The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-21
THE FARM AND GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO AGRI-
CULTURIsT AND HOUSEWIFE.

Notes FROM n southern Oaruch.
PIums and Grnpes-Hints on Pecan
Growing-RIce as Food-Country
and City Life-The Angora Goat as
Money-mnker.
"Downup-garden" has grown a null
titudinous number of crops since "Es-
SAGE" took possession of it in 1878. The
successes and the failures have alike
been instructive. Many an expert
ment has been made in Downup gar
den. Many valuable lesson has been
learned and impaired therefrom. Our
notes are based upon the experiences
of rs years in this old-time garden.
From there we certainly learned how
to grow onions most successfully and
probably. Our readers have had the
benefit of the lesson learned.
The gardening year at D begins
in the fall with a crop of turnips we'll
under way and nearing maturity on
Oct. l. Then along during this month
and up to the middle of November
lot of work is done towards making the
spring garden greater success. Dur
ing october the first planting of on
ions is made with seeds or sets or both.
Very few sets are used, however. They
are not reliable for marketable onions,
as so many of them shoot to seed
before building. They do very well
sometimes to produce early bunch"
onions. The Bermuda" and the 'Ital-
ians" are almost exclusively used,
he a.
as possible. Trimmings from this plant
ing are set out in early February fol-
lowing. These are the onions that bulb
down" without shooting to seed and
make fine marketable bulbs, worth any
where from 75>cents to 81 per bushel
At the same time the first sowing of
! spinach is made. This superior salad
! plant Is neglected in the South, owing
to the tediousness of marketing it. AS
a boiled dish it is far superior to the
other crops usually grown for the pur-
| pose Two or three kinds of spinach
are sown-Aragon, New Zealand and
! Viroflay. The Zealand" is something
new and we like it very much 1t
spreads over considerable ground be-
fore it goes to seed and it bears long
/ into the summer.
October is the month for renewing
and charging the strawberry plants.
| Strawberries are grown at "Downup''
mostly on the narrow bed plan-beds
40 to As inches wide with an IS or "a
| inch walk between. This walk is dug
out to a depth of a foot or more and
| lightly filled in with straw and leaves.
! Where water is handy these trenches
are kept almost steadily filled with it
during the bearing season. This as
sures fine lot of berries even if the
weather iG dry of hot
rows of plants are set on each bed and
II to Is inches apart in the row. After
the first plants bear one full crop a new
plant is trained between the old ones.
This is done in October. All the other
| runners are cut out-sold or trans
ferred elsewhere. This process is con-
tinued for several years when the beds
are turned over completely and start
ed again.
In my last stroll in "Downup" the
sweet potatoes were being dug. This
crop, one-tenth of an acre, followed
Irish potatoes that were planted in
| February and harvested in May. The
yield of Irish potatoes was 20 bushels.
The same plat measured out SO bushels
of sweets. These are not large yields
compared to some now and then, but
considering the rapid rotations they
may we'll be considered satisfactory.
| The sweet potatoes vacated the soil in
time to allow onions to go in, though
a little late. Either spinach or rape or
a fallow crop of clover or vetch could
follow the potatoes if it was time for
humus crop to be given the soil. y
In this garden all vegetable matter
| incidental to certain crops is carefully
saved for distribution in burrows dur
| ing the winter. Tomato and eggplant
stalks, those of okra and artichoke and
vines of butter beans-everything that
will make humus is saved to the soil.
The sweet potato vines are first cut
off and strung along upon the fences
for the mich COW to renew her sweet
est cud. What cannot be eaten by
stock is fed to the soil-the soil must
be fed as we'll as the man and the
beast. S. A. C.