The Home Acre

by Edward Payson Roe

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.