The Home Acre

by Edward Payson Roe

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.