Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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HARDY VEGETABLES There are several vegetables that live from year to year. These afe asparagus, rhubarb, sea kale, Jerusalem artichokes, chives, mint, sage, tarragon, horse radish, and one that lives over a year, or is good for part of two years—parsley. Asparagus can be grown from seed or you can buy roots. One year old roots are as good as two year old. This plant wants plenty of humus in the bottom of the row where it is to grow. 1'he part of the asparagus plant which we eat is the stem and leaf bud before it opens, cutting these stems as soon as they are a few inches above the ground ; then the roots must send up more stems. We must not cut when the plant is too young, so we allow it two years to grow strong and large before we begin cutting. Let us say you are going to start some asparagus next spring, either sowing seed or setting out plants. It will grow all next summer, then in the fall, when the leaves turn brown, cut off the tops and burn them to destroy the eggs of the asparagus beetle. The following year do the same, but the third spring you can cut the stalks every day as they appear for six weeks;—every year after that for eight weeks. You will have to watch for the asparagus beetles, which attack the stalks and eat them. Their babies, slug-like creatures, also eat the plants, so they must be poisoned. Spray the plants the first two years with Arsenate of Lead, 2 teaspoon to a quart of water. The third year, when you begin to cut the stalks to eat, allow one plant at each end of the row to grow up and keep it spra' ed with the poison; we call these trap plants, for the insects will gather upon them and be killed by the poison. Do not forget that asparagus requires humus. Either plant a legume, like soy beans, beside the asparagus to feed it, or cover the bed with humus in the fall and fork it under in the spring. I like soy beans for an asparagus care taker rather than anything else. Sow the soy beans when the ground becomes very warm. Cut the asparagus tops in the fall, but allow the soy beans to remain. The best varieties are Mary Washington and Reading Giant. Rhubarb can also be grown from seed or you can plant roots. It requires even more humus than asparagus. I would advise growing seedlings in a seed bed, transplanting them to a permanent position when several inches high. • Dig a large hole and fill the bottom with humus before you set out the seedling; this will give it food under the roots for many years to come. Three plants of Myatt's Linnaeus rhubarb will supply a small family; set the plants four feet apart, as they grow very large. Do not take any stalks from the plant the first year if you sow seed, but you may if you plant roots. Do not allow the plant to blossom ; cut all the buds as fast as they appear, because we want all the strength to go to the root, so it will keep sending up more stalks. Sea kale is a plant very little known, but it is such an early spring vegetable, you should know it. Sow the seeds sparingly; thin the seedlings to four inches, and let them grow all one summer. In the fall transplant to a new place, setting them two feet 11

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ing here a little, we look over the meadow upon the splendid white willows beside the stream and upon the background of woodland where we may easily distinguish the picturesque trunks of the white oak and beech mingling with red oak, pignut hickory, tulip tree, and red maple, as they do in so much of our low-lying forest. After we turn right on the old Limekiln Road, a small sour gum stands on our left, and, a little further on, beside a private lane on our right, stands a large sour gum with gray, irregular branches and fine spray of branchlets, although neither tree exhibits as much as usual the horizontality of branches characteristic of the species. After we have crossed the brooklet we may see to the right an elm, displaying her delicate bouquet or fan of branches, and beyond, to the left, a second, older elm, developed into the form of an Etruscan vase and reminding one of the loveliness that this tree possesses throughout the States of New England. Reside the second elm stands A large and vigorous tulip tree—considered by some an emblem of dignity—and the straw-colored chandelier-like fruit shines bright in the winter sun, above the dark and graceful branches. Opposite, in the field, the black walnut is noted with those characteristics of closel r furrowed bark and forking of branches and, in an easterly direction from it. in the next field, proudly reigns a well-developed shell-bark hickory, oval in shape and showing that bark peeling off in thin places so familiar to many of us. The pignut hickory, dark, rather coarse in outline, with large, scaly buds, grows alone on the left of the road, beyond and over the rise of the ground, we see appearing tops of that sturdy pin oak and majestic white oak of the meadow opposite our school, and, still a few rods further on, silver maple, symmetrical horse chestnut, and buttonwood with mottled trunk and branches; we make a quick turn to the left; we are arrived! Salutations to the School of Horticulture for Women, so happily located amid fragrant fields and stately trees! Let us propose the toast of Rip Van Winkle, so endeared to many of us through the impersonation of the late Joseph Jefferson: “Here’s to you and yours! May you live long and prosper!” GEORGE B. KAISER. 10

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apart; when the frost comes, cover with litter or leaves. Early the next spring you will see them poking up their heads. I have seen them lift clumps of frozen earth. Now we must remove the litter and crown them up—cover the shoots with earth and as they push through, cover repeatedly until you have a mound about a foot high, then dig in and cut the shoots off near the root. It is the leaf stalk, nicely blanched, which we eat. You can let them grow up and cut several times, then uncover and allow the plants to grow all summer. Every year follow the same practice. This vegetable is ready to eat earlier than any other that I know of. Cook it the same as asparagus. Jerusalem artichokes are nothing new to some of my Western and Southern friends, but they are little known in the East. The plant is a sunflower, but the roots are like small knobby potatoes. We plant these roots in the spring, and allow them to grow all summer. When frost kills the stalks thev should l e cut down. You may then d:g the roots or leave them until early spring. Save enough roots to plant again and use the rest for cooking and eating. One root planted in the spring will have increased to many when von dig it in the fall. . Chives are onion grass, the grasslike leaves of which are used for flavoring. The plan! increases in size from year to year and you can cut the root into pieces and so increase your number of plants. You can sow seeds of chives or buy plants. One or two is plenty for a family unless they are very fond of it. Mint is considered an herb. It grows wild in many places, but it is extremely nice to have in the garden. It multiplies year after year, because the roots send out runners under ground, which in turn send up new plants every few inches. The leaves and stems are used for flavoring. Sage is another herb; the leaves are used for flavoring. The plant is a small bush and lives for many years. Tarragon leaves are used for flavoring salad and vinegars, and are much sought after by salad lovers. The plants live from year to year and increase in size. You can grow it from seed, but I should advise buying one or two plants. Horseradish is a well-known condiment. The roots are grated fine and mixed with vinegar. The plant is coarse leaved, and when we dig the roots in the fall we save a small piece and set it back in the same place to make a new plant for next year. “Maliner Kren” is the best horseradish I know. Parsley lives over a year and if covered with, leaves and straw can be gathered nearly all winter. The next spring it is also good to use, but toward midsummer it begins to blossom, then the leaves become small and bitter and are not good to use. Plant a little parsley seed each year, and keep it coming along fresh all the time, for when the new plants are large enough to have their leaves gathered the old will be ready to pull out. If you did not save the old plants over the winter there would be many weeks when you could not gather parsley at all. 12