Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1915-06-10

(By w. F. MARTINI
The earliest corn l plant Is the NAL
akoff sweet corn and a corn that was
sent to me from Port Chester, N. Y.
I have tried the Golden Bantam and
while of fine quality, we get too little
of 1t to afford the Dor for 1t. 1t
seems to do better in the North.
l follow the Malakoff corn with
Country Gentleman and Stonewell's
Evergreen, making new paintings as
fast as the previous one is up until
August and then plant the last with
the Port Chester corn.
! SOW Eclipse and Egyptian beets
in late February, planting the seed by
hand as / never found a drill that
would SOW beet seed properly. drop
the seed two in a place about four
inches apart so that the thinning is
easy. If the beets escape frost till
they produce their true leaves they
will stand a great deal of frost and the
only time they are apt to get killed
is just as they terminate, consequent
ly | do take some risk in order to get
them early.
In the frames I get beets soon aft
er the outdoor mes are planted. The
frames are sown with alternate rows
Of beets and early radishes six inches
apart and the radishes come out early
SO that the beets have the 12-inch
rows.
My tomato seeds are sown ten
weeks before it Is safe to set them
out. I SOW in flats in the .conserva-
tory and transplant as soon as large
enough to handle into other fats about
two inches apart.
From these flats in March they go
into a cold frame under glass sashes,
and are gradually hardened off SO that
they a be set outside in April. l
find that the earlier we get them out
and they live the earlier the fruiting is.
II frost threatens after they are
started in the open ground l bend
each plant over and shovel soil over
1t and have carried them through a
temperature of 20 in that way.
l start sweet peppers in the same
way l start the tomatoes. l formerly
used the Ruby King. but am now u.s.
ing the Neapolitan. For hot pepper
sauce l plant a few Tobasco, but these
l do not plant near the sweet peppers,
for l found one season that the pol
len from the Tobasco made the sweet
peppers hot.
l train tomatoes to single stems, ty-
ing them to stakes six feet tall and
pinching out all side shoots. In this
way l plant them in three foot rows
and two feet between the plants. You
cannot keep a clean garden II the
tomato plants are allowed to tumble
on the ground, for after they have &C.
cupied the ground the grass and weeds
will take possession, while on stakes
we can keep the ground clean.
The earliest tomato l have tried
is the Adirondack strain of Earliana.
Bonny Best comes soon after, and for
the main crop / use Success and
Stone.
In April I SOW seed of the Norfolk
Queen onion very thickly to make sets.
These are ripe in July and are cured
and %replanted in September for green
onions. We usually get them ready
for use in late February. For the ripe
crop Of onions l plant sets of the Vel
low Potato onion in the fall and use
some Of the offsets as green onions,
but these are not good keepers and
I SOW as early in the spring as the
soil can be worked seed of the South
port Yellow and White Globe In rows
16 inches apart.
Then in January l SOW in a cold
frame under glass seed of the Prize
taker onion which is the same as the
Spanish onions imported under the
name Of Denia onion. These are trans
planted to the open ground as soon
as they are the size of a g~oosequill.
They make immense onions and very
mild ones have had them weigh
over a pound each, but these, too, are
not good keepers and are used or dis