the better days books · the better days books origiganic guide to dry farming: a complete system...
TRANSCRIPT
The Better Days Books
Complete Origiganic Grower
Grow More and Better Food Naturally
Using "Origiganic" Old World Methods
Five Classic Growing Guides Complete In One Volume:
__________
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide to Improving Your Soil, by Alva Agee
Home Vegetable Gardening: A Complete and Practical Guide to the Planting and Care of All Vegetables, Fruits and Berries Worth Growing For
Home Use, by F. F. Rockwell
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide to Dry Farming: A Complete System for Achieving Bountiful Harvests Where Rain is Scarce, and Without Irrigation, by John A. Widtsoe
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide to Growing Cabbages And Cauliflowers, by James J. H. Gregory
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide to Culinary Herbs: Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses, by M. G. Kains
The Better Days Books Complete Origiganic Grower is
Copyright © 2010 by Better Days Books.
License Notes:
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This
eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you
would like to share this book with another person, please
purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If
you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then you should return to
BetterDaysBooks.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you
for respecting the hard work of this author.
A Better Days Books publication. View the complete Better
Days Books catalog at BetterDaysBooks.com
Editorial, sales and distribution, rights and permission inquiries
should be sent via e-mail to [email protected].
Better Days Books (Editor)
The Better Days Books Complete Origiganic Grower/by Better
Days Books (Editor)
–Better Days Books EPub Format Universal eBook Reader
Edition
1. Gardening. 2. Organic Gardening. 3. Organic Farming 4. Soil
Improvement. 5. Vegetable Gardening 6. Irrigation. 7. Drought
8. Herb Gardening.9. Title
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE:
WHAT IS "ORIGIGANIC" GARDENING?
Organic foods have become all the rage in supermarkets
across America, as health conscious and environmentally-
concerned consumers compete to pay top dollar for produce that
has been grown without the use of toxic pesticides or dangerous
chemical fertilizers.Savvy backyard gardeners, who seek to
grow their own healthy produce, study modern organic growing
methods and wind up spending huge sums of money on a
plethora of commercially available "garden-safe" products that,
all too often, fail to fulfill their expensive promises.Others
invest great quantities of time and labor "reinventing the wheel"
of organic agriculture, trying "a bit of this" and "a bit of that"
gleaned from books and magazine articles on the subject, taking
a pioneering, but not necessarily productive piecemeal or
experimental approach that can end in frustration and
disappointing yields. Those who succeed against the odds in
producing a bumper crop of fresh, organic produce find, when
their surplus reaches the marketplace through the vehicle of
specialty restaurants, local grocers or good, old fashioned
tailgate farmer's markets,that a tangle of Bureaucratic regulation
forbids them from actually labeling their product "organic," for
lack of official government inspections and licensing of their
land (the word "organic" has a very specific legaldefinition
under Federal Department of Agriculture rules, and growers can
be punished for using the term without official
sanction).Shoppers flock to purchase the larger, shinier "poison-
packed" produce in the next stall over, and there's nothing the
grower can say or do about it…
Until now, that is."Origiganic" is a new word we have coined
here at Better Days Books to describe time-tested and reliable
"original" methods of growing food naturally in our backyards,
gardens and even on full scale farms.While chemically-
processed ammonia-synthesis fertilizers have been applied to
fields in America since at least the 1920s, it has been only since
the 1960s that dangerous petroleum-based fertilizers and
pesticides have been in widespread use.So any serious
gardening or farming "how to" treatise published prior to 1960
will, quite "naturally," exclude their use.The old-fashioned,
"original" method, it turns out (as is so often the case), is simply
a better, healthier, safer, and even generally less expensive way
to produce bounties of fabulous, poison-free food – for our
families, and for the marketplace.At Better Days Books, we call
food grown according to these original, Old World methods
"Origiganic." It's a fun word to say, it looks a lot like "Organic,"
and you can paint it on your signs and print it on food labels
without interference from the government.
The volume you now hold in your hands is one in a series of
Origiganic Gardening books published by Better Days Books,
aimed at preserving and spreading knowledge of pre-1960s
gardening methods.Each title is filled with valuable information
that will transform the way you look at the process of growing
food, regardless of the scale of your operation. Do please note,
however, that not all Old World gardening methods are 100%
safe or environmentally sound (one example being the use of a
"kerosene emulsion" to control pests, which was common
practice in the 1800s, and which appears in many classic
gardening books of the era). We ask that you use good common
sense and wise discernment in your choice of origiganic
growing techniques to resurrect for application to your own
rows, plots or fields, and which to leave safely at rest in the
historical record.
You can view the complete Better Days Books catalog of these
and other quality vintage reprint titles at BetterDaysBooks.com.
BOOK ONE:
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide to
Improving Your Soil
By Alva Agee
Originally Published in 1912 Under the Title Crops and Methods
for Soil Improvement By The Macmillan Company, New York.
CONTENTS
Chapter I :Introduction
In lieu of preface - Natural strength of land - Plant constituents -
Organic matter – Drainage – Lime -Crop-rotation – Fertilizers –
Tillage - Control of soil moisture
Chapter II: The Need of Lime
The unproductive farm - Soil acidity - The rational use of lime -
Where clover is not wanted - Determining lime requirement –
The litmus-paper test - A practical test - Duration of effect
Chapter III: Applying Lime
Forms of lime – Definitions - The kind to apply - The fineness
of limestone - Hydrated lime - Stone-lime – Ashes – Marl -
Magnesian lime - Amount per acre - Time of application
Chapter IV: Organic Matter
Office of organic matter - The legumes - Storing nitrogen -The
right bacteria - Soil inoculation - Method of inoculation
Chapter V: The Clovers
Red clover - Clover and acid soils - Methods of seeding -
Fertility value - Taking the crops off the land - Physical benefit
of the roots - Used as a green manure - When to turn down -
Mammoth clover - Alsike clover - Crimson clover
Chapter VI: Alfalfa
Adaptation to eastern needs - Fertility and feeding value -
Climate and soil - Free use of lime – Inoculation – Fertilization
- A clean seed-bed – Varieties -Clean seed - The seeding -
Seeding in August - Subsequent treatment
Chapter VII: Grass Sods
Value of sods - Prejudice against timothy - Object of sods -
Seeding with small grain - Seeding in rye - Good soil conditions
Chapter VIII: Grass Sods (Continued)
Seeding in late summer -Crops that may precede – Preparation -
The weed seed - Summer grasses - Sowing the seed - Deep
covering - Seed-mixtures
Chapter IX: Sods for Pastures
Permanent pastures - Seed-mixtures - Blue-grass – Timothy -
Red-top - Orchard grass - Other seeds - Yields and composition
of grasses - Suggested mixtures for pastures - Renewal of
permanent pastures - Destroying bushes - Close grazing
Chapter X: The Cowpea
A southern legume – Characteristics – Varieties - Fertilizing
value - Affecting physical condition – Planting – Inoculation –
Fertilizers - Harvesting with livestock - The cowpea for hay -
As a catch crop
Chapter XI: Other Legumes and Cereal Catch Crops
The soybean - Fertility value - Feeding value – Varieties - The
planting – Harvesting - The Canada pea – Vetch - Sweet clover
- Rye as a cover crop - When to plow down – Buckwheat – Oats
Chapter XII: Stable Manure
Livestock farming - The place for cattle - Sales off the farm -
The value of manure - The content of manure - Relative values -
Amount of manure - Analysis of manure
Chapter XIII: Care of Stable Manure
Common source of losses - Caring for liquid manure - Use of
preservatives - Spreading as made - The covered yard -
Harmless fermentation - Rotted manure – Composts - Poultry
manure
Chapter XIV: The Use of Stable Manure
Controlling factors - Direct use for corn - Effect upon moisture -
Manure on grass - Manure on potatoes - When to plow down -
Heavy applications - Reinforcement with minerals - Durability
of manure
Chapter XV: Crop-rotations
The farm scheme - Value of rotation - Selection of crops - An
old succession of crops - Corn two years - The oat crop - Two
crops of wheat - The clover and timothy - Two legumes in the
rotation - Potatoes after corn - A three-years' rotation - Grain
and clover - Potatoes and crimson clover
Chapter XVI: The Need of Commercial Fertilizers
Loss of plant-food - Prejudice against commercial fertilizers -
Are fertilizers stimulants? - Soil analysis - Physical analysis -
The use of nitrogen - Phosphoric-acid requirements - The need
of potash - Fertilizer tests - Variation in soil
Chapter XVII: Commercial Sources of Plant-food
Acquaintance with terms - Nitrate of soda - Sulphate of
ammonia - Dried blood – Tankage – Fish - Animal bone - Raw
bone - Steamed bone - Rock-phosphate - Acid phosphate -
Basic slag - Muriate of potash - Sulphate of potash – Kainit -
Wood-ashes - Other fertilizers – Salt - Coal-ashes – Muck –
Sawdust
Chapter XVIII: Purchasing Plant-food
Necessity of purchase - Fertilizer control - Brand names -
Statement of analysis - Valuation of fertilizers - A bit of
arithmetic - High-grade fertilizers
Chapter XIX: Home-mixing of Fertilizers - 125
The practice of home-mixing - Effectiveness of home-mixing -
Criticisms of home-mixing - The filler - Ingredients in the
mixture - Materials that should not be combined - Making a
good mixture - Buying unmixed materials
Chapter XX: Mixtures for Crops
Composition of plant not a guide - The multiplication of
formulas - A few combinations are safest - Amount of
application - Similarity of requirements - Maintaining fertility -
Fertilizer for grass - All the nitrogen from clover - Method of
applying fertilizers - An excess of nitrogen
Chapter XXI: Tillage
Desirable Physical Condition Of The Soil - The Breaking-Plow
- Types Of Plows – Subsoiling - Time Of Plowing - Method Of
Plowing - The Disk Harrow - Cultivation Of Plants -
Controlling Root-Growth - Elimination Of Competition -
Length Of Cultivation
Chapter XXII: Control of Soil Moisture
Value of water in the soil - The soil a reservoir - The land-roller
- The plank-drag - The mulch - Mulches of foreign material -
Plowing straw down - The summer-fallow - The modern fallow
Chapter XXIII: Drainage
Underdrainage - Counting the cost - Where returns are largest -
Material for the drains - The outlet - Locating main and
branches - The laterals - Size of tile - Kind of tile - The grade -
Establishing a grade - Cutting the trenches - Depth of trenches –
Connections - Permanency desired
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
In Lieu of Preface.—This book is not a technical treatise and
is designed only to point out the plain, every-day facts in the
natural scheme of making and keeping soils productive. It is
concerned with the crops, methods, and fertilizers that favor the
soil. The viewpoint, all the time, is that of the practical man
who wants cash compensation for the intelligent care he gives to
his land. The farming that leads into debt, and not in the
opposite direction, is poor farming, no matter how well the soil
may prosper under such treatment. The maintenance and
increase of soil fertility go hand in hand with permanent income
for the owner when the science that relates to farming is rightly
used. Experiment stations and practical farmers have developed
a dependable science within recent years, and there is no jarring
of observed facts when we get hold of the simple philosophy of
it all.
Natural Strength of Land.—Nearly all profitable farming in
this country is based upon the fundamental fact that our lands
are storehouses of fertility, and that this reserve of power is
essential to a successful agriculture. Most soils, no matter how
unproductive their condition today, have natural strength that
we take into account, either consciously or unconsciously. Some
good farm methods came into use thousands of years ago.
Experience led to their acceptance. They were adequate only
because there was natural strength in the land. Nature stored
plant-food in more or less inert form and, as availability has
been gained, plants have grown. Our dependence continues.
Plant Constituents.—There are a few technical terms whose
use cannot be evaded in the few chapters on the use of lime and
fertilizers. A plant will not come to maturity unless it can obtain
for its use combinations of ten chemical elements. Agricultural
land and the air provide all these elements. If they were in
abundance in available forms, there would be no serious soil
fertility problem. Some of their names may not interest us. Six
or seven of these elements are in such abundance that we do not
consider them. A farmer may say that when a dairy cow has
luxuriant blue-grass in June, and an abundance of pure water,
her wants are fully met. He omits mention of the air because it
is never lacking in the field. In the same way the land-owner
may forget the necessity of any kind of plant-food in the soil
except nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and lime. Probably the
lime is very rarely deficient as a food for plants, and will be
considered later only as a means of making soils friendly to
plant life.
Nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash are the three
substances that may not be in available form in sufficient
amount for a growing crop. The lack may be in all three, or in
any two, or in any one, of these plant constituents. The natural
strength of the soil includes the small percentage of these
materials that may be available, and the relatively large stores
that nature has placed in the land in inert form as a provision
against waste.
The thin covering of the earth that is known as the soil is
disintegrated rock, combined with organic matter. The original
rock "weathered," undergoing physical and chemical change. A
long period of time was required for this work, and for the
mixing and shifting from place to place that have occurred.
Organic matter has been a factor in the making of soils, and is in
high degree a controlling one in their production of food.
Organic Matter. Nature is resourceful and is constantly alert
to repair the wastes and mistakes of man. We may gain
fundamental truth about soil fertility through observance of her
methods in restoring land to a fertile condition. Our best success
comes only when we work with her. When a soil has been
robbed by man, and has been abandoned on account of inability
to produce a profitable crop, the first thing nature does is to
produce a growth of weeds, bushes, briers, or aught else of
which the soil chances to have the seeds. It is nature's effort to
restore some organic matter—some humus-making material—to
the nearly helpless land. Vegetable matter, rotting on and in the
soil, is the life-giving principle. It unlocks a bit of the great store
of inert mineral plant-food during its growth and its decay. It is
a solvent. The mulch it provides favors the holding of moisture
in the soil, and it promotes friendly bacterial action. The
productive power of most farming land is proportionate to the
amount of organic matter in it. The casual observer, passing by
farms, notes the presence or absence of humus-making material
by the color and structure of the soil, and safely infers
corresponding fertility or poverty. Organic matter is the life of
the soil.
A good crop for a poor soil.
A great percentage of the food consumed by Europe and the
Americas continues to come out of nature's own stores in the
soil, organic and inorganic, without any assistance by man
except in respect to selection of seeds, planting, and tillage. The
percentage grows less as the store of original supplies grows
less and population increases. Our science has broadened as the
need has grown greater. We have relatively few acres remaining
in the United States that do not require intelligent treatment to
insure an adequate supply of available plant-food. The total area
that has fallen below the line of profitable productiveness is
large. Other areas that never were highly productive must
supplement the lands originally fertile in order that human needs
may be met.
When soils have been robbed through the greed of man,
nature is handicapped in her effort to restore fertility by the
absence of the best seeds. Man's intelligent assistance is a
necessity. Successful farming involves such assistance of nature
that the percentage of vegetable matter in the soil shall be made
high and kept high. There must be such selection of plants for
this purpose that the organic matter will be rich in fertility, and
at the same time their growth must fit into a scheme of crop
production that can yield profit to the farmer. Soils produce
plants primarily for their own needs. It is a provision of nature
to maintain and increase their productive power. The land's
share of its products is that part which is necessary to this
purpose. Skill in farming provides for this demand of the soil
while permitting the removal of a large amount of animal food
within the crop-rotation. Lack of skill is responsible for the
depleted condition of soils on a majority of our farms. The
land's share of the vegetation it has produced has been taken
from it in large measure, and no other organic matter has been
given it in return. Its mineral store is left inert, and the moisture
supply is left uncontrolled. Helplessness results.
Drainage.—Productive soils are in a condition to admit air
freely. The presence of air in the soil is as necessary to the
changes producing availability of plant-food as it is to the
changes essential to life in the human body. A water-logged soil
is a worthless one in respect to the production of most valuable
plants. The well-being of soil and plants requires that the level
of dead water be a considerable distance below the surface.
When a soil has recently grown trees, the rotting stump roots
leave cavities in the subsoil that permit the removal of some
surplus water, and the rotted wood and leaves that give
distinctive character to new land are absorbents of such water.
As land becomes older, losing natural means of drainage and the
excellent physical condition due to vegetable matter in it, the
need of drainage grows greater. The tramping of horses in the
bottoms of furrows made by breaking-plows often makes
matters worse. The prompt removal of excessive moisture by
drains, and preferably by underdrains, is essential to profitable
farming in the case of most wet lands. The only exception is the
land on which may be grown the grasses that thrive fairly well
under moist conditions.
Lime.—The stores of lime in the soil are not stable. The
tendency of lime in most of the states between the Missouri
River and the Atlantic seaboard is to get out of the soil. There is
no evidence that lime is not in sufficient quantity in most soils
to feed crops adequately, but within recent years we have
learned that vast areas do not contain enough lime in available
form to keep the soil from becoming acid. Some soils never
were rich in lime, and these are the first to show evidence of
acidity. In our limestone areas, however, acid soil conditions are
developing year by year, limiting the growth of clover and
affecting the yields of other crops.
The situation is a serious one just in so far as men refuse to
recognize the facts as they exist, and permit the limiting of crop
yields, and consequently of incomes, through the presence of
harmful acids. The natural corrective is lime, which combines
with the acid and leaves the soil friendly to all plant life and
especially to the clovers and other legumes that are necessary to
profitable farming. Nature is largely dependent upon man's
assistance in the correction of soil acidity.
Crop-rotation.—A good crop-rotation favors high
productiveness. One kind of crop paves the way nicely for some
other one. The land can be occupied by living plants without
any long intermissions. Organic matter can be supplied without
the use of an undue portion of the time. The stores of plant-food
throughout all the soil are more surely reached by a variety of
plants, differing in their habits of root-growth. The injury from
disease and insects is kept down to a minimum. There is better
distribution of the labor required by the farm, and neglect of
crops at critical times is escaped. The maintenance of fertility is
dependent much upon the use of a legume that will furnish
nitrogen from the air. A permanently successful agriculture in
our country must be based upon the use of legumes, and crop-
rotations would be demanded for this reason alone if none other
existed.
Fertilizers.—When a crop is fed to livestock, and all the
manure is returned to the land that produced the crop without
loss by leaching or fermentation, there is a return to the land of
four fifths of the fertility, and a good form of organic matter is
supplied. A portion of the crops cannot be fed upon the farm, or
otherwise the human race would have only animal products for
food. The welfare of the people demands that a vast amount of
the soil's crops be sold from the farms producing them. This
brings about a dependence upon the natural stores of plant-food
in the soil, which become available slowly, and upon
commercial fertilizers.
There has been a disposition on the part of many farmers to
regard fertilizers only as stimulants, due to the irrational use of
certain materials, but a good commercial fertilizer is a carrier of
some or all of the necessary elements that we find in stable
manures. They may carry nitrogen, phosphoric acid, or
potash,—any one or two or the three,—and the three are the
constituents that usually are lacking in available forms in our
soils. Examples of the best modern skill in farming may be
found in the rational selection and use of commercial fertilizers.
Tillage.—Man's ability to assist nature in the work of
production finds a notable illustration in the matter of tillage. Its
purpose is to provide right physical condition of the soil for the
particular class of plants that should be produced, while
destroying the competition of other plants that are for the time
only weeds. Most soils become too compact when left unstirred.
The air cannot enter freely, plant-roots cannot extend in every
direction for food, the water from rains cannot enter easily, there
is escape of the moisture in the ground, and weathering of the
soil proceeds too slowly. The methods used in plowing,
harrowing, and later cultivations fix the productive power of a
soil for the season in large measure.
Control of Soil Moisture.—The water in the soil is a
consideration that has priority over plant-food in the case of
agricultural land. The natural strength of the soil is sufficient to
give some return to the farmer in crops if the moisture content is
right throughout the season. The plant cannot feed unless water
is present; the process of growth ceases in the absence of
moisture. One purpose of plowing is to separate the particles of
soil to a good depth so that water-holding capacity may be
increased. When the soil is compact, it will absorb and hold
only a very limited amount of moisture. We harrow deeply to
complete the work of the plow, and the roller is used to destroy
all cavities of undue size that would admit air too freely and
thus rob the land of its water. Later cultivations may be given to
continue the effect of the plow in preventing the soil from
becoming too compact, but usually should be required only to
make a loose mulch that will hold moisture in the ground, and
to destroy the weeds that would compete with the planted crop
for water, food, and sunshine.
CHAPTER II: THE NEED OF LIME
The Unproductive Farm.—When a soil expert visits an
unproductive farm to determine its needs, he gives his chief
attention to four possible factors in his problem: lack of
drainage, of lime, of organic matter, and of available plant-food.
His first concern regards drainage. If the water from rains is
held in the surface by an impervious stratum beneath, it is idle
to spend money in other amendments until the difficulty
respecting drainage has been overcome. A water-logged soil is
helpless. It cannot provide available plant-food, air, and warmth
to plants. Under-drainage is urgently demanded when the level
of dead water in the soil is near the surface. The area needing
drainage is larger than most land-owners believe, and it
increases as soils become older. On the other hand, the
requirements of lime, organic matter, and available plant-food
are so nearly universal, in the case of unproductive land in the
eastern half of the United States, that they are here given prior
consideration, and drainage is discussed in another place when
methods of controlling soil moisture are described. The
production of organic matter is so important to depleted soils,
and is so dependent upon the absence of soil acidity, that the
right use of lime on land claims our first interest.
Soil Acidity.—Lime performs various offices in the soil, but
farmers should be concerned chiefly about only one, and that is
the destruction of acids and poisons that make the soil
unfriendly to most forms of plant life, including the clovers,
alfalfa, and other legumes. Lime was put into all soils by nature.
Large areas were originally very rich in lime, while other areas
of the eastern half of the United States never were well
supplied. Within the last ten years it has been definitely
determined that a large part of this vast territory has an actual
lime deficiency, as measured by its inability to remain alkaline
or "sweet." Many of the noted limestone valleys show marked
soil acidity. There has been exhaustion of the lime that was in a
state available for union with the acids that constantly form in
various ways. The area of soil thus deficient grows greater year
by year, and it can be only a matter of time when nearly all of
the eastern half of this country will have production limited by
this deficiency unless applications of lime in some form are
made. When owners of soil that remains rich in lime do not
accept this statement, no harm results, as their land does not
need lime. On the other hand are tens of thousands of land-
owners who do not recognize the need of lime that now exists in
their soils, and suffer a loss of income which they would
attribute to other causes.
Irrational Use of Lime.—Some refusal to accept the facts
respecting soil acidity and its means of correction is due to a
prejudice that was created by an unwise use of lime in the past.
Owners of stiff limestone soils learned in an early day that a
heavy application of caustic lime would increase crop
production. It caused such flocculation of the fine particles in
their stiff soils that physical condition was improved, and it
made the organic matter in the soil quickly available as plant-
food. The immediate result was greater crop-producing power in
the soil, and dependence upon lime as a fertilizer resulted. The
vegetable matter was used up, some of the more available
mineral plant-food was changed into soluble forms, and in the
course of years partial soil exhaustion resulted. The heavy
applications of lime, unattended by additions of organic matter
in the form of clover sods and stable manure, produced a natural
result, but one that was not anticipated by the farmers. The
prejudice against the use of lime on land was based on the
effects of this irrational practice.
There are land-owners who are not concerned with present-
day knowledge regarding soil acidity because they cannot
believe that it has any bearing upon the state of their soils. They
know that clover sods were easily produced on their land within
their remembrance, and that their soils are of limestone origin.
As the clovers demand lime, these two facts appear to them
final. The failures of the clovers in the last ten or twenty years
they incline to attribute to adverse seasons, poor seed, or the
prevalence of weed pests. They do not realize that much land
passes out of the alkaline class into the acid one every year. The
loss of lime is continuous. Exhaustion of the supply capable of
combining with the harmful acids finally results, and with the
accumulation of acid comes partial clover failure, a deficiency
in rich organic matter, a limiting of all crop yields, and an
inability to remain in a state of profitable production.
Lime deficiency and its resulting ills would not exist as
generally as is now the case if the application of lime to land
were not expensive and disagreeable. These are deterrent
features of wide influence. There continues hope that the clover
will grow successfully, as occasionally occurs in a favorable
season, despite the presence of some acid. The limitation of
yields of other staple crops is not attributed to the lack of lime,
and the proper soil amendment is not given to the land.
Where Clover is not Wanted.—The ability to grow heavy red
clover is a practical assurance that the soil's content of lime is
sufficiently high. When clover fails on account of a lime
deficiency, the work of applying lime may not be escaped by a
shift in the farm scheme that permits the elimination of clover.
The clover failure is an index of a condition that limits the
yields of all staple crops. The lack of lime checks the activity of
bacteria whose office it is to prepare plant-food for use. The
stable manure or sods decompose less readily and give smaller
results. Soil poisons accumulate. Mineral plant-food in the soils
becomes available more slowly. Physical condition grows
worse.
The limitations of the value of manure and commercial
fertilizers applied to land that has a lime deficiency have
illustration in an experiment reported by the Cornell station:
The soil was once a fertile loam that had become very poor.
A part was given an application of lime, and similar land at its
side was left unlimed. The land without lime and fertilizer of
any kind made a yield of 1824 pounds of clover hay per acre. A
complete fertilizer on the unlimed land made the yield 2235
pounds, and 15 tons of manure on the unlimed land made the
yield 2091 pounds.
Where lime had been applied, the unfertilized land yielded
3852 pounds per acre, the fertilized, 4085 pounds, and the
manured, 4976 pounds. The manure and fertilizer were nearly
inactive in the acid soil. The lime enabled the plants to obtain
benefit from the plant-food.
Determining Lime Requirement.—It is wasteful to apply
lime on land that does not need it. As has been said, the man
who can grow heavy clover sods has assurance that the lime
content of his soil is satisfactory. This is a test that has as much
practical value as the analysis of a skillful chemist. The owner
of such land may dismiss the matter of liming from his attention
so far as acidity is concerned, though it is a reasonable
expectation that a deficiency will appear at some time in the
future. Experience is the basis of such a forecast. Just as coal
was stored for the benefit of human beings, so was lime placed
in store as a supply for soils when their unstable content would
be gone.
The only ones that need be concerned with the question of
lime for soils are those who cannot secure good growths of the
clovers and other legumes. Putting aside past experience, they
should learn whether their soils are now acid. Practical farmers
may judge by the character of the vegetation and not fail to be
right nine times out of ten. Where land has drainage, and a fairly
good amount of available fertility, as evidenced by growths of
grass, a failure of red clover leads immediately to a strong
suspicion that lime is lacking. If alsike clover grows more
readily than the red clover, the probability of acidity grows
stronger because the alsike can thrive under more acid soil
conditions than can the red. Acid soils favor red-top grass rather
than timothy. Sorrel is a weed that thrives in both alkaline and
acid soils, and its presence would not be an index if it could
stand competition with clover in an alkaline soil. The clover can
crowd it out if the ground is not too badly infested with seed,
and even then the sorrel must finally give way. Where sorrel and
plantain cover the ground that has been seeded to clover and
grass, the evidence is strong that the soil conditions are
unfriendly to the better plants on account of a lime deficiency.
The experienced farmer who notes the inclination of his soil to
favor alsike clover, red-top, sorrel, and plantain should infer that
lime is lacking. If doubt continues, he should make a test.
The Litmus-paper Test.—A test of fair reliability may be
made with litmus paper. A package of blue litmus paper can be
bought for a few cents at any drug store. This paper will turn
pink when brought into contact with an acid, and will return to a
blue if placed in lime-water. A drop of vinegar on a sheet of the
paper will bring an immediate change to pink. If the pink sheet
be placed in lime-water, the effect of the lime in correcting the
acidity will be evidenced by the return in color to blue.
To test the soil, a sample of it may be put into a basin and
moistened with rain-water. Several sheets of the blue litmus
paper should be buried in the mud, care being used that the
hands are clean and dry. When one sheet is removed within a
few seconds and rinsed with rain-water, if any pink shows, there
is free acid present. Another sheet should be taken out in five
minutes. The rapidity with which the color changes, and the
intensity of the color, are indicative of the degree of acidity, and
aid the judgment in determining how much lime should be used.
If a sheet of the paper retains its blue color in the soil for twenty
minutes, there probably is no lime deficiency. The test should be
made with samples of soil from various parts of the field, and
they should be taken beneath the surface. One just criticism of
this test is that while no acidity may be shown, the lime content
may be too low for safety.
Red clover on limed and unlimed land.
A Practical Test.—The importance of alkalinity in soils is so
great, and the prevalence of acidity has such wide-spread
influence today, limiting the value of the clovers on a majority
of our farms, that a simple and more convincing test is
suggested here. Every owner of land that is not satisfactorily
productive may learn the state of his soil respecting lime
requirement at small expense. When a field is being prepared
for seeding to the grain crop with which clover will be sown, a
plat containing four square rods should be measured off, and
preferably this should be away from the border to insure even
soil conditions. A bushel of lump-lime, weighing eighty pounds,
should be slaked and evenly distributed over the surface of the
plat of ground. It can be broadcasted by hand if a spreader is not
available, and mixed with the surface soil while in a powdered
state. The plat of ground should be left as firm as the remainder
of the field, so that all conditions may be even for the test. The
appearance of the clover the following year will determine
whether lime was needed or not. There is no reason why any
one should remain in doubt regarding the lime requirement of
his fields. If income is limited by such a cause, the fact should
be known as soon as possible.
Duration of Effect.—Soil acidity is not permanently
corrected by a lime application. The original supply failed to
prove lasting, and the relatively small amount given the land in
an application will become exhausted. The duration depends
upon the degree of acidity, the nature of the soil and its crops,
and the size of the application. Experiments at the Pennsylvania
experiment station have shown that an application only in
sufficient amount to correct the existing acidity at the time of
application will not maintain an alkaline condition in the soil,
even for a few months. There must be some excess at hand to
unite with acids as formed later in the crop-rotation, or limings
must be given at short intervals of time to maintain alkaline
conditions.
Experience causes us to assume that enough lime should be
applied at one time to meet all requirements for a single crop-
rotation of four, five, or six years, and, wherever lime is cheap,
the unpleasant character of the labor inclines one to make the
application in sufficient amount to last through two such
rotations. It is a reasonable assumption, however, that more
waste results from the heavier applications at long intervals than
from light applications at short intervals. In any event need will
return, and soil acidity will again limit income if applications do
not continue to be made.
(skip)
BOOK TWO:
HOME VEGETABLE GARDENING:
A Complete and Practical Guide to the Planting
and Care of All Vegetables, Fruits and Berries
Worth Growing For Home Use
By F. F. Rockwell
Originally Published in 1911
PREFACE
With some, the home vegetable garden is a hobby; with
others, especially in these days of high prices, a great help.
There are many in both classes whose experience in gardening
has been restricted within very narrow bounds, and whose
present spare time for gardening is limited. It is as "first aid" to
such persons, who want to do practical, efficient gardening, and
do it with the least possible fuss and loss of time, that this book
is written. In his own experience the author has found that
garden books, while seldom lacking in information, often do not
present it in the clearest possible way. It has been his aim to
make the present volume first of all practical, and in addition to
that, though comprehensive, yet simple and concise. If it helps
to make the way of the home gardener more clear and definite,
its purpose will have been accomplished.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE – THE GARDEN
I Introduction
II Why You Should Garden
III Requisites of the Home Vegetable Garden
IV The Planting Plan
V Implements and Their Uses
VI Manures and Fertilizers
VII The Soil And Its Preparation
PART TWO--VEGETABLES
VIII Starting the Plants
IX Sowing and Planting
X The Cultivation of Vegetables
XI The Vegetables and Their Special Needs
XII Best Varieties of the Garden Vegetables
XIII Insects and Disease, and Methods of Fighting Them
XIV Harvesting and Storing
PART THREE--FRUITS
XV The Varieties Of Pome And Stone Fruits
XVI Planting; Cultivation; Filler Crops
XVII Pruning, Spraying, Harvesting
XVIII Berries and Small Fruits
XIX A Calendar of Operations
XX Conclusion
PART I: THE GARDEN
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
Formerly it was the custom for gardeners to invest their
labors and achievements with a mystery and secrecy which
might well have discouraged any amateur from trespassing upon
such difficult ground. "Trade secrets" in either flower or
vegetable growing were acquired by the apprentice only through
practice and observation, and in turn jealously guarded by him
until passed on to some younger brother in the profession. Every
garden operation was made to seem a wonderful and difficult
undertaking. Now, all that has changed. In fact the pendulum
has swung, as it usually does, to the other extreme. Often, if you
are a beginner, you have been flatteringly told in print that you
could from the beginning do just as well as the experienced
gardener.
My garden friend, it cannot, as a usual thing, be done. Of
course, it may happen and sometimes does. You might, being a
trusting lamb, go down into Wall Street with $10,000 [Editor's
Note: all monetary values throughout the book are 1911 values]
and make a fortune. You know that you would not be likely to;
the chances are very much against you. This garden business is
a matter of common sense; and the man, or the woman, who has
learned by experience how to do a thing, whether it is cornering
the market or growing cabbages, naturally does it better than the
one who has not. Do not expect the impossible. If you do, read a
poultry advertisement and go into the hen business instead of
trying to garden. I have grown pumpkins that necessitated the
tearing down of the fence in order to get them out of the lot, and
sometimes, though not frequently, have had to use the axe to cut
through a stalk of asparagus, but I never "made $17,000 in ten
months from an eggplant in a city back-yard." No, if you are
going to take up gardening, you will have to work, and you will
have a great many disappointments. All that I, or anyone else,
could put between the two covers of a book will not make a
gardener of you. It must be learned through the fingers, and
back, too, as well as from the printed page. But, after all, the
greatest reward for your efforts will be the work itself; and
unless you love the work, or have a feeling that you will love it,
probably the best way for you, is to stick to the grocer for your
garden.
Most things, in the course of development, change from the
simple to the complex. The art of gardening has in many ways
been an exception to the rule. The methods of culture used for
many crops are more simple than those in vogue a generation
ago. The last fifty years has seen also a tremendous advance in
the varieties of vegetables, and the strange thing is that in many
instances the new and better sorts are more easily and quickly
grown than those they have replaced. The new lima beans are an
instance of what is meant. While limas have always been
appreciated as one of the most delicious of vegetables, in many
sections they could never be successfully grown, because of
their aversion to dampness and cold, and of the long season
required to mature them. The newer sorts are not only larger and
better, but hardier and earlier; and the bush forms have made
them still more generally available.
Knowledge on the subject of gardening is also more widely
diffused than ever before, and the science of photography has
helped wonderfully in telling the newcomer how to do things. It
has also lent an impetus and furnished an inspiration which
words alone could never have done. If one were to attempt to
read all the gardening instructions and suggestions being
published, he would have no time left to practice gardening at
all. Why then, the reader may ask at this point, another garden
book? It is a pertinent question, and it is right that an answer be
expected in advance. The reason, then, is this: while there are
garden books in plenty, most of them pay more attention to the
"content" than to the form in which it is laid before the
prospective gardener. The material is often presented as an
accumulation of detail, instead of by a systematic and
constructive plan which will take the reader step by step through
the work to be done, and make clear constantly both the
principles and the practice of garden making and management,
and at the same time avoid every digression unnecessary from
the practical point of view. Other books again, are either so
elementary as to be of little use where gardening is done without
gloves, or too elaborate, however accurate and worthy in other
respects, for an every-day working manual. The author feels,
therefore, that there is a distinct field for the present book.
And, while I still have the reader by the "introduction"
buttonhole, I want to make a suggestion or two about using a
book like this. Do not, on the one hand, read it through and then
put it away with the dictionary and the family Bible, and trust to
memory for the instruction it may give; do not, on the other
hand, wait until you think it is time to plant a thing, and then go
and look it up. For instance, do not, about the middle of May,
begin investigating how many onion seeds to put in a hill; you
will find out that they should have been put in, in drills, six
weeks before. Read the whole book through carefully at your
first opportunity, make a list of the things you should do for
your own vegetable garden, and put opposite them the proper
dates for your own vicinity. Keep this available, as a working
guide, and refer to special matters as you get to them.
Do not feel discouraged that you cannot be promised
immediate success at the start. I know from personal experience
and from the experience of others that "book-gardening" is a
practical thing. If you do your work carefully and thoroughly,
you may be confident that a very great measure of success will
reward the efforts of your first garden season.
And I know too, that you will find it the most entrancing
game you ever played.
Good luck to you!
CHAPTER II: WHY YOU SHOULD GARDEN
There are more reasons today than ever before why the
owner of a small place should have his, or her, own vegetable
garden. The days of home weaving, home cheese-making, home
meat-packing, are gone. With a thousand and one other things
that used to be made or done at home, they have left the fireside
and followed the factory chimney. These things could be turned
over to machinery. The growing of vegetables cannot be so
disposed of. Garden tools have been improved, but they are still
the same old one-man affairs--doing one thing, one row at a
time. Labor is still the big factor--and that, taken in combination
with the cost of transporting and handling such perishable stuff
as garden produce, explains why the home gardener can grow
his own vegetables at less expense than he can buy them. That is
a good fact to remember.
But after all, I doubt if most of us will look at the matter only
after consulting the columns of the household ledger. The big
thing, the salient feature of home gardening is not that we may
get our vegetables ten percent cheaper, but that we can have
them one hundred percent better. Even the long-keeping sorts,
like squash, potatoes and onions, are very perceptibly more
delicious right from the home garden, fresh from the vines or
the ground; but when it comes to peas, and corn, and lettuce,--
well, there is absolutely nothing to compare with the home
garden ones, gathered fresh, in the early slanting sunlight, still
gemmed with dew, still crisp and tender and juicy, ready to
carry every atom of savory quality, without loss, to the dining
table. Stale, flat and unprofitable indeed, after these have once
been tasted, seem the limp, travel-weary, dusty things that are
jounced around to us in the butcher's cart and the grocery
wagon. It is not in price alone that home gardening pays. There
is another point: the market gardener has to grow the things that
give the biggest yield. He has to sacrifice quality to quantity.
You do not. One cannot buy Golden Bantam corn, or
Mignonette lettuce, or Gradus peas in most markets. They are
top quality, but they do not fill the market crate enough times to
the row to pay the commercial grower. If you cannot afford to
keep a professional gardener there is only one way to have the
best vegetables--grow your own!
And this brings us to the third, and what may be the most
important reason why you should garden. It is the cheapest,
healthiest, keenest pleasure there is. Give me a sunny garden
patch in the golden springtime, when the trees are picking out
their new gowns, in all the various self-colored delicate grays
and greens--strange how beautiful they are, in the same old
unchanging styles, isn't it?--give me seeds to watch as they find
the light, plants to tend as they take hold in
the fine, loose, rich soil, and you may have the other sports.
And when you have grown tired of their monotony, come back
in summer to even the smallest garden, and you will find in it,
every day, a new problem to be solved, a new campaign to be
carried out, a new victory to win.
Better food, better health, better living--all these the home
garden offers you in abundance. And the price is only the price
of every worth-while thing--honest, cheerful patient work.
But enough for now of the dream garden. Put down your
book. Put on your old togs, light your pipe--some kind-hearted
humanitarian should devise for women such a kindly and
comforting vice as smoking--and let's go outdoors and look the
place over, and pick out the best spot for that garden-patch of
yours.
CHAPTER III:
REQUISITES OF THE
HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN
In deciding upon the site for the home vegetable garden it is
well to dispose once and for all of the old idea that the garden
"patch" must be an ugly spot in the home surroundings. If
thoughtfully planned, carefully planted and thoroughly cared
for, it may be made a beautiful and harmonious feature of the
general scheme, lending a touch of comfortable homeliness that
no shrubs, borders, or beds can ever produce.
With this fact in mind we will not feel restricted to any part
of the premises merely because it is out of sight behind the barn
or garage. In the average moderate-sized place there will not be
much choice as to land. It will be necessary to take what is to be
had and then do the very best that can be done with it. But there
will probably be a good deal of choice as to, first, exposure, and
second, convenience. Other things being equal, select a spot
near at hand, easy of access. It may seem that a difference of
only a few hundred yards will mean nothing, but if one is
depending largely upon spare moments for working in and for
watching the garden--and in the growing of many vegetables the
latter is almost as important as the former--this matter of
convenient access will be of much greater importance than is
likely to be at first recognized. Not until you have had to make a
dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten
your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched
grass, will you realize fully what this may mean.
EXPOSURE
But the thing of first importance to consider in picking out
the spot that is to yield you happiness and delicious vegetables
all summer, or even for many years, is the exposure. Pick out
the "earliest" spot you can find--a plot sloping a little to the
south or east, that seems to catch sunshine early and hold it late,
and that seems to be out of the direct path of the chilling north
and northeast winds. If a building, or even an old fence, protects
it from this direction, your garden will be helped along
wonderfully, for an early start is a great big factor toward
success. If it is not already protected, a board fence, or a hedge
of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens, will add very
greatly to its usefulness. The importance of having such a
protection or shelter is altogether underestimated by the
amateur.
THE SOIL
The chances are that you will not find a spot of ideal garden
soil ready for use anywhere upon your place. But all except the
very worst of soils can be brought up to a very high degree of
productiveness-- especially such small areas as home vegetable
gardens require. Large tracts of soil that are almost pure sand,
and others so heavy and mucky that for centuries they lay
uncultivated, have frequently been brought, in the course of only
a few years, to where they yield annually tremendous crops on a
commercial basis. So do not be discouraged about your soil.
Proper treatment of it is much more important, and a garden-
patch of average run-down,--or "never-brought-up" soil--will
produce much more for the energetic and careful gardener than
the richest spot will grow under average methods of cultivation.
The ideal garden soil is a "rich, sandy loam." And the fact
cannot be overemphasized that such soils usually are made, not
found. Let us analyze that description a bit, for right here we
come to the first of the four all-important factors of gardening--
food. The others are cultivation, moisture and temperature.
"Rich" in the gardener's vocabulary means full of plant food;
more than that--and this is a point of vital importance--it means
full of plant food ready to be used at once, all prepared and
spread out on the garden table, or rather in it, where growing
things can at once make use of it; or what we term, in one word,
"available" plant food. Practically no soils in long- inhabited
communities remain naturally rich enough to produce big crops.
They are made rich, or kept rich, in two ways; first, by
cultivation, which helps to change the raw plant food stored in
the soil into available forms; and second, by manuring or adding
plant food to the soil from outside sources.
"Sandy" in the sense here used, means a soil containing
enough particles of sand so that water will pass through it
without leaving it pasty and sticky a few days after a rain;
"light" enough, as it is called, so that a handful, under ordinary
conditions, will crumble and fall apart readily after being
pressed in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be sandy in
appearance, but it should be friable.
"Loam: a rich, friable soil," says Webster. That hardly covers
it, but it does describe it. It is soil in which the sand and clay are
in proper proportions, so that neither greatly predominate, and
usually dark in color, from cultivation and enrichment. Such a
soil, even to the untrained eye, just naturally looks as if it would
grow things. It is remarkable how quickly the whole physical
appearance of a piece of well cultivated ground will change. An
instance came under my notice
last fall in one of my fields, where a strip containing an acre
had been two years in onions, and a little piece jutting off from
the middle of this had been prepared for them just one season.
The rest had not received any extra manuring or cultivation.
When the field was plowed up in the fall, all three sections were
as distinctly noticeable as though separated by a fence. And I
know that next spring's crop of rye, before it is plowed under,
will show the lines of demarcation just
as plainly.
This, then, will give you an idea of a good garden soil.
Perhaps in yours there will be too much sand, or too much clay.
That will be a disadvantage, but one which energy and
perseverance will soon overcome to a great extent--by what
methods may be learned in Chapter VIII.
DRAINAGE
There is, however, one other thing you must look out for in
selecting your garden site, and that is drainage. Dig down eight
or twelve inches after you have picked out a favorable spot, and
examine the sub-soil. This is the second strata, usually of
different texture and color from the rich surface soil, and harder
than it. If you find a sandy or gravelly bed, no matter how
yellow and poor it looks, you have chosen the right spot. But if
it be a stiff, heavy clay, especially a blue clay, you will have
either to drain it or be content with a very late garden--that is,
unless you are at the top of a knoll or on a slope. Chapter VII
contains further suggestions in regard to this problem.
SOIL ANTECEDENTS
There was a further reason for, mentioning that strip of onion
ground. It is a very practical illustration of what last year's
handling of the soil means to this year's garden. If you can pick
out a spot, even if it is not the most desirable in other ways, that
has been well enriched or cultivated for a year or two previous,
take that for this year's garden. And in the meantime have the
spot on which you intend to make your permanent vegetable
garden thoroughly "fitted," and grow there this year a crop of
potatoes or sweet corn, as suggested in Chapter IX. Then next
year you will have conditions just right to give your vegetables a
great start.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
There are other things of minor importance but worth
considering, such as the shape of your garden plot, for instance.
The more nearly rectangular, the more convenient it will be to
work and the more easily kept clean and neat. Have it large
enough, or at least open on two ends, so that a horse can be used
in plowing and harrowing. And if by any means you can have it
within reach of an adequate supply of water, that will be a
tremendous help in seasons of protracted drought. Then again, if
you have ground enough, lay off two plots so that you can take
advantage of the practice of rotation, alternating grass, potatoes
or corn with the vegetable garden. Of course it is possible to
practice crop rotation to some extent within the limits of even
the small vegetable garden, but it will be much better, if
possible, to rotate the entire garden-patch.
All these things, then, one has to keep in mind in picking the
spot best suited for the home vegetable garden. It should be, if
possible, of convenient access; it should have a warm exposure
and be well enriched, well worked-up soil, not too light nor too
heavy, and by all means well drained. If it has been thoroughly
cultivated for a year or two previous, so much the better. If it is
near a supply of water, so situated that it can be at least plowed
and harrowed with a horse, and large enough to allow the
garden proper to be shifted every other year or two, still more
the better.
Fill all of these requirements that you can, and then by taking
full advantage of the advantages you have, you can discount the
disadvantages. After all it is careful, persistent work, more than
natural advantages, that will tell the story; and a good garden
does notgrow--it is made.
(skip)
BOOK THREE:
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide to
DRY-FARMING
A Complete System for Achieving Bountiful Harvests
Where Rain is Scarce, and Without Irrigation
By John A. Widtsoe
CONTENTS
Author's Preface
Chapter I: Dry-Farming Defined
Chapter II: The Theoretical Basis of Dry-Farming
Chapter III: Dry-Farm Areas – Rainfall
Chapter IV: Dry-Farm Areas – Climatic Features
Chapter V: Dry-Farm Soils
Chapter VI: The Root Systems of Plants
Chapter VII: Storing Water in the Soil
Chapter VIII: Regulating Evaporation
Chapter IX: Regulating Transpiration
Chapter X: Plowing and Fallowing
Chapter XI: Sowing and Harvesting
Chapter XII: Crops for Dry-Farming
Chapter XIII: The Composition of Dry-Farm Crops
Chapter XIV: Maintaining Soil Fertility
Chapter XV: Implements for Dry-Farming
Chapter XVI: Irrigation and Dry-Farming
Chapter XVII: The History of Dry-Farming
Chapter XVIII: Dry-Farming in a Nutshell
Chapter XIX: The Year of Drought
Chapter XX: The Present Status of Dry-Farming
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Nearly six tenths of the earth's land surface receives an
annual rainfall of less than twenty inches, and can be reclaimed
for agricultural purposes only by irrigation and dry-farming. A
perfected world-system of irrigation will convert about one
tenth of this vast area into an incomparably fruitful garden,
leaving about one half of the earth's land surface to be
reclaimed, if at all, by the methods of dry-farming. The noble
system of modern agriculture has been constructed almost
wholly in countries of abundant rainfall, and its applications are
those demanded for the agricultural development of humid
regions. Until recently irrigation was given scant attention, and
dry-farming, with its world problem of conquering one half of
the earth, was not considered. These facts furnish the apology
for the writing of this book.
The book now offered is the first attempt to assemble and
organize the known facts of science in their relation to the
production of plants, without irrigation, in regions of limited
rainfall. The needs of the actual farmer, who must understand
the principles before his practices can be wholly satisfactory,
have been kept in view primarily; but it is hoped that the
enlarging group of dry-farm investigators will also be helped by
this presentation of the principles of dry-farming. The subject is
now growing so rapidly that there will soon be room for two
classes of treatment: one for the farmer, and one for the
technical student.
This book has been written far from large libraries, and the
material has been drawn from the available sources. Specific
references are not given in the text, but the names of
investigators or institutions are found with nearly all statements
of fact. The files of the Experiment Station Record and Der
Jahresbericht der Agrikultur Chemie have taken the place of the
more desirable original publications. Free use has been made of
the publications of the experiment stations and the United States
Department of Agriculture. Inspiration and suggestions have
been sought and found constantly in the works of the princes of
American soil investigation, Hilgard of California and King of
Wisconsin. I am under deep obligation, for assistance rendered,
to numerous friends in all parts of the country, especially to
Professor L. A. Merrill, with whom I have collaborated for
many years in the study of the possibilities of dry-farming in
Western America.
The possibilities of dry-farming are stupendous. In the
strength of youth we may have felt envious of the great ones of
old; of Columbus looking upon the shadow of the greatest
continent; of Balboa shouting greetings to the resting Pacific; of
Father Escalante, pondering upon the mystery of the world,
alone, near the shores of America's Dead Sea. We need harbor
no such envyings, for in the conquest of the nonirrigated and
nonirrigable desert are offered as fine opportunities as the world
has known to the makers and shakers of empires. We stand
before an undiscovered land; through the restless, ascending
currents of heated desert air the vision comes and goes. With
striving eyes the desert is seen covered with blossoming fields,
with churches and homes and schools, and, in the distance, with
the vision is heard the laughter of happy children.
The desert will be conquered.
John A. Widtsoe.
June 1, 1910.
CHAPTER I: DRY-FARMING DEFINED
Dry-farming, as at present understood, is the profitable
production of useful crops, without irrigation, on lands that
receive annually a rainfall of 20 inches or less. In districts of
torrential rains, high winds, unfavorable distribution of the
rainfall, or other water-dissipating factors, the term "dry-
farming" is also properly applied to farming without irrigation
under an annual precipitation of 25 or even 30 inches. There is
no sharp demarcation between dry-and humid-farming.
When the annual precipitation is under 20 inches, the
methods of dry-farming are usually indispensable. When it is
over 30 inches, the methods of humid-farming are employed; in
places where the annual precipitation is between 20 and 30
inches, the methods to be used depend chiefly on local
conditions affecting the conservation of soil moisture. Dry-
farming, however, always implies farming under a
comparatively small annual rainfall.
The term "dry-farming" is, of course, a misnomer. In reality
it is farming under drier conditions than those prevailing in the
countries in which scientific agriculture originated. Many
suggestions for a better name have been made. "Scientific
agriculture" has-been proposed, but all agriculture should be
scientific, and agriculture without irrigation in an arid country
has no right to lay sole claim to so general a title. "Dry-land
agriculture," which has also been suggested, is no improvement
over "dry-farming," as it is longer and also carries with it the
idea of dryness. Instead of the name "dry-farming" it would,
perhaps, be better to use the names, "arid-farming." "semiarid-
farming," "humid-farming," and "irrigation-farming," according
to the climatic conditions prevailing in various parts of the
world. However, at the present time the name "dry-farming" is
in such general use that it would seem unwise to suggest any
change. It should be used with the distinct understanding that as
far as the word "dry" is concerned it is a misnomer. When the
two words are hyphenated, however, a compound technical
term--"dry-farming"--is secured which has a meaning of its
own, such as we have just defined it to be; and "dry-farming,"
therefore, becomes an addition to the lexicon.
DRY-VERSUS HUMID-FARMING
Dry-farming, as a distinct branch of agriculture, has for its
purpose the reclamation, for the use of man, of the vast
unirrigable "desert" or "semi-desert" areas of the world, which
until recently were considered hopelessly barren. The great
underlying principles of agriculture are the same the world over,
yet the emphasis to be placed on the different agricultural
theories and practices must be shifted in accordance with
regional conditions. The agricultural problem of first
importance in humid regions is the maintenance of soil fertility;
and since modern agriculture was developed almost wholly
under humid conditions, the system of scientific agriculture has
for its central idea the maintenance of soil fertility. In arid
regions, on the other hand, the conservation of the natural water
precipitation for crop production is the important problem; and
a new system of agriculture must therefore be constructed, on
the basis of the old principles, but with the conservation of the
natural precipitation as the central idea. The system of dry-
farming must marshal and organize all the established facts of
science for the better utilization, in plant growth, of a limited
rainfall. The excellent teachings of humid agriculture respecting
the maintenance of soil fertility will be of high value in the
development of dry-farming, and the firm establishment of right
methods of conserving and using the natural precipitation will
undoubtedly have a beneficial effect upon the practice of humid
agriculture.
THE PROBLEMS OF DRY-FARMING
The dry-farmer, at the outset, should know with comparative
accuracy the annual rainfall over the area that he intends to
cultivate. He must also have a good acquaintance with the
nature of the soil, not only as regards its plant-food content, but
as to its power to receive and retain the water from rain and
snow. In fact, a knowledge of the soil is indispensable in
successful dry-farming. Only by such knowledge of the rainfall
and the soil is he able to adapt the principles outlined in this
volume to his special needs.
Since, under dry-farm conditions, water is the limiting factor
of production, the primary problem of dry-farming is the most
effective storage in the soil of the natural precipitation. Only the
water, safely stored in the soil within reach of the roots, can be
used in crop production. Of nearly equal importance is the
problem of keeping the water in the soil until it is needed by
plants. During the growing season, water may be lost from the
soil by downward drainage or by evaporation from the surface.
It becomes necessary, therefore, to determine under what
conditions the natural precipitation stored in the soil moves
downward and by what means surface evaporation may be
prevented or regulated. The soil-water, of real use to plants, is
that taken up by the roots and finally evaporated from the
leaves. A large part of the water stored in the soil is thus used.
The methods whereby this direct draft of plants on the soil-
moisture may be regulated are, naturally, of the utmost
importance to the dry-farmer, and they constitute another vital
problem of the science of dry-farming.
The relation of crops to the prevailing conditions of arid
lands offers another group of important dry-farm problems.
Some plants use much less water than others. Some attain
maturity quickly, and in that way become desirable for dry-
farming. Still other crops, grown under humid conditions, may
easily be adapted to dry-farming conditions, if the correct
methods are employed, and in a few seasons may be made
valuable dry-farm crops. The individual characteristics of each
crop should be known as they relate themselves to a low rainfall
and arid soils.
After a crop has been chosen, skill and knowledge are
needed in the proper seeding, tillage, and harvesting of the crop.
Failures frequently result from the want of adapting the crop
treatment to arid conditions.
After the crop has been gathered and stored, its proper use is
another problem for the dry-farmer. The composition of dry-
farm crops is different from that of crops grown with an
abundance of water. Usually, dry-farm crops are much more
nutritious and therefore should command a higher price in the
markets, or should be fed to stock in corresponding proportions
and combinations.
The fundamental problems of dry-farming are, then, the
storage in the soil of a small annual rainfall; the retention in the
soil of the moisture until it is needed by plants; the prevention
of the direct evaporation of soil-moisture during; the growing
season; the regulation of the amount of water drawn from the
soil by plants; the choice of crops suitable for growth under arid
conditions; the application of suitable crop treatments, and the
disposal of dry-farm products, based upon the superior
composition of plants grown with small amounts of water.
Around these fundamental problems cluster a host of minor,
though also important, problems. When the methods of dry-
farming are understood and practiced, the practice is always
successful; but it requires more intelligence, more implicit
obedience to nature's laws, and greater vigilance, than farming
in countries of abundant rainfall.
The chapters that follow will deal almost wholly with the
problems above outlined as they present themselves in the
construction of a rational system of farming without irrigation in
countries of limited rainfall.
CHAPTER II:
THE THEORETICAL
BASIS OF DRY-FARMING
The confidence with which scientific investigators, familiar
with the arid regions, have attacked the problems of dry-farming
rests largely on the known relationship of the water
requirements of plants to the natural precipitation of rain and
snow. It is a most elementary fact of plant physiology that no
plant can live and grow unless it has at its disposal a sufficient
amount of water.
The water used by plants is almost entirely taken from the
soil by the minute root-hairs radiating from the roots. The water
thus taken into the plants is passed upward through the stem to
the leaves, where it is finally evaporated. There is, therefore, a
more or less constant stream of water passing through the plant
from the roots to the leaves.
By various methods it is possible to measure the water thus
taken from the soil. While this process of taking water from the
soil is going on within the plant, a certain amount of soil-
moisture is also lost by direct evaporation from the soil surface.
In dry-farm sections, soil-moisture is lost only by these two
methods; for wherever the rainfall is sufficient to cause drainage
from deep soils, humid conditions prevail.
WATER FOR ONE POUND DRY MATTER
Many experiments have been conducted to determine the
amount of water used in the production of one pound of dry
plant substance. Generally, the method of the experiments has
been to grow plants in large pots containing weighed quantities
of soil. As needed, weighed amounts of water were added to the
pots. To determine the loss of water, the pots were weighed at
regular intervals of three days to one week. At harvest time, the
weight of dry matter was carefully determined for each pot.
Since the water lost by the pots was also known, the pounds of
water used for the production of every pound of dry matter were
readily calculated.
The first reliable experiments of the kind were undertaken
under humid conditions in Germany and other European
countries. From the mass of results, some have been selected
and presented in the following table. The work was done by the
famous German investigators, Wollny, Hellriegel, and Sorauer,
in the early eighties of the last century. In every case, the
numbers in the table represent the number of pounds of water
used for the production of one pound of ripened dry substance:
Pounds of Water for One Pound of Dry Matter
KEY: Plant/Wollny/Hellreigel/Sorauer
Wheat/--/338/459
Oats/665/376/569
Barley/--/310/431
Rye/774/353/236
Corn/--/--/233
Buckwheat/--/646/363
Peas/--/416/273
Horsebeans/--/--/282
Red clover/--/--/310
Sunflowers/--/--/490
Millet/--/--/447
It is clear from the above results, obtained in Germany, that
the amount of water required to produce a pound of dry matter
is not the same for all plants, nor is it the same under all
conditions for the same plant. In fact, as will be shown in a later
chapter, the water requirements of any crop depend upon
numerous factors, more or less controllable. The range of the
above German results is from 233 to 774 pounds, with an
average of about 419 pounds of water for each pound of dry
matter produced.
During the late eighties and early nineties, King conducted
experiments similar to the earlier German experiments, to
determine the water requirements of crops under Wisconsin
conditions. A summary of the results of these extensive and
carefully conducted experiments is as follows:--
Oats = 385
Barley = 464
Corn = 271
Peas = 477
Clover = 576
Potatoes = 385
The figures in the above table, averaging about 446 pounds,
indicate that very nearly the same quantity of water is required
for the production of crops in Wisconsin as in Germany. The
Wisconsin results tend to be somewhat higher than those
obtained in Europe, but the difference is small.
It is a settled principle of science, as will be more fully
discussed later, that the amount of water evaporated from the
soil and transpired by plant leaves increases materially with an
increase in the average temperature during the growing season,
and is much higher under a clear sky and in districts where the
atmosphere is dry. Wherever dry-farming is likely to be
practiced, a moderately high temperature, a cloudless sky, and a
dry atmosphere are the prevailing conditions. It appeared
probable therefore, that in arid countries the amount of water
required for the production of one pound of dry matter would be
higher than in the humid regions of Germany and Wisconsin. To
secure information on this subject, Widtsoe and Merrill
undertook, in 1900, a series of experiments in Utah, which were
conducted upon the plan of the earlier experimenters. An
average statement of the results of six years' experimentation is
given in the subjoined table, showing the number of pounds of
water required for one pound of dry matter on fertile soils:--
Wheat = 1048
Corn = 589
Peas = 1118
Sugar Beets = 630
These Utah findings support strongly the doctrine that the
amount of water required for the production of each pound of
dry matter is very much larger under arid conditions, as in Utah,
than under humid conditions, as in Germany or Wisconsin. It
must be observed, however, that in all of these experiments the
plants were supplied with water in a somewhat wasteful
manner; that is, they were given an abundance of water, and
used the largest quantity possible under the prevailing
conditions. No attempt of any kind was made to economize
water. The results, therefore, represent maximum results and
can be safely used as such. Moreover, the methods of dry-
farming, involving the storage of water in deep soils and
systematic cultivation, were not employed. The experiments,
both in Europe and America, rather represent irrigated
conditions. There are good reasons for believing that in
Germany, Wisconsin, and Utah the amounts above given can be
materially reduced by the employment of proper cultural
methods.
The water in the large bottle would be required to produce
the grain in the small bottle.
In view of these findings concerning the water requirements
of crops, it cannot be far from the truth to say that, under
average cultural conditions, approximately 750 pounds of water
are required in an arid district for the production of one pound
of dry matter. Where the aridity is intense, this figure may be
somewhat low, and in localities of sub-humid conditions, it will
undoubtedly be too high. As a maximum average, however, for
districts interested in dry-farming, it can be used with safety.
CROP-PRODUCING POWER OF RAINFALL
If this conclusion, that not more than 750 pounds of water
are required under ordinary dry-farm conditions for the
production of one pound of dry matter, be accepted, certain
interesting calculations can be made respecting the possibilities
of dry-farming. For example, the production of one bushel of
wheat will require 60 times 750, or 45,000 pounds of water. The
wheat kernels, however, cannot be produced without a certain
amount of straw, which under conditions of dry-farming seldom
forms quite one half of the weight of the whole plant. Let us
say, however, that the weights of straw and kernels are equal.
Then, to produce one bushel of wheat, with the corresponding
quantity of straw, would require 2 times 45,000, or 90,000
pounds of water. This is equal to 45 tons of water for each
bushel of wheat. While this is a large figure, yet, in many
localities, it is undoubtedly well within the truth. In comparison
with the amounts of water that fall upon the land as rain, it does
not seem extraordinarily large.
One inch of water over one acre of land weighs
approximately 226,875 pounds, or over 113 tons. If this quantity
of water could be stored in the soil and used wholly for plant
production, it would produce, at the rate of 45 tons of water for
each bushel, about 2-1/2 bushels of wheat. With 10 inches of
rainfall, which up to the present seems to be the lower limit of
successful dry-farming, there is a maximum possibility of
producing 25 bushels of wheat annually.
In the subjoined table, constructed on the basis of the
discussion of this chapter, the wheat-producing powers of
various degrees of annual precipitation are shown:--
One acre inch of water will produce 2-1/2 bushels of wheat.
Ten acre inches of water will produce 25 bushels of wheat.
Fifteen acre inches of water will produce 37-1/2 bushels of
wheat.
Twenty acre inches of water will produce 50 bushels of
wheat.
It must be distinctly remembered, however, that under no
known system of tillage can all the water that falls upon a soil
be brought into the soil and stored there for plant use. Neither is
it possible to treat a soil so that all the stored soil-moisture may
be used for plant production. Some moisture, of necessity, will
evaporate directly from the soil, and some may be lost in many
other ways. Yet, even under a rainfall of 12 inches, if only one
half of the water can be conserved, which experiments have
shown to be very feasible, there is a possibility of producing 30
bushels of wheat per acre every other year, which insures an
excellent interest on the money and labor invested in the
production of the crop.
It is on the grounds outlined in this chapter that students of
the subject believe that ultimately large areas of the "desert"
may be reclaimed by means of dry-farming. The real question
before the dry-farmer is not, "Is the rainfall sufficient?" but
rather, "Is it possible so to conserve and use the rainfall as to
make it available for the production of profitable crops?"
CHAPTER III:
DRY-FARM AREAS - RAINFALL
The annual precipitation of rain and snow determines
primarily the location of dry-farm areas. As the rainfall varies,
the methods of dry-farming must be varied accordingly.
Rainfall, alone, does not, however, furnish a complete index of
the crop-producing possibilities of a country.
The distribution of the rainfall, the amount of snow, the
water-holding power of the soil, and the various moisture-
dissipating causes, such as winds, high temperature, abundant
sunshine, and low humidity frequently combine to offset the
benefits of a large annual precipitation. Nevertheless, no one
climatic feature represents, on the average, so correctly dry-
farming possibilities as does the annual rainfall. Experience has
already demonstrated that wherever the annual precipitation is
above 15 inches, there is no need of crop failures, if the soils are
suitable and the methods of dry-farming are correctly employed.
With an annual precipitation of 10 to 15 inches, there need be
very few failures, if proper cultural precautions are taken. With
our present methods, the areas that receive less than 10 inches
of atmospheric precipitation per year are not safe for dry-farm
purposes. What the future will show in the reclamation of these
deserts, without irrigation, is yet conjectural.
ARID, SEMIARID, AND SUB-HUMID
Before proceeding to an examination of the areas in the
United States subject to the methods of dry-farming it may be
well to define somewhat more clearly the terms ordinarily used
in the description of the great territory involved in the
discussion.
The states lying west of the 100th meridian are loosely
spoken of as arid, semiarid, or sub-humid states. For
commercial purposes no state wants to be classed as arid and to
suffer under the handicap of advertised aridity. The annual
rainfall of these states ranges from about 3 to over 30 inches.
In order to arrive at greater definiteness, it may be well to
assign definite rainfall values to the ordinarily used descriptive
terms of the region in question. It is proposed, therefore, that
districts receiving less than 10 inches of atmospheric
precipitation annually, be designated arid; those receiving
between 10 and 20 inches, semiarid; those receiving between 20
and 30 inches, sub-humid, and those receiving over 30 inches,
humid. It is admitted that even such a classification is arbitrary,
since aridity does not alone depend upon the rainfall, and even
under such a classification there is an unavoidable overlapping.
However, no one factor so fully represents varying degrees of
aridity as the annual precipitation, and there is a great need for
concise definitions of the terms used in describing the parts of
the country that come under dry-farming discussions. In this
volume, the terms "arid," "semiarid," "sub-humid" and "humid"
are used as above defined.
PRECIPITATION OVER THE DRY-FARM TERRITORY
Nearly one half of the United States receives 20 inches or
less rainfall annually; and that when the strip receiving between
20 and 30 inches is added, the whole area directly subject to
reclamation by irrigation or dry-farming is considerably more
than one half (63 per cent) of the whole area of the United
States.
Eighteen states are included in this area of low rainfall. The
areas of these, as given by the Census of 1900, grouped
according to the annual precipitation received, are shown
below:--
Arid to Semi-arid Group/Total Area Land Surface (Sq.
Miles)
Arizona/112,920
California/156,172
Colorado/103,645
Idaho/84,290
Nevada/109,740
Utah/ 82,190
Wyoming/97,545
TOTAL = 746,532
Semiarid to Sub-Humid Group /Total Area Land Surface
Montana/145,310
Nebraska/ 76,840
New Mexico/112,460
North Dakota/70,195
Oregon/ 94,560
South Dakota/76,850
Washington/66,880
TOTAL = 653,095
Sub-Humid to Humid Group /Total Area Land Surface
Kansas/81,700
Minnesota/79,205
Oklahoma/38,830
Texas/262,290
TOTAL = 462,025
GRAND TOTAL = 1,861,652
The territory directly interested in the development of the
methods of dry-farming forms 63 per cent of the whole of the
continental United States, not including Alaska, and covers an
area of 1,861,652 square miles, or 1,191,457,280 acres. If any
excuse were needed for the lively interest taken in the subject of
dry-farming, it is amply furnished by these figures showing the
vast extent of the country interested in the reclamation of land
by the methods of dry-farming. As will be shown below, nearly
every other large country possesses similar immense areas under
limited rainfall.
Of the one billion, one hundred and ninety-one million, four
hundred and fifty-seven thousand, two hundred and eighty acres
(1,191,457,280) representing the dry-farm territory of the
United States, about 22 per cent, or a little more than one fifth,
is sub-humid and receives between 20 and 30 inches of rainfall,
annually; 61 per cent, or a little more than three fifths, is
semiarid and receives between 10 and 20 inches, annually, and
about 17 per cent, or a little less than one fifth, is arid and
receives less than 10 inches of rainfall, annually.
These calculations are based upon the published average
rainfall maps of the United States Weather Bureau. In the far
West, and especially over the so-called "desert" regions, with
their sparse population, meteorological stations are not
numerous, nor is it easy to secure accurate data from them. It is
strongly probable that as more stations are established, it will be
found that the area receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall
annually is considerably smaller than above estimated. In fact,
the United States Reclamation Service states that there are only
70,000,000 acres of desert-like land; that is, land which does not
naturally support plants suitable for forage. This area is about
one third of the lands which, so far as known, at present receive
less than 10 inches of rainfall, or only about 6 per cent of the
total dry-farming territory.
In any case, the semiarid area is at present most vitally
interested in dry-farming. The sub-humid area need seldom
suffer from drought, if ordinary well-known methods are
employed; the arid area, receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall,
in all probability, can be reclaimed without irrigation only by
the development of more suitable methods than are known
today. The semiarid area, which is the special consideration of
present-day dry-farming, represents an area of over 725,000,000
acres of land. Moreover, it must be remarked that the full
certainty of crops in the sub-humid regions will come only with
the adoption of dry-farming methods; and that results already
obtained on the edge of the "deserts" lead to the belief that a
large portion of the area receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall,
annually, will ultimately be reclaimed without irrigation.
Naturally, not the whole of the vast area just discussed could
be brought under cultivation, even under the most favorable
conditions of rainfall. A very large portion of the territory in
question is mountainous and often of so rugged a nature that to
farm it would be an impossibility. It must not be forgotten,
however, that some of the best dry-farm lands of the West are
found in the small mountain valleys, which usually are pockets
of most fertile soil, under a good supply of rainfall. The foothills
of the mountains are almost invariably excellent dry-farm lands.
Newell estimates that 195,000,000 acres of land in the arid to
sub-humid sections are covered with a more or less dense
growth of timber. This timbered area roughly represents the
mountainous and therefore the nonarable portions of land. The
same authority estimates that the desert-like lands cover an area
of 70,000,000 acres. Making the most liberal estimates for
mountainous and desert-like lands, at least one half of the whole
area, or about 600,000,000 acres, is arable land which by proper
methods may be reclaimed for agricultural purposes. Irrigation
when fully developed may reclaim not to exceed 5 per cent of
this area. From any point of view, therefore, the possibilities
involved in dry-farming in the United States are immense.
DRY-FARM AREA OF THE WORLD
Dry-farming is a world problem. Aridity is a condition met
and to be overcome upon every continent. McColl estimates that
in Australia, which is somewhat larger than the continental
United States of America, only one third of the whole surface
receives above 20 inches of rainfall annually; one third receives
from 10 to 20 inches, and one third receives less than lO inches.
That is, about 1,267,000,000 acres in Australia are subject to
reclamation by dry-farming methods. This condition is not far
from that which prevails in the United States, and is
representative of every continent of the world. The following
table gives the proportions of the earth's land surface under
various degrees of annual precipitations:--
Annual Precipitation/Proportion of Earth's Land Surface
Under 10 inches/25.0 per cent
From 10 to 20 inches/30.0 per cent
From 20 to 40 inches/20.0 per cent
From 40 to 60 inches/11.0 per cent
From 60 to 80 inches/9.0 per cent
From 100 to 120 inches/4.0 per cent
From 120 to 160 inches/0.5 per cent
Above 160 inches/0.5 per cent
Total = 100 per cent
Fifty-five per cent, or more than one half of the total land
surface of the earth, receives an annual precipitation of less than
20 inches, and must be reclaimed, if at all, by dry-farming. At
least 10 per cent more receives from 20 to 30 inches under
conditions that make dry-farming methods necessary. A total of
about 65 per cent of the earth's land surface is, therefore,
directly interested in dry-farming. With the future perfected
development of irrigation systems and practices, not more than
10 per cent will be reclaimed by irrigation. Dry-farming is truly
a problem to challenge the attention of the race.
(skip)
BOOK FOUR:
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide to Growing
Cabbages and Cauliflowers
A Practical Treatise, Giving Full Details on Every
Point,Including Keeping and Marketing the Crop
By James J. H. Gregory
CONTENTS
Object of Treatise
The Origin of Cabbage
What a Cabbage is
Selecting the Soil
Preparing the Soil
The Manure
How to Apply the Manure
Making the Hills and Planting the Seed
Care of the Young Plants
Protecting the Plants from their Enemies
The Green Worm
Club, or Stump Root, or Maggot
Care of the Growing Crop
Marketing the Crop
Keeping Cabbage through the Winter
Having Cabbage make Heads in Winter
Foreign Varieties of Cabbage
American Varieties
Savoy Varieties
Other Varieties of Cabbage
Cabbage Greens
Cabbage for Stock
Raising Cabbage Seed
Cooking Cabbage, Sour-Krout, etc.
Cabbage under Glass
Cold Frame and Hot-Bed
Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels-Sprouts, Kale and
Sea-Kale
OBJECT OF THIS TREATISE
As a general, yet very thorough, response to inquiries from
many of my customers about cabbage raising, I have aimed in
this treatise to tell them all about the subject. The different
inquiries made from time to time have given me a pretty clear
idea of the many heads under which information is wanted; and
it has been my aim to give this with the same thoroughness of
detail as in my little work on Squashes. I have endeavored to
talk in a very practical way, drawing from a large observation
and experience, and receiving, in describing varieties, some
valuable information from McIntosh's work, "The Book of the
Garden."
THE ORIGIN OF CABBAGE
Botanists tell us that all of the Cabbage family, which
includes not only every variety of cabbage, Red, White, and
Savoy, but all the cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and brussels
sprouts, had their origin in the wild cabbage of Europe (Brassica
oleracea), a plant with green, wavy leaves, much resembling
charlock, found growing wild at Dover in England, and other
parts of Europe. This plant, says McIntosh, is mostly confined
to the sea-shore, and grows only on chalky or calcareous soils.
Thus through the wisdom of the Great Father of us all, who
occasionally in his great garden allows vegetables to sport into a
higher form of life, and grants to some of these sports sufficient
strength of individuality to enable them to perpetuate
themselves, and, at times, to blend their individuality with that
of other sports, we have the heading cabbage in its numerous
varieties, the creamy cauliflower, the feathery kale, the curled
Savoy. On my own grounds from a strain of seed that had been
grown isolated for years, there recently came a plant that in its
structure closely resembled brussels sprouts, growing about two
feet in height, with a small head under each leaf. The cultivated
cabbage was first introduced into England by the Romans, and
from there nearly all the kinds cultivated in this country were
originally brought. Those which we consider as peculiarly
American varieties have only been made so by years of careful
improvement on the original imported sorts. The characteristics
of these varieties will be given farther on.
WHAT A CABBAGE IS
If we cut vertically through the middle of the head, we shall
find it made up of successive layers of leaves, which grow
smaller and smaller, almost ad infinitum. Now, if we take a fruit
bud from an apple-tree and make a similar section of it, we shall
find the same structure. If we observe the development of the
two, as spring advances, we shall find another similarity (the
looser the head the closer will be the resemblance),—the outer
leaves of each will unwrap and unfold, and a flower stem will
push out from each. Here we see that a cabbage is a bud, a seed
bud (as all fruit buds may be termed, the production of seed
being the primary object in nature, the fruit enclosing it playing
but a secondary part), the office of the leaves being to cover,
protect, and afterwards nourish the young seed shoot. The outer
leaves which surround the head appear to have the same office
as the leaves which surround the growing fruit bud, and that
office closes with the first year, as does that of the leaves
surrounding fruit buds, when each die and drop off. In my
locality the public must have perceived more or less clearly the
analogy between the heads of cabbage and the buds of trees, for
when they speak of small heads they frequently call them
"buds." That the close wrapped leaves which make the cabbage
head and surround the seed germ, situated just in the middle of
the head at the termination of the stump, are necessary for its
protection and nutrition when young, is proved, I think, by the
fact that those cabbages, the heads of which are much decayed,
when set out for seed, no matter how sound the seed germ may
be at the end of the stump, never make so large or healthy a seed
shoot as those do the heads of which are sound; as a rule, after
pushing a feeble growth, they die.
For this reason I believe that the office of the head is similar
to and as necessary as that of the leaves which unwrap from
around the blossom buds of our fruit trees. It is true that the
parallel cannot be fully maintained, as the leaves which make up
the cabbage head do not to an equal degree unfold (particularly
is this true of hard heads); yet they exhibit a vitality of their
own, which is seen in the deeper green color the outer leaves
soon attain, and the change from tenderness to toughness in
their structure: I think, therefore, that the degree of failure in the
parallel may be measured by the difference between a higher
and a lower form of organic life.
Some advocate the economy of cutting off a large portion of
the heads when cabbages are set out for seed to use as food for
stock. There is certainly a great temptation, standing amid acres
of large, solid, heads in the early spring months, when green
food of all kinds is scarce, to cut and use such an immense
amount of rich food, which, to the inexperienced eye, appears to
be utterly wasted if left to decay, dry, and fall to the ground; but,
for the reason given above, I have never done so. It is possible
that large heads may bear trimming to a degree without injury to
the seed crop; yet I should consider this an experiment, and one
to be tried with a good deal of caution.
SELECTING THE SOIL
In some of the best cabbage-growing sections of the country,
until within a comparatively few years it was the very general
belief that cabbage would not do well on upland. Accordingly
the cabbage patch would be found on the lowest tillage land of
the farm. No doubt, the lowest soil being the richer from a
gradual accumulation of the wash from the upland, when
manure was but sparingly used, cabbage would thrive better
there than elsewhere,—and not, as was generally held, because
that vegetable needed more moisture than any other crop.
Cabbage can be raised with success on any good corn land,
provided such land is well manured; and there is no more loss in
seasons of drought on such land than there is in seasons of
excessive moisture on the lower tillage land of the farm. I wish I
could preach a very loud sermon to all my farmer friends on the
great value of liberal manuring to carry crops successfully
through the effects of a severe drought. Crops on soil precisely
alike, with but a wall to separate them, will, in a very dry
season, present a striking difference,—the one being in fine
vigor, and the other "suffering from drought," as the owner will
tell you; but, in reality, from want of food.
The smaller varieties of cabbage will thrive well on either
light or strong soil, but the largest drumheads do best on strong
soil. For the Brassica family, including cabbages, cauliflowers,
turnips, etc., there is no soil so suitable as freshly turned sod,
provided the surface is well fined by the harrow; it is well to
have as stout a crop of clover or grass, growing on this sod,
when turned under, as possible, and I incline to the belief that it
would be a judicious investment to start a thick growth of these
by the application of guano to the surface sufficiently long
before turning the sod to get an extra growth of the clover or
grass. If the soil be very sandy in character, I would advise that
the variety planted be the Winnigstadt, which, in my experience,
is unexcelled for making a hard head under almost any
conditions, however unpropitious. Should the soil be naturally
very wet it should be underdrained, or stump foot will be very
likely to appear, which is death to all success.
PREPARING THE SOIL
Should the soil be a heavy clay, a deep fall plowing is best,
that the frosts of winter may disintegrate it; and should the plan
be to raise an early crop, this end will be promoted by fall
plowing, on any soil, as the land will thereby be made drier in
early spring. In New England the soil for cabbages should be
plowed as deep as the subsoil, and the larger drumheads should
be planted only on the deepest soil. If the season should prove a
favorable one, a good crop of cabbage may be grown on sod
broken up immediately after a crop of hay has been taken from
it, provided plenty of fine manure is harrowed in. One great risk
here is from the dry weather that usually prevails at that season,
preventing the prompt germination of the seed, or rooting of the
plants. It is prudent in such a case to have a good stock of
plants, that such as die may be promptly replaced. It is wise to
plant the seed for these a week earlier than the main crop, for
when transplanted to fill the vacant places it will take about a
week for them to get well rooted.
The manure may be spread on the surface of either sod or
stubble land and plowed under, or be spread on the surface after
plowing and thoroughly worked into the soil by the wheel
harrow or cultivator. On plowed sod I have found nothing so
satisfactory as the class of wheel harrows, which not only cut
the manure up fine and work it well under, but by the same
operation cut and pulverize the turf until the sod may be left not
over an inch in thickness. To do the work thus thoroughly
requires a yoke of oxen or a pair of stout horses. All large stones
and large pieces of turf that are torn up and brought to the
surface should be carted off before making the hills.
THE MANURE
Any manure but hog manure for cabbage,—barn manure,
rotten kelp, night-soil, guano, fertilizers, wood ashes, fish, salt,
glue waste, hen manure, slaughter-house manure. I have used all
of these, and found them all good when rightly applied. If pure
hog manure is used it is apt to produce that corpulent
enlargement of the roots known in different localities as "stump
foot," "underground head," "finger and thumb;" but I have found
barn manure on which hogs have run, two hogs to each animal,
excellent. The cabbage is the rankest of feeders, and to perfect
the larger sort a most liberal allowance of the richest composts
is required. To grow the smaller varieties either barn-yard
manure, guano, fertilizers, or wood ashes, if the soil be in good
condition, will answer; though the richer and more abundant the
manure the larger are the cabbages, and the earlier the crop will
mature.
To perfect the large varieties of drumhead,—by which I
mean to make them grow to the greatest size possible,—I want a
strong compost of barn-yard manure, with night-soil and muck
or fish-waste, and, if possible, rotten kelp. A compost into
which night-soil enters as a component is best made by first
covering a plot of ground, of easy access, with soil or muck that
has been exposed to a winter's frost, to the depth of about
eighteen inches, and raising around this a rim about three feet in
height, and thickness. Into this the night-soil is poured from
carts built for the purpose, until the receptacle is about two-
thirds full. Barn manure is now added, being dropped around
and covering the outer rim, and, if the supply is sufficient, on
the top of the heap also, on which it can be carted after cold
weather sets in. Early in spring, the entire mass should be
pitched over, thoroughly broken up with the bar and pick where
frozen, and the frozen masses thrown on the surface. In pitching
over the mass, work the rim in towards the middle of the heap.
After the frozen lumps have thawed, give the heap another
pitching over, aiming to mix all the materials thoroughly
together, and make the entire mass as fine as possible. A
covering of sand, thrown over the heap, before the last pitching,
will help fine it.
To produce a good crop of cabbages, with a compost of this
quality, from six to twelve cords will be required to the acre. If
the land is in good heart, by previous high cultivation, or the
soil is naturally very strong, six cords will give a fair crop of the
small varieties; while, with the same conditions, from nine to
twelve cords to the acre will be required to perfect the largest
variety grown, the Marblehead Mammoth Drumhead.
Of the other kinds of manure named above, I will treat
farther under the head of:
HOW TO APPLY THE MANURE
The manure is sometimes applied wholly in the hill, at other
times partly broadcast and partly in the hill. If the farmer desires
to make the utmost use of his manure for that season, it will be
best to put most of it into the hill, particularly if his supply runs
rather short; but if he desires to leave his land in good condition
for next year's crop, he had better use part of it broadcast. My
own practice is to use all my rich compost broadcast, and
depend on guano, fertilizers, or hen manure in the hill. Let all
guano, if at all lumpy, like the Peruvian, be sifted, and let all the
hard lumps be reduced by pounding, until the largest pieces
shall not be larger than half a pea before it is brought upon the
ground. My land being ready, the compost worked under and
the rows marked out, I select three trusty hands who can be
relied upon to follow faithfully my directions in applying so
dangerous manure as guano is in careless or ignorant hands; one
takes a bucket of it, and, if for large cabbage, drops as much as
he can readily close in his shut hand, where each hill is to be; if
for small sorts, then about half that quantity, spreading it over a
circle about a foot in diameter; the second man follows with a
pronged hoe, or better yet, a six-tined fork, with which he works
the guano well into the soil, first turning it three or four inches
under the surface, and then stirring the soil very thoroughly with
the hoe or fork. Unless the guano (and this is also true of most
fertilizers) is faithfully mixed up with the soil, the seed will not
vegetate. Give the second man about an hour the start, and then
let the third man follow with the seed. Of other fertilizers, I use
about half as much again as of guano to each hill, and of hen
manure a heaping handful, after it has been finely broken up,
and, if moist, slightly mixed with dry earth. When salt is used, it
should not be depended on exclusively, but be used in
connection with other manures, at the rate of from ten to fifteen
bushels to the acre, applied broadcast over the ground, or
thoroughly mixed with the manure before that is applied; if
dissolved in the manure, better yet. Salt itself is not a manure.
Its principal office is to change other materials into plant food.
Fish and glue waste are exceedingly powerful manures, very
rich in ammonia, and, if used the first season, they should be in
compost. It is best to handle fish waste, such as heads, entrails,
backbones, and liver waste, precisely like night soil. "Porgy
cheese," or "chum," the refuse, after pressing out the oil from
menhaden and halibut heads, and sometimes sold extensively
for manure, is best prepared for use by composting it with muck
or loam, layer with layer, at the rate of a barrel to every foot and
a half, cord measure, of soil. As soon as it shows some heat,
turn it, and repeat the process, two or three times, until it is well
decomposed, when apply. Another excellent way to use fish
waste is to compost it with barn manure, in the open fields. It
will be best to have six inches of soil under the heap, and not
layer the fish with the lower half of the manure, for it strikes
down. Glue waste is a very coarse, lumpy manure, and requires
a great deal of severe manipulation, if it is to be applied the first
season. A better way is to compost it with soil, layer with layer,
having each layer about a foot in thickness, and so allow it to
remain over until the next season, before using. This will
decompose most of the straw, and break down the hard, tough
lumps. In applying this to the crop, most of it had better be used
broadcast, as it is apt, at best, to be rather too coarse and
concentrated to be used liberally directly in the hill. Slaughter-
house manure should be treated much like glue manure.
Mr. Proctor, of Beverly, has raised cabbage successfully on
strong clay soil, by spreading a compost of muck containing fish
waste, in which the fish is well decomposed, at the rate of two
tons of the fish to an acre of land, after plowing, and then,
having made his furrows at the right distance apart, harrowing
the land thoroughly crossways with the furrows. The result was,
besides mixing the manure thoroughly with the soil, to land an
extra proportion of it in the furrows, which was equivalent to
manuring in the drill.
Cabbage can be raised on fertilizers alone. I have raised some
crops in this way; but have been led to plow in from four to six
cords of good manure to the acre, and then use from five
hundred to a thousand pounds of some good fertilizer in the hill.
The reason I prefer to use a portion of the cabbage food in the
form of manure, is, that I have noticed that when the attempt is
made to raise the larger drumhead varieties on fertilizers only,
the cabbages, just as the heads are well formed, are apt to come
nearly to a standstill. I explain this on the supposition that they
exhaust most of the fertilizer, or some one of the ingredients
that enter into it, during the earlier stage of growth; perhaps
from the fact that the food is in so easily digestible condition,
they use an over share of it, and the fact that those fed on
fertilizers only, tend to grow longer stumped than usual, appears
to give weight to this opinion. Though any good fertilizer is
good for cabbage, yet I prefer those compounded on the basis of
an analysis of the composition of the plants; they should contain
the three ingredients, nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid, in
the proportion of six, seven, five, taking them in the order in
which I have written them.
MAKING THE HILLS
AND PLANTING THE SEED
The idea is quite prevalent that cabbages will not head up
well except the plants are started in beds, and then transplanted
into the hills where they are to mature. This is an error, so far as
it applies to the Northern States,—the largest and most
experienced cultivators of cabbage in New England usually
dropping the seed directly where the plant is to stand, unless
they are first started under glass, or the piece of land to be
planted cannot be prepared in season to enable the farmer to put
his seed directly in the hill and yet give the cabbage time
sufficient to mature. Where the climate is unpropitious, or the
quantity of manure applied is insufficient, it is possible that
transplanting may promote heading. The advantages of planting
directly in the hill, are a saving of time, avoiding the risks
incidental to transplanting, and having all the piece start alike;
for, when transplanted, many die and have to be replaced, while
some hesitate much longer than others before starting, thus
making a want of uniformity in the maturing of the crop. There
is, also, this advantage, there being several plants in each hill,
the cut-worm has to depredate pretty severely before he really
injures the piece; again, should the seed not vegetate in any of
the hills, every farmer will appreciate the advantage of having
healthy plants growing so near at hand that they can be
transferred to the vacant spaces with their roots so undisturbed
that their growth is hardly checked. In addition to the labor of
transplanting saved by this plan, the great check that plants
always receive when so treated is prevented, and also the extra
risks that occur should a season of drought follow. It is the
belief of some farmers, that plants growing where the seed was
planted are less liable to be destroyed by the cut-worm than
those that have been transplanted. When planning to raise late
cabbage on upland, I sow a portion of the seed on a moist spot,
or, in case a portion of the land is moist, I plant the hills on such
land with an extra quantity of seed, that I may have enough
plants for the whole piece, should the weather prove to be too
dry for the seed to vegetate on the dryer portions of it. It is wise
to sow these extra plants about a week earlier, for they will be
put back about a week by transplanting them.
Some of our best farmers drill their seed in with a sowing
machine, such as is used for onions, carrots, and other vegetable
crops. This is a very expeditious way, and has the advantage of
leaving the plants in rows instead of bunches, as in the hill
system, and thus enables the hoe to do most of the work of
thinning. It has also this advantage: each plant being by itself
can be left much longer before thinning, and yet not grow long
in the stump, thus making it available for transplanting, or for
sale in the market, for a longer period.
The usual way of preparing the hills is to strike out furrows
with a small, one-horse plow, as far apart as the rows are to be.
As it is very important that the rows should be as straight as
practicable, it is a good plan to run back once in each furrow,
particularly on sod land where the plow will be apt to catch in
the turf and jump out of line. A manure team follows,
containing the dressing for the hills, which has previously been
pitched over and beaten up until all the ingredients are fine and
well mixed. This team is so driven, if possible, as to avoid
running in the furrows. Two or three hands follow with forks or
shovels, pitching the manure into the furrows at the distance
apart that has been determined on for the hills. How far apart
these are to be will depend on the varieties, from eighteen
inches to four feet. On land that has been very highly manured
for a series of years, cabbage can be planted nearer than on land
that has been under the plow but a few years. For the distance
apart for different varieties see farther on. The manure is leveled
with hoes, a little soil is drawn over it, and a slight stamp with
the back of the hoe is given to level this soil, and, at the same
time, to mark the hill. The planter follows with seed in a tin
box, or any small vessel having a broad bottom, and taking a
small pinch between the thumb and forefinger he gives a slight
scratch with the remaining fingers of the same hand, and
dropping in about half a dozen seed covers them half an inch
deep with a sweep of the hand, and packs the earth by a gentle
pat with the open palm to keep the moisture in the ground and
thus promote the vegetation of the seed. With care a quarter of a
pound of seed will plant an acre, when dropped directly in the
hills; but half a pound is the common allowance, as there is
usually some waste from spilling, while most laborers plant
with a free hand.
The soil over the hills being very light and porous, careless
hands are apt to drop the seed too deep. Care should be taken
not to drop the seed all in one spot, but to scatter them over a
surface of two or three inches square, that each plant may have
room to develop without crowding its neighbors.
If the seed is planted in a line instead of in a mass the plants
can be left longer before the final thinning without danger of
growing tall and weak.
If the seed is to be drilled in, it will be necessary to scatter
the manure all along the furrows, then cover with a plow,
roughly leveling with a rake.
Should the compost applied to the hills be very concentrated,
it will be apt to produce stump foot; it will, therefore, be safest
in such cases to hollow out the middle with the corner of the
hoe, or draw the hoe through and fill in with earth, that the roots
of the young plants may not come in direct contact with the
compost as soon as they begin to push.
When guano or phosphates are used in the hills it will be
well to mark out the rows with a plow, and then, where each hill
is to be, fill in the soil level to the surface with a hoe, before
applying them. I have, in a previous paragraph, given full
instructions how to apply these. Hen manure, if moist, should be
broken up very fine, and be mixed with some dry earth to
prevent it from again lumping together, and the mixture applied
in sufficient quantity to make an equivalent of a heaping
handful of pure hen manure to each hill. Any liquid manure is
excellent for the cabbage crop; but it should be well diluted, or
it will be likely to produce stump foot.
Cabbage seed of almost all varieties are nearly round in form,
but are not so spherical as turnip seed. I note, however, that seed
of the Savoys are nearly oval. In color they are light brown
when first gathered, but gradually turn dark brown if not
gathered too early. An ounce contains nearly ten thousand seed,
but should not be relied upon for many over two thousand good
plants, and these are available for about as many hills only when
raised in beds and transplanted; when dropped directly in the
hills it will take not far from eight ounces of the larger sorts to
plant an acre, and of the smaller cabbage rather more than this.
Cabbage seed when well cured and kept in close bags will retain
their vitality four or five years; old gardeners prefer seed of all
the cabbage family two or three years old.
When the plan is to raise the young plants in beds to be
transplanted, the ground selected for the beds should be of rich
soil; this should be very thoroughly dug, and the surface worked
and raked very fine, every stone and lump of earth being
removed. Now sprinkle the seed evenly over the bed and gently
rake in just under the surface, compacting the soil by pressure
with a board. As soon as the young plants appear, sprinkle them
with air-slaked lime. Transplant when three or four inches high,
being very careful not to let the plants get tall and weak.
For late cabbage, in the latitude of Boston, to have cabbages
ready for market about the first of November, the Marblehead
Mammoth should be planted the 20th of May, other late
drumheads from June 1st to June 12th, provided the plants are
not to be transplanted; otherwise a week earlier. In those
localities where the growing season is later, the seed should be
planted proportionally later.
CARE OF THE YOUNG PLANTS
In four or five days, if the weather is propitious, the young
plants will begin to break ground, presenting at the surface two
leaves, which together make nearly a square, like the first leaves
of turnips or radishes. As soon as the third leaf is developed, go
over the piece, and boldly thin out the plants. Wherever they are
very thick, pull a mass of them with the fingers and thumb,
being careful to fill up the hole made with fine earth. After the
fourth leaf is developed, go over the piece again and thin still
more; you need specially to guard against a slender weak
growth, which will happen when the plants are too crowded. In
thinning, leave the short-stumped plants, and leave them as far
apart in the hill as possible, that they may not shade each other,
or so interfere in growing as to make long stumps. If there is any
market for young plants, thousands can be sold from an acre
when the seed are planted in the hill; but in doing this bear in
mind that your principal object is to raise cabbages, and to
succeed in this the young plants must on no account be allowed
to stand so long together in the hills as to crowd each other,
making a tall, weak, slender growth,—getting "long-legged," as
the farmers call it.
If the manure in any of the hills is too strong, the fact will be
known by its effects on the plants, which will be checked in
their growth, and be of a darker green color than the healthy
plants. Gently pull away the earth from the roots of such with
the fingers, and draw around fresh earth; or, what is as well or
better, transplant a healthy plant just on the edge of the hill.
When the plants are finger high they are of a good size to
transplant into such hills as have missed, or to market. When
transplanting, select a rainy day, if possible, and do not begin
until sufficient rain has fallen to moisten the earth around the
roots, which will make it more likely to adhere to them when
taken up. Take up the young plants by running the finger or a
trowel under them; put these into a flat basket or box, and in
transplanting set them to the same depth they originally grew,
pressing the earth a little about the roots.
If it is necessary to do the transplanting in a dry spell, as
usually happens, select the latter part of the afternoon, if
practicable, and, making holes with a dibble, or any pointed
stick an inch and a half in diameter, fill these holes, a score or
more at a time, with water; and as soon as the water is about
soaked away, beginning with the hole first filled, set out your
plants. The evaporation of the moisture below the roots will
keep them moist until they get a hold. Cabbage plants have great
tenacity of life, and will rally and grow when they appear to be
dead; the leaves may all die, and dry up like hay, but if the
stump stands erect and the unfolded leaf at the top of the stump
is alive, the plant will usually survive. When the plants are quite
large, they may be used successfully by cutting or breaking off
the larger leaves. Some advocate wilting the plants before
transplanting, piling them in the cellar a few days before setting
them out, to toughen them and get a new setting of fine roots;
others challenge their vigor by making it a rule to do all
transplanting under the heat of mid-day. I think there is not
much of reason in this latter course. The young plants can be set
out almost as fast as a man can walk, by holding the roots close
to one side of the hole made by the dibble, and at the same
moment pressing earth against them with the other hand.
(skip)
BOOK FIVE:
The Better Days Books Origiganic Guide To
The Culinary Herbs
Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses
By M. G. Kains
Originally Published in 1912 by Orange Judd Company, New York
Herbs and Children, a Happy Harmony
Ah, Zephyrus! art here, and Flora too!
Ye tender bibbers of the rain and dew,
Young playmates of the rose and daffodil,
Be careful, ere ye enter in, to fill
Your baskets high
With fennel green, and balm, and golden pines,
Savory, latter-mint, and columbines,
Cool parsley, basil sweet, and sunny thyme;
Yea, every flower and leaf of every clime,
All gather'd in the dewy morn: hie
Away! fly, fly!
—Keats, "Endymion"
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
A small boy who wanted to make a good impression once
took his little sweetheart to an ice cream parlor. After he had
vainly searched the list of edibles for something within his
means, he whispered to the waiter, "Say, Mister, what you got
that looks tony an' tastes nice for nineteen cents?"
This is precisely the predicament in which many thousand
people are today. Like the boy, they have skinny purses,
voracious appetites and mighty yearnings to make the best
possible impression within their means. Perhaps having been
"invited out," they learn by actual demonstration that the herbs
are culinary magicians which convert cheap cuts and "scraps"
into toothsome dainties. They are thus aroused to the fact that by
using herbs they can afford to play host and hostess to a larger
number of hungry and envious friends than ever before.
Maybe it is mainly due to these yearnings and to the
memories of mother's and grandmother's famous dishes that so
many inquiries concerning the propagation, cultivation, curing
and uses of culinary herbs are asked of authorities on gardening
and cookery; and maybe it is because no one has really loved the
herbs enough to publish a book on the subject. That herbs are
easy to grow I can abundantly attest, for I have grown them all. I
can also bear ample witness to the fact that they reduce the cost
of high living, if by that phrase is meant pleasing the palate
without offending the purse.
For instance, a few days ago a friend paid twenty cents for
soup beef, and five cents for "soup greens." The addition of salt,
pepper and other ingredients brought the initial cost up to
twenty-nine cents. This made enough soup for ten or twelve
liberal servings. The lean meat removed from the soup was
minced and mixed with not more than ten cents' worth of diced
potatoes, stale bread crumbs, milk, seasoning and herbs before
being baked as a supper dish for five people, who by their bland
smiles and "scotch plates" attested that the viands both looked
"tony" and tasted nice.
I am glad to acknowledge my thanks to Mr. N. R. Graves of
Rochester, N. Y., and Prof. R. L. Watts of the Pennsylvania
State Agricultural College, for the photographic illustrations,
and to Mr. B. F. Williamson, the Orange Judd Co.'s artist, for
the pen and ink drawings which add so much to the value,
attractiveness and interest of these pages.
If this book shall instill or awaken in its readers the
wholesome though "cupboard" love that the culinary herbs
deserve both as permanent residents of the garden and as
masters of the kitchen, it will have accomplished the object for
which it was written.
M. G. Kains.
New York, 1912.
CONTENTS
Author's Preface
Culinary Herbs
A Dinner of Herbs
Culinary Herbs Defined
History
Production of New Varieties
Status and Uses
Notable Instance of Uses
Methods of Curing
Drying and Storing
Herbs as Garnishes
Propagation, Seeds
Cuttings
Layers
Division
Transplanting
Implements
Location of Herb Garden
The Soil and Its Preparation
Cultivation
Double Cropping
Herb Relationships _____________
The Herb List:
Angelica
Anise
Balm
Basil
Borage
Caraway
Catnip
Chervil
Chives
Clary
Coriander
Cumin
Dill
Fennel
Finocchio
Fennel Flower
Hoarhound
Hyssop
Lavender
Lovage
Marigold
Marjoram
Mint
Parsley
Pennyroyal
Peppermint
Rosemary
Rue
Sage
Samphire
Savory, Summer
Savory, Winter
Southernwood
Tansy
Tarragon
Thyme
CULINARY HERBS
In these days of jaded appetites, condiments and canned
goods, how fondly we turn from the dreary monotony of the
"dainty" menu to the memory of the satisfying dishes of our
mothers! What made us, like Oliver Twist, ask for more? Were
those flavors real, or was it association and natural, youthful
hunger that enticed us? Can we ever forget them; or, what is
more practical, can we again realize them? We may find the
secret and the answer in mother's garden. Let's peep in.
The garden, as in memory we view it, is not remarkable
except for its neatness and perhaps the mixing of flowers, fruits
and vegetables as we never see them jumbled on the table.
Strawberries and onions, carrots and currants, potatoes and
poppies, apples and sweet corn and many other as strange
comrades, all grow together in mother's garden in the utmost
harmony.
Spading Fork
All these are familiar friends; but what are those plants near
the kitchen? They are "mother's sweet herbs." We have never
seen them on the table. They never played leading roles such as
those of the cabbage and the potato. They are merely members
of "the cast" which performed the small but important parts in
the production of the pleasing tout ensemble—soup, stew,
sauce, or salad—the remembrance of which, like that of a well-
staged and well-acted drama, lingers in the memory long after
the actors are forgotten.
Barrel Culture of Herbs
Probably no culinary plants have during the last 50 years
been so neglected. Especially during the "ready-to-serve" food
campaign of the closed quarter century did they suffer most. But
they are again coming into their own. Few plants are so easily
cultivated and prepared for use. With the exception of the onion,
none may be so effectively employed and none may so
completely transform the "left-over" as to tempt an otherwise
balky appetite to indulge in a second serving without being
urged to perform the homely duty of "eating it to save it."
Indeed, sweet herbs are, or should be the boon of the housewife,
since they make for both pleasure and economy. The soup may
be made of the most wholesome, nutritious and even costly
materials; the fish may be boiled or baked to perfection; the
joint or the roast and the salad may be otherwise faultless, but if
they lack flavor they will surely fail in their mission, and none
of the neighbors will plot to steal the cook, as they otherwise
might did she merit the reputation that she otherwise might, by
using culinary herbs.
This doleful condition may be prevented and the cook enjoy
an enviable esteem by the judicious use of herbs, singly or in
combination. It is greatly to be regretted that the uses of these
humble plants, which seem to fall lower than the dignity of the
title "vegetable," should be so little understood by intelligent
American housewives.
In the flavoring of prepared dishes we Americans—people,
as the French say, "of one sauce"—might well learn a lesson
from the example of the English matron who usually considers
her kitchen incomplete without a dozen or more sweet herbs,
either powdered, or in decoction, or preserved in both ways. A
glance into a French or a German culinary department would
probably show more than a score; but a careful search in an
American kitchen would rarely reveal as many as half a dozen,
and in the great majority probably only parsley and sage would
be brought to light. Yet these humble plants possess the power
of rendering even unpalatable and insipid dishes piquant and
appetizing, and this, too, at a surprisingly low cost. Indeed, most
of them may be grown in an out-of-the-way corner of the
garden, or if no garden be available, in a box of soil upon a
sunny windowsill—a method adopted by many foreigners living
in tenement houses in New York and Jersey City. Certainly they
may be made to add to the pleasure of living and, as Solomon
declares, "better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled
ox with contention."
It is to be regretted that the moving picture show and the
soda water fountain have such an influence in breaking up old-
fashioned family evenings at home when everyone gathered
around the evening lamp to enjoy homemade dainties. In those
good old days the young man was expected to become
acquainted with the young woman in the home. The girl took
pride in serving solid and liquid culinary goodies of her own
construction. Her mother, her all-sufficient guide, mapped out
the sure, safe, and orthodox highway to a man's heart and saw to
it that she learned how to play her cards with skill and precision.
Those were the days when a larger proportion "lived happy ever
after" than in modern times, when recreation and refreshment
are sought more frequently outside than inside the walls of
home.
But it is not too late to learn the good old ways over again
and enjoy the good old culinary dainties. Whoever relishes the
summer cups that cheer but do not inebriate may add
considerably to his enjoyment by using some of the sweet herbs.
Spearmint adds to lemonade the pleasing pungency it as readily
imparts to a less harmful but more notorious beverage. The blue
or pink flowers of borage have long been famous for the same
purpose, though they are perhaps oftener added to a mixture of
honey and water, to grape juice, raspberry vinegar or strawberry
acid. All that is needed is an awakened desire to re-establish
home comforts and customs, then a little later experimentation
will soon fix the herb habit.
Transplanting Board and Dibble
The list of home confections may be very pleasingly
extended by candying the aromatic roots of lovage, and thus
raising up a rival to the candied ginger said to be imported from
the Orient. If anyone likes coriander and caraway—I confess
that I don't—he can sugar the seeds to make those little
"comfits," the candies of our childhood which our mothers tried
to make us think we liked to crunch either separately or
sprinkled on our birthday cakes. Those were before the days
when somebody's name was "stamped on every piece" to aid
digestion. Can we ever forget the picnic when we had certain
kinds of sandwiches? Our mothers minced sweet fennel, the
tender leaves of sage, marjoram or several other herbs, mixed
them with cream cheese, and spread a layer between two thin
slices of bread. Perhaps it was the swimming, or the three-
legged racing, or the swinging, or all put together, that put a
razor edge on our appetites and made us relish those sandwiches
more than was perhaps polite; but will we not, all of us who ate
them, stand ready to dispute with all comers that it was the
flavors that made us forget "our manners"?
But sweet herbs may be made to serve another pleasing, an
esthetic purpose. Many of them may be used for ornament. A
bouquet of the pale pink blossoms of thyme and the delicate
flowers of marjoram, the fragrant sprigs of lemon balm mixed
with the bright yellow umbels of sweet fennel, the finely
divided leaves of rue and the long glassy ones of bergamot, is
not only novel in appearance but in odor. In sweetness it excels
even sweet peas and roses. Mixed with the brilliant red berries
of barberry and multiflora rose, and the dark-green branches of
the hardy thyme, which continues fresh and sweet through the
year, a handsome and lasting bouquet may be made for a
midwinter table decoration, a fragrant reminder of
Shakespeare's lines in "A Winter's Tale":
"Here's flowers for you;
Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun
And with him rises weeping."
The rare aroma of sweet marjoram reminds so many city
people of their mother's and their grandmother's country
gardens, that countless muslin bags of the dried leaves sent to
town ostensibly for stuffing poultry never reach the kitchen at
all, but are accorded more honored places in the living room.
They are placed in the sunlight of a bay window where Old Sol
may coax forth their prisoned odors and perfume the air with
memories of childhood summers on the farm.
Other memories cling to the delicate little lavender, not so
much because the owner of a well-filled linen closet perfumed
her spotless hoard with its fragrant flowers, but because of more
tender remembrances. Would any country wedding chest be
complete without its little silk bags filled with dried lavender
buds and blooms to add the finishing touch of romance to the
dainty trousseau of linen and lace? What can recall the bridal
year so surely as this same kindly lavender?
A DINNER OF HERBS
In an article published in American Agriculturist, Dora M.
Morrell says: "There is an inference that a dinner of herbs is
rather a poor thing, one not to be chosen as a pleasure. Perhaps
it might be if it came daily, but, for once in a while, try this
which I am going to tell you.
"To prepare a dinner of herbs in its best estate you should
have a bed of seasonings such as our grandmothers had in their
gardens, rows of sage, of spicy mint, sweet marjoram, summer
savory, fragrant thyme, tarragon, chives and parsley. To these
we may add, if we take herbs in the Scriptural sense, nasturtium,
and that toothsome esculent, the onion, as well as lettuce. If you
wish a dinner of herbs and have not the fresh, the dried will
serve, but parsley and mint you can get at most times in the
markets, or in country gardens, where they often grow wild.
"Do you know, my sister housewife, that if you were to have
a barrel sawed in half, filled with good soil, some holes made in
the side and then placed the prepared half barrel in the sun, you
could have an herb garden of your own the year through, even if
you live in a city flat? In the holes at the sides you can plant
parsley, and it will grow to cover the barrel, so that you have a
bank of green to look upon. On the top of the half barrel plant
your mint, sage, thyme and tarragon. Thyme is so pleasing a
plant in appearance and fragrance that you may acceptably give
it a place among those you have in your window for ornament.
Assortment of Favorite Weeders
"The Belgians make a parsley soup that might begin your
dinner, or rather your luncheon. For the soup, thicken flour and
butter together as for drawn butter sauce, and when properly
cooked thin to soup consistency with milk. Flavor with onion
juice, salt and pepper. Just before serving add enough parsley
cut in tiny bits to color the soup green. Serve croutons with this.
"For the next course choose an omelet with fine herbs. Any
cookbook will give the directions for making the omelet, and all
that will be necessary more than the book directs is to have
added to it minced thyme, tarragon and chives before folding, or
they may be stirred into the omelet before cooking.
"Instead of an omelet you may have eggs stuffed with fine
herbs and served in cream sauce. Cut hard-boiled eggs in half
the long way and remove the yolks. Mash and season these,
adding the herbs, as finely minced as possible. Shape again like
yolks and return to the whites. Cover with a hot cream sauce
and serve before it cools. Both of these dishes may be garnished
with shredded parsley over the top.
"With this serve a dish of potatoes scalloped with onion.
Prepare by placing in alternate layers the two vegetables; season
well with salt, pepper and butter, and then add milk even with
the top layer. This dish is quite hearty and makes a good supper
dish of itself.
"Of course you will not have a meal of this kind without
salad. For this try a mixture of nasturtium leaves and blossoms,
tarragon, chives, mint, thyme and the small leaves of the lettuce,
adding any other green leaves of the spicy kind which you find
to taste good. Then dress these with a simple oil and vinegar
dressing, omitting sugar, mustard or any such flavoring, for
there is spice enough in the leaves themselves.
"Pass with these, if you will, sandwiches made with lettuce
or nasturtium dressed with mayonnaise. You may make quite a
different thing of them by adding minced chives or tarragon, or
thyme, to the mayonnaise. The French are very partial to this
manner of compounding new sauces from the base of the old
one. After you do it a few times you also will find it worth
while.
Popular Adjustable Row Marker
"When it comes to a dessert I am afraid you will have to go
outside of herbs. You can take a cream cheese and work into it
with a silver knife any of these herbs, or any two of them that
agree with it well, and serve it with toasted crackers, or you can
toast your crackers with common cheese, grating above it sage
and thyme."
Whether this "dinner of herbs" appeals to the reader or not, I
venture to say that no housewife who has ever stuffed a
Thanksgiving turkey, a Christmas goose or ducks or chickens
with home-grown, home-prepared herbs, either fresh or dried,
will ever after be willing to buy the paper packages or tin cans
of semi-inodorous, prehistoric dust which masquerades equally
well as "fresh" sage, summer savory, thyme or something else,
the only apparent difference being the label.
To learn to value herbs at their true worth one should grow
them. Then every visitor to the garden will be reminded of some
quotation from the Bible, or Shakespeare or some other
repository of interesting thoughts; for since herbs have been
loved as long as the race has lived on the earth, literature is full
of references to facts and fancies concerning them. Thus the
herb garden will become the nucleus around which cluster hoary
legends, gems of verse and lilts of song, and where one almost
stoops to remove his shoes, for
"The wisdom of the ages
Blooms anew among the sages."
CULINARY HERBS DEFINED
It may be said that sweet or culinary herbs are those annual,
biennial or perennial plants whose green parts, tender roots or
ripe seeds have an aromatic flavor and fragrance, due either to a
volatile oil or to other chemically named substances peculiar to
the individual species. Since many of them have pleasing odors
they have been called sweet, and since they have been long used
in cookery to add their characteristic flavors to soups, stews,
dressings, sauces and salads, they are popularly called culinary.
This last designation is less happy than the former, since many
other herbs, such as cabbage, spinach, kale, dandelion and
collards, are also culinary herbs. These vegetables are, however,
probably more widely known as potherbs or greens.
HISTORY
It seems probable that many of the flavoring herbs now in
use were similarly employed before the erection of the pyramids
and also that many then popular no longer appear in modern
lists of esculents. Of course, this statement is based largely upon
imperfect records, perhaps, in many cases only hints more or
less doubtful as to the various species. But it seems safe to
conclude that a goodly number of the herbs discussed in this
volume, especially those said to be natives of the Mediterranean
region, overhung and perfumed the cradle of the human race in
the Orient and marked the footsteps of our rude progenitors as
they strode more and more sturdily toward the horizon of
promise. This idea seems to gain support also from the fact that
certain Eastern peoples, whom modern civilization declares to
have uneducated tastes, still employ many herbs which have
dropped by the wayside of progress, or like the caraway and the
redoubtable "pusley," an anciently popular potherb, are but
known in western lands as troublesome weeds.
Relying upon Biblical records alone, several herbs were
highly esteemed prior to our era; in the gospels of Matthew and
Luke reference is made to tithes of mint, anise, rue, cumin and
other "herbs"; and, more than 700 years previously, Isaiah
speaks of the sowing and threshing of cumin which, since the
same passage (Isaiah xxviii, 25) also speaks of "fitches"
(vetches), wheat, barley and "rie" (rye), seems then to have been
a valued crop.
Popular Spades
The development of the herb crops contrasts strongly with
that of the other crops to which reference has just been made.
Whereas these latter have continued to be staples, and to judge
by their behavior during the last century may be considered to
have improved in quality and yield since that ancient time, the
former have dropped to the most subordinate position of all
food plants. They have lost in number of species, and have
shown less improvement than perhaps any other groups of
plants cultivated for economic purposes. During the century just
closed only one species, parsley, may be said to have developed
more than an occasional improved variety. And even during this
period the list of species seems to have been somewhat
curtailed—tansy, hyssop, horehound, rue and several others
being considered of too pronounced and even unpleasant flavor
to suit cultivated palates.
With the exception of these few species, the loss of which
seems not to be serious, this absence of improvement is to be
regretted, because with improved quality would come increased
consumption and consequent beneficial results in the appetizing
flavor of the foods to which herbs are added. But greatly
improved varieties of most species can hardly be expected until
a just appreciation has been awakened in individual cultivators,
who, probably in a majority of cases, will be lovers of plants
rather than men who earn their living by market gardening.
Until the public better appreciates the culinary herbs there
will be a comparatively small commercial demand; until the
demand is sufficient to make growing herbs profitable upon an
extensive scale, market gardeners will devote their land to crops
which are sure to pay well; hence the opportunity to grow herbs
as an adjunct to gardening is the most likely way that they can
be made profitable. And yet there is still another; namely,
growing them for sale in the various prepared forms and selling
them in glass or tin receptacles in the neighborhood or by
advertising in the household magazines. There surely is a
market, and a profitable one if rightly managed. And with right
management and profit is to come desire to have improved
varieties. Such varieties can be developed at least as readily as
the wonderful modern chrysanthemum has been developed from
an insignificant little wild flower not half as interesting or
promising originally as our common oxeye daisy, a well-known
field weed.
Not the least object of this volume is, therefore, to arouse
just appreciation of the opportunities awaiting the herb grower.
Besides the very large and increasing number of people who
take pleasure in the growing of attractive flowering and foliage
plants, fine vegetables and choice fruits, there are many who
would find positive delight in the breeding of plants for
improvement—the origination of new varieties—and who
would devote much of their leisure time to this work—make it a
hobby—did they know the simple underlying principles. For
their benefit, therefore, the following paragraphs are given.
PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES
Besides the gratification that always accompanies the
growing of plants, there is in plant breeding the promise that the
progeny will in some way be better than the parent, and there is
the certainty that when a stable variety of undoubted merit has
been produced it can be sold to an enterprising seedsman for
general distribution. In this way the amateur may become a
public benefactor, reap the just reward of his labors and keep his
memory green!
The production of new varieties of plants is a much simpler
process than is commonly supposed. It consists far more in
selecting and propagating the best specimens than in any so-
called "breeding." With the majority of the herbs this is the most
likely direction in which to seek success.
Suppose we have sown a packet of parsley seed and we have
five thousand seedlings. Among these a lot will be so weak that
we will naturally pass them by when we are choosing plantlets
to put in our garden beds. Here is the first and simplest kind of
selection. By this means, and by not having space for a great
number of plants in the garden, we probably get rid of 80 per
cent of the seedlings—almost surely the least desirable ones.
Lath Screen for Shading Beds
Suppose we have transplanted 1,000 seedlings where they are
to grow and produce leaves for sale or home use. Among these,
provided the seed has been good and true, at least 90 per cent
will be about alike in appearance, productivity and otherwise.
The remaining plants may show variations so striking as to
attract attention. Some may be tall and scraggly, some may be
small and puny; others may be light green, still others dark
green; and so on. But there may be one or two plants that stand
out conspicuously as the best of the whole lot. These are the
ones to mark with a stake so they will not be molested when the
crop is being gathered and so they will attain their fullest
development.
These best plants, and only these, should then be chosen as
the seed bearers. No others should be allowed even to produce
flowers. When the seed has ripened, that from each plant should
be kept separate during the curing process described elsewhere.
And when spring comes again, each lot of seed should be sown
by itself. When the seedlings are transplanted, they should be
kept apart and labeled No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, etc., so the progeny
of each parent plant can be known and its history kept.
The process of selecting the seedlings the second year is the
same as in the first; the best are given preference, when being
transplanted. In the beds all sorts of variations even more
pronounced than the first year may be expected. The effort with
the seedlings derived from each parent plant should be to find
the plants that most closely resemble their own parents, and to
manage these just as the parents were managed. No other should
be allowed to flower.
This process is to be continued from year to year. If the
selection is carefully made, the grower will soon rejoice,
because he will observe a larger and a larger number of plants
approaching the type of plant he has been selecting for. In time
practically the whole plantation will be coming "true to type,"
and he will have developed a new variety. If his ideal is such as
to appeal to the practical man—the man who grows parsley for
money—and if the variety is superior to varieties already grown,
the originator will have no difficulty in disposing of his stock of
seed and plants, if he so desires, to a seedsman, who will gladly
pay a round price in order to have exclusive control of the "new
creation." Or he may contract with a seedsman to grow seed of
the new variety for sale to the trade.
Harvesting Thyme Grown on a Commercial Scale
It may be said, further, that new varieties may be produced
by placing the pollen from the flowers of one plant upon the
pistils in the flowers of another and then covering the plant with
fine gauze to keep insects out. With the herbs, however, this
method seems hardly worth while, because the flowers are as a
rule very small and the work necessarily finicky, and because
there are already so few varieties of most species that the
operation may be left to the activities of insects. It is for this
reason, however, that none but the choicest plants should be
allowed to bloom, so none but desirable pollen may reach and
fertilize the flowers of the plants to be used as seed producers.
STATUS AND USES
Some readers of a statistical turn of mind may be
disappointed to learn that figures as to the value of the annual
crops of individual herbs, the acreage devoted to each, the
average cost, yield and profit an acre, etc., are not obtainable
and that the only way of determining the approximate standing
of the various species is the apparent demand for each in the
large markets and stores.
Unquestionably the greatest call is for parsley, which is used
in restaurants and hotels more extensively as a garnish than any
other herb. In this capacity it ranks about equal with watercress
and lettuce, which both find their chief uses as salads. As a
flavoring agent it is probably less used than sage, but more than
any of the other herbs. It is chiefly employed in dressings with
mild meats such as chicken, turkey, venison, veal, with baked
fish; and for soups, stews, and sauces, especially those used
with boiled meats, fish and fricassees of the meats mentioned.
Thus it has a wider application than any other of the culinary
herbs.
Sage, which is a strongly flavored plant, is used chiefly with
such fat meats as pork, goose, duck, and various kinds of game.
Large quantities are mixed with sausage meat and, in some
countries, with certain kinds of cheese. Throughout the United
States it is probably the most frequently called into requisition
of all herbs, probably outranking any two of the others, with the
exception of parsley.
Garden Hoes of Various Styles
Thyme and savory stand about equal, and are chiefly used
like parsley, though both, especially the former, are used in
certain kinds of sausage. Marjoram, which is similarly
employed, comes next, then follow balm, fennel, and basil.
These milder herbs are often mixed for much the same reason
that certain simple perfumes are blended—to produce a new
odor—combinations of herbs resulting in a new compound
flavor. Such compounds are utilized in the same way that the
elementary herbs are.
In classes by themselves are tarragon and spearmint, the
former of which is chiefly used as a decoction in the flavoring
of fish sauces, and the latter as the universal dressing with
spring lamb. Mint has also a more convivial use, but this seems
more the province of the W. C. T. U. than of this book to
discuss.
Dill is probably the most important of the herbs whose seeds,
rather than their leaves, are used in flavoring food other than
confectionery. It plays its chief role in the pickle barrel.
Immense quantities of cucumber pickles flavored principally
with dill are used in the restaurants of the larger cities and also
by families, the foreign-born citizens and their descendants
being the chief consumers. The demand for these pickles is met
by the leading pickle manufacturers who prepare special brands,
generally according to German recipes, and sell them to the
delicatessen and the grocery stores. If they were to rely upon me
for business, they would soon go bankrupt. To my palate the dill
pickle appeals as almost the acme of disagreeableness.
NOTABLE INSTANCE OF USES
The flavors of the various herbs cover a wide range,
commencing with fennel and ending with sage, and are capable
of wide application. In one case which came under my
observation, the cook made a celery-flavored stew of some meat
scraps. Not being wholly consumed, the surviving debris
appeared a day or two later, in company with other odds and
ends, as the chief actor in a meat pie flavored with parsley. Alas,
a left-over again! "Never mind," mused the cook; and no one
who partook of the succeeding stew discovered the lurking
parsley and its overpowered progenitor, the celery, under the
effectual disguise of summer savory. By an unforeseen
circumstance the fragments remaining from this last stew did
not continue the cycle and disappear in another pie. Had this
been their fate, however, their presence could have been
completely obscured by sage. This problem in perpetual
progression or culinary homeopathy can be practiced in any
kitchen. But hush, tell it not in the dining-room!
Dried Herbs in Paper and Tin
# # # #
Thank you for reading this preview of The Better Days Books
Complete Origiganic Grower. To continue reading, please
purchase a copy at BetterDaysBooks.com
Better Days Books publishes quality reprint editions of classic
American non-fiction books, with a primary focus on the
preservation of traditional skills, homestead knowledge, and old
fashioned holiday customs and traditions. All Better Days
Books are available in affordable, quality Trade Paper editions,
as well as in convenient Epub and PDF eBook formats at
BetterDaysBooks.com. Kindle owners can find all Better Days
Books titles formatted for their use at Amazon.com.