Agriculture for Beginners by Daniel Harvey Hill (ebook reader 7 inch .TXT) π
The joint action of air, moisture, and frost was still another agent of soil-making. This action is called weathering. Whenever you have noticed the outside stones of a spring-house, you have noticed that tiny bits are crumbling from the face of the stones, and adding little by little to the soil. This is a slow way of making additions to the soil. It is estimated that it would take 728,000 years to wear away limestone rock to a depth of thirty-nine inches. But when you recall the countless years through which the weather has striven against the rocks, you can readily understand that its never-wearying activity has added immensely to the soil.
In the rock soil formed in these various ways, and indeed on the rocks themselves, tiny plants that live on food taken from the air began to grow. They grew just as you now see mosses and lichens grow on the surface of rocks. The decay of these plants added some fertility to the newly formed soil. The life and death of
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Another widely grown kind of bean is the lima, or butter, bean. There are two varieties of the lima bean. One is large and generally grows on poles. This kind does best in the Northern states. The other is a small bean and may be grown without poles. This kind is best suited to the warmer climates of the Southern states.
Cabbage. In comparatively warm climates the first crop of cabbage is generally grown in the following way. The seeds are sowed in beds in September, and the plants grown from this sowing are in November transplanted to ground laid off in sharp ridges. The young plants are set on the south side of the ridges in order that they may be somewhat protected from the cold of winter. As spring comes on, the ridge is partly cut down at each working until the field is leveled, and thereafter the cultivation should be level.
Fig. 90. Cabbage ready for Shipment
Early cabbages need heavy applications of manure. In the spring, nitrate of soda applied in the rows is very helpful.
Seeds for the crop following this early crop should be sowed in March. Of course these seeds should be of a later variety than the first used. The young plants should be transplanted as soon as they are large enough. Early cabbages are set in rows three feet apart, the plants eighteen inches apart in the row. As the later varieties grow larger than the earlier ones, the plants should be set two feet apart in the row.
In growing late fall and winter cabbage the time of sowing varies with the climate. For the Northern and middle states, seeding should be done during the last of March and in April. South of a line passing west from Virginia it is hard to carry cabbages through the heat of summer and get them to head in the fall. However, if the seeds are sowed about the first of August in rich and moist soil and the plants set in the same sort of soil in September, large heads can be secured for the December market.
Fig. 91. Celery trimmed, washed, and bunched
Celery. In the extreme northern part of our country, celery seeds are often sowed in a greenhouse or hotbed. This is done in order to secure plants early enough for summer blanching. This plan, however, suits only very cool climates.
In the middle states the seeds are usually sowed in a well-prepared bed about April. The young plants are moved to other beds as soon as they need room. Generally they are transplanted in July to rows prepared for them. These should be four feet apart, and the plants should be set six inches apart in the row. The celery bed should be carefully cultivated during the summer. In the fall, hill the stalks up enough to keep them erect. After the growing season is over dig them and set them in trenches. The trenches should be as deep as the celery is tall, and after the celery is put in them they should be covered with boards and straw.
In the more southern states, celery is usually grown in beds. The beds are generally made six feet wide, and rows a foot apart are run crosswise. The plants are set six inches apart, in September, and the whole bed is earthed up as the season advances. Finally, when winter comes the beds are covered with leaves or straw to prevent the plants from freezing. The celery is dug and bunched for market at any time during the winter.
By means of cold-frames a profitable crop of spring celery may be raised. Have the plants ready to go into the cold-frames late in October or early in November. The soil in the frame should be made very deep. The plants should make only a moderately rapid growth during the winter. In the early spring they will grow rapidly and so crowd one another as to blanch well. As celery grown in this way comes on the market at a time when no other celery can be had, it commands a good price.
In climates as warm as that of Florida, beds of celery can be raised in this way without the protection of cold-frames. A slight freeze does not hurt celery, but a long-continued freezing spell will destroy it.
Some kinds of celery seem to turn white naturally. These are called self-blanching kinds. Other kinds need to be banked with earth in order to make the stalks whiten. This kind usually gives the best and crispest stalks.
Cucumbers and Cantaloupes. Although cucumbers and cantaloupes are very different plants, they are grown in precisely the same way. Some gardeners plant them in hills. However, this is perhaps not the best plan. It is better to lay the land off in furrows six feet apart. After filling these with well-rotted stable manure, throw soil over them. Then make the top flat and plant the seeds. After the plants are up thin them out, leaving them a foot or more apart in the rows. Cultivate regularly and carefully until the vines cover the entire ground.
Fig. 92. Striped Cucumber Beetle and Larva
All magnified
It is a good plan to sow cowpeas at the last working of cantaloupes, in order to furnish some shade for the melons. As both cucumbers and cantaloupes are easily hurt by cold, they should not be planted until the soil is warm and all danger of frost is past.
Cucumbers are always cut while they are green. They should never be pulled from the vine, but should always be cut with a piece of the stem attached. Cantaloupes should be gathered before they turn yellow and should be ripened in the house.
In some sections of the country the little striped cucumber-beetle attacks the melons and cucumbers as soon as they come up. These beetles are very active, and if their attacks are not prevented they will destroy the tender plants. Bone dust and tobacco dust applied just as the plants appear above the ground will prevent these attacks. This treatment not only keeps off the beetle, but also helps the growth of the plants.
Eggplants. Eggplants are so tender that they cannot be transplanted like tomatoes to cold-frames and gradually hardened to stand the cold spring air. These plants, started in a warm place, must be kept there until the soil to which they are to be transplanted is well warmed by the advance of spring. After the warm weather has fully set in, transplant them to rich soil, setting them three feet apart each way. This plant needs much manure. If large, perfect fruit is expected, the ground can hardly be made too rich.
Eggplants are subject to the same bacterial blight that is so destructive to tomatoes. The only way to prevent this disease is to plant in ground not lately used for tomatoes or potatoes.
Fig. 93. An Onion Harvest
Onions. The method of growing onions varies with the use to which it is intended to put them. To make the early sorts, which are eaten green in the spring, little onions called sets are planted. These are grown from seeds sowed late in the spring. The seeds are sowed thickly in rows in rather poor land. The object of selecting poor land is that the growth of the sets may be slow. When the sets have reached the size of small marbles, they are ready for the fall planting.
In the South the sets may be planted in September. Plant them in rows in rich and well-fertilized soil. They will be ready for market in March or April. In the more northerly states the sets are to be planted as early as possible in the spring.
To grow ripe onions the seeds must be sowed as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. The plants are thinned to a stand of three inches in the rows. As they grow, the soil is drawn away from them so that the onions sit on top of the soil with only their roots in the earth.
Fig. 94. Hotbed for starting Tomato Plants
As soon as the tops ripen pull the onions and let them lie in the sun until the tops are dry. Then put them under shelter. As onions keep best with their tops attached, do not remove these until it is time for marketing.
Peas. The English pea is about the first vegetable of the season to be planted. It may be planted as soon as the ground is in workable condition. Peas are planted in rows, and it is a good plan to stretch wire netting for them to climb on. However, where peas are extensively cultivated they are allowed to fall on the ground.
There are many sorts of peas, differing both in quality and in time of production. The first to be planted are the extra-early varieties. These are not so fine as the later, wrinkled sorts, but the seeds are less apt to rot in cold ground. Following these, some of the fine, wrinkled sorts are to be planted in regular succession. Peas do not need much manure and do best in a light, warm soil.
Tomatoes. There is no vegetable grown that is more widely used than the tomato. Whether fresh or canned it is a staple article of food that can be served in many ways.
By careful selection and breeding, the fruit of the tomato has in recent years been much improved. There are now many varieties that produce perfectly smooth and solid fruit, and the grower can hardly go amiss in his selection of seeds if he bears his climate and his particular needs in mind.
Early tomatoes are started in the greenhouse or in the hotbed about ten weeks before the time for setting the plants in the open ground. They are transplanted to cold-frames as soon as they are large enough to handle. This is done to harden the plants and to give them room to grow strong before the final transplanting.
In kitchen gardens tomatoes are planted in rows four feet apart with the plants two feet apart in the rows. They are generally trained to stakes with but one stalk to a stake. When there is plenty of space, however, the plants are allowed to grow at will and to tumble on the ground. In this way they bear large crops. During the winter the markets are supplied with tomatoes either from tropical sections or from hothouses. As those grown in the hothouses are superior in flavor to those shipped from Florida and from the West Indies, and as they command good prices, great quantities are grown in this way.
In the South the bacterial blight which attacks the plants of this family is a serious drawback to tomato culture. The only way to escape this disease is to avoid planting tomatoes on land in which eggplants, tomatoes, or potatoes have been blighted. Lime spread around the plants seems to prevent the blight for one season on some soils.
At the approach of frost in the fall, green tomatoes can easily be preserved by wrapping them in paper. Gather them carefully and wrap each separately. Pack them in boxes and store in a cellar that is close enough to prevent the freezing of the fruit. A few days before the tomatoes are wanted for the table unpack as many as are needed, remove the paper, and allow them to ripen in a warm room.
Tomatoes require a rich soil. Scattering a small quantity of nitrate of soda around their roots promotes rapid growth.
Watermelons. As watermelons need more room than can usually be spared in a garden, they are commonly
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