Part 6

Indigestion and intermediate stages up to acute gastritis and liver complaint, all spring from the same causes, and will succumb to the same remedies, so we will consider them connectedly. They are caused by indiscreet or excessive feeding; mash which has been allowed to become sour; an excess of bread, potatoes or fat in table-scraps fed to the birds; lack of corn, vegetables or sharp grit; condition powders, egg-foods, and such condiments, if given frequently, will affect the digestive organs and bring on indigestion. At first the sufferer looks mopey and stupid; the comb is pale. At this stage a few days in hospital and a dose of magnesia and reformation in diet will work a cure. Put about a third of a teaspoonful of sulphate of magnesia in a cup of drinking-water. Feed a mash composed of three parts finely-cut clover-hay, which has been thoroughly steamed, and one part each of coarsely-ground corn and oats. If you haven’t clover-hay, use wheat-bran instead; chopped apple, lettuce or any greens should be the mid-day meal. Put a small pan of sharp grit into the coop. Advance symptoms are watery, yellowish droppings and thirst, and the comb becoming fiery red, which may gradually darken to crimson as the bird’s condition becomes worse. Administer a teaspoonful of castor-oil; feed sparingly on mash, which at this stage should consist of boiled rice, scalded bread and milk or cottage-cheese. If the dysentery is very severe, fill up a drinking-vessel with the water in which the rice was boiled. After eight hours of such diet, add twenty-five drops of tincture of nux vomica to half a pint of rice-water. Continue with light, nourishing food for about a week.

In the fall fowls are frequently given free range, before the corn and other crops are harvested, and with the result that they gorge themselves with new corn, which is very liable to heat and swell. In the summer people are very likely to cut grass and throw it in to yarded hens, who will eat it greedily, but it invariably causes trouble, being in long lengths. Lawn-clippings, which are not over an inch in length, are quite safe and, of course, supply the required green food which they specially crave in hot weather. When the bird is seen to have an unusually large crop and shows signs of distress, catch it and hold by the feet, head downward, then gently work the crop so as to push a little of the contents into the throat and out through the beak. Even if only a few grains can be ejected in this way, it will help the strained condition of the crop and ease the bird’s sufferings. Administer a dose of castor or sweet oil.

Occasionally an obstinate case can’t be helped by simple means, and then surgery has to be resorted to. Tie the feet together and the wings close to the body with a broad strip of muslin, place the bird on its side on the table, calling in assistance to hold it still, and with a sharp pocket-knife make a small slit, first in the outer skin, pulling one side slightly outward, then making an insertion in the crop itself. Carefully remove the contents. You need not be at all nervous about the operation, which is quite painless. After the crop is emptied, take a moderately fine needle threaded with a fine sewing-silk. Take two or three stitches in the crop and cut off the thread, pull the edges of the outer skin together and fasten with two or three stitches. Of course, under no circumstances must the crop and the outer skin be fastened together in stitching. Keep the bird on very meagre rations for a week or ten days.

The most common ailment of infant chickenhood is bowel trouble, and one should be on the watch for the the first signs, all through the hatching season, as a few hours means much to frail baby life. A chill, dampness, improper food or dirty drinking-water are the usual causes. Should any laxity be noticed in the droppings, remove the drinking-water and substitute either milk which has been scalded and allowed to cool or rice-water, according to the symptoms. Feed boiled rice at least once a day. If the chicks are in a brooder, set the temperature a little higher than under ordinary circumstances. If they are with a hen, keep her confined to the brood-coop, to insure the chicks being able to nestle to her.

Gapes is the second scourge of chick-life. Gapes is not truly a disease, but the effect of a parasite worm, which is supposed only to materialise on ground in which poultry-droppings have been deposited for several seasons. A gapeworm is only about five sixteenths of an inch in length and no thicker than a fine thread. Once introduced into the bird’s throat it fastens there and sucks the blood of its victim, and, of course, a little chick has not the strength to eject it, no matter how much it may cough or gape. They multiply very quickly. Some of the remedies are as follows: Dip the end of a small wing feather in turpentine, push it down the bird’s throat, turn two or three times quickly and pull out. The worm may come with it. Another is to mix salt and water or steep tobacco in water for ten minutes; pour a tablespoonful down the bird’s throat, keeping the head up, and the two holes at the base of the bill covered with your thumb and forefinger whilst you count five. Release and suddenly turn the bird upside down, holding by the feet. It will gasp, splutter and usually eject the worm. To exterminate the pests, have the ground, on which the birds have been cooped and yarded, sprinkled with quicklime (keeping the birds safely cooped, so that they cannot get into or eat the lime). Let it lie overnight and then plough under. If such treatment is impossible, remove all the young stock to some other part of the farm. Mature birds have the strength to eject the worms.

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

It is advisable to plan the garden on paper and make out seed lists early in the spring, to save time later. Every family will, of course, have specially preferred vegetables to take precedence over others, so individual taste alone can determine the allotted space for each variety. Our selection and plan was made with due regard for table pickles and preserves, all of which were bountifully supplied. Therefore, if your discrimination on such subjects is too undeveloped as yet to be trusted, accept our experience this year, and then you will know how to reconstruct it for your personal needs. When planning out on paper, the second crop should be considered as well as the spring sowings.

One of the advantages of sending for seeds early is that you are sure to get the varieties selected, whereas later in the season “the best” is frequently sold out.

When choosing a site, remember that a slight slope to the south or southeast is desirable. Size must depend very much on whether you intend having a separate berry patch or not. A hundred feet by seventy-five feet will supply an average small family with vegetables for the table, excepting winter potatoes, which should be a field crop.

Protection from the northeast storms should be provided. Cedar or privet is the ideal hedge for such purposes, but it takes money and time; so, while it is developing, resort to the serviceable hurdle fence made of brush.

If the weather is fine, the last two weeks of March should see the patch of ground intended for the vegetable garden ploughed and harrowed.

Have well-rotted stable manure scattered over the surface before ploughing, which should be deep at first. After two or three days’ airing, plough again, running the furrows crosswise; then harrow and roll and harrow again, until every clod is broken up. Thorough preparation of the soil should never be shirked, for it is more than half the battle. Let me caution you not to have the ploughing done if the ground be wet. Much of the disappointment which city people experience arises from the natural desire of the amateur to get to work. Earth ploughed, dug or hoed when wet or soggy will bake and crust all summer. The right consistency can be ascertained by picking up a handful and squeezing it. If it remains a solid lump it is too wet, but when it presses together easily, and as readily falls apart when released, it is in just the right condition to work, will turn a clean furrow and will readily crumble under the harrow. Sod ground is desirable for potatoes, so if there is a strip of grass land which needs renewal, have it well ploughed, harrowed, and marked off in rows eighteen inches apart, for the winter crop.

Almost every old farmer has a theory about the way and size to cut potatoes for planting. After listening to and trying several methods, we have come to the conclusion that cutting large tubers in four, and small ones through the centre lengthwise, is much better than dissecting carefully to separate every eye, and then using two pieces when planting, especially as the innumerable experiments made at the agricultural stations have revealed the fact that eyes gather nutriment for sustenance and growth from the potato itself, until the sprouts develop stems that form joints, at which point rootlets start, proving beyond doubt that, unless the piece of potato planted is large enough adequately to feed the eye or eyes it may contain, the root growth, which is required to furnish the subsequent tubers with food, must be weakened. We plant one quarter potato to every foot in the row, and cover from four to five inches deep, selecting ground which has been heavily manured the year before, and scattering wood ashes on the surface after the seeds have been covered.

Failing this source, commercial fertiliser specially prepared for potatoes must be bought. Thorough cultivation is necessary to insure a good crop. Soon--say seven or eight days after planting--run the harrow over the field, to kill the embryo weeds and level the surface. As soon as the plants show, cultivate again, but of course only between the rows, and with an ordinary cultivator. Repeat at frequent intervals.

It is estimated that it takes fifteen bushels of potatoes after they have been cut into quarters, to plant an acre, which should return one hundred and thirty bushels of salable potatoes, by which is meant large and medium sized potatoes, small ones not entering into the calculation. There will be in all probability about thirty bushels of these dwarfs, which are excellent fattening food for poultry and pigs when cooked and mashed up.

The space intended for carrots requires extremely good cultivation, for the soil must be thoroughly pulverised. Tie the seeds in a piece of cheese cloth, steep in water for twelve hours, then hang up in a warm room to drip and dry sufficiently to prevent their sticking together when being planted. Another aid we furnish these delicate seedlings is to drop a radish seed every six inches, because they germinate quickly and throw a strong seed leaf, which breaks the crust over the row and allows the fragile carrot sprout free access.

Allow two feet from the last row of potatoes, stretch the line, and with a pointed stick draw a shallow drill in which to scatter the carrot seed. Covering must not be more than a fourth of an inch; press down firmly. Between each two rows of carrots allow one foot. Steep and use only half the seed at first, planting the remainder twenty days later. With good ground and cultivation you should have carrots late in June.

A thirty-inch space must divide the carrots from the beets. Prepare the ground as before, but make the drill a full inch deep, dropping the seed half an inch apart, the rows two feet apart. These should be ready for use the first week in June. Keep half the seed for late planting.

Early turnips can start another two feet along. Drill half an inch deep, the rows one foot apart.

“First of All” peas are semi-dwarf, but yield much better if given some support. We plant every two rows seven inches apart, in a drill one inch deep, and when the peas are two inches high we stick brush between the rows, so making a hedge of vine when developed. Twin rows should be two feet apart.

For onion sets, make drills an inch and a half deep, placing the sets upright and from four to six inches apart. Firm the earth all around, and the fourth of an inch over them. These will furnish early onions for cooking. For onion seed the soil cannot be too carefully prepared, for, like carrots, they are long in germinating and extremely fragile. A few radish seeds can again be used as pioneers. Instead of commercial fertiliser, the poultry droppings are used for onions, being reduced to a powder by grinding in an old chopping machine. Sprinkle freely, within one inch of the centre of the row, and from three to four inches each side of it. Unless rain falls within a few days, water very thoroughly with a sprinkler. Hen droppings seem especially desirable for all bulbs and tubers.

Lettuce seed requires well-enriched soil; drill one-fourth of an inch deep, the rows one foot apart.

From the time seeds are put into the ground, cultivation must be continual, raking between rows being frequent enough to destroy embryo weeds. Ten minutes’ light work with a rake before weeds develop will save hours of hard labour with a hoe. Cultivation is required, not only to destroy weeds, but to supply air, and encourage all the moisture from the subsoil to travel upward, so nourishing the plant roots as they develop, and preventing the soil from baking. Not cultivating the ground around plants is as injurious to their health as shutting a child in an unventilated room.

Lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower plants should now be planted out. Prepare the rows as for seed, and with the pointed stick used for marking the rows, make holes directly under the line--nine inches apart for lettuce, one foot for cabbage and cauliflower. Put a little water into the hole, pack the earth around the root and stem, water copiously, then draw dry earth up over the wet surface, to prevent the moisture from evaporating or a crust forming. To promote root growth, cut off half the length of the outer leaves with a pair of sharp scissors. If possible, provide some protection until the plants are established.

Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants should be bedded out about the twentieth of May. Tomatoes and eggplants stand two and one-half feet apart, each one in ground very heavily enriched to a depth of three feet and a circumference of two feet. Pursue the same method of planting as for cabbage, except that instead of cutting the leaves across, nip out the two heart leaves of each plant. Checking top growth makes the plant branch and form a stocky bush instead of a spindly top growth that will break under the weight of fruit when it forms.

If the “home” is to be an ideal haven of rest it must be pretty. Economy may prohibit buying plants for the flower garden, but the exercise of a little fore-thought will enable you to have a lovely display of flowers all through the summer at a nominal cost. Procure some shallow boxes from your grocer. They should not be more than three inches deep, and about eighteen inches long and one foot wide. If it is not possible to get what you want, saw a six or seven inch box in half, using the lid as a bottom for the second box.

Have the mould thoroughly pulverised before sowing, and prepare an extra quantity to use for covering the seeds. This I do by half filling a rather fine colander and shaking it over the box until there is an even layer over the seeds. The average small flower seed should not have more than the fourth of an inch over it. A board that will fit inside the box should be pressed down hard, to insure the seeds being firmly embedded in the mould. Otherwise the air gets around them and dries up and kills the first frail germs of life. After planting and patting down, sprinkle lightly, and stand the boxes in a south or southwest window in a living room where the temperature averages sixty degrees. The boxes must be watched for what is called “damping off.” It can easily be detected by the sickly appearance of the seedlings, followed by a shrivelling or burning of the stem close to the earth. The moment the danger signal is noticed, prick out into fresh boxes of corresponding size or a trifle deeper. The seedlings need not be planted more than half an inch apart. Prepare the mould in the boxes the same as you did for the seeds, pat down, and with a toothpick make the holes in which the baby plants are to be put, firming the earth around them gently with the forefinger of each hand. Should no suggestion of debility appear among the seedlings, still prick out into fresh boxes when the second leaves unfold.

“Bovee” potatoes, for early garden crop 1 peck, $0.75 Carrots, “Oxheart” 1 ounce, .10 Cauliflower, “Early Snowball” 1 packet, .25 Celery 1 packet, .10 Beets 2 ounces, .20 Brussels sprouts 1 packet, .10 Cabbage, “Jersey Wakefield” 1 packet, .15 Cabbage, “Autumn King” 1 packet, .15 Kale, “Dwarf Green” 1 ounce, .10 Lettuce, “Boston Market” 1 ounce, .15 Peas, “First of All” 1 pint, .15 Peas, “Petit Paris” ½ pint, .10 Peas, “Champion of England” 1 quart, .30 Turnips, “Early Flat Dutch” 1 packet, .05 Turnips, “Purple Top Aberdeen” 1 packet, .05 Turnips, “Rutabaga” 1 packet, .10 White onion sets 1 quart, .25 Red onion sets 1 quart, .25 Onion seed, “Prizetaker” 1 ounce, .20 Cucumber, “White Spine” 1 packet, .10 Eggplant, “New York Spineless” 1 packet, .10 Tomato, “Crimson Cushion” 1 packet, .10 Pepper, “Ruby King” 1 packet, .10 Muskmelon, “Delmonico” 1 packet, .10 Squash, “Long Island” (summer) 1 packet, .10 Squash, “Gregory” (winter) 1 packet, .10 Green bush bean, “The Longfellow” 1 packet, .10 Pole lima bean, “Leviathan” 1 packet, .10 Okra, “Long Green” 1 packet, .05 Radish, “Scarlet Turnip” 1 ounce, .10 Corn, “Country Gentleman” 1 packet, .15 Herbs--parsley, sage, summer savory, thyme, marjoram, aniseed, wormwood, saffron, tansy 1 packet each, .40 ----- Total cost $4.95

THE HOTBED

The outer shells of hotbed and cold-frame are identical, and can be made by any handy man. As all sashes are made in one size--namely, six by three--the boxes must correspond; to insure water running off and all the power of the sun being utilised, they must slope lengthways, the top end of a box being three or four inches higher than the bottom. The ordinary box or bed frame is made six feet long, three feet wide and fifteen inches high at the top end, sloping to twelve at the foot, and stands on the surface of the ground, but the plan we have adopted after several years’ experience is to dig a pit three feet deep, six feet two inches long and three feet two inches wide, and build the box twenty inches high at the top end, sloping to seventeen inches at the foot, and of course six feet long and three feet wide, which allows it to stand inside the dugout and five inches below the surface of the surrounding ground, so effectually preventing any cold air creeping in around the bottom. We use sound boards two inches thick for sides and ends and two-by-two studding for corner stays.

Very well-made boxes and sashes, which fit exactly, are sold by several of the greenhouse builders for about eight dollars. They are shipped knock-down to save express charges, but they are ready to bolt together. They come in the ordinary six-by-three size, for single beds, or in groups of from three to five, with light partitions for the sashes to rest upon. The five-section bed costs about twelve dollars, but will need five sashes, amounting to fifteen dollars, and the partitions, which I think are about one dollar a piece.

For convenience in bad weather, it is well to have the beds near the house, and, when possible, sheltered from the north and facing the south. Fresh horse manure constitutes the heating power in a hotbed. We use solid droppings and dry leaves, about half and half. It is ripened in the manure-shed by being made into a heap about three feet high and three feet wide, thoroughly sprinkled with liquid manure. It is allowed to stand some weeks after mixing, then twice forked over, two weeks intervening. All the droppings should be well broken up and mixed with the leaves, and the entire mass repiled between each forking.

After the ripening process has been accomplished, it must be packed into the bottom of the hotbed to the depth of two and a half feet. It should be smoothly laid and well tramped into place. Put in the sash, and within a few days the heat will rise to a hundred degrees or over. Lift the sash slightly at one end, and wait until the temperature falls to about eighty-five degrees, then place about six inches of rich, fibrous soil over the top. We manufacture our potting-mould several months before it is required, by taking the old heating material from spent beds and mixing it with an equal amount of soil from sod land and about one-third the quantity of clean, sharp sand. After thorough mixing, it is piled in a large heap and left exposed to the weather until required, or until late in the fall, when it is put into a shed and kept dry to prevent freezing, as potting-mould and covering for fresh hotbeds is often needed in the early spring. Just before using, it is passed through a sieve to remove all lumps.

The first year, when there is no old bed to empty, good top-dressing or potting-mould can be made by cutting deep sods, shaking the earth from the roots and mixing it with an equal amount of old, well-rotted cow manure and about one quarter the amount of clean sand. It is imperative to prepare all such things in the fall. The outside of a hotbed should be banked up with rough stable manure and the sash covered at night with mats and shutters in extreme cold weather. Old carpet or bags made of burlap and filled with cut hay will cost nothing except time and answer quite well. We use pads, for which all sorts of old clothes are utilised. Then unbleached sheets large enough to cover the sash, side and ends, and reach well onto the ground, are used. The sheets are given two coats of oil, and so are impervious to rain or snow, and we think better than wooden shutters.

Suppose you want to make your first venture with winter salads, the first gathering for Thanksgiving, and from then on until spring. Start one bed the first week in October, sow three rows of lettuce seed five inches apart, sowing three different varieties, Tennis-Ball, Boston Market and Big Boston; two rows of curly cress (peppergrass) the same distance apart, and five days later, two rows of white mustard. Eight or ten days later, prepare a second bed, so that the heat may have risen and decreased to about seventy-five by the time lettuce is large enough to transplant--about three weeks from the sowing of the seed. Set out the seedlings eight inches apart each way in the new bed, and sow radish seed between the rows.