Making Home Profitable

by Kate V. Saint Maur

It is estimated that it takes fifteen bushels of potatoes after they have been cut into quarters, to plant an acre, which should return one hundred and thirty bushels of salable potatoes, by which is meant large and medium sized potatoes, small ones not entering into the calculation. There will be in all probability about thirty bushels of these dwarfs, which are excellent fattening food for poultry and pigs when cooked and mashed up.

The space intended for carrots requires extremely good cultivation, for the soil must be thoroughly pulverised. Tie the seeds in a piece of cheese cloth, steep in water for twelve hours, then hang up in a warm room to drip and dry sufficiently to prevent their sticking together when being planted. Another aid we furnish these delicate seedlings is to drop a radish seed every six inches, because they germinate quickly and throw a strong seed leaf, which breaks the crust over the row and allows the fragile carrot sprout free access.

Allow two feet from the last row of potatoes, stretch the line, and with a pointed stick draw a shallow drill in which to scatter the carrot seed. Covering must not be more than a fourth of an inch; press down firmly. Between each two rows of carrots allow one foot. Steep and use only half the seed at first, planting the remainder twenty days later. With good ground and cultivation you should have carrots late in June.

A thirty-inch space must divide the carrots from the beets. Prepare the ground as before, but make the drill a full inch deep, dropping the seed half an inch apart, the rows two feet apart. These should be ready for use the first week in June. Keep half the seed for late planting.

Early turnips can start another two feet along. Drill half an inch deep, the rows one foot apart.

“First of All” peas are semi-dwarf, but yield much better if given some support. We plant every two rows seven inches apart, in a drill one inch deep, and when the peas are two inches high we stick brush between the rows, so making a hedge of vine when developed. Twin rows should be two feet apart.

For onion sets, make drills an inch and a half deep, placing the sets upright and from four to six inches apart. Firm the earth all around, and the fourth of an inch over them. These will furnish early onions for cooking. For onion seed the soil cannot be too carefully prepared, for, like carrots, they are long in germinating and extremely fragile. A few radish seeds can again be used as pioneers. Instead of commercial fertiliser, the poultry droppings are used for onions, being reduced to a powder by grinding in an old chopping machine. Sprinkle freely, within one inch of the centre of the row, and from three to four inches each side of it. Unless rain falls within a few days, water very thoroughly with a sprinkler. Hen droppings seem especially desirable for all bulbs and tubers.

Lettuce seed requires well-enriched soil; drill one-fourth of an inch deep, the rows one foot apart.

From the time seeds are put into the ground, cultivation must be continual, raking between rows being frequent enough to destroy embryo weeds. Ten minutes’ light work with a rake before weeds develop will save hours of hard labour with a hoe. Cultivation is required, not only to destroy weeds, but to supply air, and encourage all the moisture from the subsoil to travel upward, so nourishing the plant roots as they develop, and preventing the soil from baking. Not cultivating the ground around plants is as injurious to their health as shutting a child in an unventilated room.

Lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower plants should now be planted out. Prepare the rows as for seed, and with the pointed stick used for marking the rows, make holes directly under the line—nine inches apart for lettuce, one foot for cabbage and cauliflower. Put a little water into the hole, pack the earth around the root and stem, water copiously, then draw dry earth up over the wet surface, to prevent the moisture from evaporating or a crust forming. To promote root growth, cut off half the length of the outer leaves with a pair of sharp scissors. If possible, provide some protection until the plants are established.