The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1888-03-09
Early Vegetables.

exposed place. sheltered on the North
or Northwest by windbreak, or sim
ply by board fence. or better By both
!, though tue fence will do. Temporarily
nail on board between the two lower
fence boards, or over the opening. and
fill in soil enough under the Lower one
10 shat out cold winds. IF white-
washed. to reflect more heat and light
upon the bed. all the better. A fence
running Northeast and Southwest is
best; one extending East and West is
next best; or North aud South one
will answer. The bed on the South
or East side may be two to four feet
wide. and run along the fence as far as
desired. For large operations. two o,
three parallel beds may be made. with
walks between. In this case il is best
to close the fence higher up, with
added boards.
A full fence, with the boards run ming
mp and down and close together. is
preferable, but they are not common
where lumber is scarce. In the
absence of board fence. short trench
can be dug, and boards set into it or
they can be simply driven into the
ground. Three or four feet high will
answer.
The ground surface may be simply
grass sod, but it is better if plowed or
spaded, raked and patted down to
compact, smooth surface. Now go to.
an even grass sod, having enough roots
to hold it together, and with sharp
spade cut sods one.and.a.half to two
inches thick, and spread them all over
the ground for the seed bed, setting
them closely at the edges and packing
them firmly with the spade back, or a
large knife, or hay-cutting knife, cut
through the sod, dividing it into a
multitude Of little sqnares, afterwards
pattidg them down to close up. but not
ohliterate, the cutting marks. All the
above may be done in two or three
hours for 500 to 1000 squares. Next.
thrust seed or two in the center of
each square. Of flettuce,. tomatoes, cab
bage, radishes, beets. onions, peas,
corn, cucumbers. in short, anything
~hich you wish to have an early start.
For smaller things, squares an inch
each way will suffice, giving IA to the
square foot. For large plants, as corn.
potatoes. etc, the squares Of sod may
be cut larger. All further care con
sists in an occasional watering, ii
needed, in the absence Of rain enough,
and protection from freezing. In cold
freezing nights or days, throw over the
bed quantity of straw or refuse hay,
to be taken of when the sun shines
warmly, and left off when it is above
s2 deg.
The time to do this is just as soon as
the soil is thawed deeply enough to al
low cutting the sods. It would have
been better to have cut the sods during
Autumn. and piled them up ready and
even to have had them to put in place.
Freezing will do no harm before the
seeds begin to sprout. The seeds may
be planted 5 to 6 weeks before they
could be safely put in the open ground
where they could not well be covered
in case Of frost.
The seed will get well started, each
one filling its bit Of sod with mass Of
roots. and be 4 to 6 weeks ahead Of
those In the open ground. At the
proper time it will be small matter
10 lift the masses Of sod, separate the
pieces. and set them into hills or drills
10 the garden or field, where they will
90 right on growing, as but few Of the
roots will be broken or disturbed.
The work of trausplanting will be less
than in putting out plants pulled up,
and there wi be no setback in growth
A plat rod long, and two and half
feet wide, will supply $40 inch
squares. for that many separate seeds,
or enough to plant half an acre in
drills 34 feet apart. with the plants a
loot apart in the drill. For early po-
tatoes the pieces Of sod may be 8 or 4
Ainches square, reducing the number
accordingly. and for these and corn, 4
INCHES or more thick. Upon the ricb-
neas Of the soil where they fually