Part 10 (1/2)

It is of the easiest culture, requiring ten or twelve pounds of seed per acre, either broadcasted or sown in rows. In small gardens it is usually grown in rows, but in open field culture it is more commonly broadcasted. Patches of many acres in extent are seen near the large cities. It is also grown quite extensively in some parts of the South for s.h.i.+pment to Northern markets during January and February.

To prepare it for market the leaves are cut before the seed stalk appears, and after was.h.i.+ng are barrelled or crated for s.h.i.+pment.

Growers receive from $1.50 to $2.50 per barrel in Philadelphia and New York in the winter and spring. Where accessible to market, spinach is a profitable crop.

Blight is the main enemy. The remedy is removal to another soil.

Of spinach there are many types; some smooth and some with savoy or wrinkled leaves. The property of standing a long time before going to seed is desirable, especially when sown in the spring, as it increases the length of the cutting season.

At the North a slight protection of litter or straw is necessary in winter. South of lat.i.tude of Was.h.i.+ngton no protection is needed.

Spinach is cut even when frozen; in fact, at any time when there is no snow on the ground. By throwing it into cold water it quickly thaws, and affords a palatable and healthful food in midwinter. The dead or yellow leaves should be removed before sending it to market, and if carefully prepared it has an attractive green appearance during cold weather when other vegetables are scarce. The winter crop is larger than any other, but much is also grown for spring sales. It is admirably adapted to farm culture.

SPINACH.--For spring planting, we recommend Parisian Long Standing; for autumn, American Savoy or Bloomsdale. See ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”

THE SWEET POTATO.

The cultivation of the sweet potato affords profitable employment to thousands of American farmers. It is pre-eminently a farmer's crop, on account of the ground s.p.a.ce occupied. It demands a light or sandy soil, well drained and well manured. It has wonderful drouth-resisting qualities; though, on the other hand, it is quite unable to withstand continued cold, wet weather. Its territorial range may be said to include nearly the whole of the United States, where the soil is suited to its growth, and it is even cultivated in Canada. It will in all probability increase in favor as it is better known and the manner of preserving or storing it is better understood.

SWEET POTATO.--We recommend and endorse the Hardy Bush or Vineless Sweet Potato. For description, see ”Johnson & Stokes'

Garden and Farm Manual.”

=Fertilizers.=--There is wide diversity of practice in the matter of enriching the land for sweet potatoes, and most of the standard manures are used, either in one place or another. There seems to be an almost universal endors.e.m.e.nt of well-rotted stable manure, and next in favor is wood ashes. High-grade fertilizer of any kind, thoroughly incorporated with the soil, may be used.

=Young Plants.=--Sweet potatoes are propagated by sprouts obtained by laying tubers on their sides, not touching each other, covered with soil, in specially prepared heated beds. These sprouts produce abundant rootlets while still attached to the parent tuber, and by pulling them with care, great numbers of young plants can be obtained.

A second and even a third crop of young plants may be pulled from the same tubers. In the South no artificial heat is needed.

=Growing the Slips or Sprouts as Practised in New Jersey.=--The fire-bed, so-called, is quite generally used in Southern New Jersey for obtaining slips or sprouts for spring planting. It is necessary to have bottom heat and a uniform temperature of about 70.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plant of New Hardy Bush or Vineless Sweet Potato.]

The fire-bed consists essentially of a pit about 15 by 50 feet in size. It is floored with boards laid upon cross pieces. Beneath the boards there is an air chamber. On top of the boards the bed is made.

At one end is a furnace, with flues running out into the air s.p.a.ce beneath the bed, but not reaching the chimney or smoke-pipe at the opposite end of the bed. At the hottest end of the bed the soil is over 6 inches deep. At the cool end a depth of 6 inches is quite sufficient. The whole bed is covered either with canvas muslin or with gla.s.s sashes, there being a ridge pole above the bed, running lengthwise with it, thus giving a double pitch to muslin or to gla.s.s.

After the soil has been heated somewhat, the tubers are laid on the bed, about an inch apart, and covered with about 3 inches of good soil, and the soil, in turn, covered with leaves or hay, to increase the warmth of the bed. In a week, more or less, the sprouts will show above the surface of the soil, when the leaves or hay must be removed.

The object in not connecting the flues from the furnace with the chimney is to economize heat. The air chamber under the entire bed becomes evenly heated, and the smoke escapes finally by the chimney. This chimney may be made of wood, and a height of 8 or 10 feet will afford ample draft. Either wood or coal may be burned, but preferably wood.

The planting distance in the field is about 3 feet by 2, the young plants being set upon ridges. It requires about 9,000 plants to the acre. The work must not be done until the ground is warm. The crop is ready in from sixty to ninety days.

=Cultivation.=--Shallow cultivation is all that is required. The vines at the North are not permitted to take root along their length, but in the South they are sometimes allowed to do so, and additional tubers thus secured. At the North the vines are lifted and turned, to clear the way for the cultivator and to prevent rooting.

=Enemies.=--Black rot is one of the worst of sweet potato diseases.

Stem rot is another serious enemy. The best treatment for these and other fungous troubles is prevention, and the best prevention is a healthy soil. It is, therefore, best to go to new land occasionally.

=Harvesting.=--The common practice is to plow the sweet potatoes out of the ground just after the first frost has touched the vines. The tubers must be exposed to the air for a time, and partially dried.