Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

Excerpt: UNREMITTING attention to details are necessary to success. The crops should be arranged to follow each other in such a way that no ground is empty for long during the growing season. That this may be avoided and that a regular succession of crops may be matured in the shortest time, good sturdy plants should be ready in the nursery beds just when needed. Accordingly, the seed is sown at set times, and every care taken to bring on the plants without a check.

CHAPTER XII
Raising Plants for Early Work

UNREMITTING attention to details are necessary to success. The crops should be arranged to follow each other in such a way that no ground is empty for long during the growing season. That this may be avoided and that a regular succession of crops may be matured in the shortest time, good sturdy plants should be ready in the nursery beds just when needed. Accordingly, the seed is sown at set times, and every care taken to bring on the plants without a check.

Fixed hours of work are not always possible, especially for the foreman. He must live near the garden and keep a close watch upon the weather in order to give air or protection at any hour to the plants under his care. He must make the welfare of the plants his principal object in life, especially during the winter and spring, else he had far better leave this business alone.

The following directions seek to deal fully with each detail of the work, in the order in which it should be done. (See, also, Monthly Calendar of Reminders.)

Wherever "compost" is mentioned, the pre-

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pared mixture of sifted manure and soil, described in Chapter VI., is meant. This compost should be used only in the first season. After that only the exhausted manure from the beds of preceding seasons-without admixture of soil-should be used for this purpose.

CAULIFLOWER.

This is one of the chief crops of the garden; it is grown in frames, under cloches, and also in the open-air beds.

To prepare a seed-bed, dig over and rake down a few square yards of ground; then cover up two inches deep with compost, and rake it fine.

About the 15th and again on the 20th of September sow, very thinly, 1/2oz. of seed, and cover lightly with compost, pressing it down evenly. Cover again, lightly, with sifted manure, and water thoroughly with a fine rose. Water lightly at frequent intervals, both before and after the plants are up, in order to keep off the" fly."

Early in October the first lot of plants will be ready to prick off into their winter quarters. Therefore, get ready a bed to take eight three­-light frames. Dig the ground and rake it down; set the frames in rows, and put three inches of moist compost inside them; level with a fine rake and press down; then prick out the plants at three inches apart. If, as should be, the soil and compost are moist, no

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watering will be necessary. The plants will be much better without watering, for damp is more harmful than cold, and must be carefully guarded against. If the soil is dry, water the plants lightly to start them.

Put the lights on, but give all the air possible by raising the lights at each corner on flower pots or blocks of wood. This keeps off the rain, but ensures a free passage of air. When very cold or rough weather sets in, close the lights, and, if the weather is very severe, cover with mats to keep out frost. Still, do not coddle the plants. Give them air freely when­ ever it is possible, keep the rain off, and grow them hardy. Should the season be mild and the plants grow too freely, check by trans­ planting them; this time at about four inches apart.

Transplanting should be avoided as much as possible by arranging the seed-sowing at the right time--which time varies with the locality. When profit and labor are considered there is always more lost than gained in sowing too early. The date given is calculated to give the best results in the shortest time and with the least labor in the southern counties; farther north the date may be a week earlier. If the plants are too forward, they are likely to "button" without coming to perfec­tion.

These plants will be used for setting out in warm and cold frames and on the cloche beds as the lettuce come ready; or they may be set

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out under cloches in February on a mild hot-bed.

Another batch of cauliflowers should be sown at the beginning of October and pricked off in November. These will be ready to go out into the open the following spring.

To off-set any serious losses amongst the wintered plants, sow again in a hot-bed in January. Prick out on a mild-bed as soon as the plants can be safely handled, and gradually harden.

LETTUCE.

During the first week in October, sow both cos and cabbage lettuce. Prepare a bed as for cauliflower seed, and place two rows of cloches upon it. Lift the cloches and, within the circular depression which they will have made, sow the seed thinly. Cover lightly with com­post, press gently, and replace the cloches. It is best to raise lettuce plants without watering, therefore the soil should be moist. At this date, as the sun is usually hot in the middle of the day, shade the seed-bed with mats for a few hours to prevent its getting too dry.

In four or five days the plants will be up. They should be pricked out a few days afterward--just as soon as they are large enough to handle. Prick them out under cloches, about thirty plants to each, taking care to keep them well from the sides, that the leaves, as they grow, may not touch the glass and get frozen.

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The preparation of the bed for this purpose should be like that of a seed-bed; its size will depend upon the number of plants needed in the spring. For the suggested plan of crop­ping about 21,000 forcing cabbage and 18,000 cos lettuce plants will be needed; for waste add 10 per cent., which number will require 1,434 cloches. Set out the cloches, three rows to a bed, those in the middle row coming between those in the outer rows, thus saving space.

The forcing cabbage lettuce remains under the cloches, without air, until wanted for the hot-beds in January and early February The cos should have air on mild days, and should be transplanted again by the middle of November, this time fifteen to a cloche. Each time the plants are pricked out care should be taken to remove decayed leaves. It may be necessary to transplant the cos lettuce a third time. This frequent trans­planting causes a mat of fibrous roots, and results in a lettuce much finer than would otherwise be.

Every plant which shows red spots on the roots must be rejected and burnt, or the fungi which causes these spots will spoil the plant before it can mature. During the winter, con­stant care is necessary to keep the frost out of the cloches. When frost threatens, scatter dry littery manure a few inches thick all around and amongst the cloches, and cover well at night with mats. Experienced gardeners are


E

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constantly watchful; if any frost shows on the cloches they put on mats, taking them off again towards mid-day as the frost clears, and replacing them, if necessary, a few hours later. It is only by such constant watchfulness that the plants escape freezing, and yet are grown hardy.

"PASSION," OR HARDY WINTER CABBAGE LETTUCE.

The cabbage lettuce usually grown by the maraîcher for standing in the open-air beds through the winter and for earliest open-air work in the spring is the variety known as the "Passion." This is a very strong grower, and passes through an orr>dinary winter without injury, though it may be destroyed in severe frost. This disaster does sometimes happen, and to avoid it many growers now bring the plants through the winter under cloches, in exactly the same way as the other varieties previously described, but giving the "Passion" more space and plenty of air whenever pos­sible; planting out in the open beds is done from the end of January onwards as the weather will permit. This system is more certain than planting out permanently in the autumn, but the lettuces come a little later.

It is not necessary to confine these opera­tions to the "Passion" lettuce; there are several very good hardy lettuce, both cabbage and cos, which do equally well. (See list of seeds.)

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Where it is intended to plant outside in the autumn the seed should be sown about mid-September, the seedlings pricked out once on a bed of fine decayed manure, and about the end of October planted out permanently, one foot apart, in a sheltered and dry position. It is a good plan to have the beds slightly raised. Slugs, birds, and excessive damp must all be guarded against. When the ground is dry in March hoe well, water when necessary, and the lettuce should be ready for market in April.

If it is intended to winter them under cloches, sow early in October, prick out about twenty-four to a cloche, grow hardily, and plant out permanently at ten inches apart from the end of January. They may also be planted on cold-beds under frames from the beginning of January, doing very well and coming early in this way.

Lettuce plants are very liable during the winter, especially under damp conditions, to an attack of mildew, scientifically known as "peronespora ganglioniformis." Many efforts have been made to find a cure for this disease, but with very partial success. As in most other things, preventive measures are the best. To this end prick out on raised beds, keep as dry as possible, give plenty of air on mild days, and if the disease has shown itself previously, water the ground before planting with a solu­tion of sulphate of copper. When this mildew gets amongst the plants it is very destructive,

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often sweeping away an entire batch; for this reason the maraîcher uses cloches instead of frames in which to winter the plants, as the area of an attack is then restricted to the plants within the cloche. Remedies which may be tried are a weak solution of Bordeaux mixture or of sulphide of potassium sprayed over and under the plants in a fine mist, or flowers of sulphur or air-slaked lime dusted amongst them with a powder sprayer.

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