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Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) by L. H. Bailey

L >> L. H. Bailey >> Manual of Gardening (Second Edition)




[Illustration: Fig. 287. Sprouting habit of red raspberry.]

Raspberries may be bent over to the ground so that the snow will protect
them, in severe climates.

For red rust, pull out the plant, root and branch, and burn it. Short
rotations--fruiting the plants only two or three years--and burning the
old canes and trimmings, will do much to keep raspberry plantations
healthy. Spraying will have some effect in combating anthracnose.

_Varieties of raspberries._

Of the black sorts the following will be found desirable: Palmer,
Conrath, Kansas, and Eureka, which ripen in the order named. In some
sections the Gregg is still valuable, but it is somewhat lacking in
hardiness. Ohio is a favorite variety for evaporating. Of the purple-cap
varieties, Shaffer and Columbian generally succeed. Among the red
varieties none are more universally successful than Cuthbert. King is a
promising early variety, and Loudon is a valuable late kind. Many
growers find Marlboro and Turner well worthy of cultivation, although
rather local in their adaptations; while for home use, Golden Queen, a
yellow Cuthbert, is much liked.

STRAWBERRY.--Every one may grow strawberries, yet the saying that
strawberries will grow on any soil is misleading, although true. Some
varieties of strawberries will grow on certain soils better than other
varieties. What these varieties are can be determined only by an actual
test, but it is a safe rule to choose such varieties as prove good in
many localities.

As to the methods of culture, so much depends on the size of the plot,
the purpose for which the fruit is wanted, and the extent of care one is
willing to give, that no set rule can be given for a garden in which but
few plants are grown and extra care can be given. The grower must always
be sure that his varieties will "fertilize"; that is, that he has
sufficient pollen-bearing kinds to insure a crop.

With the highest culture, good results can be obtained from the hill
system of growing strawberries. For this the plants may be set in rows 3
feet apart and 1 foot in the row, or if it be worked both ways, they may
be from 2 to 2-1/2 feet each way. In the small garden, where a horse
cannot be used, the plants are frequently set 1 foot each way, arranging
them in beds of three to five rows, with walks 2 feet wide between them.
As fast as runners form, they should be removed, so that the entire
vigor of the plant will be exerted in strengthening the crown. When
extra fine specimen berries are desired, the plant may be held above the
ground by a wire frame, as shown in Fig. 288.

[Illustration: Fig. 288. Strawberry plant supported by a wire rack.]

Or strawberries may be grown by the narrow matted-row system, in which
the runners, before rooting, should be turned along the rows at a
distance of 4 to 6 inches from the parent plant. These runners should be
the first ones made by the plant and should not be allowed to root
themselves, but "set in." This is not a difficult operation; and if the
runners are separated from the parent plant as soon as they become well
established, the drain on that plant is not great. All other runners
should be cut off as they start. The row should be about 12 inches wide
at fruiting time (Fig. 289). Each plant should have sufficient feeding
ground, full sunlight, and a firm hold in the soil. This matted-row
system is perhaps as good a method, either in a private garden or field
culture, as could be practiced. With a little care in hoeing, weeding,
and cutting off runners, the beds seem to produce as large crops the
second year as the first.

The old way of growing a crop was to set the plants 10 to 12 inches
apart, in rows 3 feet apart, and allow them to run and root at will, the
results being a mass of small, crowded plants, each striving to obtain
plant-food and none of them succeeding in getting enough. The last, or
outside runners, having but the tips of their roots in the ground, are
moved by the wind, heaved by the frost, or have the exposed roots dried
out by the wind and sun.

Ground rich in potash produces the firmest and best flavored berries.
Excessive use of stable manure, usually rich in nitrogen, should be
avoided, as tending to make too rank growth of foliage and berries of a
soft texture.

[Illustration: Fig. 289. A narrow matted row of strawberries.]

For most purposes, strawberries should be set as early in the spring as
the ground can be worked. The planting can be done with a trowel, spade,
or dibble, taking care to spread the roots out as much as possible and
to press the soil firmly about them, holding the plant so that the bud
will be just above the surface. If the season is late and the weather is
hot and dry, some or all of the older leaves should be removed. If water
is used, it should be poured about the roots before the hole is filled
and as soon as it has soaked away the remaining soil should be packed
about the plants. During the first season the blossom stalks should be
removed as soon as they appear, and the runners should be restricted to
a space about 1 foot wide. Some persons prefer still further to reduce
the number of plants, and after layering from three to four plants
between those originally set, to remove all others.

Strawberries are often set in August or September, but this is advisable
only for small patches or when the soil is in the best possible
condition and the highest culture is given. For garden culture, it may
pay to secure potted plants (Fig. 290). These are sold by many
nurserymen, and they may be obtained by plunging pots beneath the
runners as soon as the fruiting season is passed. In August, the plant
should fill the pot (which should be 3-inch or 4-inch) and the plant is
ready for setting in the plantation. Such plants should bear a good crop
the following spring.

During the first season strawberries should be frequently worked, rather
deep at first, but as the weather becomes warm and the roots fill the
ground, tillage should be restricted to a depth of not more than 2
inches. The weeds should never be allowed to get a start, and if the
season is dry, cultivation should be so frequent that the surface soil
should at all times be loose and open, forming a dust mulch to conserve
the moisture. If the fall is moist and the plantation free from weeds,
there will be little occasion for cultivation after the first of
September, until just before the ground freezes up, when a thorough
cultivation should be given. In addition to the horse cultivation, the
hoe should be used whenever necessary to loosen the soil about the
plants and to destroy weeds that may start in the row.

[Illustration: Fig. 290. A potted strawberry plant.]

After the ground has frozen, it will be advisable to mulch the plants by
covering the space between the rows with some waste material to the
depth of about 2 inches. Directly over the plants a covering of 1 inch
will generally suffice. The material used should be free from the seeds
of grass and weeds, and should be such as will remain upon the beds
without blowing off and that will not pack down too closely upon the
plants. Marsh hay makes an ideal mulch, but where it cannot be secured,
straw will answer. Corn fodder makes a clean but rather coarse mulch,
and where they can be held in place by some other material, forest
leaves do well as a mulch between the rows. In the spring the straw
should be removed from over the plants and allowed to remain between the
rows as a mulch, or all of it may be removed and the soil worked with a
cultivator.

A large crop should be produced the second season; many persons think it
best to renew the plantation each year, but if the plants are healthy
and the ground free from grass and weeds, the plantation can often be
retained for a second crop. It will be well to plow the soil away from
the rows so as to leave but a narrow strip, and along this the old
plants should be cut out so as to leave the new plants about 1 foot
apart. If this is done in July, the rows should fill up by winter, so as
to be in about the same condition as a new bed.

_Insects and diseases of the strawberry._

The insect most commonly troublesome to the strawberry grower is the
common June-bug, or May-beetle, the larvae of which are often very
common in land that has been in sod. Two years should elapse before sod
land is used for this crop.

Cut-worms are often troublesome, but plowing the land the fall previous
to setting the plants will destroy many of them. They can be poisoned by
sprinkling about the field clover or other green plants that have been
soaked in Paris green water (p. 203).

The most common fungous disease of the strawberry is leaf-blight or
"rust," which frequently causes much injury to the foliage, and may
result in the loss of the crop. Varieties least subject to the disease
should be chosen for planting, and on suitable soils and well cared for,
there need be little loss from this disease if the plantation is
frequently renewed. The rust and mildew may be held in check by bordeaux
mixture. It is usually sufficient to spray after the blooming season (or
at any time the first year the plants are set), in order to secure
healthy foliage for the next year (p. 213).

_Varieties of strawberries._

For most parts of the country, Haverland, Warfield, Bubach, and Gandy
afford a succession and are all hardy and productive varieties. The
first three are imperfect-flowered varieties, and some such
perfect-flowering kinds as Lowett or Bederwood should be provided to
fertilize them. Among other varieties that do well in most sections are
Brandywine, Greenville, Clyde, and Woolverton. Parker Earle is very
late, and is valuable for either home use or market, upon strong, moist
soils, where it can have the best of care. Belt (William Belt) and
Marshall have large, showy fruits, and do well on strong soil.

Excelsior or Michel might be added as very early; Aroma is grown very
extensively in some sections; also Tennessee (Tennessee Prolific) is a
very promising new sort from Tennessee.



CHAPTER X

THE GROWING OF THE VEGETABLE PLANTS

A vegetable garden is admittedly a part of any home place that has a
good rear area. A purchased vegetable is never the same as one taken
from a man's own soil and representing his own effort and solicitude.

[Illustration: Fig. 291. Cultivating the backache.]

It is essential to any satisfaction in vegetable-growing that the soil
be rich and thoroughly subdued and fined. The plantation should also be
so arranged that the tilling can be done with wheel tools, and, where
the space will allow it, with horse tools. The old-time garden bed (Fig.
291) consumes time and labor, wastes moisture, and is more trouble and
expense than it is worth.

The rows of vegetables should be as long and continuous as possible, to
allow of tillage with wheel tools. If it is not desired to grow a full
row of any one vegetable, the line may be made up of several species,
one following the other, care being taken to place together such kinds
as have similar requirements; one long row, for example, might contain
all the parsnips, carrots, and salsify. One or two long rows containing
a dozen kinds of vegetables are usually preferable to a dozen short
rows, each with one kind of vegetable.

[Illustration: Fig. 292. Tracy's plan for a kitchen-garden.]

It is well to place the permanent vegetables, as rhubarb and asparagus,
at one side, where they will not interfere with the plowing or tilling.
The annual vegetables should be grown on different parts of the area in
succeeding years, thus practicing something like a rotation of crops. If
radish or cabbage maggots or club-root become thoroughly established in
the plantation, omit for a year or more the vegetables on which
they live.

A suggestive arrangement for a kitchen-garden is given in Fig. 292. In
Fig. 293 is a plan of a fenced garden, in which gates are provided at
the ends to allow the turning of a horse and cultivator (Webb Donnell,
in _American Gardening_). Figure 294 shows a garden with continuous
rows, but with two breaks running across the area, dividing the
plantation into blocks. The area is surrounded with a windbreak, and the
frames and permanent plants are at one side.

[Illustration: Fig. 293. A garden fence arranged to allow of horse
work.]

It is by no means necessary that the vegetable-garden contain only
kitchen-garden products. Flowers may be dropped in here and there
wherever a vacant corner occurs or a plant dies. Such informal and mixed
gardens usually have a personal character that adds greatly to their
interest, and, therefore, to their value. One is generally impressed
with this informal character of the home-garden in many European
countries, a type of planting that arises from the necessity of making
the most of every inch of land. It was the writer's pleasure to look
over the fence of a Bavarian peasant's garden and to see, on a space
about 40 feet by 100 feet in area, a delightful medley of onions, pole
beans, peonies, celery, balsams, gooseberries, coleus, cabbages,
sunflowers, beets, poppies, cucumbers, morning-glories, kohl-rabi,
verbenas, bush beans, pinks, stocks, currants, wormwood, parsley,
carrots, kale, perennial phlox, nasturtiums, feverfew, lettuce, lilies!

[Illustration: 294. A family kitchen-garden.]

_Vegetables for six_ (by C.E. Hunn).

A home vegetable-garden for a family of six would require, exclusive of
potatoes, a space not over 100 by 150 feet. Beginning at one side of the
garden and running the rows the short way (having each row 100 feet
long) sowings may be made, as soon as the ground is in condition to
work, of the following:

Fifty feet each of parsnips and salsify.

One hundred feet of onions, 25 feet of which may be potato or set
onions, the remainder black-seed for summer and fall use.

Fifty feet of early beets; 50 feet of lettuce, with which radish may be
sown to break the soil and be harvested before the lettuce needs
the room.

One hundred feet of early cabbage, the plants for which should be from a
frame or purchased. Set the plants 18 inches to 2 feet apart.

One hundred feet of early cauliflower; culture same as for cabbage.

Four hundred and fifty feet of peas, sown as follows:--

100 feet of extra early. 100 feet of extra early, sown late.
100 feet of intermediate. 50 feet of dwarf varieties.
100 feet of late.

If trellis or brush is not to be used, frequent sowings of the dwarfs
will maintain a supply.

After the soil has become warm and all danger of frost has passed, the
tender vegetables be planted as follows:

Corn in five rows 3 feet apart, three rows to be early and intermediate
and two rows late.

One hundred feet of string beans, early to late varieties.

Vines as follows:--

10 hills of cucumbers, 6x6 feet. 6 hills of early squash, 6x6 feet.
20 hills of muskmelon, 6x6 feet. 10 hills of Hubbard, 6x6 feet.

One hundred feet of okra.

Twenty eggplants. One hundred feet (25 plants) tomatoes.

Six large clumps of rhubarb.

An asparagus bed 25 feet long and 3 feet wide.

Late cabbage, cauliflower, and celery are to occupy the space made
Vacant by removing early crops of early and intermediate peas and
string beans.

A border on one side or end will hold all herbs, such as parsley, thyme,
sage, hyssop, mints.

_The classes of vegetables._

Before attempting to grow particular vegetables, it will help the
beginner to an understanding of the subject if he recognizes certain
cultural groups or classes, and what their main requirements are.

Root-crops--Beet, carrot, parsnip, salsify.

The root-crops are cool-weather plants; that is, they may be sown very
early, even before light frosts disappear; and the winter kinds grow
very late in the fall, or may be left in the ground till most other
crops are harvested. They are not often transplanted.

Loose and deep soil, free from clods, is required to grow straight and
well-developed roots. The land must also be perfectly drained, not only
to remove superfluous moisture, but to provide a deep and friable soil.
Subsoiling is useful in hard lands. A large admixture of sand is
generally desirable, provided the soil is not likely to overheat in
sunny weather.

To keep roots fresh in the cellar, pack them in barrels, boxes, or bins
of sand which is just naturally moist, allowing each root to come wholly
or partly in contact with the sand. The best material in which to pack
them is sphagnum moss, the same that nurserymen use in packing trees for
shipment, and which may be obtained in bogs in many parts of the
country. In either sand or sphagnum, the roots will not shrivel; but if
the cellar is warm, they may start to grow. Roots can also be buried,
after the manner of potatoes.

Alliaceous group--Onion, leek, garlic.

A group of very hardy cool-weather plants, demanding unusually careful
preparation of the surface soil to receive the seeds and to set the
young plants going. They withstand frost and cool weather, and may be
sown very early. Seeds are sown directly where the plants are to stand.
For early onions, however, the special practice has recently arisen of
transplanting from seedbeds.

Brassicaceous group--Cabbage, kale, cauliflower.

These are cool-weather crops, all of them withstanding considerable
frost. The cabbages and kales are often started in fall in the middle
and southern latitudes, and are harvested before hot weather arrives.

In the northern states, these plants will all do best when started early
in hotbed, frame, or greenhouse,--from the last of February to
April--and transplanted to the open ground May first to June first,
partly because their season of growth may be long and partly to enable
them to escape the heat of midsummer. Still, some persons are successful
in growing late cabbage, kale, and cauliflower, by sowing the seeds in
hills and in the open ground where the plants are to mature. It is best
to transplant the young plantlets twice, first from the seed-bed to
boxes, or frames, about the time the second set of true leaves appears,
placing the plants 24 inches apart each way, and transplanting again to
the open ground in rows 4 to 5 feet apart, with plants 2 to 4 feet apart
in the row. If the plants are started under cover, they should be
hardened off by exposure to light and air during the warmer hours of
several days preceding the final transplanting.

The most serious enemy of cabbage-like plants is the root-maggot. See
discussion of this insect on pp. 187, 201.

[Illustration: Fig. 295. The white butterfly that lays the eggs for the
cabbage-worm.]

The cabbage-worm (larva of the white butterfly shown in Fig. 295) can be
dispatched with pyrethrum or kerosene emulsion. It must be treated very
early, before the worm gets far into the head (p. 200).

The club-root or stump-root is a fungous disease for which there is no
good remedy. Use new land if the disease is present (p. 208).

Solanaceous group--Tomato, egg-plant, red pepper.

These are warm-weather plants, very impatient of frost. They are all
natives of southern zones, and have not yet become so far acclimatized
in the North as not to need the benefit of our longest seasons.

Plants should be started early, under glass. They should be "pricked
off," when the second leaves appear, 3 or 4 inches apart, into flats or
boxes. These boxes should be kept in a coldframe, to which an abundance
of light and air is admitted on warm, sunny days, in order to harden
them off. After all danger of frost is past, and the garden soil is well
warmed, the plants may be finally transplanted.

If the ground is too rich, these plants are likely to grow too late in
the northern seasons.

Cucurbitaceous group--Cucumber, melon, squash, pumpkin.

All the members of this group are very tender to frost, and they must
not be planted till the season is thoroughly open and settled. The
plants are not transplanted, unless they are transferred from boxes
or pots.

Seeds must be planted somewhat shallow from early spring to midsummer.
For the earliest cucumbers and melons, seeds are planted in frames. That
is, each hill is inclosed by a portable box frame about 3 feet square
and usually having a movable sash cover. The cover is raised or removed
in warm days, and the frame bodily taken away when all danger of frost
is past. In field culture, seeds are planted an inch deep, four to six
in a hill, with hills 4 by 6 feet apart, these distances being varied
slightly, according to location and variety. Good cucumbers are
sometimes grown in hills surrounding a barrel in which manure is placed
to be leached out by successive waterings.

The omnipresent enemies of all the cucurbitaceous crops are the little
cucumber beetle and the large black "stink bug." Ashes, lime, or tobacco
dust occasionally seem to show some efficiency in preventing the ravages
of these insects, but the only reasonably sure immunity is in the use of
covers over the hills (Fig. 229) and in hand-picking (p. 202). Covers
may also be made by stretching mosquito netting over arcs of barrel
hoops or bent wires. If by some such means the plants are kept
insect-free till they outgrow the protection, they will usually escape
serious damage from insects thereafter. It is well to plant trap or
decoy hills of cucumbers, squashes, or melons in advance of the regular
planting, on which the bugs may be harvested.

Leguminous crops--Peas and beans.

Two cultural groups are included in the legumes,--the bean group
(including all field, garden, and kidney beans, and the cowpea)
comprising warm-weather plants; the pea group (including field and
garden pea, the Windsor or Broad bean) comprising cool-weather plants.
The former are quickly susceptible to frost and should be planted only
after the weather is settled. The latter are among the earliest
vegetables to be planted. The leguminous crops are not transplanted, the
seed being placed where the plants are to grow.

Salad plants and pot-herbs ("greens").

These plants are all grown for their, tender, fresh, succulent leaves,
and therefore every reasonable effort should be made to secure quick and
continuous foliage growth. It is manifestly expedient that they be grown
in warm, mellow ground, well cultivated and copiously watered. Such
small plants as cress, corn salad, and parsley may be grown in small
beds, or even in boxes or pots; but in a garden where space is not too
scant, they may be more conveniently managed in rows, like peas or
beets. Nearly all the salad plants may be sown in the spring, and from
time to time throughout the summer for succession. The group is
culturally not homogeneous, inasmuch as some of the plants need special
treatment; but most of them are cool-weather subjects.

Sweet-herbs.

The herb garden should find a place on all amateurs' grounds.
Sweet-herbs may sometimes be made profitable by disposing of the surplus
to the green grocer and the druggist. The latter will often buy all that
the housewife wishes to dispose of, as the general supply of medicinal
herbs is grown by specialists, and goes into the hands of the wholesaler
and is often old when received by the local dealer.

The seedsmen's catalogues mention upwards of forty different herbs,
medicinal and culinary. The majority of them are perennial, and will
grow for many years if well taken care of. However, it is better to
resow them every three or four years. Beds 4 feet square of each of the
herbs will supply an ordinary family.

The perennial sweet-herbs may be propagated by division, although they
are usually grown from seeds. The second year--and sometimes even the
first year--the plants are strong enough for cutting. The common
perennial sweet-herbs are: Sage, lavender, peppermint, spearmint,
hyssop, thyme, marjoram, balm, catnip, rosemary, horehound, fennel,
lovage, winter savory, tansy, wormwood, costmary.

The commoner annual species (or those that are treated as annuals) are:
Anise, sweet basil, summer savory, coriander, pennyroyal, caraway
(biennial), clary (biennial), dill (biennial), sweet marjoram
(biennial).

_The culture of the leading vegetables._

Having now obtained a view of the layout of the vegetable-garden and a
good conception of the leading cultural groups, we may proceed with a
discussion of the different kinds of vegetables themselves. Good
experience is better than book advice; but the person who consults a
book is the one who lacks experience. Any printed directions are
necessarily imperfect, and they may not be adaptable to the particular
conditions under which the amateur works; but they ought to set him in
the right direction so that he may more easily find his way. Seedsmen's
catalogues often contain much useful and reliable advice of this kind.

ASPARAGUS.--The best of all early spring vegetables; a hardy
herbaceous perennial, grown for the soft edible shoots that spring from
the crown.

The culture of asparagus has been simplified in the past few years, and
at present the knowledge required successfully to plant and grow a good
supply need not be that of a professional. The old method of excavating
to the depth of 3 feet or more, throwing in from 4 to 6 inches of broken
stone or bricks for drainage, then filling to within 16 to 18 inches of
the surface with well-rotted manure, with 6 inches of soil upon which to
set the roots, has given place to the simple practice of plowing or
digging a trench from 14 to 16 inches deep, spreading well-rotted manure
in the bottom to the depth of 3 or 4 inches; when well trodden down
covering the manure with 3 or 4 inches of good garden soil, then setting
the plants, with the roots well spread out, covering carefully with soil
to the level of the garden, and firming the soil with the feet. This
will leave the crowns of the plants from 4 to 5 inches below
the surface.

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Turkey is restoring the citizenship of its most famous 20th century poet Nazim Hikmet over 50 years after it branded him a traitor.

Hikmet, a communist who died in exile in Moscow in 1963, was imprisoned in Turkey for more than a decade. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 1951 because of his communist views, but despite a ban on his poetry which remained in place until 1965, has remained one of Turkey's best-loved poets. His work, much of which was written in prison, including his masterpiece Human Landscapes, has been translated into more than 50 languages.

"This is very good news," said Richard McKane, Hikmet's English translator. "The restoration of his Turkish citizenship is long overdue: the people of Turkey and his readers are owed that."

Immortalised by Pablo Neruda, with whom he shared the Soviet Union's International Peace Prize in 1950, with the lines "Thanks for what you were and for the fire / which your song left forever burning", Hikmet was also supported by Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, when given the editorship for a day of Turkish newspaper Radikal two years ago, used the example of Hikmet in his cover story to criticise the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey. In 2000, 500,000 Turks petitioned the government to restore Hikmet's citizenship rights and repatriate his remains.

Deputy prime minister Cemil Cicek told the Associated Press that it was time for the government to change its mind about Hikmet. "The crimes which forced the government to strip him of his citizenship at that time are no longer considered a crime," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Hikmet, whose remains are currently in Russia, had said that he wished to be buried in Turkey in his 1953 poem Testament, translated by Ruth Christie. "Friends if it's not my lot to see the day / of independence... / if I die before that day / - and it seems I will - / bury me in a village graveyard in Anatolia / and if it's fitting / and a plane tree grows at my head, / then there's no need for a gravestone or anything else."

Cicek said that Hikmet's family would now decide whether to ship his remains back to his homeland.

Hikmet introduced free verse to Turkey in the 1930s, with his themes ranging from war to love. Despite his imprisonment he retained a deep passion for Turkey. "I love my country", he wrote in one of his poems. "I swung in its lofty trees, I lay in its prisons. Nothing relieves my depression like the songs and tobacco of my country."

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