Manual of Gardening Part 15

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 184. Serviceable large-loop tree label.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 185. Zinc tree label.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 186. Injury by a tight label wire.]

It is very important, when adjusting labels to trees, to be sure that the wire is not twisted tight against the wood. Figure 186 shows the injury that is likely to result from label wires. When a tree is constricted or girdled, it is very liable to be broken off by winds. It should be a rule to attach the label to a limb of minor importance, so that if the wire should injure the part, the loss will not be serious.

When the label, Fig. 182, is applied, only the tips of the wire should be twisted together, leaving a large loop for the expansion of the limb.

_The storing of fruits and vegetables._

The principles involved in the storing of perishable products, as fruits and vegetables, differ with the different commodities. All the root-crops, and most fruits, need to be kept in a cool, moist, and uniform temperature if they are to be preserved a great length of time.

Squashes, sweet-potatoes, and some other things need to be kept in an intermediate and what might be called a high temperature; and the atmosphere should be drier than for most other products. The low temperature has the effect of arresting decomposition and the work of fungi and bacteria. The moist atmosphere has the effect of preventing too great evaporation and the consequent shriveling.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 187. The old-fashioned "outdoor cellar," still a very useful and convenient storage place.]

In the storing of any commodity, it is very important that the product is in proper condition for keeping. Discard all specimens that are bruised or are likely to decay. Much of the decay of fruits and vegetables in storage is not the fault of the storage process, but is really the work of diseases with which the materials are infected before they are put into storage. For example, if potatoes and cabbages are affected with the rot, it is practically impossible to keep them any length of time.

Apples, winter pears, and all roots, should be kept at a temperature somewhat near the freezing point. It should not rise above 40 F. for best results. Apples can be kept even at one or two degrees below the freezing point if the temperature is uniform. Cellars in which there are heaters are likely to be too dry and the temperature too high. In such places it is well to keep fresh vegetables and fruits in tight receptacles, and pack the roots in sand or moss in order to prevent shriveling. In these places, apples usually keep better if headed up in barrels than if kept on racks or shelves. In moist and cool cellars, however, it is preferable for the home supply to place them on shelves, not piling them more than five or six inches deep, for then they can be sorted over as occasion requires. In case of fruits, be sure that the specimens are not over-ripe when placed in storage. If apples are allowed to lie in the sun for a few days before being packed, they will ripen so much that it is very difficult to keep them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 188. Lean-to fruit cellar, covered with earth. The roof should be of cement or stone slabs. Provide a ventilator.]

Cabbages should be kept at a low and uniform temperature, and water should be drained away from them. They are stored in many ways in the field, but success depends so much on the season, particular variety, ripeness, and the freedom from injuries by fungi and insects, that uniform results are rarely secured by any one method. The best results are to be expected when they can be kept in a house built for the purpose, in which the temperature is uniform and the air fairly moist.

When stored out of doors, they are likely to freeze and thaw alternately; and if the water runs into the heads, mischief results.

Sometimes they are easily stored by being piled into a conical heap on well-drained soil and covered with dry straw, and the straw covered with boards. It does not matter if they are frosted, provided they do not thaw out frequently. Sometimes cabbages are laid head down in a shallow furrow plowed in well-drained land, and over them is thrown straw, the stumps being allowed to project through the cover. It is only in winters of rather uniform temperature that good results are to be expected from such methods. These are some of the main considerations involved in the storing of such things as cabbage; the subject is mentioned again in the discussion of cabbage in Chapter X.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 189. A fruit storage house cooled by ice.]

In the storing of all products, especially those which have soft and green matter, as cabbages, it is well to provide against the heating of the produce. If the things are buried out of doors, it is important to put on a very light cover at first so that the heat may escape. Cover them gradually as the cold weather comes on. This is important with all vegetables that are placed in pits, as potatoes, beets, and the like. If covered deeply at once, they are likely to heat and rot. All pits made out of doors should be on well-drained and preferably sandy land.

When vegetables are wanted at intervals during the winter from pits, it is well to make compartment pits, each compartment holding a wagon load or whatever quant.i.ty will be likely to be wanted at each time. These pits are sunk in well-drained land, and between each of the two pits is left a wall of earth about a foot thick. One pit can then be emptied in cold weather without interfering with the others.

An outside cellar is better than a house cellar in which there is a heater, but it is not so handy. If it is near the house, it need not be inconvenient, however. A house is usually healthier if the cellar is not used for storage. House cellars used for storage should have a ventilating shaft.

Some of the principles involved in an ice-cooled storage house are explained in the diagram, Fig. 189. If the reader desires to make a careful study of storage and storage structures, he should consult cyclopedias and special articles.

_The forcing of plants._

There are three general means (aside from greenhouses) of forcing plants ahead of their season in the early spring--by means of forcing-hills and hand-boxes, by coldframes, and by hotbeds.

The forcing-hill is an arrangement by means of which a single plant or a single "hill" of plants may be forced where it permanently stands. This type of forcing may be applied to perennial plants, as rhubarb and asparagus, or to annuals, as melons and cuc.u.mbers.

In Fig. 190 is ill.u.s.trated a common method of hastening the growth of rhubarb in the spring. A box with four removable sides, two of which are shown in end section in the figure, is placed around the plant in the fall. The inside of the box is filled with straw or litter, and the outside is banked thoroughly with any refuse, to prevent the ground from freezing. When it is desired to start the plants, the covering is removed from both the inside and outside of the box and hot manure is piled around the box to its top.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 190. Forcing-hill for rhubarb.]

If the weather is yet cold, dry light leaves or straw may be placed inside the box; or a pane or sash of gla.s.s may be placed on top of the box, when it will become a coldframe. Rhubarb, asparagus, sea-kale, and similar plants may be advanced two or four weeks by means of this method of forcing. Some gardeners use old barrels or half-barrels in place of the box. The box, however, is better and handier, and the sides can be stored for future use.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 191. Forcing-hill, and the mold or frame for making it.]

Plants that require a long season in which to mature, and which do not transplant readily, as melons and cuc.u.mbers, may be planted in forcing-hills in the field. One of these hills is shown in Fig. 191. The frame or mold is shown at the left. This mold is a box with flaring sides and no top or bottom, and provided with a handle. This frame is placed with the small end down at the point where the seeds are to be planted, and the earth is hilled up about it and firmly packed with the feet. The mold is then withdrawn, and a pane of gla.s.s is laid upon the top of the mound to concentrate the sun's rays, and to prevent the bank from washing down with the rains. A clod of earth or a stone may be placed upon the pane to hold it down. Sometimes a brick is used as a mold. This type of forcing-hill is not much used, because the bank of earth is liable to be washed away, and heavy rain coming when the gla.s.s is off will fill the hill with water and drown the plant. However, it can be used to very good advantage when the gardener can give it close attention.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 192. Hand-box.]

A forcing-hill is sometimes made by digging a hole in the ground and planting the seeds in the bottom of it, placing the pane of gla.s.s upon a slight ridge or mound which is made on the surface of the ground. This method is less desirable than the other, because the seeds are placed in the poorest and coldest soil, and the hole is very likely to fill with water in the early days of spring.

An excellent type of forcing-hill is made by the use of the hand-box, as shown in Fig. 192. This is a rectangular box, without top or bottom, and a pane of gla.s.s is slipped into a groove at the top. It is really a miniature coldframe. The earth is banked up slightly about the box, in order to hold it against winds and to prevent the water from running into it. If these boxes are made of good lumber and painted, they will last for many years. Any size of gla.s.s may be used which is desired, but a ten-by-twelve pane is as good as any for general purposes.

After the plants are thoroughly established in these forcing-hills, and the weather is settled, the protection is wholly removed, and the plants grow normally in the open.

A very good temporary protection may be given to tender plants by using four panes of gla.s.s, as explained in Fig. 193, the two inner panes being held together at the top by a block of wood through which four nails are driven. Plants are more likely to burn in these gla.s.s frames than in the hand-boxes, and such frames are not so well adapted to the protection of plants in very early spring; but they are often useful for special purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 193. Gla.s.s forcing-hill.]

In all forcing-hills, as in coldframes and hotbeds, it is exceedingly important that the plants receive plenty of air on bright days. Plants that are kept too close become weak or "drawn", and lose the ability to withstand changes of weather when the protection is removed. Even though the wind is cold and raw, the plants inside the frames ordinarily will not suffer if the gla.s.s is taken off when the sun is shining.

Coldframes.

A coldframe is nothing more than an enlarged hand-box; that is, instead of protecting but a single plant or a single hill with a single pane of gla.s.s, the frame is covered with sash, and is large enough to accommodate many plants.

There are three general purposes for which a coldframe is used: For the starting of plants early in spring; for receiving partially hardened plants that have been started earlier in hotbeds and forcing-houses; for wintering young cabbages, lettuce, and other hardy plants that are sown in the fall.

Coldframes are ordinarily placed near the buildings, and the plants are transplanted into the field when settled weather comes. Sometimes, however, they are made directly in the field where the plants are to remain, and the frames, and not the plants, are removed. When used for this latter purpose, the frames are made very cheap by running two rows of parallel planks through the field at a distance apart of six feet.

The plank on the north is ordinarily ten to twelve inches wide, and that on the south eight to ten inches. These planks are held in place by stakes, and the sashes are laid across them. Seeds of radishes, beets, lettuce, and the like, are then sown beneath the sash, and when settled weather arrives, the sash and planks are removed and the plants are growing naturally in the field. Half-hardy plants, as those mentioned, may be started fully two or three weeks in advance of the normal season by this means.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 194. Coldframe against a building. Plants at E; sill of house at A; bas.e.m.e.nt opening at B.]

One of the simplest types of coldframes is shown in Fig. 194, which is a lean-to against the foundation of a house. A sill is run just above the surface of the ground, and the sashes, shown at D, are laid on rafters which run from this sill to the sill of the house, A. If this frame is on the south side of the building, plants may be started even as early as a month before the opening of the season. Such lean-to frames are sometimes made against greenhouses or warm cellars, and heat is supplied to them by the opening of a door in the wall, as at B. In frames that are in such sunny positions as these, it is exceedingly important that care be taken to remove the sash, or at least to give ample ventilation, in all sunny days.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 195. Weather screen, or coldframe, against a building.]

A different type of lean-to structure is shown in Fig. 195. This may be either a temporary or permanent building, and it is generally used for the protection of half-hardy plants that are grown in pots and tubs. It may be used, however, for the purpose of forwarding pot-plants early in the spring and for protection of peaches, grapes, oranges, or other fruits in tubs or boxes. If it is desired merely to protect the plants through the winter, it is best to have the structure on the north side of the building, in order that the sun may not force the plants into activity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 196. A pit or coldframe on permanent walls, and a useful adjunct to a garden. The rear cover is open (_a_).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 197. The usual form of coldframe.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 198. A strong and durable frame.]

Another structure that may be used both to carry half-hardy plants over winter and for starting plants early in spring is shown in Fig. 196. It is really a miniature greenhouse without heat. It is well adapted for mild climates. The picture was made from a structure in the coast region of North Carolina.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 199. A frame yard.]

The common type of coldframe is shown in Fig. 197. It is twelve feet long and six feet wide, and is covered with four three-by-six sash. It is made of ordinary lumber loosely nailed together. If one expects to use coldframes or hotbeds every year, however, it is advisable to make the frames of two-inch stuff, well painted, and to join the parts by bolts and tenons, so that they may be taken apart and stored until needed for the next year's crop. Figure 198 suggests a method of making frames so that they may be taken apart.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 200. Portable coldframe.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 201. A larger portable coldframe.]