Soil Culture: Containing a Comprehensive View of Agriculture, Horticulture, Pomology, Domestic Animals, Rural Economy, and Agricultural LiteratureWalden, J. H.
Science
Soil Culture: Containing a Comprehensive View of Agriculture, Horticulture, Pomology, Domestic Animals, Rural Economy, and Agricultural Literature
Walden, J. H.
Agriculture -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
_Preserving_, for winter or spring use, is best done by plowing a furrow
on land where water will not stand, and placing the heads in the furrow
with the roots up. Cover with earth from three to six inches deep,
letting the roots protrude. The large leaves will convey all the water
off from the heads, and they will come out as fresh and good as in the
fall. If you wish some, more easily accessible, for winter use, set them
in the cellar in a small trench, in which a little water should be kept,
and they will not only be preserved fresh, but will grow all winter, if
the cellar be free from frost. They are also well preserved put in
trenches eighteen inches deep, out door, with a little good soil in the
bottom, and protected with poles and straw as directed for winter
plants. Cabbages that have scarcely any heads in the fall, so treated,
will grow all winter, and come out good, tender, fresh heads in spring.
_Transplanting._--This is usually done in wet weather: if it be so wet
as to render the soil muddy by stirring, it injures the plants. This may
be successfully done in dry weather, not excessively hot. Have a basin
of water, in which dip the root and shake it, so as to wash off all the
earth from the seed-bed that adheres to it. Put the plant in its place
at once, and the soil in which it is to grow takes hold of the roots
readily, and nearly every one will live. Transplant with your hand, a
transplanting trowel, a stick, or a dibble made of a spade-handle, one
foot long, sharpened off abruptly, and the eye left on for a handle. Put
the plant in its place, thrust the dibble down at a sharp angle with the
plant, and below it, and move it up to it. The soil will thus be pressed
close around the roots, leaving no open space, and the plant will grow.
Do not leave the roots so long that they will be doubled up in
transplanting--better cut off the ends.
Large cabbages should be three feet apart each way, and in perfectly
straight rows; this saves expense in cultivating, as it can be done with
a horse. The usual objections of farmers to gardening, on account of the
time required to hoe and weed, would be remedied by planting in long,
straight rows, at suitable distances apart, to allow the free use of
horse, cultivator, and plow, in cultivating; thus, beets, carrots,
cabbages, onions, &c., are almost as easily raised as corn. An easy
method of raising good cabbages is on greensward. Put on a good dressing
of manure, plow once and turn over handsomely, roll level, and harrow
very mellow on the top, without disturbing the turf below; make places
for planting seeds at the bottom of the turf; a little stirring of the
surface, and destruction of the few weeds that will grow, will be all
the further care necessary. The roots will extend under the sod in the
manure below it, and will there find plenty of moisture, even when the
surface is quite dry, and will grow profusely.
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