The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-06-08

Gne STATION VIII issue, from time to
time, short plain bulletins giving direc-
tions for preparing ground, fertilizing,
planting, cultivating, spraying, and
harvesting vegetable crops in Alabama.
Bulletin "a, of Arkansas Station, also
treats Of vegetable gardening. It states
that the dWellers of Arkansas may
easily gather fresh vegetables from
their open gardens 10 months i'm the
year; yet few have them half SO long
and many not at all. This bulletin
gives list Of 30 vegetables that were
gathered in abundance at the Station
garden up to Nov. 11th, on which date
IL were injured by frost. On Dec. 6sh
another was cut down. On Jan. 4th
the hardest freeze of the winter OCCUR
red, and on the 9th IL varieties were
still all right. These were beet, cabbage,
carrot, celery, coiiard, cress, kale, let
luce, mustard, onion, shallot, spinach,
parsnip, parsley, turrip, garlic.
Probably nine of every ten failures
in vegetable gardening are due to lack
1
sufficient manure. The soil cannot be
too deeply or too finely pulveriEed. OF
course no subsoil should be turned up,
but it should be loosened up as deep as
possible. Then the soil should have an
abundance Of decayed vegetable mat
ter in il, and should be free from the
seeds OF weeds and grass. All manure
applied should be thoroughly .rotted,
and after you think you have applied
twice enough just double that dose and
it will probably be about right till next
year.
Trucking cannot be learned in one or
two years, and it requires more capital
than most people guess. Begin small
scale and learn and extend the business
as you progress. Such things as cold
frames, sashes, hot beds, drills, spray.
ing apparatus, etc., ETC., cost money
and it does not pay 10 procure these
and fit the ground for gardening for O
single season with the expectation Of
then going back to cotton. Start right,
prepare well, and then remain with
the business for several years at least.
The bulletin gives dire ctions for cold
frames, seed bc KS, hot beds, thoughts
on seed selection and sowing, care of
young plants, transplantiDg, cssssivat
ing, harvesting and marketing, the
varieties best adapted to Arkansas.
Among these are asparagus, beans of
all kinds, bees, spring, summer and
winter cabbage, caulifoWer, collards,
carrots, celery, ,cucumbers, ,cantaloupes,
garden corn, upland cress, egg plant,
kale, lettuce, okra, onions, parsnips,
pepper, potatoes, peas, radishes, satisfy,
spinach, squash, tomatoes, turnips and
WRtermelops.
Bulletin ~, Of New Hampshire Sta
tion, is @ finely illustrated treatise on
tomato Growing and Breeding. The
best soil is a good, level, upland loam,
but moderately rich. Seed were sown
in greenhouse March 18Th, in trays, 2
inches apart each way, and the young
plants were afterwards set in cold
frame, inches apart each way and
were transplanted to the open field
May 26jh, feet apart in roWE feet
| apart. Each plant was tied to en ordi-
nary bean pole to keep it from sprawl
ing on the ground, and frequent cult
vation was given till they were too
large. They were pruned slightly.
Ponderosa gave the heaviest yield, with
40 in each ], ZOO rotted; Belmont stood
second, with 10 in 1000 rotted; Pcesi
dent Cleveland third, with 10 in 1,OOO
rotted. The worst to rot were Thor
burn New York, $50 in 1 900, and Buck
eye State, 11O in 1000. Fifty Days
the Earliest" had but in l. 0GO rotted.
Fordhook First was days earlier than
any other variety, and was one of the
best. These, with Stone. Livingston's
Beauty, Acme, Belmont, County Fair,
Dwarf Champion, Early Michigan,
Brinton's Best and Red Cross are
recommended.
The breeding experiments show that
careful selection produces rapid i'm
provement ;that seeds should be selected
from fine plants rather than from fine
fruits; that there is no advantage in
selecting seed from the first to ripen;
constant selection is necessary to keep
up the breed; that solid varieties are
not always the best keepers; that the
offspring of cross of red and yellow
variety will be red; that varieties mix
readily, that rotation is as necessary
with tomatoes as with other crops; that