The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-05
GARDEN
AND HOUSEHOLD
BY S. A. COOK.

| desert margins OF NOTln AITlCd III al
| arid and heated climate.
In a dry climate where its dense,
| sugary masses when cured, are easily
| preserved il is a wholesome and di
gestible diet But in a humid climate
| like that of Florida. where it cracks
and sours while green and spoils when
cured, il is not to be recommended as
| food compared with the more spright-
| ~ citrus, the peach. the guava and the
grape.
If the fig is planted at all il
should be only one or two well tested
varieties, such as the Celestial or the
small lemon FIG. And let the trees be
set around the house where they will
receive the waste and fertility from
the domestic animals, and where the
trampled ground will suppress and
prevent the ravages of the nemotode
of root-knot, to which this tree is pc
culiarK subject in soft cultivated soils.
Seed beds and Their Management.
Seed beds may be made of any shape
or size desired, depending upon the
number of plants the trucker wishes to
grow, says a bulletin of the Florida
Experiment Station.
The most convenient small seed bed
is a table furnished with end and side
boards six inches deep. Cracks one
quarter of an inch wide should be
LETT between the bottom board to give
drainage. A movable cover should be
erected to shield the bed from heavy
rains and the hot sun. This seed
bed is a very desirable one for raising
young lettuce plants. If ants are in
the neighborhood, they will carry off
large numbers of the seeds, and it is
almost impossible to keep them out of
an ordinary seed bed.
They may be kept off the table seed
bed just described by using a tea
spoonful of corrosive sublimate mixed
with two tablespoonsful Of lard. This
mixture is spread upon pieces of cloth,
which are then tackled about the legs.
1t should be remembered that corro-
sivc suhlimate is a deadly poison.
In the bottom of the bed place about
three inches of we'll decomposed stable
manure, then fill to within half an inch
of the top with hammock soil or leaf
mold. Wet the bed down thoroughly
and allow it to stand a day or two be-
fore planting. 1t is preferable to have
the soil sufficiently moist so that it will
not be necessary to water again until
the seeds terminate
For larger paintings an ordinary
cold frame makes very desir able
seed bed. This may be of any length,
six feet wide, three feet hish at the
back and sloping to one foot at the
front. 1t should be placed facing
south or slightly southeast. Strength
ening braces should be morticed into
the back and front. placing one ever Y
six feet. The frame should be located
upon. a piece of thoroughly d aimed
ground. If protection can be given by
placing it so that it is sheltered on the
north and northwest by a piece Of
woodland so much the better.
The covering for the seed bed may
be made of heavy cotton cloth
bleaching or drilling. This should be
attached to a roller and placed at the
back of the frame. When desired it
may be rolled down to protect against
cold or to give shade. In this frame six
inches of well-rotted stable manure
should be placed and on top of tn g
three or four inches of leaf mold or
hammock soil. The manure should be
thoroughly decomposed; but if it
should happen that it should heat no
seed should be placed in the bed until
the manure has rotted.
Lettuce and celery seed should be
sowed about one fourth inch deep and
twenty or thirty seeds to the inch
Cabbage and caulifiower should be
sowed to the inch.
When the seedlings are large enough
to handle, they may be trausplanted
Several methods have been tried, but
we have found that the best is u use
board as wide as the space between
the rows. The board should be
placed on the soil aud a furrow made
alongside with a, small stick or garden
label Lay the plants in the furrow.
pressing them against the straight
eli in
the soil. Lettuce should be set 2x4
inches, and cabbage, Cauliflower and
celery 3X4 inches
The damping-off fungus is the mo t
serious enemy in seeding plants. 1t
can be held in check by keeping the
surface dry and we'll worked, and if
an application of Bordeaux mixture
is given every week, it will be found
of great assistance in combating the
diseases.
When the plants are ready for the
field they should be hardened off. by
withholding water. and then. Just pre-
vious to removing them, the ground
should be thoroughly watered. IT is
sometimes desirable to preserve the
whCl" roo system. This may be ac-
ccmrlisbed by taking an ordinary table
knife and cutting a line three or four
inches deep between the rows. The
plants may then be lifted with q sharp
spade by cutting between them in the
ROW. This entails considerable labor.
but 1t will pay in the end.