Part 11 (2/2)

In the South the sets may be planted in September. Plant them in rows in rich and well-fertilized soil. They will be ready for market in March or April. In the more northerly states the sets are to be planted as early as possible in the spring.

To grow ripe onions the seeds must be sowed as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. The plants are thinned to a stand of three inches in the rows. As they grow, the soil is drawn away from them so that the onions sit on top of the soil with only their roots in the earth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 94. HOTBED FOR STARTING TOMATO PLANTS]

As soon as the tops ripen pull the onions and let them lie in the sun until the tops are dry. Then put them under shelter. As onions keep best with their tops attached, do not remove these until it is time for marketing.

=Peas.= The English pea is about the first vegetable of the season to be planted. It may be planted as soon as the ground is in workable condition. Peas are planted in rows, and it is a good plan to stretch wire netting for them to climb on. However, where peas are extensively cultivated they are allowed to fall on the ground.

There are many sorts of peas, differing both in quality and in time of production. The first to be planted are the extra-early varieties. These are not so fine as the later, wrinkled sorts, but the seeds are less apt to rot in cold ground. Following these, some of the fine, wrinkled sorts are to be planted in regular succession. Peas do not need much manure and do best in a light, warm soil.

=Tomatoes.= There is no vegetable grown that is more widely used than the tomato. Whether fresh or canned it is a staple article of food that can be served in many ways.

By careful selection and breeding, the fruit of the tomato has in recent years been much improved. There are now many varieties that produce perfectly smooth and solid fruit, and the grower can hardly go amiss in his selection of seeds if he bears his climate and his particular needs in mind.

Early tomatoes are started in the greenhouse or in the hotbed about ten weeks before the time for setting the plants in the open ground. They are transplanted to cold-frames as soon as they are large enough to handle. This is done to harden the plants and to give them room to grow strong before the final transplanting.

In kitchen gardens tomatoes are planted in rows four feet apart with the plants two feet apart in the rows. They are generally trained to stakes with but one stalk to a stake. When there is plenty of s.p.a.ce, however, the plants are allowed to grow at will and to tumble on the ground. In this way they bear large crops. During the winter the markets are supplied with tomatoes either from tropical sections or from hothouses.

As those grown in the hothouses are superior in flavor to those s.h.i.+pped from Florida and from the West Indies, and as they command good prices, great quant.i.ties are grown in this way.

In the South the bacterial blight which attacks the plants of this family is a serious drawback to tomato culture. The only way to escape this disease is to avoid planting tomatoes on land in which eggplants, tomatoes, or potatoes have been blighted. Lime spread around the plants seems to prevent the blight for one season on some soils.

At the approach of frost in the fall, green tomatoes can easily be preserved by wrapping them in paper. Gather them carefully and wrap each separately. Pack them in boxes and store in a cellar that is close enough to prevent the freezing of the fruit. A few days before the tomatoes are wanted for the table unpack as many as are needed, remove the paper, and allow them to ripen in a warm room.

Tomatoes require a rich soil. Scattering a small quant.i.ty of nitrate of soda around their roots promotes rapid growth.

=Watermelons.= As watermelons need more room than can usually be spared in a garden, they are commonly grown as a field crop.

A very light, sandy soil suits watermelons best. They can be grown on very poor soil if a good supply of compost be placed in each hill. The land for the melons should be laid off in about ten-foot checks; that is, the furrows should cross one another at right angles about every ten feet. A wide hole should be dug where the furrows cross, and into this composted manure should be put.

The best manure for watermelons is a compost of stable manure and wood-mold from the forest. Pile the manure and wood-mold in alternate layers for some time before the planting season. During the winter cut through the pile several times until the two are thoroughly mixed and finely pulverized. Be sure to keep the compost heap under shelter.

Compost will lose in value if it is exposed to rains.

At planting-time, put two or three shovelfuls of this compost into each of the prepared holes, and over the top of the manure scatter a handful of any high-grade complete fertilizer. Then cover fertilizer and manure with soil, and plant the seeds in this soil. In cultivating, plow both ways of the checked rows and throw the earth toward the plants.

Some growers pinch off the vines when they have grown about three feet long. This is done to make them branch more freely, but the pinching is not necessary.

A serious disease, the watermelon wilt, is rapidly spreading through melon-growing sections. This disease is caused by germs in the soil, and the germs are hard to kill. If the wilt should appear in your neighborhood, do not allow any stable manure to be used on your melon land, for the germs are easily scattered by means of stable manure. The germs also cling to the seeds of diseased melons, and these seeds bear the disease to other fields. If you treat melon seeds as you are directed on page 135 to treat oat seeds, the germs on the seeds will be destroyed. By crossing the watermelon on the citron melon, a watermelon that is resistant to wilt has recently been developed and successfully grown in soils in which wilt is present. The new melon, inferior in flavor at first, is being improved from season to season and bids fair to rival other melons in flavor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 95. DEWBERRIES]

SECTION XXVI. FLOWER GARDENING

The comforts and joys of life depend largely upon small things. Of these small things perhaps none holds a position of greater importance in country life than the adornment of the home, indoors and outdoors, with flowers tastefully arranged. Their selection and planting furnish pleasant recreation; their care is a pleasing employment; and each little plant, as it sprouts and grows and develops, may become as much a pet as creatures of the sister animal kingdom. A beautiful, well-kept yard adds greatly to the pleasure and attractiveness of a country home.

If a beautiful yard and home give joy to the mere pa.s.ser-by, how much more must their beauty appeal to the owners. The decorating of the home shows ambition, pride, and energy--important elements in a successful life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 96. AN EASY WAY TO BEAUTIFY THE HOME]

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