Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-05-04
Weekly Suggestions For
Vegetable Growers

prepared by the New Jersey Agricultural
society, New Brunswick)
Many OF our vegetable growers, the
amateurs especially, are be coming i'm
patient to gather radishes, spinach,
lettuce and green onions from sets. The
o~bservant growers will quickly discover
many things. The first large radishes
will be found where the plants stand
at least a half Inch apart. Spinach
must have rich soil. Lettuce cannot
develop heads unless it is planted early
aud each plaat must occupy 100 square
inches of surface soil. Those onions
which are ready for table use first are
from the largest sets; therefore, it would
have been wise to have planted the
large sets by themselves and the small
sets in other rows.
CARE OF THE Soil
The more thoroughly soil is cultivated
the better the crops will grow. How
ever, this does not mean thai at all
times deep and frequent cultivation Is
10 be recommended. When possible.
the soil should be plo ed a few weeks
before planting. Ifthis ground is deep
~ narrowed every week or ten days,
millions of weed seed will be killed
After The field is planted thorough Gull
tivation right from the beginning IL
essential but as growth develops it
should be more shallow. Kill the weeds
as they germiDate rather than wait
until they come up. In the home vege-
aole garden, the garden rake is a splen-
did tool for stirring the surface soil. If
this is done thoroughly every Saturday
afternoon weeds can never be bother
some.
INSECT PESTS
During the next few weeks cutwnrms
will he very active. When a plant is
freshly cut off, the cutworm may be
found just under the soil neal the plant
so that it may be easily destroyed. For
protection each plant stem may be
wrapped with paper when 1t is set out
or a tin can, from which the bottom
has been melted, may be stood around
the plant to keep off the cutworms.
The poison bran mash is the most
efficient method for the destruction of
cutworms on a commercial scale. The
striped cucumber beetles, potato bugs,
tomato worms and cabbage worms may
be easily controlled by busting pc wder-
ed arsenate of lead upon the dew-wet
foliage. Some insecticide companies
are putting this material up in one
pound, perforated tint cans for the con-
%venience of the home gardeners.
PEA CULTURE
The specialist in market gard ening
at the State Elk eriment Station claims
that the planting of peas should soon
be discontinued for the rest of the sea-
son because they cannot grow well in
hot weather. However, many grow
ers maintain that it is practical to plant
them again during August to develop
in late fell. While that late crop is
sometimes fairly good, it would be more
economical to plant string beans, tur-
nips or Black Spanish radishes for WIN
ter use. In the home garden the pea
vines should be supported on brush
stuck into the row as soon as possible.
Chicken wire or lattice work of any
description is also useful for this pur-
pose.
THE CABBAGE CROP
Seed for the late cabbage should be
planted about six or seven weeks be-
fore the plants are wanted for setting
in the field. The seed is planted in an
especially prepared seed bed just as
one would SOW seed of onions, radishes,
etc. The hard heading varieties are
are the Danish Ball Head and the Flat
Dutch. Plants of these varieties should
be set in the latitude of new Brunswick
about July first. Such varieties a. Sue
cessiOn and all season need not be set
until about July 10th. The writer
states that more people should acquaint-
ed with the most delicate favored of
all cabbsges; it is the Savoy or curly
cabbage. Itgrows very quickly, keeps
splendidly and is of very fine quality.
Another advantage of Savoy cabbage
is that it need not be set out until the
last part of July because it grows very
quickly. About the middle OF Novem
Der the plants may be pulled and stood
upside down close together on a sod.
If these are covered with a layer of hay
six inches thick they will keep splen-
didly until the holidays. If the layer