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diff --git a/5418.txt b/5418.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6bbcc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/5418.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5555 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOME ACRE *** + +***** This file should be named 5418.txt or 5418.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/1/5418/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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