Cultivator

“ Thus, probably carrot, but certainly celery, sea-kale, asparagus, and cabbage. This would seem to point to the fact that cultivation requires a complete change of the circumstances necessary to maintain a wild condition; and hence cultivated plants can only be kept up by the labours of a cultivator. ”

“ It is evident, therefore, that the soil needs the cultivation of the farmer. Consider the trees: if they remain without a cultivator, they will be fruitless, and without fruit they are useless; but if they receive the care of a gardener, these same barren trees become fruitful, and through cultivation, fertilization and engrafting the trees which had bitter fruits yield sweet fruits. ”

“ Let this be attended to artificially, by covering branches with gauze, to prevent the fertilization by bees and winds, and make the cross between any two varieties you choose, and the results may prove highly beneficial. The amateur cultivator may render essential service to pomology by this practice. We know that all our choice fruits have come from those not fit for use. It is not improved cultivation of the old, barely, but the production of new varieties. ”

“ We can depend only upon our nurserymen to collect all improved varieties, and where we do not see the bearing-trees for ourselves, trust the nurseryman's description of the general qualities of fruit. Seldom, indeed, will a cultivator buy fruit-trees, and set out his orchard, and master the descriptions in the fruit-books, and after his trees come into bearing, minutely try them by all the marks to see whether he has been cheated, and, if so, take up the trees and put out others, to go the same round again, perhaps with no better success. ”

“ Hence, while it became the conqueror's interest to tie each original cultivator to the soil, it also became his interest to let him have such an amount of produce as to maintain him and enable him to rear offspring, and also to protect him against injuries which would incapacitate him for work. ”

“ By selecting those individuals of a species which have developed or inherited any desirable peculiarity, keeping them from mingling with their less promising brethren, and selecting again the most promising plants raised from their seeds, the cultivator may in a few generations render almost any variety transmissible by seed, so long as it is cared for and kept apart. In fact, this is the way the cultivated domesticated races, so useful to man, have been fixed and preserved. Races, in fact, can hardly, if at all, be said to exist independently of man. ”

“ Varieties.—Their name is legion, and they are rapidly increasing, and their synonyms multiplying. A singular fact, in most of our fruit-books, is a minute description of useless kinds, and such descriptions of those that they call good, as not one in ten thousand cultivators will ever try to master—they are worse than useless, except to an occasional amateur cultivator. ”

“ To keep the crop clean many plans are adopted, and the plant probably takes its name from the old custom of covering the ground with straw for the purpose. The cultivator must be left to his own devices, because of the difficulty in many places of obtaining suitable material. ”

“ The care of the cultivator, must not, however, be relaxed;—the same principles which have hitherto directed him, should guide him in future;—but the plant, having acquired more vigour, will require more minute attention in the pruning. ”

“ This labor is reduced to its minimum by mule cultivation, and Mr. Young has on his farm a style of cultivator that is peculiarly adapted to the work. As this is his own invention, I will not describe it, but merely state that it enables him to work very close to the rows, and to stir the soil deeply without moving it or covering the plants. These cultivators are followed by women, with light, sharp hoes, who cut away the few weeds left between the plants. They handle these tools so deftly that scarcely any weeding is left to be done by hand ”

“ The first crop, however, raised from wild seeds sown in prepared garden-soil, does not exhibit an enlargement of root which would at once tempt the gardener to proceed with its culture; but the rich orange colour of the root, which at once becomes brighter by culture, may, without reference to size, or increased tenderness of texture, have tempted an inquisitive cultivator to test its flavour. ”

“ As soon, however, as the new runners begin to push out vigorously, cultivation ceases, or else, with the more thorough, the cultivator is narrowed down till it stirs scarcely more than a foot of surface, care being taken to go up one row and down another, so as always to draw the runners one way. ”

“ The taste of the horticultural public being thus decidedly for the Rose, a demand will exist for all the information respecting soil, planting, cultivating, etc., and this information we shall endeavor to supply in a simple and concise manner, avoiding, as far as possible, all technicalities, and adapting it to the use of the cultivator of a single plant in the crowded border of a city garden, or to the more extended culture of a commercial establishment. ”

“ The latter country, however, is not sufficiently warm to ripen the fruit in perfection, without the constant labour of the cultivator. He is obliged to ascend the trees, from time to time, to examine the flowers and turn them towards the sun. ”

“ When it is designed always to cultivate the ground, and land is plenty, set them fifty or sixty feet apart. You will be likely always to have fine fruit, and a crop on the land beside. Our recommendation to every one is to set out all orchards, of whatever fruit, so as to have them cover the whole ground when in maturity. Among apple-trees, dwarf pears, peaches, or quinces, may be set, which will be profitable before the apples need all the ground.
Bearing years.—A cultivator may have a part of his orchard bear one year, and the remainder the next, or he may have them all bear every year. ”

“ When the seed is sown with a drill, the line of the row may be plainly seen even before the plants come up, thus making it easy to commence cultivating it in advance of the weeds. In case of such crops as carrots, onions, parsnips and beets, which are quite delicate when young, cultivation should begin with some hand garden cultivator, even if it is intended later on to cultivate with a horse, and the crop is planted with this purpose in view. ”

“ Hence, if possible, let planters get trees from a nursery so near at hand that they may know the quality of the fruit of the trees from which the grafts are taken, get the most popular in their vicinity, and always [Pg 29] secure a few scions from any extraordinary apple they may chance to taste. It is well, also, to deal only with the most honorable nurserymen. Remember that varieties will not do alike well in all localities. Many need acclimation. Every extensive cultivator should keep seedlings growing, with a view to new varieties, or modifications of old ones, adapted to his locality. ”

“ Cultivation, with horse-drawn cultivators, cleaning one row at a time, and by some implements two rows, repeated three or four times in a season, is given to kill weeds, aid in the retention of moisture, and aerate the soil. ”

“ It is upon this feature, the power which science has over the results to be obtained, that we look with the greatest interest; and we urge upon scientific cultivators the duty of perfecting our fruits by judicious breeding. ”

“ Like the boys and girls these older gardeners are pleased with the picture of the result of their seed sowing. With enthusiasm they enter upon the task of planting, with eagerness they watch for the first appearance of results. And then Time enters in. There is evidence of weeds; slugs and worms appear. Then comes the clear call for the two great virtues of the sower who will win a harvest—Labor and Patience. He must cultivate the soil, else only the meager harvest can be his. The art of cultivation is the one so many would-be harvesters fail to learn. ”

“ I think cultivation is the thing that ought [Pg 369] to be done until the trees get well to bearing, anyway, and then it furnishes nitrogen to the soil to seed it down to clover. If we don't do that we are very liable to neglect that element in the soil. The better way to my mind is to cultivate for eight or ten years, and then I do think it is all right perhaps, for farmers, I mean, who will neglect the cultivation if they depend on it. That is, if they make up their minds it is better to cultivate than it is to seed down, their trees are more apt to be neglected. ”

“ The result is that unless we disturb the balance too much by cultivating great orchards of a thing that has been grown as scattered individuals, or overforcing it or selecting and breeding towards larger fruit without any regard to foliage and other characters we can go ahead with our breeding and selection and cultivation and trust nature to keep the balance to some extent. We have this natural balance in our favor in dealing with the problem of cultivating native plants. As an example take the pear and apple blight. ”

“ Every system of culture first means preparation ; it next becomes fostering care ; and then it results in harvesting and storing for future cultivation. In all culture, therefore* are implied these three factors of breaking the glebe, sowing the seed and growing the harvest, and reaping it for future use. ”

“ Why, naturally, seeds placed in newly turned soil over a dead body, and richly manured with constant supplies of blood and milk, would germinate freely and produce unusually fine crops of grain or fruit. Is it suggesting too much to hint that, in this almost universal rite, we may even see the ultimate origin of cultivation? Primitive man, careless of the future as he is, would scarcely be likely deliberately to retain seeds from one year to the next for the purpose of sowing them. ”

“ On the score then of intelligence, of refinement, of health, of enjoyment, we commend to our farmers the cultivation of small fruits. Remember, we say cultivation, not the planting and leaving of them to take care of themselves; that is worse than not to plant at all, for it only ends in disappointment and disgust. ”

“ But I have learned enough to be satisfied that soil has much to do in the successful cultivation of this fruit. A variety which flourishes in one soil will be almost barren in another. Hence, in the hands of one grower it proves a great prize, but in those of another it is comparatively worthless. Without doubt it is to this cause that much of the diversity of opinion as to certain varieties, as well as to the mode of culture, is to be attributed. ”

“ Sheriff has proved, are well worthy of extensive cultivation. Not until equal attention be paid to the variability and selection of weeds, can the argument from their constancy under unintentional culture be of any value. In accordance with the principles of selection we can understand how it is that in the several cultivated varieties of wheat the organs of vegetation differ so little; for if a plant with peculiar leaves appeared, it would be neglected unless the grains of corn were at the same time superior in quality or size. ”

“ The farmer, for want of distinguishing and selecting the best kinds, fills his pastures either with weeds or improper plants, when by making a right choice he would not only procure a more abundant crop from his land, but have a produce more nourishing for his flock. One would therefore naturally wonder, after this truth has been so long published, and that in an age when agriculture and the arts have so much improved, that Select Seeds of this tribe of plants are scarcely to be produced. ”

“ Men had long known that the seeds of some of the wild grasses and plants were good to eat. Now some one noticed that if these seeds were sown they sprang up and brought forth many more seeds. Then it was discovered that the seeds grew better and yielded a more abundant crop if the ground were broken up and made soft before the seed was sown. Because of these discoveries some men began to be farmers. By cultivation, the wild grasses which grew in the fields or beside the rivers were developed [Pg 127] into wheat, oats, barley, and rice, the great cereals of the world. ”

“ In garden cultivation, with deep digging, and in the absence of weeds, birds, or insects, where you can choose your time for every operation, dibble in a seed in a place, the minimum quantity may suffice, as good crops have been got from a very small quantity of seed; but garden experimenters rather too positively lay down the law, when they tell the farmer that this thin seeding will do equally well on broad acres, where every operation is circumscribed [209] by circumstances. ”

“ The old gentleman replied that the mode could be described in three words, “cultivate, cultivate, cultivate.” After the same manner, we would impress the importance [Pg 99] of these three words upon all those who love well-grown and beautiful roses. They are, indeed, multum in parvo—the very essence of successful culture. The soil cannot be plowed, dug, or stirred too much; it should be dug and hoed, not merely to keep down the weeds, but to ensure the health and prosperity of the plant. Cultivation is to all plants and trees manure, sun, and rain. ”

“ But you must remember that all of these parts are dependent on the root for life and growth, as was brought out in the answer to the last question, and that if the farmer or plant grower desires a fine crop of leaves, stems, flowers, fruit or seeds, he must give his very best attention to the root. Judging from the poor way in which many farmers and plant growers prepare the soil for the plants they raise, and the poor way they care for the soil during the growth of the plants, they evidently think least of, and give least attention to, the roots of the plants. ”

“ Thus the parsnip, carrot, turnip, beet, &c., as we find them in nature, have nowhere the large, fleshy, smooth appearance which belongs to their cultivated forms; and hence all the varieties of these that we meet with in cultivation must be considered as derivatives from original wild forms, obtained by cultivative processes; that is, collecting their seed, planting it in a prepared bed, stimulating the growth of the plants with manures, thinning, regulating, weeding, and such other acts as constitute farming or gardening, as the case may be. ”