Greengrocer

“ There are more ways than one to secure fertilizers and fine soil for the small garden. If sward is cut from the roadside, chopped into small pieces, and stored away in some corner of the yard that is convenient to get at, and the soapsuds from wash-day are poured over it each week, it will, in a short time, if stirred frequently, become a most excellent substitute for leaf-mold. The grassroots, when decayed, will become a vegetable fertilizer which will be found extremely valuable in the culture of such plants as require a light, rich soil, especially when small. ”

“ Green-manuring.—Though properly belonging to cultivation rather than to manuring, and acting chiefly as a means of improving the condition of the soil, the practice of green-manuring carries with it manurial benefits also, in that it supplies humus and nitrogen to the soil, and provides a substitute for farm-yard manure. The ploughing-in of a leguminous green-crop which has collected nitrogen from the atmosphere should result in a greater accumulation of nitrogen for a succeeding corn-crop, and thus supply the cheapest form of manuring. ”

“ These considerations, while they explain the effect and illustrate the value of green manuring, will also satisfy the intelligent agriculturist that there are methods of improving his land without the aid either of town or of foreign manures—and that he overlooks an important natural means of wealth who neglects the green sods and crops of weeds that flourish by his hedgerows and ditches. Left to [Pg 153] themselves, they ripen their seeds and sow them annually in his fields—collected in compost heaps they would materially add to his yearly crops of corn. ”

“ What kind of fertilizer did you use?
Professor Smith: One must experiment to see what his land is short on. Sometimes you can fertilize your trees without any result. Sometimes potash will not do any good and sometimes it will. You will have to see what your ground needs. For young apple trees I found in my particular situation that nitrate of soda is all I want. I have what is called a Porter's clay soil on the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I use that and then my trees get busy and grow. ”

“ Why should the florist confine himself to one crop at a time in the greenhouse when he may equally well have two crops in it at the same time, and both of them profitable? He can have his roses on the benches and mushrooms under the benches, and neither interferes with the other. ”

“ Plum-growers very generally recognize the several distinct and valuable purposes which cover-crops serve in orchards. They protect the tree from root-killing, from cold, keep the soil from washing, add humus and, with legumes, nitrogen to the soil, modify the physical structure of the soil and hasten seasonal maturity of the tree. There is one other function which is not so often taken into account. Plum orchards in which cover-crops are regularly grown, even though the crop be not a legume, need less fertilizers than those in which no such crop is grown. ”

“ That is one of Nature's ways to perpetuate itself. But I think there a constructive angle in those trees that respond to nitrogenous fertilizer or manure. I believe the secret, if there is a secret, is that a tree in bearing a crop exhausts itself more or less. It recuperates the following year and then is ready to bear another crop. And the way to meet that situation is to fertilize heavily, especially with nitrogen, the season of the heavy crop so that you will have not only enough leaf growth to produce that crop, but to build up nutrients the following year. ”

“ If 15 tons to the acre could be usually obtained of this species of gourd, we should be induced to pronounce the crop, in point of profit and use, unrivalled as a preparative for a crop of winter grain. The crop would be found among those which are least expensive in seed, in culture and in gathering; none would occasion less exhaustion of soil, nor require less for manure, as a little gypsum to the hills, or drills, will be found to have a powerful effect on its growth, but of its more complete cultivation we shall presently speak. ”

“ From the time they are established in the small pots until they begin to bloom, a cold frame or greenhouse, where they can be placed near the glass, and enjoy a fresh circulation of air, will be the best position. Water liberally, and after the pots in which they are to bloom are well filled with roots, use rather weak liquid manure alternately with soft, pure water. Syringe them overhead occasionally, and keep a sharp look-out for green-fly, which, if the plants are allowed to suffer from the want of water, or kept in a close stifling atmosphere, will soon become troublesome. ”

“ What renders this plant a more valuable acquisition to the green-house, is its hardiness, its readiness to flower, and the facility with which it may be propagated.
It flowers early in the spring, and, by proper management, may be made to flower the whole year through; it is sometimes kept in the stove, and may be made to flower earlier by that means; but it succeeds better in a common green-house, with no more heat than is just necessary to keep out the frost, indeed it may be preserved in a common hot-bed frame through the winter, unless the weather prove very severe. ”

“ By frequently raking the ground over, the annual weeds do not get a chance to start. In the rich soil the plants make great, bushy crowns that nearly touch each other, and as they begin to blossom, the whole space between them can be mulched with straw, grass, etc. The runners can easily be cut away when the plants are thus isolated. Where there are not many white grubs in the soil, the hill system is well adapted to meet garden culture, and the result, in a prolonged season of large, beautiful fruit, will be most satisfactory. ”

“ In some regions plowing and cultivating may be made a means of combating insects and fungi, and this regulates the depth of tillage. Thus, in the Chautauqua grape-belt of western New York, the pupa of the root-worm, a scourge of the grape in this region, is thrown out and destroyed by the grape-hoe just as it is about ready to emerge as an adult to lay its eggs on the vines. In all regions, leaves and mummied grapes bearing countless myriads of spores of the mildews, black-rot and other fungi are interned by the plow and cannot scatter disease. ”

“ There is still much to be learned in the matter of [Pg 16] exotic grape-growing in this country, and, in fact, in the management of conservatories, orchard-houses, and all descriptions of horticultural buildings, and all classes of plants cultivated under glass. Whatever progress may have been made abroad, where experiments are carried on upon a large and costly scale, and often with eminent success, is of little or no value to the American horticulturist. Our climate is very different in its character and conditions from that of Europe, and especially that of humid England. ”

“ The grasses can not endure the close grazing and extensive trampling to which they are subjected, and die out, and weedy annuals plant themselves in their places, or the native ragweeds and verbenas spread and occupy the soil. All of these have become so plentiful that farmers note their more frequent occurrence than in former years. In Nebraska the grasses do not grow so luxuriantly season after season as in Iowa, but the climate is more favorable for winter grazing, and there are many valuable species of native forage plants. ”

“ Thus, cultivation must cease early in the season, and a cover-crop be sown to help harden and mature the vines. The grapes, also, must not be planted in soils rich in nitrogen, and nitrogenous fertilizers must be applied with care. The pruning should be such as does not induce great growth. These simple precautions to hasten maturity often suffice in climates where the danger of winter-killing is but slight, but where danger is imminent the vines must be covered either by wrapping or by laying down. ”

“ There is no grass which grows quickly enough to be worth seeding in the fall for spring plowing. It is a good deal better to use a grain, either barley or rye, for the seed is cheap, the growth quick and you can get a good deal of green stuff to plow under. Legumes are, of course, better because of their ability to absorb atmospheric nitrogen, but any plant which makes a large green growth is good, and it is better to have a heavy weight of wild vegetation than to have a light growth of an introduced legume. ”

“ In summer the new green growth of the year was cut away completely from a scion and the remaining wood of one or more previous year's growth was depended upon for sending out shoots from latent buds. That is what happens after accidents to limbs or to trunks of trees and it occurred in the same way with my scions. Furthermore, it seemed to offer new hope for the propagation of walnuts, maples, and grapes, for example, because the free flowing sap of such species in the spring and early summer has led to attacks upon the sap by bacteria and fungi which ruin repair cells. ”

“ Every one knows that land in such condition suffers tenfold more severely from drought than if it were light and mellow from cultivation. Perennial weeds that sprouted late in the fall or early spring get a start, and by fruiting-time are rampant. I do advocate EARLY spring cultivation, and by it I almost double my crop, while at the same time maintaining a mastery over the weeds.
As soon as the severe frosts are over, in April, I rake the coarsest of the stable-manure from the plants, leaving the finer and decayed portions as a fertilizer. ”

“ They emphasize the importance of paying attention to all of the factors on which plant growth is dependent. Moisture, soil temperature, aëration, the texture of the soil, freedom from pests, cold and frosts, as well as the supply of food may limit the yield of grapes.
A vineyard soil may have a one-sided wear.
It is certain in some of the experiments and strongly indicated in others that the soil is having a one-sided wear—that only one or a very few of the elements of fertility are lacking. The element most frequently lacking is nitrogen. ”

“ On the other hand, if the earth is permitted to remain too long, foliage and vine are tender both to sunshine and frost. A grape-grower in New York who has had much experience in laying down vines in a vineyard of some thirty or forty acres says that the work may be done at a cost of $6 an acre at the average wage paid for farm-labor. It must be expected in a large plantation, no matter how well the work of covering is done, that occasionally a trunk will be broken, making it necessary to graft the vine if a shoot does not spring up from below the break. ”

“ Some soils are too rich for the grape. On these the growth is over-luxuriant, the wood does not mature in the autumn, fruit-buds do not form and the fruit is poor in quality. Certain varieties can stand a richer soil than others. Over-richness is a trouble that may cure itself as the vines come in full bearing and make greater demands on the soil for food. It is well, however, on a soil that is suspected of being too rich or so proved by the behavior of the vines, to provide an extra wire on the trellis, to prune little and thus take care of the rampant growth. ”

“ By rotation grazing, that is, permitting the stock to feed first on one area and then on another, the grasses and forage plants are allowed to recuperate from the effect of grazing and allowed to reproduce. The stock is excluded from one area while the seed is maturing, and after the seed has matured and become scattered on the area the stock is allowed to graze on it. As the stock feeds on the plants it tramples the seed into the ground and thereby furnishes favorable conditions for the germination of the seed. ”

“ Some growers use a disc harrow instead of the plow to break the land in the spring, but this is a doubtful procedure in most vineyards and is impossible when a heavy green-crop covers the land. Tillage with harrow, cultivator, weeder or roller then proceeds at such intervals as conditions demand, seldom less than once a fortnight, until time to sow the cover-crop in midsummer. About the time grapes blossom, the grape-hoe should be used to level down the furrow turned up to the vines in the spring plowing. ”

“ Any sourness in the soil will be fatal to flowering. The compost must be carefully ‘firmed’ into the pots, but no severe pressure should be employed, or the roots will not run freely.
Neglect as to temperature or humidity will have to be paid for in long joints, green fly, red spider, or in some other way. But there are no plants of high quality that grow more thriftily if protected from cold winds and kept perfectly clean. A light airy greenhouse is their proper place, and they must have ample headroom. ”

“ Severe pruning usually removes most of the fruit-bearing wood and throws the vine into vigorous wood growth. No pruning, on the other hand, causes a growth which is too much distributed, weak, and incapable of bearing good crops. Therefore, the grape grower should study the vines sufficiently to enable him to judge each year the proper severity of pruning for the best results. This will depend on the variety, the age of the vines, the fertility of the soil, etc. Muscadine grapes bear their fruit in small clusters. ”