THE GARDEN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 932, 10 January 1890, Page 18

THE GARDEN.

AN AMERICAN MARKET GARDEN. A. I. Root in Gleaninsrs in Bee culture describing a visit to 0. M. Smith, of Green Bay, VVisconsin, says : —I have made a visit to J. M. Smith, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the horticulturalist and market gardener of the State. All that I saw that was interestingto me during the half day would almost make a book. Friend Smith has 40 acres of land under the highest state of cultivation, and now covered with most wonderful crops of vegetables and small fruits. He keeps an accurate account of his daily receipts, and these have been averaging for the past few weeks just about 100 dolg a day. Of course, he employs a large amount of labour—perhaps 30 or 40 full gnwa men; than there are enough boys to make quite a litt’e Sunday school, especially if we include the girls also, who weie picking berries. Friend Smith first began on a single acre. His growth and progress were, as it usually is, by easy steps. When he made a single acre produce great nice crops, another acre was added to it, and bo on. His first step was to thoroughly underdrain his ground. Hia soil is not naturally good, but it was all he had, and be started out to make the best of it. His groundissonearon alevelwith Lake Michigan that he cannot by doing his best, get a fall of more than 1 inch to every iOO feet of tile $ therefore, you may be sure the under, draining was carefully done. Now, besides the careful naderdraining I was agreeably surprised that flmitfe has decided just as I have done, we need surface draining also. The underdrains are about two rwdjs apart, and right over them he has surface drying through all his 40 acres. This makes hia in beds about 2 rods wide. These 'beds £..<(} highest in the middle, and slope -radufcliSy upward the surface drai 0. The surfac** drifias so shallow that the caltivator or .crosses them without difficulty. ' Reason, when We have had such oxce ; new our ground was injured by* saturat d with water that it set„.. just about aa hard as it was before it wploughed. It was worth my whole trip to Green Bay to satisfy myself on this single point of surface draining as well as underdrainage. Of coarse, the crops were all ic long rows parallel with these surface drains. Considerable has been said about cropping ground continuously, without seeding it down and turning under the so I. Even Peter Henderson recommends that market gardens be rested occasionally. Now, friend Smith does nothing of the sort. In fact he says he could by no manner of means spare his expensive highly manured ground for a crop of clover only to be turned under. Although his season insomuch shorter than ours, hegetß two and often three crops on the same ground every season. For instance : O.a his first acre of ground (which was so mellow and rich one could kick hia foot down 6 inches or more, almost anywhere) I found young cur. rant bushes just commencing to bear. Between these onions have been grown, and the boys hao. just pulled them, piling them in theae shallow surface drains so as to be cut of the way. let me say, these shallow surface drains also make convenient narrow roads, or bypaths for gathering the crops. Well, the grea; white onions were piled here in long winrows, where they could

dry ; and just as soon as they were up, the ground was manured again, the manure cultivated and worked in with modern tools, then the oelerywas planted. Friend .Smith plants celery or cabbages when he gets ready, no matter whether it rains or not. The hottest day I have experienced this season was Thursday, IStli July, and during this day frieadS. with his boy sec out about two acres of cabbage plants. While I was wondering that they dared to set them out duriug such a fierce heat, one of the boys came "up and suggested that it would only be a wast of time and shoe leather to replace what cabbages had died. None of them died worth speaking of. I expressed a curiosity to see how it was done. While friend S. has facilities for irrigation to any great extent, he has a tank and windmill. The tank would hold perhaps 200 barrels. In different places on bis ground are hydrants covered by square wooden boxes. When transplanting celery or cabbages iron pipe, perhaps 200 or 300 feet long, is during very dry weather, a common attached to the hydrant, and carried along these surface drains. Then a hose perhaps 100 feet long is attached to the iron pipe. By means of the iron pipe and hose, barrels of water Btationed all the paths (or, rather, surface drains) are readily filled with water. Then the small boys, by means of watering cans, put a pint or quart of water in the hole where each cabbageplaut is to be placed. Ihe plant is then put in, then some soft dry earth pulled over tbe wet surface, to prevent baking. In this nice, rich, highly manured soil, cabbage plants take right hold, and grow, rain or no rain; and the same way with celeiy. VVaggou roads go through the grounds at intervals, and baskets and wheelbarrows brmg the produots along tbe paths I have mentioned to the waggon. Another thing about these surface drain paths ; I was told that I could hardly find a weed on friend Smith’s whole 40 acres. He was obliged to own up, however, that, daring the past season, the excessive rains had made tbe ground so wet many times, at the same time making the weeds grow fast, he behind, like many of the rest of us. The weeds, however, were being rapidly cleaned out. They were all thrown into these surface drain paths, then pitched into carts and carried to the compost heaps in various parts of the grounds. I did not see any weeds going to seed, and I presume that none were allowed to mature. On one piece of ground I saw about 3000 currant bashes. Each bush was an extra fine one. On the extra highly manured and well drained ground the currants were of immense size, and bush after bush was bending with its beautiful load of fruit. Why, I should not be surprised if they got almost a whole bushel from some of the bushes. They weie far enough apart so that they 1 ad sun and air enough to ripen thoroughly. His crop of strawberries was about 250 bushels per acre ; but he plants the old kinds, the Wilson and Crescent. Of course, he keeps quite a number of pig 3 to consume the refuse ; and I was very much pleased to find that he had been keeping cabbage refuse in a silo. All the leaves left where the heads are put gathered, and all the poor or immature heads are pat into this silo ; and ho showed me a fine sow that he said had had nothing else for months but cabbage from the Bilo. This cabbage was put away last fall. Ido not remember now how many horses he keeps ; but there are something like a dozen. He also has some fine cows. His stables are as neat and clean as any I have ever visited. Green peas is one of his special orops ; but when tbe market will not pay him a certain price, the vines are cleared from the ground, the peas, vines, and all given to the pigs, and so with almost every crop. la.order to have enough to supply the demand, he often raises fine crops to go into the compost heap or to the pigs. For instance, I saw a fine bed of Henderson’s New York lettuce — beautiful, crisp, large sized heads, but as lettuce is very perishable, and there is no market for it just now, he said the whole crop must go at once to the compost heap. Of coarse such things do not happen very often ; but it is better for the market g»?dgo£r to have too much than not enough.