Agriculture for Beginners Part 11

=Beans.= The most generally planted beans are those known as string, or snap, beans. Of the many varieties, all are sensitive to cold and hence must not be planted until frost is over.

Another widely grown kind of bean is the lima, or b.u.t.ter, bean. There are two varieties of the lima bean. One is large and generally grows on poles. This kind does best in the Northern states. The other is a small bean and may be grown without poles. This kind is best suited to the warmer climates of the Southern states.

=Cabbage.= In comparatively warm climates the first crop of cabbage is generally grown in the following way. The seeds are sowed in beds in September, and the plants grown from this sowing are in November transplanted to ground laid off in sharp ridges. The young plants are set on the south side of the ridges in order that they may be somewhat protected from the cold of winter. As spring comes on, the ridge is partly cut down at each working until the field is leveled, and thereafter the cultivation should be level.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 90. CABBAGE READY FOR s.h.i.+PMENT]

Early cabbages need heavy applications of manure. In the spring, nitrate of soda applied in the rows is very helpful.

Seeds for the crop following this early crop should be sowed in March.

Of course these seeds should be of a later variety than the first used.

The young plants should be transplanted as soon as they are large enough. Early cabbages are set in rows three feet apart, the plants eighteen inches apart in the row. As the later varieties grow larger than the earlier ones, the plants should be set two feet apart in the row.

In growing late fall and winter cabbage the time of sowing varies with the climate. For the Northern and middle states, seeding should be done during the last of March and in April. South of a line pa.s.sing west from Virginia it is hard to carry cabbages through the heat of summer and get them to head in the fall. However, if the seeds are sowed about the first of August in rich and moist soil and the plants set in the same sort of soil in September, large heads can be secured for the December market.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 91. CELERY TRIMMED, WASHED, AND BUNCHED]

=Celery.= In the extreme northern part of our country, celery seeds are often sowed in a greenhouse or hotbed. This is done in order to secure plants early enough for summer blanching. This plan, however, suits only very cool climates.

In the middle states the seeds are usually sowed in a well-prepared bed about April. The young plants are moved to other beds as soon as they need room. Generally they are transplanted in July to rows prepared for them. These should be four feet apart, and the plants should be set six inches apart in the row. The celery bed should be carefully cultivated during the summer. In the fall, hill the stalks up enough to keep them erect. After the growing season is over dig them and set them in trenches. The trenches should be as deep as the celery is tall, and after the celery is put in them they should be covered with boards and straw.

In the more southern states, celery is usually grown in beds. The beds are generally made six feet wide, and rows a foot apart are run crosswise. The plants are set six inches apart, in September, and the whole bed is earthed up as the season advances. Finally, when winter comes the beds are covered with leaves or straw to prevent the plants from freezing. The celery is dug and bunched for market at any time during the winter.

By means of cold-frames a profitable crop of spring celery may be raised. Have the plants ready to go into the cold-frames late in October or early in November. The soil in the frame should be made very deep.

The plants should make only a moderately rapid growth during the winter.

In the early spring they will grow rapidly and so crowd one another as to blanch well. As celery grown in this way comes on the market at a time when no other celery can be had, it commands a good price.

In climates as warm as that of Florida, beds of celery can be raised in this way without the protection of cold-frames. A slight freeze does not hurt celery, but a long-continued freezing spell will destroy it.

Some kinds of celery seem to turn white naturally. These are called self-blanching kinds. Other kinds need to be banked with earth in order to make the stalks whiten. This kind usually gives the best and crispest stalks.

=Cuc.u.mbers and Cantaloupes.= Although cuc.u.mbers and cantaloupes are very different plants, they are grown in precisely the same way. Some gardeners plant them in hills. However, this is perhaps not the best plan. It is better to lay the land off in furrows six feet apart. After filling these with well-rotted stable manure, throw soil over them. Then make the top flat and plant the seeds. After the plants are up thin them out, leaving them a foot or more apart in the rows. Cultivate regularly and carefully until the vines cover the entire ground.

It is a good plan to sow cowpeas at the last working of cantaloupes, in order to furnish some shade for the melons. As both cuc.u.mbers and cantaloupes are easily hurt by cold, they should not be planted until the soil is warm and all danger of frost is past.

Cuc.u.mbers are always cut while they are green. They should never be pulled from the vine, but should always be cut with a piece of the stem attached. Cantaloupes should be gathered before they turn yellow and should be ripened in the house.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 92. STRIPED CUc.u.mBER BEETLE AND LARVA All magnified]

In some sections of the country the little striped cuc.u.mber-beetle attacks the melons and cuc.u.mbers as soon as they come up. These beetles are very active, and if their attacks are not prevented they will destroy the tender plants. Bone dust and tobacco dust applied just as the plants appear above the ground will prevent these attacks. This treatment not only keeps off the beetle, but also helps the growth of the plants.

=Eggplants.= Eggplants are so tender that they cannot be transplanted like tomatoes to cold-frames and gradually hardened to stand the cold spring air. These plants, started in a warm place, must be kept there until the soil to which they are to be transplanted is well warmed by the advance of spring. After the warm weather has fully set in, transplant them to rich soil, setting them three feet apart each way.

This plant needs much manure. If large, perfect fruit is expected, the ground can hardly be made too rich.

Eggplants are subject to the same bacterial blight that is so destructive to tomatoes. The only way to prevent this disease is to plant in ground not lately used for tomatoes or potatoes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 93. AN ONION HARVEST]

=Onions.= The method of growing onions varies with the use to which it is intended to put them. To make the early sorts, which are eaten green in the spring, little onions called _sets_ are planted. These are grown from seeds sowed late in the spring. The seeds are sowed thickly in rows in rather poor land. The object of selecting poor land is that the growth of the sets may be slow. When the sets have reached the size of small marbles, they are ready for the fall planting.

In the South the sets may be planted in September. Plant them in rows in rich and well-fertilized soil. They will be ready for market in March or April. In the more northerly states the sets are to be planted as early as possible in the spring.

To grow ripe onions the seeds must be sowed as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. The plants are thinned to a stand of three inches in the rows. As they grow, the soil is drawn away from them so that the onions sit on top of the soil with only their roots in the earth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 94. HOTBED FOR STARTING TOMATO PLANTS]

As soon as the tops ripen pull the onions and let them lie in the sun until the tops are dry. Then put them under shelter. As onions keep best with their tops attached, do not remove these until it is time for marketing.

=Peas.= The English pea is about the first vegetable of the season to be planted. It may be planted as soon as the ground is in workable condition. Peas are planted in rows, and it is a good plan to stretch wire netting for them to climb on. However, where peas are extensively cultivated they are allowed to fall on the ground.

There are many sorts of peas, differing both in quality and in time of production. The first to be planted are the extra-early varieties. These are not so fine as the later, wrinkled sorts, but the seeds are less apt to rot in cold ground. Following these, some of the fine, wrinkled sorts are to be planted in regular succession. Peas do not need much manure and do best in a light, warm soil.

=Tomatoes.= There is no vegetable grown that is more widely used than the tomato. Whether fresh or canned it is a staple article of food that can be served in many ways.

By careful selection and breeding, the fruit of the tomato has in recent years been much improved. There are now many varieties that produce perfectly smooth and solid fruit, and the grower can hardly go amiss in his selection of seeds if he bears his climate and his particular needs in mind.

Early tomatoes are started in the greenhouse or in the hotbed about ten weeks before the time for setting the plants in the open ground. They are transplanted to cold-frames as soon as they are large enough to handle. This is done to harden the plants and to give them room to grow strong before the final transplanting.

In kitchen gardens tomatoes are planted in rows four feet apart with the plants two feet apart in the rows. They are generally trained to stakes with but one stalk to a stake. When there is plenty of s.p.a.ce, however, the plants are allowed to grow at will and to tumble on the ground. In this way they bear large crops. During the winter the markets are supplied with tomatoes either from tropical sections or from hothouses.

As those grown in the hothouses are superior in flavor to those s.h.i.+pped from Florida and from the West Indies, and as they command good prices, great quant.i.ties are grown in this way.

In the South the bacterial blight which attacks the plants of this family is a serious drawback to tomato culture. The only way to escape this disease is to avoid planting tomatoes on land in which eggplants, tomatoes, or potatoes have been blighted. Lime spread around the plants seems to prevent the blight for one season on some soils.

At the approach of frost in the fall, green tomatoes can easily be preserved by wrapping them in paper. Gather them carefully and wrap each separately. Pack them in boxes and store in a cellar that is close enough to prevent the freezing of the fruit. A few days before the tomatoes are wanted for the table unpack as many as are needed, remove the paper, and allow them to ripen in a warm room.

Tomatoes require a rich soil. Scattering a small quant.i.ty of nitrate of soda around their roots promotes rapid growth.

=Watermelons.= As watermelons need more room than can usually be spared in a garden, they are commonly grown as a field crop.

A very light, sandy soil suits watermelons best. They can be grown on very poor soil if a good supply of compost be placed in each hill. The land for the melons should be laid off in about ten-foot checks; that is, the furrows should cross one another at right angles about every ten feet. A wide hole should be dug where the furrows cross, and into this composted manure should be put.

The best manure for watermelons is a compost of stable manure and wood-mold from the forest. Pile the manure and wood-mold in alternate layers for some time before the planting season. During the winter cut through the pile several times until the two are thoroughly mixed and finely pulverized. Be sure to keep the compost heap under shelter.

Compost will lose in value if it is exposed to rains.

At planting-time, put two or three shovelfuls of this compost into each of the prepared holes, and over the top of the manure scatter a handful of any high-grade complete fertilizer. Then cover fertilizer and manure with soil, and plant the seeds in this soil. In cultivating, plow both ways of the checked rows and throw the earth toward the plants.

Some growers pinch off the vines when they have grown about three feet long. This is done to make them branch more freely, but the pinching is not necessary.

A serious disease, the watermelon wilt, is rapidly spreading through melon-growing sections. This disease is caused by germs in the soil, and the germs are hard to kill. If the wilt should appear in your neighborhood, do not allow any stable manure to be used on your melon land, for the germs are easily scattered by means of stable manure. The germs also cling to the seeds of diseased melons, and these seeds bear the disease to other fields. If you treat melon seeds as you are directed on page 135 to treat oat seeds, the germs on the seeds will be destroyed. By crossing the watermelon on the citron melon, a watermelon that is resistant to wilt has recently been developed and successfully grown in soils in which wilt is present. The new melon, inferior in flavor at first, is being improved from season to season and bids fair to rival other melons in flavor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 95. DEWBERRIES]

SECTION XXVI. FLOWER GARDENING

The comforts and joys of life depend largely upon small things. Of these small things perhaps none holds a position of greater importance in country life than the adornment of the home, indoors and outdoors, with flowers tastefully arranged. Their selection and planting furnish pleasant recreation; their care is a pleasing employment; and each little plant, as it sprouts and grows and develops, may become as much a pet as creatures of the sister animal kingdom. A beautiful, well-kept yard adds greatly to the pleasure and attractiveness of a country home.

If a beautiful yard and home give joy to the mere pa.s.ser-by, how much more must their beauty appeal to the owners. The decorating of the home shows ambition, pride, and energy--important elements in a successful life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 96. AN EASY WAY TO BEAUTIFY THE HOME]