NRLF B 3 1Mb bDD COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE Berkeley. Cal. TRUCK-FARMIN LIBRARY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE Berkeley. Cal AT THE SOUTH. A Guide to the Raising of Vegetables for Northern Markets, BY DR. A. OEMLEK, PRESIDENT OF THE CHATHAM CO., GEORGIA, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GROWEBS ASSOCIATION. ILLUSTRATED. NEW YORK: OKANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 BROADWAY. 1884. ftffe Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by the ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface 5 CHAPTER I. Labor 7 CHAPTER II. Soil and its Preparation 10 CHAPTMR III. Manures, their Kinds and Uses 15 CHAPTER IV. The notation of Crops 54 CHAPTER V. Weeds 59 CHAPTER VI. Seed and Seed Sowing 62 CHAPTER VII. Hot-Beds, Cold Frames and Weather ' 71 CHAPTER VIII. Transplanting 83 CHAPTER IX. Water and Watering . 87 CHAPTER X. Packing and Markets 90 CHAPTER XI. Insects and their Remedies 96 CHAPTER XII. Asparagus 119 CHAPTER XIII. Beans, Bush or Snap 130 CHAPTER XIV. Beet 134 CHAPTER XV. Cabbage 137 (3) 368808 4 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. Cauliflower 163 CHAPTER XVII. Cucumber 169 CHAPTER XVIII. Egg Plant or Guinea Squash 175 CHAPTER XIX. Kale, Borecole or Sprouts 178 CHAPTER XX. Lettuce 180 CHAPTER XXI. Onions 181 CHAPTER XXII. Pea -. 191 CHAPTER XXIII. Potato 195 CHAPTER XXIV. Radish 207 CHAPTER XXV. Spinach 208 CHAPTER XXVI. Squash 29 CHAPTER XXVII. Sweet Potato 213 CHAPTER XXVIII. Tomato 220 CHAPTER XXIX. Watermelon . 229 CHAPTER XXX. Strawberry 236 APPENDIX. Analyses and Values of Fertilizers 252 Economy in Fertilization , 257 Formula for Composts 259 Useful Tables... ...262 PREFACE. THIS work is written in the hope that it may be useful to my fellow farmers who are engaged in growing vege- tables for the Northern markets. The instructions giv- en, and facts presented, are mainly such as are not to be found in the few works extant on Southern gardening, and are those resulting from a long experience. When I commenced to produce vegetables for shipment, about twenty-six years ago, there were few or none following the pursuit as an exclusive business on a large scale. The consignments at that time consisted mainly of the mere surplus crops of the local market gardeners. The business has gradually developed to astonishing propor- tions, principally in the vicinity of the larger seaport cities of the South. One of the results has been that land within three miles of Savannah, for instance, has risen in value one hundred and fifty per cent, within the last twelve years. While the crops of the whole area tributary to Savannah, were by no means satisfactory during the past season, the aggregate quantity of pro- duce was large. The following statement shows the pro- duce forwarded to the Northern markets direct from the port of Savannah by the steamships alone. EXPORTS (BY STEAMERS) OF VEGETABLES (AND ORANGES FROM FLORIDA), FOR THE SEASON ENDING AUGUST 31st, 1882. PORT. VEGET Crates. ABLES. Barrels. OBAI Boxes. TOES. Barrels. TOTAL OF PACKAGES. New York 105,739 50,787 34,472 4,132 27,572 12,696 7,956 630 69,379 2,723 13,033 9,837 2,519 907 445 174 205,209 67,113 45,906 14,773 Baltimore Philadelphia Boston 185,130 48,854 94,972 4,045 333,001 The season's shipment of melons to New York aggre- gated 175,000. (5) 6 PftEFACE. Of course, failures will odcur in this, as in every other pursuit; but where favorable conditions of soil, situation, etc., exist, sober, economical, industrious, and intelligent farmers who attend closely to their business, can make this a most profitable branch of agriculture. As an in- stance of successful truck-farming, I may cite a case within my knowledge. Among the prosperous gardeners near Savannah, are three brothers, plain farmers from Effingham County, Georgia. They were without any special advantages as educated horticulturists, but under favorable contingencies, and possessing in themselves the above named desirable characteristics, they commenced to farm on their own account seven years ago. They had a borrowed capital of one thousand dollars wherewith to operate their first small crop, and make a payment on ac- count of their purchase of land. They were not only able to pay for the land in full, from the proceeds of their crops, but have acquired in the aggregate two hundred and seventy-five acres, making at various intervals cash pay- ments ranging from one thousand five hundred dollars to nine thousand one hundred dollars. Besides this, they have expended various amounts in buildings, and other improvements, and have cash on hand and a bank account. One of the brothers has also invested in railroad stock, and the elder of them has lately purchased a house and lot in town, for four thousand five hundred dollars, while there is not a mortgage, or lien, of any kind, on any of the property of the brothers. A. 0. TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH, CHAPTER I. LABOR. Owing to the perishable nature of the products, the areas at the South devoted to truck-farming must remain confined to certain limits. These will be near the larger cities and along the routes of railroads, by which products can be safely and expeditiously dispatched to market. Although truck-farming can employ but a comparatively small proportion of the labor of the South, it must be followed according to the same principles and system that govern general agriculture. The negro must be accepted as the only practical solution of the labor question, and, notwithstanding his instability, he is the best for many reasons. It would be impolitic, even were it possible, to trust to more intelligent and energetic laborers from abroad, and mix the two races as field laborers. No dependence could be placed upon retaining the foreign help, as his greater energy and a praiseworthy desire for self-elevation would soon prompt the emigrant, or white laborer, to change his status and better his condition. Accepting the negro as the God-given instrument for the development of the agricultural resources of the South, while profiting by his general wastefulness and improvidence for his own good and our own, it should be the constant aim of every employer, who has the wel- fare of southern agriculture at heart, to elevate the labor- er. The employer can, by strict justice, fairness and 8 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. even kindness, render him satisfied with his lot, to the end, that, instead of being an irritating element of the body politic, he may become a contented and useful mem- ber thereof. Exceptional instances of self-elevation and independence should be correctly appreciated and encour- aged as a spur to others. The death of slavery was, so to speak, the birth of truck-farming on an extensive scale in the South- Atlantic and Guli States; indeed it would otherwise have been im- possible. I was probably the largest slave-owner, engaged in vegetable culture, in this section; but of forty-five grown negroes, twenty-six only were available as field laborers, the others being mechanics, house-servants, etc. ; and at no time could I have controlled more than that number of hands, and few, or none, could have been hired. At the present time there are in the vicinity of Savannah many truck-farmers who employ one hundred to two hundred laborers during the picking season. Ex-Governor Hammond's prediction : that the negro, in case of emancipation would "seek the towns, and rap- idly accumulate in groups upon their outskirts," has cer- tainly been verified. It is the better class of this popula- tion, those who are willing to do some work, which sup- plies the truck-farmer with sufficient labor during the pressing season of gathering his crops. The table below gives the usual average rate of wages, without board, paid by truck-farmers in the vicinity of Savannah. For men For women . so- H 60 c. j12*-l5c 50 c. Il2i-15c P| fe |ll ^% s 20 c. $1.00 $0.75 20 c. I!! H c. i c. He. Ic. Three baskets fill four crates. When boys and girls are hired the pay is at half rate per day. LABOK. 9 A few of the most efficient and trustworthy hands, who are particularly useful during the marketing season, and receive an increased pay, are selected to care for stock. Some farmers pay selected hands five cents per basket and one cent per crate additional for packing cucumbers and tomatoes; while others use the gang of day laborers for the purpose, depending upon their per- sonal supervision to prevent injudicious gathering. For cutting hay with scythes, men are allowed one-third the cured hay, to be bought (at option of the hand or not, as may be agreed upon), by the employer at four dollars per rack-load of about eight hundred pounds. The hours of labor are from sunrise to sunset, with variable allowances for meals during the different seasons of the year. During the shipping season there is no fixed time for breaking off work; but extra pay is generally allowed in case of much night work. If the hands are made to bestir themselves properly during their work, it is not unreasonable they should ex- pect that the employer will not delay, or hesitate, in delivering compensation. Apart from considerations of justice, it is considered his policy to pay promptly after breaking off work on Saturday and before the stores are closed. Hands of the better order, and these are to be encouraged, may be depended upon to present themselves on Monday morning, whether in funds or not; but by far the greater majority will require time on Monday to get rid of their money, if they have had no opportunity of so doing Saturday evening and night, and will be ab- sent at roll-call. According to the report of the Agricultural Depart- ment of 1879, the latest authority at command, the average rate of wages paid, without board, in the interior of Georgia, was ten dollars and seventy-three cents per month. 10 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. CHAPTER II. SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. The requisites the truck-farmer must have in view in selecting a location, are cheap, safe, and expeditious transportation of produce to market, convenience for procuring manure, a soil adapted to the crops he wishes to grow, and sanitary surroundings. Other conditions being*the same, water carriage is preferable to that by wagon. If in the selection of the land, one is confined to a single soil, he should select one consisting of a mix- ture of organic and inorganic matter; a light, deep, sandy loam, with plenty of humus, or vegetable matter. Ex- perience has shown that, without this, crops will not yield as well in proportion to the quantity of manure applied. Locations in the immediate vicinity of the larger coast cities, offering the best facilities in the way of transportation and manure, are in the possession of market gardeners, and such lands are generally highly fertile. The truck-farmer requiring a larger area is com- pelled to locate several miles beyond the corporate limits, on the line of a railroad, or on the banks of a navigable stream. The farm will often be one, the fertility of which has been shipped off to Europe, or the North, in the shape of cotton, by some planter, whose measure of suc- cess was gauged by the rapidity with which he could ex- haust his soil. The renovation of the land will be the first desideratum. To that end, and the consequent pro- duction of remunerative crops, the plowing under of green manures, the application of fertilizers, proper preparation, careful tillage, and deep plowing, will be necessary. With every additional inch of depth in plowing in the first eighteen inches of the surface, the farmer gains six million two hundred and seventy- SOIL A^D ITS PREPARATION. 11 two thousand six hundred and forty cubic inches per acre of available soil, with its mineral ingredients, and constantly increasing capacity of gathering, retaining, and supplying plant food. The conditions of quality of soil and climate being the same, the productiveness of soils must be in proportion to its mass. Sir J. B. Lawes found five thousand seven hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre in the first nine inches of his soil. The Russian black lands, which are held to be the richest in the world, have, according to Prof. Schmidt, within three feet of the surface, from forty thousand to forty-four thousand pounds of nitrogen. Several analyses of Boussingault showed from twenty-five thousand to thirty-two thousand pounds per acre beneath the surface, and a soil analyzed by Prof. Voelcker, in 1868, showed eight thousand four hundred and twenty-five pounds per acre. The practice of deep plowing will depend upon circumstances; a good, though shallow mould, or other soil, resting upon a sticky, clay subsoil, would not be benefited by being at once broken up deeply, bringing large, hard lumps of unfertile clay to the surface, and deteriorating the physical quality of the top-soil. DRAINAGE. Drainage, more especially underdrainage, renders a clay subsoil, when moved by the plow, more suscepti- ble to pulverization, and in such case a thorough drainage would have to precede deep plowing. Under- drainage prevents the drowning out of crops after heavy rainfalls. It increases the fertility and pulverization of the soil by admitting air. It keeps the ground moister in a dry season. It prevents the washing away of the soil and its fertilizing materials. It permits the farmer to work his land sooner after heavy rain, and earlier in the spring, and it prevents the land from becoming sour 12 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. in wet seasons. The total absence of water would be de- structive to vegetation, for it is itself necessary to plant life; but undrained land is not merely wet, it becomes water-logged, and through absence of air, the plants are drowned out. When, however, water passes through, and away from the laud, air takes its place, and also passes through the drains, and finds its way into the overlying soil, increasing its fertility and pulverizing it. The rea- son why drained land gains heat, and the temperature of water-logged land decreases, is the lack of heat-conducting power in water, or the fact that air can not be transmitted downwards through water. When land is saturated with water, the heat is expended in evaporating the moisture, instead of warming the land, and during this evapora- tion the temperature is reduced. Undrained land be- comes sour in wet weather, and the formation of sub- stances injurious to vegetation is encouraged. The ab- sorbing power of soil is so great that ammonia and other fertilizing agents of water and air are arrested in their passage through it, thus enriching the soil; while the water on undrained land washes over the surface, carry- ing off into the water courses the fertility that might be saved. In undrained land, the passage of moisture, en- couraged by evaporation from the surface, is upwards, whereas in drained land, the current is downwards to the level of the drains, supplying the roots with aerated moisture in condition to be taken up by them. An excess of water in the soil produces such a saturated state of the atmosphere, as to prevent a healthy perspira- tory action of the leaves of plants growing upon it, and growth is retarded. PREPARING THE SOIL. Efficient drainage being provided, the land should be broken up and pulverized as deeply as possible. A mass SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. 13 of sticky clay will absorb a slight amount of moisture, but when it is reduced to a powdered condition, its ab- sorbing power will be very much increased. One hundred grains of fine clay left for twelve hours in contact with a solution of caustic potash, the latter not filtered through it, absorbed one thousand and fifty grains of potash. Soils have the power of separating ammonia, and other bases from their solutions, and of separating alkaline bases from the acids with which they were combined. Soils possessing the greatest amount of capillary poros- ity, most friable and mellow, or, in other words, such as are in the best agricultural condition, will condense the greatest amount of fertilizing material; and the more they are pulverized, the better will they resist the leach- ing action of water. Soil in an improper physical con- dition may hold fertilizing materials in sufficient quanti- ties for a full crop. It will, however, yield only a small percentage to the vegetation upon it, until it is made friable, and so becomes conducive to growth. Carbonic acid is one of the chief agents in this process; and in order that this acid may be formed, the carbonaceous matter in the soil must be brought in direct contact with the atmosphere. As long as the soil is in a compact con- dition, or is saturated with water, carbonic acid is not formed. During the recent severe drouths It has been observed that crops growing on deeply-plowed land have suffered the least, for the reason that the greater the mass of fine soil, the greater must have been the amount of moisture absorbed. Heat is evolved during the de- composition of vegetable matter; and the darker the soil is from decomposing vegetable matter, the warmer will it become. The warmth of light-colored sands is attribut- able to their conductive power. Half the crop depends sometimes upon the previous preparation of the land. Owing to the absence of a covering of snow and of suc- cessive freezings and thawings, fall plowing, so useful at 14 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. the North, is destructive of fertility at the South and is not advisable. CULTIVATION. The land having been properly prepared by plow- ing, and sufficiently manured, and the crop planted with regard to the capacity of the soil, the most im- portant matter to the farmer is, thorough culture, or keeping the earth fine and mellow among the plants. Stirring the soil can scarcely be repeated too often during the earlier periods of growth, or until there is danger of injury to the roots or to the tops of growing plants by the cultivator. The ground may be too wet, but never too dry, for stirring; because the more frequently it is broken up, fined and aerated, the more moisture will the soil absorb from the atmosphere. This is an operation that should be performed after every rain, sufficient to cause incrustation or baking, which would prevent a free admission of air into the soil. The most obvious benefit of stirring the soil is, the destruction of weeds; for no crop can become remunerative, if crowded by weeds which deprive it of air, light, moisture, and even a part of the fertility of the soil. A war of extermination should be waged against weeds, although at times they become a necessary evil to the farmer who only cultivates the soil between the rows. Breaking the lumps gives free scope to the finer roots to secure all the available nutriment within the extent of their ramifications, as these finer roots are not capable of penetrating large clods, and thus may be debarred from reaching a large part of the food contained in the soil. Thorough and frequent culture of the soil admits air to the rootlets of the growing plant; it increases the capillary attraction of the soil, by which its humidity is rendered more uni- form; by presenting a larger number of points of radia- MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 15 tion, the deposit of dew, so beneficial in dry weather, is augmented; the temperature of the soil is increased by the freer admission of warm rain and air, and by the chemical processes thereby facilitated; and finally the fertility of the soil is augmented through the ammonia, nitric acid, etc., which are introduced with the air. The plow, horse-hoe, and cultivator are to be used, whenever available; but the hand-hoe must always be relied on for the finer and more careful work, when, particularly in the later stages of the crop, only superficial stirring is advisable. When plants are grown in a crowded state, darkness and want of air elongate the stems and leaves, at the expense of the roots and of a general healthy con- dition. The operations of thinning and hand-weeding are performed in connection with hoeing, to admit a free circulation of air around the remaining plants, and the sun is permitted to have an immediate influence upon each, developing the desired form, bulk, and other qualities. CHAPTER III. MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. Almost any soil may be so altered in its character by judicious and plentiful manuring, as to be made fertile enough to produce good and remunerative crops. Manure is the most indispensable factor for success in market- gardening, and must be applied in much larger quantities than in any other branch of agriculture. The gardener should never be restricted by a short supply to an inad- equate application of manure, as the superior quality and quantity of his crops will generally justify an apparently lavish use. Knowledge of his soil, the peculiar requisites 16 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. of his crops, a judicious rotation, and his general ex- perience will teach him, where and when he may econ- omize with profit. He must not, however, gorge his land with manure, without rest or rotation, but seek to make it just rich enough to produce the most profitable crops. Should too much manure be applied, which, however, is rarely the case in vegetable culture, there will be loss of the most costly manurial ingredient nitrogen. Location, or want of facilities and means, frequently confines the gardener to forced limits. Those who are neither conveniently located for the purchase of stable manure, nor own sufficient stock to secure from their droppings a sufficiency of barn-yard manure, must have recourse to manurial agents to be named hereafter. Astonishing results are frequently seen in gardens near large cities, from the readiness such localities offer for procuring the best manures. Agriculture being the foundation of the prosperity of every people, and successful agriculture being impossible in the present condition of the earth's surface without fertilizers, it has properly been said, that "manure, even more than money ; forms an integral part of a nation's wealth." When civilized nations properly appreciate the value of all manurial substances (as they will when their territory becomes as densely populated as China), none of these, as at present, will be allowed to go to waste, and the productiveness of the earth, and with it the wealth of nations, will be enormously increased. Prog- ress in this direction is being made. Scientific men have pointed out the sanitary and economical necessity of deal- ing properly with excrementitious manurial substances. If, during the past century, the night-soil of many of our cities had been incorporated in the surface soil of the surrounding country, instead of being buried under the houses of their citizens, what would be the fertility MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 17 of the soil, and what the probable benefit to the sanitary condition of the cities? Manures are either organic or inorganic, according as they may owe their composition to the animate or in- animate world, or are derived from vegetable and animal matters of all kinds, or from minerals. Every kind of matter which, when added to the soil, promotes the growth of a plant, whether by being itself directly taken up by its roots, or by chemically altering any heretofore existing constituent of the soil, so that it may be made available, or by physically altering its tex- ture, may be considered a manure or fertilizer. Every plant consists principally of the gaseous elements, ni- trogen, oxygen, and hydrogen, and of carbon in vary- ing proportions, and smaller quantities of alkalies, earths, silica, sulphur, and phosphorus. Chemical analysis has enabled us to learn the exact proportions of the constit- uents of plants, as well as the composition of soils. If chemical forces were the only forces of nature concerned in the growth of plants, then by supplying the soil with exactly the constituents in definite quantities, which chemical analysis has shown it to lack for the full matu- rity of any given agricultural crop, rules and formulas could be devised, so as to insure regularly the maximum yields of all crops. But the changes, not yet fully un- derstood, constantly going on within the soil and upon its surface in contact with the atmosphere; the mutual chemical reactions of the various soils and fertilizing ma- terials, and the vital actions of plants, with their influence upon the soil in which they grow, perhaps even upon the surrounding air, still more inexplicable and wonder- ful, together with the contingencies of weather, render it impossible to formufete any such rules. Exclusive of the crushing effects of glaciers and other agencies, under the gradual influence of water and the atmosphere, the surface of the rocks have become sufficiently pulverized 18 TRUCK-FARMIHG AT THE SOUTH. and comminuted to support lichens and other of the lowest forms of vegetation, which, by their decay in- creased the film of soil. These were followed by plants of a higher organization, successive generations pre- paring for those which followed them. Thus organic constituents accumulated, until, in time, every arable soil contained in varying proportions every element of plant food. The variations are such, however, that a soil in its natural or original condition may be more or less deficient in one or other constituent, and therefore be better adapted for one crop than another. Finding from experience or analysis, which of the principal con- stituents is absent in a soil, we may supply it by the ap- plication of a special fertilizer for the production of a particular crop. Humus, or vegetable matter undergoing decay, which gives the dark color to fertile soils, disintegrates miner- al substances, supplies large quantities of carbonic acid, ammonia, and nitrates, and is indispensable to fertility; and yet the direct absorption of humic matters into plants is by no means so well established, as not to be a mooted question between the best chemical authorities and vegetable physiologists. Ammonia and nitric acid have been shown to be pres- ent in the air; but it is generally held that the soil must absorb these, or they must be conveyed to it in rain water, before they can be generally appropriated by plants. Yet Peters and Sachs proved, experimentally, that a bean plant grew and flourished by direct absorption of am- monia through its foliage alone; but they failed with every plant but the bean, which, like our cow pea, is a leguminous plant. Chemical analysis shows that the le- guminosae are richer in nitrogenous matter than any other family of plants, and yet we know that our cow pea will grow on the poorest soil, deriving its nourishment in part from the atmosphere. Ozone, or active oxygen, is MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 19 emitted by plants, and the more abundant the foliage, the greater the quantity. By the action of this ozone, the nitrogen of the air may be converted into nitric acid. Perhaps the cow pea, the clover, etc., are more active in this respect than any other plants. These preliminary observations bring me to the first and most simple and cheapest manner of conveying fer- tility to the soil. GREEN MANURING. As soon as life is extinct, all organic substances begin to decay, and the richer these substances are in albuminoids, or such as contain nitrogen, the better are they adapted for fertilizing, and the more rapid will be the process of de- cay. Under like circumstances, albuminoids of animal origin will decompose more rapidly than those of vege- table origin. All green succulent plants containing saccharine and mucilaginous matters and woody fibre, fer- ment readily, hence the advantage of plowing in green crops, whether of natural growth, or sown for the pur- pose. No plant is better adapted to be used at the South for restoring fertility by green manuring than our cow pea. The analyses here given show it to be rich in albuminoids; it makes in our climate a heavier growth than clover in any part of the world, and grows on soil much too poor for a fair crop of the latter, answering thus both the demands of quality and quantity. When plants are in flower, they contain the largest quantity of soluble matter; it is, therefore, when plowed under at this season, under ordinary circumstances, that they will afford the greatest amount of soluble nutritive matter. In heavy, impervious soils, especially, they should not be turned under too deeply, or else the absence of air will retard decomposition. No applications of commercial fertilizers will continuously prove beneficial without the presence, in the soil, of decaying vegetable matter, or hu- TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. mus, and green manuring is the most efficacious and cheapest manner of supplying the land with large quan- tities of this necessary ingredient. It should be practised by gardeners, irrespective of the supply of stable manure they may be able to command. But for those located at a distance from cities, and there- fore not able to secure a sufficiency of barn-yard manure, green manuring becomes an absolute necessity. It has been estimated that after the removal of a crop of clover and other plants, there remained in the soil, as shown in the following tables, a large amount of roots: TABLE SHOEING THE QUANTITY OF ROOTS LEFT IN THE GROUND AFTER HARVESTING THE CROPS ALSO THE AMOUNT OF NITROGES AND ASH. No.oflbs. stub- ble and roots (dry) per acre to a depth of lOfc inches. No. of Ibs. of Nitrogenper acre. *?& J3 3 ** pl Lucerne . ... 9,678.1 136.4 1,201 6 Red clover . ... 8,921.6 191.6 1,9199 Rve 5,364.6 65.3 1,747 8 Swedish clover 5,0043 102.3 9746 Oats 3,331.9 26.6 1,4447 Lupine 3,520.9 622 550 Wheat 3476 235 1 0898 English peas 3,222 5 556 6707 Serradella 3,120.1 648 5456 Barley 1,991.4 22.8 391.1 ANALYSIS OF THE ASH OF THE ROOTS IN THE FOREGOING TABLE. 1 Magnesia. Potash. i r Phosphoric Acid. 197 7 24 2 36 7 26 4 18 7 38 5 Red clover 262 9 48 4 58 3 20 26 1 74 8 Rye 73.2 14.3 31.2 43.3 11.8 24 4 Swedish clover Oats 136.1 85.5 17.6 11.2 25.9 24.8 5.7 18 13.2 8.8 24.2 29 80.5 11.2 16.5 3.5 7 13.8 Wheat 76.7 10.1 28.4 11 7.4 11.8 English peas 71 7 11 11 2 7 9 4 14 3 Serradella 79.8 13.4 8.8 4.8 9 18.4 Barley 42.2 5.5 9.5 3.5 5.5 11.3 MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 21 It will be seen by these two tables that the leguminous plants are especially rich in the three most important items: nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid. These roots bring up from the subsoil plant food, and in decaying, tend to deepen the soil along their course. A crop of cow peas would probably have nearly as great a weight of roots as clover; and in the neighborhood of twenty tons of tops. The latter alone would contain one hundred and sixteen pounds of nitrogen, principally obtained from the atmosphere; or as much as is contained in twelve and nine-tenths tons of barn-yard manure, and directly applied to the soil. Seven pecks to two bushels of peas would cost from two dollars to three dollars, and the barn -yard manure, if at all attainable, nineteen dollars and thirty-five cents, applied to the land at one dollar and fifty cents per ton. ANALYSIS OF GREEN COW PEA VINES. This and the following two analyses were made by Prof. A. E. Le Doux, chemist to the State Board of Agriculture, of North Carolina. Water 73.87 per cent. Ash 2.00 Albuminoids.... 1.85 Cellulose 15.27 Fat 0.21 Carbohydrates.. 7.86 containing ammonia, 0.35 ; nitrogen, 0.38 ANALYSIS OF THE ASH OF COW PEA VINES. Ash 2.00 per cent. Potash 14.80 Soda 23.29 Magnesia 6.74 Lime 23.57 Phosphoric acid 9.28 Sulphuric acid 2.35 Silica 1.08 Chlorine 0.19 Oxide of iron a trace Carbonic acid 19.70 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. containing ammonia, 7.12 Ibs. By reducing the analyses to weights and measures it is found that ONE TON OF FRESH COW PEA VINES CONTAIN Water 1456.30 Ibs. Potash 5.93 Soda 9.33 Magnesia 3.70 Lime 9.03 Phosphoric acid 3.73 Sulphuric acid 0.94 Silica 0.43 Chlorine 0.08 Carbonic acid 7.88 Albuminoids 37.00 Cellulose 305.40 Fat 4.30 Carbohydrates 156.30 3000.00 Ibs. Boussingault found that snow, which had lain for thirty-six hours on the soil of a garden, contained ten times as much ammonia as the snow of the same fall from a contiguous stone terrace immediately after falling, the mulch of snow having interrupted the ammoniacal emanations from the soil. The ammonia of the soil is constantly undergoing change, and fluctuating in quantity. This most important article of plant food, and most ex- pensive, when applied artificially, is most abundantly ab- sorbed by the soil in summer from the atmosphere, and being conveyed to it by rains and dews, and continually being taken up by vegetation, it is volatilized, evaporated with water, washed away and lost. Later and more exact chemical experiments have shown that the soil contains less ready-formed ammonia than was formerly held to be the Case. Ammonia in dry soil. Very light sandy soil from birch forest 0.00077 per cent. Rich lime soil from beech forest 0.00087 Sandy loam, forest soil 0.00013 Forest soil 0.00080 Meadow soil, red sandy loam 0.00027 Average 0.00056 It should be remembered that ammonia is only half as heavy as air. MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 23 Rich alluvial soils with decaying vegetable matter con- tain ten times as much, and fertilized field soils still more. Ammonia is only found in the surface soil, and generally at a depth of six feet there is no trace of it. Sir J. B. Lawes found that in one year the drain water took nitrogen from a field bare of vegetation at the rate of forty pounds per acre; from a field of wheat, which after the harvest contained no weeds, twenty-five pounds, and from a field upon which grass seed had been sown with the wheat, and continued to grow on the stub- ble field, only five pounds. POUNDS OF NITROGEN WASHED AWAY PER ACRE. From soil without vegetation 40 pounds. From soil with wheat, 15 pounds retained by crop. .. 25 " From soil and grasses, 15 pounds retained by wheat. 25 pounds retained by grasses 5 He found that the drain water was much richer in am- monia than the rain water which fell upon the field. * He also found another fact of importance to our subject of green-manuring, that the drain water carried away more ammonia in the fall than in any other part of the year. It is therefore exactly at this season that the soil of the truck-farmer should be covered by a dense growth of vines. It has been shown that even a perfectly inert body, like a board, lying upon the surface will improve the fertility of the soil, by preventing evaporation. Now the mulch of pea vines acts like the covering of snow. It shades the soil from the rays of the sun, by which the volatile elements of fertility are exhausted with the vaporized water; it keeps the soil moist, mellow, and of even temperature; and as a secondary matter prevents the growth of troublesome weeds. The friable, unbaked condition of the surface, as has been before stated, is an element of fertility, by facilitating the absorption of fer- tilizing gases from the atmosphere. Under this dense covering, so retentive of moisture, the carbonic acid dis- integrates particles of the soil and prepares it for plant 24 TRUCK-FAKMItfG AT THE SOUTH. food; while in the darkness and under the shelter from winds, nitrates are formed and absorbed. It will be seen that the increase of fertility is greater than could be ex- pected from all the manurial agents in the pea vines. Clay soils, being more retentive of moisture and pos- sessed of greater power of absorption, are less benefited by the mulch than those of a sandy character. Like the questions of deep and shallow plowing and deep and surface manuring, that of plowing under the green vines, or allowing them to dry and partly rot upon the surface, will depend upon circumstances. They will contain and convey to the soil in the green state a greater quantity of fertilizing material and will decompose more rapidly. If intended to benefit a crop to be put in soon after they have reached a proper stage of growth, they must, of course, be plowed under green. Four weeks should elapse between turning under the vines and sow- ing or planting the crop, in order to allow a sufficient time for the most active decomposition to have passed, lest the heat evolved by the great mass of decaying green vegetable matter might be detrimental. For a spring crop, however, the vines should be left to die, and mulch the soil throughout the winter, unless indeed a second green crop, as of rye, is contemplated; because a bare fallow would be wasteful of the fertility supplied by the pea vines. It is an error that the bare soil deteriorates dur- ing summer only, for it is a common experience that a field of light soil, left bare after a late crop of sweet potatoes, shows a want of fertility the ensuing spring. Two crops of pea vines may be grown in a season; but after an interval of three or four weeks. To turn under a heavy growth properly, it must first be pressed down by a field roller or by dragging over it a heavy harrow with the teeth turned up; and it requires a good two-horse plow with a large sharp revolving coulter attached. To draw the vines into the furrows, a heavy chain with suf- MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 25 ficient slack should be attached to the whiffletree and plow-beam. Capt. J. W. Me Alpine has devised an iron hook "horn," which is attached to the plow-beam, as in figure 1. IRON HOOK OB "HORN" ATTACHED TO PLOW. 1. It works just in advance of the plow point; and on the surface its curvature corresponds to that of the mould- board, and draws the vines into the furrow. The same person has also invented a roller, which has a set of five projecting knives, with which to cut the vines when the growth is very luxuriant. By driving twice over the field at right angles the vines are cut in ten-inch lengths, and can be turned under effectively. The roller is fixed to shafts or a tongue, and as it is too light, a weighted . 2. ROLLER FOR CUTTING COW PEA VINES. box is attached above the axle. The roller, figure 2, is fourteen inches in diameter, the knives five inches wide and ten inches apart. As neither of these inventions is patented, any one can- use them. STABLE MANURE. Stable manure is a complete fertilizer, and is of all the most to be relied upon by the market-gardener, as it 2 26 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. contains all the elements of fertility in available con- dition. No other is so well adapted to alter the physical condition of heavy soils, nor, when well rotted, better suits those of a sandy nature; nor is any other more apt to render the constituents of the soil available as plant food. Gardeners in the vicinity of cities may procure a sufficient supply and require no other manure, unless for a special purpose they desire to supplement it with a commercial fertilizer more rich in nitrogenous matter, such as Peruvian guano, fish scrap, etc. Those who are not so fortunately situated must utilize their smaller stock, by letting it form the basis of compost heaps to bring about and sustain the fermentation so necessary to break down the crude vegetable materials of which such heaps partly consist. Manures, to be promptly effica- cious, should be in a state of at least partial decompo- sition, so that the elements of which they consist may be in a fit state to form new combinations, or act at once as plant food. To bring about this condition without waste of material and expense of time and labor, is one of the problems of the horticulturist. Once placed within reach of the absorptive power of the soil, there is no fur- ther loss by evaporation. If the manure pile could be merely kept sufficiently moist by rains, to prevent a too rapid fermentation, it might be advisable not to keep it under cover; but the rains in our climate are too often heavy enough to leach out valuable soluble parts of the largest heaps. The difference in the composition of cov- ered and uncovered barn-yard manure is here shown. Sarn-ryard manure. Nitrogen equal to ammonia, per cent. . . . Organic matter soluble in water Covered. 2.37 6.43 Uncovered. 1.7 1.82 Phosphoric acid 0.30 026 Alkalies 2.00 0.80 Exposed to the weather, piled, turned and handled, without proper judgment and close attention, there is MASTU11ES, THEIR KIKDS AND USES. danger of loss, besides the expense of time and labor. The general agriculturist, particularly on heavy soils, whose crops are of slower growth, may apply manure green or fresh from the stables, when its effects are often so permanent as to be perceptible for many years ; but the market-gardener's aim is to produce early crops of veg- etables, and his manures must be in a readily available condition. He wants no permanent manures. Perma- nence and insolubility are, in this case, synonymous. Luxuriant growth is an indication of the solubility of his fertilizers. He wants his manure pile to undergo such an amount of slow fermentation, as to break down the coarse fibrous vegetable matter it contains, so as to admit its being readily cut with a spade, and thus also to reduce its bulk. COMPOSITION OF FRESH AND DECOMPOSED STABLE MANUKE. Stable Manure do. moderately rotted., do. thoroughly rotted.. Or M INGREDIENTS OF ASH. 71024644.14.55.21.55.71.42.11.212.51.5 75019258.05.06.31.97.01.82.61.616.81.9 79014565.05.85.01.3l8.81.8!3.01.3ll7.0l.6 or lu If piled so loosely as to admit air freely and be suffi- ciently moist, it will undergo fermentation so rapidly as to heat or firefang, and large quantities of the valuable, volatile carbonate of ammonia will evaporate, and the manure be rendered comparatively valueless. To avoid this too rapid fermentation, the pile may be broken down and turned whenever it begins to heat, until the process ceases to be too active. The escape of ammonia may be checked by mixing land plaster (sulphate of lime) with each load, so as to fix the ammonia as a sul- phate (which is not volatile). The gardener near the 28 TEUCK-FARMIKG AT THE SOUTH. city, whose large pile daily receives considerable acces- sions, may resort to packing it so tightly as to limit the access of air, and consequently the rapidity of fermenta- tion, until near planting time, or, if possible and bet- ter still, he may keep it too moist for rapid decay by adding night-soil from the city, which will at the same time improve its quality. Gardeners near cities who accumulate a large stock of stable manure, do not generally place it under shelter, notwithstanding the accruing loss, but deposit it in suitable quantities for each field in a single pile, upon the headland convenient for use, and compact it by mere- ly driving across the pile at each delivery. Never more than four hundred wagon loads are deposited in a pile. If, when finished, the heaps were covered completely with soil to the thickness of two or three inches, the escaping ammonia would be absorbed and fermentation retarded. It must be borne in mind, that even in winter we must limit the process of fermentation, and not encourage it, as is sometimes necessary in the Northern States; and we must also -avoid leaching. The fermentation of stable manure may be retarded by the admixture of substances not liable to rapid fer- mentation. The gardener in the country may resort to composting it with muck, woods-earth, or even good garden soil, dry and pulverized salt-mud, or the same material in the shape of a soft mush in order to avoid getting it in.the form of large lumps into his manure, and may also use green marsh-grass (Spartina stricta), if he be located on "the salts." Vegetable refuse of every kind, with leaves from the woods, slops from, the kitchen and wash-house, with the dung of those domestic animals which does not readily heat, as that of neat cattle and swine, in short, everything available that will supply plant food may be added to the heap. The dung of all kinds of poultry, the urine and night-soil of the farm, MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 29 scraps of leather and woolen cloth and waste feathers will heat; but they also should go into the compost -heap. In the application of manure, the kind of crop, previ- ous fertility of the soil and the quality of the manure will govern the quantity. The amount and manurial value of the excrement void- ed by an animal depends upon the quality of its feed. The manurial value of hulled cotton-seed meal is more than twelve times that of wheat-straw, three times that of clover-hay, twice that of wheat-bran, ten times that of mangel wurzel, and thirty times that of common turnips. Of all vegetable substances used as cattle feed, hulled cotton-seed meal is the richest in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, the most essential requisites in the growth of plants, and these will appear again most abun- dantly in the dung. The money value of the manure from different articles of food according to calculations of Sir J. B. Lawes, based upon the value of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in leading commercial fertil- izers, are: VALUE OF A TON OF MANUKE FROM DIFFKRENT KltfDS OF FOOD. Per ton. Cotton-seed meal $27.86 Linseed cake 19.72 Beans 15.73 Wheat-bran 14.59 Clover-bay 9.64 Indian meal 6.63 Oat-straw 2.90 Turnips 0.80 Block estimated that a horse fed on one hundred pounds of hay will void one hundred and seventy-two pounds of fresh dung; one hundred pounds of oats gave two hun- dred and four pounds; and one hundred pounds of grass gave forty-three pounds of dung. A horse furnishes, if well fed, about twelve thousand pounds of solid dung and three thousand pounds of urine annually. The ma- nure from the street-car stables in New York was found 30 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. by Johnson to contain 0.53 per cent, of nitrogen. Reckoning two-thirds of the solid and fluid droppings saved, we have ten thousand pounds, or five tons of manure to each horse, containing fifty-three pounds of nitrogen. In his method of applying his manure the sensible gardener will be governed by the nature of his soil and manure, and by the kind of crop he wishes to grow. Half an inch of rain, although amounting to fourteen thousand gallons, or fifty-six tons to the acre, would not penetrate deeply into a heavy soil, hence in such a soil long, partly unfermented dung would not, if buried deeply, find sufficient moisture and air to support fermen- tation and dissolve out the manure for the benefit of the crop. A sandy soil favors decomposition, being more permeable to air and moisture, and as roots penetrate more deeply in a light soil, unfermented dung might be placed five or six inches deep in such a soil. Upon a dry, hot, light soil, manure of that description would be too heating if near the surface. At the rate of eight tons of manure to the acre, half an inch of rain would furnish nearly a gallon to every pound, and in the case of well-rotted or soluble manure, placed near the surface of either heavy or sandy land, would convey the ingredients of plant food in a dissolved state to the roots of plants. On either heavy or sandy soil, therefore, well-rotted ma- nure should be intimately mixed with the soil to the depth of three or four inches, when applied broadcast, and the nearer the surface, the finer should the soil be pulverized to increase its absorptive power. Unless un- fermented long manure is buried in a light soil, it had better be not incorporated, but applied upon the soil as a mulch. Such manure commingled with a heavy soil would benefit it physically by rendering it more open for admission of air, and the heat evolved would accelerate growth. The observations above apply to land well- MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 31 drained, especially under-drained. If badly drained and presenting a slope in any direction, the washing surface- water would carry off a large part of the soluble manure from the surface. Manure for close crops, whenever a large supply per- mits, should be applied broadcast, by preference; but generally economy and the desire for a vigorous start will demand its application in the drill. Only in the case of plants standing far apart, as melons, is manuring in the hill practicable, unless only a part of the manure is so applied. The great majority of the roots would soon extend beyond its limits, and the plant would suffer in the later stages of growth. BARN-YARD MANURE. This consists of the mixed droppings of such animals as are allowed to run in an open lot, the surface of which is strewn with more or less of absorbents. It may be re- garded as a combination of the solid and fluid excrements of the different animals, and is of variable quality, owing to waste by leaching rains. If horses and mules alone are enclosed, its value would be that of an inferior stable manure. Notwithstanding its variable value, it is often used as a standard. COW MANURE. Although the fresh, solid excrement of the horse is richer in ammonia than that of neat cattle, the latter, on the other hand, is not subject to loss by heating. It contains more urea (supplying nitrogen) in the urine, and there is a greater quantity both of solid and liquid excre- ment voided; hence the manure of a cow must be con- sidered more valuable than that of a horse, particularly when the former has had nutritious food. 32 TRUCK-FARMISTG AT THE SOUTH. A cow, fed upon twenty-four pounds of hay and twelve and a half pounds of Irish potatoes, voided daily about one bushel of solid excrement, containing two and a half pounds of salts of ammonia, potash, soda and lime. The annual product of a cow is thirty-one thousand and twenty-five pounds of dung, of which four thousand eight hundred pounds is organic matter, containing: 189 Ibs. ammonia, 71 Ibs. phosphate of lime, 37 Ibs. sulphate of lime, 77 Ibs. carbonate of lime, 24 Ibs. common salt, 15 Ibs. sulphate potash. The yard manure of a full-groAvn ox is considered equal to that of a horse and a half, or ten to fifteen sheep. One cord fresh cow dung weighs 9,298 Ibs. One cubic foot of old, well-rotted ox manure weighs. .. 58 " " " " " fresh " " " ... 48 " " " " " well-rotted stable manure " ... 39 " < fresh " " ... 30 "* The amount of urine voided annually by a cow is from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand gallons. In every hundred pounds : Of cattle urine are 4.00 Ibs. of urea. " horse urine 0.70 " " " " human urine 2 36 " " " " sheep urine 2-80 " " " " hog urine 5.64 " " "f The composition of urea is, according to Dr. Prout, carbon, 19.99; oxygen, 26.66; hydrogen, 6.66; nitrogen, 46. 66. The nitrogen is equal to 56. 66 parts of ammonia. Owing to the non-heating character of cow manure, it is well adapted to sandy land; and in consequence of the smaller quantity of vegetable matter to undergo fermen- tation, it has not the physically beneficial effects upon heavy lands. The value of cow-penning land and its permanent effects (sometimes noticeable for twenty or * Dana's Muck Manual, t Dana's Muck Manual. MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 33 more years) is probably owing to the fact that none of the nrine is lost. On light sandy land it is serviceable through the treading and compacting of the soil. The absence of cut-worms on land recently cow-penned is probably attributable to the mulch of dung and the con- sequent absence of vegetation in the late summer, and not to the urine, as is generally supposed. When a gardener owns a number of neat cattle, and is located conveniently on the salt marshes, he can collect a quantity of good manure, particularly well-suited to his sandy land, by penning his stock upon alternate layers of salt-mud and green marsh-grass. ANALYSES OF MARSH-GRASS, OAT-STRAW AND MEADOW HAT. COMPARA- TIVE MONEY VALUE ; HAY BEING ONE DOLLAR FOR THE SAME WEIGHT : Salt marsh grass Oat straw ORGANIC SUBSTANCE. "i Carbo- hydrates. tt 1 Ratio of di- gestible Al- buminoids to Carbo- hydrates. III * E ! Total. ~73~r 81.7 79.5 2 .S>3 cr ~39.7 39.9 47.4 2.2 1.3 5.4 36.7 37.4 41.1 0.8' 0.6 0.9 1:176 1:299 1:79 $0.68 0.62 1.00 Meadow hay Barn-yard manure taken as a standard of .comparison, the weights opposite the manures below show the num- ber of pounds which would be equal in effect to one hun- dred pounds of the former: Barn-yard manure 100 Solid excrements of the cow 125 Solid Liquid Liquid Mixed Mixed Mixed Mixed horse 73 cow 91 horse. . . .16 cow, horse 54 sheep 36 hog 64 MANURE OF SWINE. The urine of man and that of the hog contain phos- phates, of which that of the ox and horse is destitute. 34 TKUCK-F ARMING AT THE SOUTH. The pig voids a larger quantity of urine than any other domestic animal The manure from fattening swine is very valuable, but it contains a peculiar volatile sub- stance which gives to roots and bulbs to which it is ap- plied a disagreeable taste. Hog-pens should be liberally supplied with absorbents. SHEEP MANURE contains less vegetable fibre than that of cattle, and may be classed with hog manure; but the nitrogenous matter being more abundant, it is a heating manure when piled and moistened. If penned, one sheep can ma- nure ten and a half feet square in a night. It is too rich in ammonia to be allowed to come in direct contact with seeds or the roots of plants, and should be composted or mixed with the soil. POULTRY MANURE. The dung of all domestic fowls and birds generally has marked manurial properties on account of the large amounts of ammonia and phosphate it contains. Like sheep manure, Peruvian guano and all other fertilizers rich in ammonia, it should not, in its fresh, undiluted state, be permitted to come in immediate contact with the roots of plants, nor with the seed. The floors of the poultry-houses should be strown with finely powdered muck or woods-earth and land plaster, to fix the ammonia and to purify the atmosphere. Subsequently the manure should be composted before being applied to the field. PERUVIAN GUANO. The Peruvian, the other South American and the Afri- can guanos being the accumulated dung of sea-birds which MANUKES, THEIK KIKDS AKD USES. 35 subsisted upon fish, contain considerable quantities of phosphate of lime from the bones, and ammonia from the flesh of the fish. According to the quantity of rain in the climate whence they are obtained, the amount of ammonia will vary. Their value depends principally upon the quantity of ammonia, which already exists, or may be formed by their further decomposition. Next to ammonia, the soluble phosphoric acid is the most valuable constituent, and after this potash is next in importance. Guano from the Chincha Islands contained from fifteen to twenty per cent, of ammonia; but notwithstanding the exhaustion of the entire supply, and that the guanos from other sources, as the Guanape, are poorer in am- monia, and contain more of the less valuable constituents, Peruvian guano retails at the former price. Proprietors of city stables make no provision to save the most valuable portion of the droppings of their stock the urine and gardeners near cities supplement their stable manure with strong, soluble commercial ammoniacal fertil- izers, by which, in a measure, they do away with the neces- sity of completely fermenting it. Their reliance is not mainly upon the fertilizer, and if they are sure of the am- monia, it is all they desire; but it is otherwise with those who have to depend chiefly upon the commercial article. Gardeners need not be chemists, but they need to profit by the experiments and scientific teachings of the chem- ist, or be swindled by the dishonest manipulator of the article upon which their success depends. The gardener who purchases an artificial fertilizer should know what element his land or crop requires. The law enacts that each package of a fertilizer shall be accompanied by a chemical analysis of its contents. The Agricultural De- partment of Georgia has published a tariff of values of the important ingredients in fertilizers, by means of which any one may calculate the approximate agricultural value per ton of any such fertilizer. (See Appendix.) These 36 TRUCK-FARMIKG AT THE SOUTH. values are not exact. The result of their use depends upon too many contingencies. These trade values are based upon the value of the ingredients in a fertilizer of assured merit. COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. Appreciating the great importance to Southern agricul- turists, that they should make no indiscriminate and wasteful use of commercial fertilizers, nor be swindled by the knavery of dishonest manipulators, I enumerate below the conclusions, as advice, of one better able to tender it than myself. Prof. Atwater, of the Connecticut Experimental Station, reaches the following conclusions with respect to the use of artificial fertilizers: First. Soils vary widely in their capacities for supply- ing crops with food, and consequently in their demand for fertilizers. Second. Some soils will give good returns for manur- ing; others, without previous amendment, by draining, irrigation, tillage, or use of lime, marl, etc., will not. Third. Farmers cannot afford to use commercial fertil- izers at random, and it is time they understood the reason why. Fourth. The right materials in the right places, bring large profits. Artificial fertilizers, rightly used, must prove among the most potent means for the restoration of our agriculture. Fifth. The only way to find what a soil wants, is to study it by careful observation and experiments. Sixth. Success in farming, as in other business, re- quires the use of brains. The controversy between the advocates of home-made manure and of artificial fertilizers may be reduced to the following rules: MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 37 First. No land will remain fertile for a long number of years, if continuously manured with a special fertil- izer alone, but will require a rotation of manures, as well as of crops. Second. Land, to respond properly to artificial fer- tilizers, must be well stored with vegetable matter. Third. After the gardener has accumulated as large a pile of home-made manure as possible, by raking and scrap- ing into his compost heap every article fit for plant-food within his reach, let him supplement it with all the artific- ial fertilizers of the best quality (for he cannot afford to pay freight on sand and water, and other adulterations) that it needs, and that he can use upon his crops with profit. COTTON SEED. The chemical analysis of cotton seed shows it to be the most concentrated and nutritious cattle-food known; and experience has corroborated the fact. It is considered injurious to swine. Cattle eliminate from it very little of the manurial elements, and their droppings, after the use of cotton seed as a food, as shown by Sir J. B. Lawes, form a manure of the best character. Their albu- minoids are not as ready to undergo fermentation, and therefore the ammonia is not so quickly available, as those of animal substances; it is therefore necessary that they shall have been fermented. If the truck-farmer be at the same time a cotton planter, or be located where he can conveniently procure cotton seed cheaply, he needs no other strong supplement to his manure pile. Should he desire to increase its efficacy for a special crop, an ad- dition of forty or fifty pounds of a good potash salt, or four hundred or five hundred pounds of an acid phos- phate per ton of the compost, would answer 7 the purpose, if the cotton seed was about equal in weight to the for- mer. It is too rich to feed alone, and should be consid- 38 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. erably mixed with poorer food, as straw, shucks, etc.; but if the vegetable-grower be a stock-owner, he should feed as much cotton seed, or cotton-seed meal, as pos- sible, and save the droppings of the cattle. The best method of preparing cotton seed is to compost it with stable-manure, and prevent a too rapid fermentation. No country is so fortunate as the South in possessing in its cotton seed, for a long number of years considered a mere waste product, the best cattle- food and one of the best fertilizers in the world. If correctly appreciated, only the oil, which has no manurial value, would be ex- ported. While the stores of guanos are being exhaust- ed, the quantity of cotton seed grows with the increasing cotton crops. FISH SCRAP FISH GUANO. Moss-bunkers, or Menhaden (Alosa menhaden) are caught along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Virginia, in immense numbers. The fish are boiled, and, after the extraction of the oil by compression, the more or less dried refuse, consisting of the flesh and bones, is sold under the above names as an exceedingly rich fertilizer. For the sandy coast lands, I have for years given it the preference over the best Peruvian guano, or any other commercial fertilizer. In a compost, it readily under- goes decomposition, changing rapidly into those com- pounds assimilable by plants. Placed alone in the soil, particularly in a dry season, it does not become suffi- ciently decomposed, to make the phosphoric acid of the bones available. This article is so useful in supplying the manufacturers and manipulators of artificial fertil- izers with the most valuable ingredients of many of their compounds, and is by them so well appreciated, that not- withstanding the enormous quantities produced by the fisheries, it has been difficult to procure it of late years. MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 39 Along the coast of Florida large quantities of fish offal may be made available. NIGHT-SOIL. Like other animal manures, night-soil varies in efficacy and composition in proportion to the richness of the food from whence it was derived. It is more nutritive than the dung of animals; but owing to the large quantity of water with which it is diluted, and its offensiveness, it is diffi- cult of transportation. In so far as nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash are concerned, human excrements compare with the average of excrements of horses, cows, sheep, and swine, as shown in the following table:* ONE TON (2,000 POUNDS). SOLIDS. TTKINE. 1 I 1 Nitrogen. 1 1 Human . . ... Ibs. 20.0 9.4 Ibs. 21.8 6.2 Ibs. Ibs. 5.012.0 4.322.5 Ibs. 3.7 0.4 Ibs. 4.0 25.4 Mean of horse, cow, sheep, and swine One ton of the fresh, solid excrement, contains more than twice as much nitrogen as a ton of fresh mixed animal dung; the urine of man contains nine times as much phosphoric acid as that of horses, etc., and proba- bly nearly all the nitrogen is in available condition. Lawes and Gilbert found that an adult male voided in the course of a year, fsscek, ninety-five pounds; urine, one thousand and forty-nine pounds, or one thousand one hundred and forty-four pounds of excrement in the pure state. * Harris's Talks on Manures. 40 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. ces, S3* Ibs.; 2i " 10 " 1.2 " 0.7 " 0.24 " urii c ic, 34* 11 12 12 10.8 1.93 2.01 is.; to c ,al, i i 58* 1 14* 22 12 2.63 2.25 Ibs. These contain: Dry substance faeces, Mineral matter Carbon Nitrogen Phosphoric acid Potash . . , One hundred pounds of the dry substance of the faeces contain five pounds of nitrogen and five and one- half pounds of phosphates. One hundred pounds of the dry matter of urine contains twenty-seven pounds of nitrogen, and ten and three-fourths pounds of phos- phates. City night-soil should be promptly incorporated with stable manure upon its arrival, and that of the farm should be mixed with dry, fine muck, woods-earth, or garden soil, by which the ammonia will be absorbed and its offensiveness avoided. This muck, or earth, when dried, may be repeatedly used for the same purpose. Should the quantity be deficient, a little plaster might be added. In the earth closets, the dry earth, before using, con- tained in five tons, sixteen and seven-tenths pounds of nitrogen; after being used Once 5 tons of dry Twice 5 Three times 5 Four times.. 5 Five times.. 5 Six times 5 earth contained 24.0 Ibs. nitrogen 36.3 44.6 54.0 61.4 71.6 Owing to its great solubility, night-soil is especially adapted to growing early vegetables. The commercial fertilizer, poudrette, is night-soil, which has been dried in pans, and mixed with charred earth, peat, charcoal, or ground peat and plaster. It is variable in quality in pro- portion to the care with which the escape of ammonia may have been prevented; the best, compared with cow- *Dr. Gilbert. MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 41 dung, in respect to the quantity of ammonia being rated as four to one. MUCK. When successive generations of plants have grown and, with the leaves from surrounding forest trees, have decayed on the same low, swampy soil, the vegetable mat- ter increases so rapidly that, with the exception of that supplied by the decaying mass, very little mineral mat- ter is mixed with it. The mud from the bottom of a pond, in or around which no plants grow, consists merely of the washings from the higher ground, and deposits from the water, and must be of inferior quality. It is evident that muck must be very variable in quality, ac- cording to its origin. The best, besides imparting valua- ble humus to the soil, contains four per cent., or even more, of nitrogen. In some instances, on the sea coast, a rich deposit may be subject to overflow at spring tides, which, receding, leave marine animals that will fur- ther enrich it. An application to plants of such muck alone, imparts the dark green color to the leaves so in- dicative of ammonia. It should be dug and be permitted to dry out several months before being used, or it may be mixed with lime at the rate of three or four bushels to the ton of muck. There is no better absorbent for the earth closet, the poultry house, the stable, the cow pen, or the manure pile than salt-marsh muck. It may be drilled in with any artificial fertilizer. Woods-earth, or leaf mould, is still better as decayed vegetable matter, and as a source of humus. SUPERPHOSPHATE OR ACID PHOSPHATE OF LIME. Phosphoric acid is, next to ammonia, or the nitrates, the most important element of plant food, and it is also, next to nitrogen, the earliest to become exhausted in soil. It exists in all plants, in most soils, combined with 42 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. vegetable matter, in all excrementitious matter, and in the tissues and bones of animals. Bones consist of phosphate of lime, or bone earth and gelatine. Phosphoric acid and lime unite in three different pro- portions. In common bone earth there are three equiv- alents of lime to one of phosphoric acid, and this salt of lime is called the tricalcic phosphate, or three-lime phos- phate. This is not soluble in pure rain water. Large bones, as is well known, remain for ages buried in the ground, and are only very slowly dissolved by the car- bonic acid in the water. The next is the reverted, or dicalcic, or two-lime phosphate, consisting of two equiv- alents of lime to one of phosphoric acid, which is also insoluble. The monocalcic, or one-lime phosphate, con- sists of one equivalent of lime and one of phosphoric acid, and is the acid-phosphate, or superphosphate of lime of the agriculturist, and is soluble in water. The manufacturer is enabled to present this valuable soluble fertilizer to agriculture by treating bones, or the South Carolina phosphates, the poor phosphatic guanos, the coprolites, or any other mineral tricalcic phosphate of lime, with sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol. This re- moves two equivalents of lime (as plaster or sulphate of lime), converting it into the one-lime, or superphosphate. The surest source of phosphoric acid is finely-powdered bone meal. One ton of this contains, in its gela- tine, as much nitogen as eight and one-half tons of fresh stable manure, and twenty-three per cent, of it is phosphoric acid. Bone meal is slowly soluble in the soil by the action of carbonic acid. For vegetable growing it should be decomposed in the manure pile, and supplied at the rate of five hundred pounds to the acre. The manufacturer mixes finely-powdered fish-scrap, nitrate of soda, or some other more or less nitrogenous substance with his superphosphate, and produces his "ammoniated superphosphate." This mere manipula- MANURES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 43 tion the gardener may undertake more cheaply at home, and with greater satisfaction. Phosphatic fertilizers are especially beneficial to root and bulb crops. More or less of the insoluble phosphates may be mixed with and sold in the superphosphate. These have little practical value to the general agriculturist, and none to the gardener. During the fermentation of the bone meal in the ma- nure pile, which is accelerated by the gelatine, soluble nitrogenous organic compounds and salts of ammonia are produced. These act quickly and powerfully as fer- tilizing agents, and render the phosphate more soluble. POTASH. No vegetable can grow without potash, for it is a con- stituent of every plant. Its presence has been proved to be necessary for the formation of starch in the leaves; and the experiments of Lawes and Gilbert have pointed out that it aids leguminous plants, like clover, in assimilat- ing nitrogen, which they contain so largely. It results in soils from the disintegration of minerals, and is less apt to be absent, particularly in heavy soils, than either nitrogen or phosphoric acid. Neither the land of the truck-farmer near a city, nor any other land, which has been, even only moderately, enriched with the dung of domestic animals and accom- panying vegetable matter, needs any special application of potash. If a crop, even of potatoes, fails on such soils, it will be owing either to a deficiency of the more important elements of plant food, or to other unfavorable contingen- cies, as of weather, tillage, drainage, etc,, rather than to a lack of potash. But on light lands frequently manured with exclusively nitrogenous manures, like fish scrap, Peruvian guano, etc. , and cropped with potatoes, or some 44 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. other vegetable exhaustive of potash, an application of a salt of potash either alone, or of a fertilizer largely con- taining it, becomes indispensable. All potash salts, be- ing exceedingly soluble, are liable to be leached out of sandy land. A crop of one hundred and fifty bushels of Irish potatoes will remove from the soil, in the tubers, 51.3 Ibs. of potash, 1.44 Ibs. of phosphoric acid, and 30. 6 Ibs. of nitrogen. Formerly the ashes of hard-woods was nearly the only, and limited source of potash; but recently the kainit mines in North Germany, near Stassfurt and Leo- poldshall, provide this element in enormous quantities. The lower grades contain a constituent, the chloride of magnesium, which is actually injurious to plant growth. Years ago, like J. H. H. Gregory of Marblehead, Mass., I had an experience which showed the detrimental effects of this salt in the ruin of a potato crop. Mr. Gregory mixed a compost of twenty-eight bbls. of hen manure, twenty-eight bbls. of dry, rich soil, twelve bbls. of fine ground bone with three bbls. of kainit. This was allowed to heat twice before it was applied, at the rate of two quarts to the hill, and according to his custom, cabbage seed was sown in the field, on each hill. The seed sprouted; but the little seedlings were killed as soon as the first rootlets reached the fertilizer. As large quantities of this kainit are being introduced into the South, statements by Prof. Atwater (American Agriculturist, Vol. XXXVI, No. 11) are here given as a warning against the improper or. indiscriminate use of the lower grades of these potash salts: "The mines at Stassfurt, Leopoldshall and Wes- teregeln are from six hundred to one thousand two hun- dred feet deep, and the area of deposit is calculated at six hundred square miles. The salts, as taken from the mines, contain only a small proportion of potassium com- pounds, the bulk consisting of materials which have com- paratively little agricultural value, and are sometimes positively injurious. They are, therefore, subjected to MANUKES, THEIR KINDS AND USES. 45 chemical treatment, by which the potash compounds are more or less completely purified. As prepared for mar- ket, the potash fertilizers contain potassium in the form of either chloride of potassium, or sulphate of potash, and, along with these, other compounds, as shown by the following figures from circulars of the German manu- facturers : COMPOSITION OF THE GEBMAN POTASH SALTS. BBANDS OF POTASH SALTS. POTASSIUM AND OTHER COM- POUNDS. LBS. IN 100 LBS. &4 is k ~lbs7 17-26 18-22 24 29-33 70 90-95 54-57 Chloride of Potassium. |jg Ibs. 10-12 16-20 16-18 17-22 1-2 5-10 3-6 34-38 o * Ibs. 14-17 2-4 2-4 3-5 1 Ibs. Ibs. 32-40 9-14 35-50 9-12 35-42 13 30-35 15-18 12-16 50-52 5-10 38 1-2 50-52 1-2 28-30 1. Crude kainit . . . Ibs. 80-S5 2. Crude sulphate of potash (dung salt) 3. Prepared kainit 4. Crude sulphate of potash magnesia.. . . 5. Five-fold concentrated salt (chloride). .. . *. Purified sulphate of potash 7. Purified sulphate of potash 8. Purified sulphate of potash magnesia.. . "All these brands contain other than potash compounds. Of these the sulphate of magnesia may be valuable, since it is useful as plant food, and further, aids in diffusing the potash through the soil and thus bringing it within reach of the roots of plants. The chloride of sodium, or common salt, though not needed for plant food, is useful in rendering other materials available, and hence is often quite valuable as a fertilizer. For certain crops, how- ever, like potatoes, sugar beets, and tobacco, it is apt to be detrimental; probably on account of the chlorine which it contains. The chloride of magnesium may be in- jurious. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, in the table, are low grade articles, furnishing only nine to eighteen per cent, of actual potash. The crude kainit, No. 1, is the ma- 46 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. terial as dug from the mines and ground. The prepared kainit, No. 3, is made by roasting the crude kainit. The ' dung salt ' No. 2, is a waste product, formed in the manufacture of the high grade articles. Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8, are high grade articles of two kinds, viz., the chlorides or ' muriates.' In No. 5, the potas- sium is combined with chlorine, as chloride of potas- sium, or ' muriate of potash,' and in the sulphates, Nos. 6, 7, 8, it is combined with sulphuric acid, as sulphate of potash. Little of No. 8 is manufactured. " It is becoming customary to characterize these salts by the percentages of sulphate or chloride of potassium they furnish. Thus an ' eighty per cent, sulphate ' is one that contains eighty Ibs. of sulphate of potash in one hundred Ibs. of the salt. An ' eighty per cent, muriate ' would contain eighty per cent, of chloride of potassium. MOST DESIRABLE GRADES FOR OUR USE. "It is clear that for this side of the Atlantic, the high grades must be the most economical as potash fertilizers. The sulphates are, on the whole, preferable; but the po- tassium in these is more costly than in the chlorides. The chlorides sometimes injure the burning quality of the tobacco leaf, decrease the amount of sugar in sugar beets, and of starch in potatoes, and make the latter less i mealy ' than is desirable. The sulphates, on the other hand, are always safe. For buckwheat, corn, wheat, oats, and other grains, for leguminous crops and grasses, and for wet soils, the chlorides are preferable because cheaper. Generally speaking, the most desirable grades will probably be : " For sulphates: the highest grades which contain from seventy-five to ninety per cent, or more, of sulphate of potash, corresponding to from forty to fifty per cent, of actual potash. LIBRARY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ' THEIR KINDS AND USES. 47 ' 'For chlorides: the ' muriate ' with eighty to eighty-five per cent, of chloride of potassium, corresponding to fifty to fifty-three per cent, of potash. "By the above table, the amount of actual potash in the low grade salts, varies from nine to eighteen per cent. Some of the salts sold in this country have yielded as low as seven to eight per cent. The disadvantage in purchas- ing these poorer articles is a double one. Not only do they furnish very little potash, the bulk being made up of other and inferior or injurious compounds; but the purchaser has to pay the cost of freight and handling of this extra material between the mines in Germany and his farm. " The method of applying potash salts is of great im- portance. Cases are common, I have known several myself, where crops were injured or destroyed." Professor Atwater proceeds to recommend that the salt be uniformly diffused through the soil, and not concen- trated in single spots, that it be applied in the fall for the next season's crop, so that the rains may have an oppor- tunity to distribute it through the soil; or that it be com- posted with muck, farm refuse, or earth. Doubtless the chloride of magnesium could thus be rendered harmless. In another volume of the "American Agriculturist," Prof. Atwater says: "Analyses of potash salts by Prof. Johnson, chemist of the Connecticut Board of Agricul- ture, and by Prof. Goessmann, State Inspector of Fer- tilizers in Massachusetts, agree entirely with Prof. Stor- er's, and ours, in showing that a large amount of the German potash salts imported into this country are of the poorer grades. This is a ' serious evil, which needs to be known and to be corrected.' As long as farmers will buy low-priced potash salts, and other fertilizers, because they are ' cheap,' and pay no regard to the actual quality, they must expect to get poor wares at dear rates, and have poor success in using them." 48 TBUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. Ashes are the product of combustion, and in their ef- fect are somewhat similar to that of decaying and mould- ing vegetable matter. "When the use of potash is indi- cated, and ashes of hard-wood can be obtained, they are a safer and much more satisfactory and effective fertilizer than the German potash salts; for they contain all the min- eral elements of plant food which the tree had derived from the soil. They are, of course, void of nitrogen; but tend to render nitrogen and other soil ingredients available. They also amend the physical condition of heavy soils, and are adapted to those of sandy character. Measures should be devised to save the ashes of cities as manure. A bushel of unleached ashes weighs about forty-eight pounds; a "struck" bushel of leached ashes, fifty- seven pounds, and one " heaped," about seventy-one pounds. A dressing of fifty bushels of unleached ashes to the acre, at forty-eight pounds to the bushel, would give two hundred pounds of potash; seven hundred and sixty-eight pounds of lime; one hundred and twenty pounds of magnesia; forty-eight pounds of phosphoric acid, and thirty-six pounds of sulphuric acid. Wood Ashes, 100 Ibs. contain on the average Potash, Ibs. Lime, Ibs. Magnesia, Ibs. Phosphoric Acid, Ibs. Sulphuric Acid. Ibs. Unleached 7 to 10 32 5 2 IVa Leached 1 to 2 25 3,/, 1 J A Vs QUICK-LIME. Ammonia is not produced in organic matter until pu- trefaction commences, when nitrogen and hydrogen com- bine in the proportions of one to three to form it. If quick-lime is added before the process begins, the lime unites with the nitric acid, and forms nitrate of lime, fixing or retaining the nitrogen; but when the lime is added to stable manure in fermentation, or to Peruvian guano, or to ground fish* scrap, or to any other substance containing ammonia, the ammonia escapes into the air, MANURES, THEIR KIKDS AXD USES. 49 and is lost. We may see this take place, if we heat de- caying vegetable matter with, lime, or witness it if we mix guano and quick-lime together in the palm of the hand, and smell the escaping ammoniacal gas. A good soil may, without any recent manuring, contain three thousand or more pounds of nitrogen per acre in the first six inches of depth, or as much as is contained in three hundred and thirty-three tons of fresh horse manure, and yet require a fresh application of soluble nitrogenous manure to bring a satisfactory crop to maturity. The rea- son is, that the above large amount of nitrogen is locked up in the soil, existing in unassimilable combinations, in short, is unavailable. Professor Johnson found only sixty-three pounds of available nitrogen in four thousand six hundred and fifty-two pounds of a soil per acre, at the depth of twelve inches. Every arable soil contains a sufficiency of lime for the direct needs, as plant food, of any crop; and while the cereals, or grain plants, contain less of lime, both in grain and straw, than any other crop, they especially re- quire nitrogenous manure, and to these the general agri- culturist applies it freely. Now, a simple dressing of lime has been known to double the yield of grain on a soil containing unavailable nitrogen. It would require too much space to mention the chem- ical changes lime undergoes from its condition as carbon- ate of lime in rock or shells, until, as caustic lime, it exerts its strange power, or to attempt an explanation of its extraordinary effects, not yet fully understood, upon the various constituents of the soil. Suffice it to say: First. It renders stores of wealth in the soil available to crops. Second. It neutralizes acids in the soil which might be injurious to vegetation. Third. It rapidly decomposes vegetable matter in the soil, and renders its elements fit for plant food. Fourth. It amends the physical texture both of heavy clays and 50 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. sandy land. Fifth. It aids and promotes the produc- tion of nitric acid, and forms the soluble nitrate of lime. Sixth. It hastens the maturity of crops. Seventh. It is supposed to form combinations in the soil which at- tract nitrogen from the atmosphere probably silicate of lime. Notwithstanding all these advantages the truck-farmer will rarely have recourse to lime. Near the city his large supply of manure will render its use unnecessary. Only in case of an emergency, an unexpected lack of manure, and on heavy land, would he be warranted in bringing out the latent power of his soil by a heavy application. Small quantities might be desirable occasionally. Its use must impoverish the soil to the extent of its decomposi- tion, and, if persisted in, the complete removal of organic matter and of ammonia; and the gardener who farms with less stable-dung, or near the coast, rarely gets a sufficiency of vegetable matter incorporated with his sandy soil. " Lime and lime without manure Will make both land and farmer poor." Neither lime nor ashes should ever be mixed with dung, Peruvian guano, poultry manure, or any other organic fertilizer upon the soil, unless there be present sufficient muck or earth to arrest and absorb the escaping am- monia. Lime is applied at the rate of from twenty-five to two hundred bushels per acre. One hundred bushels would add about one half of one per cent, to a soil six inches deep. COMMON SALT. Chlorine and soda are more or less the constituents of every plant. Salt (chloride of sodium) is a combination of chlorine and the metal sodium. Soda is a compound of oxygen and sodium. Common salt is the source of the MANURES, THEIE KINDS AND USES. 51 soda compounds. Every soil, and every animal and vegetable manure, contain this salt, and generally in sufficient quantity for the direct needs of most plants. Storms may blow the salt-spray of the ocean fifty miles inland. The coast lands, the Gulf and Atlantic shores, of Florida, must be abundantly supplied with it to meet the direct wants of a crop. Plants which naturally live upon the sea shore, like asparagus, generally abound in salt, while in others it may exist as a mere trace. In beets it forms nearly one-third of the ash; in potatoes seven, and in carrots six per cent. In all roots it is generally a prominent constituent. Plants will therefore respond differently to its applica- tion. While an asparagus bed will bear a heavy dressing, the same quantity would destroy most other cultivated plants as effectually as it does the weeds among the asparagus plants. It needs therefore to be used carefully, five or six bushels to the acre being enough, to be applied either broadcast, if fine, or in compost, if coarse. It in- creases the brightness and strength of the straw, and the yield of grain in the cereals. Its effects on fertile soil, already supplied with a sufficiency for the use of the crop, demonstrates the fact that it exerts an influence upon other fertilizing agents, decomposing them and rendering them available. The moisture it attracts from the at- mosphere through its hygroscopic power must also be a great benefit to sandy soil. GYPSUM LAND PLASTER. This, which is the sulphate of lime, can supply plants with sulphuric acid and lime; both of which, however, are generally found in soils in sufficient quan- tity for the needs of most crops. Where clover may be grown as a green manure or for feed, it is a useful fertil- izer; but otherwise the market-gardener will rarely use it, unless he incorporates it in his manure pile to fix the TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. ammonia as sulphate. Where the potato-rot prevailed, gypsum has been known to show worse results than any other application; probably owing to the moisture it at- tracted from the atmosphere. NITRATE OF SODA AND THE AMMONIA SALTS. These are the most concentrated nitrogenous fertiliz- ers, and in their pure state are to be sparingly and care- fully applied, so as not to come in direct contact either with seed or the roots of plants. To increase the strength of stable manure, particularly such as is defi- cient in liquid excrement, or of compost, there is nothing better tha,n these salts, to be added to the former just before its application. They may also be carefully sown broadcast at the rate of one-fourth to one-half a ton, in- timately mixed with fine muck, woods-earth, or soil, to insure an even distribution. The best to use will be such as supply the gardener with nitrogen at the cheapest rate. The following table presents the present market prices, their proportion of ammonia, and their calculated value, according to the now existing high valuation of ammonia in fertilizers twenty-five cents per pound: Nitro- gen. Equiva- lent to Am- monia. Calcula- ted Value Nitrate of soda 16.40 19.20 $96.00 13.75 16.6 83.00 17.70 21.50 107.50 25.50 31.00 155.00 21.20 25.75 128.60 It must be borne in mind, however, that these salts are not chemically pure, but contain about ten per cent, of impurities, which may or may not have any agricul- tural value. In nitrates of soda and potash, the nitrogen exists in the available form of nitric acid, but is more apt to be lost by leaching than the ammonia in the other salts. MANUKES, THEIE KINDS AND USES. 53 The carbonate has too high a value as a drug to allow it to be used by the gardener, except perhaps on a very small scale, and experimentally in the green-house. For such crops as are grown for their leaves, as cabbage and spinach, these salts are admirably adapted; but in the case of potatoes, large doses, as the physician would say, are contra-indicated. LIQUID MANURE. In China and Holland, liquid manuring for the most valuable crops is extensively practised. As the urine of all animals is much rfcher than the solid excrements (that of the horse containing thirty-one pounds of ni- trogen to the ton, whereas the solid excreta only contain nine pounds), it has a relatively higher agricultural value, and should be saved with care proportioned to its efficacy. The nitrogen being in a more available form, if applied to crops in the liquid state, it will be more valuable in consequence of its solubility. When plants have reached the stage of rapid and steady growth, ap- proaching maturity, their vital energy and the absorptive power of their roots will enable them to profit wonder- fully from an application of liquid manure, for which reason the cauliflower and the cabbage are treated to food in this form just before the former is expected to " curd," and the latter to head. When seedling plants have to be watered at the time of transplanting, a weak liquid manure would help them to start better than pure water. Urine is too "strong" to be allowed to come in direct contact with seed or with roots, and should first be al- lowed to ferment, and then be diluted with five or six parts of water. In its fresh state it contains no am- monia, this being formed from urea after putrefaction has commenced. Solid manure may be steeped in water until the latter 54 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. has assumed a dark clear color, when the liquor may be used, or Peruvian guano, at the rate of a quarter pound, or any of the ammonia salts, at the rate of two ounces dissolved in a gallon of water, may be substituted. Liquid manure should be applied just before a rain; at any rate, the soil should be moist, as there is then no danger of the liquid passing through the soil and be- yond the reach of the roots. One gallon of water is capable of absorbing one thousand one hundred and fifty gallons of gaseous ammonia. Owing to its inconvenience, truck-farmers rarely use liquid manure. CHAPTEE IV. THE ROTATION OF CROPS. It is as advantageous for the market-gardener as for the general agriculturist to grow his different crops in succession. Various theories have been proposed to ex- plain the phenomena attending the growth of certain crops on the same soil for a number of successive years. Chemical analysis shows that, while all plants are com- posed of nearly the same elements, they exist in each kind in varying proportions. It is supposed that a plant requiring for its full development more of one inorganic element than another, exhausted the soil of the former to a greater or less degree, and rendered that gradually unfit for its own continued growth, while a different plant, somewhat differently constituted, would still find in the soil all the elements it required for its maturity in sufficient quantity, and in an available condition. When it was ascertained that, if all the elements known to be taken f t om the soil by a certain crop, were returned to it in fertilizers, and even more of these than it had lost, the crop still continued to depreciate, the theory of exhaustion of the soil then failed to be a satisfactory solu- THE ROTATION OF CROPS. 55 tion. De Candolle and others then supposed that the necessity for a rotation of crops was attributable to the fact that plants, during growth, throw off excrementitious matters by their roots, which, they agreed, were injuri- ous to a following crop of their own kind, but not to others. Exceptional cases, as that of the onion, would have to be accounted for upon the hypothesis that that plant either did not excrete from the root, ox if it did, the matter eliminated was not detrimental to itself. Others supposed that the decaying fibrous roots might be injurious. Whether or not either of these theories alone correctly explains the phenomena of rotation, the practice of rotation remains the best possible method of keeping the soil clean, mellow, and in the best attainable condi- tion for the production of remunerative crops with the least cost of manure. It is doubtless true here, as in many other matters per- taining to agriculture, that circumstances may, to a cer- tain extent, modify a general rule. In the treatment of land of different kinds and textures the farmer should be an empiric as little as the physician. The fact that rotation may, for a limited number of years, be unneces- sary on deep alluvial soils, or on heavy clays, with, or without manure, may not suffice to upset a general prac- tice as old as agriculture itself. Joseph Harris in his " Talks on Manures," while dis- cussing the results of the interesting experiments of Lawes and Gilbert on the heavy clay soil of "Rotham- sted," and probably basing his observations too upon ex- perience with his own clays, says: " The old notion that there is any real chemical necessity for a rotation of crops is unfounded. Wheat can be grown after wheat, and barley after barley, and corn after corn, provided we use the necessary manures, and get the soil clean and in the right mechanical condition." In other parts of his val- uable book he says : "Alight sandy soil will not pre- 56 TBUCK-FARjttING AT THE SOUTH. serve manure like a clay soil." (p. 177.) "On light sandy soil, such an annual dressing of manure (fourteen tons barn-yard manure per acre) would, in the course of a few years, make the land too rich for wheat." (p. 176.) "On sandy land, the manure will decompose more rapidly, and act quicker than on clayey or loamy land." (p. 295.) "To what, then, is the power of soils to arrest ammonia, potash, magnesia, phosphoric acid, etc., owing? The above experiments lead to the conclusion that it is due to the clay which they contain. Pure sand was found not to possess it." (p. 218.) "A London clay contained about seven thousand pounds of ammonia per acre, equivalent to the quantity contained in seven hundred tons of barn-yard manure." (p. 221.) " Clay mixed with manure arrests, or checks decomposi- tion. Sand has no such effect. If anything, it favors a more active decomposition, and hence, manure acts much more rapidly on sandy land than on clay land." (p. 268. ) A table by Lawes and Gilbert, shows the produce of wheat per acre on the clay soil of Kothamsted for twenty consecutive years without any manure: SEASON. Year. Bushel 1 !. Pecks. First 1843 15 Second 1844 23 Qi Third 1845 17 3| Fourth 1846 16 3i Fii'th 1847 14 Sixth 1848 19 1 Seventh . . 1849 15 3J Eighth 1850 15 3i Ninth 1851 13 3i Tenth 1852 5 3i Eleventh 1853 21 A Twelfth 1854 17 Thirteenth 1855 14 2 Fourteenth . . 1856 19 3 Fifteenth 1857 18 Sixteenth 1&58 18 li Seventeenth 1859 12 3i Eighteenth 1860 11 1* Nineteenth 1861 16 Twentieth . . 1862 17 1 THE KOTATIOK OF CHOPS. 57 The weight of the grain of the first crop was fifty- eight and five-tenths pounds per bushel, and that of the twentieth, or last, was sixty-two and seven-tenths pounds per bushel, so that after continuous cropping, without manure, the land produced in the twentieth year two and one-fourth bushels more per acre, and the wheat weighed four and one-fifth pounds more per bushel than the first season. Can there be a doubt that on any other than a heavy clay soil the results of these experiments would have been different ? Is there a soil on the southern sea coast, void of clay, which, after continuous cropping for twenty years without manure, would produce more oats or rye (wheat requires clay) or any other crop, to the acre, than it would the first season ? If so, to what is the exhaus- tion of our cotton plantations to be attributed? Better farming, or cotton seed, cow peas and rotation might have preserved their fertility. Neither the areas, nor the varieties of crops of the truck- farmer are sufficient to enable him always to practice regular courses of rotation; nor should a lack of manure ever compel their strict observance, but he should aim : First. To have a crop which succeeds another as dis- similar in composition and the demands it makes upon the soil as possible. Second. Never to have plants of the same family suc- ceed each other. For instance, melons should not follow cucumbers; tomatoes should not follow egg-plants, or Irish potatoes; beans should not succeed peas, or vice versa. Third. Tuberous plants should not be allowed to fol- low plants of the same character. Fourth. Roots should not succeed to root crops, as turnips, beets, etc. Fifth. Deep or tap-rooted plants should succeed others of dissimilar growth. 58 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. Sixth. To make the heaviest applications of manure to such crops as require most, as cabbage, onions, etc; and have other crops succeed those requiring less, as tomatoes, egg-plants, etc., so that the whole farm may be gradually brought to the same degree of fertility. As the crops of the truck-farmer come in for ship- ment during spring and early summer, there is rarely an opportunity of having a second crop occupy the same ground, before the first is harvested; still it may occur. Thus a crop of melons or cucumbers may be put in be- tween the wide rows of peas. The latter will be off be- fore the former requires the first working. A further benefit of successive rotation and continued cropping is the destruction of noxious weeds, and of such insects as prey for more than one season on the roots of a particular kind of crop, by depriving them of their food. A continued liberal use of the same fertilizer, although it be the complete stable-manure, will eventually show less favorable results, than when manures are alternated. Owing to a too limited use, this will not frequently happen on our truck-farms; but it may occasionally occur near cities, where, after a series of heavy manurings with stable-manure or night-soil, the land seems to crave something else. A resort in such a case to a good com- mercial fertilizer will remedy the evil and increase the crop. WEEDS. 59 CHAPTER V. WEEDS. Plants, according to their manner of growth, are either exogenous (outside growers), their bulk being augmented by layers next to the inner bark; or endogenous (inside growers), which increase from the centre, the new growth pressing the older outwards. All the trees of the United States, with the exception of the Palmetto, are outside growers. The Asparagus is an example of an inside grower. The stem of an outside grower consists of the outer bark, the inner bark, or liber, the sapwood or alburnum, the heartwood and the pith. The medullary rays connect the pith horizontally with the inner bark through the wood. When a seed germinates, it sends its radicle down into the ground and its sprout (plumule) up into the air. The root obtains from the soil crude sap, containing solu- tions of gases, earths, and salts, which ascend through the sapwood to the leaves. Leaves may be considered a continuation of young bark, and in plants, which are naturally leafless, the young bark performs their office. Leaves are provided on their upper and lower surfaces with breathing pores, or stomata; and those plants grow- ing in moist and shady places, are most abundantly supplied with them, and the pores are of larger size. The outer skin, or epidermis, of thick-leaved plants growing in hot, arid situations, like the aloe, the prickly pear, and the purslane, have few and small breathing pores, and the skin is still further protected by a waxy covering. When the sap reaches the wide expanse of sur- face of the leaves, it comes in contact with air, heat, and light, the crude sap is digested and the excess of water 60 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. is evaporated through the breathing pores, mainly of the upperside of the foliage. Leaves absorb gases, and un- der some circumstances moisture, from the atmosphere through the stomata of their lower surface. It is not necessary to discuss the chemical changes brought about in the leaves, my object being merely to demonstrate their great importance, and to show that whatever tends to injure their health and vigor, tends to destroy the plant. The digested sap, made available through the action of the leaves for the support of the plant, descends and dis- tributes its nourishment wherever it may be needed in the interior of the plant. A plant, constantly deprived of its leaves, could no more continue to live, than an ani- mal devoid of skin with which to perspire, lungs with which to breathe, and stomach with which to digest, and there is no exception to this rule, which applies alike to endogens as exogens. Therefore any weed may be destroyed, if frequently hoed down, and some may be killed if cut down only once. The crops of the truck-farmer, however, should be kept so well stirred that most of the weeds with which he has to contend are killed before they appear above the ground. Two of our worst weeds, the Wormseed (Cheno- podium ambrosioides, var. anthelminticum), and Dogfen- nel (Eupatorium fceniculaceum) must be eradicated when young, or they will become troublesome by sprouting from the deep roots. Even our worst pest, :N"UT-GRASS COCO-GRASS ( Cyperus rotundus, var. Hydra), can be destroyed, if constantly hoed, or plowed and raked out, but owing to the depth of its growth and to the abundance of nuts, each of which has several eyes, to clear any considerable area by hoeing, would cost more than the land would be worth. If a piece of land over- WEEDS. 61 run with nut-grass is to be cleared and will grow cow peas, these should be sown at the rate of two and a half bushels to the acre, as soon in the spring as possible, and be plowed under before the shedding of the leaves ad- mits any light and air to the soil. These should be fol- lowed by a second crop of peas, and the latter by one of rye. If this round is repeated, there will be little, if any, nut-grass to be seen at the commencement of the third season, but a third year may be required to kill it. If a mulch is laid upon the ground six or eight inches, or more, in thickness, nut-grass will push its way through; but the stems upon which the young nuts are formed will not penetrate the earth deeply; and, if the mulch has partly rotted in contact with the soil, they will remain upon the surface, or so near it, as to be destroyed to a great extent, by firing the covering material during dry weather. A second or even a third mulch may be neces- sary to be completely effective. Nut-grass is propagated by the nuts; and if the growth above ground is constantly interrupted, and it is not allowed to bloom, it is doubt- ful whether the nuts can come to maturity. BERMUDA GRASS ( Cynodon Dactylori) mav be destroyed in the same manner as nut-grass; but an easier and cheaper method may be adopted with this plant, as it may be killed out by repeatedly plowing and raking during hot and dry weather, particularly in heavy ground with clay subsoil. Neither this nor the nut-grass matures seed in the United States. PURSLANE (Pqrtulaca oleracea. ) This weed spreads an extraordinary number of fine seeds over a place, if allowed to mature, and it should be de- stroyed when young. Owing to the nature of the leaf and the paucity of stomata, this plant may be upon the sur- 62 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. face for days in the hot sun without dying. The same is true, but to a greater degree, of THE PBICKLY PEAR (Opuntio, vulgaris,) which is occasionally an annoyance on high grounds near the coast, and on the Sea Islands. It must be dug up and removed from the land. It will require a hot wood fire to kill it. CHAPTER VI. SEED AND SEED SOWING. Every seed is provided with an embryo, the vitality of which remains dormant so long as the carbon which the seed contains is not eliminated, by forming carbonic acid with oxygen during the process of germination. The composition of a seed is less liable to vary than that of any other part of a plant. One of the most wonderful works of nature is the pro- vision made for the perpetuation of the species, whether of animals or vegetables. Every seed germ, or embryo, is really a plant in miniature, having its stem and leaves in a more or less undeveloped state. If kept dry and excluded from air and its oxygen, the duration of its vitality diifers with various seeds. If the seed of any given plant, which ordinarily retains its vitality for an extended period, is, when fully matured, thoroughly dried, and perfectly protected from contact with air and moisture, there is no reason why it may not retain its vitality for many years. Prof. Lindley says: ' ' Not to speak of the doubtful instances of seeds taken SEED AND SEED SOWING. 63 from the pyramids having germinated, melon seeds have been known to grow at the age of forty years, kidney beans at one hundred, sensitive-plant at sixty, rye at forty, and there are now (1859) growing, in the garden of the Horticultural Society, raspberry plants raised from seeds sixteen hundred or seventeen hundred years old." There is considerable difference of opinion between ex- perimenters in regard to the duration of vitality in agri- cultural seeds under ordinary climatic influences; but it probably depends upon the comparative condition of the seed and the influence of the different climates of their respective countries. The table below shows the earlier experiments of Cobbett in England, and the later ones of Vilmorin in France. Cobbett. Years. Vil- morin. Years. CoKbett. Years. Vll- morin. Years. Artichokes 3 5 Kale 4 5 Asparagus 4 4 Leek 2 2 Bean 2 6 Lettuce . . . 3 5 Bean (Kidney) .... 1 3 Melon 10 5 Beet 10 5 Onion 2 2 Broccoli 4 5 Okra 2 Cabbage 4 5 Pea o 4 Carrot 1 4 Pumpkin 10 5 Cauliflower 4 5 Radish 4 5 Celery 10 Salsify 2 2 Corn 3 2 'Spinach 4 5 Cucumber 10 5 Squash 10 5 Egg-plant 3 Tomato 2 5 Endive 4 9 Turnip . 4 5 Southern vegetable-growers must bear in mind that our warmer climate, particularly on the moist sea coast, will affect the longevity of seed. Onion seed, for instance, cannot be relied upon after the first year; those of the varieties of cabbage and of turnip after the second, and those of cucurbitaceae, as melon, squash, cucumber, etc., after the fourth year. Some seeds lose their germinating power, if allowed to become dry, as will those of the wil- low two weeks after ripening. Experience teaches us that fresh seeds of cucumbers, melons, etc., produce plants 64 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. that are likely to run to vine, while older seed yield more abundant crops of fruit. Some English horticul- turists carry the cucumber seed they intend to plant in hot-beds, in the pockets of their pantaloons for months prior to planting, in the belief that the warmth of their bodies increases the productiveness of the vines. How- ever this may be, it is a safe rule that seed should be fresh. Old seeds, endowed with weaker vitality, are slower to germinate; they come up irregularly, and too large a percentage is absolutely sterile. Seed of ten-weeks stock, four years old, is used by gardeners to produce plants to bear double flowers, while fresh seed produces the more perfect single flowers. Such being the case, only fresh tomato seed should be used; as the double flowers produce irregularly- shaped, knobby fruit, while it is only the single flowers that form the desirable round and smooth fruit. The chemical elements in an imperfectly matured seed seem unstably combined. If such germinate at all, it will be sooner than seeds fully ripe; but the plants will be of weaker growth, owing, probably, to an insufficient storage of nourishment. Such unripe seeds will also be the earliest to become sterile. Some vegetable physi- ologists believe that immature seeds will produce earlier Varieties than the mature. There are many facts in regard to the distribution and germination of seeds, which appear unaccountable and wonderful. After the destruction of forests by fire, certain plants will spring up in large numbers, although no parent plants of the same species may have been growing in the vicinity. The unavoidable conclusion is, that the seed had re- mained in the soil for years, awaiting favorable condi- tions for its development. Plants, unlike any in the vicinity, have grown in the soil excavated from deep wells; thus the upper crust of the earth seems full of seeds. Every Southern farmer, who has cleared land, SEED AND SEED SOWING. 65 knows that a growth of oak or other deciduous trees will follow pine, and vice versa. It seems as if nature would thus demonstrate the principle of rotation of crops. Theory seems to be unable to explain how seeds can re- main dormant in the soil for years, under conditions apparently favorable to germination. THE QUALITY OF SEEDS. TESTING. Its plumpness, its specific gravity or density, rather than its size, is an indication of the quality of a seed; and it will generally sink in water. . No one matter is of more importance to the horticulturist, than the quality of the seed he sows, not only in reference to the certainty of vegetating, but also to its being true to variety. Our well-known seed merchants, as a general rule, doubtless seek to send out sound and reliable seed; but they are compelled in some instances to depend for a supply of special kinds upon seed-growers personally unknown to them, and may themselves be deceived. In an expe- rience of twenty-six years I have found, however, a con- siderable difference in the comparative, trustworthiness of some of the leading and most extensive seed dealers. A few of the smaller firms, and of less extended repu- tation, frequently gain the custom of Southern druggists, and often of retail dealers, by granting the privilege of returning the stock which remains unsold in their hands after the spring sales. In some instances such seeds may be good and true; but having suffered losses from their use, I warn Southern growers against their purchase. The surest way to avoid disaster is to make a prelimi- nary test of any suspicious seed. It is not necessary to commit the seed to the ground. Dr. Nobbe, of the Tharand, Saxony, Seed Control Station, has devised a simple apparatus of earthenware for the purpose. To test seeds, I place a sample, folded in a piece of moist cloth, or blotting paper, at the bottom of a small com- 66 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. mon flower-pot, which is plunged in the soil of another, one or two sizes larger, and a third pot, filled with earth, of the size of the first is placed within the second. If the soil of the two pots is kept damp, the seed, if good, will germinate, and can, from time to time, be conveni- ently examined. By thus testing his seed, the gardener may ascertain the percentage, sure, under proper man- agement, to come up, and may regulate his sowing ac- cordingly. If seeds are to be preserved and retain their proper vitality, it is indispensable that they should be com- pletely ripe, and be kept perfectly dry. They should be inclosed in cloth bags, and suspended in a dry room. Imported seed should not, as is frequently done, be sent to our warm climate packed in hermetically-closed me- tallic cases. Neither the seed, nor the thick paper gen- erally used in packing being sufficiently dry, the con- fined moisture will cause a commencement of germina- tion, and the heat generated by the process, and the moisture, is very apt in such cases to destroy the vitality of all. Seeds of home growth that are subject to injury from weevils may be preserved in jugs, demijohns, etc., in which a piece of gum camphor, a little cyanide of po- tassium (a most deadly poison), or an open phial of tur- pentine has been inserted. THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS. As the absence of moisture, warmth and air is necessary to the preservation of the vitality of seed, so the presence of these agents is essential to excite their vital forces, and cause germination. In this process the outer covering of the seed softens, and allows the em- bryo to swell; water is decomposed, and the carbon forms carbonic acid with its oxygen. In the case of sterile seed the softening and swelling occur without any de- SEED AND SEED SOWING. 67 composition of water. In the presence of a superabund- ance of moisture,, fresh seeds may absorb more water than they are able to decompose, and the death and subse- quent rotting of the germs take place; for this reason it is more advisable to sow in dry than in wet weather. The degree of heat necessary to start vital action varies in diiferent species, and depends upon their character and composition, and the climate to which the plants were indigenous. The most favorable temperature of the soil for the germination of seeds of plants from cold climates, may be stated at from fifty degrees to fifty-five degrees; for those of green-house plants, at from sixty to sixty- five degrees, and for those of the torrid zone, at from seventy to eighty degrees. Of all the seeds sown by the truck-farmer, those of the onion will germinate at the lowest temperature; other conditions being favorable, they will sprout at a few de- grees above freezing, while those of the melon and egg- plant require a higher temperature. Healthy seeds of some species may be exposed to a remarkably high de- gree of temperature without impairing their vitality. Seeds of raspberry have been known to grow which had been picked from a jar of jam which must have been heated to the degree of boiling syrup, or two hundred and thirty degrees. To promote germination, seeds are sometimes soaked in water heated to within a few degrees of the boiling point, or about two hundred degrees, but this is only prac- ticable with hard and healthy seed. The practice of soaking seeds in water to soften the outside covering, or in an alkaline solution having a strong affinity for carbonic acid, or a substance able to supply a large quantity of oxygen, like a dilute solution of oxalic acid, is only ad- visable when the difference of a few days in the time of germination is important, as for instance, in the case of 68 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. the loss of a previous planting by frost; otherwise it is better for the gardener to commit his seed to the ground under as favorable conditions as possible, and trust to the usual natural process. HOME-GROWN SEEDS. While it is a matter of true economy for the farmer to purchase as little as he may, and sell as much as he can, a non-observance of which rule has often been the fault of the Southern planter; we are compelled by the effects of our climate to purchase the majority of our vegetable seeds of either foreign or Northern growers. Half the success of growing profitable crops depends upon the seeds, and we can better afford to pay treble the price for those which, from experience, we know to be good and true, than to grow them ourselves, and find too late that they are worse than useless. Again, many vexations from buying poor seed may be avoided by growing such as are indigenous to warm climates, and maybe produced cheaply and of superior quality. There is no reason, for instance, why the Southern truck-farmer should not save his own seed of melons, squashes, cucumbers, onions, pepper, to- matoes, and egg-plants, provided he can keep each of the first named three far enough apart from any other species of the squash family to prevent mixing, while it is not advisable for him to use his own seed of cabbage, cauli- flower, etc. ; of beets, carrots, turnips, etc. ; for the former will run prematurely to seed without forming heads, and the roots of the latter will be of inferior quality, becoming small and woody. It is so difficult to preserve large quantities of garden peas and snap beans against injury from weevils, from the time they mature, through the summer, to the following spring, that, al- though I have seen peas of home growth satisfactorily tested along side of those grown in Canada, both in ref- SEED AND SEED SOWING. 69 erence to earliness and productiveness, I would not ad- vise the saving of these. Plants like the sugar cane, the sweet and Irish potato, which have been propagated exclusively for years from cuttings or tubers, cease bearing matured seed. The potato does occasionally produce seed; but more fre- quently at the North than at the South. Should seed of Southern production be desired for the creation of new varieties, it might be possible to induce some of the lafce, not very productive, varieties to perfect seed by prevent- ing the plants from bearing tubers, by their removal while small. This will encourage the flow of nutritive matter to other parts, just as contrary wise, the removal of flowers will increase the size of tubers. CAUSES OF FAILURE. If, after a seed is consigned to the soil, the changes which it undergoes during germination proceed without interruption, the young plant will in due time make its appearance in a healthy state; but when severe changes in the state of the weather occur, it may perish. If all seeds sprouted as promptly and with* as much vigor as those of the radish, there would be little uncertainty at- tending seed sowing; but many varieties, large and small, remain in the ground from a few days to several weeks, during which interval unpropitious changes of the weather may occur; a fall of temperature sufficient to de- stroy the barely sprouted seed below the surface may supervene; or the weather may become so wet as to rot the seed before germination has taken place; or the sun may heat the soil sufficiently to scorch the young sprouts at or above the surface; or, "finally, the ground may be- come so baked by the sun after a rain, as to prevent smaller seed from breaking through the hard crust. In case of sowing small seeds, like carrot, celery, etc., which are slow to germinate in ground likely to bake, they may 70 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. be covered with mould or sand free from such tendency. Large seeds, possessed of more vigor, may be able, when germination has once commenced, to upheave a consid- erable weight of soil, and break through the crust. This baking of the soil is a most prolific cause of failure and disappointment. None of the seeds of the truck-farmer need be sown broadcast, as drill sowing, either by hand or with a ma- chine, is to be preferred. The seeds may be sown more regularly; the young plants may be thinned and weeded more conveniently, and the soil may be stirred between the rows. The drill distributes the seed more evenly, at a uniform depth, and the operation may be performed during the prevalence of high wind. There are a num- ber of seed-drills now offered which do good work. Some of these are so arranged that they may be converted into hand-cultivators, and be used for weeding the crop after the plants are up. No safe rule can be established, as to the depth at which different seeds should be sown, as the weather and varieties of soil must be considered. If continued damp weather could be a'ssured, the rule to cover the seed to a depth equal to its own thickness, might be a safe one. In such case seeds would germinate, if merely laid upon the surface, although darkness is more favorable for the formation of carbonic acid, and therefore for germina- tion. In this matter, the sower must in each instance be governed by the character of his seed, and by the con- ditions of weather and nature of soil which obtain at the time. While on heavy land, and during damp weather, a grain of corn would grow, if barely covered; in a dry climate and a very sandy soil, it might be necessary to place it one foot below the surface, as is sometimes the case in Colorado. Seed should never be sown, particu- larly on sandy soils, when the ground, from previous drouth, is very dry below, with the surface only moist HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AKD WEATHER. 71 from recent rain; for if rain does not follow, the seeds may perish after germination has merely commenced; or the lower soil may be too dry a little later to supply the young root with sufficient moisture. Should soaked seed be sown under such conditions, in the hope of assist- ing germination, the dry soil may absorb the moisture from the swollen seed, and probably the vitality of all be destroyed. At whatever depth the seeds are sown, the soil should have been carefully broken up or "fined" be- fore sowing, using the harrow, roller, and rake, as cir- cumstances may require. After the seeds are sown, the surface should be rolled, in order to bring the soil in close contact with the seed. Where the seed-bed is small, the same end is accomplished, if the soil is "firmed" by patting it with the back of the spade. Mr. Henderson strongly advocates the use of the feet to bring the soil in contact with the seeds, or "treading in," as it is called. A person passes over the line of the drill, and tramps or presses the soil down with his feet. This is a method practised by some, but I have never seen that it had any advantage over the even pressure of the roller. CHAPTER VII. HOT- BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. Seneca and Pliny inform us, that the Romans attempted the forcing of vegetables by means of artificial heat, using thin plates of talc or mica in lieu of glass. As a rule, the first vegetables and fruit of a season bring the best prices, and the grower is prompted to use all availa- ble means to push forward his crops to early maturity. Florida, being more exempt from frosts than other States, 72 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. can place upon the market any vegetable that, in less favored sections, requires glass, earlier, more plentifully, and with less cost than the gardeners of more Northern States. Since Florida gardeners have taken up truck- growing for the Northern markets, those in the vicinity of Charleston and Savannah require less glass than for- merly. Hot-beds are rarely required as far south as Charleston and Savannah to forward and protect tender seedlings, like tomatoes, egg-plants, peppers, etc. Cold frames, under proper management, not only suffice for this, but are preferable. When any animal or vegeta- ble matters undergo rapid fermentation with partial ad- mission of air and moisture, a considerable amount of heat is evolved, and the gardener takes advantage of this chemical process in his forcing operations. In the management of crops under glass, and the removal of young and tender plants to the open ground, his knowledge and observance of the changes of the weather will serve him better than in any of his other operations. In the vegetable kingdom, the heat of the sun is the cause of growth, and its light that of maturity. Animals may live with little or no light, but no vegetable can come to perfection without it. The sun's rays are both those of heat and light. Were it not for the wise prevention of the accumulation upon the earth of the heat received from the sun, all life upon our globe would be destroyed. DEW AND FROST. Evaporation and radiation of heat into space from the earth during the night, when it receives little in return, accomplish this purpose; and these means are the source of benefit. When the surface of the earth has, by this radiation of heat, become colder than the surrounding air, the moisture of the air is condensed upon it in the form of dew, as when moisture appears on the outside of a glass of ice-water, or upon a gun-barrel, etc., upon being HOT-BEDS, COLD FKAMES, AXD WEATHEE. 73 brought from the cold outside air into a warm room. The value of dew to vegetation is manifested in such dry rain- less seasons, as those of 1880 and 1881. This moisture gathers where it is most needed, on low plants, the roots of which do not penetrate the earth deeply, and on foliage near the ground. The precipitation of moisture upon tender vegetation, must diminish the cold which occa- sioned it, and thus prevents the injury that might arise from that cause. The partial prevention of cold on an object near the ground, by the interposition of a screen between it and the sky, is due to the reflection of heat by the lower surface of the screen back to the object. This compensates in part for the loss by radiation. The gardener avails himself of this, in protecting his plants in cold and clear nights by the interposition of screens, which are most effective when not in contact with the vegetation to be protected. Clouds similarly prevent injury from cold at night, by radiating heat to the earth in return for what they intercept from the earth. The lower the clouds the more effective they are. Fog, or clouds of smoke, have the same effect as clouds of vapor. Coast lands and islands, from their situation, are more subject to a cloudy sky, to movement in the air, and are therefore less exposed to cold by radiation; but the chief reason why islands are more temperate than continents and inland situations, is, that the water of the ocean, a little below the surface, is uniformly in all lati- tudes about 45. Florida as a long peninsula, with an ocean east and west, and Bermuda, as evidenced by her extremely early crops, although lying in the same lati- tude as Savannah, enjoy these advantages in an eminent degree, besides having the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flowing near their coasts. The cooling of a body exposed on a clear night, depends in part upon the readiness with which it receives heat by conduction from bodies warmer than itself in contact with it. 74 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. Bodies thus exposed must radiate as much heat during a wind as in a calm, but in the former case the con- stant contact of warm air will return to them nearly as much heat by conduction, as they lose by radiation, and only a slight agitation of the air is sufficient to thus pre- vent dew and frost. The reason why depressed locations suffer most from cold by radiation is, that they are more becalmed; and there must also be less dew in them, because of the calm atmosphere which provides the moisture. It is true that at considerable altitudes the air becomes colder as the hight increases, but on hills, in cold and clear nights, the frosts are less severe in consequence of the movement in the atmosphere. The dew, which has been deposited upon vegetation by condensation from the at- mosphere, will become hoar or white frost, when the object upon which it has settled is cooled by sufficient radiation to congeal the water into crystals of ice. This can only occur in this latitude up to 44 F. of the sur- rounding atmosphere; or in other words, frost is impossi- ble, unless the thermometer falls as low as 44. The different effects of the several solar rays are yet imperfectly understood; but there is no doubt that the heating and illuminating rays produce different results. Plants supplied with heat and moisture may grow for a short time in darkness; but there will be no development of chlorophyll, or leaf -green, and they cannot thrive. Plants, in all stages of growth, need the presence of at- mospheric air, from the seed requiring oxygen for its germination, to the plant which acquires its chief supply of carbon from the air. Water is absolutely necessary in the economy of vegetation. The management of plants under glass, whether they are to be transferred to the open ground or not, requires an acquaintance with the effects of these various agents and phenomena, so that they may be made to harmonize in the production of a sturdy and healthy vegetation. HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. 75 If a relative excess of either is permitted, failure is cer- tain. A spindling growth will result from too much light or heat; too luxuriant growth from an excess of moisture and heat; and the plants are apt to damp off from much moisture and deficient light. Having succeeded in producing satisfactory plants, it is the policy of the gardener to transfer them to the field as early in the spring as possible. IMPORTANCE OF WEATHER OBSERVATIONS. The study of atmospheric changes has in all ages been pursued by men engaged in agriculture and the pasturage of animals. To put out his plants judiciously, the gar- dener must carefully observe the general season. The belief in any direct effect of the moon upon vegetation, is a mere superstition of the past. At full moon the reflected light amounts to V 819000 of the sun's bright- ness, not equal in intensity to that reflected by a white cloud in a summer's day; and the heat at the same phase reaches only 9 V 1000000 of a degree. It is now gen- erally denied that the moon has any effect upon the weather; yet observations extending through many years seem to warrant the belief that changes of the weather do more frequently occur at the moon's phases than at any other time.* At any rate during fair weather radiation is most active in consequence of the clear sky attending full moon; and the gardener will do well to bear in mind the great likelihood of an appearance of frost at that change of the moon, about the time in spring he de- sires to transfer his plants to the open ground, and to delay the operation until it has passed. After a warm rain, if the wind comes out strongly from the north-west, a reduction of temperature will follow and a frost during the night becomes probable, if the wind *See London's Encyclopaedia, p. 445. Toaldo's 48 Years' Observations. 76 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. lulls before morning. No reliance can be placed upon warm weather at the time of rain; for the rapid fall of the thermometer under the above circumstances, is some- times astonishing. Thus after a rain at one o'clock P. M. of April 3rd, 1879, the thermometer stood here (Wil- mington Island) at 75 F., and under the prevalence of a north-west wind during the evening and early night, it fell 36, giving us a killing frost on the morning of the 4th, at 39 at sunrise. Frost occurred also on the fifth and sixth, at 39. Among the many creatures that, like the swallow, have been thought to announce the advent of spring, I consider the appearance of the Tumble-bug (Ateuchus pilularius) and the Whip-poor-will, or Chuck-will's-widow, the most trustworthy. I have rarely known a frost to occur after hearing the voice of this bird in proclamation of the spring. Below is a table of last frosts of the spring for a num- ber of successive years on this and the adjacent Island of Whitemarsh, taken from the diary of the late R. T. Gibson, who kept a meteorological record for the Smith- sonian Institute. 1835. March 29th, cold wind from the N. W.; March 30th, frost; April 7th, said to have been frost, but saw none. 1836. March 21st, rain; 22d, cold; 23d, frost. 1837. March 4th, snow, five inches deep; April 7th, rain; 9th, wind N. W. ; 10th, frost. 1838. March 18th, cloudy; 19th, clear and cold. 1839. March 5th, wind N.; 6th, sleet; 30th, rain, wind N. ; March 31st, sleet and rain. 1840. March 12th, rain; 13th, wind N. W., frost; March 25th, rain, wind W. ; 26th and 27th, frost. 1841. March 16th, rain and hail; 17th, wind N. W.; 18th, frost; 20th, frost; April 14th, light frost, 1842. February 21st, cloudy; 22d, wind 1ST. W.; 23d, HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. 77 white frost; 24th, frost; March 23d, Melia Azedarach (Pride of India) in bloom; April 7th, Blackberries ripe; April 17th, hail the size of half -grown wild plums. 1843. March 27th, rain; 28th, wind N. W; 29th, ice and frost. 1844. -March 7th, rain; 8th, wind N. W.; ther- mometer at sunrise 44; 9th, 42; March 20th, rain; 22d, wind W., frost. 1845. March 24th, rain; 25th, therm. 42; 26th, frost; April 10th, therm, at sunrise 43, frost. 1846. March 14th, rain, wind N. W. afterwards; 15th, 16th, and 17th, frost, therm. 38. 1847. March 26th, rain; 27th, wind 1ST. W., therm. 35; 28th, therm. 35, frost. 1848. March 13th, rain; 14th, therm. 37, wind 1ST. W.; 15th, wind K W., therm. 32; 16th, therm. 31, ice; April 9th, rain; 10th, cold but no frost. 1849. March 20th, rain; 21st, wind K W., no frost. 1850. March 23d, rain; 24th, wind N. W., therm. 39, cold but no frost; 27th, rain; 28th, therm. 39, wind N. W.; 28th, rain; 29th, frost. 1851. March 16th, rain; 17th, therm. 46, wind W.; 19th, therm. 44, wind N. W.; 20th, therm. 34, heavy frost; 28th, first Chuck- will's -widow. 1852. March 17th, rain last night; 19th, rain at day- light; 20th, therm. 32, wind K W., heavy frost; 25th, first Chuck-wiirs-widow. 1853. March 4th, rain at 7 A. M.; 5th, rain; 6th, therm. 35, frost; 7th, therm. 34; 21st, first Chuck- will's-widow. 1854. March 23d, rain last night, wind N. W.; 24th, therm. 54, wind N. W.; 25th, wind N. W; 26th, therm. 40; 27th, frost; April 1st, rain; 2d, therm. 45, wind N. W.; 3d, therm. 37; 4th, frost, therm. 40; 6th, first Chuck-will's- widow. 1855. March 27th, rain; 28th, wind N. W., therm. 78 TKUCK-FAEMIKG AT THE SOUTH. 38, too much wind for frost; 29th, therm. 30, ice; April 14th, first Chuck-will's-widow. 1856. March 26th, cloudy, wind W.; 27th, wind N. W.; 28th, ice; April 7th, first Chuck-will's-widow. 1857. April 6th, rain, wind S. W.; 7th, wind N. W., therm. 40, frost; March 29th, first Chuck-wilFs-widow. 1858. March 5th, therm. 37, frost; April 8th, first Chuck-will's-widow. 1859. March 18th, rain; 19th, therm. 44, wind N. W.; 20th, frost, but light several times in April only prevented by wind; April 4th, first Chuck-will's-widow. I860. March 27th, cloudy; 28th, wind W.; 29th, heavy frost; April 5th, first Chuck-will's-widow. 1861. March 18th, rain; 19th, wind N", W., snow; 20th, therm. "39, frost; April 10th, first Chuck-will's- widow. It will be seen from the above, that cold weather was invariably either preceded by rain, or cloudy weather, the probability being that there was rain somewhere in the district. TO MAKE A HOT-BED. The material most frequently used for the formation of hot-beds, when a considerable degree of heat is re- quired, is stable manure, that of well-fed horses being the most effective. When a lower temperature suffices, a steady heat may be obtained by mixing vegetable mat- ter, like leaves, spent tan bark, etc., with the stable ma- nure. I have used with advantage a layer of our long moss (Tillandsia usneoides), about one foot, thick, below one of stable manure, for forcing sweet potato draws, or sets. This moss, when taken up at the end of the season and cleaned, was in a merchantable condition as black moss. The manure, without too much litter, should be thrown from the stables into a conical heap, and kept moist for four or five days, when it should be turned HOT-BEDS, COLD FfiAMES, AKD WEATHER. 79 over. After the lapse of four or more days, according to the season, it will have acquired a steady heat, and be ready for use. The site for a hot- bed, or cold frame, should be on sandy, or gravelly, or well-drained soil, con- venient to water, well protected from north and north- west winds; it must be free from overhanging trees and the shade of houses, but open to the sun from its rising to its setting. Unless the aspect of the bed be a point or two eastward of south, the plants growing at the east- ern end will be dwindled by the shade of the frame. The site having been chosen, the manure is placed either on the surface, or in an excavation, about six inches deep, in the shape of a solid parallelogram, extending in length and breadth, one foot beyond the dimensions of the frame to be placed upon it. Each layer of manure is evenly and moderately beaten down with the back of the fork, until about three feet thickness is attained, care being taken to have the pile uniformly moist throughout. The frame with glass is then put on, and air is given only during the day, unless the weather is warm, when it may be admitted during the night. After two or three days, fer- mentation will recommence, when the bed will be ready to receive its coating of six inches or more of garden soil for seed, for the forcing to maturity of cucumbers, etc. The frame should be as wide as the length of the sash, and its length will be determined by the number of sash. No bed should be constructed, if avoidable, for less than four "lights," and the longer it is, the more heat will be de- veloped, and the more in amount will be retained. In whatever manner the frame is made; whether the planks, which should be one and one-half inch thick, are nailed to corner posts, driven into the ground, or secured by battens, the chief outlook is, to have it fit closely in all its parts, and to have the sash adapted to it so snugly, that there will be no openings for the exit of warm, or the entrance of cold air. 80 TKUCK-FAKMING AT THE SOUTH. A sufficient pitch will be secured to carry off the water, if the back is two feet, and the front one foot high. On each end of the frame a strip should be nailed to retain the two outside sashes in position. Each two sashes should be separated by a half-inch strip, nailed upon a three-inch-wide sliding piece, which latter is let flush into the edge of the back and front, and will leave one and one-fourth inch upon which the sashes are to rest and slide. If a small groove is made along each edge of the middle strip, the water will be carried off more effectu- ally. The drip into the beds is sometimes damaging. If the site is exposed to high winds, yellow pine is preferable to white pine for the sash, on account of its greater weight. The sash should be three by six feet, with glass not larger than eight by ten. The smaller the glass the less expensive the breaks. The panes are to be puttied to the sash, and to overlap each other like shin- gles. As dust collects between them and obstructs the light, the laps should not be more than one-fourth of an inch wide. COLD FKAMES AND THEIK USES. Such is a hot-bed. The site, the frame, and the sash for a cold frame are as above described. The difference between the two is solely, that the former is heated by fermenting material, which creates "bottom heat," while the latter is warmed by the confined heat of the sun alone. For a cold frame, the soil should be elevated six inches above the general level, and finely spaded up and raked. Glass is the proper material for sash, and the cheapest in the end. Frames covered with cotton cloth may be used as a substitute, however. To render the cloth more translucent, the following ingredients may be used : one quart pale linseed oil, four ounces resin, and one ounce sugar of lead. The sugar of lead should be ground with a little of the oil, then the remainder of the oil and HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND WEATHER. 81 resin, melted together, should be added, and the varnish applied with a wide brush while warm. The following directions apply to the cold frame alone: According to the nature and size of the seed, and the character of the soil, the seeds are to be sown from one- fourth of an inch to an inch deep in drills, three or four inches apart across the bed, and more thinly at the back and front, than near the middle of the bed. Each va- riety should be sown in separate cold frames, or, when not practicable, only such should be sown together, as require about the same degree of heat to germinate, and particularly such as demand the same management and protection, until the plants are removed. Thus egg- plants should not be sown in the same frame with to- matoes, nor the latter with cabbages and cauliflowers, while the latter two may go together with lettuce in the same frame. If the weather is dry, and the soil sandy, a watering after sowing may be required to germinate the seed. In the subsequent management, it must be borne in mind, that retardation for the production of stocky plants, rather than acceleration of growth, is an object, provided the seeds were sown sufficiently early. Damp- ness and heat produce an elongated rather than a healthy growth, and too much of either must be avoided. The glass is to be used only as a means of protection against the inclemency of the weather. In case of heavy rains, the sash should be pushed down sufficiently to carry off the water beyond the confines of the frame. During severe freezing weather, particularly in clear nights, when radiation is most active, the covering of glass alone will sometimes be inadequate to protect even as hardy a plant as cauliflower, and some opaque covering upon the glass becomes necessary. Mats, or light shutters of wood, are best. Old pieces of carpet will answer the purpose. For many years, I have used the leaves of our large palmetto S3 TBUCK-FAKMLSG AT THE SOUTH. with satisfaction. One stirring of the soil between the rows, if attended with thorough weeding, will he cultiva- tion enough for seedlings. As soon as the plants are large enough to he safely handled, they should be thinned out to prevent crowd- ing, and, as all kinds of vegetable plants raised in cold frames at the South are benefited by being transplanted, they should be pricked out into other frames, and set from three to four and one-half inches or more apart each way, according to variety and space at disposal. If no such extra cold frames are available, and the plants must remain in the seed-bed, until the final transplant- ing into the open field, then the thinning should be with the view to afford them space to grow strong and stocky, and the surplus plants may be thrown away. Before the final removal, the plants, whether pricked out or not, should be watered, in case the soil is dry, in order that earth may adhere to the fibrous roots, to keep them fresh, and facilitate transplanting. I have indicated how plants may be protected from the effects of frost, and may add that it will hardly ever pay the truck- farmer, planting on any but a very small scale, to resort to any means of protection. He should have a suffi- ciency of plants, however, to replace any killed by cold. CHAPTER VIII. TRANSPLANTING. The following remarks are intended to apply to vege- table plants and to those of the strawberry only. When a plant is removed from the soil in which the seed germinated, which provided it in its early growth with nourishment and moisture, the contact of the roots with TRANSPLANTING. 83 the particles of soil is not only interrupted, but some of the most important roots themselves are broken, and the plant is deprived of the absorbent points of the small rootlets. The evaporation from the leaves still con- tinues, though moisture can no longer be absorbed by the roots. The important operation of transplanting is prop- erly performed, when the equilibrium between these functions of the roots and the leaves is soonest reestab- tablished. If plants are transplanted to a wet, and par- ticularly heavy soil, the part pressed to the roots will bake and contract, leaving cracks and open spaces near the roots. The earth, into which plants are to be shifted, should be freshly dug, as this seems to encour- age an early emission of young rootlets; and it should be as fine as possible, so that every part of the roots may come in contact with soil and moisture. By the removal of leaves, evaporation is not destroyed, but only diminished; for it also takes place through young bark. In our hot climates, a portion of the leaves of all vegetables, in proportion to the injury sus- tained by the roots, should be removed at the time of transplanting To what extent this must be done, will be given for each kind hereafter. A moist state of the atmosphere prevents perspiration, or evaporation from the leaves, and such a condition is most favorable for transplanting. Still, with the excep- tion of some very delicate plants not able to survive a dry atmosphere, such as cucumbers, etc., it is not necessary to await a rain before doing the work. If the earth has been freshly stirred, and is moist enough to allow plant- ing holes to be made by the dibble, without caving in, and the soil is not very sandy, new roots will soon com- mence to grow, and the warm soil will push them rapidly forwards. The truck-farmer, planting upon an extensive scale, has often to depend not only upon mere unskilled, but 84 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. upon stupid labor, and were it not for the seemingly imperishable character of some vegetables, the percentage of loss would be much greater. The planting is either too shallow or too deep, and the soil is not uniformly pressed to the roots, which are put into the ground im- properly. In transplanting such plants as the strawberry, the fibrous roots should be spread out as much as possible, while the root of a tap-rooted plant, as the cabbage, beet, etc., should be placed regularly up and down and not bent upon itself. If such a root is bent, the nutritive matter in descending from the leaves will be interrupted at the bend, and new rootlets will be slow to appear be- yond it. In transplanting the soil should be uniformly, but not harshly, pressed to the roots their entire length, from the extreme lower point upwards. With the exception of asparagus, horseradish, onions^ and such plants as emit new roots along the lower por- tion of the stem, as tomatoes, cabbage, etc. , it is a safe rule to put down the plant to the depth at which it orig- inally grew. In sandy soil it occasionally becomes necessary, in a drouth, during an entire transplanting season, to water the plants after they are set out. In this case the watered surface should be covered with dry soil to prevent baking. In a loose, fine, light soil, free from sticks, shells, peb- bles", etc., the hand alone may be used in transplanting on a small scale; but either the planting stick or dibble, or the trowel is preferable. The trowel is the safer implement in the hand of an unskilled workman. In using the dibble, it is thrust into the soil to make a hole to at least the full depth at which the plant is to be in- serted, the hole is then widened by a rotary motion of the implement. To insert the plant properly, it is held between the thumb and index finger of the left hand, and thus placed in the hole; the dibble is then plunged TKANSPLAKTITO. 85 into the ground two or three inches from the plant in a direction with its point toward and a little below the end of the root. The engraving, figure 3, shows the hole made by the dibble with the root of the plant with- in it. The dibble is thrust into the ground, ready to fix the root in place; by using the point, a, as a fulcrum, and moving the handle of the dibble from # to c, the soil Fig. 3. PEOPER USE OF THE DIBBLE. will be pressed to the root for its entire length, from a to c. If this is done with sufficient force, it will fix a delicate plant so firmly in the soil, that if it be pulled by the top of a leaf, that will give way before the plant can be pulled up. If the dibble is inserted perpendicularly or parallel to the plant, instead of at an angle, or if it be partly withdrawn, before the movement from b to c is completed, the soil will only be pressed to the root at the top, leaving its more important part loosely suspended in an open excavation in the soil, as seen in fig. 4. Planting proceeds most conveniently from left to right. When 86 TBUCK-FAKMIHG AT THE SOUTH. the trowel is used, the operation is the same, except that the implement is inserted in front of the plant, instead of at the side. When plants are taken up so carefully that few of the small roots are ruptured and with the soil adhering, or when they are turned out of flower-pots, they will start Fig. 4. IMPROPER USE OF THE DIBBLE. more readily; but they will not make so luxuriant a growth of leaves, nor will they develope as much fruit, as when a part of the roots has been broken. This is not in consequence of the rupture in itself, but because at and above the points of injury, numerous small fibrous roots are emitted, which are capable of providing the plant with an increased amount of nourishment. WATER AND WATERING. 87 The following table by Werner shows the leaf surface of rufca-baga turnips both of plants grown directly from the seed, and of those subsequently transplanted. Average Number of Leaves. Average Surface of each Leaf. Average Surface of all the Leaves. Ruta-baga Turnips di- rectly from seed. 18 150 sq. centiraet's. 2,700 sq. centimet's " transplanted 18 190 " " 3,420 Beneficial 46 28 21 35 38 14 11 28 Injurious . . . 41 60 23 55 26 67 02 9 Neutral 13 11 56 10 34 19 87 33 CHAPTEK XII. ASPARAGUS. (Asparagus officinalis.) Asperge, French ; Spargel, German ; Aspcrgie, Dutch ; Asperago or Italian ; and JSsperrayo, Spanish. Asparagus is a native of the sea coasts of Europe, and has long been in cultivation as one of the choicest vege- tables of the garden. Peter Henderson says of this vege- table, that the supply has never yet fully satisfied the demand, and that a small quantity of good asparagus has 120 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. frequently helped to sell a wagon load of vegetables, the gardener making its sale conditional upon the purchase of other articles. Asparagus is not only a wholesome article of food, but it is a pleasant diuretic and aperient, and is often used as an alterative or "purifier of the blood." When prescribed medicinally it is, as a decoc- tion, made by boiling two ounces of the root in one quart of water. There are some sixty or seventy species of as- paragus, of which the above named is the only edible one. While the shoots of the majority of the asparagus plants are green, some plants produce purple-topped shoots, owing probably to some modification of the leaf- green, or chlorophyll. Such plants cannot be considered even as varieties, as they occur in every planting of whatever kind of asparagus seed, and the peculiarity is not transmitted as a regular distinctive feature. Difference of opinion exists among horticulturists in regard to the question of varieties of this vegetable, some contending there are no varieties of Asparagus officinalis. They claim that growers, in several localities, have brought the cultivation of asparagus to such a state of perfection, as to have developed a decided superiority in the plant; that, as like produces like, the seed of such plants are preferable and will continue to give a superior product. They hold that, until deteriorated, the Con- over's Colossal, the Ulm, the Argenteuil, and others, are only improved strains, while others claim them to be dis- tinct varieties. Unlike the varieties of other vegetables, the different sorts of asparagus are distinguished neither by shape, nor color of leaf or flower, nor by taste, nor by any other character, save size, and when removed from favorable conditions of climate, soil, manure, and man- agement, they deteriorate and are undistinguishable from plants grown from seeds of the poorest kind. As- paragus is a dioecious plant, that is, the male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers are on separate roots. ASPARAGUS. 121 Only the latter bear seeds which will not be fertile un- less the flower is impregnated by the pollen of the for- mer. Thus it requires two distinct plants for the propa- gation of the species. Should a variety originate by chance, its flower would require the pollen of the previous variety to fertilize it; and to transmit its distinctive fea- tures to descendants,, it must be ever afterwards exempt from any altering influences of the pollen. If such breed- ing of varieties was probable in dioecious plants, the chances of cross-fertilization are such that varieties and sub-varieties would be constantly seen. EAISING THE PLANTS. Asparagus is propagated from seed, the usual practice being to raise the plants in a seed-bed, and trans- fer them to the field when one or two years old, those of one year being much the best. It has generally been, at the South, not only the uneconomical, but from an horti- cultural point of view, the objectionable custom to pur- chase the plants from Northern nurseries, at from four dol- lars to eight dollars per thousand, without any knowledge of their previous cultivation, age, or condition. This has been done when the plants could be grown much cheaper, and much better at home, with the additional advantage of being able to lift them carefully and fresh from the seed- bed when needed; whereas, procured from a distance, they are stale, roughly handled and bruised. The price of the seed is usually about fifty cents per pound, containing some fourteen thousand seeds, which should supply at least ten thousand five hundred plants, or enough for three acres. At the average price of plants, as offered by the largest seed firms, the same number of plants would cost twenty-one dollars. Small, spindling shoots are comparatively worthless. The asparagus grower should start his seed-bed with the ultimate object of pro- ducing large, stout sprouts, (or "grass," in the language 6 122 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. of the market), and to do this he must avoid stunted plants. A good asparagus plantation is expensive. It brings in no return for three years, but when it once comes into bearing, it remains productive for twenty years or more, and affords good profits. Unless it can be properly made from the start, it had better not be undertaken. The seed of asparagus is not injured by frost. It may be sown from December 1st to the middle of March. Se- lect high, sandy or well-drained, light land, which has been well manured; sow in drills two feet apart, and one inch deep; the plants should stand about three inches apart in the row. At these distances, one-fourth of an acre will grow twenty-one thousand seven hundred and eighty plants, or a sufficient number to plant five or six acres. If proper care is taken of them during their growth, the plants will be superior to any of one year's growth, purchasable at any price from any Northern nurs- ery, simply in consequence of our longer and warmer growing season. In addition to this, are the advan- tages of being able in transplanting to return them to the soil, fresh and without injury to the roots. THE SOIL AKD ITS PREPARATION". One of the chief claims of asparagus to popular favor is its early appearance in the spring; and hence, a heavy cold clay, particularly if badly drained, should be avoided. A light, high, warm, sandy soil, heavily fertilized, is best adapted to this crop, and it especially flourishes when such soil is located near its native habitat the sea coast. The more manure, the better the cultivation, the larger and better will be the "grass;" therefore the land should be in fine, mellow condition before the application of the manure. After deep plowing, subsoiling, and har- rowing, a coating of about a hundred wagon loads of green stable manure to the acre, without much long litter, ASPAKAGUS. 123 should be turned under as deeply as possible. Future surface manurings will benefit the top soil. The field being thoroughly harrowed, straight rows should be laid off with a two-horse plow, going only in one direction, care being taken to have the straight cuts, or land-sides of the furrows, equi-distant from each other, and five feet apart. If the roots of the plants are long, it will prob- ably be necessary to deepen the furrows by following the first with a smaller plow. In the bottom of the furrow it is well to apply some lasting fertilizer., as coarse Fig. 15. ASPARAGUS PLANT. ground bone, at the rate of half a ton to the acre. If the land is high and warm, the crowns of the plants might eventually be about six inches below the surface; but in colder ground it would be unsafe to place them deeper than four inches, or the sprouts might be late in the spring, and a pa?t of the plants might perish. The roots are round and succulent, with numerous small fibres, which unite to form the crown, from which the 124 TRUCK-FAKMING AT THE SOUTH. sprouts appear. The crown grows laterally, the base of every succeeding bud, during the life of the plant, re- maining at about the same depth. This lateral manner of growth, and the position of the buds, are shown in fig. 15. The deeper the plant can be placed, due regard being had to the requisites of an early and profitable growth, the better, as the crowns will be less liable to injury at the hands and knives of careless cutters of the crop. The old method of close planting of aspara- gus upon trenched ground, with a subterranean layer, three feet deep, of oyster shells, or brickbats, for drain- age, and with the idea of . preventing the too deep growth of tfee roots, has been abandoned. One might as well ex- pect to see stalks of corn grow thirteen feet high, and thick in proportion, when the grain is sown broadcast for fodder, as to look for good " grass " from the old man- ner of planting. An old asparagus plant makes an enormous growth of root, both as regards its mass and length, and wide planting admits of these roots securing a sufficiency of food, and of their making a vigorous growth without crowding. SETTING OUT THE PLANTS. The plants should be carefully lifted from the seed bed with a digging fork, without bruising the roots. These, if very long and irregular in length, may be shortened back a little. The distances in the row being marked off at from two to two and a half feet, or even three feet, a plant is dropped at each place, and the planter, following, holds the plant at the proper depth, say six inches, against the land side, or cut, with the roots spread out from the crown in a fan-shaped manner, and, with a single sweep of the left hand, fixes it in position with loose soil from the top of the furrow. The subsequent filling in may be ASPAKAGUS. 126 done with the plow; but the hoe is to be preferred, as the depth can be more exactly adjusted, and there is less danger of an accidental disturbance of the plant. For safety, until growth commences, the crowns should not be covered the entire depth, but only two or three inches; when the shoots have grown several inches high, the cov- ering may be completed, and this will serve as a working of the ground, and destroy weeds. CULTIVATION. Its vigorous growth enabling it to overtop grass, and to hold its own against weeds, asparagus will withstand as much neglect as any other vegetable; but it will respond to generous treatment. The expense of its first planting, and its care, until it commences to make a return two or three years later, are too great to admit of neglect. If the plantation has been properly made and properly tended, its rank and luxuriant growth will moet across the five-feet rows in the third year and smother most weeds during the summer. The crop should be cultivated and hoed as often as necessary to subdue grass and weeds. Asparagus produces seed the second year. As soon, therefore, as the ctalks commence to die in the fall, they should be chopped down and burned, to prevent, so far as possible, the growth of young seedlings among the crop, which are not readily eradicated, and are really weeds. It is useless to apply manure when the plant is at rest in the fall and winter, but just prior to the commence- ment of growth, make an application of half a ton to the acre of Peruvian guano, bone-flour, or ground fish guano, mixed with muck, woods-earth, or garden soil, and thor- oughly harrow it in. If stable manure is used, it should remain upon the surface. The material being at hand, a mulch thick enough and close enough to prevent the growth of weeds and grass, to be burned off before the 126 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. winter top-dressing is to be applied, would obviate the necessity of frequent working, and of chopping, or mow- ing down the- bushes, and would destroy all the seed, without causing any injury to the deeply buried roots. Subsequent cultivation consists in keeping down weeds by stirring the soil with cultivator and hoes, and in the annual installment of fertilizers, alternating each year with a different kind. The natural habitat of asparagus being the sea coast, it is benefited by applications of common salt, which may be used with advantage in sufficient quantity to de- stroy weeds, say from six hundred to eight hundred pounds to the acre, particularly if the crop is at a distance from the sea shore. The burning of a mulch of marsh sedge would supply the crop with other salts of sea water besides common salt. If the shoots are nu- merous and strong, a few may be cut the third year, but it is better to defer cutting any until the fourth season from the seed. CUTTING AND MARKETING. Asparagus knives of various shapes are made expressly for the purpose. The blade should be passed down along the shoot to the necessary depth, when by a turn of the handle the shoot is severed, and can be lifted out. Only the part of the shoot made green by exposure to light is eaten, the white blanched portion being tough and stringy. Yet fashion, and, therefore, the trade, de- mand that at least a part of the sprouts be white, other- wise it would not bo necessary to place the crowns so deeply in the ground. A change in this respect is tak- ing place, however, and a modification in the mode of planting may soon be advisable. Asparagus should not be cut until the shoots are four or five, or even six inches above the ground, so that they may be at least eight inches long, that being the usual ASPARAGUS. 127 Fig. 18. ASPARAGUS BUNCHER. (Old.) length of the bunches. A plantation in full bearing and vigorous growth may require to be cut daily, but it should not be continued beyond about four weeks, for fear of weakening the plants. The bunches, to command the highest market price, should be four inches in diameter, eight inches in length, and about two and a half pounds in weight, and should not only consist of good assorted " grass," but be evenly and compa3tly made. To attain these re- quisites, without too much loss of time, a buncher, of which there are many patterns, is indispensable. It holds the proper number of sprouts to form the four-inch bunch, firm- ly in position for one tie to be made below the buds and another noar the base, when the lower ends may be evenly cut off with a sharp knife. The sim- plest form of buncher is shown in fig. 16. It consists of a board with four pins about six inches long, placed four inches apart, and form- ing a square. This is Fig. ^.-ASPARAGUS BUNCHER. (Modern.) placed againgt a wall ^ in order to make the ends of the shoots even, or it may be provided with a back, as in fig. 16. The ties are laid down, and the shoots stacked up between the pins. A 128 TKUCK-EARMOTG AT THE SOUTH. more recent form of buncher is given in fig. 17. In this the shoots are placed between two strips of brass, and the upper, hinged portion brought down, which firmly holds the bunch in proper snape until it can be tied. Twine and small willow twigs are sometimes used for ties, but Cuba Bast is the best material, and gives the bunches a very neat appearance. This is the inner bark of Paritium elatum, a large tree of the Mallow family. It is in large sheets, and sells, wholesale, at about $1.00 per pound. A recently introduced material, called Raf- fia, the outer skin or cuticle of the leaf of a palm, is very soft and strong, and may be used for the purpose. Either kind should be cut of the proper length and laid in water; this renders the material flexible, and allows the ties to be made more readily. Asparagus is sold by the bunch, that from the South bringing generally, in New York, from nine dollars to twelve dollars per dozen, and it may be packed in other than the usual bushel crate, although a uniformity of package is desirable. The bunches should all stand up- right, and if in more than one layer, the buds on top of the shoots in the lower one should be protected from being bruised by the stems of the layer above by some soft intervening material, like moss. The first cost of making a planting of asparagus with home-grown plants, as above, is about one hundred dollars per acre. 'rC- SAVING SEED. Asparagus is one of the vegetables of which Southern- grown seed is as good as any. To save the seed, the ripe, red berries should be stripped off by nand, or the bushes cut down, and the berries threshed off. They are then placed in a vessel or barrel, and pounded with a wooden pestle to break the outer shells, which may be separated from the seed by washing, when the latter are dried in the sun and stored away. ASPAKAGUS. 129 INSECTS. Asparagus is subject to injury from the following insects : First The asparagus -beetle (Crioceris asparagi.) Second The zebra-caterpillar (Mamestra picta.) Third The smeared-dagger (Acronycta oUinita.) A small ash-gray moth, the caterpillar of which sometimes feeds upon the plant. The asparagus-beetle was introduced from Europe about 1860. In a few years it became so numerous and terribly destructive, that, in 1862, some farmers on Fig. 18. ASPARAGUS BEETLE (Crioceris asparagi). Beetle, Larva, Egg. The lines show the natural length of Egg and Beetle. Long Island plowed up their asparagus plantations, the crops having been ruined. All remedies failed, and it was thought the cultivation of asparagus would have to be abandoned on the Island, where the best in the country is grown. But in 1863, there appeared a deliverer in the form of a little black shining chalcid fly, which very soon checked t^ie increase of the insects. The larvae eat off the bark of the stalks, preferring, and commenc- ing with, the tender shoots. The beetle has two broods in the season, and winters in the perfect state. I have never seen this insect at the South, but if it has not yet reached us, the probabilities are that it will do so in time. The other insects named commit no serious injury. 130 TRUCK-FARMIKG AT THE SOUTH. CHAPTEK XIII. BEAN BUSH OR SNAP. (Phaseolus vulgaris.) Haricot, French ; Schminkbohne, German ; Eeere Boon, Dutch ; ftoffionlo, Italian Fasdes, Spanish. The Bean is a tender annual, a native of India, and was introduced into England about 1590. Owing to the ease with which it can be grown, the short period between seed-time and harvest (about six weeks), and its extensive consumption at the North, the bean is one of the principal vegetables grown by the truck-farmer. Its cultivation is most profitable where labor is plentiful for picking the crop, as in the neighbor- hood of cities. VARIETIES. There are two distinct forms, the Pole or Climbing Bean, and the Dwarf. The latter, Phaseolus vulgaris, is a low bush and produces its pods during a shorter time than the other. The Dwarf beans are a little more hardy, and the pods are smaller, but of better flavor and greater delicacy. As the running kinds require poles, the "Bush, "in consequence of readier cultivation, is the bean of the market-gardener. The varieties of Bush-beans are numerous. The flat- podded " Early Mohawk," is the earliest, and hardiest. It sells well, until the later, more tender and less stringy round beans come in, and command a higher price. The "Valentine " is now the most popular round bean, it having superseded the "Refugee "or "1000 to 1." The several varieties of German " Wax-beans " are very fine, and, when in good order, sell well; but they become spotted more readily, and are not as extensively planted BEAK BUSH OB SKA P. 131 as the others. The time for sowing such a tender vege- table, as this, cannot be definitely given, as it must de- pend upon ihe character of the season. Approximately it may be, for the vicinity of Savannah, from the first to the middle of March, later to the northward, and earlier to the southward; in the middle of Florida, it maybe safely planted as early as January 10th, and still further south, at any time in the winter. In 1881 the first beans from Florida came into the Savannah market on Decem- ber 22d. Formerly vegetables regarded as out of season, could find no sale in the Northern markets, but now beans in limited quantities, bring fair prices in March. SOIL. The lightest land of the farm may be appropriated to the bean crop; but a sandy loam suits it best. Like other leguminous plants, it will grow fairly upon good soil without recent fertilization; though, like other mar- ket vegetables, it should be manured, and green, or fresh stable manure is considered most beneficial. The land being properly plowed and harrowed, straight fur- rows, if the land is level, are laid off, thirty inches apart. The manure is drilled from the tail of a cart, or with a manure distributor, at the rate of thirty wagon loads to the acre, then covered by the plow. The resulting ridge beds are leveled by means of a board attached to a plow beam, taking two at a time, or by hoe or rake. To avoid repetitions, it may be stated here, that, for all vegetables hereafter to be treated, when manuring in the drill and planting on beds are mentioned, these operations of covering the manure and partly leveling the bed, must be understood to have preceded the putting in of the seed. SOWING THE SEED. The methods o-f depositing the seeds are various. One of the very best trucl-ers in the vicinity of Savannah has 132 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. constructed an instrument for making holes, upon the previously raked beds, exactly an inch and a half deep, and three inches apart. Into these even his poorest hands may properly drop the beans. The implement consists of a wheel upon the periphery, or outer rim, to which are fixed pegs of the desired length and the proper distance apart. Another very successful farmer sows his beans by hand, in a wide furrow three inches deep, and covers them an inch and a half deep with a rake. The former claims a greater uniformity of showing above ground, a nicer appearance, a saving of seed, and greater facility in working the crop, as the hoe and cultivator may run close to the straight row. The other claims that his plants, in the wide furrow, come up in a sort of quincunx order, support each other, and that he gets more plants upon the same area. Others again open the drills by a hoe, or small bull-tongue plow and use a seed drill to sow the seed, and cover by rake, or board, or by means of the covering attachment with which the drill is pro- vided. The drill must of course be arranged to work accurately and satisfactorily, when its use will prove the most expeditious and the cheapest method of planting. CULTIVATION. When the plants are three or four inches high, the cultivator may be run between the rows, and just before the buds appear, the plow and hoe should be used to land up or draw soil to the stems, a useful operation, and the last in the cultivation of the crop, which is, of course, only to be performed in dry weather. PICKING AND PACKING. The pods should be picked with great care, so as to cause as little disturbance of the roots as possible, and before the seeds become large enough to bulge out the pods, and while yet crisp enough to "snap" BEAK BUSH OR SKAP. 133 when bent. Beans are apt to shrink in the package, and a little wilting prior to packing, in this case, is less objectionable. The beans should be laid reg- ularly in the crate, well shaken down, and firmly packed. The crop lasts some three weeks, and about six pickings are usually made. A fair yield per acre, is one hundred and fifty crates, although more are sometimes made, and the prices range from one dollar to four dollars per crate, according to earliness and demand. IKSECTS. Beans are such an early crop, and the pods are picked at such an early stage of growth, that the insects infest- Fig. 19. BEAN WEEVIL (Bruchus fabce). ing them rarely damage the market-gardener's crop to any extent. They are as follows: First. The Bean-weevil (BrucliusfabcB.) Second. The Yellow Bear Caterpillar, the larva of the Miller-moth (Spilosoma Virginica). Third. The Fall web- worm (Hyphantria textor). Fourth. The Blister-beetles, such as the Striped (Lytta vittata), the Ash-colored (L. cinered), and the Margined Blister-beetles (L. marginatd), which are, how- ever, more hurtful to the Irish potato. 134 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. CHAPTER XIV. BEET (Beta vulgaris). Bettarave, French ; Rothe-Riibe, German ; JBiet or Kroot, Dutch ; Barba Biettola, Italian ; Bettarage, Spanish. The Beet is a biennial, tap-rooted plant, with some- what fleshy leaves; it is a native of the sea coast of Southern Europe, and has been cultivated in England since 1656. It is only within the past year or two, that the beet has been grown for shipment to any extent south of Norfolk, although it has for many years been one of the regular Bermuda crops. Next to the cabbage, this is one of the most extensively and profitably cultivated vegetables at the North, and it is probably destined to stand high in the estimation of the truck-farmer. VARIETIES. The turnip-rooted varieties are the earliest and best to grow at the South, and of these the "Egyptian " or " Red Egyptian Turnip" stands first, notwithstanding the seed is higher in price than any other sort. The " Early Blood Turnip" is next in value. The "Bassano" is the earliest variety, but objectionable in consequence of its turning a light color in boiling. SOIL AND SOWING. Beets, like the ruta-baga, may be sown for local mar- kets in September and October; but in consequence of sudden changes of weather, success at this season is doubtful. Heavy rains and hot baking suns, whether the seed be up or not, may destroy a sowing. Although hardy, freezing will kill very young beets, and the BEET. 135 safest date for sowing near Savannah is about Janu- ary 10th, and earlier or later, according to latitude. In middle Florida the beet may be sown through November and December. Like all tap-rooted plants, the beet de- lights in a deep, rich, loose soil, a low, but thoroughly drained, sandy mould being the best. If loamy, let the soil be deeply stirred, freed from clods and lumps, and made fine and mellow. It is desirable to have clean and smooth roots, and fresh stable manure in the drill is objectionable, as it Fig. 20. EGYPTIAN BEET. Fig. 21. EARLY BLOOD TURNIP BEET. tends to make them branch or to produce "fingers and toes." Any rank manure in the drill, like night-soil, is objectionable, and hog manure is said to communicate an unpleasant flavor to the roots. Beets require a nitroge- nous fertilizer, and well-rotted stable manure, thirty loads to the acre, broadcast, supplemented with five hundred pounds of Peruvian guano, or with three hundred pounds of nitrate of soda; or three-fourths of a ton of the guano, or half a ton of nitrate of soda, composted with muck, will suffice without the stable manure. But in this case, the land should have previously produced some well-manured crop. As this plant is a native of the sea shore, an ap- plication of twelve bushels of salt per acre is beneficial to crops distant from the coast. If the cultivation of the beet crop is to be entirely by hand, the seed may be sown 136 TKUCK-FAKMING AT THE SOUTH. three-fourths of an inch, or one inch deep, with a hand drill in rows, fifteen to eighteen inches apart. On level ground sow in narrow " lands," say thirty feet wide, which will afford additional surface drainage. If the planting is to be on a large scale, the distance between the rows must be from thirty to thirty-six inches, accord- ing to the size of the cultivator. In sowing and weed- ing, bear in mind that each grain contains several seeds. Owing to its slow germination, beet seed is often soaked in warm water. See chapter on " Seeds." The quantity of seed required to sow an acre is from four to eight pounds, according to the above-mentioned distances. CULTIVATION. The young plants should not be allowed to crowd each other. If the stand is close, it is well to chop out spaces in the row with a narrow hoe, and subsequently, when the plants are about two inches high, they should be thinned out to stand from four to six inches apart. Vacant spaces may be supplied; but transplanted turnip- rooted beets are not apt to make smooth roots. Subse- quent cultivation consists in stirring the surface between the rows, working as near the beets as possible, and in keeping the crop free from weeds. Frequent hoeings between the narrow rows and some hand-weeding will be necessary. For the wider rows, one plowing, the use of the cultivator twice, and one hoeing may suffice in favor- able seasons, but more should be given if needed. MAKKETING. Beets must be marketed while tender, and before they are full grown. When about three inches in diameter, they are large enough for shipment. The leaves are cut off within about three inches of the roots, which, un- washed, are then to be closely and regularly packed in well-ventilated barrels, covered with cloth. The prices CABBAGE 13? of the past season ranged from two dollars per barrel up- wards; as much as seven dollars and fifty cents having been secured for some marketed from middle Florida. The beet is, in this country, remarkably free from insect depredations. CHAPTER XV. CABBAGE (Brassica oleraced). Choupornme, or Cabas blanc, French ; Kopfkohl, German ; Kod, Dutch ; Cavdo, Italian ; Scrza, Spanish. The Cabbage was a favorite culinary vegetable of the Romans, who introduced its cultivation into England before the Christian era, although it grows wild along the sea shore of that country, particularly near Dover, where it is abundant on the chalk cliffs. Cultivation has evolved from the wild plant very many sorts and varieties. Of these, the truck-farmer of the extreme South is at present concerned with only a few select varieties of the common or heading cabbage and with the cauliflower, kale being grown only at Nor- folk and vicinity. Possibly the large German element in the populations of the Northern cities may in time provide a market for kohl rabi. VARIETIES. Climate affects the cabbage more, perhaps, than it does any other vegetable ; and a variety growing, as to appearance, indifferently well in both countries, may be considered superior in England, and be discarded as worthless in America, while some sorts, which grow satisfactorily in one region, may fail in another not very distant. 138 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. A variety suitable for cultivation should (1) be sure to form heads; (2) produce medium to large heads; (3) the heads should be very hard and compact; and (4) it should be a popular kind in the majority of the princi- pal markets. Some varieties, like the " Schweinfurth," are bulky and delicate, but of such loose structure as to be useless for shipment, as they would shrink very much in the pack- age. On the other hand, a barrel properly packed with a solid-headed variety, would shrink to a very limited . 22. ^VINNINGSTADT. extent in transit, and still be full upon arrival in mar- ket, to the satisfaction of the buyer. The two varieties combining all desirable features in the highest degree, and, at the same time, best adapted to our climate, are the " Winningstadt " and the "Brunswick." The for- mer is somewhat the smaller, but owing to its more com- pact habit of growth, a sufficiently larger number may be grown to the acre, to make up for the difference in individual size. The retail dealer will realize more money from a barrel of fine medium sized cabbages than from one containing a smaller number of very large heads. It is for this reason, probably, that the Winning- stadt enjoys a slight preference. The "Early Summer" is considered a reliable variety, and is cultivated for the Northern markets. There is no better variety, if the CABBAGE. 139 seeds are of pure stock, for forming uniformly solid heads, than the " Jersey Wakefield"; but it is small and liable to burst open when in vigorous growth, particularly in warm, rainy weather, following a drouth. The remedy 23. FOTTLER'S BRUNSWICK:. for this is "root-pruning," which is done by pushing over the plants slightly, to break some of the roots, or by cutting down alongside of them with a spade. The necessity for this operation would condemn a variety, however admirable in other respects. American seeds Fig. 24. JERSEY WAKEFIELD. are considered as producing more hardy plants than the imported; therefore, for a crop to head well in winter, the American "Flat Dutch" is the best variety, with "Fottler's Brunswick," which is an American variety of the German "Brunswick" cabbage, as second choice. 140 TRUCK-FABMING AT THE SOUTH. SEEDS AND SOWING. Cabbages from imported seed are thought to be more certain to head, and in the vicinity of Savannah, those from Germany are preferred, however it may be in other localities. It is of more importance to have seed of a good strain of the cabbage than of any other vegetable. Poor seeds of any of the genus Brassica are dear at any price. J#i consequence of its good keeping qualities, the cab- bage can be and is used in the United States throughout the year. The South is supplied with Northern grown stock during the hot summer months, and in the winter, the first shipments arriving about the middle of July. In turn, the North procures its supply from us after the exhaustion of the stores of wintered cabbages, dating from about March 1st, and continuing until June. Owing to its universal consumption, the markets have never yet been glutted with cabbage. Were its use less universal, as the Florida, Georgia, and Carolina crops are all marketed during the same period, the price might fall below a paying standard. The opening of the west- ern and north-western markets for the less perishable articles of the truck-farmer, by lower railroad freights and safer transportation facilities, makes it probable that many years will elapse before sufficient areas are appro- priated to the cultivation of such vegetables, as to cause the supply to exceed the demand. Cabbages are also grown to supply other than the Northern markets, of which we will speak hereafter. The seed to produce plants for the more important shipping crop is best sown between October 1st and 15th. It may be sown later; but as the plants are subjected to severely cold weather in December, it is important that they be large enough at that time to withstand hard frosts. When the ther- mometer falls below twenty-four degrees, they are likely to be killed. CABBAGE. 141 To secure the necessary hardiness, and low, stocky growth, the seed should be sown thinly on rather light, unmanured soil. Instead of making a sowing in the open air later than November 1st, the careful gardener will provide against losses by frost, by sowing under glass in cold frames, about November 15th. The cold frame plants will only be used in case those in the open ground have been killed or injured by freezing, or have grown too large to be transplanted for a later crop. To render the plants as hardy as possible, the soil of the frames should not be manured, and it should be kept as dry as the health of the plants will permit. Sashes must not be used, day or night, to force the plants, but are only to be put on at night for protection against ap- prehended black frost. For the location of a cabbage seed bed in the open air, see chapter on "Insects." A deep and freshly stirred soil is not indispensable to produce good plants, and, where moles are numerous, they are very apt to haunt a bed freshly stirred, and destroy many young plants. The bed may be thrown up by the plow a fortnight or more before the seed is to be sown. When it is raked off later, many young weeds, which might have become annoying, will be destroyed. The seed bed should be about four feet wide, level on top, to avoid washing by heavy rains, and elevated a few inches above the general surface. The seed is sown from one-fourth to one-half an inch deep, according to the character of the soil. Make the drills across the bed four to five inches apart, to allow the earth to be stirred be- tween the rows, firming the soil by the roller or by a patting board. When sown under glass, the drills may be three and a half inches apart. If the soil is dry, the beds may require watering to cause the seed to germi- nate. It is not advisable to sow any seed within two or three inches of the back of the frame, or the plants will 142 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. grow spindling from the effects of the heat reflected from the boards. Do not sow as thickly near the front as in the middle of the bed, lest in wet w eather theplants may damp off while young. At the South, at the planting season, so many con- tingencies affect the sprouting of the seed and the safety of the young plants, when placed in the open air, that no definite quantity of seed, which will suffice for a given area, can be stated. Among these adverse influ- ences are hot baking suns, heavy rains, cut-worms, grass- worms (Laplirygmafrugiperda), and grasshoppers. Peter Henderson, one of the best authorities on mar- ket gardening at the North, says an ounce of seed will produce two thousand plants there are about ten thou- sand cabbage seeds in an ounce and A. S. Fuller, another good authority, estimates that an acre will require from a pound to a pound and a half of seed, or from one hundred and sixty thousand to two hundred and forty thousand seeds. I have sown pounds of seed without getting even a single plant. The only advice to be given is: to make frequent sowings and on different parts of the farm, and to follow the suggestion in the chapter on "Insects." If the seed is sound and properly sown under glass and cared for, few will fail to furnish available plants. SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. The land best adapted to raise spring cabbages for ship- ment, is a moist, sandy loam, if well drained. Any good garden soil, properly enriched and well prepared, will an- swer, however, if it be not too light and sandy; on such soils the plants maybe affected by the hot suns in March and April, just at the heading season. A newly cleared, well-drained mould is excellent. The chalk cliffs of the English sea shore being the native habitat of the cabbage, admirable crops of superior quality may be produced near CABBAGE. 143 our coast under the influence of the moist sea air, wher- ever the soil is adapted to this plant. Lime is very ben- eficial to the whole cabbage family, and soil, otherwise of desirable quality, on the immediate sea coast of the main- land, or on any of the Sea Islands, if well supplied with crumbling oyster-shells, the rubbish of Indian camps, cannot be surpassed for this vegetable. That these ac- cumulations of oyster shells, with a few shells of the clam and conch, are of Indian origin, is proven by the frequent occurrence among them of pieces of Indian pot- tery. Heavy soils require to be more deeply stirred by the turning and the subsoil plows, and more frequently har- rowed, than those of lighter character. At the North, land consecutively cropped with cab- bages seems to become infested with the cause, whatever it may be, of the disease of the root called "clubfoot;" an additional reason for rotation in cabbage culture. This appears to be less the case, when the land is plenti- fully supplied with lime naturally, or when it is used as a manurial application. Although the cabbage is little affected with this disease at the South, it is not well to have cabbages follow cabbages on the same ground. The richer the manuring, in excess of what any possi- ble crop could be able to take from the soil, and the bet- ter the preparation, the larger will not only be the indi- vidual heads, and, therefore, the weight of the entire produce, but the more certainty will there be of the whole crop heading up uniformly. The table opposite shows the composition of fifty tons equal to eighty-eight wagon loads of loose stable manure, holding thirty bushels, or one thousand one hundred and twenty-five pounds, each; and that of a crop of twenty- five tons of cabbages, both according to the analyses of Prof. E. Wolff. 144 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 50 Tons of fresh Stable Manure contain 25 Tons of Cabbages contain Nitrogen 546 Ibs. 120 Ibs. Potash 520 ' 315 Phosphoric acid 280 ' 70 Soda 100 ' 45 < Lime 210 ' 155 ' Magnesia 140 ' 30 < A study of the above table will show: First. That a crop of twenty-five tons of cabbages will exhaust within fifty-five pounds all the lime contained in an application of fifty tons of stable manure, and, if only that quantity were applied, an English or Northern yield of fifty tons, not an excessive estimate, under their closer planting, would require one hundred pounds more of lime than is contained in the manure. As was stated before, nearly all land holds sufficient lime for ordinary crops; but, unless the soil is rich iu this component (often the case on the coast), land used for cabbage crops would be benefited by a dressing of lime, of about thirty bushels to the acre, every three or four years. It is not only a chief constituent of the crop, but it renders the nitrogen in the soil more available. Second. That exceedingly rich land is required for a good crop of cabbages; therefore, as no crop can take up all the nitrogen and other plant food contained in an ap- plication of manure, the larger the amount of this plant food and the greater its concentration and availability, the more satisfactory will be the result. Third. That if the stable manure used is deficient in liquid excrement, or has been exposed to leaching rains, fifty tons should be supplemented either with good Peru- vian guano, or with nitrate of soda and an acid phosphate, or with night-soil. If stable, or any other bulky or com- posted manure is to be used, it is best to apply it broad- cast for cabbage, after the land has been thoroughly pre- CABBAGE. 145 pared by plow and harrow, and then to turn it into beds with a one-horse plow. For applying bulky manures, either broadcast or in drill, for cabbages, Irish potatoes, or other crops, the truck-farm- ers who plant in the vicinity of Savannah on an exten- sive scale use a manure-spreader. This applies the manure not only evenly at a certain rate, which is very well reg- ulated, but it cuts up and mixes the manure during the distribution. Of stable manure accumulated under shel- ter and well-rotted without having been fire-fanged, forty two-horse wagon loads to the acre on good land, which has previously been fertilized for a vegetable crop, is a fair manuring. If of less valuable quality, the quan- tity should be increased, or its character improved by adding guano, etc., as above recommended. Instead of stable manure, a good compost -applied in quantity pro- portionate to its quality, may be used. This may con- sist of Peruvian guano, or some reliable ammoniated superphosphate of lime (acid phosphate), or of cotton seed, or night-soil, composted with muck or leaf-mould. If there be a specific manure for cabbage, it is good, pure, fine bone-flour. Of the crops raised by the trunk-farmer, there are one or two of which I may claim, without egotism, to have produced stock of superior quality. Among these are the two members of the Brassica genus, cultivated under this latitude for the Northern markets. Being situated too distant from the city to procure a satisfactory sup- ply of stable manure, I cannot too urgently impress upon my fellow-farmers, similarly situated, the indispensability of plowing under the " Clover of the South," our cow pea, for successful cabbage culture, and indeed, although perhaps in less degree, for the growing of any other crop. It should precede for them every other application of manure for cabbages. Soda and potash are inter- changeable in the composition of plants. Thus a plant 7 146 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. grown on a soil rich in the former, but poor in the latter, will contain much more soda than potash, and vice versa. The large preponderance of soda in the following analysis of the cow pea is attributable to the fact, that it grew upon soil near Chapel Hill, N. C., which, in dry weather, sometimes coated white with carbonate of soda. is TABLE SHOWING THE COMPARATIVE FERTILIZING VALUE OF COW PEA VINES AND RED CLOVER. * .0 r | 1 1 I & 1 P | So 1 | Cow pea vines Red clover, ripe 10.88 23.21 17.13 1.07 4.96 8.21 16.58 22.85 6.84 ! 1.68 6.662.02 0.70 1.78 0.141 13.20 2.50| 32.60 Doubtless fine cabbages maybe raised directly from the seed sown in place, instead of raising the plants in a seed-bed and then transplanting them. Experience and theory have long since shown the expediency of trans- ferring the plants from the seed-bed to the open ground. By the former practice, nothing is gained and something is lost. Apart from the advantages of transplanting (see chapter on that subject), we have, on a very small area, say one hundred and fifty square feet, a sufficient number of plants to set an acre. With at least one work- ing in the first six weeks, of the land to which the plants are transferred, we avoid the possible damage to the soil, during six weeks of fall weather, by heavy packing rains, and we place the manure fresh and concentrated around the newly-formed roots, when the plant has sufficiently advanced in growth to make use of it. TRANSPLANTING. Cabbages in our southern climates are marketable, though not full-grown, in about five months from the seed, the time depending upon the degree of moisture and CABBAGE. 147 the warmth of the season. Plants, if large enough, may be put out about November 1st, and successively, whenever circumstances are favorable, until January 1st. After this date, successful marketing will be more doubtful, although in case of loss by freezing, well-grown, sturdy plants, put out up to February 1st, as far north as Savannah, may come in early enough to anticipate the Norfolk crop. When a plant is pulled from the seed-bed, the tap-root will probably be so shortened as to encourage the emis- sion of numerous new fibrous roots. If not, its extremity should be pinched off. If the roots are puddled, they are more apt to take root promptly. This is done by making a mush or mud of clay, fresh cow dung and water, or of clay, or soil and some weak solution of any fertilizer, stirring it up to form a mixture as thick as cream. The roots of the plants are to be dipped in this, and if the plants are kept in the shade for twenty- four hours, young rootlets will commence to grow; but the plants must not be exposed to dry ness, until the roots are in the soil. Puddling is not a necessary operation. Should a drouth prevail during the whole proper transplanting season, watering during the process may be indispensable on very light soil. In such rare con- tingency a weak liquid manure is better than pure water. The stems of all the plants of the Brassica genus are the most vulnerable part; to protect these from frost, to place the extremity of the root nearer to moisture, to encourage the formation of roots along the inserted stem, and finally, to secure the plant more firmly in the soil, it should be planted down to the stalk of the up- permost leaf, or very nearly to the crown of the plant. Though occasionally planted closer together, the proper distance for Winningstadt, and other compactly-growing varieties, is eighteen inches in the row, and for the Brunswick, and other large kinds, from twenty-one to 148 . TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. twenty-four inches, the beds, or rows, being three and a half and four feet apart respectively. CULTIVATION. Plants cultivated, like the cabbage, for their foliage, should be pushed by frequent stirring of the soil. No vegetable responds more promptly to generous treatment than this. As soon as the plants commence to grow, the rows may be barred off by the plow to loosen the soil, but it must by no means be deferred late enough to stunt them by injuring the roots. (See chapter on " Insects-"). Under ordinary circumstances, two or three plowings, exclusive of the above, the return of the soil to the beds, and a couple of hoeings may be sufficient for this crop. In garden culture, and on a small scale, it is recom- mended to hoe every few days, and only while the dew is on; but the truck-farmer cannot make a hobby of his cabbage field to the neglect of other crops, however val- uable this particular one may be. GATHERING THE CROP AND MARKETING. The Northern demand generally commences early in March, and the crop should then be in full heading to meet it. Judgment and experience are needed to cut cabbages properly. Before its maturity, a head may be soft, that a little later will become hard and compact. Although a matured head presents a peculiar appearance, recog- nizable by an experienced grower, in part by becoming paler on top, it should be grasped and felt with the left hand, before the hatchet (which, with a little longer handle than usual, is the best cutting tool,) is applied. In preparing the heads for market, only a few outer leaves should be left to protect them from bruising in the pack- age and, for the same reason, the stems should be trim- med close to the heads. , CABBAGE. 149 By comparing the valuable organic matter contained in clover, cabbage, and turnips, it will be seen that the cabbage outranks the latter as food for cattle. 3 S5 " is the Flea-beetle in the perfect state. Lime or soot, dusted on the young plants, while wet with dew, seems distasteful enough to the insect to drive it off. The larva also in- jures the roots of larger cabbage plants. GREEtf CABBAGE-WORMS. The little green worm of the Cabbage Botys (Botys re- petitalis), feeds upon the lower leaves of young plants, Fig. 25. CABBAGE PLUSIA (Flusia brassicce.) a, Larva ; b, Chrysalis ; c, Moth, male. while webbed up near the ground with a few grains of sand. At present it does no material damage, but were it to become as numerous on the cabbage, as it sometimes is on the Bag- weed (Ambrosia artemisicefolia) , it might be injurious. The little pale-green, frisky worm of the ash-gray 154 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. moth, the Cabbage Plutella (Plutella cruciferarum) I have often found on very young seedlings in cold-frames. This worm is sometimes found in great numbers,, but it is fortunately too small to inflict serious harm. It gen- erally attacks only the outer leaves, when the cabbage has headed. Very many of the worms have the eggs of a little black inchneumon fly laid upon them. The cocoon of the worm resembles that of the fly, but it is more gauze like, while that of the fly looks like yellow opaque paper. If these two worms were to become troublesome, Fig. 26. RAPE BUTTERFLY (Pleris rapce). a, Larva ; ft, Chrysalis ; c, Female ; d, Male. they might be poisoned, but they are as yet not suf- ficiently injurious to warrant the trouble. The most destructive green cabbage-worm at the South, is the looping, or half-measuring, larva of the night- flying, or noctuid moth, the Cabbage Plusia (Plusia Irassicce). All cabbage growers know how these, with the help of some others, honey-comb cabbages in the spring. CABBAGE. 155 LIGHT-COLORED CABBAGE-WOKMS. The following three, viz., the Rape Butterfly (Pieris rapce), the Pot-herb Butterfly (P. oleracea), and the Southern Cabbage-Butterfly (P. Protodice), are white or cream- colored butterflies. The first two are more nu- merous and destructive than the third, our native South- ern species. The larvae and butterflies bear a general resemblance to each other, though they differ in their markings, as will be seen by an examination of the engravings. All of these cabbage- worms have their insect enemies. The Pot-herb Butterfly has lately been kept in check by Fig. 27. POT-HERB BUTTERFLY (Pieris olercecn). a, Larva; ft, Butterfly ; c, Chrysalis. its own appropriate parasite (Pteromalus puparwn), a little greenish wasp-like insect, less than one-tenth of an inch in length, with four delicate transparent wings. These butterflies almost invariably deposit their eggs on the under surface of the leaves. They hibernate gen- erally in the chrysalis state, attaching themselves to fences, stems of bushes, etc. , in the vicinity. If boards were fixed in the cabbage field, about two inches above the ground, these worms would probably resort to them, but such methods to capture them and diminish their number, after the infliction of the dam- 156 TRUCE-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. age, particularly on a large scale, and without coopera- tion, would be impracticable. The Zebra Caterpillar (Mamestra picta,) is not suffi- Flg. 28. SOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY (Jferfe a, Larva ; 6, Chrysalis. ciently numerous to do much harm. The Cabbage Pionea (P. rimosalis,) I have never found upon the cabbage. REMEDIES FOR CABBAGE-WORMS. The numerous deterrent remedies recommended as ef- fective against the cabbage-worms, although many may Fig. 29. SOUTHERN CABBAGE BUTTERFLY Female. be distasteful or offensive to them, are all comparatively worthless. This is owing partly to the impossibility of their being made to reach every part of the plant haunted by the insect, particularly the under surface of the leaf, and the interior of the head. Among the proposed CABBAGE. 157 remedies are: red pepper, soot, lime, ashes, salt, sulphur, solution of copperas, yeast, soap-suds, etc. Water heat- ed to one hundred and forty, or even to one hundred and sixty degrees, was at one time highly praised as an insecticide; but the same objection applies to it as to the others. Were it not hazardous to apply to the eatable por- tions of vegetables, like the cabbage, etc., poisons danger- ous to man, we would have an effective means in Paris green or London purple for the removal of these insects. The remedy for cabbage- worms, tested and recom- Fig. 30. ZEBRA CATERPILLAR (Mamestra pictd). a, Larva ; 6, Moth. mended by our best authority on such matters, Prof. Riley, is Pyrethrum powder. This is also called "Dal- matian," or "Persian Insect Powder," and the name "California Buhach," is given to the fresher and there- fore more effective Californian product. This is not a mere deterrent, rendering the part of the plant it touches obnoxious to the worm, but it acts as a poison by con- tact, convulsing and paralyzing the insect. While this powder is very effective with some kinds of insects, it is 158 TKUCK-FARMIXG AT THE SOUTH. comparatively harmless to others, and is more effective on young worms than on older ones of the same species. It is more fatal to the caterpillars of Pieris butterflies than to those of the Plusia moth. The powder does not always kill the worm, but merely so disables it that it falls to the ground, where it will readily become the prey of ants and other natural enemies. Pyre thrum seems to owe its virtues to a volatile oil, and its effects are not lasting in the open air. It may be used in the form of dry powder, mixed, if fresh, with from ten to twenty parts of flour, and blown by means of a bellows, or dusted upon the plant. It may also be used in the form of an alcoholic tincture, as a tea or de- coction, or even a mere solution or infusion in water, and applied by means of an atomizer or sprinkler. The fumes of burning Pyrethrum are applicable only in greenhouses or in dwelling rooms, which may be cleared of flies and mosquitoes by its use. PLANT-LICE. The astounding fecundity of plant-lice (Aphides), and their peculiar habit of attacking stunted plants, have already been mentioned. If the season be not too far advanced, or the plants too large, a badly infested cab- bage should be pulled up, removed from the field, and its place supplied by a clean and healthy one. The same valueless applications, with the addition of tobacco water and snuff (tobacco smoke in greenhouses), as in the case of the cabbage- worms, have been also recommended for plant- lice. Pyrethrum may be better than any other, but it would be useless to apply reme- dies to a large, badly infested cabbage, in the hope that it would ever become marketable. If of any effect, its ap- plication might destroy some plant-lice, but I have never carefully examined an infested plant without finding some of the natural enemies of the aphides at work CABBAGE. 159 among them, and, if left alone, the lice would eventu- ally succumb. An effective application would probably destroy friend as well as foe. My only success in fighting plant-lice was by transferring the larvao of the lady-bird from less valuable ruta bagas to cauliflowers or cabbages. The best advice in the premises is : prepare the land thoroughly, manure it richly, and cultivate the crop fre- quently and carefully, thus securing such vigorous and luxuriant growth that the losses by cabbage-lice will be insignificant. INSECT ENEMIES OF PLANT- LICE. The insect enemies of the plant-lice are legion, else they would devour every green living thing upon the earth. Some of these enemies are enumerated below. One or two of the species of lady-birds may be confined to other plant-lice than the Aphis brassicce. The lady- birds, both in the perfect and larval state, feed upon little else than plant-lice. Of these there are: First. The Nine-spotted Lady-bird (Coccinella-nota- ta). Nearly round, brick-red, with nine black spots. Second. The Two-spotted Lady-bird (Coccinella bi- punctata). Similar to No. 1, smaller, with two black spots. Third. The Spotted Lady-bird (Megilla maculata). Imported from Europe. Pink, with large black spots. Fourth. The Thirteen-spotted Lady-bird (Hippo- damia 13-punctata), Brick-red, with thirteen black spots. Fifth. The Trim Lady-bird (Cycloneda sanguinea). It has no black spots. Sixth. The Convergent Lady-bird (Hippodamia con- vergens). Deep orange-red, marked with black and white. Seventh. The Fifteen-spotted Mysia (Mysia 15- punctatd). From light gray to chestnut-brown, with fifteen black spots. Eighth. The Twice-stabbed Lady-bird (Chilocorus bivulnerus). Highly polished black, with two red spots. 160 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. Besides these, there are many less common kinds. Prominent among the enemies of the plant-lice are the larvae of the Golden-eyed and Lace- winged flies, called Aphis-lions. Other enemies are the larvae of Syrphus-flies, somewhat resembling a leech in shape. Besides being preyed upon by all these insects, the plant-lice are subject to several genera of tiny parasites included in the genus ApMdius. Fig. 31. HARLEQUIN CABBAGE BUG (StracUa histrionica). a, Larva ; ft, Pupa ; c, Eggs ; d, Perfect Bug. They have mostly black bodies, and are about one-twen- tieth of an inch in length. The little round, plump, smooth bodies in a colony of aphides, or remaining on the leaf of a plant after the removal of the colony by other enemies, are dead parasitized aphides containing the parasitic pupa of an ichneumon fly. The Harlequin-bug made its appearance in Georgia, from Mexico, about the commencement of Mr. Lincoln's first presidency, from which circumstances it received the local name of " Lincoln-bug," by which it is still known in Southern Georgia. In 1867 it had reached North Carolina. This insect winters in its perfect state, and the first CABBAGE. 161 that are seen in spring should always be destroyed. The larvae puncture and suck the leaves of the cabbage, giving them the appearance of being scorched. Strange to say, while this insect is on the increase, and the damage it inflicts considerable, no birds, or insect enemies seem to prey upon it. Probably, in good time, these will both present themselves for the feast, when its conspicuous black, yellow, and reddish colorings will render it an easy prey-. Hand-picking in the egg, larva, and perfect state, is the only remedy yet known. Two of the true bugs are sometimes very destructive to the cabbages and turnips. The False Chinch-bug and the Tarnished Plant-bug. The False Chinch-bug (Nysius destructor), much resembles the true Chinch-bug in general appearance, but that has a black head and thorax, and two conspicuous black spots on the front wings, while in this, the False-bug, the color is more uniform and of a paler tarnished brown. The two insects differ in their habits; while the Chinch -bug confines itself to the grains and grasses, this feeds on several garden plants and the grape. The engrav- ing fig. 32, gives the larva at b, and the perfect in- sect at c. This, like related insects, feeds by sucking the juices of plants by means of its beak, causing them to wilt. Like the Chinch-bug, it passes the winter under weeds and rubbish, and clean culture with the burning of all trash at the approach oy winter, will aid in keeping it in subjection. The Tarnished Plant-bug (Capsus oblineatus), fig. 33, in its general color is dirty yellow, sometimes green- ish, with markings of dark brown or black. It is a more Fig. 32. FALSE CHINCH-BUa (Nysius destructor.) fc, Pupa ; c, Mature Insect. 162 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. general feeder than the preceding, and besides plants in the vegetable and flower garden, it attacks vari- ous fruit trees, especially when these are young. The principal remedies thus far recommended are tobacco water and cresylic soap. The insect is very fond of the cabbage, especially when it is in bloom, and it has been suggested to allow a patch of cabbages to run up to flower in order to attract the insects which can be more readily destroyed, when thus assembled, than Fig. 33. TARNISHED J PLANT-BUG (Capsus when scattered over a wide area. obiincatus). The Lady . birds or Lady-bugs, in their perfect state are well-known insects, and the brief description of the leading species here given will allow them to be recognized. The larval form, in which they are so useful is not so well known. The engraving fig. 34, gives their general appearance The color is often blue, or lead color, with orange and black markings. They are remarkably active and run about with great rapidity, as they feed not only upon plant LA.RVA OF lice but upon other insects. The one repre- sented in fig. 34, is the larva of Hippodamia mia G e ^ er - convergens, and has done good service in keep- ing the Colorado Potato-bug in check, by feeding upon its soft larvae. THE CAULIFLOWER. 163 CHAPTER XVI. THE CAULIFLOWER (Brassica oleracea var. Botrytis). Choufleur, French; Blumenkohl, German; Blcemkool, Dutch; Cavoli fiori, Italian ; and Berza florida, Spanish. The Cauliflower is the most curious, most delicate, and most valuable member of the genus Brassica. The part used, called the "curd," consists of the undeveloped flower buds, with their stems, etc., forming, when not too much expanded, a firm, white, compact head. PROFITS PER ACRE. Of the various crops grown by the truck-farmer, this, when all the peculiar conditions for its successful culture are present, can be made the most profitable. Peter Henderson, in his valuable "Gardening for Profit," as- sures us that his average proceeds from an acre, through several years, had been fifteen hundred dollars, and, that in one very favorable season, it reached nearly three thousand dollars (ten thousand to twelve thousand plants to the acre). Two years ago, the New York " Sun" re- ported as exceptionally high, the net sales of two barrels of cauliflower, in prime condition, from Cutchogue, L. I., at nineteen dollars each. Some of my own crop of last year, April 4th, 1882, brought, in the New York market, per bushel crate, containing an average of twenty- two heads of prime quality, but not very large, eight dol- lars and fifty cents gross, or seven dollars and sixty cents net. That portion of the crop shipped in crates to New York, averaged, for the first quality and "culls," five dollars and sixty-five cents gross. The first, shipped 164 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. in barrels, March 25th, containing forty-two No. 1, and forty-seven No. 2, netted twenty-four dollars and seventy- five cents per barrel. The average gross cales per head of No. 1, in New York, were at thirty-seven and nine-tenths cents. The average gross sales per head of No. 1, in Boston, were at thirty-seven and five-tenths cents. The sales by another firm were not quite so satisfactory. "What number of plants to the acre, under favorable conditions, he may be able to nurse up to the production of marketable heads, will, of course, depend upon the gardener himself. The Cauliflower is considered the queen among vege- tables, and the supply has never been equal to the de- mand, though there are hundreds of acres devoted to it on Long Island, for the New York market. As seen from the prices quoted above, this vegetable is only within the command of persons of means. Fortunately for the market gardener, there are many who think as did Dr. Johnson: " Of all the flowers of the garden give me the cauliflower." Besides large quantities used for pickling, etc., there were marketed from Long Island, in 1879, one hundred thousand pounds of cauliflower. LOCATION AND SOIL. The cauliflower can never become a vegetable of uni- versal cultivation, for the reason, that it will not succeed if far removed from the moisture and the saline atmos- phere of its native locality, the sea coast, unless, in- deed, the required moisture can be supplied by irriga- tion. Erfurt, in the interior of Germany, produces per- haps the finest cauliflowers of the European Continent. They are grown between open ditches, or small canals, on ' ' lands " so narrow as to admit of water being thrown by hand from each marginal ditch to the middle of each THE CAULIFLOWER. 165 In watering, a ecoop attached to a somewhat elastic handle, is used, thus drenching the whole crop. The culture is often impracticable at only a short dis- tance from a favorable location. While the northern shore of Long Island is, par excellence, the cauli- flower garden of the United States; the southern shore is comparatively unfit for its growth. On the Peninsula of Florida, there must be many situations along either its west or east coast, where the soil being suitable, this vegetable may be grown with great success, and it is strange that the farmers of that State have not yet made it one of the favorite vegetables for shipment. It ought to do well near Norfolk, but the farmers there consider it a troublesome crop. Owing to the heat and dryness prevailing during the season of ripening, the seed of cauliflower is rarely grown in this country, but is imported from Europe. One American variety, the " Snow Ball," has lately been highly recommended. I do not yet know it sufficiently to either condemn or praise it; but what little I have seen, leads me to consider it a small leaved " Dwarf Erfurt," from American grown seed. It is necessary, even in a greater degree than with the common cabbage, to secure seed of good strain. Though all the other elements of success may be present, with seed of poor quality, failure is certain. Instead of the beautiful, snow white "curd," more like a flower in its delicate beauty than an edible vegetable, the green leaves push their way through the loose, deformed head, or the plant grows up into a stalk without heading, being per- fectly unmarketable, and only fit for cattle feed. VARIETIES. As in the case of cabbage, a crop of cauliflower may be grown for winter, and one for heading in spring, and, as with cabbage, success with the winter crop is most uncer- 166 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. tain. Different varieties are adapted to each season. While resistance to the effects of cold is the chief requisite of the first, ability to withstand the heat is a necessity for the spring crop. The "Algiers/' the variety grown so extensively in the French African colony for the winter supply of Europe (whence its name), is a good sort for the winter crop. It makes an enormous plant, and forms a large, massive, fine white head. The seed is sown, like that of cabbages, from May to September; but, owing to the greater susceptibility of cauliflower to heat, it is even Fig. 35. LENORMAND CAULIFLOWEK. more difficult to grow the plants. Another drawback in this latitude is the liability to have the crop killed out by freezing about the time it commences to mature. An amount of cold several degrees above that injurious to cabbage will kill cauliflower plants outright. The distance apart for the Algiers and other bulky va- rieties is two by four feet. This va-riety is recommended to Florida growers for a winter crop, to be marketed in February, the seeds being sown early in September. For the THE CAULIFLOWER. 167 main, or shipping, spring crop, the early dwarf varieties, which may be expected to mature before May, that is, before the weather becomes dry and hot, are the kinds to be selected. The < ' Very Early Dwarf Erfurt," the "Short- stemmed Lenormand," and "Early Paris," in. the order named, are the choice varieties. The plants should, like cabbage and other plants, be put out dripping wet, about, or soon after, the first of January, so as to escape the severest cold, which, in the latitude of Savannah, may generally be looked for in the latter part of December. The seed should therefore be sown under glass in cold frames, from November 15th to December 1st. In Florida, of course, it may be sown earlier, and the plants be put out sooner, as there is little danger to be anticipated from winter killing. CULTIVATION. The varieties are of such dwarfish habit (particularly is this so with the Erfurt), that it is not advisable to sow earlier in the open air, and to prick out under glass. When of a sufficient age to " curd," if growth is retarded, they may in the seed-bed form heads no larger than mar- bles. It is, therefore, important with this vegetable, that the plants suffer no hindrance or stunting in growth, but be pushed forward from the start, without, however, al- lowing them to become spindling or too delicate. From eighteen to twenty-one inches in the rows, and these three and a half feet apart (seven thousand one hundred and eleven to eight thousand two hundred and ninety- seven plants to the acre) is sufficient distance for the early varieties. The manure, the depth and kind of preparation of the soil, and the cultivation of the cauli- flower, are identical with that of cabbage, with the only difference, that the former perhaps requires a little more care, and will certainly reward extra attention. 168 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. PROTECTING. Bright sunshine tans or tarnishes the snowy whiteness of the " curd," deteriorating its quality. As soon, there- fore, as the head commences to be visible, it should be protected from the light, either by tying up all the large leaves over the head, or by pinning two of them together by a little stick. Protection is given, more expeditiously and the light excluded by using one of the larger leaves, torn from the plant to cover the ' ' curd " closely, tucking it between the head and surrounding leaves. If there are any caterpillars of the cabbage-butterfly on the plant, they are likely to be found on the lower surfaces of the covering. When the cutting of the crop has been com- menced, leaves for covering are to be taken from plants already cut. If the protecting leaf has been carefully adjusted, the operation need rarely be done more than once, as the heads mature three or four days after they become plainly visible. The several lobes forming the head should not be allowed to separate, or the head to become loose and expanded, before cutting for market; solidity being one of the requisites of good quality. CUTTING AND PACKING. When the "curd " is mature, the leaves will be seen to spread out. The proper instrument for cutting is a strong sharp knife, or small hatchet. A couple only of the larger leaves are left, which are folded over the head for protection against bruising in the packages. Heads less than four inches in diameter, those tanned by the sun, or of an " off color " from any other cause, or blem- ished by crickets, cut-worms, or cabbage-worms, or too much expanded, should be classed as culls, and packed separately. If white and compact, a small size is less objectionable than bad appearance. Each ' ' curd," at least of the first quality, should be covered by a piece of THE CUCUMBER. 169 smooth, soft, but tough white paper, which will admit of being tucked between the head and the leaves without tearing. The heads should be packed evenly and snugly in layers in barrels or crates, as the case may be. Each layer may be separated from the other by a piece of brown paper; if a barrel is used, the package should be thor- oughly ventilated. During cool weather, cauliflower may be safely shipped in barrels or barrel crates; but as soon as the weather becomes warm, the usual bushel crate is better, as affording a smaller mass of material to engender heat. In New York and Philadelphia, cauli- flower is sold by the package, and in Boston by the dozen. INSECTS. Insects infest the cauliflower and cabbage alike, and the remedies are the same in each case. CHAPTER XVII. THE CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus.) Coucombrc, French; Gurkc, German; Komkommer, Dutch; Citrinolo, Italian ; Pepino or Cohombro, Spanish. The Cucumber is one of the earliest known vegetables. Moses mentions it as abundant in Egypt. "We remem- ber the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cu- cumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." Numbers xi:5. A native of the East Indies, it was introduced into England in 1573. By means of thin plates of talc or mica (specularia plates of lapis specularis), Pliny tells 8 170 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. us, the Roman emperor Tiberius, who was fond of cucum- bers, had them throughout the year. The forcing con- sisted in growing the cucumbers in boxes or baskets of earth, protected in cold weather by these plates. The cucumber is a vegetable that is very easily grown, and is so productive when properly manured and cultivat- ed; it is so universally popular at the North, and is consumed so largely, that when the season permits the marketing of the greater part of the produce, it is one of the best paying crops. One of the drawbacks of truck- farming is, that whether the entire product of a crop is harvested or not, as soon as the same vegetable matures at a point farther North, it comes into market in a condi- tion fresher and more acceptable to the trade, and, there- fore, excludes from profitable sale all shipments of the article from the more southern and distant points. Thus, when the Savannah cucumbers are in, those from Flor- ida will be thrust out of the market; and the same fate awaits those from Georgia, as soon as the Norfolk crop matures. The season of 1882 was a fortunate one for the Savannah growers, nearly the entire yield of cucumbers having been marketed. While from two hundred to three hundred crates may be considered a fair crop; one farmer gathered one thousand three hundred and fifty crates from about an acre and a half, or nine hundred crates per acre, on very richly manured ground. VARIETIES. The only variety grown for shipment is the " Improved White Spine." In cucumber cultivation, seeds of home growth may be used. Seeds of more than one year old will be more productive, and run less to vine, than fresh seeds. They may be sown in the vicinity of Savannah ac- cording to season, about March 1st to the 15th, and earlier or later, respectively, south or north of that lati- THE CUCUMBER. 171 tude. In the middle of Florida, it may be safe to plant any time in January, SOIL AND SOWING. The land best adapted to the cucumber is a moist, warm, light, sandy loam; although sandy soil is not so productive, the finest and earliest cucumbers may be grown on it if highly and properly fertilized. A manure rich in nitrogen will produce fruit of the de- sirable dark-green color. The usual method of planting cucumbers is in hills, either four or five, or even six feet apart each way, ac- cording to the nature and fertility of the soil. The land being properly plowed and har- rowed, furrows are run by the plow, crossing each other at right angles. At each crossing one or two shovelfuls of good stable manure, or compost, or failing these, an equivalent quantity of any other good fertilizer is inti- mately mixed with the soil, and a hill, flat on top, and a little elevated above the general WHITE-SPINE .., ., T T CUCUMBER. surface, is made with the hoe. In a furrow one-half to one inch deep, made by the hand across the middle of the hill, sow from ten to fifteen seeds. A week later, whether any of the seeds first planted are up or not, a second sowing is made, at a sufficient distance from the first to avoid disturbing it, and always on the same side of it. A week later still, a third sowing may be made on the other side of the first. Should a frost kill the growing plants of the first seeding, before those of the second are up, plants from the second may be made available for the crop, The same rule applies to the last sowing. CULTIVATION. When probability of frost has passed, and the plants are sufficiently large, they are to be thinned to two or 172 TBUCK-FAEMING AT THE SOUTH. three in the hill. If the seed comes up well, and the plants are crowding each other, another partial thinning may be necessary. I prefer to manure, as for cabbage, in the furrow, and to drill in the seed on beds six feet apart, and to thin so as to leave the plants finally about twelve inches apart in the row; leaving single plants, three sowings being made as before. At the first thin- ning, the soil should be drawn by the hoe to the stems up to the seed leaves. The earth is to be kept loose and clean between the rows by plow and cultivator, and be- tween the plants by the hoe, until the vines have taken possession of the ground. If the plant is stopped when it has two rough leaves beyond the second, that is, if the end of the vino is pinched off, lateral fruiting branches will be emitted, which will be early in bearing and more productive than the main vine. This operation of stop- ping is rarely practised in extensive planting. GATHERING AND PACKING. If the fruits are cut instead of being pulled off, there will be no injury to the vine; nor will the cucumber wilt so rapidly. A transverse section of the fruit should be nearly round, before the cucumber is picked; but quite green and perfect in shape. None of imperfect form, short, round and contracted at the flower end, or with the slightest tendency to turn yellow, or large and over- grown, should be shipped, as they will affect the market value of the whole package. The cucumbers should be carefully laid in the crates, or be well shaken down, as directed in the chapter on " Packing," and the crate be over-full when nailed up SEED SAVING. The White-spined cucumber becomes white instead of yellow, when ripe. The whitest, largest and longest should be selected for seed. Cut them lengthwise into THE CUCUMBER. 173 halves, and take out the seeds and inner pulp by hand, dropping them into a barrel or pail. The mass should be stirred daily and allowed to remain four or five days, to enable fermentation to remove the gelatinous matter which surrounds the seeds. These are then washed out in several waters, thoroughly dried, and stored away in bags. INSECTS. The insects which infest the cucumber are: First. The Cucumber Flea-beetle (Haltica cucumeris). Second. The Striped Cucumber-beetle (Dicibrotwa vittata). Third. The Twelve-spotted Squash-beetle or Striped- bug (Diabrotica 12-punctata). Fourth. The Pickle-worm (Phacellura nitidalis). Fifth. The Grass-worm (Laphrygma frugiperdd). The little flea-beetle, like its kindred on the cabbage Fig. 37. CUCUMBER FLEA-BEETLE (Haltica cu- cumeris.) Fig. 38. STRIPED CUCUMBER-BEETLE (Diabrotica vittata.) Back. side. Fig. 39. LARVA OP STRIPED CUCUMBER-BEETLE. and other plants, may be driven off by freshly-slaked lime or soot. The Striped-bug appears early in the spring as a com- 174 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. plete insect, destroying the young leaves. If numerous, these insects may be poisoned by Paris green, one part to ten of flour, before they can deposit their eggs for a new brood, of which there are three at the South. After hatching from the egg, the duration of its larval existence is about four weeks, during which time its injury Fig. 40.' to the roots of plants, by boring into them, TWELVE-SPOTTED may ^ Q considerable. The past season, SQUASH-BEETLE J , * (Didbrotica 12- an insect was reported to have been very punctata.) destructive to cucumber vines near Savan- nah, by injuring the roots. Frnm the description it must have been the larva of the Dialrot'ica, or it may Fig. 41. PICKLE- WORM (Phacellura mtidalis). have been the true wire-worm the larva of small snap- ping beetles; but most probably the former. It has been said in a recent work, "Of all the multifarious remedies pro- posed against the attacks of this insect, there is none so effectual, or so cheap in the end, as in- closing the young vines in boxes, which are open at the bottom, Fig. 42. MOTH or PICKLE- and covered with millinet on the top. Such boxes are made at a trivial cost, and if properly stored away each season after use, will last for many years." The private gentleman, having half a dozen cucumber vines in his garden, may avail himself of such a THE EGG-FLAK T. 175 remedy, but the farmer, who fails to protect his crop by destroying the first insects by poison, in case of their visitation in devastating numbers, and to whom the alternative is offered, would probably give up the cucum- ber to Diabrotica, and betake himself to another crop, rather than use from forty thousand to eighty thousand boxes for the protection of from six to twelve acres. The third of the beetles infesting the cucumber, the F;g. 43. GRASS-WORM (Laphrygma fruyipirda. ) Fig. 44. LARVA OF GRASS-WORM. twelve-spotted Diabrotica is not so destructive as the former species. The cucumber is the regular food plant of the Pickle- worm (Phaoellura nitidalis) while the more omnivorous Grass- worm (Laphrygma frugiperda) only occasionally feeds upon it. Both these lepidopterous insects become numerous too late in the season to affect the crop of the truck-farmer seriously. CHAPTEE XVIII. THE EGG-PLANT, OR "GUINEA CQUASH." (Solanum melongena.) Aubergine, French ; Eicrpflanze, German ; and Melanzana, Italian. The Egg-plant is of tropical origin, and was introduced into England from Africa in 1597. It derives its common name from a small white variety which is similar in shape and appearance to the egg of a goose. 17C TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. Only a very few years since, the demand for egg-plants (as the fruit is called), was so limited in the New York market, that but a few could be sold, and it did not pay to plant a crop for shipment. This was probably in part owing to the fact, that the cultivation of this plant at the North is attended with trouble, in consequence of its tenderness, and a successful crop is doubtful. Lat- t9rly a more general taste for the vegetable seems to have been developed, and its consumption has greatly increased. As late as July 8th, last (and egg-plant had been in the Savan- nah market from Florida since January), a ship- ment of my own, averag- ing about sixty-five fruits to the barrel, sold in the New York market at six dollars per barrel. The farmers of the southern part of Florida, from Tampa to Key West, be- ing exempt from frost, may produce such tropi- cal vegetables at will, as far as season is concerned. On Dec. let of last year, egg-plants and tomatoes were mature at Clear Water. The only variety cultivated for market is the "New York Purple Improved." This being a tropical fruit, or berry, it must reach its greatest development and mature its seed most perfectly at the South, for which reason it is not only possible, but ad- visable to use seed of home growth in preference to that produced at the North. The seed and young plants require more of a tropical heat (65 to 70) for their germination and continued Fig. 45. EGG-PLANT " NEW YORK PURPLE IMPROVED." THE EGG-PLANT. 177 healthy growth, than any other crop, and should, there- fore, be sown by themselves under glass in cold frames. After sowing, the bed should be well watered and the glass placed on, and not removed until the seed is up. In case of hot sunshine before germination, the sash should be partially shaded. If it is contemplated to prick out the plants into other frames, the sowing may be as early as the middle of January; otherwise ten or fifteen days later. The management while under glass is about the same as with other tender plants, with the exception that they require more careful exclusion of cold air, and have more frequent protection from slight variations of temperature by the glass, than the tomato, pepper, etc. , and they will bear a greater degree of heat without being drawn. No vegetable with which I am acquainted, can withstand drouth better than the egg- plant, which bears and matures its fruit under a degree of heat and dryness that would be fatal to other crops. If there be a sufficiency of decayed vegetable matter in the soil, this crop may be allotted to the sandiest part of the farm. If planted in low, although thoroughly drained, land, the plants are apt to die off about the time they commence to bloom or bear, a peculiarity more or less common to all the Solanum family. To mature early fruit of the size and quality required by the trade, a shovelful or two of fermented stable manure, or compost, should be mixed in each hill. The hills should be two and a half by four feet apart. The cultivation is about the same as that of any other hill crop. The earth should be slightly drawn to the' stems during the hoeing, not suf- ficiently, however, to touch any of the lower branches. The plow and horse-hoe, once each, run between the rows, and two hoeings should be sufficient for the crop in light unbaked land. To cut through the tough stems, without disturbing the plants, a thin-bladed, sharp knife, or a pair of nippers 178 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. is necessary. To be marketable at good prices, the fruit should be well grown, weighing from one to three pounds but not old, nor light colored and tough; small ones are not readily salable. They are to be carefully handled to avoid bruising and injuring the gloss. Shorten the stems to about half an inch and wrap each in paper. It is then to be firmly and evenly packed in crates, or in well ventilated double-headed barrels. The Flea-beetle frequently attacks the plants when young, for which the usual remedy of lime or soot is applicable, but rarely necessary. The large green Tomato-worm is sometimes found on the egg-plant. Should these, the Tortoise-beetle (Cassi- da Texana)oY the false Colorado-beetle (Doryphora June- ta), already mentioned, ever become destructive, Paris green might be applied before the fruit, or berry, is formed. CHAPTEE XIX. KALE, BORECOLE, OR SPROUTS (Brassica oleraceavar. sabelliea.) Ohouvert, French ; Krauskohl or Brjurikohl, German; Bxrerikool, Dutch; Cavolo aperto, Italian; Col, Spanish. Kale is a variety of the cabbage of great excellence for the table. It is distinguished from the other varieties by its open growth and its more or less curled or wrinkled leaves. It is the most hardy of all, and with- stands a severe degree of cold; indeed, it is not consid- ered to have reached the perfection of flavor and tender- ness, until it has been frozen. Among the many varieties of kale some are dwarfish in habit, while others grow from four to five feet high. KALE, BORECOLE, OE SPROUTS. 179 Kale is rarely grown at the extreme South for the Northern markets, its extensive cultivation being con- fined to Norfolk, Va. The price in the New York market rarely exceeds two dollars and twenty-five cents per barrel. The varieties cultivated are: a local one, called the " Blue Curled," and the " Green Curled Scotch;" the former by far the most extensively. The preparation and character of the soil, quantity and kind of manure, and the cultivation of the crop must be similar to that of the other varieties of cab- bage. The " Blue Curled " is sown from August 10th to September 15th, at Nor- folk, in drills thirty inches apart, at the rate of a pound and a half of seed to the acre; the plants are eventually thinned to a stand of from four to eight inches in the row. The " Scotch Curled," to a much smaller extent, is sown in seed-beds early in August, and transplanted in September from eight to ten inches apart in the row.. The crop is cut for shipment in March. The size of the plants, when cut, varies from six inches to two feet across, and, therefore, the number which will fill a barrel varies greatly. It must be very firmly packed in well- ventilated barrels, as with the best care, it will shrink in consequence of its loose growth. It is subject to the same insects as the cabbage, and, sown as it is in the open field in the fall, is affected by the young cut-worms. See chapter on "Insects." Fig. 46. KALE. 180' TBUCK-FAKMIKG AT THE SOUTH. CHAPTER XX. LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa). Laitue, French ; Garten-salat, German ; Latuw, Dutch ; Lattvuja, Italian ; Lechuga, Spanish. The Lettuce is a hardy annual which was first culti- vated in England in 1562, but whence it was introduced is not known. Owing to its freedom from insect depredations (exclu- sive of the cut-worm), its large consumption, and the ease with which it can be grown, lettuce is one of the most important crops of the Northern farm-gardener, notwithstanding the fact, that, of late years, it has be- come subject to a disease. In New York, the winter and very early spring markets are supplied from hot-beds, in which it is grown in and near Boston, where a specialty is made of this vegetable. In consequence of this ex- tensive supply of superior and fresh stock, the more wilted condition of shipments from the South renders the cultivation of it here unprofitable. It is grown, how- ever, to a considerable extent at Norfolk. A good sort should form a solid and large head. The varieties used at Norfolk are: " White Cabbage " and the " Boston Market," or " Tennis Ball," the former for open field culture, and the latter under glass. The seed is sown under glass in September, the plants put five or six inches apart, and the crop is ready for market in February and March. The trouble with this crop is the liability of the plants to damp off under glass. For the open field, the seed is sown about the middle of September in a bed, and not quite as deep as cabbage seeds, the plants are transferred to flat beds, setting them THE ONION. 181 about nine inches apart each way, to be cultivated en- tirely by the hoe, or in rows eighteen inches apart, the plants standing eight inches in the row, which will ad- mit the use of a narrow cultivator between the rows. This crop is marketable in April. Any well-drained soil, made fine and mellow, and well manured will produce good lettuce. After cleaning, or trimming the heads of soiled, or discolored leaves, they are firmly packed for shipment in crates, barrels being unfit for this crop. CHAPTER XXL THE ONION (Allium Cepa). Ognon, French ; Ziviebel, German ; Uijen, Dutch ; Cipotfa, Italian ; Cebolia, Spanish ; Alho, Portuguese. The alliaceous esculents are of great antiquity and of universal cultivation in. every civilized country, some na- tionalities preferring one variety, and others a different one. The same genus includes the Leek (Allium Porrum), the Chives (A. ScJianoprasum), the Garlic (A. sativum), the Shallot (A. Ascalonicum), and the Rocambole (A. Scorodoprasum). The onion (Allium Cepa) is the only species with which the truck-farmer has any concern. There are many varieties of the onion, only a few of which are grown for the Northern markets. ANALYSIS. According to Prof. C. A. Goessman, a crop of four hundred and forty-two bushels contained: 182 TKUCK-FARMIKG AT THE SOUTH. Potassium oxide 33.51 Ibs. Sodium oxide 1.90 Magnesium oxide 3.60 Calcium oxide 8.20 Sesqui-oxide of iron 0.58 Silicic acid 3.33 Phosphoric acid 15.80 Sulphuric acid 29.81 Nitrogen 48.63 The peculiar characteristic odor is due to a volatile or- ganic compound containing sulphur. Onions are used medicinally as stimulants, diuretics, and anthelmintics (worm medicines). Boiled or roasted, they form emollient poultices. The fresh root irritates or reddens the skin, and the expressed juice is sometimes used in ear-ache and in rheumatism. It has generally been held, but erroneously, that the onion could not be successfully grown from the seed, at the South, and that, below about the fortieth degree, the dry heat of our summers would dwarf the bulbs. Egypt and the Barbary States produce, perhaps, the finest onions in the world, several of the largest varieties having originated in Tripoli. Large quantities are annually exported from Portugal and Spain. The opinion pre- vails in Germany that the seed, at least of some varieties, will deteriorate, unless of southern growth; and those of the Madeira onion, used in Bermuda for the crop so popular in our Northern markets, are grown in the south of France. I have grown most varieties of the onion successfully for the past twenty-two years, having produced, one season, the "Giant Rocca" at the rate of ten hundred and fifty bushels per acre. The usual yield is from three hundred to eight hundred bushels. At no time of the year are the Northern markets entirely bare of this indispensable vegetable, some variety in its green or matured state being procurable. The aim of the Southern grower should be to slip his crop into the market at a time when the supply from other sections is most deficient. The first matured bulbs THE ONIOH. 183 in the spring found in the Northern markets are the Ber- muda grown " Madeira " onions. Although it might be possible to grow as fine onions in Florida from autumn- sown seed, the attempt to compete with Bermuda onions for favor would seem fruitless at present. South Florida might even antici- pate the Bermuda crop. The next onions, other than from this section and from Florida, offered in market, are the "Potato onions," grown near Nor- folk and in Maryland. Southern onions will be apt to bring the most sat- isfactory prices about the time the supply from Bermuda is becoming ex- hausted, which occurs about June 15th. While no variety of Southern- grown onions will keep %' 4< -~ c during the winter, should they ripen a little premature- ly, they may be preserved sufficiently long to allow the shipments to be so timed as to meet this demand. VARIETIES AKT> SEED. Of more than one hundred varieties, the common "Bed Wethersfield" and "Yellow Danvers" are the best keepers. The beautiful white "Italian Queen" is the earliest and surest, but is too small. The " Giant Eocca " makes an enormous yield, but is too large for market. The now popular " Globe Madeira" will be the best to succeed the Bermuda crop of the same variety. Of no other vegetable, save the cauliflower, is it so im- -- GIANT ROCCA. 184 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. portant to have a good strain of seed. If saved from bulbs of objectionable form, or imperfect development, seal- lions, instead of the desirable globular onions, will be the result. No seed older than of the previous crop should be used, as it rarely retains vitality over one year; it is also well to put it to the preliminary test recommended in the chapter on " Seeds," in order to gauge the drill in accord- ance with the percentage of sound seed. It will germi- nate in three or four days, if kept warm and moist. The seed is frequently soaked from one to four days, but I cannot recommend the practice. If it is found to be of fair quality, to be perfectly reliable, the drill may be gauged to drop a seed every quarter to half an inch, at which rate it will require from three to four pounds to the acre. If sown too thickly, great labor is required to thin the plants, as it must be done early enough in their growth to prevent injury by crowding, and to avoid breaking the roots of those to be left. SOIL AND SOWING. Onions may be sown at any time in the fall, the weather being favorable, but there is nothing to be gained by such very early planting. In the latitude of Savannah, and northward, the young plants or October or Novem- ber sowing may be exposed to injury from heavy rains, or, notwithstanding the very hardy nature of the onion, from severe freezing in December. The crop from seed sown about January 1st escapes these dangers, comes in early enough for the better demand, and, growing through a shorter and warmer period, will require less extended care. The onion is intolerant of the vicinity of trees, and requires an open exposure. The soil best adapted to this crop is a deep, rich, fria- ble warm mould, full of vegetable matter, such as is fre- THE ONIOX. 185 quently found in river bottoms and drained ponds. On heavy land, the bulbs are apt to remain small, and ac- quire a greater pungency of taste. If the soil is loamy, sand should be the predominating constituent. Land recently cleared, and therefore free from grass and weed- seed, provided it is made perfectly mellow, is always to be preferred to old land, particularly unless the latter has been kept clean of weeds and grass, in order that none of their seeds may have been self-sown for several suc- cessive years. Although the onion is a very shallow-rooted plant, it delights in a well-drained, deeply-stirred, and finely-pulverized soil. No plant requires a more care- ful preparation of the land, and a proper piece, once se- lected for this crop (it being an anomaly in regard to rotation), it should always remain appropriated to the same purpose; for, with proper and efficient manure and management, the crop may be increased in quantity each successive year. The land should be allowed to mature no second crop. As soon as the onions are removed, it should be sown down to cow peas. If recently cleared land is selected, it should also be sown with peas in July or August. They will not only keep down the weeds, and tend to mellow the soil by the decaying mass of vege- table matter, but maintain and increase the fertility of the soil. The first of December is early enough to plow under the dead pea vines, which should be deeply buried. The analysis shows that the onion requires a rich nitrogenous manure, and that it also contains much pot- ash and phosphoric acid. The manure of the hog is gen- erally considered the best for this crop. If stable manure is used, it should not be coarse enough to prevent its be- ing plowed under shallow. There is no objection to fine, green stable manure, provided it contains no seeds of weeds. If the animals have been fed on hay, the manure must be thoroughly fermented to destroy the vitality of 186 TRUCK-FARMIKG AT THE SOUTH. the grass seed. The onion is a gross feeder, and, with- out adequate manuring, there will be 110 satisfactory crop. The plants will not form bulbs properly if poorly fed. The yield will be in proportion to the quantity and quality of the manure. Thirty loads, of thirty bushels each, sufficiently compressed, or fermented, to weigh forty pounds to the bushel, is not a heavy application. Twenty- five loads of night-soil would do as well. If other fertil- izers, such as bone-meal (which is excellent), or guano, are used, they should be harrowed in so as to permit the roots of the young plants to reach them. A top-dress- ing of a hundred bushels of ashes per acre is beneficial. After several years of manuring with stable manure, a change to a half ton of bone-flour, ammoniated super- phosphate, guano, or five hundred pounds of sulphate of ammonia would be advisable. If the land is new, or loamy, a cross plowing and double harrowing may be necessary to put it in proper trim to receive the manure. It should be level, lest heavy rains may wash out the seed on the higher points, and cover the plants in lower ones too deeply. At the South, where we are visited by heavy rains, onions, on a small scale, are best planted on four-feet-wide "lazy beds," the intervening paths acting as auxiliary drains. The seed may be sown upon these beds by hand, in drills half an inch deep, twelve inches apart, across the bed. On a larger scale, where machines must be used, making two drills at a time, the sowing had better be done on narrow lands, fifteen or twenty feet wide, the rows running lengthwise, twelve or fifteen inches apart. Beds, or narrow lands, are formed in plowing under the manure, previously applied broadcast, as shallow as pos- sible, and, if the furrows intervening between the lands are too shallow to act as drains, the loose soil is to be thrown out upon the beds with hoes or shovels. The surface must be thoroughly fined with harrow and hand- rake. In fair weather, the seed will be up in two weeks. THE ONION. 187 CULTIVATION. The only sure road to success in onion culture, even when all other conditions are favorable, is clean cultiva- tion, and as soon as the lines of young plants are dis- tinguishable, hoeing should be commenced, and repeated, with hand-weeding, whenever necessary, no weed being allowed to grow large enough to disturb the roots of the onion, when pulling it, and be continued to within about a month from the time the crop matures. The soil should be stirred between the plants in the row. The chief objection to this crop is the amount of care- ful labor required to keep it clean, at least four or five hoeings being necessary, for which the scuffle, push, or Dutch hoe is the best implement. Onions grow best upon the surface, as their roots do not penetrate the soil deeply; therefore, the hoeing must be superficial, and no soil should be drawn to the rows. They should be thinned to four inches in the row, if only large bulbs are wanted, but in case a large yield is de- sired, irrespective of size, the stand may be closer. Transplanted onions take root very readily; therefore, any vacant, spaces may be supplied, or new beds made with the plants removed in thinning, cutting back the roots to about an inch, and the leaves one-half their length. The roots should be put down straight, and the plants deeper than they grew originally. If onions have room laterally, groups of four or five may be left together, be- cause in their efforts for survival, they will push one another sidewise, and mount on top of each other, and still form round, marketable bulbs. HAKVESTING AND MARKETING. At the North, where the onions are to be stored for winter use, the whole crop is pulled when three-fourths of the plants have turned yellow, shrivelled and dried in 188 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. the neck sufficiently to topple over. At this time, some of the roots are dead, and have lost their hold upon the soil. The onions are allowed to remain spread upon the ground for two or three weeks to dry, before being housed. They are in fit condition for storing, when no moist- ure is visible upon strongly twisting the necks. Here, the crop being wanted for an early market and immediate use, the onions are pulled, as they successively indicate ma- turity by toppling over, and are left on the ground a day or two, or they are removed at once, and the necks cut off with a sharp knife, an inch or so from the bulb, when they are carefully packed in bushel crates and shipped. A vegetable, not a luxury, and rarely, if ever, out of market, cannot be expected to bring high prices. Onions range between one dollar and two dollars and fifty cents per bushel crate. In our local market they brought last June from two dollars and twenty-five cents to two dol- lars and seventy-five cents per bushel crate. A globular-shaped onion will produce a crop one-third larger than one that is flat in form. RAISING ONION SEED. If properly matured, and carefully preserved, South- ern-grown seed is as good as any. The onion being a biennial plant, it produces seed the second season. The bulbs from which it is contemplated to save the seed should be selected, choosing those which combine the distinguishing peculiarities of the variety, in order that the seed may remain true. If planted in the fall, the seed will be ripe the following July or August. The soil should not be as rich as for the crop of bulbs, lest the flowers may blight and form no seed. The rows should be. about eighteen inches apart, and the entire bulbs pressed into the soil below the surface, about eight inches apart in the row. The seed stalks of some of the va- rieties are five feet high, and unless they are supported, THE OKION. 189 they will break or bend over, until the seed heads either touch the ground, or approach it so closely as to be dam- aged by the moisture. This support is most easily given by stretching twine a few inches below the seed heads, one along the middle of the bed, and another on the outer edge of every bed. The seed is ripe enough for gathering, when the pods commence to burst open, and heads and stalks turn t yellow. The stalks are carefully cut six or eight inches from the heads, which are allowed to fall into a bucket or open bag, otherwise some of the seed may shell out and be lost. Partly-matured seed will not ripen fully, if the stalk is cut close to the seed- cluster. These must be spread out upon the close floor of a dry loft, or hung up to dry thoroughly, when they may be thrashed out, winnowed, and washed. The false seed and husks will float upon the surface of the water, while only the good seed will sink to the bottom of the vessel. The seed must be quickly and thoroughly dried in the sun before being stored away. ONION SETS. At Norfolk, onions for the Northern markets are not grown from the seed, as the crop would not sufficiently anticipate those of more northern latitudes; but from sets* or small onions. Those of the " Potato-onion" are put out in August and September, and sets of the " Silver- skin" and " Yellow Danvers" in February. The ' ' Potato-onion " produces no seed, but forms from three to ten small bulbs around the old one, from which it is propagated. These small bulbs, when planted out, increase in size, and form a large and marketable onion. These produce the earliest crop of local growth, and even survive the winter as far north as Vermont. The prep- * The English word "sets" may have come over from the German " Setz-Zwiebel," that is : plan ting- onions. 190 TBUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. aration of the ground for these and for other onion sets is the same as for the crop from seed. The sets are pressed into the soil at the distances the crop is to mature, the tops about level with the surface, care heing taken to have the root end down. The sets should range in size from that of a pea to a common- sized marble. The smaller the better. When the bulbs are too much developed, they are apt to run to seed in- stead of producing good onions. Onion sets are often high-priced, costing from five to ten dollars per bushel; but they may be grown at the South with proper manage- ment. The land should certainly be free from weeds and grass, lighter and less richly manured than for the crop. The rows may be ten inches apart, and the seed should be sown late in the season, about May 1st, and much thicker than when intended to produce large bulbs. From fifteen to twenty pounds to the acre are required. INSECTS. The larvae of the Dipterous, or Two-winged insects, which at present infest the onion in this country, pene- trate it at the root; and the first indication of their pres- ence are symptoms of disease and approaching, death. There is no remedy, but to dig up every wilted and yellow plant, and to hunt for and destroy the grub with- in the rotting bulb, with a view to curtail future depre- dations. The black Onion-fly (Ortalis flexa], is a native of this country, while (Anthomyia ceparum,) is an im- ported insect. THE PEA. 191 CHAPTER XXII. THE PEA (Pimm sativum.) Jbis, French ; Erbse, German ; Erwat, Dutch ; Plsello, Italian ; Pesolcs, Spanish ; and tirvttha, Portuguese. The pea is a hardy annual, a native of the south of Europe, and has been cultivated from time immemorial. We are told that, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, peas not being very common in England, they were brought from Holland, and that they were " fit dainties for ladies, they come so far, and cost so dear." Where labor for picking the crop is plentiful, it is one of the indispensable crops of the truck-farmer, bringing in the first proceeds of the season. VARIETIES. A good market variety should be productive, of good flavor, form full, pods plump, and be of uniform growth. Frequently a gardener plants poor seed, which runs to vine, and produces but few good pods. The varieties themselves are subject to change, and will deteriorate, unless constant care is exercised in growing them for seed. The varieties at present preferred, enumerated in the order of their earliness and value are : First. -The "Early Alpha." This is, exclusive of the "American Wonder," the only wrinkled Dwarf Pea. It grows three feet high, is very productive, and produces large pods of dark green color. The objection to all the wrinkled peas is, that they must be sown thicker than the round varieties. Second. The "Philadelphia Extra Early." This is very uniform, when the seed is pure, and is productive. 192 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. Third. The " Daniel O'Kourke." This is an excellent early pea, and is very popular with Northern growers. Its height is about three feet. Of the later kinds, the " Black-eyed " and "White- marrowfat " take equal rank, and grow about four and a half feet high. SOIL AND SOWING. The large, later and more hardy marrowfat varieties may be planted in the vicinity of Savannah as early as November 20th, following with the earlier kinds; but in usual seasons December 1st is early enough for the first sowings. In the case of a plant so hardy as the pea, it is possible to grow it, in middle to south Florida, to mature at any time during the winter. It is well, if a large crop is to be planted, to make separate sowings at intervals of a few days, in order not to have the whole planting subject to unfavorable contingencies at the same stage of growth. No usual degree of cold in this latitude will hurt the pea, unless it be in bloom or pod. A dry, rich, warm, sandy loam is the best soil for this crop. For the wrinkled varieties, it is especially neces- sary that the soil should be warm and dry. These do not seem to be so well matured as the round sorts, and in moist, or wet and cool soils they may fail to germinate, and may rot in the ground. Good stable manure is the best. The field being in proper condition, it is manured in the furrow at the rate of twenty-five or thirty loads, of thirty bushels each, to the acre, the rows being five or six feet apart, according to the variety. The seed is sown in double drills, about ten inches apart, on flat beds or ridges over the manure. The quantity of seed required for an acre is about two bushels. As regards the distance in the row, the peas are distributed according to size, about half an inch to an inch and a half, by hand, or by means of a drill, which sows both parallel drills at the same time. THE PEA. 193 The opinion, I believe, generally prevails that the deep- er peas can be sown, the more productive will be the crop, and the longer will it remain in bearing. One and one-half inch is the usual depth in a sandy loam. CULTIYATIOK. As the growth of the pea crop extends through the winter and early spring, when weeds are not abundant, cultivation is only, or chiefly, necessary as a promoter of growth. The soil between the ridges may be stirred twice, or more frequently in an unfavorable season; but as soon as the plants grow to two or three inches, the earth should be hoed to the stems, when dry, gradually earthing higher up, as the peas increase in hight. All peas, save the dwarfs, not only fruit better, but continue longer in bearing and mature better, if they are bushed. As soon as they commence to "run " to vine, or to put out their clasping tendrils, which will be when about ten or twelve inches high, according to variety, they should be bushed or stuck. Branching sticks are thrust between the drills so firmly into the ground as not to be blown down, and near enough to be a support for all the plants. This will not only be facilitated, if the sticks cross each other in the row near the surface, but they will be a mu- tual support. When the bushes from which the sticks are to be cut are more or less convenient, the expense of this sticking will be from three to five dollars per acre. The first shipments are usually made from Savan- nah about March 10th. The early varieties admit of about five pickings; the later, one or two more; one hun- dred and fifty to two hundred crates being the yield per acre. Peas were sold the past season at from one dollar and fifty cents to five dollars and fifty cents per bushel crate, while fifteen years ago I received twenty dollars per barrel on April 5th. 9 194 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. No pod should be picked or packed which is yet flat, for the reason that the peas are not sufficiently developed; and none that are discolored or rough from over-ripeness should be marketed. The ordinary bushel crate is the only package used at present. The contents should be thoroughly shaken down, and the crate be more than full, when ready to be nailed up. The two weevils, Bruchus pisi and Bruchus granarius, which are principally injurious to the pea, affect the farmer only in so far as they are destructive to his seed, the larvsB inhabiting it and feeding on its substance. Though they usually leave the germ untouched, and buggy-peas will germinate, yet the plant, being without Fig. 48. PEA- WEEVIL (Bruchus pisi). a, Beetle, enlarged ; &, Pea, with spot. Fig. 49. GRAIN BRUCHUS (Bruchus granarius). the nutriment provided for its early growth, is weak at the start, and is never so vigorous and productive as those from sound seed. Our common Pea- weevil (Bruchus pisi) is given in fig. 48, much enlarged, its real size being shown in the outline at the left. The Grain Bruchus or Barn-beetle of Europe (Bruchus grananus), fig. 49, infests both peas and beans. It is sometimes imported with foreign seeds, but has not yet become naturalized. It is somewhat smaller than the Pea- beetle, and the markings of the two are very different. The Cotton Boll-worm (Heliothis armigera) is some- times found feeding upon the pea, but too seldom to do much harm. THE POTATO. 195 CHAPTER XXIIL THE POTATO (Solarium tuberosum.} Pomme de tcrre, French ; Kartoffel, German; Aardappel, Dutch ; Tartyji Manchi or Porno di terra, Ital ; Papas, Spanish. The active principle, Solanin, characteristic of the family Solanacece, to which the potato belongs, has been found, but in much smaller proportions than in other members, in the sap, in the berries, and also in tubers of the potato after they had sprouted. For this reason sprouted potatoes are less valuable for food than before the development of sprouts, although in the process of cooking a change is effected in the composition. The chief organic ingredient of the potato is starch, which forms about one- tenth of its weight. It has gen- erally been admitted, that the potato was first introduced by the Spaniards into Europe from South America (it is still found in its wild state in the mountains of Chili), and that Sir Walter Raleigh introduced, it into England from Virginia. Whether this is strictly the history of its appearance in Europe, or not, the potato has been found indigenous in .Mexico and Arizona. Johnson wrote: "The potato is one of the greatest blessings be- stowed upon mankind; for, next to rice, it affords sus- tenance to more human beings than any other gift of God." Unlike the latter (the continuous use of which sometimes affects the eyes), it may be the exclusive food of man for an extended period Avithout injuring the system. And it is owing to the absence of any distinct peculiarity of taste, to its wholesomeness and to its con- sisting largely of starch, in every particular resembling the flour of grain, that it may be continuously used as 196 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. a chief article of food for a longer time than any other vegetable. It is somewhat strange, that the family which embraces the deadly nightshade, and other very poisonous plants, should also have among its members this most useful vegetable, besides a few others that are mentioned in this book. Of all the crops of the truck-farmer, the potato is the one which is always salable at more or less remunerative prices; its general use among all classes and nativities of the population, precluding a glut in the market. Owing to the prevalence of drouth at the North dur- ing the summer of 1881, the staple crops of potatoes and cabbages having been failures, the winter stock was so nearly exhausted, that extensive importations were made from Europe; and when our Southern crops came into market, they enjoyed an unprecedented demand and high prices. My own small crop sold at from six to seven dollars for No. 1, averaging six dollars and sixty cents per barrel, and " culls" from three dollars to four dol- lars and fifty cents, averaging three dollars and forty-five cents per barrel. Those farmers who planted largely and had good crops of these vegetables made a "hit" in their operations. It is likely that others, induced by this success, will plant potatoes and cabbages more heavily than usual, and re- duce the acreage of other valuable products. I embrace this occasion to advise truck-farmers, that they will probably thrive better in the course of time, by confin- ing themselves to their usual areas of each crop, and by not allowing themselves to be influenced by periodical successes with any one vegetable. VARIETIES. A variety of potatoes to be cultivated by the Southern truck-farmer should be productive in our climate of large and even-sized tuber?, growing close together in the hill, THE POTATO. 197 with few or no small ones, it should be early and be popular enough in the Northern market to command the highest prices. At present the " Early Kose" meets these requirements and is generally the favorite, but the "Beauty of Hebron," and the "Burbank," are also planted. The potato grown in Bermuda is the "Chili Red." SIZE OF SEED. One of the mooted questions in gardening is : whether it is more advisable to plant the whole potato or to cut it up into sets. The experiments undertaken to decide the question have failed to establish any certain rule; and the intelligent farmer will readily understand that cir- cumstances must govern the case. The potato tuber is not a root, for it has neither root- hairs itself, nor has the stem which connects it with the parent stock either fibrous roots or root-hairs and, therefore, provides the plant with no nourishment; nor is it a seed any more than is a stick of sugar cane a seed. The tubers are nourished by elaborated sap descending from the leaves through the bark. The formation of abnormal tubers above the ground at the point where the stem of a plant has been injured by a cut- worm, or otherwise, or in the axils of branches, is, among others, a proof of this. The potato is an enlarged underground stem, and the eyes are buds. These buds are more numer- ous at the point furthest from the plant, just as the buds are closer together at the end of a branch of the fig or any other tree. When the potato has dried out suffi- ciently and is surrounded by favorable conditions of warmth and moisture, the eyes or buds begin to grow; and until roots have been emitted for their nourishment, the shoots are dependent upon the starch of the sur- rounding substance for their support; resembling a seed in this respect. The eyes are independent of each other, 198 TRUCK-FAKMIls T G AT THE SOUTH. having no vital connection. If both eye and tuber be sound, the shoots will grow to be healthy plants, if condi- tions are favorable, whether they be planted with the en- tire tuber or only connected to a small piece of its de- tached substance. The following rule has been given: cut large potatoes to single eyes; small potatoes will produce as good a crop if cut in pieces corresponding in size, for the young- sprout requires substance to push it forward. The intel- ligent farmer should have an object in view, and his operations should be undertaken to attain it. In this case his purpose is to procure a crop of as many large potatoes as possible. It will not be secured, if many stalks grow from each set, any more than four or five stalks of corn to the hill will produce large ears of corn, though single stalks may. Whatever be the size of the potato, it should be fully matured. If any Irish or Sweet potatoes are found rotten in the hill, they are always the largest, which have decayed after becoming over-ripe. It is, therefore, safest, for fear of having many stalks in the hill, to use a medium-sized tuber, cut to single eyes, pro- vided the buds show signs of development. If none of the eyes are developed, or only one is, that one only, from the whole potato, is apt to grow, the rest re- maining dormant. The eyes upon seed potatoes procured from the North are very apt to sprout upon arriving in our warm climate, and these should always be cut to single eyes. Northern seed potatoes should not be im- ported, until the farmer is ready to plant them. If the first shoots are rubbed off or killed by frosts, the suc- ceeding ones will be weaker and are apt to be more numerous. In cutting potatoes to single eyes, the cutter com- mences at the stem end, where the eyes are less abun- dant, and slices off pieces with a single eye to each, in such a manner as to distribute the substance of the tuber THE POTATO. 199 as equally as possible. If rules are to be given, they should be: cut a large potato to single eyes, whether sprouted or not. Small potatoes may not be ripe enough to grow strong shoots; but if a small potato is enough matured to put forth sturdy sprouts, cut it also to single eyes; for very little substance will suffice for their sup- port; but, if the potato has not sprouted, it may be planted whole, without much danger of its pushing up more than one stalk. Of late years, Southern truck- farmers have found that home-grown seed of the second crop of Irish potatoes, maturing late in the fall, whether cut or not, gives the best yields. This is owing to the fact, that the tubers, being a shorter time out of the ground, are not so dry, and put forth only single shoots. There is no fear that their first sprouts have been rubbed off, before being planted. SOIL AND CULTIVATION. In an open, warm, sandy soil, the sets may be planted soon after being cut; but for a cool, moist and heavier soil, the cut surfaces should be dried by spreading the sets in the shade for a day or two, or, if put up in bulk, they should be sprinkled with lime or land-plaster. Either will prevent them from shriveling and be beneficial as a fertilizer. The quantity required to plant an acre will be about three to four barrels, according to the size, and the man- ner of cutting the potatoes. While the plant is indig- enous to Southern latitudes, it is found at considerable altitudes above the level of the sea, and partakes of the peculiarities of those of cool climates, generally suc- ceeding better at the North than at the South. IJnlike its relatives, the egg-plant and tomato, it is intolerant of dryness and heat, and should therefore be planted as early as the season will admit, in order to escape warm weather. About February 1st is soon enough for the 200 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. " Early Rose." Some varieties start even earlier than this, and a week later would better suit the " Beauty of Hebron," for instance. If Southern stock is offered in the Northern markets while the Northern winter supply is abundant, and still of good quality, very good prices can not be expected. It will, therefore, not be the pol- icy of Florida growers to put in their crops much earlier than the date named. On account of its native habitat the potato requires at the South a cool, moist soil. Low, black moulds in river bottoms, if well drained, may give enormous yields; but the product is apt to be of inferior quality and decay readily, the gluten predominating over the starch in its composition. No vegetable varies more in quality on different soils. A variety may be fine on a good soil and nearly worthless for table use on one not adapted to it. The mealiest and best-flavored potatoes are grown on sandy soil, but for a satisfactory yield, a good, rich, sandy loam, with an abundance of vegetable matter is indispensable. Whatever be its character, the soil should be broken up deeply and thorougly mellowed, in order that it may absorb and retain moisture. Freshly cleared ground, of good quality, produces better crops than old land, prob- ably in consequence of its greater content of potash. The soil should have been previously enriched for a preced- ing crop. The roots will extend beyond the drill, and poor land fertilized with the same amount and quality of manure in the furrow will, therefore, not produce satisfactorily. Stable manure or barn-yard manure is chiefly to be relied upon by the potato grower. Composts of good commercial fertilizers with leaves or leaf-mould with the specially adapted potash salts, or ashes and bone-flour, may be used where a sufficiency of stable manure cannot be had. As a rule, land can scarcely be made too rid! THE POTATO. 201 for the potato. The new varieties, unlike old ones, will not run to vine from heavy manuring; but will yield in proportion to their food, probably in consequence of their greater, and yet undiminished vigor. Fresh, dry stable manure, especially in dry, light soil, should not come in contact with the sets, lest the heat destroy their vitality. The same applies to Peruvian guano, fish scrap, hen manure, etc. Eich animal manures may render the tubers rough, ill-shaped and knobby. If the common German kainit is used, it should be sown broadcast, or harrowed in, two months before planting time, for fear the chloride of magnesium it contains may otherwise injure the crop. The enormous prize crops reported some years ago to a New York house, for instance of ten barrels, or four- teen hundred and seventeen pounds from a single pound of seed potatoes, nineteen pounds from a single hill of two sets, prove the astonishing effects of heavy manur- ing, and at the same time the possibility of the use of very small sets. In some cases a single eye was subdivided into ten pieces, a single pound furnished two hundred and forty sets. The largest crop, per acre, upon record was made about forty years ago by Mr. Knight, the cele- brated horticulturist, and President of the Royal Hor- ticultural Society (Eng.), of thirty-four tons (English) and nine cwt., equal to twelve hundred and eighty-four bushels of sixty pounds each. From sixty to one hundred barrels per acre is quite a satisfactory crop for the Southern truck-farmer. The usual mode of planting is in the drill. When in hills, they are made three by two, or three by three, feet apart, and two or three sets are planted in each, so that they may be cultivated both ways. The land being in proper condition, furrows are made by the plow three or three and a half feet apart, into which the manure, if planting is on a large scale, is distributed, at the rate of forty 202 TKUCK-F ARMING AT THE SOUTH. loads to the acre, by a manure-spreader, and the sets are placed upon the manure, cut-side down at from twelve to fifteen inches apart. In light, warm land, the sets may at once be covered by the plow to the depth of six inches, and in the subsequent cultivation no hilling up is neces- sary or advisable. On cool, heavy land, it is advisable to cover at first to the depth of three or four inches, and so early in the stage of growth, as not to injure the roots, an additional inch or two may be drawn to the plants by the hoe. Subsequently the workings by plow and hoe should be superficial. As soon, however, as the first shoots become visible, the surface of the rows should be raked over, to loosen the soil and destroy any germinat- ing or young weeds. Two plowings and two hoeings will generally suffice, with hand-weeding between the plants, if necessary. The crop should not be worked after the plants commence to bloom and to set the tubers. HARVESTING THE CROPS. A potato is immature and unfit for food, so long as the skin can be readily slipped from the surface. If dug prematurely, they will be bruised and blackened in the barrels, mid be unsalable at fair prices. When the plant dies, and not before, the crop may be gathered. A good plowman may be able with a double-mould plow, or potato-digger, to throw out an extensive and less valuable crop than that of the truck-farmer, without too much loss and bruising, but here a plow should only be used to side the rows and the potatoes be dug out with steel-pronged hoes, or potato-drags. To avoid unnecessary handling, the potatoes should be assorted as first quality and culls (too small tubers being rejected) in the field. Cloudy weather is the best suited for digging the crop. Potatoes will not endure exposure to the hot sun. If packed while warmed by the sun, they are apt to rot before reaching market. If dug during THE POTATO. 203 sunshine, they should be gathered as dug, carefully emptied into barrels already ventilated, and either promptly hauled from the field, or each barrel shaded by potato vines. The diggers should not be permitted to bruise the po- tatoes by pitching them upon piles or distant rows; nor the pickers by throwing them roughly into their baskets. The more carefully a vegetable is handled, the better will it strike the buyer's eye, and consequently, the more money will it bring the grower. Whatever be its size, no cut or bruised potato should be shipped in the first quality, but may be included in the "culls." The bar- rels must be well shaken down, and so full that the heads have to be pressed upon the contents, and they should be double-headed and strongly coopered. The crop generally matures in this latitude about the middle of May. An unripe potato in which the ctarch has been imperfectly formed is slow to dry out and slow to sprout. THE SECOND CROP. A sufficient quantity of the "culls" should, there- fore, be reserved from the ripest portion of the field for seed of the second crop, and stored in a cool, dry place, excluded from the light. They may be covered on a barn floor in alternate thin layers with very dry sand, or put away in bushel crates. If exposed to warmth and moisture two or three weeks before planting time, sprouting may be hastened and a better stand be secured. The time to put in the second crop is from the latter part of July to August 10th. If the eyes have sprouted, the tubers should be cut, but otherwise planted whole. As at this time the weather is warm and the season of growth short, they should be well manured and the land deeply broken up and pulverized to retain mois- 204 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. ture. The crop will be matured before frost, which generally occurs about November 1st, when it should be dug and the seed stored away, as recommended above. DISEASES AND INSECTS. The fungoid disease, sometimes so destructive to the potato crops of Europe, and of the northern part of this continent, will rarely, if ever, affect our early crops of early varieties, and the later ones must be exempt in consequence of the heat, as cool moisture seems neces- sary for the development of this disease. The earliest crops at the North escape great injury from the Colorado Potato-beetle (Doryphora W-Uneata), and ours will therefore remain exempt from that pest, should it come South. The insects infesting the potato at the South are of the Lepidoptera: First Gortynia nitela (the Potato-stalk borer). Second Sphinx quinquemaculata (the Potato-worm). Among the Coleoptera. Third Baridius trinotatus (the Potato-stalk weevil). Fourth Lema trilineata (the Three-lined Leaf -beetle). Fifth Lachnosterna quercina (the White-grub). Sixth Deloyala clavata (the Clubbed Tortoise-beetle). Seventh Lytta marginata (Margined Blister-beetle). Eighth Lytta vittata (Striped Blister-beetle). Ninth Lytta cinerea (Ash-grey Blister-beetle). The first three of these attack the plant only in the larval state. Numbers 1 and 3 are more injurious than any others, as they devour a vital part, and live within the stalks. The Potato-stalk Borer lives within the stalks of several plants, including the Dahlia and other flowers, and attacks the tomato as well as the potato. When full grown, it enters the earth, and in about two months comes out as a small moth, fig. 50. THE POTATO. 205 The Potato-stalk Weevil lives within the stalk in a similar manner to the borer, but it undergoes its changes Fig. 50. THE POTATO-STALK BORER. Moth. Larva. within the stem, and finally appears as a small beetle. The different stages are shown in fig. 51. When a vine Fig. 51. THE POTATO STALK WEEVIL. a, Larva ; b, Pupa ; c, Beetle. is seen to wilt, or to be dying, the stems should be ex- amined for the larvae, and burnt to prevent an increase of the insect. The worms of the potato and to- mato-moth and the other insects, exclu- sive of the blister- beetles, are not numer- ous enough to inflict much injury. The Three-lined leaf-beetle Fig. 52. THREE-LINED LEAF BEETLE. feeds UpOU the plant a, Larva; ft, End of Body; c, Pupa; d, Eggs. j n i{ . g ]aryal an( J per . feet state. The larvae can be distinguished from any others, by being covered, like the larvae of the Tortoise- 206 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. beetles, by its own excrement, as shown in fig. 52. The perfect insect has a general resemblance to the Striped Cucumber-beetle. The White Grub is a general feeder, and destroys the roots of many different plants. The larva is shown at fig. 53, and the perfect beetle, the well-known June-bug, in fig. 54. The principal insect enemies of the sweet-potato are the Tortoise-beetles, of which there are several, some of Fig. 53. WHITE QBUB. Fig. 54. JUNE-BUG. Fig. 55. CLUBBED TOR- TOISE-BEETLE. them of singular beauty. One of them, the Clubbed Tortoise-beetle (Deloyala davata, fig. 55), forms an ex- ception, and selects the common or Irish potato as its food plant, feeding upon it in its perfect state, the larva of this species being unknown. The Blister-beetles feed upon the foliage in the perfect state only. They are sometimes quite abundant, particu- larly upon the second crop. Some of the farmers near Savannah were compelled to use Paris green last season, to stay the ravages of Lytta marginata. THE KADISH. 207 CHAPTER XXIV. THE RADISH (Raphanus sativus). Eadis and Rave French ; Rettig, German ; Tamme radijs^ Dutch ; Rafano, Italian ; and Rdbano, Spanish. The Radish is not known in the wild state, and its native country is doubtful. It is mentioned as being cultivated in England in 1584. The radish, to be marketable, should not lose its ac- ceptable crispness, and I have, therefore, never heard of its satisfactory cultivation for the Northern markets south of Norfolk. The varieties there used are: "The Long Scarlet Short Top," and "The Scarlet Tur- nip," which are sown, as the season will admit, at any time from Christmas to the last 01 February. A light, mellow soil is best adapted to this crop, as it produces cleaner, nicer rad- ishes, and of better flavor, than a heavier soil. This applies particularly to the longer-rooted varieties. The manure should Flg , 56.-s