give more care to one tree than hundreds receive here. Because the
+peach has grown so easily in our climate, we have imposed on its
+good-nature beyond the limits of endurance, and consequently it is not
+easy to get sound, healthful trees that will bear year after year under
+the best of treatment, as they did with our fathers with no care at
+all. I should look to men who had made a reputation for sending out
+sound, healthful stock grown under their own eyes from pits and wood
+which they know to be free from disease. Do not try to save a few
+pennies on the first cost of trees, for the probabilities are that such
+economy will result in little more than the "yellows."
+
+In large orchards, cultivated by horse-power, the stems of the trees
+are usually from four to six feet high; but in the garden this length
+of stem is not necessary, and the trees can be grown as dwarf
+standards, with stems beginning to branch two feet from the ground. A
+little study of the habit of growth in the peach will show that, to
+obtain the best results, the pruning-shears are almost as essential as
+in the case of the grape-vine. More than in any other fruit-tree, the
+sap tends strongly toward the ends of the shoots. Left to Nature, only
+the terminal buds of these will grow from year to year; the other buds
+lower down on the shoots fail and drop off. Thus we soon have long
+naked reaches of unproductive wood, or sucker-like sprouts starting
+from the bark, which are worse than useless. Our first aim should be to
+form a round, open, symmetrical head, shortening in the shoots at least
+one-half each year, and cutting out crossing and interlacing branches.
+For instance, if we decide to grow our trees as dwarf standards, we
+shall cut back the stems at a point two feet from the ground the first
+spring after planting, and let but three buds grow, to make the first
+three or leading branches. The following spring we shall cut back the
+shoots that have formed, so as to make six leading branches. Thereafter
+we shall continue to cut out and back so as to maintain an open head
+for the free circulation of air and light.
+
+To learn the importance of rigorous and careful pruning, observe the
+shoots of a vigorous peach-tree, say three or four years old. These
+shoots or sprays are long and slender, lined with fruit-buds. You will
+often find two fruit-buds together, with a leaf-bud between them. If
+the fruit-buds have been uninjured by the winter, they will nearly all
+form peaches, far more than the slender spray can support or mature.
+The sap will tend to give the most support to all growth at the end of
+the spray or branch. The probable result will be that you will have a
+score, more or less, of peaches that are little beyond skin and stones.
+By midsummer the brittle sprays will break, or the limbs split down at
+the crotches. You may have myriads of peaches, but none fit for market
+or table. Thousands of baskets are sent to New York annually that do
+not pay the expenses of freight, commission, etc.; while the orchards
+from which they come are practically ruined. I had two small trees from
+which, one autumn, I sold ten dollars' worth of fruit. They yielded
+more profit than is often obtained from a hundred trees.
+
+Now, in the light of these facts, realize the advantages secured by
+cutting back the shoots or sprays so as to leave but three or four
+fruit-buds on each. The tree can probably mature these buds into large,
+beautiful peaches, and still maintain its vigor. By this shortening-in
+process you have less tree, but more fruit. The growth is directed and
+kept within proper limits, and the tree preserved for future
+usefulness. Thus the peach-trees of the garden will not only furnish
+some of the most delicious morsels of the year, but also a very
+agreeable and light phase of labor. They can be made pets which will
+amply repay all kindness; and the attentions they most appreciate,
+strange to say, are cutting and pinching. The pruning-shears in March
+and early April can cut away forming burdens which could not be borne,
+and pinching back during the summer can maintain beauty and symmetry in
+growth. When the proprietor of the Home Acre has learned from
+experience to do this work judiciously, his trees, like the
+grape-vines, will afford many hours of agreeable and healthful
+recreation. If he regards it as labor, one great, melting, luscious
+peach will repay him. A small apple, pear, or strawberry usually has
+the flavor of a large one; but a peach to be had in perfection must be
+fully matured to its limit of growth on a healthful tree.
+
+Let no one imagine that the shortening in of shoots recommended
+consists of cutting the young sprays evenly all round the trees as one
+would shear a hedge. It more nearly resembles the pruning of the vine;
+for the peach, like the vine, bears its fruit only on the young wood of
+the previous summer's growth. The aim should be to have this young
+bearing wood distributed evenly over the tree, as should be true of a
+grape-vine. When the trees are kept low, as dwarf standards, the fruit
+is more within reach, and less liable to be blown off by high winds.
+Gradually, however, if the trees prove healthful, they will get high
+enough up in the world.
+
+Notwithstanding the rigorous pruning recommended, the trees will often
+overload themselves; and thinning out the young peaches when as large
+as hickory nuts is almost imperative if we would secure good fruit. Men
+of experience say that when a tree has set too much fruit, if
+two-thirds of it are taken off while little, the remaining third will
+measure and weigh more than would the entire crop, and bring three
+times as much money. In flavor and beauty the gain will certainly be
+more than double.
+
+Throughout its entire growth and fruiting life the peach-tree needs
+good cultivation, and also a good but not overstimulated soil.
+Well-decayed compost from the cow-stable is probably the best barnyard
+fertilizer. Wood-ashes are peculiarly agreeable to the constitution of
+this tree, and tend to maintain it in health and bearing long after
+others not so treated are dead. I should advise that half a peck be
+worked in lightly every spring around each tree as far as the branches
+extend. When enriching the ground about a tree, never heap the
+fertilizer round the trunk, but spread it evenly from the stem outward
+as far as the branches reach, remembering that the head above is the
+measure of the root extension below. Air-slacked lime is also useful to
+the peach in small quantities; and so, no doubt, would be a little salt
+from time to time. Bone-meal is highly recommended.
+
+Like other fruit-trees, the peach does not thrive on low, wet ground,
+and the fruit-buds are much more apt to be winter-killed in such
+localities. A light, warm soil is regarded as the most favorable.
+
+Of course we can grow this fruit on espaliers, as they do abroad; but
+there are few localities where any advantage is to be derived from this
+course. In our latitude I much prefer cool northern exposures, for the
+reason that the fruitbuds are kept dormant during warm spells in
+winter, and so late in spring that they escape injury from frost.
+Alternate freezing and thawing is more harmful than steady cold. The
+buds are seldom safe, however, at any time when the mercury sinks ten
+or fifteen degrees below zero.
+
+As we have intimated, abuse of the peach-tree has developed a fatal
+disease, known as the "yellows." It manifests itself in yellow, sickly
+foliage, numerous and feeble sprouts along the larger limbs and trunk,
+and small miserable fruit, ripening prematurely. I can almost taste the
+yellows in much of the fruit bought in market. Some regard the disease
+as very contagious; others do not. It is best to be on the safe side.
+If a tree is affected generally, dig it out by the roots and burn it at
+once; if only a branch shows evidence of the malady, cut it off well
+back, and commit it to the flames. The only remedy is to propagate from
+trees in sound health and vigor.
+
+Like the apple, the peach-tree is everywhere subject to injury from a
+borer, named "exitiosa, or the destructive." The eggs from which these
+little pests are hatched are laid by the moth during the summer upon
+the stem of the tree very near the root; the grubs bore through the
+outer bark, and devour the inner bark and sap-wood. Fortunately they
+soon reveal their evil work by the castings, and by the gum which
+exudes from the hole by which they entered. They can not do much harm,
+unless a tree is neglected; in this case, however, they will soon
+enfeeble, and probably destroy it. When once within a tree, borers must
+be cut out with a sharp-pointed knife, carefully yet thoroughly. The
+wounds from the knife may be severe, but the ceaseless gnawing of the
+grub is fatal. If the tree has been lacerated to some extent, a plaster
+of moistened clay or cow-manure makes a good salve. Keeping the borers
+out of the tree is far better than taking them out; and this can be
+effected by wrapping the stem at the ground--two inches below the
+surface, and five above--with strong hardware or sheathing paper. If
+this is tied tightly about the tree, the moth cannot lay its eggs upon
+the stem. A neighbor of mine has used this protection not only on the
+peach, but also on the apple, with almost complete success. Of course
+the pests will try to find their way under it, and it would be well to
+take off the wrapper occasionally and examine the trees. The paper must
+also be renewed before it is so far decayed as to be valueless. It
+should be remembered also that the borer will attack the trees from the
+first year of life to the end.
+
+In order to insure an unfailing supply of this delicious fruit, I
+should advise that a few trees be set out every spring. The labor and
+expense are scarcely greater than that bestowed upon a cabbage patch,
+and the reward is more satisfactory.
+
+For this latitude the following choice of varieties will prove, I
+think, a good one: Early Alexander, Early Elvers, Princess of Wales,
+Brandywine, Old Mixon Free, Stump the World, Picquet's Late, Crawford's
+Late, Mary's Choice, White Free Heath, Salway, and Lord Palmerston.
+
+If the soil of one's garden is stiff, cold, adhesive clay, the peach
+would succeed much better budded or grafted on plum-stocks. Some of the
+finest fruit I have ever seen was from seedlings, the trees having been
+grown from pits of unusually good peaches. While the autumn planting of
+pits lightly in the soil and permitting them to develop into bearing
+trees is a pleasing and often profitable amusement, there is no great
+probability that the result will be desirable. We hear of the
+occasional prizes won in this way, but not of the many failures.
+
+By easy transition we pass to the kindred fruit the plum, which does
+not generally receive the attention it deserves. If one has a soil
+suited to it--a heavy clay or loam--it can usually be grown very
+easily. The fruit is so grateful to the taste and useful to the
+housekeeper that it should be given a fair trial, either in the garden
+borders or wherever a tree can be planted so as to secure plenty of
+light and air. The young trees may be one or two years old from the
+bud; I should prefer the former, if vigorous. Never be induced to
+purchase old trees by promises of speedy fruit. It is quite possible
+you may never get any fruit at all from them worth mentioning. I should
+allow a space of from ten to fifteen feet between the trees when they
+are planted together, and I should cut them back so that they would
+begin to branch at two feet from the ground. Long, naked stems are
+subject to the gum-disease.
+
+In the place of general advice in regard to this fruit I shall give the
+experience of Mr. T. S. Force, of Newburgh, who exhibited seventy
+varieties at the last annual Orange County fair.
+
+His plum-orchard is a large poultry-yard, containing half an acre, of
+which the ground is a good loam, resting on a heavy clay subsoil. He
+bought trees but one year from the bud, set them out in autumn, and cut
+them back so that they began to form their heads at two feet from the
+ground. He prefers starting with strong young plants of this age, and
+he did not permit them to bear for the first three years, his primal
+aim being to develop a healthy, vigorous tree with a round, symmetrical
+head. During this period the ground about them was kept mellow by good
+cultivation, and, being rich enough to start with, received no
+fertilizers. It is his belief that over-fertilization tends to cause
+the disease so well known as the "black knot," which has destroyed many
+orchards in this vicinity. If the garden has been enriched as I have
+directed, the soil will probably need little, if anything, from the
+stables, and certainly will not if the trees are grown in a
+poultry-yard. During this growing and forming period Mr. Force gave
+careful attention to pruning. Budded trees are not even symmetrical
+growers, but tend to send up a few very strong shoots that rob the rest
+of the tree of sustenance. Of course these must be cut well back in
+early spring, or we have long, naked reaches of wood and a deformed
+tree. It is far better, however, not to let these rampant shoots grow
+to maturity, but to pinch them back in early summer, thus causing them
+to throw out side-branches. By summer pinching and rubbing off of
+tender shoots a tree can be made to grow in any shape we desire. When
+the trees receive no summer pruning, Mr. Force advises that the
+branches be shortened in at least one half in the spring, while some
+shoots are cut back even more rigorously. At the age of four or five
+years, according to the vigor of the trees, he permits them to bear.
+Now cultivation ceases, and the ground is left to grow hard, but not
+weedy or grassy, beneath the boughs. Every spring, just as the blossoms
+are falling, he spreads evenly under the branches four quarts of salt.
+While the trees thrive and grow fruitful with this fertilizer, the
+curculio, or plum-weevil, does not appear to find it at all to its
+taste. As a result of his methods, Mr. Force has grown large and
+profitable crops, and his trees in the main are kept healthy and
+vigorous. His remedy for the black knot is to cut off and burn the
+small boughs and twigs affected. If the disease appears in the side of
+a limb or in the stem, he cuts out all trace of it, and paints the
+wound with a wash of gum shellac and alcohol.
+
+Trees load so heavily that the plums rest against one another. You will
+often find in moist warm weather decaying specimens. These should be
+removed at once, that the infection may not spread.
+
+In cutting out the interfering boughs, do not take off the
+sharp-pointed spurs which are forming along the branches, for on these
+are slowly maturing the fruit-buds. In this case, as in others, the
+careful observer, after he has acquired a few sound principles of
+action to start with, is taught more by the tree itself than from any
+other source.
+
+Mr. Force recommends the following ten varieties, named in the order of
+ripening: Canada; Orleans, a red-cheeked plum; McLaughlin, greenish,
+with pink cheek; Bradshaw, large red, with lilac bloom; Smith's
+Orleans, purple; Green Gage; Bleeker's Gage, golden yellow; Prune
+d'Agen, purple; Coe's Golden Drop; and Shropshire Damson for preserves.
+
+If we are restricted to very light soils, we shall probably have to
+grow some of the native varieties, of the Canada and Wild-Goose type.
+In regard to both this fruit and peaches we should be guided in our
+selection by information respecting varieties peculiarly suited to the
+region.
+
+The next chapter will treat of small fruits, beginning with the
+raspberry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE RASPBERRY
+
+
+The wide and favorable consideration given to small fruits clearly
+marks one of the changes in the world's history. This change may seem
+trifling indeed to the dignified chroniclers of kings and queens and
+others of high descent--great descent, it may be added, remembering the
+moral depths attained; but to those who care for the welfare of the
+people, it is a mutation of no slight interest. I am glad to think, as
+has been shown in a recent novel, that Lucrezia Borgia was not so black
+as she has been painted; yet in the early days of June and July, when
+strawberries and raspberries are ripening, I fancy that most of us can
+dismiss her and her kin from mind as we observe Nature's alchemy in our
+gardens. When we think of the luscious, health-imparting fruits which
+will grace millions of tables, and remember that until recent years
+they were conspicuous only by their absence, we may not slightingly
+estimate a great change for the better. Once these fruits were wildings
+which the vast majority of our forefathers shared sparingly with the
+birds. Often still, unless we are careful, our share will be small
+indeed; for the unperverted taste of the birds discovered from the
+first what men have been so slow to learn--that the ruby-like berries
+are the gems best worth seeking. The world is certainly progressing
+toward physical redemption when even the Irish laborer abridges his
+cabbage-patch for the sake of small fruits--food which a dainty Ariel
+could not despise.
+
+We have said that raspberries thrive in partial shade; and therefore
+some advice in regard to them naturally follows our consideration of
+trees. Because the raspberry is not so exacting as are many other
+products of the garden, it does not follow that it should be marked out
+for neglect. As it is treated on many places, the only wonder is that
+even the bushes survive. Like many who try to do their best in
+adversity, it makes the most of what people term "a chance to get
+ahead."
+
+Moreover, the raspberry is perhaps as often injured by mistaken
+kindness as by neglect. If we can imagine it speaking for itself, it
+would say: "It is not much that I want, but in the name of common-sense
+and nature give me just what I do want; then you may pick at me to your
+heart's content."
+
+The first need of the raspberry is a well-drained but not a very dry,
+light soil. Yet such is its adaptability that certain varieties can be
+grown on any land which will produce a burdock or a mullien-stalk. In
+fact, this question of variety chiefly determines our chances of
+success and the nature of our treatment of the fruit. The reader, at
+the start, should be enabled to distinguish the three classes of
+raspberries grown in this country.
+
+As was true of grapes, our fathers first endeavored to supply their
+gardens from foreign nurseries, neglecting the wild species with which
+our woods and roadsides abounded. The raspberry of Europe (Rubus
+idaeus) has been developed, and in many instances enfeebled, by ages of
+cultivation. Nevertheless, few other fruits have shown equal power to
+adapt themselves to our soil and climate, and we have obtained from
+foreign sources many valuable kinds--as, for instance, the Antwerp,
+which for weeks together annually taxed the carrying power of Hudson
+River steamers. In quality these foreign kinds have never been
+surpassed; but almost invariably they have proved tender and
+fastidious, thriving well in some localities, and failing utterly
+(except under the most skilful care) in others. The frosts of the North
+killed them in winter, and Southern suns shrivelled their foliage in
+summer. Therefore they were not raspberries for the million, but for
+those who resided in favored regions, and were willing to bestow upon
+them much care and high culture.
+
+Eventually another process began, taking place either by chance or
+under the skilful manipulation of the gardener--that of hybridizing, or
+crossing these foreign varieties with our hardier native species. The
+best results have been attained more frequently, I think, by chance;
+that is, the bees, which get more honey from the raspberry than from
+most other plants, carried the pollen from a native flower to the
+blossom of the garden exotic. The seeds of the fruit eventually
+produced were endowed with characteristics of both the foreign and
+native strains. Occasionally these seeds fell where they had a chance
+to grow, and so produced a fortuitous seedling plant which soon matured
+into a bearing bush, differing from, both of its parents, and not
+infrequently surpassing both in good qualities. Some one
+horticulturally inclined having observed the unusually fine fruit on
+the chance plant, and believing that it is a good plan to help the
+fittest to survive, marked the bush, and in the autumn transferred it
+to his garden. It speedily propagated itself by suckers, or young
+sprouts from the roots, and he had plants to sell or give away. Such, I
+believe, was the history of the Cuthbert--named after the gentleman who
+found it, and now probably the favorite raspberry of America.
+
+Thus fortuitously, or by the skill of the gardener, the foreign and our
+native species were crossed, and a new and hardier class of varieties
+obtained. The large size and richness in flavor of the European berry
+has been bred into and combined with our smaller and more insipid
+indigenous fruit. By this process the area of successful raspberry
+culture has been extended almost indefinitely.
+
+Within recent years a third step forward has been taken. Some
+localities and soils were so unsuited to the raspberry that no variety
+containing even a small percentage of the foreign element could thrive.
+This fact led fruit-growers to give still closer attention to our
+native species. Wild bushes were found here and there which gave fruit
+of such good quality and in such large quantities that they were deemed
+well worthy of cultivation. Many of these wild specimens accepted
+cultivation gratefully, and showed such marked improvement that they
+were heralded over the land as of wonderful and surpassing value. Some
+of these pure, unmixed varieties of our native species (Rubus
+strigosus) have obtained a wide celebrity; as, for instance, the
+Brandywine, Highland Hardy, and, best of all, the Turner. It should be
+distinctly understood, however, that, with the exception of the
+last-named kind, these native varieties are decidedly inferior to most
+of the foreign berries and their hybrids or crosses, like the Cuthbert
+and Marlboro. Thousands have been misled by their praise, and have
+planted them when they might just as easily have grown far better
+kinds. I suppose that many wealthy persons in the latitudes of New York
+and Boston have told their gardeners (or more probably were told by
+them): "We do not wish any of those wild kinds. Brinckle's Orange,
+Franconia, and the Antwerp are good enough for us." So they should be,
+for they are the best; but they are all foreign varieties, and scarcely
+will live at all, much less be productive, in wide areas of the country.
+
+I trust that this preliminary discussion in regard to red raspberries
+will prepare the way for the advice to follow, and enable the
+proprietor of the Home Acre to act intelligently. Sensible men do not
+like to be told, "You cannot do this, and must not do that"--in other
+words, to be met the moment they step into their gardens by the
+arbitrary dictum of A, B, or C. They wish to unite with Nature in
+producing certain results. Understanding her simple laws, they work
+hopefully, confidently; and they cannot be imposed upon by those who
+either wittingly or unwittingly give bad advice. Having explained the
+natural principles on which I base my directions, I can expect the
+reader to follow each step with the prospect of success and enjoyment
+much enhanced.
+
+The question first arising is, What shall we plant? As before, I shall
+give the selection of eminent authorities, then suggest to the reader
+the restrictions under which he should make a choice for his own
+peculiar soil and climate.
+
+Dr. F. M. Hexamer, the well-known editor of a leading horticultural
+journal, is recognized throughout the land as having few, if any,
+superiors in recent and practical acquaintance with small fruits. The
+following is his selection: "Cuthbert, Turner, and Marlboro." The Hon.
+Marshall P. Wilder's choice: "Brinckle's Orange, Franconia, Cuthbert,
+Herstine, Shaffer." The Hon. Norman J. Colman, Commissioner of
+Agriculture: "Turner, Marlboro, Cuthbert." P. J. Berckmans, of Georgia:
+"Cuthbert, Hansel, Lost Rubies, Imperial Red." A. S. Fuller: "Turner,
+Cuthbert, Hansel."
+
+In analyzing this list we find three distinctly foreign kinds named:
+the Orange, Franconia, and Herstine. If the last is not wholly of
+foreign origin, the element of our native species enters into it so
+slightly that it will not endure winters in our latitude, or the summer
+sun of the South. For excellence, however, it is unsurpassed.
+
+In the Cuthbert, Marlboro, and Lost Rubies we have hybrids of the
+foreign and our native species, forming the second class referred to;
+in the Turner and Hansel, examples of our native species unmixed. To
+each of these classes might be added a score of other varieties which
+have been more or less popular, but they would serve only to distract
+the reader's attention. I have tested forty or fifty kinds side by side
+at one time, only to be shown that four or five varieties would answer
+all practical purposes. I can assure the reader, however, that it will
+be scarcely possible to find a soil or climate where some of these
+approved sorts will not thrive abundantly and at slight outlay.
+
+Throughout southern New England, along the bank of the Hudson, and
+westward, almost any raspberry can be grown with proper treatment.
+There are exceptions, which are somewhat curious. For instance, the
+famous Hudson River Antwerp, which until within a very few years has
+been one of the great crops of the State, has never been grown
+successfully to any extent except on the west bank of the river, and
+within the limited area of Kingston on the north and Cornwall on the
+south. The Franconia, another foreign sort, has proved itself adapted
+to more extended conditions of soil and climate.
+
+I have grown successfully nearly every well-known raspberry, and
+perhaps I can best give the instruction I desire to convey by
+describing the methods finally adopted after many years of observation,
+reading, and experience. I will speak of the class first named,
+belonging to the foreign species, of which I have tested many
+varieties. I expect to set out this year rows of Brinckle's Orange,
+Franconia, Hudson River Antwerp, and others. For this class I should
+make the ground very rich, deep, and mellow. I should prefer to set out
+the plants in the autumn--from the middle of October to the tenth of
+November; if not then, in early spring--the earlier the better--while
+the buds are dormant. I should have the rows four feet apart; and if
+the plants were to be grown among the smaller fruit-trees, I should
+maintain a distance from them of at least seven feet. I should use only
+young plants, those of the previous summer's growth, and set them in
+the ground about as deeply as they stood when taken up--say three or
+four inches of earth above the point from which the roots branched. I
+should put two well-rooted plants in each hill, and this would make the
+hills four feet apart each way. By "hills" I do not mean elevations of
+ground. This should be kept level throughout all future cultivation. I
+should cut back the canes or stems of the plants to six inches.
+Thousands of plants are lost or put back in their growth by leaving two
+or three feet of the canes to grow the first year. Never do this. The
+little fruit gained thus prematurely always entails a hundred-fold of
+loss. Having set out the plants, I should next scatter over and about
+them one or two shovelfuls of old compost or decayed manure of some
+kind. If the plants had been set out in the fall, I should mound the
+earth over them before freezing weather, so that there should be at
+least four inches of soil over the tops of the stems. This little mound
+of earth over the plants or hill would protect against all injury from
+frost. In the spring I should remove these mounds of earth so as to
+leave the ground perfectly level on all sides, and the shortened canes
+projecting, as at first, six inches above the surface. During the
+remainder of the spring and summer the soil between the plants chiefly
+requires to be kept open, mellow, and free from weeds. In using the
+hoe, be careful not to cut off the young raspberry sprouts, on which
+the future crop depends. Do not be disappointed if the growth seems
+feeble the first year, for these foreign kinds are often slow in
+starting. In November, before there is any danger of the ground
+freezing, I should cut back the young canes at least one-third of their
+length, bend them gently down, and cover them with earth to the depth
+of four or five inches. It must be distinctly remembered that very few
+of the foreign kinds would endure our winter unprotected. Every autumn
+they must be covered as I have directed. Is any one aghast at this
+labor? Nonsense! Antwerps are covered by the acre along the Hudson. A
+man and a boy would cover in an hour all that are needed for a garden.
+
+After the first year the foreign varieties, like all others, will send
+up too many sprouts, or suckers. Unless new plants are wanted, these
+should be treated as weeds, and only from three to five young canes be
+left to grow in each hill. This is a very important point, for too
+often the raspberry-patch is neglected until it is a mass of tangled
+bushes. Keep this simple principle in mind: there is a given amount of
+root-power; if this cannot be expended in making young sprouts all over
+the ground, it goes to produce a few strong fruit-bearing canes in the
+hill. In other words, you restrict the whole force of the plant to the
+precise work required--the giving of berries. As the original plants
+grow older, they will show a constantly decreasing tendency to throw up
+new shoots, but as long as they continue to grow, let only those
+survive which are designed to bear the following season.
+
+The canes of cultivated raspberries are biennial. A young and in most
+varieties a fruitless cane is produced in one season; it bears in July
+the second year, and then its usefulness is over. It will continue to
+live in a half-dying way until fall, but it is a useless and unsightly
+life. I know that it is contended by some that the foliage on the old
+canes aids in nourishing the plants; but I think that, under all
+ordinary circumstances, the leaves on the young growth are abundantly
+sufficient. By removing the old canes after they have borne their
+fruit, an aspect of neatness is imparted, which would be conspicuously
+absent were they left. Every autumn, before laying the canes down, I
+should shorten them in one-third. The remaining two-thirds will give
+more fruit by actual measurement, and the berries will be finer and
+larger, than if the canes were left intact. From first to last the soil
+about the foreign varieties should be maintained in a high degree of
+fertility and mellowness. Of manures from the barnyard, that from the
+cow-stable is the best; wood-ashes, bone-dust, and decayed leaves also
+are excellent fertilizers. During all this period the partial shade of
+small trees will be beneficial rather than otherwise, for it should be
+remembered that sheltered localities are the natural habitat of the
+raspberry.
+
+By a little inquiry the reader can learn whether varieties of the
+foreign class are grown successfully in his vicinity. If they are, he
+can raise them also by following the directions which have been given.
+Brinckle's Orange--a buff-colored berry--is certainly one of the most
+beautiful, delicate, and delicious fruits in existence, and is well
+worth all the care it requires in the regions where it will grow; while
+the Franconia and others should never be permitted to die out by fruit
+connoisseurs. If the soil of your garden is light and sandy, or if you
+live much south of New York, I should not advise their trial. They may
+be grown far to the north, however. I am told that tender varieties of
+fruits that can be covered thrive even better in Canada than with us.
+There deep snow protects the land, and in spring and autumn they do not
+have long periods when the bare earth is alternately freezing and
+thawing.
+
+In the second class of raspberries, the crosses between the foreign and
+native species, we now have such fine varieties that no one has much
+cause for regret if he can raise them; and I scarcely see how he can
+help raising them if he has sufficient energy to set out a few plants
+and keep them free from weeds and superabundant suckers. Take the
+Cuthbert, for instance; you may set it out almost anywhere, and in
+almost any latitude except that of the extreme Southern States. But you
+must reverse the conditions required for the foreign kinds. If the
+ground is very rich, the canes will threaten to grow out of sight. I
+advise that this strong-growing sort be planted in rows five feet
+apart. Any ordinary soil is good enough for the Cuthbert to start in,
+and the plants will need only a moderate degree of fertilizing as they
+begin to lose a little of their first vigor. Of course, if the ground
+is unusually light and poor, it should be enriched and maintained in a
+fair degree of fertility. The point I wish to make is that this variety
+will thrive where most others would starve; but there is plenty of land
+on which anything will starve. The Cuthbert is a large, late berry,
+which continues long in bearing, and is deserving of a place in every
+garden. I have grown it for many years, and have never given it any
+protection whatever. Occasionally there comes a winter which kills the
+canes to the ground. I should perhaps explain to the reader here that
+even in the case of the tender foreign kinds it is only the canes that
+are killed by the frost; the roots below the surface are uninjured, and
+throw up vigorous sprouts the following spring. The Cuthbert is so
+nearly hardy that we let it take its chances, and probably in eight
+winters out of ten it would stand unharmed. Its hardiness is greatly
+enhanced when grown on well-drained soils.
+
+It now has a companion berry in the Marlboro--a variety but recently
+introduced, and therefore not thoroughly tested as yet. Its promise,
+however, is very fine, and it has secured the strong yet qualified
+approval of the best fruit critics. It requires richer soil and better
+treatment than the Cuthbert, and it remains to be seen whether it is
+equally hardy. It is well worth winter protection if it is not. It is
+not a suitable berry for the home garden if no other is grown, for the
+reason that it matures its entire crop within a brief time, and thus
+would give a family but a short season of raspberries. Cultivated in
+connection with the Cuthbert, it would be admirable, for it is very
+early, and would produce its fruit before the Cuthberts were ripe.
+Unitedly the two varieties would give a family six weeks of
+raspberries. There are scores of other kinds in this class, and some
+are very good indeed, well worth a place in an amateur's collection;
+but the two already named are sufficient to supply a family with
+excellent fruit.
+
+Of the third class of red raspberries, representing our pure native
+species, I should recommend only one variety--the Turner; and that is
+so good that it deserves a place in every collection. It certainly is a
+remarkable raspberry, and has an unusual history, which I have given in
+my work "Success with Small Fruits." I doubt whether there is a hardier
+raspberry in America--one that can be grown so far to the north, and,
+what is still more in its favor, so far to the south. In the latter
+region it is known as the Southern Thornless. The fact that it is
+almost wholly without spines is a good quality; but it is only one
+among many others. The Turner requires no winter protection whatever,
+will grow on almost any soil in existence, and in almost any climate.
+It yields abundantly medium-sized berries of good flavor. The fruit
+begins to ripen early, and lasts throughout a somewhat extended season.
+It will probably give more berries, with more certainty and less
+trouble, than any other variety. Even its fault leans to virtue's side.
+Set out a single plant, leave it to Nature, and in time it will cover
+the place with Turner raspberries; and yet it will do this in a quiet,
+unobtrusive way, for it is not a rampant, ugly grower. While it will
+persist in living under almost any circumstances, I have found no
+variety that responded more gratefully to good treatment. This consists
+simply in three things: (1) rigorous restriction of the suckers to four
+or five canes in the hill; (2) keeping the soil clean and mellow about
+the bearing plants; (3) making this soil rich. Its dwarf habit of
+growth, unlike that of the Cuthbert, enables one to stimulate it with
+any kind of manure. By this course the size of the bushes is greatly
+increased, and enormous crops can be obtained.
+
+I prefer to set out all raspberries in the fall, although as a matter
+of convenience I often perform the task in the early spring. I do not
+believe in late spring planting, except as one takes up a young sprout,
+two or three inches high, and sets it out as one would a tomato-plant.
+By this course time is often saved. When it is our wish to increase the
+quality and quantity of the fruit, I should advise that the canes of
+all varieties be cut back one-third of their length. A little
+observation will teach us the reason for this. Permit a long cane to
+bear throughout its natural length, and you will note that many buds
+near the ground remain dormant or make a feeble growth. The sap,
+following a general law of nature, pushes to the extremities, and is,
+moreover, too much diffused. Cut away one-third, and all the buds start
+with redoubled vigor, while more and larger fruit is the result. If,
+however, earliness in ripening is the chief consideration, as it often
+is, especially with the market-gardener, leave the canes unpruned, and
+the fruit ripens a few days sooner.
+
+In purveying for the home table, white raspberries offer the
+attractions of variety and beauty. In the case of Brinckle's Orange,
+its exquisite flavor is the chief consideration; but this fastidious
+foreign berry is practically beyond the reach, of the majority. There
+is, however, an excellent variety, the Caroline, which is almost as
+hardy as the Turner, and more easily grown. It would seem that Nature
+designed every one to have it (if we may say IT of Caroline), for not
+only does it sucker freely like the red raspberries, but the tips of
+the canes also bend over, take root, and form new plants. The one thing
+that Caroline needs is repression, the curb; she is too intense.
+
+I am inclined to think, however, that she has had her day, even as an
+attendant on royalty, for a new variety, claiming the high-sounding
+title of Golden Queen, has mysteriously appeared. I say mysteriously,
+for it is difficult to account for her origin. Mr. Ezra Stokes, a
+fruit-grower of New Jersey, had a field of twelve acres planted with
+Cuthbert raspberries. In this field he found a bush producing white
+berries. In brief, he found an Albino of the Cuthbert. Of the causes of
+her existence he knows nothing. All we can say, I suppose, is that the
+variation was produced by some unknown impulse of Nature. Deriving her
+claims from such a source, she certainly has a better title to royalty
+than most of her sister queens, who, according to history, have been
+commonplace women, suggesting anything but nature. With the exception
+of the Philadelphians, perhaps, we as a people will not stand on the
+question of ancestry, and shall be more inclined to see how she "queens
+it."
+
+Of course the enthusiastic discoverer and disseminators of this variety
+claim that it is not only like the Cuthbert, but far better. Let us try
+it and see; if it is as good, we may well be content, and can grace our
+tables with beautiful fruit.
+
+There is another American species of raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)
+that is almost as dear to memory as the wild strawberry--the
+thimble-berry, or black-cap. I confess that the wild flavor of this
+fruit is more to my taste than that of any other raspberry. Apparently
+its seeds have been sown broadcast over the continent, for it is found
+almost everywhere, and there have been few children in America whose
+lips have not been stained by the dark purple juice of its fruit. Seeds
+dropped in neglected pastures, by fence and roadsides, and along the
+edges of the forest, produce new varieties which do not propagate
+themselves by suckers like red raspberries, but in a manner quite
+distinct. The young purple canes bend over and take root in the soil
+during August, September, and October. At the extreme end of the tip
+from which the roots descend a bud is formed, which remains dormant
+until the following spring. Therefore the young plant we set out is a
+more or less thick mass of roots, a green bud, and usually a bit of the
+old parent cane, which is of no further service except as a handle and
+a mark indicating the location of the plant. After the ground has been
+prepared as one would for corn or potatoes, it should be levelled, a
+line stretched for the row, and the plants set four feet apart in the
+row. Sink the roots as straight down as possible, and let the bud point
+upward, covering it lightly with merely one or two inches of soil.
+Press the ground firmly against the roots, but not on the bud. The soil
+just over this should be fine and mellow, so that the young shoot can
+push through easily, which it will soon do if the plants are in good
+condition. Except in the extreme South, spring is by far the best time
+for planting, and it should be done early, while the buds are dormant.
+After these begin to grow, keep the ground mellow and free from weeds.
+The first effort of the young plant will be to propagate itself. It
+will sprawl over the ground if left to its wild impulses, and will not
+make an upright bearing bush. On this account put a stake down by the
+young sprout, and as it grows keep it tied up and away from the ground.
+When the side-branches are eight or ten inches long, pinch them back,
+thus throwing the chief strength into the central cane. By keeping all
+the branches pinched back you form the plant into an erect, sturdy bush
+that will load itself with berries the following year. No fruit will be
+borne the first season. The young canes of the second year will incline
+to be more sturdy and erect in their growth; but this tendency can be
+greatly enhanced by clipping the long slender branches which are thrown
+out on every side. As soon as the old canes are through bearing, they
+should be cut out and burned or composted with other refuse from the
+garden. Black-caps may be planted on any soil that is not too dry. When
+the plant suffers from drought, the fruit consists of little else than
+seeds. To escape this defect I prefer to put the black-caps in a moist
+location; and it is one of the few fruits that will thrive in a cold,
+wet soil. One can set out plants here and there in out-of-the-way
+corners, and they often do better than those in the garden. Indeed,
+unless a place is kept up very neatly, many such bushes will be found
+growing wild, and producing excellent fruit.
+
+The question may arise in some minds, Why buy plants? Why not get them
+from the woods and fields, or let Nature provide bushes for us where
+she will? When Nature produces a bush on my place where it is not in
+the way, I let it grow, and pick the fruit in my rambles; but the
+supply would be precarious indeed for a family. By all means get plants
+from the woods if you have marked a bush that produces unusually fine
+fruit. It is by just this course that the finest varieties have been
+obtained. If you go a-berrying, you may light on something finer than
+has yet been discovered; but it is not very probable. Meanwhile, for a
+dollar you can get all the plants you want of the two or three best
+varieties that have yet been discovered, from Maine to California.
+After testing a great many kinds, I should recommend the Souhegan for
+early, and the Mammoth Cluster and Gregg for late. A clean, mellow soil
+in good condition, frequent pinchings back of the canes in summer, or a
+rigorous use of the pruning-shears in spring, are all that is required
+to secure an abundant crop from year to year. This species may also be
+grown among trees. I advise that every kind and description of
+raspberries be kept tied to stakes or a wire trellis. The wood ripens
+better, the fruit is cleaner and richer from exposure to air and
+sunshine, and the garden is far neater than if the canes are sprawling
+at will. I know that all horticulturists advise that the plants be
+pinched back so thoroughly as to form self-supporting bushes; but I
+have yet to see the careful fruit-grower who did this, or the bushes
+that some thunder-gusts would not prostrate into the mud with all their
+precious burden, were they not well supported. Why take the risk to
+save a two-penny stake?
+
+If, just before the fruit begins to ripen, a mulch of leaves, cut
+grass, or any litter that will cover the ground slightly, is placed
+under and around the bushes, it may save a great deal of fruit from
+being spoiled. The raspberry season is also the hour and opportunity
+for thunder-showers, whose great slanting drops often splash the soil
+to surprising distances. Sugar-and-cream-coated, not mud-coated,
+berries, if you please.
+
+In my remarks on raspberries I have not named many varieties, and have
+rather laid stress on the principles which may guide the reader in his
+present and future selections of kinds. Sufficient in number and
+variety to meet the NEEDS of every family have been mentioned. The
+amateur may gratify his taste by testing other sorts described in
+nurserymen's catalogues. Moreover, every year or two some new variety
+will be heralded throughout the land. The reader has merely to keep in
+mind the three classes of raspberries described and their
+characteristics, in order to make an intelligent choice from old and
+new candidates for favor.
+
+It should also be remembered that the raspberry is a Northern fruit. I
+am often asked in effect, What raspberries do you recommend for the
+Gulf States? I suppose my best reply would be, What oranges do you
+think best adapted to New York? Most of the foreign kinds falter and
+fail in New Jersey and Southern Pennsylvania; the Cuthbert and its
+class can be grown much further south, while the Turner and the
+black-caps thrive almost to Florida.
+
+Raspberries, especially those of our native species, are comparatively
+free from disease. Foreign varieties and their hybrids are sometimes
+afflicted with the curl-leaf. The foliage crimps up, the canes are
+dwarfed, and the whole plant has a sickly and often yellow appearance.
+The only remedy is to dig up the plant, root and branch, and burn it.
+
+A disease termed the "rust" not infrequently attacks old and poorly
+nourished black-cap bushes. The leaves take on an ochreous color, and
+the plant is seen to be failing. Extirpate it as directed above. If
+many bushes are affected, I advise that the whole patch be rooted up,
+and healthy plants set out elsewhere.
+
+It is a well-known law of Nature that plants of nearly all kinds appear
+to exhaust from the soil in time the ingredients peculiarly acceptable
+to them. Skill can do much toward maintaining the needful supply; but
+the best and easiest plan is not to grow any of the small fruits too
+long in any one locality. By setting out new plants on different
+ground, far better results are attained with much less trouble.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CURRANT
+
+
+Who that has ever lived in the country does not remember the old
+straggling currant-bushes that disputed their existence with grass,
+docks, and other coarse-growing weeds along some ancient fence? Many
+also can recall the weary task of gathering a quart or two of the
+diminutive fruit for pies, and the endless picking required to obtain
+enough for the annual jelly-making. Nor is this condition of affairs a
+thing of the past. Drive through the land where you will in early July,
+and you will see farmers mowing round the venerable Red Dutch currants
+"to give the women-folks a chance at 'em." The average farmer still
+bestows upon this fruit about as much attention as the aborigines gave
+to their patches of maize. This seems very absurd when we remember the
+important place held in the domestic economy by the currant, and how
+greatly it improves under decent treatment. If it demanded the
+attention which a cabbage-plant requires, it would be given; but the
+currant belongs to that small class of creatures which permit
+themselves to be used when wanted, and snubbed, neglected, and imposed
+upon at other times. It is known that the bushes will manage to exist,
+and do the Very best they can, no matter how badly treated; and average
+human nature has ever taken advantage of such traits, to its continuous
+loss.
+
+The patience of the currant is due perhaps to its origin, for it grows
+wild round the northern hemisphere, its chief haunts being the dim,
+cold, damp woods of the high latitudes. You may tame, modify, and
+vastly change anything possessing life; but original traits are
+scarcely ever wholly eradicated. Therefore the natural habitat and
+primal qualities of the currant indicate the true lines of development,
+its capabilities and limitations. It is essentially a northern fruit,
+requiring coolness, moisture, and alluvial soils. It begins to falter
+and look homesick even in New Jersey; and one has not to go far down
+the Atlantic coast to pass beyond the range of its successful culture.
+I do not see why it should not thrive much further south on the
+northern slopes of the mountains. From Philadelphia northward, however,
+except on light dry soils and in sunny exposures, there is no reason
+why it should not give ample returns for the attention it requires.
+
+I shall not lay stress on the old, well-known uses to which this fruit
+is put, but I do think its value is but half appreciated. People rush
+round in July in search of health: let me recommend the currant cure.
+If any one is languid, depressed in spirits, inclined to headaches, and
+generally "out of sorts," let him finish his breakfast daily for a
+month with a dish of freshly picked currants. He will soon, almost
+doubt his own identity, and may even begin to think that he is becoming
+a good man. He will be more gallant to his wife, kinder to his
+children, friendlier to his neighbors, and more open-handed to every
+good cause. Work will soon seem play, and play fun. In brief, the truth
+of the ancient pun will be verified, that "the power to live a good
+life depends largely upon the LIVER." Out upon the nonsense of taking
+medicine and nostrums during the currant-season! Let it be taught at
+theological seminaries that the currant is a "means of grace." It is a
+corrective; and that is what average humanity most needs.
+
+The currant, like the raspberry, is willing to keep shady; but only
+because it is modest. It is one of the fruits that thrive better among
+trees than in too dry and sunny exposures. Therefore, in economizing
+space on the Home Acre it may be grown among smaller trees, or, better
+still, on the northern or eastern side of a wall or hedge. But shade is
+not essential, except as we go south; then the requisites of moisture
+and shelter from the burning rays of the sun should be complied with as
+far as possible. In giving this and kindred fruits partial shade, they
+should not be compelled to contend to any extent with the roots of
+trees. This will ever prove an unequal contest. No fruit can thrive in
+dense shade, or find sustenance among the voracious roots of a tree.
+
+Select, therefore, if possible, heavy, deep, moist, yet well-drained
+soil, and do not fear to make and keep it very rich. If you are
+restricted to sandy or gravelly soils, correct their defects with
+compost, decayed leaves and sods, muck, manure from the cow-stable, and
+other fertilizers with staying rather than stimulating qualities.
+Either by plowing or forking, deepen as well as enrich the soil. It is
+then ready for the plants, which may be set out either in the fall or
+in early spring. I prefer the autumn--any time after the leaves have
+fallen; but spring answers almost as well, while buds are dormant, or
+partially so. It should be remembered that the currant starts very
+early, and is in full foliage before some persons are fairly wakened to
+garden interests. It would, in this case, be better to wait until
+October, unless the plants can be obtained from a neighbor on a cloudy
+day; then they should be cut back two-thirds of their length before
+being removed, and the transfer made as quickly as possible. Under any
+circumstances, take off half of the wood from the plants bought. This
+need not be thrown away. Every cutting of young wood six inches long
+will make a new plant in a single season. All that is needful is to
+keep the wood moist until ready to put it in the ground, or, better
+still, a cool, damp place in the garden can be selected at once, and
+the cuttings sunk two-thirds of their length into the ground, and the
+soil pressed firm around them. By fall they will have a good supply of
+roots, and by the following autumn be ready to be set out wherever you
+wish them to fruit.
+
+Currant-bushes may be planted five feet apart each way, and at the same
+distance, if they are to line a fence. They should be sunk a few inches
+deeper in the soil than they stood before, and the locality be such as
+to admit of good culture. The soil should never be permitted to become
+hard, weedy, or grass-grown. As a rule, I prefer two-year-old plants,
+while those of one year's growth answer nearly as well, if vigorous. If
+in haste for fruit, it may be well to get three-year-old plants, unless
+they have been dwarfed and enfeebled by neglect. Subsequent culture
+consists chiefly in keeping the soil clean, mellow, rich, and therefore
+moist. I have named the best fertilizers for the currant; but if the
+product of the horse-stable is employed, use it first as a mulch. It
+will thus gradually reach the roots. Otherwise it is too stimulating,
+and produces a rampant growth of wood rather than fruit.
+
+Under any circumstances this tendency to produce an undue amount of
+wood must be repressed almost as rigorously as in the grape-vine. The
+secret of successful currant-culture is richness beneath, and
+restriction above. English gardeners are said to have as complete and
+minute systems of pruning and training currants as the grape; but we do
+not seem to have patience for such detail. Nor do I regard it as
+necessary. Our object is an abundant supply of excellent fruit; and
+this result can be obtained at a surprisingly small outlay of time and
+money, if they are expended judiciously.
+
+The art of trimming a currant-bush, like that of pruning a grape-vine,
+is best learned by observation and experience. One can give principles
+rather than lay down rules. Like the vine, the currant tends to choke
+itself with a superabundance of wood, which soon becomes more or less
+barren. This is truer of some varieties than of others; but in all
+instances the judicious use of the pruning-knife doubles the yield. In
+view of the supposition that the leading shoot and all the branches
+were shortened in one-half when the plant was set out, I will suggest
+that early in June it will be observed that much more wood is forming
+than can be permitted to remain. There are weak, crowding shoots which
+never can be of any use. If these are cut out at this time, the sap
+which would go to mature them will be directed into the valuable parts
+of the forming bush. Summer pruning prevents misspent force, and it may
+be kept up with great advantage from year to year. This is rarely done,
+however; therefore early in spring the bushes must receive a good
+annual pruning, and the long shoots and branches be cut well back, so
+as to prevent naked reaches of wood. Observe a very productive bush,
+and you will see that there are many points abounding in little
+side-branches. It is upon these that the fruit is chiefly borne. A bush
+left to itself is soon a mass of long, slender, almost naked stalks,
+with a little fruit at the ends. The ideal bush is stocky, open, well
+branched, admitting light, air, and sun in every part. There is no
+crowding and smothering of the fruit by the foliage. But few clusters
+are borne on very young wood, and when this grows old and black, the
+clusters are small. Therefore new wood should always be coming on and
+kept well cut back, so as to form joints and side-branches; and as
+other parts grow old and feeble they should be cut out. Observation and
+experience will teach the gardener more than all the rules that could
+be written, for he will perceive that he must prune each bush according
+to its own individuality.
+
+For practical purposes the bush form is the best in which to grow
+currants; but they can easily be made to form pretty little trees with
+tops shaped like an umbrella, or any other form we desire. For
+instance, I found, one autumn, a shoot about three feet long. I rubbed
+off all the buds except the terminal one and three or four just beneath
+it, then sunk the lower end of the shoot six inches into the soil, and
+tied the part above the ground to a short stake. The following spring
+the lower end took root, and the few buds at the top developed into a
+small bushy head. Clumps of miniature currant-trees would make as
+pretty an ornament for the garden border as one would wish to see. It
+should be remembered that there is a currant as well as an apple borer;
+but the pests are not very numerous or destructive, and such little
+trees may easily be grown by the hundred.
+
+Clean culture has one disadvantage which must be guarded against. If
+the ground under bushes is loose, heavy rains will sometimes so splash
+up the soil as to muddy the greater part of the fruit. I once suffered
+serious loss in this way, and deserved it; for a little grass mown from
+the lawn, or any other litter spread under and around the bushes just
+before the fruit ripened, would have prevented it. It will require but
+a very few minutes to insure a clean crop.
+
+I imagine that if these pages are ever read, and such advice as I can
+give is followed, it will be more often by the mistress than the master
+of the Home Acre. I address him, but quite as often I mean her; and
+just at this point I am able to give "the power behind the throne" a
+useful hint. Miss Alcott, in her immortal "Little Women," has given an
+instance of what dire results may follow if the "jelly won't jell." Let
+me hasten to insure domestic peace by telling my fair reader (who will
+also be, if the jelly turns out of the tumblers tremulous yet firm, a
+gentle reader) that if she will have the currants picked just as soon
+as they are fully ripe, and before they have been drenched by a heavy
+rain, she will find that the jelly will "jell." It is overripe,
+water-soaked currants that break up families and demolish household
+gods. Let me also add another fact, as true as it is strange, that
+white currants make red jelly; therefore give the pearly fruit ample
+space in the garden.
+
+In passing to the consideration of varieties, it is quite natural in
+this connection to mention the white sorts first. I know that people
+are not yet sufficiently educated to demand white currants of their
+grocers; but the home garden is as much beyond the grocer's stall as
+the home is better than a boarding-house. There is no reason why free
+people in the country should be slaves to conventionalities,
+prejudices, and traditions. If white currants ARE sweeter, more
+delicious and beautiful than the red, why, so they are. Therefore let
+us plant them abundantly.
+
+If there is to be a queen among the currants, the White Grape is
+entitled to the crown. When placed upon the table, the dish appears
+heaped with translucent pearls. The sharp acid of the red varieties is
+absent, and you feel that if you could live upon them for a time, your
+blood would grow pure, if not "blue."
+
+The bush producing this exquisite fruit is like an uncouth-looking poet
+who gives beauty from an inner life, but disappoints in externals. It
+is low-branching and unshapely, and must be forced into good form--the
+bush, not the poet--by the pruning-knife. If this is done judiciously,
+no other variety will bear more profusely or present a fairer object on
+a July day.
+
+The White Dutch has the well-known characteristics in growth of the
+common Red Dutch currant, and is inferior only to the White Grape in
+size. The fruit is equally transparent, beautiful, mild, and agreeable
+in flavor, while the bush is enormously productive, and shapely in
+form, if properly trained and fertilized.
+
+While the white currants are such favorites, I do not undervalue the
+red. Indeed, were I restricted to one variety, it should be the old
+Dutch Red of our fathers, or, more properly, of our grandmothers. For
+general house uses I do not think it has yet been surpassed. It is not
+so mild in flavor as the white varieties, but there is a richness and
+sprightliness in its acid that are grateful indeed on a sultry day.
+Mingled with the white berries, it makes a beautiful dish, while it has
+all the culinary qualities which the housekeeper can desire. If the
+bush is rigorously pruned and generously enriched, it is unsurpassed in
+productiveness, and the fruit approaches very nearly to the Cherry
+currant in size.
+
+I do not recommend the last-named kind for the home garden, unless
+large, showy fruit counts for more than flavor. The acid of the Cherry
+currant, unless very ripe, is harsh and watery. At best it never
+acquires an agreeable mildness, to my taste. The bushes also are not so
+certainly productive, and usually require skilful pruning and constant
+fertilizing to be profitable. For the market, which demands size above
+all things, the Cherry is the kind to grow; but in the home garden
+flavor and productiveness are the more important qualities. Fay's
+Prolific is a new sort that has been very highly praised.
+
+The Victoria is an excellent late variety, which, if planted in a
+sheltered place, prolongs the currant-season well into the autumn.
+Spurious kinds are sold under this name. The true Victoria produces a
+pale-red fruit with tapering clusters or racemes of berries. This
+variety, with the three others recommended, gives the family two red
+and two white kinds--all that are needed. Those who are fond of black
+currants can, at almost any nursery, procure the Black Naples and Lee's
+Prolific. Either variety will answer all practical purposes. I confess
+they are not at all to my taste.
+
+From the currant we pass on naturally to the gooseberry, for in origin
+and requirements it is very similar. Both belong to the Ribes family of
+plants, and they are to be cultivated on the same general principles.
+What I have written in regard to partial shade, cool, sheltered
+localities, rich, heavy soils, good culture, and especially rigorous
+pruning, applies with even greater force to this fruit, especially if
+we endeavor to raise the foreign varieties, in cultivating this fruit
+it is even more important than was true of raspberries that the reader
+should distinguish between the native and foreign species. The latter
+are so inclined to mildew in almost every locality that there is rarely
+any certainty of satisfactory fruit. The same evil pursues the seedling
+children of the foreign sorts, and I have never seen a hybrid or cross
+between the English and native species that was with any certainty free
+from a brown disfiguring rust wholly or partially enveloping the
+berries. Here and there the fruit in some gardens will escape year
+after year; again, on places not far away, the blighting mildew is sure
+to appear before the berries are fully grown. Nevertheless, the foreign
+varieties are so fine that it is well to give them a fair trial. The
+three kinds which appear best adapted to our climate are Crown Bob,
+Roaring Lion, and Whitesmith. A new large variety, named Industry, is
+now being introduced, and if half of what is claimed for it is true, it
+is worth a place in all gardens.
+
+In order to be certain of clean, fair gooseberries every year, we must
+turn to our native species, which has already given us several good
+varieties. The Downing is the largest and best, and the Houghton the
+hardiest, most productive and easily raised. When we remember the
+superb fruit which English gardeners have developed from wild kinds
+inferior to ours, we can well understand that the true American
+gooseberries are yet to be developed. In my work "Success with Small
+Fruits" those who are interested in this fruit will find much fuller
+treatment than is warranted in the present essay.
+
+Not only do currants and gooseberries require similar treatment and
+cultivation, but they also have a common enemy that must be vigilantly
+guarded against, or the bushes will be defoliated in many localities
+almost before its existence is known. After an absence of a few days I
+have found some of my bushes stripped of every leaf. When this happens,
+the fruit is comparatively worthless. Foliage is as necessary to a
+plant as are lungs to a man. It is not essential that I should go into
+the natural history of the currant worm and moth. Having once seen the
+yellowish-green caterpillars at their destructive work, the reader's
+thoughts will not revert to the science of entomology, but will at once
+become bloody and implacable. I hasten to suggest the means of rescue
+and vengeance. The moment these worms appear, be on your guard, for
+they usually spread like fire in stubble. Procure of your druggist
+white hellebore, scald and mix a tablespoonful in a bowl of hot water,
+and then pour it in a full watering-can. This gives you an infusion of
+about a tablespoonful to an ordinary pail of water at its ordinary
+summer temperature. Sprinkle the infected bushes with this as often as
+there is a worm to be seen. I have never failed in destroying the pests
+by this course. It should be remembered, however, that new eggs are
+often hatched out daily. You may kill every worm to-day, yet find
+plenty on the morrow. Vigilance, however, will soon so check the evil
+that your currants are safe; and if every one would fight the pests,
+they would eventually be almost exterminated. The trouble is that,
+while you do your duty, your next-door neighbor may grow nothing on his
+bushes but currant-worms. Thus the evil is continued, and even
+increased, in spite of all that you can do; but by a little vigilance
+and the use of hellebore you can always save YOUR currants. I have kept
+my bushes green, luxuriant, and loaded with fruit when, at a short
+distance, the patches of careless neighbors were rendered utterly
+worthless. Our laws but half protect the birds, the best insecticides,
+and there is no law to prevent a man from allowing his acres to be the
+breeding-place of every pest prevailing.
+
+There are three species of the currant-borer, and their presence is
+indicated by yellow foliage and shrivelling fruit. The only remedy is
+to cut out and burn the affected stems. These pests are not often
+sufficiently numerous to do much harm.
+
+I earnestly urge that virulent poisons like Paris green, London purple,
+etc., never be used on fruit or edible vegetables. There cannot be
+safety in this course. I never heard of any one that was injured by
+white hellebore, used as I have directed; and I have found that if the
+worms were kept off until the fruit began to ripen, the danger was
+practically over. If I had to use hellebore after the fruit was fit to
+use, I should first kill the worms, and then cleanse the bushes
+thoroughly by spraying them with clean water.
+
+In treating the two remaining small fruits, blackberries and
+strawberries, we pass wholly out of the shade and away from trees.
+Sunshine and open ground are now required. Another important difference
+can also be mentioned, reversing former experience. America is the home
+of these fruits. The wild species of the blackberry abroad has never,
+as far as I can learn, been developed into varieties worthy of
+cultivation; and before importations from North and South America
+began, the only strawberry of Europe was the Alpine, with its slight
+variations, and the musky Hautbois.
+
+I do not know whether any of our fine varieties of blackberries are
+cultivated abroad, but I am perfectly certain that they are worthy of
+the slight attention required to raise them in perfection here.
+
+Like the blackcaps, all our best varieties are the spontaneous products
+of Nature, first discovered growing wild, and transferred to the
+garden. The blackberry is a fruit that takes kindly to cultivation, and
+improves under it.
+
+The proper treatment is management rather than cultivation and
+stimulation. It requires a sunny exposure and a light, warm soil, yet
+not so dry as to prevent the fruit from maturing into juicy berries. If
+possible, set the blackberries off by themselves, for it is hard to
+prevent the strong roots from travelling all over the garden. The
+blackberry likes a rich, moist, mellow soil, and, finding it, some
+varieties will give you canes sixteen feet high. You do not want rank,
+thorny brambles, however, but berries. Therefore the blackberry should
+be put where it can do no harm, and, by a little judicious repression,
+a great deal of good. A gravelly or sandy knoll, with a chance to mow
+all round the patch, is the best place. The blackberry needs a deep,
+loose soil rather than a rich one. Then the roots will luxuriate to
+unknown depths, the wood ripen thoroughly, and the fruit be
+correspondingly abundant.
+
+Let the rows be six feet apart; set out the plants in the fall, if
+possible, or EARLY spring; put two plants in the hills, which may be
+four feet apart. If the ground is very poor, give the young plants a
+shovelful of old compost, decayed leaves, etc. Any fertilizer will
+answer, so that it is spread just over the roots to give the plants a
+good send-off.
+
+As a rule, complete success in blackberry culture consists in a little
+judicious work performed in May, June, and July. The plants, having
+been set out as I have advised in the case of raspberries, throw up the
+first season strong green shoots. When these shoots are three feet
+high, pinch off the top, so as to stop upward growth. The result of
+this is that branches start on every side, and the plant forms a low,
+stocky, self-supporting bush, which will be loaded with fruit the
+following season.
+
+The second year the plants in the hill will send up stronger canes, and
+there will be plenty of sprouts or suckers in the intervening spaces.
+When very young, these useless sprouts can be pulled out with the least
+possible trouble. Left to mature, they make a thorny wilderness which
+will cause bleeding hands and faces when attacked, and add largely to
+the family mending. That which a child could do as play when the
+suckers were just coming through the ground, is now a formidable task
+for any man. In early summer you can with the utmost ease keep every
+useless blackberry sprout from growing. More canes, also, will usually
+start from the hill than are needed. Leave but three strong shoots, and
+this year pinch them back as soon as they are four feet high, thus
+producing three stocky, well-branched bushes, which in sheltered places
+will be self-supporting. Should there be the slightest danger of their
+breaking down with their load of fruit, tie them to stakes by all
+means. I do not believe in that kind of economy which tries to save a
+penny at the risk of a dollar.
+
+I believe that better and larger fruit is always secured by shortening
+in the side branches one-third of their length in spring. Fine
+varieties like the Kittatinny are not entirely hardy in all localities.
+The snow will protect the lower branches, and the upper ones can
+usually be kept uninjured by throwing over them some very light litter,
+like old pea or bean vines, etc.--nothing heavy enough to break them
+down. As soon as the old canes are through bearing, they should be cut
+out. If the blackberry patch has been left to its own wild will, there
+is nothing left for us but to attack it, well-gloved, in April, with
+the pruning-shears, and cut out everything except three or four young
+canes in the hill. These will probably be tall, slender, and
+branchless, therefore comparatively unproductive. In order to have any
+fruit at all, we must shorten them one-third, and tie them to stakes.
+It thus may be clearly seen that with blackberries "a stitch in time"
+saves almost ninety-nine. Keep out coarse weeds and grass, and give
+fertilizers only when the plants show signs of feebleness and lack of
+nutrition.
+
+A rust similar to that which attacks the black-cap is almost the only
+disease we have to contend with. The remedy is the same--extirpation of
+the plant, root and branch.
+
+After testing a great many kinds, I recommend the three following
+varieties, ripening in succession for the family--the Early Harvest,
+Snyder, and Kittatinny. These all produce rich, high-flavored berries,
+and, under the treatment suggested, will prove hardy in nearly all
+localities. This fruit is not ripe as soon as it is black, and it is
+rarely left on the bushes until the hard core in the centre is mellowed
+by complete maturity. I have found that berries picked in the evening
+and stood in a cool place were in excellent condition for breakfast. To
+have them in perfection, however, they must be so ripe as to drop into
+the basket at the slightest touch; then, as Donald Mitchell says, they
+are "bloated bubbles of forest honey."
+
+I fancy the reader is as impatient to reach the strawberry as I am
+myself. "Doubtless God could have made a better berry"--but I forbear.
+This saying has been quoted by the greater part of the human race, and
+attributed to nearly every prominent man, from Adam to Mr. Beecher.
+There are said to be unfortunates whom the strawberry poisons. The
+majority of us feel as if we could attain Methuselah's age if we had
+nothing worse to contend with. Praising the strawberry is like
+"painting the lily;" therefore let us give our attention at once to the
+essential details of its successful culture.
+
+As we have intimated before, this fruit as we find it in our gardens,
+even though we raise foreign kinds, came originally from America. The
+two great species, Fragaria chilensis, found on the Pacific slope from
+Oregon to Chili, and Fragaria virginiana, growing wild in all parts of
+North America east of the Rocky Mountains, are the sources of all the
+fine varieties that have been named and cultivated. The Alpine
+strawberry (Fragaria vesca), which grows wild throughout the northern
+hemisphere, does not appear capable of much variation and development
+under cultivation. Its seeds, sown under all possible conditions,
+reproduce the parent plant. Foreign gardeners eventually learned,
+however, that seeds of the Chili and Virginia strawberry produced new
+varieties which were often much better than their parents. As time
+passed, and more attention was drawn to this subject, superb varieties
+were originated abroad, many of them acquiring a wide celebrity. In
+this case, as has been true of nearly all other fruits, our nursery-men
+and fruit-growers first looked to Europe for improved varieties.
+Horticulturists were slow to learn that in our own native species were
+the possibilities of the best success. The Chili strawberry, brought
+directly from the Pacific coast to the East, is not at home in our
+climate, and is still more unfitted to contend with it after
+generations of culture in Europe. Even our hardier Virginia strawberry,
+coming back to us from England after many years of high stimulation in
+a moist, mild climate, is unequal to the harsher conditions of life
+here. They are like native Americans who have lived and been pampered
+abroad so long that they find this country "quite too rude, you
+know--beastly climate." Therefore, in the choice varieties, and in
+developing new ones, the nearer we can keep to vigorous strains of our
+own hardy Virginia species the better. From it have proceeded and will
+continue to come the finest kinds that can be grown east of the
+Rockies. Nevertheless, what was said of foreign raspberries is almost
+equally true of European strawberries like the Triomphe de Gand and
+Jucunda, and hybrids like the Wilder. In localities where they can be
+grown, their beauty and fine flavor repay for the high culture and
+careful winter protection required. But they can scarcely be made to
+thrive on light soils or very far to the south.
+
+So many varieties are offered for sale that the question of choice is a
+bewildering one. I have therefore sought to meet it, as before, by
+giving the advice of those whose opinions are well entitled to respect.
+
+Dr. Hexamer, who has had great and varied experience, writes as
+follows: "A neighbor of mine who has for years bought nearly every new
+strawberry when first introduced, has settled on the Duchess and
+Cumberland as the only varieties he will grow in the future, and thinks
+it not worth while to seek for something better. Confined to two
+varieties, a more satisfactory selection could scarcely be made. But
+you want six or seven, either being, I think, about the right number
+for the home garden. I will give them in the order of desirability
+according to my judgment--Cumberland, Charles Downing, Duchess, Mount
+Vernon, Warren, Sharpless, Jewell."
+
+The selection which places the Cumberland Triumph at the head of the
+list is but another proof how kinds differ under varied conditions. On
+my place this highly praised sort is but moderately productive and not
+high-flavored, although the fruit is very large and handsome. I regard
+the list, however, as a most excellent one for most localities.
+
+The Hon. Marshall P. Wilder's choice for the latitude of Massachusetts:
+"Charles Downing, Wilder, Hervey Davis, Sharpless, Cumberland,
+Kentucky. Jewell is very promising." A. S. Fuller, for latitude of New
+York: "Charles Downing, Sharpless, Miner's Prolific, Wilson's Albany,
+Champion." P. C. Berckmans, for the latitude of Georgia: "Wilson,
+Sharpless, Charles Downing, Triomphe de Gand, Glendale." The Hon.
+Norman J. Colman's choice for Missouri and the West: "Crescent, Captain
+Jack, Cumberland, Champion, Hart's Minnesota, Cornelia."
+
+If I gave a hundred other lists, no two of them probably would agree in
+all respects. Mr. Downing often said to me, "Soil, climate, and
+locality make greater differences with the strawberry than with any
+other fruit." This is far more true of some varieties than others. I
+believe that the excellent kind named after Mr. Downing, if given
+proper treatment, will do well almost anywhere on the continent. It
+will be noted that it is on all the lists except one. I should place it
+at the head of garden strawberries. It is a kind that will endure much
+neglect, and it responds splendidly to generous, sensible treatment.
+Its delicious flavor is its chief recommendation, as it should be that
+of every berry for the home garden.
+
+I have tested many hundreds of kinds, and have grown scores and scores
+that were so praised when first sent out that the novice might be
+tempted to dig up and throw away everything except the wonderful
+novelty pressed upon his attention. There is one quiet, effective way
+of meeting all this heralding and laudation, and that is to make trial
+beds. For instance, I have put out as many as seventy kinds at nearly
+the same time, and grown them under precisely the same conditions. Some
+of the much-vaunted new-comers were found to be old varieties re-named;
+others, although sold at high prices and asserted to be prodigies, were
+seen to be comparatively worthless when growing by the side of good old
+standard sorts; the majority never rose above mediocrity under ordinary
+treatment; but now and then one, like the Sharpless, fulfilled the
+promises made for it.
+
+In my next chapter I shall venture to recommend those varieties which
+my own experience and observation have shown to be best adapted to
+various soils and localities, and shall also seek to prove that proper
+cultivation has more to do with success than even the selection of
+favored kinds.
+
+Nor would I seek to dissuade the proprietor of the Home Acre from
+testing the many novelties offered. He will be sure to get a fair
+return in strawberries, and to his interest in his garden will add the
+pleasure and anticipation which accompany uncertain experiment. In
+brief, he has found an innocent form of gambling, which will injure
+neither pocket nor morals. In slow-maturing fruits we cannot afford to
+make mistakes; in strawberries, one prize out of a dozen blanks repays
+for everything.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+STRAWBERRIES
+
+
+There is a very general impression that light, dry, sandy soils are the
+best for the strawberry. Just the reverse of this is true. In its
+desire for moisture it is almost an aquatic plant. Experienced
+horticulturists have learned to recognize this truth, which the Hon.
+Marshall P. Wilder has suggested in the following piquant manner: "In
+the first place, the strawberry's chief need is a great deal of water.
+In the second place, it needs more water. In the third place, I think I
+should give it a great deal more water."
+
+While emphasizing this truth the reader should at the same time be
+warned against land whereon water stands above the surface in winter
+and spring, or stagnates beneath the surface at any time. Moisture is
+essential to the best results; good drainage is equally so. The
+marvellous crops of strawberries raised in California under
+well-directed systems of irrigation should teach us useful lessons. The
+plants, instead of producing a partially developed crop within a few
+brief days, continue in bearing through weeks and months. It may often
+be possible to supply abundantly on the Home Acre this vital
+requirement of moisture, and I shall refer to this point further on.
+
+My first advice in regard to strawberries is to set them out
+immediately almost anywhere except upon land so recently in grass that
+the sod is still undecayed. This course is better than not to have the
+fruit at all, or to wait for it A year without strawberries is a lost
+year in one serious respect. While there is a wide difference between
+what plants can do under unfavorable conditions and what they can be
+made to do when their needs are fully met, they will probably in any
+event yield a fair supply of delicious fruit. Secure this as soon as
+possible. At the same time remember that a plant of a good variety is a
+genius capable of wonderful development. In ordinary circumstances it
+is like the "mute, inglorious" poets whose enforced limitations were
+lamented by the poet Gray; but when its innate powers and gifts are
+fully nourished it expands into surprising proportions, sends up
+hundreds of flowers, which are followed by ruby gems of fruit whose
+exquisite flavor is only surpassed by its beauty. No such concentrated
+ambrosia ever graced the feasts of the Olympian gods, for they were
+restricted to the humble Fragaria vesca, or Alpine species. In
+discovering the New World, Columbus also discovered the true
+strawberry, and died without the knowledge of this result of his
+achievement.
+
+I can imagine the expression on the faces of those who buy the "sour,
+crude, half-ripe Wilsons," against which the poet Bryant inveighed so
+justly. The market is flooded with this fruit because it bears
+transportation about as well as would marbles. Yes, they are
+strawberries; choke-pears and Seckels belong to the same species. There
+is truth enough in my exaggeration to warrant the assertion that if we
+would enjoy the possible strawberry, we must raise it ourselves, and
+pick it when fully matured--ready for the table, and not for market.
+Then any man's garden can furnish something better than was found in
+Eden.
+
+Having started a strawberry-patch without loss of time wherever it is
+handiest, we can now give our attention to the formation of an ideal
+bed. In this instance we must shun the shade of trees above, and their
+roots beneath. The land should be open to the sky, and the sun free to
+practice his alchemy on the fruit the greater part of the day. The most
+favorable soil is a sandy loam, verging toward clay; and it should have
+been under cultivation sufficiently long to destroy all roots of grass
+and perennial weeds. Put on the fertilizer with a free hand. If it is
+barnyard manure, the rate of sixty tons to the acre is not in excess. A
+strawberry plant has a large appetite and excellent digestion. It
+prefers decidedly manure from the cow-stable, though that from the
+horse-stable answers very well; but it is not advisable to incorporate
+it with the soil in its raw, unfermented state, and then to plant
+immediately. The ground can scarcely be too rich for strawberries, but
+it may easily be overheated and stimulated. In fertilizing, ever keep
+in mind the two great requisites--moisture and coolness. Manure from
+the horse-stable, therefore, is almost doubled in value as well as bulk
+if composted with leaves, muck, or sods, and allowed to decay before
+being used.
+
+Next to enriching the soil, the most important step is to deepen it. If
+a plow is used, sink it to the beam, and run it twice in a furrow. If a
+lifting subsoil-plow can follow, all the better. Strawberry roots have
+been traced two feet below the surface.
+
+If the situation of the plot does not admit the use of a plow, let the
+gardener begin at one side and trench the area to at least the depth of
+eighteen inches, taking pains to mix the surface, subsoil, and
+fertilizer evenly and thoroughly. A small plot thus treated will yield
+as much as one three or four times as large. One of the chief
+advantages of thus deepening the soil is that the plants are insured
+against their worst enemy--drought. How often I have seen beds in early
+June languishing for moisture, the fruit trusses lying on the ground,
+fainting under their burden, and the berries ripening prematurely into
+little more than diminutive collections of seeds! When ground has been
+deepened as I have said, the drought must be almost unparalleled to
+arrest the development of the fruit. Even in the most favorable
+seasons, hard, shallow soils give but a brief period of strawberries,
+the fruit ripens all at once, and although the first berries may be of
+good size, the later ones dwindle until they are scarcely larger than
+peas. Be sure to have a deep, mellow soil beneath the plants.
+
+Such a bed can be made in either spring or fall--indeed, at any time
+when the soil is free from frost, and neither too wet nor dry. I do not
+believe in preparing and fertilizing ground during a period of drought.
+
+We will suppose the work has been done in the spring, as early as the
+earth was dry enough to crumble freely, and that the surface of the bed
+is smooth, mellow, and ready for the plants. Stretch a garden line down
+the length of the plot two feet from the outer edge, and set the plants
+along the line one foot apart from each other. Let the roots be spread
+out, not buried in a mat, the earth pressed FIRMLY against them, and
+the crown of the plant be exactly even with the surface of the soil,
+which should also be pressed closely around it with the fingers. This
+may seem minute detail, yet much dismal experience proves it to be
+essential. I have employed scores of men, and the great majority at
+first would either bury the crowns out of sight, or else leave part of
+the roots exposed, and the remainder so loose in the soil that a sharp
+gale would blow the plants away. There is no one so economical of time
+as the hired man whose time is paid for. He is ever bent on saving a
+minute or half-minute in this kind of work. On one occasion I had to
+reset a good part of an acre on which my men had saved time in
+planting. If I had asked them to save the plants in the year of '86,
+they might have "struck."
+
+The first row having been set out, I advise that the line be moved
+forward three feet. This would make the rows three feet apart--not too
+far in ground prepared as described, and in view of the subsequent
+method of cultivation. The bed may therefore be filled up in this
+ratio, the plants one foot apart in the row, and the rows three feet
+apart. The next point in my system, for the kind of soil named (for
+light, sandy soils another plan will be indicated), is to regard each
+plant as an individual that is to be developed to the utmost. Of course
+only young plants of the previous season's growth should be used. If a
+plant has old, woody, black roots, throw it away. Plants set out in
+April will begin to blossom in May. These buds and blossoms should be
+picked off ruthlessly as soon as they appear. Never does avarice
+overreach itself more completely than when plants are permitted to bear
+the same season in which they are set out. The young, half-established
+plant is drained of its vitality in producing a little imperfect fruit;
+yet this is permitted even by farmers who would hold up their hands at
+the idea of harnessing a colt to a plow.
+
+The plants do not know anything about our purpose in regard to them.
+They merely seek to follow the law of Nature to propagate themselves,
+first by seeds which, strictly speaking, are the fruit, and then by
+runners. These slender, tendril-like growths begin to appear early in
+summer, and if left unchecked will mat the ground about the parent with
+young plants by late autumn. If we wish plants, let them grow by all
+means; but if fruit is our object, why should we let them grow?
+"Because nearly every one seems to do it," would be, perhaps, the most
+rational answer. This is a mistake, for many are beginning to take just
+the opposite course even when growing strawberries by the acre.
+
+Let us fix our attention on a single plant. It has a certain amount of
+root pasturage and space in which to grow. Since it is not permitted to
+produce an indefinite number of young plants, it begins to develop
+itself. The soil is rich, the roots are busy, and there must be an
+outlet. The original plant cannot form others, and therefore begins to
+produce fruit-crowns for the coming year. All the sap, all the
+increasing power of root and foliage, are directed to preparation for
+fruit. In brief, we have got the plant in traces; it is pulling in the
+direction we wish, it will eventually deliver a load of berries which
+would surprise those who trust simply to Nature unguided.
+
+Some one may object that this is a troublesome and expensive way of
+growing strawberries. Do not the facts in the case prove the reverse? A
+plant restricted to a single root can be hoed and worked around like a
+hill of corn or a currant-bush. With comparatively little trouble the
+ground between the rows can be kept clean and mellow. Under the common
+system, which allows the runners to interlace and mat the ground, you
+soon have an almost endless amount of hand-weeding to do, and even this
+fails if white clover, sorrel, and certain grasses once get a start.
+The system I advocate forbids neglect; the runners must be clipped off
+as fast as they appear, and they continue to grow from June till frost;
+but the actual labor of the year is reduced to a minimum. A little boy
+or girl could keep a large bed clipped by the occasional use of a
+shears or knife before breakfast; and if the ground between the plants
+is free of runners, it can be hoed over in an hour. Considering,
+therefore, merely the trouble and expense, the single-plant system has
+the facts in its favor. But our object is not to grow strawberry plants
+with the least trouble, but to have strawberries of the largest and
+finest quality.
+
+In addition to ease and thoroughness of cultivation, there are other
+important advantages. The single narrow row of plants is more easily
+protected against winter's frosts. Light, strawy manure from the
+horse-stable serves well for this purpose; but it should be light and
+free from heat. I have seen beds destroyed by too heavy a covering of
+chunky, rank manure. It is not our purpose to keep the beds and plants
+from freezing, but from alternately freezing and thawing. If snow fell
+on the bed in December and lasted till April, no other protection would
+be needed. Nature in this latitude has no sympathy for the careless
+man. During the winter of 1885, in January, and again in February and
+March, the ground was bare, unprotected plants were badly frozen, and
+in many instances lifted partly out of the ground by midday thawing and
+night freezing. The only safe course is to cover the rows thoroughly,
+but not heavily, early in December. If then light stable-manure is not
+at hand, leaves, old bean-vines, or any dry refuse from the garden not
+containing injurious seeds will answer. Do not employ asparagus-tops,
+which contain seed. Of course we want this vegetable, but not in the
+strawberry bed. Like some persons out of their proper sphere, asparagus
+may easily become a nuisance; and it will dispossess other growths of
+their rights and places as serenely as a Knight of Labor. The proper
+balance must be kept in the garden as well as in society; and therefore
+it is important to cover our plants with something that will not
+speedily become a usurper. Let it be a settled point, then, that the
+narrow rows must be covered thoroughly out of sight with some light
+material which will not rest with smothering weight on the plants or
+leave among them injurious seeds. Light stable-manure is often objected
+to for the reason that employing it is like sowing the ground with
+grass-seed. If the plants had been allowed to grow in matted beds, I
+would not use this material for a winter covering, unless it had been
+allowed to heat sufficiently to destroy the grass and clover seed
+contained in it. I have seen matted beds protected with stable-manure
+that were fit to mow by June, the plants and fruit having been over run
+with grass. No such result need follow if the plants are cultivated in
+a single line, for then the manure can be raked off in early
+spring--first of April in our latitude--and the ground cultivated.
+There is a great advantage in employing light manure if the system I
+advocate is followed, for the melting snows and rains carry the
+richness of the fertilizer to the roots, and winter protection serves a
+double purpose.
+
+We will now consider the proper management for the second year, when a
+full crop should be yielded. I know that many authorities frown upon
+cultivation during the second spring, before plants bear their fruit. I
+can not agree with this view, except in regard to very light soils, and
+look upon it as a relic of the old theory that sandy land was the best
+for strawberries. Take the soil under consideration, a sandy loam, for
+instance. After the frost is out, the earth settled, and the winter
+covering raked off, the soil under the spring sun grows hard, and by
+June is almost as solid as a roadbed. Every one knows that land in such
+condition suffers tenfold more severely from drought than if it were
+light and mellow from cultivation. Perennial weeds that sprouted late
+in the fall or early spring get a start, and by fruiting-time are
+rampant. I do advocate EARLY spring cultivation, and by it I almost
+double my crop, while at the same time maintaining a mastery over the
+weeds.
+
+As soon as the severe frosts are over, in April, I rake the coarsest of
+the stable-manure from the plants, leaving the finer and decayed
+portions as a fertilizer. Then, when the ground is dry enough to work,
+I have a man weed out the rows, and if there are vacant spaces, fill in
+the rows with young plants. The man then forks the ground lightly
+between the rows, and stirs the surface merely among the plants. Thus
+all the hard, sodden surface is loosened or scarified, and opened to
+the reception of air and light, dew and rain. The man is charged
+emphatically that in this cultivation he must not lift the plants or
+disturb the roots to any extent. If I find a plant with its hold upon
+the ground loosened, I know there has been careless work. Before
+digging along the row the fork is sunk beside the plants to prevent the
+soil from lifting in cakes, and the plants with them. In brief, pains
+are taken that the plants should be just as firm in the soil after
+cultivation as before. Let the reader carefully observe that this work
+is done EARLY in April, while the plants are comparatively DORMANT.
+Most emphatically it should not be done in May, after the blossoms
+begin to appear. If the bed has been neglected till that time, the
+SURFACE MERELY can be cultivated with a hoe. When the plants have
+approached so near to the fruiting, the roots must not be disturbed at
+all. EARLY cultivation gives time for new roots to grow, and stimulates
+such growth. Where the rows are sufficiently long, and the ground
+permits it, this early loosening of the soil is accomplished with a
+horse-cultivator better than with a fork, the hoe following and
+levelling the soil and taking out all weeds.
+
+My next step during the second season is to mulch the plants, in order
+to keep the fruit clean. Without this mulch the fruit is usually unfit
+for the table. A dashing shower splashes the berries with mud and grit,
+and the fruit must be washed before it is eaten; and strawberries with
+their sun-bestowed beauty and flavor washed away are as ridiculous as
+is mere noise from musical instruments. To be content with such fruit
+is like valuing pictures by the number of square inches of canvas! In
+perfecting a strawberry, Nature gives some of her finest touches, and
+it is not well to obliterate them with either mud or water. Any light
+clean material will keep the fruit clean. I have found spring rakings
+of the lawn--mingled dead grass and leaves--one of the best. Leaves
+from a grove would answer, were it not for their blowing about in an
+untidy way. Of course there is nothing better than straw for the
+strawberry; but this often costs as much as hay. Any clean litter that
+will lie close to the ground and can be pushed up under the plants will
+answer. Nor should it be merely under the plants. A man once mulched my
+rows in such a way that the fruit hung over the litter on the soil
+beyond. A little common-sense will meet the requirement of keeping the
+berries well away from the loose soil, while at the same time
+preserving a neat aspect to the bed. Pine-needles and salt-hay are used
+where these materials are abundant.
+
+Make it a rule to mulch as soon as possible after the plants begin to
+blossom, and also after a good soaking rain. In this case the litter
+keeps the ground moist. If the soil immediately about the plants is
+covered when dry, the mulch may keep it dry--to the great detriment of
+the forming berries. It is usually best to put on the mulch as soon as
+the early cultivation is over in April, and then the bed may be left
+till the fruit is picked. Of course it may be necessary to pull out
+some rank-growing weeds from time to time. If the hired man is left to
+do the mulching very late in the season, he will probably cover much of
+the green fruit and blossoms as well as the ground.
+
+After the berries have been picked, the remaining treatment of the year
+is very simple. Rake out the mulch, cultivate the soil, and keep the
+plants free of weeds and runners as during the previous year. Before
+hard freezing weather, protect again as before, and give the plants
+similar treatment the following spring and summer. Under this system
+the same plants may be kept in bearing three, four, and five years,
+according to the variety. Some kinds maintain their vigor longer than
+others. After the first year the disposition to run declines, and with
+the third year, in most instances, deterioration in the plant itself
+begins. I would therefore advise that under this system a new bed be
+made, as described, every third year; for, it should be remembered, the
+new bed is unproductive the first year. This should never be forgotten
+if one would maintain a continuous supply of berries, otherwise he will
+be like those born on the 29th of February, and have only occasional
+birthdays.
+
+If the old bed is just where you wish, and has been prepared in the
+thorough manner described, it can be renewed in the following manner:
+When the old plants begin to decline in vigor--say the third or fourth
+spring--a line of well-decayed compost and manure from the cow-stable a
+foot wide may be spread thickly down between the rows, dug under
+deeply, and young plants set out just over the fertilizer. The old
+plants can be treated as has already been described, and as soon as
+they are through bearing, dug under. This would leave the young plants
+in full possession of the ground, and the cultivation and management
+for three or more years would go on as already directed. This course
+involves no loss of time or change of ground for a long periods. If,
+however, a new bed can be made somewhere else, the plants will thrive
+better upon it. Unless there are serious objections, a change of ground
+is always advantageous; for no matter how lavishly the plot is
+enriched, the strawberry appears to exhaust certain required
+constituents in the soil. Continued vigor is better maintained by
+wood-ashes perhaps than by any other fertilizer, after the soil is once
+deepened and enriched, and it may be regarded as one of the very best
+tonics for the strawberry plant. Bone-meal is almost equally good.
+Guano and kindred fertilizers are too stimulating, and have not the
+staying qualities required.
+
+As has been intimated before, the strawberry bed may often be so
+located on the Home Acre as to permit of irrigation. This does not mean
+sprinkling and splattering with water, but the continuous maintenance
+of abundant moisture during the critical period from the time the fruit
+begins to form until it ripens. Partial watering during a drought is
+very injurious; so also would be too frequent watering. If the ground
+could be soaked twice a week in the evening, and then left to the
+hardening and maturing influence of the sun and wind, the finest
+results would be secured. I am satisfied that in most localities the
+size of the berries and the number of quarts produced might be doubled
+by judicious irrigation.
+
+The system given above applies not only to sandy loam, but also to all
+varieties of clay, even the most stubborn. In the latter instance it
+would be well to employ stable-manure in the initial enriching, for
+this would tend to lighten and warm the soil. Care must also be
+exercised in not working clay when it is too wet or too dry. Mulch also
+plays an important part on heavy clay, for it prevents the soil from
+baking and cracking. One of the best methods of preventing this is to
+top-dress the ground with stable-manure, and hoe it in from time to
+time when fighting the weeds. This keeps the surface open and mellow--a
+vital necessity for vigorous growth. Few plants will thrive when the
+surface is hard and baked. Nevertheless, if I had to choose between
+heavy clay and light sand for strawberries, I should much prefer the
+clay. On the last-named soil an abundant winter protection is
+absolutely necessary, or else the plants will freeze entirely out of
+the ground.
+
+The native strain of cultivated strawberries has so much vigor and
+power of adaptation that plenty of excellent varieties can be grown on
+the lightest soil. In this instance, however, we would suggest
+important modifications in preparation and culture. The soil, as has
+been already shown, must be treated like a spendthrift. Deep plowing or
+spading should be avoided, as the subsoil is too loose and leachy
+already. The initial enriching of the bed should be generous, but not
+lavish. You cannot deposit fertilizers for long-continued use. I should
+prefer to harrow or rake in the manure, leaving it near the surface.
+The rains will carry it down fast enough. One of the very best methods
+is to open furrows, three feet apart, with a light corn-plow, half fill
+them with decayed compost, again run the plow through to mix the
+fertilizer with the soil, then level the ground, and set out the plants
+immediately over the manure. They thus get the benefit of it before it
+can leach away. The accomplished horticulturist Mr. P. T. Quinn, of
+Newark, N. J., has achieved remarkable success by this plan.
+
+It is a well-known fact that on light land strawberry plants are not so
+long-lived and do not develop, or "stool out," as it is termed, as on
+heavier land. In order to secure the largest and best possible crop,
+therefore, I should not advise a single line of plants, but rather a
+narrow bed of plants, say eighteen inches wide, leaving eighteen inches
+for a walk. I would not allow this bed to be matted with an indefinite
+number of little plants crowding each other into feeble life, but would
+leave only those runners which had taken root early, and destroy the
+rest. A plant which forms in June and the first weeks in July has time
+to mature good-sized fruit-buds before winter, especially if given
+space in which to develop. This, however, would be impossible if the
+runners were allowed to sod the ground thickly. In principle I would
+carry out the first system, and give each plant space in which to grow
+upon its own root as large as it naturally would in a light soil, and I
+would have a sufficient number of plants to supply the deficiency in
+growth. On good, loamy soil, the foliage of single lines of plants,
+three feet apart, will grow so large as to touch across the spaces; but
+this could scarcely be expected on light soil unless irrigation were
+combined with great fertility. Nevertheless, a bed with plants standing
+not too thickly upon it will give an abundance of superb fruit.
+
+Strawberries grown in beds may not require so much spring mulching to
+keep the fruit clean, but should carefully receive all that is needed.
+Winter protection also is not so indispensable as on heavier soils, but
+it always well repays. A thick bed of plants should never be protected
+by any kind of litter which would leave seeds of various kinds, for
+under this system of culture weeds must be taken out by hand; and this
+is always slow, back-aching work.
+
+When plants are grown in beds it does not pay to continue them after
+fruiting the third year. For instance, they are set out in spring, and
+during the first season they are permitted to make a limited number of
+runners, and prepare to fruit the following year. After the berries are
+picked the third year, dig the plants under, and occupy the ground with
+something else. On light soils, and where the plants are grown in beds
+instead of narrow rows, new beds should be set out every alternate year.
+
+In order to have an abundant supply of young plants it is only
+necessary to let one end of a row or a small portion of a bed run at
+will. Then new plants can be set out as desired.
+
+While more strawberries are planted in spring than at any other time,
+certain advantages are secured by summer and fall setting. This is
+especially true of gardens wherein early crops are maturing, leaving
+the ground vacant. For instance, there are areas from which early peas,
+beans, or potatoes have been gathered. Suppose such a plot is ready for
+something else in July or August, the earlier the better. Unless the
+ground is very dry, a bed can be prepared as has been described. If the
+soil is in good condition, rich and deep, it can be dug thoroughly, and
+the plants set out at once in the cool of the evening, or just before a
+shower. During the hot season a great advantage is secured if the
+plants are set immediately after the ground is prepared, and while the
+surface is still moist. It is unfortunate if ground is made ready and
+then permitted to dry out before planting takes place, for watering, no
+matter how thorough, has not so good an influence in starting new
+growth as the natural moisture of the soil. It would be better,
+therefore, to dig the ground late in the afternoon, and set out the
+plants the same evening. Watering, however, should never be dispensed
+with during warm weather, unless there is a certainty of rain; and even
+then it does no harm.
+
+Suppose one wishes to set a new bed in July. If he has strawberries
+growing on his place, his course would be to let some of his favorite
+varieties make new runners as early as possible. These should be
+well-rooted young plants by the middle of the month. After the new
+ground is prepared, these can be taken up, with a ball of earth
+attached to their roots, and carried carefully to their new
+starting-place. If they are removed so gently as not to shake off the
+earth from the roots, they will not know that they have been moved, but
+continue to thrive without wilting a leaf. If such transplanting is
+done immediately after a soaking rain, the soil will cling to the roots
+so tenaciously as to ensure a transfer that will not cause any check of
+growth. But it is not necessary to wait for rain. At five in the
+afternoon soak with water the ground in which the young plants are
+standing, and by six o'clock you can take up the plants with their
+roots incased in clinging earth, just as successfully as after a rain.
+Plants thus transferred, and watered after being set out, will not
+wilt, although the thermometer is in the nineties the following day. If
+young plants are scarce, take up the strongest and best-rooted ones,
+and leave the runner attached; set out such plants with their balls of
+earth four feet apart in the row, and with a lump of earth fasten down
+the runners along the line. Within a month these runners will fill up
+the new rows as closely as desirable. Then all propagation in the new
+bed should be checked, and the plants compelled to develop for fruiting
+in the coming season. In this latitude a plant thus transferred in July
+or August will bear a very good crop the following June, and the
+berries will probably be larger than in the following years. This
+tendency to produce very large fruit is characteristic of young plants
+set out in summer. It thus may be seen that plants set in spring can
+not produce a good crop of fruit under about fourteen months, while
+others, set in summer, will yield in nine or ten months. I have set out
+many acres in summer and early autumn with the most satisfactory
+results. Thereafter the plants were treated in precisely the same
+manner as those set in spring.
+
+If the plants must be bought and transported from a distance during hot
+weather, I should not advise the purchase of any except those grown in
+pots. Nurserymen have made us familiar with pot-grown plants, for we
+fill our flowerbeds with them. In like manner strawberry plants are
+grown and sold. Little pots, three inches across at the top, are sunk
+in the earth along a strawberry row, and the runners so fastened down
+that they take root in these pots. In about two weeks the young plant
+will fill a pot with roots. It may then be severed from the parent, and
+transported almost any distance, like a verbena. Usually the ball of
+earth and roots is separated from the pot, and is then wrapped in paper
+before being packed in the shallow box employed for shipping purposes.
+A nurseryman once distributed in a summer throughout the country a
+hundred thousand plants of one variety grown in this manner. The earth
+encasing the roots sustained the plants during transportation and after
+setting sufficiently to prevent any loss worth mentioning. This method
+of the plant-grower can easily be employed on the Home Acre. Pots
+filled with earth may be sunk along the strawberry rows in the garden,
+the runners made to root in them, and from them transferred to any part
+of the garden wherein we propose to make a new bed. It is only a neater
+and more certain way of removing young plants with a ball of earth from
+the open bed.
+
+Some have adopted this system in raising strawberries for market. They
+prepare very rich beds, fill them with pot-grown plants in June or
+July, take from these plants one crop the following June, then plow
+them under. As a rule, however, such plants cannot be bought in
+quantities before August or September.
+
+As we go south, September, October, or November, according to lowness
+of latitude, are the favorite months for planting. I have had excellent
+success on the Hudson in late autumn planting. My method has been to
+cover the young plants, just before the ground froze, with two or three
+inches of clean earth, and then to rake it off again early in April.
+The roots of such plants become thoroughly established during the
+winter, and start with double vigor. Plants set out in LATE autumn do
+best on light, dry soils. On heavy soils they will be frozen out unless
+well covered. They should not be allowed to bear the following season.
+A late-set plant cannot before winter in our climate become strong and
+sturdy enough to produce much fruit the following season. I make it a
+rule not to permit plants set out after the first of October to bear
+fruit until a year from the following June.
+
+In setting out plants, the principle of sex should be remembered. The
+majority of our favorite varieties are bisexual; that is, the blossoms
+are furnished with both stamens and pistils. A variety with this
+organization, as the Sharpless, for instance, will bear alone with no
+other kind near it. But if one set out a bed of Champions--another fine
+variety--well apart from any staminate kind, it would blossom
+profusely, but produce no fruit. When I was a boy, Hovey's Seedling was
+the great strawberry of the day, and marvellous stories were told of
+the productiveness of the plants and the size of the berries. How well
+I remember the disappointment and wrath of people who bought the plants
+at a high price, and set them out with no staminate varieties near to
+fertilize the pistillate blossoms. Expectations were raised to the
+highest pitch by profuse blossoming in May, but not a berry could be
+found the ensuing June. The vigorous plants were only a mockery, and
+the people who sold them were berated as humbugs. To-day the most
+highly praised strawberry is the Jewell. The originator, Mr. P. M.
+Augur, writes me that "plants set two feet by eighteen inches apart,
+August 1, 1884, in June, 1885, completely covered the ground, touching
+both ways, and averaged little over a quart to the plant for the centre
+patch." All runners were kept off, in accordance with the system
+advocated in this paper. "At Boston a silver medal was awarded to this
+variety as the best new strawberry introduced within five years."
+People reading such laudation--well deserved, I believe--might conclude
+the best is good enough for us, and send for enough Jewell plants to
+set out a bed. If they set no others near it, their experience would be
+similar to that which I witnessed in the case of Hovey's Seedling
+thirty odd years ago. The blossom of the Jewell contains pistils only,
+and will produce no fruit unless a staminate variety is planted near. I
+have never considered this an objection against a variety; for why
+should any one wish to raise only one variety of strawberry? All danger
+of barrenness in pistillate kinds is removed absolutely by planting
+staminate sorts in the same bed. In nurserymen's catalogues pistillate
+varieties are marked "P.," and the purchaser has merely to set out the
+plants within a few feet of some perfect flowering kind to secure
+abundant fruit.
+
+As a result of much experience, I will now make some suggestions as to
+varieties. In a former paper I have given, the opinions of others upon
+this important subject, and one can follow the advice of such eminent
+authorities without misgiving. The earliest strawberry that I have ever
+raised, and one of the best flavored, is the Crystal City. It is
+evidently a wild variety domesticated, and it has the exquisite flavor
+and perfume of the field-berry. It rarely fails to give us fruit in
+May, and my children, with the unerring taste of connoisseurs, follow
+it up until the last berry is picked. It would run all over the garden
+unchecked; and this propensity must be severely curbed to render a bed
+productive. Keeping earliness and high flavor in view, I would next
+recommend the Black Defiance. It is not remarkably productive on many
+soils, but the fruit is so delicious that it well deserves a place. The
+Duchess and Bidwell follow in the order of ripening. On my grounds they
+have always made enormous plants, and yielded an abundance of
+good-flavored berries. The Downing is early to medium in the season of
+ripening, and should be in every collection. The Indiana is said to
+resemble this kind, and to be an improvement upon it. Miner's Prolific
+is another kindred berry, and a most excellent one. Among the latest
+berries I recommend the Sharpless Champion, or Windsor Chief, and
+Parry. If one wishes to raise a very large, late, showy berry, let him
+try the Longfellow. The Cornelia is said to grow very large and ripen
+late, but I have not yet fruited it. As I said fifteen or twenty years
+ago, if I were restricted to but one variety, I should choose the
+Triomphe de Gand, a foreign kind, but well adapted to rich, heavy
+soils. The berries begin to ripen early, and last very late. The
+Memphis Late has always been the last to mature on my grounds, and,
+like the Crystal City, is either a wild variety, or else but slightly
+removed. The Wilson is the great berry of commerce. It is not ripe when
+it is red, and therefore is rarely eaten in perfection. Let it get
+almost black in its ripeness, and it is one of the richest berries in
+existence. With a liberal allowance of sugar and cream, it makes a dish
+much too good for an average king. It is also the best variety for
+preserving.
+
+It should be remembered that all strawberries, unlike pears, should be
+allowed to mature fully before being picked. Many a variety is
+condemned because the fruit is eaten prematurely. There is no richer
+berry in existence than the Windsor Chief, yet the fruit, when merely
+red, is decidedly disagreeable.
+
+The reader can now make a selection of kinds which should give him six
+weeks of strawberries. At the same time he must be warned that plants
+growing in a hard, dry, poor soil, and in matted beds, yield their
+fruit almost together, no matter how many varieties may have been set
+out. Under such conditions the strawberry season is brief indeed.
+
+While I was writing this paper the chief enemy of the strawberry came
+blundering and bumping about my lamp--the May beetle. The larva of this
+insect, the well-known white grub, has an insatiable appetite for
+strawberry roots, and in some localities and seasons is very
+destructive. One year I lost at least one hundred thousand plants by
+this pest. This beetle does not often lay its egg in well-cultivated
+ground, and we may reasonably hope to escape its ravages in a garden.
+If, when preparing for a bed, many white grubs are found in the soil, I
+should certainly advise that another locality be chosen. The only
+remedy is to dig out the larvae and kill them. If you find a plant
+wilting without apparent cause, you may be sure that a grub is feeding
+on the roots. The strawberry plant is comparatively free from insect
+enemies and disease, and rarely disappoints any one who gives it a
+tithe of the attention it deserves.
+
+There are many points in connection with this fruit which, in a small
+treatise like this, must be merely touched upon or omitted altogether.
+I may refer those who wish to study the subject more thoroughly to my
+work, "Success with Small Fruits."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE KITCHEN-GARDEN
+
+
+The garden should be open to the sky, and as far as possible unshaded
+by adjacent trees from the morning and afternoon sun. It is even more
+essential that the trees be not so near that their voracious roots can
+make their way to the rich loam of the garden.
+
+Now for the soil. We should naturally suppose that that of Eden was a
+deep sandy loam, with not too porous a subsoil. As we have already seen
+again and again, such a soil appears to be the laboratory in which we
+can assist Nature to develop her best products. But Nature has a
+profound respect for skill, and when she recognizes it, "lends a hand"
+in securing excellent crops from almost drifting sand or stubborn clay.
+She has even assisted the Hollander in wresting from the ocean one of
+the gardens of the world.
+
+We must again dwell on the principles already emphasized, that soils
+must be treated according to their nature. If too damp, they must be
+drained; if of the fortunate quality of a sandy loam resting on a clay
+subsoil, they can be abundantly deepened and enriched from the start,
+if of a heavy clay, inclined to be cold and wet in spring, and to bake
+and crack in summer, skill should aim to lighten it and remove its
+inertia; finally, as we have shown, a light, porous soil should be
+treated like a spendthrift. All soils, except the last-named, are much
+the better for being enriched and deeply plowed or forked in October or
+November. This exposes the mould to the sweetening and mechanical
+action of frost, and the fertilizers incorporated with it are gradually
+transformed into just that condition of plant food which the rootlets
+take up with the greatest ease and rapidity. A light soil, on the
+contrary, should not be worked in autumn, but be left intact after the
+crops are taken from it.
+
+In one respect a light soil and a stiff, heavy one should be treated in
+the same way, but for different reasons. In the first instance,
+fertilizers should be applied in moderation to the surface, and rains
+and the cultivation of the growing crops depended upon to carry the
+richness downward to the roots. The porous nature of the earth must
+ever be borne in mind; fertilizers pass through it and disappear, and
+therefore are applied to the surface, to delay this process and enable
+the roots to obtain as much nutriment as possible during the passage.
+Equal and even greater advantages are secured by a top-dressing of
+barnyard manures and composts to the heaviest of clay. The surface of
+such soils, left to Nature, becomes in hot, dry weather like pottery,
+baking and cracking, shielding from dew and shower, and preventing all
+circulation of air about the roots. A top-dressing prevents all this,
+keeps the surface open and mellow, and supplies not only fertility, but
+the mechanical conditions that are essential.
+
+If we are now ready to begin, let us begin right. I have not much
+sympathy with finical, fussy gardening. One of the chief fascinations
+of gardening is the endless field it affords for skilful sleight of
+hand, short-cuts, unconventional methods, and experiments. The true
+gardener soon ceases to be a man of rules, and becomes one of strategy,
+of expedients. He is prompt to act at the right moment. Like the
+artist, he is ever seeking and acting upon hints from Nature. The man
+of rules says the first of July is the time to set out winter cabbage;
+and out the plants go, though the sky be brazen, and the mercury in the
+nineties. The gardener has his plants ready, and for a few days watches
+the sky. At last he perceives that rain is coming; then he sets out his
+plants, and Nature's watering starts them, unwilted, on their new
+growth.
+
+At the same time I protest against careless, slovenly gardening--ground
+imperfectly prepared, crooked rows, seed half covered, or covered so
+deeply that the germs are discouraged long before they reach light. One
+of the best aids to success is a small compost-heap composed equally of
+manure from the horse-stable, the cow-stable, and of leaves. This
+should be allowed to stand so long, and be cut down and turned so
+often, that it becomes like a fine black powder, and is much the better
+for being kept under shelter from sun and rain.
+
+All who hope to have a permanent garden will naturally think first of
+asparagus--one of the vegetables that have bee a longest in
+cultivation, and one which is justly among the most valued. It was
+cultivated hundreds of years before the Christian era, and is to-day
+growing in popular esteem among civilized peoples.
+
+In the matter of preparation I shall take issue with many of the
+authorities. I have read and known of instances wherein extraordinary
+expense and pains have been bestowed upon the asparagus-bed. The soil
+has been dug out to the depth of two or more feet, the bottom paved,
+and the homely, hardy roots, accustomed to roughing it the world over,
+set out and tended with a care which, if given to a potato, would make
+it open its eyes. There are few more hardy or widely distributed
+species of vegetables than asparagus. It is "a native of the sea-coasts
+of various countries of Europe and Asia." According to Loudon, it is
+abundant on the sandy steppes in the interior of Russia. In Southern
+Russia and Poland the horses and cows feed upon it. It grows freely in
+the fens of Lincolnshire, and is indigenous to Cornwall. On the borders
+of the Euphrates the shoots are so extraordinarily large and vigorous
+that Thompson thinks it would be to the advantage of gardeners to
+import roots from that region. These facts may indicate that too much
+stress may have been laid on its character as a marine plant. Yet it is
+true that it grows naturally on the coast of Holland, in the sandy
+valleys and on the downs, while off Lizard Point it flourishes
+naturally on an island where, in gales, the sea breaks over the roots.
+In this country also it has escaped cultivation, and is establishing
+itself along our coasts, The truth is that it is a plant endowed with a
+remarkable power of adaptation to all soils and climates, and does not
+need the extravagant petting often given it. On different portions of
+my place chance seeds have fallen, and annually produce almost as fine
+heads as are cut from the garden. Nature therefore teaches what
+experience verifies--that asparagus is one of the most easily grown and
+inexpensive vegetables of the garden. From two small beds we have
+raised during the past eight years twice as much as we could use, and
+at the cost of very little trouble either in planting or cultivation.
+
+In my effort to show, from the hardy nature of the asparagus plant,
+that extravagant preparation is unnecessary, let no one conclude that I
+am opposed to a good, thorough preparation that accords with
+common-sense. It is not for one year's crop that you are preparing, but
+for a vegetable that should be productive on the same ground thirty or
+forty years. What I said of strawberries applies here. A fair yield of
+fruit may be expected from plants set out on ordinary corn-ground, but
+more than double the crop would be secured from ground generously
+prepared.
+
+When I first came to Cornwall, about twelve years ago, I determined to
+have an asparagus bed as soon as possible. I selected a plot eighty
+feet long by thirty wide, of sandy loam, sloping to the southwest. It
+had been used as a garden before, but was greatly impoverished. I gave
+it a good top-dressing of barnyard manure in the autumn, and plowed it
+deeply; another top-dressing of fine yard manure and a deep forking in
+the early spring. Then, raking the surface smooth, I set a line along
+its length on one side. A man took a spade, sunk its length in the
+soil, and pushed it forward strongly. This action made an almost
+perpendicular wedge-shaped aperture just back of the spade. The
+asparagus plant, with its roots spread out fan-shape, was sunk in this
+opening to a depth that left the crown of the plant between three and
+four inches below the surface. Then the spade was drawn out, and the
+soil left to fall over the crown of the plant. Rapidly repeating this
+simple process, the whole plot was soon set out. The entire bed was
+then raked smooth. The rows were three feet apart, and plants one foot
+apart in the row. A similar plot could scarcely have been planted with
+potatoes more quickly or at less expense, and a good crop of potatoes
+could not have been raised on that poor land with less preparation. A
+few years later I made another and smaller bed in the same way. The
+results have been entirely satisfactory. I secured my object, and had
+plenty of asparagus at slight cost, and have also sold and given away
+large quantities. A bit of experience is often worth much more than
+theory.
+
+At the same time it is proper that some suggestions should follow this
+brief record. The asparagus bed should be in well-drained soil; for
+while the plant will grow on wet land, it will start late, and our aim
+is to have it early.
+
+Again, with asparagus as with nearly everything else, the deeper and
+richer the soil, the larger and more luxuriant the crop. Listen to
+Thompson, the great English gardener: "If the ground has been drained,
+trenched, or made good to the depth of THREE feet, as directed for the
+kitchen-garden generally [!], that depth will suffice for the growth of
+asparagus." We should think so; yet I am fast reaching the conclusion
+that under most circumstances it would in the end repay us to secure
+that depth of rich soil throughout our gardens, not only for asparagus,
+but for everything else. Few of the hasty, slipshod gardeners of
+America have any idea of the results secured by extending root
+pasturage to the depth of three feet instead of six or seven inches;
+soil thus prepared would defy flood and drought, and everything planted
+therein would attain almost perfection, asparagus included. But who has
+not seen little gardens by the roadside in which all the esculents
+seemed growing together much as they would be blended in the pot
+thereafter? Yet from such patches, half snatched from barrenness, many
+a hearty, wholesome dinner results. Let us have a garden at once, then
+improve it indefinitely.
+
+I will give in brief just what is essential to secure a good and
+lasting asparagus bed. We can if we choose grow our own plants, and
+thus be sure of good ones. The seed can be sown in late October or
+EARLY spring on light, rich soil in rows eighteen inches apart. An
+ounce of seed will sow fifty feet of drill. If the soil is light, cover
+the seed one inch deep; if heavy, half an inch; pack the ground
+lightly, and cover the drill with a good dusting of that fine compost
+we spoke of, or any fine manure. This gives the young plants a good
+send-off. By the use of the hoe and hand-weeding keep them scrupulously
+clean during the growing season, and when the tops are killed by frost
+mow them off. I should advise sowing two or three seeds to the inch,
+and then when the plants are three inches high, thinning them out so
+that they stand four inches apart. You thus insure almost the certainty
+of good strong plants by autumn; for plants raised as directed are
+ready to be set out after one season's growth, and by most gardeners
+are preferred.
+
+In most instances good plants can be bought for a small sum from
+nurserymen, who usually offer for sale those that are two years old.
+Strong one-year-olds are just as good, but under ordinary culture are
+rarely large enough until two years of age. I would not set out
+three-year-old plants, for they are apt to be stunted and enfeebled.
+You can easily calculate how many plants you require by remembering
+that the rows are to be three feet apart, and the plants one foot apart
+in the row.
+
+Now, whether you have raised the plants yourself, or have bought them,
+you are ready to put them where they will grow, and yield to the end of
+your life probably. Again I substantiate my position by quoting from
+the well-known gardener and writer, Mr. Joseph Harris: "The old
+directions for planting an asparagus bed were well calculated to deter
+any one from making the attempt. I can recollect the first I made. The
+labor and manure must have cost at the rate of a thousand dollars an
+acre, and, after all was done, no better results were obtained than we
+now secure at one-tenth of the expense."
+
+If the ground selected for the bed is a well-drained sandy loam, is
+clean, free from sod, roots, stones, etc., I would give it a
+top-dressing of six inches of good barnyard manure, which by trenching
+or plowing I would thoroughly mix with the soil to the depth of at
+least two feet. If the ground is not free from stones, roots, and sod,
+I should put on the manure, as directed, in the autumn, and begin on
+one side of the prospective bed and trench it all over, mingling the
+fertilizer through the soil. The trencher can throw out on the surface
+back of him every stone, root, and weed, so that by the time he is
+through there is a sufficient space of ground amply prepared.
+
+On all soils except a wet, heavy clay I prefer autumn planting. During
+the latter part of October or early November put in the plants as
+explained above, or else make a straight trench that will give room for
+the spreading of the roots, and leave the crowns between three and four
+inches below the surface. Then level the ground, and cover the row with
+a light mulch of stable-manure as you would strawberries. If more
+convenient to set out the plants in spring, do so as soon as the ground
+is dry enough to crumble freely when worked. In the spring rake off the
+mulch, and as early as possible fork the ground over lightly, taking
+pains not to touch or wound the crowns of the plants. The young,
+slender shoots will soon appear, and slender enough they will be at
+first. Keep them free of weeds and let them grow uncut all through the
+first year; mow off the tops in late October, and cover the entire bed
+with three or four inches of coarse barnyard manure. In spring rake off
+the coarsest of this mulch, from which the rains and melting snows have
+been carrying down richness, dig the bed over lightly once (never
+wounding the roots or crowns of the plants), and then sow salt over the
+bed till it is barely white. Let the tops grow naturally and uncut the
+second year, and merely keep clean. Take precisely the same action
+again in the autumn and the following spring. During the latter part of
+April and May a few of the strongest shoots may be cut for the table.
+This should be done with a sharp knife a little below the surface, so
+that the soil may heal the wound, and carefully, lest other heads just
+beneath the surface be clipped prematurely. Cut from the bed very
+sparingly, however, the third year, and let vigorous foliage form
+corresponding root-power. In the autumn of the third and the spring of
+the fourth year the treatment is precisely the same. In the fourth
+season, however, the shoots may be used freely to, say, about June 20,
+after which the plants should be permitted to grow unchecked till fall,
+in order to maintain and increase the root-power. Every year thereafter
+there should be an abundant top-dressing of manure in the fall, and a
+careful digging of the ground in the early spring. Light, sandy soil,
+clear of stones, is well adapted to asparagus, but should be treated on
+the principles already indicated in this work. There should be no
+attempt, by trenching, to render a porous subsoil more leaky. It is
+useless to give the bed a thorough initial enriching. Put on a generous
+top-dressing every autumn and leave the rains to do their work, and
+good crops will result.
+
+If, on the contrary, a cold, heavy clay must be dealt with, every
+effort should be made to ameliorate it. Work in a large quantity of
+sand at first, if possible; employ manures from the horse-stable, or
+other light and exciting fertilizers, and there will be no failure.
+
+In regard to the use of salt, Mr. Harris writes: "It is a popular
+notion that common salt is exceedingly beneficial to asparagus. I do
+not know that there is any positive proof of this, but, at any rate,
+salt will do no harm, even if applied thick enough to kill many of our
+common weeds. Salt is usually sown broadcast, at the rate of ten
+bushels to the acre."
+
+Until recently I have grown asparagus without salt. Hereafter I shall
+employ it in sufficient degree to kill all weeds except the strongest.
+I shall sow it every spring after the bed is dug until the ground is as
+white as if a flurry of snow had passed over it. I think salt is a good
+manure for asparagus, and many other things. At any rate, we secure a
+great advantage in keeping our beds free of weeds.
+
+I have written thus fully of asparagus because when a man makes a bed
+as directed he makes it for a lifetime. He can scarcely find another
+investment that will yield a larger return. We have asparagus on our
+table every day, from the middle of April to July 1; and the annual
+care of the crop is far less than that of a cabbage-patch. I do not
+advise severe cutting, however, after the middle of June, for this
+reason: it is well known that the most pestiferous perennial weed can
+be killed utterly if never allowed to make foliage. As foliage depends
+upon the root, so the root depends on foliage. The roots of asparagus
+may therefore be greatly enfeebled by too severe and long-continued
+cutting. Avarice always overreaches itself.
+
+In some localities the asparagus beetle destroys whole plantations.
+Thompson, the English authority, says: "The larvae, beetles, and eggs
+are found from June to the end of September. Picking off the larvae and
+beetles, or shaking them into receptacles, appears to be the only
+remedy."
+
+Peter Henderson, in his valuable book, "Gardening for Profit," figures
+this insect and its larvae accurately, and says: "Whenever the eggs or
+larvae appear, cut and burn the plants as long as any traces of the
+insect are seen. This must be done if it destroys every vestige of
+vegetation." He and other authorities speak of the advantage of cooping
+a hen and chickens in the bed. Most emphatically would I recommend this
+latter course, for I have tried it with various vegetables. Active
+broods of little chickens here and there in the garden are the best of
+insecticides, and pay for themselves twice over in this service alone.
+
+We will next speak of the ONION, because it is so hardy that the
+earlier it is planted in spring the better. Indeed, I have often, with
+great advantage, sown the seed on light soils the first of September,
+and wintered over the young plants in the open ground. Nature evidently
+intended the onion for humanity in general, for she has endowed the
+plant with the power to flourish from the tropics to the coldest limit
+of the temperate zone.
+
+While onions are grown in all sorts of careless ways, like other
+vegetables, it is by far the best plan to select a space for an annual
+and permanent bed, just as we do for asparagus. Unlike most other
+crops, the onion does not require change of ground, but usually does
+better on the same soil for an indefinite number of years. Therefore I
+would advise that upon the Home Acre the onion, like the asparagus bed,
+should be made with a view to permanence.
+
+Not much success can be hoped for on rough, poor land. The onion, like
+the asparagus bed, should be made and maintained with some care. If
+possible, select a light, well-drained, but not dry plot. Make the soil
+rich, deep, mellow, to the depth of twenty inches, taking out all
+stones, roots, etc.; cover the land with at least six inches of good
+strong barnyard manure. This should be done in the autumn. Sow the
+ground white with salt, as in the case of asparagus, and then mingle
+these fertilizers thoroughly with the soil, by forking or plowing it at
+once, leaving the surface as rough as possible, so that the frost can
+penetrate deeply. Just as soon as the ground is dry enough to work in
+the spring, fork or plow again, breaking every lump and raking all
+smooth, so that the surface is as fine as the soil in a hot-bed. You
+cannot hope for much in heavy, lumpy ground. Sow at least three seeds
+to the inch in a shallow drill one inch deep, and spat the earth firmly
+over the seed with the back of a spade or with your hand. In subsequent
+culture little more is required than keeping the MERE SURFACE stirred
+with a hoe, and the rows clean of weeds. Onions are not benefited by
+deep stirring of the soil, but the surface, from the start, should be
+kept clean and scarified an inch or two deep between the rows during
+the growing season. I prefer to have my onions growing at the rate of
+one or two to every inch of row, for I do not like large bulbs. I think
+that moderate-sized onions are better for the table. Those who value
+largeness should thin out the plants to three or four inches apart; but
+even in the market there is less demand for large, coarse onions. When
+the tops begin to fall over from their own weight, in August or
+September, leave them to mature and ripen naturally. When the tops
+begin to dry up, pull them from the soil, let them dry thoroughly in
+the sun, and then spread them thinly in a dry loft till there is danger
+of their freezing. Even there they will keep better, if covered deeply
+with straw, hay, etc., than in a damp cellar. Wherever the air is damp
+and a little too warm, onions will speedily start to grow again, and
+soon become worthless. After the crop has been taken, the ground should
+be treated as at first--thoroughly enriched and pulverized late in
+autumn, and left to lie in a rough state during the winter, then
+prepared for planting as early as possible. I prefer March sowing of
+the seed to April, and April, by far, to May. In England they try to
+plant in February. Indeed, as I have said, I have had excellent success
+by sowing the seed early in September on light soils, and letting the
+plants grow during all the mild days of fall, winter, and early spring.
+By this course we have onions fit for the table and market the
+following May. In this latitude they need the protection of a little
+coarse litter from December 1 to about the middle of March. Only the
+very severest frost injures them. Most of us have seen onions,
+overlooked in the fall gathering, growing vigorously as soon as the
+thaws began in spring. This fact contains all the hint we need in
+wintering over the vegetable in the open ground. If the seed is sown
+late in September, the plants do not usually acquire sufficient
+strength in this latitude to resist the frost. It is necessary,
+therefore, to secure our main crop by very early spring sowings, and it
+may be said here that after the second thorough pulverization of the
+soil in spring, the ground will be in such good condition that, if well
+enriched and stirred late in autumn, it will only need levelling down
+and smoothing off before the spring sowing. Onions appear to do best on
+a compact soil, if rich, deep, and clean. It is the SURFACE merely that
+needs to be stirred lightly and frequently.
+
+If young green onions with thin, succulent tops are desired very early
+in spring, it will be an interesting experiment to sow the seed the
+latter part of August or early in September. Another method is to leave
+a row of onions in the garden where they ripened. When the autumn rains
+begin, they will start to grow again. The winter will not harm them,
+and even in April there will be a strong growth of green tops. The seed
+stalk should be picked off as soon as it appears in spring, or else the
+whole strength will speedily go to the formation of seed.
+
+It should be remembered that good onions can not be produced very far
+to the south by sowing the small gunpowder-like seed. In our own and
+especially in warmer climates a great advantage is secured by employing
+what are known as "onion sets." These are produced by sowing the
+ordinary black seed very thickly on light poor land. Being much
+crowded, and not having much nutriment, the seed develop into little
+onions from the size of a pea to that of a walnut, the smaller the
+better, if they are solid and plump. These, pressed or sunk, about
+three inches apart, into rich garden soil about an inch deep, just as
+soon as the frost is out, make fine bulbs by the middle of June. For
+instance, we had in our garden plenty of onions three inches in
+diameter from these little sets, while the seed, sown at the same time,
+will not yield good bulbs before August. There is but little need of
+raising these sets, for it is rather difficult to keep them in good
+condition over the winter. Any seedsman will furnish them, and they are
+usually on sale at country stores. Three or four quarts, if in good
+condition, will supply a family abundantly, and leave many to be used
+dry during the autumn. Insist on plump little bulbs. If you plant them
+early, as you should, you will be more apt to get good sets. Many
+neglect the planting till the sets are half dried up, or so badly
+sprouted as to be wellnigh worthless. They usually come in the form of
+white and yellow sets, and I plant an equal number of each.
+
+The chief insect enemies are onion maggots, the larvae of the onion
+fly. These bore through the outer leaf and down into the bulb, which
+they soon destroy. I know of no remedy but to pull up the yellow and
+sickly plants, and burn them and the pests together. The free use of
+salt in the fall, and a light top-dressing of wood-ashes at the time of
+planting, tend to subdue these insects; but the best course is
+prevention by deeply cultivating and thoroughly enriching in the fall,
+leaving the ground rough and uneven for the deep action of frost, and
+by sowing the seed VERY early in spring. I have found that the insect
+usually attacks late-sown and feeble plants. If the maggot were in my
+garden, I should use the little sets only.
+
+Some special manures have been employed in attaining the greatest
+success with this vegetable. In England, pigeon-dung and the cleanings
+of the pigsty are extensively employed. In this country the sweepings
+of the hen-roost are generally recommended. It should be remembered
+that all these are strong agents, and if brought in contact with the
+roots of any vegetable while in a crude, undiluted state, burn like
+fire, especially in our climate. What can be done in safety in England
+will not answer under our vivid sun and in our frequent droughts. These
+strong fertilizers could be doubled in value as well as bulk by being
+composted with sods, leaves, etc., and then, after having been mixed,
+allowed to decay thoroughly. Then the compost can be used with great
+advantage as a top-dressing directly over the drills when either sets
+or seeds are planted. The spring rains will carry the richness from the
+surface to the roots, and insure a very vigorous growth. When the
+compost named in the early part of this paper is used, I sow it thickly
+IN the drill, draw a pointed hoe through once more, to mingle the
+fertilizer with the soil, and then forthwith sow the seeds or put in
+the sets one inch deep; and the result is immediate and vigorous
+growth. Wood-ashes and bone-dust are excellent fertilizers, and should
+be sown on the surface on the row as soon as planted, and gradually
+worked in by weeding and cultivation during the growing season. Manure
+from the pigsty, wherein weeds, litter, sods, muck, etc., have been
+thrown freely during the summer, may be spread broadcast over the onion
+bed in the autumn, and worked in deeply, like the product of the
+barnyard. The onion bed can scarcely be made too rich as long as the
+manure is not applied in its crude, unfermented state at the time of
+planting. Then, if the seed is put in very early, it grows too strongly
+and quickly for insects to do much damage.
+
+Varieties.--Thompson in his English work names nineteen varieties with
+many synonyms; Henderson offers the seed of thirteen varieties;
+Gregory, of seventeen kinds. There is no need of our being confused by
+this latitude of choice. We find it in the great majority of fruits and
+vegetables offered by nurserymen and seedsmen. Each of the old
+varieties that have survived the test of years has certain good
+qualities which make it valuable, especially in certain localities.
+Many of the novelties in vegetables, as among fruits, will soon
+disappear; a few will take their place among the standard sorts. In the
+case of the kitchen, as well as in the fruit, garden, I shall give the
+opinion of men who have a celebrity as wide as the continent for actual
+experience, and modestly add occasionally some views of my own which
+are the result of observation.
+
+As a choice for the home-garden, Mr. Henderson recommends the following
+varieties of onions: Extra Early Red, Yellow Globe Danvers, White
+Portugal or Silver Skin, and Southport Yellow Globe. Mr. Joseph Harris,
+the well-known and practical author: Yellow Danvers, Extra Early Large
+Bed, and White Globe. Mr. J. J. H. Gregory: New Queen, Early Yellow
+Acker, Yellow Danvers, Early Red Globe Danvers, Large Red Wethersfield.
+They all recommend onion sets. The Queen onion is quite distinct. For
+the home table, where earliness, as well as quality, size and quantity
+is desired, I think the Queen deserves a place. It is admirably fitted
+for pickling. I have tried all the varieties named, with good success,
+and grown some of the largest kinds to six inches in diameter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE KITCHEN-GARDEN (concluded)
+
+
+In the last chapter I dwelt somewhat at length on two vegetables for
+which thorough and enduring preparation is profitable. There is one
+other very early garden product which requires our attention during the
+first warm days of spring--rhubarb; sold in some instances under the
+name of "wine-plant." Wine is made from the juicy stalks, but it is an
+unwholesome beverage. The people call rhubarb "pie-plant;" and this
+term suggests its best and most common use, although when cooked as if
+it were a fruit, it is very grateful at a season when we begin to crave
+the subacid in our food.
+
+Its cultivation is very simple. Those who propose to produce it largely
+for market will find it to their advantage to raise this plant from the
+seed; but for the Home Acre enough plants can be procured, at a
+moderate cost, from almost any nurseryman. In this instance, also,
+thorough preparation of the soil is essential, for the rhubarb bed,
+under good care, will last eight or ten years. A rich, deep, clean,
+warm soil is the chief essential. It belongs to that class of
+vegetables known as "gross feeders." During the first year, however, I
+would apply the fertiliser directly to the hills or plants. These are
+obtained by dividing the old roots, which may be cut to pieces downward
+so as to leave a single bud or "eye" surmounting a long tapering
+portion of root. Each division will make a new, vigorous plant, which
+should be set out so that the bud or crown is three inches below the
+surface in light soils, and two inches in heavy soils. The plants
+should be four feet apart each way, and two or three shovelfuls of rich
+compost worked into the soil where the plant is to stand. You cannot
+make the ground too rich; only remember that in this, as in all other
+instances, light, fermenting manures should not be brought into
+immediate contact with the roots. Plant in either autumn or spring. In
+this latitude and southward I should prefer autumn; northward, perhaps
+spring is the best season. Keep the intervening ground clean and
+mellow, and pull no stalks the first year, unless it be in the autumn
+if the plants have become very strong. In the fall, when the foliage
+has died down, cover the crowns with two or three shovelfuls of rich
+manure--any kind will do in this instance--and work in a heavy
+top-dressing all over the ground early in spring. Unless seed is
+required, always cut down the seed-stalks as soon as they appear. The
+best early variety is the Linnaeus. The Victoria is a little later, but
+much larger, and is the kind that I have usually grown.
+
+Radish-seed may be sown one inch deep as soon as the ground is dry
+enough in spring, and if the vegetable is a favorite, the sowing may be
+repeated every two weeks. A common error is to sow the seed too
+thickly. A warm, RICH soil is all that is necessary to secure a crop.
+
+What has been said about radishes applies equally to early turnips,
+with the exception that the plants when three inches high should be
+thinned so as to stand four inches apart. The ground for these
+vegetables should be very rich, so as to secure a very rapid growth;
+for otherwise they are attacked by a little white worm which soon
+renders them unfit for use. Mr. Harris recommends the following
+varieties of early radishes, and his selection coincides with my own
+experience: Bound Scarlet Turnip, French Breakfast, Rose
+(olive-shaped), Long Scarlet Short-top. Winter radishes: California
+Mammoth White, and Chinese Rose. For spring sowing of turnips, Mr.
+Henderson recommends Red-top Strap-leaf, and Early Flat Dutch. The
+earlier they are sown the better.
+
+Beets--a much more valuable vegetable--require similar treatment. The
+ground should be clean, well pulverized, and very rich. I prefer to sow
+the seed the first week in April, unless the soil is frozen, or very
+cold and wet. The seed may be sown, however, at any time to the first
+of July; but earliness is usually our chief aim. I sow two inches deep
+and thickly, pressing the soil firmly over the seed. Let the rows be
+about fifteen inches apart. Referring to the manure which had been left
+to decay in a sheltered place until it became like fine dry powder, let
+me say here that I have always found it of greater advantage to sow it
+with the beet-seed and kindred vegetables. My method is to open the
+drill along the garden-line with a sharp-pointed hoe, and scatter the
+fertilizer in the drill until the soil is quite blackened by it; then
+draw the pointed hoe through once more, to mingle the powdery manure
+with the soil and to make the drill of an even depth; then sow the seed
+at once. This thoroughly decayed stable-manure has become the best of
+plant-food; it warms the ground, and carries the germinating seed and
+young plants with vigor through the first cold, wet weeks.
+
+In the home garden there are several reasons for sowing beet-seed
+thickly. Unfavorable weather and insects will be less apt to cause a
+thin, broken stand of plants. In order to produce good roots, however,
+the plants should be thinned out so as to stand eventually three or
+four inches apart I do not advise very large, coarse roots for the
+table. For home use I think only three varieties are essential. The
+Egyptian Turnip Beet is the best very early variety, and can be planted
+closely, as it has a small top; the Bassano is next in earliness, and
+requires more room; the Early Blood Turnip is the best for a general
+crop and winter use. The beet is a root which deteriorates rapidly from
+age; I therefore advise that the seed of the winter supply be sown the
+last of June or first of July in our latitude.
+
+Parsnips should be sown at the same time with early beets and in the
+same way, with the exception that the seed should be covered only an
+inch deep. I doubt whether there are any marked distinctions in
+variety, and would advise that only the Long Smooth or Hollow-crowned
+be sown.
+
+The carrot is not quite so hardy as the parsnip, and the seed may be
+sown a week or two later, or indeed at any time up to the middle of
+June. Its culture and treatment are precisely like those of the
+parsnip; but the roots should be gathered and stored before a severe
+frost occurs. For home use a short row of the Early Horn will answer;
+for the general crop, sow the Long Orange.
+
+Vegetable-oyster, or salsify, is another root-crop which may be treated
+precisely like the parsnip, and the seed sown at the same time. The
+seed should be sown in a deep, rich, mellow soil, which is all the
+better for being prepared in autumn. Plant, as early in April as
+possible, in the same manner as described for beets, thin out to four
+inches apart, and keep the soil clean and mellow throughout the entire
+season; for this vegetable grows until the ground freezes. There is
+only one variety.
+
+The pea is another crop which may be put into the ground as soon as the
+frost is out--the earlier the better, if the smooth, hardy varieties
+are sown. There are so many varieties that the novice to-day may well
+be excused for perplexity in choice. Thompson, the English authority,
+gives forty kinds, and one hundred and forty-eight synonyms. Mr.
+Gregory recommends the American Wonder, Bliss's Abundance, Bliss's
+Ever-bearing, McLean's Advancer, Yorkshire Hero, Stratagem, and
+Champion of England. Mr. Henderson's list includes Henderson's First of
+All, American Wonder, Bliss's Abundance, Champion of England, and Pride
+of the Market. Mr. Harris in his catalogue marks first and best,
+American Wonder, and also says, "For the main crop there is nothing
+better than the Champion of England." My own experience would lead me
+to plant the Tom Thumb either just before the ground froze in the fall,
+or as early in March as possible. It is almost perfectly hardy, and
+gives me the earliest picking. I should also plant Henderson's First of
+All as soon as the frost was out, on a warm, well-drained soil. For
+second crops, American Wonder and Premium Gem; and for the main and
+most satisfactory crop of all, Champion of England. The Champion
+requires brush as a support, for it grows from four to six feet high;
+but it is well worth the trouble. I plant the other kinds named because
+they are much earlier, and so dwarf as to need no brush; they are also
+productive, and excellent in quality if not left to grow too old. For
+the dwarf kinds the soil cannot be too rich, and the warmer the ground
+and exposure, the earlier the crop. For the tall late sorts the soil
+may easily be made too fertile; they should also be planted in cooler,
+moister, and heavier ground. In the case of the dwarfs I put a
+fertilizer in with the seed as I have already explained. Cover the
+dwarfs about two and a half inches deep, and the tall late sorts from
+three to four inches according to the nature of the soil. Plant the
+Champion of England every ten days until the middle of June, and thus
+secure a succession of the best of all.
+
+We all know how numerous have been the varieties of potato introduced
+into this country of late years--many kinds sent out at first at the
+rate of one or more dollars per pound. I amuse myself by trying several
+of these novelties (after they become cheap) every year, and one season
+raised very early crops of excellent potatoes from the Vanguard and
+Pearl of Savoy. The Early Rose and Early Vermont have long been
+favorites. They resemble each other very closely. I have had excellent
+success with the Beauty of Hebron. It is a good plan to learn what
+varieties succeed well in our own neighborhood, and then to plant
+chiefly of such kinds; we may then add to our zest by trying a few
+novelties.
+
+Not only much reading on the subject, but also my own observation, and
+the general law that "like produces like," lead me to indorse the
+practice of planting large tubers cut into sets containing one or more
+eyes, or buds. The eye of a potato is a bud from which the plant grows;
+and the stronger backing it has, the stronger and more able is the
+plant to evolve new fine tubers through the action of its roots and
+foliage. A small potato has many immature buds, which as a rule produce
+feeble plants.
+
+The potato will grow on almost any soil; but a dry, rich, sandy loam
+gives the best, if not the largest, yield. I do not think the potato
+can be planted too early after the ground is fit to work. One spring I
+was able to get in several rows the 15th of March, and I never had a
+finer yield. I observe that Mr. Harris strongly indorses this plan.
+
+Nearly every one has his system of planting. There is no necessity for
+explaining these methods. I will briefly give mine, for what it is
+worth. I prefer warm, well-drained soils. Plow deeply in autumn, also
+in spring; harrow and pulverize the ground as completely as possible;
+then open the furrows with the same heavy plow, sinking it to the beam,
+and going twice in the furrow. This, of course, would make too deep a
+trench in which to place the sets, but the soil has been deepened and
+pulverized at least fourteen inches. A man next goes along with a cart
+or barrow of well-decayed compost (not very raw manure), which is
+scattered freely in the deep furrows; then through these a corn-plow is
+run, to mingle the fertilizer with the soil. By this course the furrows
+are partially filled with loose, friable soil and manure, and they
+average four or five inches in depth. The sets are planted at once
+eight inches apart, the eye turned upward, and the cut part down. The
+sets are then covered with three or four inches of fine soil, not with
+sods and stones. When the plants are two or three inches high, they
+receive their first hoeing, which merely levels the ground evenly. The
+next cultivation is performed by both corn-plow and hoe. In the final
+working I do not permit a sharp-slanting slope from the plants
+downward, so that the rain is kept from reaching the roots. There is a
+broad hilling up, so as to have a slope inward toward the plants, as
+well as away from them. This method, with the deep, loosened soil
+beneath the plants, secures against drought, while the decayed
+fertilizers give a strong and immediate growth.
+
+Of course we have to fight the potato, or Colorado, beetle during the
+growing season. This we do with Paris green applied in liquid form, a
+heaping teaspoonful to a pail of water.
+
+In taking up and storing potatoes a very common error is fallen into.
+Sometimes even growing tubers are so exposed to sun and light that they
+become green. In this condition they are not only worthless, but
+poisonous. If long exposed to light after being dug, the solanine
+principle, which exists chiefly in the stems and leaves, is developed
+in the tubers. The more they are in the light, the less value they
+possess, until they become worse than worthless. They should be dug, if
+possible, on a dry day, picked up promptly and carried to a dry, cool,
+DARK cellar. If stored on floors of outbuldings, the light should be
+excluded. Potatoes that are long exposed to light before the shops of
+dealers are injured. Barrels, etc., containing them should be covered;
+if spread on the barn-floor, or in places which can not be darkened,
+throw straw or some other litter over them.
+
+There is no occasion to say much about lettuce. It is a vegetable which
+any one can raise who will sow the seed a quarter of an inch deep. I
+have sowed the seed in September, wintered the plants over in
+cold-frames, and by giving a little heat, I had an abundance of heads
+to sell in February and March. For ordinary home uses it is necessary
+only to sow the seed on a warm, rich spot as soon as the frost is out,
+and you will quickly have plenty of tender foliage. This we may begin
+to thin out as soon as the plants are three or four inches high, until
+a foot of space is left between the plants, which, if of a cabbage
+variety, will speedily make a large, crisp head. To maintain a supply,
+sowings can be made every two weeks till the middle of August. Hardy
+plants, which may be set out like cabbages, are to be obtained in March
+and April from nurserymen. Henderson recommends the following
+varieties: Henderson's New York, Black-seeded Simpson, Salamander, and
+All the Year Round. I would also add the Black-seeded Butter Lettuce.
+
+We have now, as far as our space permits, treated of those vegetables
+which should be planted in the home garden as early in spring as
+possible. It is true the reader will think of other sorts, as cabbage,
+cauliflower, spinach, etc. To the professional gardener these are
+all-the-year-round vegetables. If the amateur becomes so interested in
+his garden as to have cold-frames and hot-beds, he will learn from more
+extended works how to manage these. He will winter over the cabbage and
+kindred vegetables for his earliest supply, having first sown the seed
+in September. I do not take the trouble to do this, and others need
+not, unless it is a source of enjoyment to them. As soon as the ground
+is fit to work in spring, I merely write to some trust-worthy dealer in
+plants and obtain twenty-five very early cabbage, and twenty-five
+second early, also a hundred early cauliflower. They cost little, and
+are set out in half an hour as soon as the ground is fit to work in
+spring. I usually purchase my tomato, late cabbage, and cauliflower,
+celery and egg-plants, from the same sources. Cabbages and cauliflowers
+should be set out in RICH warm soils, free from shade, as soon as the
+frost is out. After that they need only frequent and clean culture and
+vigilant watchfulness, or else many will fall victims to a dirty brown
+worm which usually cuts the stem, and leaves the plant lying on the
+ground. The worm can easily be found near the surface the moment it
+begins its ravages, and the only remedy I know is to catch and kill it
+at once. In this latitude winter cabbage is set out about the fourth of
+July. I pinch off half the leaves before setting. Good seed, deep
+plowing or spading, rich soil, and clean culture are usually the only
+requisites for success. Experience and consultation of the books and
+catalogues enable me to recommend the Jersey Wakefield for first early,
+and Henderson's Summer Cabbage and Winningstadt as second early. As a
+late root I ask for nothing better than Premium Flat Dutch. The Savoy
+is the best flavored of the cabbage tribe. Henderson recommends the
+Netted Savoy, which may be treated like other late cabbage.
+
+The cauliflower is ranked among the chief delicacies of the garden, and
+requires and repays far more attention than cabbage. Even the early
+sorts should have a richer, moister soil than is required for very
+early cabbage. I advise two plantings in spring, of first and second
+early; I also advise that late varieties be set out on RICH ground the
+last of June. As with cabbage, set out the plants from two and a half
+to three feet apart, according to the size of the variety, from trial I
+recommend Early Snowball, Half-early Paris, and Large Late Algiers.
+
+Spinach thrives in a very rich, well-drained, fine, mellow soil. I
+prefer a sunny slope; but this is not necessary. Sow the seed from the
+first to the fifteenth of September, so as to give the plants time to
+become half grown by winter. Cover the seeds--three to an inch--two
+inches deep, and pack the ground well over them; let the rows be three
+inches apart. When the plants are three inches high, thin out to three
+inches apart, and keep the soil clean and mellow about them. Just
+before hard freezing weather, scatter about three inches of straw, old
+pea-vines, or some light litter over the whole bed. As soon as the days
+begin to grow warm in spring, and hard frost ceases, rake this off. The
+hardy vegetable begins to grow at once, and should be cut for use so as
+to leave the plants finally six inches apart, for as fast as space is
+given, the plants fill it up. By those who are fond of spinach it may
+be sown in spring as soon as the frost is out. It quickly runs to seed
+in hot weather, and thinnings of young beets may take its place where
+space is limited. The Round or Summer is good for fall or spring
+planting.
+
+Those who need much instruction in regard to bush-beans should remain
+in the city and raise cats in their paved back yards. We shall only
+warn against planting too early--not before the last of April in our
+region. It does not take much frost to destroy the plants, and if the
+soil is cold and wet, the beans decay instead of coming up. If one has
+a warm, sheltered slope, he may begin planting the middle of April. As
+a rule, however, bush-beans may be planted from the first of May till
+the middle of July, in order to keep up a succession. Cover the first
+seed planted one inch deep; later plantings two inches deep. I think
+that earliest Red Valentine, Black Wax or Butter, Golden Wax, and the
+late Refugee are all the varieties needed for the garden.
+
+The delicious pale Lima bean requires and deserves more attention. I
+have always succeeded with it, and this has been my method: I take a
+warm, rich, but not dry piece of ground, work it deeply early in
+spring, again the first of May, so that the sun's rays may penetrate
+and sweeten the ground. About the tenth of May I set the poles firmly
+in the ground. Rough cedar-poles, with the stubs of the branches
+extending a little, are the best. If smooth poles are used, I take a
+hatchet, and beginning at the butt, I make shallow, slanting cuts
+downward, so as to raise the bark a little. These slight raisings of
+the bark or wood serve as supports to the clambering vines. After the
+poles are in the ground I make a broad, flat hill of loose soil and a
+little of the black powdery fertilizer. I then allow the sun to warm
+and dry the hill a few days, and if the weather is fine and warm, I
+plant the seed about the fifteenth, merely pressing the eye of the bean
+downward one inch. If planted lower than this depth, they usually
+decay. If it is warm and early, the seed may be planted by the fifth of
+May. After planting, examine the seed often. If the beans are decaying
+instead of coming up, plant over again, and repeat this process until
+there are three or four strong plants within three or four inches of
+each pole. Let the hills be five feet apart each way, hoe often, and do
+not tolerate a weed. The Long White Lima and Dreer's Improved Lima are
+the only sorts needed.
+
+The Indians in their succotash taught us long ago to associate corn
+with beans, and they hit upon a dish not surpassed by modern invention.
+This delicious vegetable is as easily raised as its "hail-fellow well
+met," the bean. We have only to plant it at the same time in hills from
+three to four feet apart, and cover the seed two inches deep. I have
+used the powdery fertilizers and wood-ashes in the hill to great
+advantage, first mingling these ingredients well with the soil. We make
+it a point to have sweet-corn for the table from July 1 until the
+stalks are killed by frost in October. This is easily managed by
+planting different varieties, and continuing to plant till well into
+June. Mr. Gregory writes: "For a succession of corn for family use, to
+be planted at the same time, I would recommend Marblehead Early,
+Pratt's, Crosley's, Moore's, Stowell's Evergreen, and Egyptian Sweet."
+Mr. Harris names with praise the Minnesota as the best earliest, and
+Hickox Improved as an exceedingly large and late variety. Mr.
+Henderson's list is Henderson Sugar, Hickox Improved, Egyptian, and
+Stowell's Evergreen. Let me add Burr's Mammoth and Squantum Sugar--a
+variety in great favor with the Squantum Club, and used by them in
+their famous clam-bakes.
+
+The cucumber, if grown in the home garden and used fresh, is not in
+league with the undertaker. The seed may be planted early in May, and
+there are many ways of forcing and hastening the yield. I have had
+cucumbers very early in an ordinary hotbed. Outdoors, I make hills in
+warm soil the first of May, mixing a little of my favorite fertilizer
+with the soil. After leaving the hill for a day or two to become warm
+in the sun, I sow the seed in a straight line for fifteen inches, so
+that the hoe can approach them closely. The seed is covered an inch
+deep, and the soil patted down firmly. It is possible that a cold storm
+or that insects may make partial planting over necessary; if so, this
+is done promptly. I put twenty seeds in the hill, to insure against
+loss. For a succession or long-continued crop, plant a few hills in
+rich moist land about the last of May. The young plants always run a
+gauntlet of insects, and a little striped bug is usually their most
+deadly enemy. These bugs often appear to come suddenly in swarms, and
+devour everything before you are aware of their presence. With great
+vigilance they may be kept off by hand, for their stay is brief. I
+would advise one trial of a solution of white hellebore, a
+tablespoonful to a pail of water. Paris green--in solution, of
+course--kills them; but unless it is very weak, it will kill or stunt
+the plants also. My musk and watermelons were watered by too strong a
+solution of Paris green this year, and they never recovered from it.
+Perhaps the best preventive is to plant so much seed, and to plant over
+so often, that although the insects do their worst, plenty of good
+plants survive. This has usually been my method. When the striped bug
+disappears, and the plants are four or five inches high, I thin out to
+four plants in the hill. When they come into bearing, pick off all the
+fruit fit for use, whether you want it or not. If many are allowed to
+become yellow and go to seed, the growth and productiveness of the
+vines are checked. The Early White Spine and Extra Long White Spine are
+all the varieties needed for the table. For pickling purposes plant the
+Green Prolific on moist rich land. The other varieties answer quite as
+well, if picked before they are too large.
+
+The cultivation of the squash is substantially the same as that of the
+cucumber, and it has nearly the same enemies to contend with. Let the
+hills of the bush sorts be four feet apart each way, and eight feet for
+the running varieties. The seed is cheap, so use plenty, and plant over
+from the first to the twenty-fifth of May, until you have three good
+strong plants to the hill. Three are plenty, so thin out the plants,
+when six or seven inches high, to this number, and keep the ground
+clean and mellow. I usually raise my running squashes among the corn,
+giving up one hill to them completely every seven or eight feet each
+way. Early bush sorts: White Bush Scalloped, Yellow Bush Scalloped. The
+Perfect Gem is good for both summer and winter, and should be planted
+on rich soil, six feet apart each way. The Boston Marrow is one of the
+best fall sorts; the Hubbard and Marblehead are the best winter
+varieties.
+
+When we come to plant musk-melons we must keep them well away from the
+two above-named vegetables, or else their pollen will mix, producing
+very disagreeable hybrids. A squash is very good in its way, and a
+melon is much better; but if you grow them so near each other that they
+become "'alf and 'alf," you may perhaps find pigs that will eat them.
+The more completely the melon-patch is by itself, the better, and the
+nearer the house the better; for while it is liable to all the insects
+and diseases which attack the cucumber, it encounters, when the fruit
+is mature, a more fatal enemy in the predatory small boy. Choose rich,
+warm, but not dry ground for musk-melons, make the hills six feet apart
+each way, and treat them like cucumbers, employing an abundance of
+seed. As soon as the plants are ready to run, thin out so as to leave
+only four to fruit. Henderson recommends Montreal Market, Hackensack,
+and Netted Gem. Gregory: Netted Gem, Boston Pet, Bay View, Sill's
+Hybrid, Casaba, and Ward's Nectar. He also advocates a remarkable
+novelty known as the "Banana." Harris: Early Christiana and Montreal
+Market.
+
+Water-melons should be planted eight feet apart; but if one has not a
+warm, sandy soil, I do not advise their culture. The time of planting
+and management do not vary materially from those of the musk variety.
+The following kinds will scarcely fail to give satisfaction where they
+can be grown: Phinney's Early, Black Spanish, Mammoth Ironclad,
+Mountain Sprout, Scaly Bark, and Cuban Queen.
+
+The tomato has a curious history. Native of South America like the
+potato, it is said to have been introduced into England as early as
+1596. Many years elapsed before it was used as food, and the botanical
+name given to it was significant of the estimation in which it was held
+by our forefathers. It was called Lycopersicum--a compound term meaning
+wolf and peach; indicating that, notwithstanding its beauty, it was
+regarded as a sort of "Dead Sea fruit." The Italians first dared to use
+it freely; the French followed; and after eying it askance as a novelty
+for unknown years, John Bull ventured to taste, and having survived,
+began to eat with increasing gusto. To our grandmothers in this land
+the ruby fruit was given as "love-apples," which, adorning quaint old
+bureaus, were devoured by dreamy eyes long before canning factories
+were within the ken of even a Yankee's vision. Now, tomatoes vie with
+the potato as a general article of food, and one can scarcely visit a
+quarter of the globe so remote but he will find that the tomato-can has
+been there before him. Culture of the tomato is so easy that one year I
+had bushels of the finest fruit from plants that grew here and there by
+chance. Skill is required only in producing an early crop; and to
+secure this end the earlier the plants are started in spring, the
+better. Those who have glass will experience no difficulty whatever.
+The seed may be sown in a greenhouse as early as January, and the
+plants potted when three inches high, transferred to larger pots from
+time to time as they grow, and by the middle of May put into the open
+ground full of blossoms and immature fruit. Indeed, plants started
+early in the fall will give in a greenhouse a good supply all winter.
+Tomatoes also grow readily in hot-beds, cold-frames, or sunny windows.
+We can usually buy well-forwarded plants from those who raise them for
+sale. If these are set out early in May on a sunny slope, they mature
+rapidly, and give an early yield. The tomato is very sensitive to
+frost, and should not be in the open ground before danger from it is
+over. Throughout May we may find plants for sale everywhere. If we
+desire to try distinct kinds with the least trouble, we can sow the
+seed about May 1, and in our climate enjoy an abundant yield in
+September, or before. In the cool, humid climate of England the tomato
+is usually grown en espalier, like the peach, along sunny walls and
+fences, receiving as careful a summer pruning as the grape-vine. With
+us it is usually left to sprawl over the ground at will. By training
+the vines over various kinds of supports, however, they may be made as
+ornamental as they are useful. The ground on which they grow should be
+only moderately fertile, or else there is too great a growth of vine at
+the expense of fruit. This is especially true if we desire an early
+yield, and in this case the warmest, driest soil is necessary.
+
+But comparatively a few years ago the tomato consisted of little more
+than a rind, with seeds in the hollow centre. Now, the only varieties
+worth raising cut as solid as a mellow pear. The following is Gregory's
+list of varieties: Livingston's Beauty, Alpha, Acme, Canada Victor,
+Arlington, General Grant. I will add Trophy and Mikado. If a yellow
+variety is desired, try Golden Trophy.
+
+If the tomato needs warm weather in which to thrive, the egg-plant
+requires that both days and nights should be hot. It is an East
+Indiaman, and demands curry in the way of temperature before it loses
+its feeble yellow aspect and takes on the dark green of vigorous
+health. My method is simply this: I purchase strong potted plants
+between the twentieth of May and the first of June, and set them out in
+a rich, warm soil. A dozen well-grown plants will supply a large family
+with egg-fruit. Of course one can start the young plants themselves, as
+in the case of tomatoes; but it should be remembered that they are much
+more tender and difficult to raise than is the tomato. Plants from seed
+sown in the open ground would not mature in our latitude, as a rule.
+The best plan is to have the number you need grown for you by those who
+make it their business. Eggplants are choice morsels for the
+potato-beetle, and they must be watched vigilantly if we would save
+them. There is no better variety than the New York Improved.
+
+The pepper is another hot-blooded vegetable that shivers at the
+suggestion of frost. It is fitting that it should be a native of India.
+Its treatment is usually the same as that of the egg-plant. It matures
+more rapidly, however, and the seed can be sown about the middle of
+May, half an inch deep, in rows fifteen inches apart. The soil should
+be rich and warm. When the plants are well up, they should be thinned
+so that they will stand a foot apart in the row. The usual course,
+however, is to set out plants which have been started under glass,
+after all danger from frost is over. Henderson recommends New Sweet
+Spanish and Golden Dawn, The Large Bell is a popular sort, and Cherry
+Red very ornamental.
+
+From the okra is made the famous gumbo soup, which ever calls to vision
+a colored aunty presiding over the mysteries of a Southern dinner. If
+Aunt Dinah, so well known to us from the pages of "Uncle Tom's Cabin,"
+could have left her receipt for this compound, her fame might have
+lasted as long as that of Mrs. Stowe. The vegetable furnishing this
+glutinous, nutritious, and wholesome ingredient is as easily raised as
+any product of the garden. We have only to sow the seed, from the first
+to the tenth of May, two inches deep, and let the plants stand from two
+to three feet apart each way, in order to have an abundant supply. The
+new Dwarf Prolific is about the best variety.
+
+Fall turnips are so easily grown that they require but few words. They
+are valuable vegetables for utilizing space in the garden after early
+crops, as peas, beans, potatoes, etc., are removed. The seed of
+ruta-baga, or Swedish turnips, should be planted earliest--from the
+twentieth of June to the tenth of July in our latitude. This turnip
+should be sown in drills two feet apart, and the plants thinned to
+eight inches from one another. It is very hardy, and the roots are
+close-grained, solid, and equally good for the table and the family
+cow. The Yellow Aberdeen is another excellent variety, which may be
+sown EARLY in July, and treated much the same as the foregoing. The
+Yellow Stone can be sown on good ground until the fifteenth of July in
+any good garden soil, and the plants thinned to six inches apart. It is
+perhaps the most satisfactory of all the turnip tribe both for table
+use and stock. The Bed-top Strap-leaf may be sown anywhere until the
+tenth of August. It is a general custom, in the middle of July, to
+scatter some seed of this hardy variety among the corn: hoe it in
+lightly, and there is usually a good crop. Every vacant spot may be
+utilized by incurring only the slight cost of the seed and the sowing.
+It may be well, perhaps, to remember the advice of the old farmer to
+his son. He said, "Stub your toe and spill half the seed before sowing
+it; for scattered broadcast it is usually much too thick." If this
+proves true, thin out the plants rigorously. This turnip is good for
+table and stock as long as it is solid and crisp; but it grows pithy
+toward spring. There are other kinds well worth a trial.
+
+Perhaps no vegetable is more generally appreciated than celery. Like
+asparagus, it was once, and is still by some, regarded as a luxury
+requiring too much skill and labor for the ordinary gardener. This is a
+mistake. Few vegetables in my garden repay so amply the cost of
+production. One can raise turnips as a fall crop much easier, it is
+true; but turnips are not celery, any more than brass is gold. Think of
+enjoying this delicious vegetable daily from October till April! When
+cooked, and served on toast with drawn butter sauce, it is quite
+ambrosial. In every garden evolved beyond the cabbage and potato phase
+a goodly space of the best soil should be reserved for celery, since it
+can be set out from the first to the twentieth of July in our latitude;
+it can be grown as the most valuable of the second crops, reoccupying
+space made vacant by early crops. I find it much easier to buy my
+plants, when ready for them, than to raise them. In every town there
+are those who grow them in very large quantities, and, if properly
+packed, quickly transported, and promptly set out in the evening
+following their reception, and watered abundantly, they rarely fail.
+
+There are decided advantages, however, in raising our own plants,
+especially if midsummer should prove dry and hot, or the plants must be
+long in transit. When they are growing in our own garden, they can be
+moved with very slight check to their growth. In starting the seed
+there is no necessity for hot-bed or cold-frame. It may be put in the
+ground the first week of April, and the best plants are thus secured.
+Much is gained by preparing a warm but not dry plot of ground in
+autumn, making it very rich with short, half-decayed stable-manure.
+This preparation should be begun as soon as possible after the soaking
+September rains. Having thoroughly incorporated and mixed evenly in the
+soil an abundance of the manure described, leave the ground untouched
+for three weeks. The warm fertilizer will cause great numbers of
+weed-seeds to germinate. When these thrifty pests are a few inches
+high, dig them under and bring up the bottom soil. The warmth and light
+will immediately start a new and vigorous growth of weeds, which in
+turn should be dug under. If the celery seed bed be made early enough,
+this process can be repeated several times before winter--the oftener
+the better; for by it the great majority of weed-seeds will be made to
+germinate, and thus are destroyed. The ground also becomes exceedingly
+rich, mellow, and fine--an essential condition for celery seed, which
+is very small, and germinates slowly. This thorough preparation does
+not involve much labor, for the seed-bed is small, and nothing more is
+required in spring but to rake the ground smooth and fine as soon as
+the frost is out. The soil has already been made mellow, and certainly
+nothing is gained by turning up the cold earth in the bottom of the
+bed. Sow the seed at once on the sunwarmed surface. The rows should be
+nine inches apart, and about twelve seeds sown to every inch of row.
+The drills should be scarcely an eighth of an inch deep. Indeed, a firm
+patting with the back of a spade would give covering enough. Since
+celery germinates so slowly, it is well to drop a lettuce-seed every
+few inches, to indicate clearly just where the rows are. Then the
+ground between the rows can be hoed lightly as soon as the weeds start,
+also after heavy rains, so as to admit the vivifying sun-rays and air.
+Of course when the celery plants are clearly outlined, the lettuce
+should be pulled out.
+
+If the bed is made in spring, perform the work as early as possible,
+making the bed very rich, mellow, and fine. Coarse manures, cold, poor,
+lumpy soil, leave scarcely a ghost of a chance for success. The plants
+should be thinned to two inches from one another, and when five inches
+high, shear them back to three inches. When they have made another good
+growth, shear them back again. The plants are thus made stocky. In our
+latitude I try to set out celery, whether raised or bought, between the
+twenty-fifth of June and the fifteenth of July. This latitude enables
+us to avoid a spell of hot, dry weather.
+
+There are two distinct classes of celery--the tall-growing sorts, and
+the dwarf varieties. A few years ago the former class was grown
+generally; trenches were dug, and their bottoms well enriched to
+receive the plants. Now the dwarf kinds are proving their superiority,
+by yielding a larger amount of crisp, tender heart than is found
+between long coarse stalks of the tall sorts. Dwarf celery requires
+less labor also, for it can be set on the surface and much closer
+together, the rows three feet apart, and the plants six inches in the
+row. Dig all the ground thoroughly, then, beginning on one side of the
+plot, stretch a line along it, and fork under a foot-wide strip of
+three or four inches of compost, not raw manure. By this course the
+soil where the row is to be is made very rich and mellow. Set out the
+plants at once while the ground is fresh and moist. If the row is ten
+feet long, you will want twenty plants; if fifteen, thirty plants; or
+two plants to every foot of row. Having set out one row, move the line
+forward three feet, and prepare and set out another row in precisely
+the same manner. Continue this process until the plot selected is
+occupied. If the plants have been grown in your own garden, much is
+gained by SOAKING the ground round them in the evening, and removing
+them to the rows in the cool of the morning. This abundant moisture
+will cause the soil to cling to the roots if handled gently, and the
+plants will scarcely know that they have been moved. When setting I
+usually trim off the greater part of the foliage. When all the leaves
+are left, the roots, not established, cannot keep pace with the
+evaporation. Always keep the roots moist and unshrivelled, and the
+heart intact, and the plants are safe. If no rain follows setting
+immediately, water the plants thoroughly--don't be satisfied with a
+mere sprinkling of the surface--and shade from the hot sun until the
+plants start to grow. One of the chief requisites in putting out a
+celery plant, and indeed almost any plant, is to press the soil FIRMLY
+ROUND, AGAINST, AND OVER THE ROOTS. This excludes the air, and the new
+rootlets form rapidly. Neither bury the heart nor leave any part of the
+root exposed.
+
+Do not be discouraged at the rather slow growth during the hot days of
+July and early August. You have only to keep the ground clean and
+mellow by frequent hoeings until the nights grow cooler and longer, and
+rains thoroughly moisten the soil. About the middle of August the
+plants should be thrifty and spreading, and now require the first
+operation, which will make them crisp and white or golden for the
+table. Gather up the stalks and foliage of each plant closely in the
+left hand, and with the right draw up the earth round it. Let no soil
+tumble in on the heart to soil or cause decay. Press the soil firmly,
+so as to keep all the leaves in an upright position. Then with a hoe
+draw up more soil, until the banking process is begun. During September
+and October the plants will grow rapidly, and in order to blanch them
+they must be earthed up from time to time, always keeping the stalks
+close and compact, with no soil falling in on the developing part. By
+the end of October the growth is practically made, and only the deep
+green leaves rest on the high embankments. The celery now should be fit
+for use, and time for winter storing is near. In our region it is not
+safe to leave celery unprotected after the tenth of November, for
+although it is a very hardy plant, it will not endure a frost which
+produces a strong crust of frozen soil. I once lost a fine crop early
+in November. The frost in one night penetrated the soil deeply, and
+when it thawed out, the celery never revived. NEVER HANDLE CELERY WHEN
+IT IS FROZEN. My method of preserving this vegetable for winter use is
+simply this. During some mild, clear day in early November I have a
+trench ten inches wide dug nearly as deep as the celery is tall. This
+trench is dug on a warm dry slope, so that by no possibility can water
+gather in it. Then the plants are taken up carefully and stored in the
+trench, the roots on the bottom, the plants upright as they grew, and
+pressed closely together so as to occupy all the space in the
+excavation. The foliage rises a little above the surface, which is
+earthed up about four inches, so that water will be shed on either
+side. Still enough of the leaves are left in the light to permit all
+the breathing necessary; for plants breathe as truly as we do. As long
+as the weather keeps mild, this is all that is needed; but there is no
+certainty now. A hard black frost may come any night. I advise that an
+abundance of leaves or straw be gathered near. When a bleak November
+day promises a black frost at night, scatter the leaves, etc., thickly
+over the trenched celery, and do not take them off until the mercury
+rises above freezing-point. If a warm spell sets in, expose the foliage
+to the air again. But watch your treasure vigilantly. Winter is near,
+and soon you must have enough covering over your trench to keep out the
+frost--a foot or more of leaves, straw, or some clean litter. There is
+nothing better than leaves, which cost only the gathering. From now
+till April, when you want a head or more of celery, open the trench at
+the lower end, and take out the crisp white or golden heads, and thank
+the kindly Providence that planted a garden as the best place in which
+to put man, and woman also.
+
+GARNISHING AND POT HERBS
+
+"There's fennel for you; there's rue for you." Strange and involuntary
+is the law of association! I can never see the garnishing and seasoning
+herbs of the garden without thinking of the mad words of distraught
+Ophelia. I fancy, however, that we are all practical enough to remember
+the savory soups and dishes rendered far more appetizing than they
+could otherwise have been by these aromatic and pungent flavors. I will
+mention only a few of the popular sorts.
+
+The seeds of fennel may be sown in April about three-quarters of an
+inch deep, and the plants thinned to fifteen inches apart. Cut off the
+seed-stalks to increase the growth of foliage.
+
+Parsley, like celery seed, germinates slowly, and is sometimes about a
+month in making its appearance. The soil should therefore be made very
+rich and fine, and the seed sown half an inch deep, as early in spring
+as possible. When the plants are three inches high, thin them to eight
+inches apart.
+
+Sweet-basil may be sown in early May, and the plants thinned to one
+foot apart. The seeds of sweet-marjoram are very minute, and must be
+covered very thinly with soil finely pulverized; sow in April or May,
+when the ground is in the best condition. Sage is easily raised from
+seeds gown an inch deep the latter part of April; let the soil be warm
+and rich; let the plants stand about one foot apart in the row. Thyme
+and summer-savory require about the same treatment as sage. I find that
+some of the mountain mints growing wild are quite as aromatic and
+appetizing as many of these garden herbs.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Home Acre, by E. P. Roe
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