War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable GrowersFree, Montague
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War Gardens: A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers
Free, Montague
Vegetable gardening
Beans.—Dry-shell beans should be allowed to stay on the plants until
the pods dry up and become yellow. They may then be gathered, and
shelled when convenient. If they are infested with weevils they should
be dry baked in a temperature of about 145° Fahr. Care must be taken not
to allow the temperature to rise above this figure, or the beans will be
roasted and spoiled. Fumigating with carbon disulphide is also an
efficacious expedient, but somewhat dangerous because of the explosive
properties of the fumigant.
Pumpkin and Winter Squash can be stored in a warm, dry room. It is
advisable to turn over the fruits selected for storing two weeks or so
before they are harvested, so that the side that has been lying on the
ground may have its rind hardened by exposure to sun and air.
* * * * *
Although concerned primarily with “war gardens,” the methods advocated
can be used by all vegetable growers who practise intensive cultivation.
The fundamental principles of soil management also apply equally to
flower-gardens.
The writer has found in his experience that good crops can be raised, on
what would be usually considered poor soil, by men and women who know
little of horticultural practices. Larger crops could have been produced
had they known more of the art of growing vegetables. It is to help such
people that this book has been written, from information gained during
twenty years of professional experience.
It is the earnest hope of the author that the crops raised by “war
gardeners” will be of such a size as to cause this last chapter to be
the one that is most consulted.
APPENDIX
Table I
Approximate quantities of vegetables obtainable from a row fifty feet
long. This table is based on actual yields obtained from a plot of
moderate fertility by using standard varieties of vegetables.
Beets 40 bunches (5 in a
bunch)
Bush beans (pods) 27 quarts
Cabbage 25 heads
Carrots 45 pounds
Cauliflower 25 heads
Corn 100 ears
Egg-plant 100 fruits
Lettuce 50 heads
Onions 20 pounds
Parsnips 40 pounds
Peas (pods) 20 quarts
Potatoes 5 pecks
Tomatoes 240 pounds
Table II
Approximate number of days from seed-sowing to first picking of crops.
Variation is caused by temperature and character of variety—early,
midseason, or late.
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