Manual of Gardening Part 66

The seed for the main or fall crop should be sown in April or early May in a seed-bed prepared by forking short well-rotted manure into a fine soil, sowing the seed thinly in rows 8 or 10 inches apart, covering the seed lightly and firming over the seed with the feet, hoe, or back of a spade. This seed-bed should be kept moist at all times until the seed germinates, either by close attention to watering or by a lath screen.

The use of a piece of cloth laid directly on the soil, and the bed wet through the cloth, is often recommended, and if the cloth is always wet and taken off the bed as soon as the seed sprouts, it may be used. After the young plants have grown to the height of 1 or 2 inches they must be thinned out, leaving the plants so that they do not touch each other, and transplanting those thinned--if wanted--to other ground prepared in the same manner as the seed-bed. All these plants may be sheared or cut back to induce stockiness.

An ounce of seed will furnish about three thousand plants.

If in a private garden, the ground on which the fall crop is usually set will likely be that from which a crop of some early vegetable has been taken. This land should be again well enriched with fine, well-rotted manure, to which may be added a liberal quant.i.ty of wood ashes. If the manure or ashes is not easily obtained, a small amount may be used by plowing or digging out a furrow 8 or 12 inches deep, scattering the manure and ashes in the bottom of the trench and filling it up almost level with the surface. The plants should be set about the middle of July, preferably just before a rain. The plant bed should have a thorough soaking shortly before the plants are lifted, and each plant be trimmed, both top and root, before setting. The plants should be set from 5 to 6 inches apart in the rows and the earth well firmed around each one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 303. Storing celery in a trench in the field.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 304. A celery pit.]

The after-cultivation consists in thorough tillage until the time of "handling" or earthing up the plants. This process of handling is accomplished by drawing up the earth with one hand while holding the plant with the other, packing the soil well around the stalks. This process may be continued until only the leaves are to be seen. For the private grower, it is much easier to blanch the celery with boards or paper, or if the celery is not wanted until winter, the plants may be dug up, packed closely in boxes, covering the roots with soil, and placed in a dark, cool cellar, where the stalks will blanch themselves.

In this way celery may be stored in boxes in the house cellar. Put earth in the bottom of a deep box, and plant the celery in it.

Celery is sometimes stored in trenches in the open (Fig. 303), the roots being transplanted to such places in late fall. The plants are set close together and the trenches are covered with boards. A wider trench or pit may be made (Fig. 304) and covered with a shed roof.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 305. Swiss chard.]

CHARD, or SWISS CHARD,--is a development of the beet species characterized by large succulent leafstalks instead of enlarged roots.

(Fig. 305). The leaves are very tender and make "greens" much like young beets. They are cultivated exactly like beets. Only one variety is offered by most seedsmen in this country, though in France and Germany several varieties are grown.

CHICORY is grown for two purposes,--for the roots and for the herbage. "Barbe de capucin" is a salad made from young shoots of chicory.

The Magdeburg chicory is the variety usually spoken of, it being the one most extensively grown. The roots of this, after being ground and roasted, are used either as a subst.i.tute or an adulterant for coffee.

The Witloof, a form of chicory, is used as a salad, or boiled and served in the same manner as cauliflower. The plants should be thinned to 6 inches. In the latter part of summer they should be banked up like celery, and the leaves used after becoming white and tender. This and the common wild chicory are often dug in the fall, the leaves cut off, the roots packed in sand in a cellar and watered until a new growth of leaves starts. These leaves grow rapidly and are very tender, making a fine salad vegetable. One packet of seed of the Witloof will furnish plants enough for a large family.

CHERVIL.--The chervil is grown in two forms,--for the leaves, and for the tuberous roots.

The curled chervil is a good addition to the list of garnishing and seasoning vegetables. Sow seeds and cultivate the same as parsley.

The tuberous chervil resembles a short carrot or parnsip. It is much esteemed in France and Germany. The tubers have somewhat the flavor of a sweet potato, perhaps a little sweeter. They are perfectly hardy, and, like the parsnip, the better for frosts. The seed may be sown in September or October, as it does not keep well; or as soon as the ground is fit to work in the spring, it being slow to germinate after the weather becomes hot and dry. One packet of seed will give all the plants necessary for a family.

[Ill.u.s.tration XXIV. Golden bantam sweet corn.]

COLLARDS.--This is a name given to a kind of kale, used when young as greens; also to young cabbages used in the same way.

The seed of any early cabbage may be sown thickly in rows 18 inches apart, from early spring to late fall. The plants are cut off when 6 or 8 inches high and boiled as are other greens.

The kale, or Georgia collards, is grown in the South, where cabbages fail to head. It grows to the height of 2 to 6 feet, furnishing a large quant.i.ty of leaves. The young leaves and tufts that arise as the old leaves are pulled off make excellent greens.

CIVES.--A small perennial of the onion family, used for flavoring.

It is propagated by division of the root. It may be planted in a permanent place in the border, and, being completely hardy, will remain for years. The leaves are the parts used, as the roots are very rank in flavor. The leaves may be cut frequently, as they readily grow again.

CORN SALAD.--This is one of the earliest spring salad vegetables, coming into condition with spinach, and needing the same culture.

Sown in the fall, and covered with straw or hay when cold weather sets in, it will start into rapid growth when the covering is removed in March or April. Or the seed may be sown in early spring, and plants will be fit to use in six or eight weeks. One packet of seed will suffice for a small family.

CORN, SWEET OR SUGAR.--This is the characteristic American table vegetable, and one that every home-gardener expects to grow. Too often, however, only one planting of one kind is made. The ears come to edible maturity almost simultaneously, and a short season is the result.

The first planting of sweet corn should be made from May 1 to 10, planting early, intermediate, and late varieties at the same time, then at intervals of two weeks until the middle of July, when the late varieties should be planted, thus having a succession from the first crop until October.

The soil for corn should be fertile and "quick." The coa.r.s.er manure left from the preparation of the ground for small crops may be used to good advantage. Corn for the garden is better planted in drills, the drills 3 feet apart, dropping the seed from 10 to 12 inches apart in the drills.

One quart of seed will plant 200 hills.

For extra early, Marblehead, Adams, Vermont, Minnesota, and Early Corey are favorites. A most excellent extra early yellow sweet corn, with kernels looking like small field corn, is Golden Bantam; the ears are small and would probably not attract the market buyer, but for home use the variety is unexcelled (Plate XXIV). For later crop, Crosby, Hickox, Shoe Peg, and Stowell Evergreen are now popular.

CRESS.--Two very unlike species of plants are grown under the name of cress,--the upland-cress and the water-cress. There are still other species, but not much known in this country.

The upland cress, or the true pepper gra.s.s, may be grown on any garden soil. Sow early in the spring. It makes a rapid growth and can be cut in from four to five weeks. Succession of sowings must be made, as it runs quickly to seed. The curled variety is the one usually grown, as the leaves may be used for garnishing as well as for 'salads. One packet of seed will be sufficient for each sowing. Any good soil will do. Sow thickly in drills 12 to 18 inches apart. In summer it runs to seed quickly, so that it is usually grown in spring and fall.

The water-cress is more exacting in its culture, and can be successfully grown only in moist places, such as edges of shallow slow-running creeks, open drains, or beds excavated near such streams. A few plants for private use may be grown in a frame, provided a retentive soil is used and attention given to watering the bed often. Watercress may be propagated from pieces of the stem, used as cuttings. If one is fond of water-cress, it is well to colonize it in some clean creek or pool. It will take care of itself year by year. Seeds may also be used for propagating it.

CUc.u.mBER.--The custom of putting down cuc.u.mber pickles in the home kitchen is probably pa.s.sing out; but both the pickling and the slicing cuc.u.mbers, especially the latter, are still an essential part of a good home garden. A stale or wilted cuc.u.mber is a very poor article of food.

For early use, the cuc.u.mber is usually started in a hotbed or coldframe by sowing the seed on pieces of sod 4 to 6 inches square, turned gra.s.s side down. Three or four seeds are placed on or pushed into each piece of sod and covered with 1 to 2 inches of fine soil. The soil should be well watered and the gla.s.s or cloth placed over the frame. The roots will run through the sod. When the plants are large enough to set out, a flat trowel or a shingle may be slipped under the sod and the plants moved to the hill without check. In place of sod, old quart berry-boxes are good; after setting in the hill the roots may force their way through the cracks in the baskets. The baskets also decay rapidly.

Flower-pots may be used. These plants from the frames may be set out when danger of frost is over, usually by the 10th of May, and should make a very rapid growth, yielding good-sized fruits in two months. The hills should be made rich by forking in a quant.i.ty of well-rotted manure, and given a slight elevation above the garden--not high enough to allow the wind to dry the soil, but slightly raised so that water will not stand around the roots.

The main crop is grown from seed planted directly in the open, and the plants are grown under level culture.

One ounce of seed will plant fifty hills of cuc.u.mbers. The hills may be 4 to 5 feet apart each way.

The White Spine is the leading general-purpose variety. For very early or pickling sorts, the Chicago, Russian, and other picklings are good.

The striped beetle is an inveterate pest on cuc.u.mbers and squashes (see page 201).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 306. West Indian gherkin (_Cuc.u.mis Anguria_).]

The name gherkin is applied to small pickling cuc.u.mbers. The West India gherkin is a wholly distinct species, but is grown like cuc.u.mbers.

(Fig. 306.)

DANDELION.--Under domestication the dandelion has been developed until quite unrecognizable to the casual observer. The plants attain a large size and the leaves are much more tender.

Sow in spring in well-manured soil, either in drills or in hills 1 foot apart. A cutting of leaves may be had in September or October, and some of the stools may stand until spring. The delicacy of the leaves may be improved by blanching them, either by the use of boards or earth. One trade packet of seed will supply a sufficient number for a family. The whole plant is destroyed when the crop of leaves is taken.

The seed may be selected from the best field-grown plants, but it is better to buy the French seed of the seedsmen.

EGG-PLANT.--The egg-plant or guinea squash has never become a popular home-garden product in the North. In the South it is better known.

Unless one has a greenhouse or a very warm hotbed, the growing of egg-plants in the North should be left to the professional gardener, as the young plants are very tender, and should be grown without a check.

The seed should be sown in the hotbed or the greenhouse about April 10, keeping a temperature of 65 to 70. When the seedlings have made three rough leaves, they may be p.r.i.c.ked out into shallow boxes, or, still better, into 3-inch pots. The pots or boxes should be plunged to the rim in soil in a hotbed or coldframe so situated that protection may be given on chilly nights. The 10th of June is early enough to plant them out in central New York.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 307. Black Pekin egg-plant.]

The soil in which egg-plants are to grow cannot well be made too "quick," as they have only a short season in which to develop their fruits. The plants are usually set 3 feet apart each way. A dozen plants are sufficient for the needs of a large family, as each plant should yield from two to six large fruits. The fruits are fit to eat at all stages of growth, from those the size of a large egg to their largest development. One ounce of seed will furnish 600 to 800 plants.

The New York Improved Purple is the standard variety. Black Pekin (Fig.