|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 53
As a choice for the home-garden, Mr. Henderson recommends the
following varieties of onions: Extra Early Red, Yellow Globe
Danvers, White Portugal or Silver Skin, and Southport Yellow
Globe. Mr. Joseph Harris, the well-known and practical author:
Yellow Danvers, Extra Early Large Bed, and White Globe. Mr. J. J.
H. Gregory: New Queen, Early Yellow Acker, Yellow Danvers, Early
Red Globe Danvers, Large Red Wethersfield. They all recommend
onion sets. The Queen onion is quite distinct. For the home table,
where earliness, as well as quality, size and quantity is desired,
I think the Queen deserves a place. It is admirably fitted for
pickling. I have tried all the varieties named, with good success,
and grown some of the largest kinds to six inches in diameter.
CHAPTER IX
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN (concluded)
In the last chapter I dwelt somewhat at length on two vegetables
for which thorough and enduring preparation is profitable. There
is one other very early garden product which requires our
attention during the first warm days of spring--rhubarb; sold in
some instances under the name of "wine-plant." Wine is made from
the juicy stalks, but it is an unwholesome beverage. The people
call rhubarb "pie-plant;" and this term suggests its best and most
common use, although when cooked as if it were a fruit, it is very
grateful at a season when we begin to crave the subacid in our
food.
Its cultivation is very simple. Those who propose to produce it
largely for market will find it to their advantage to raise this
plant from the seed; but for the Home Acre enough plants can be
procured, at a moderate cost, from almost any nurseryman. In this
instance, also, thorough preparation of the soil is essential, for
the rhubarb bed, under good care, will last eight or ten years. A
rich, deep, clean, warm soil is the chief essential. It belongs to
that class of vegetables known as "gross feeders." During the
first year, however, I would apply the fertiliser directly to the
hills or plants. These are obtained by dividing the old roots,
which may be cut to pieces downward so as to leave a single bud or
"eye" surmounting a long tapering portion of root. Each division
will make a new, vigorous plant, which should be set out so that
the bud or crown is three inches below the surface in light soils,
and two inches in heavy soils. The plants should be four feet
apart each way, and two or three shovelfuls of rich compost worked
into the soil where the plant is to stand. You cannot make the
ground too rich; only remember that in this, as in all other
instances, light, fermenting manures should not be brought into
immediate contact with the roots. Plant in either autumn or
spring. In this latitude and southward I should prefer autumn;
northward, perhaps spring is the best season. Keep the intervening
ground clean and mellow, and pull no stalks the first year, unless
it be in the autumn if the plants have become very strong. In the
fall, when the foliage has died down, cover the crowns with two or
three shovelfuls of rich manure--any kind will do in this
instance--and work in a heavy top-dressing all over the ground
early in spring. Unless seed is required, always cut down the
seed-stalks as soon as they appear. The best early variety is the
Linnaeus. The Victoria is a little later, but much larger, and is
the kind that I have usually grown.
Radish-seed may be sown one inch deep as soon as the ground is dry
enough in spring, and if the vegetable is a favorite, the sowing
may be repeated every two weeks. A common error is to sow the seed
too thickly. A warm, RICH soil is all that is necessary to secure
a crop.
What has been said about radishes applies equally to early
turnips, with the exception that the plants when three inches high
should be thinned so as to stand four inches apart. The ground for
these vegetables should be very rich, so as to secure a very rapid
growth; for otherwise they are attacked by a little white worm
which soon renders them unfit for use. Mr. Harris recommends the
following varieties of early radishes, and his selection coincides
with my own experience: Bound Scarlet Turnip, French Breakfast,
Rose (olive-shaped), Long Scarlet Short-top. Winter radishes:
California Mammoth White, and Chinese Rose. For spring sowing of
turnips, Mr. Henderson recommends Red-top Strap-leaf, and Early
Flat Dutch. The earlier they are sown the better.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|