HOW TO PRODUCE GOOD VEGETABLES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 225, 23 September 1898, Page 3

HOW TO PRODUCE GOOD VEGETABLES.

(By C. L. Allen.)

The secret .of success in growing good vegetables is good culture. All, or nearly all, depends upon this, but, strange as it may seem, failure of crop, or lack of quality, is almost invariably attributed to some other cause, usually to the seedsman. One man will take a given variety and produce from it a crop absolutely perfect in every respect; another will take seed from the same package and not produce, a plant worthy the name, while both are grown in close proximity and under the same climatic conditions and on soil of the same general character. The first and all-important step is putting the soil in proper condition before the seed is planted and the next is to see that the seed is properly sown, or the plants are properly set. Let us take up the cauliflower as an example. This vegetable, which is generally considered very difficult to produce, can be grown-as easily and as profitably as any other, and under as many different conditions of soil and climate. The soil should be worked as deep as possible. If it is 12in deep work to its full depth, and let it be as rich at the bottom as or. the surface. The manure, which should

be largely from the stable, should be thoroughly incorporated, and the soil made as fine as it is possible to make it with the plough and the harrow, and this when it-is neither too wet nor too dry. The too common practice of ploughing one day, harrowing the

next, and putting in the plants on the third is about as bad as it is possible to work the soil. The correct method is to work it until it is as fine as it is possible to make it, then set the plants, after which never let the plough touch it, and the cultivator should only disturb the surface, but as often as necessary, which is after every shower, in order to have the surface fine and loose to prevent evaporation.

Of no less importance is the condition of. the soil of the seed bed, which should be light, fine, and fibrous, but not particularly rich. Sow Ibo seed thinly, find cover but lightly, oneeighth of an inch being sufficient; sow when the soil is dry, press it firmly over the seed, then water through a fine rose, shade from the midday sun, and leave the b«3 uncovered at all other times. As soon as the se.ed is fairly up and the seed leaves are full size prick out into a bed prepared in the same way, settiDg the plant 3-4 ths of an inch apart each way, again water and shade from'the midday sun. When the plants are one inch high prick them out again, this time setting an inch apart each way, then grow on until they are ready for the field or garden. The plants will then have formed a solid mass of roots and they can be transferred to the place where they are to grow, and if properly set they will not bo checked in growth a particle. This is all the secret there is in growing cauliflowers, and what is true with cauliflowers is equally as important with cabbages and with all other vegetables that are transplanted.

Although this method may be considered an innovation on the old custom it is the only 'way to insure success. As to its being practical I may state that T know of one fanner who annually grows sixty acres of cauliflower, about twenty of cabbage and the same of tomatoes, and every plant is grown and set in this manner. This farmer could not be induced to grow in. any other ma.nnea\ for the reason that lie is always successful, and gets his sixty acres of cauliflower all marketed in the early summer moufhs, when the great body of cauliflower growers do not attempt a summer crop because of its uncertainty, when in reality there is no uncertainty in the matter if the successful man's method is adopted. This method makes it possible to get 1100 heads of YVakefield cabbage and 800 bushels of tomatoes from each acre planted.