THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS - Continued
Cabbages should be kept at a low and uniform temperature, and water
should be drained away from them. They are stored in many ways in the
field, but success depends so much on the season, particular variety,
ripeness, and the freedom from injuries by fungi and insects, that
uniform results are rarely secured by any one method. The best results
are to be expected when they can be kept in a house built for the
purpose, in which the temperature is uniform and the air fairly moist.
When stored out of doors, they are likely to freeze and thaw
alternately; and if the water runs into the heads, mischief results.
Sometimes they are easily stored by being piled into a conical heap on
well-drained soil and covered with dry straw, and the straw covered with
boards. It does not matter if they are frosted, provided they do not
thaw out frequently. Sometimes cabbages are laid head down in a shallow
furrow plowed in well-drained land, and over them is thrown straw, the
stumps being allowed to project through the cover. It is only in winters
of rather uniform temperature that good results are to be expected from
such methods. These are some of the main considerations involved in the
storing of such things as cabbage; the subject is mentioned again in the
discussion of cabbage in Chapter X.
[Illustration: Fig. 189. A fruit storage house cooled by ice.]
In the storing of all products, especially those which have soft and
green matter, as cabbages, it is well to provide against the heating of
the produce. If the things are buried out of doors, it is important to
put on a very light cover at first so that the heat may escape. Cover
them gradually as the cold weather comes on. This is important with all
vegetables that are placed in pits, as potatoes, beets, and the like. If
covered deeply at once, they are likely to heat and rot. All pits made
out of doors should be on well-drained and preferably sandy land.
When vegetables are wanted at intervals during the winter from pits, it
is well to make compartment pits, each compartment holding a wagon load
or whatever quantity will be likely to be wanted at each time. These
pits are sunk in well-drained land, and between each of the two pits is
left a wall of earth about a foot thick. One pit can then be emptied in
cold weather without interfering with the others.
An outside cellar is better than a house cellar in which there is a
heater, but it is not so handy. If it is near the house, it need not be
inconvenient, however. A house is usually healthier if the cellar is not
used for storage. House cellars used for storage should have a
ventilating shaft.
Some of the principles involved in an ice-cooled storage house are
explained in the diagram, Fig. 189. If the reader desires to make a
careful study of storage and storage structures, he should consult
cyclopedias and special articles.
The forcing of plants.
There are three general means (aside from greenhouses) of forcing plants
ahead of their season in the early spring--by means of forcing-hills and
hand-boxes, by coldframes, and by hotbeds.
The forcing-hill is an arrangement by means of which a single plant or a
single "hill" of plants may be forced where it permanently stands. This
type of forcing may be applied to perennial plants, as rhubarb and
asparagus, or to annuals, as melons and cucumbers.
[Illustration: Fig. 190. Forcing-hill for rhubarb.]
In Fig. 190 is illustrated a common method of hastening the growth of
rhubarb in the spring. A box with four removable sides, two of which are
shown in end section in the figure, is placed around the plant in the
fall. The inside of the box is filled with straw or litter, and the
outside is banked thoroughly with any refuse, to prevent the ground from
freezing. When it is desired to start the plants, the covering is
removed from both the inside and outside of the box and hot manure is
piled around the box to its top.
If the weather is yet cold, dry light leaves or straw may be placed
inside the box; or a pane or sash of glass may be placed on top of the
box, when it will become a coldframe. Rhubarb, asparagus, sea-kale, and
similar plants may be advanced two or four weeks by means of this method
of forcing. Some gardeners use old barrels or half-barrels in place of
the box. The box, however, is better and handier, and the sides can be
stored for future use.
[Illustration: Fig. 191. Forcing-hill, and the mold or frame for making it.]
Plants that require a long season in which to mature, and which do not
transplant readily, as melons and cucumbers, may be planted in
forcing-hills in the field. One of these hills is shown in Fig. 191. The
frame or mold is shown at the left. This mold is a box with flaring
sides and no top or bottom, and provided with a handle. This frame is
placed with the small end down at the point where the seeds are to be
planted, and the earth is hilled up about it and firmly packed with the
feet. The mold is then withdrawn, and a pane of glass is laid upon the
top of the mound to concentrate the sun's rays, and to prevent the bank
from washing down with the rains. A clod of earth or a stone may be
placed upon the pane to hold it down. Sometimes a brick is used as a
mold. This type of forcing-hill is not much used, because the bank of
earth is liable to be washed away, and heavy rain coming when the glass
is off will fill the hill with water and drown the plant. However, it
can be used to very good advantage when the gardener can give it close
attention.
[Illustration: Fig. 192. Hand-box.]
A forcing-hill is sometimes made by digging a hole in the ground and
planting the seeds in the bottom of it, placing the pane of glass upon a
slight ridge or mound which is made on the surface of the ground. This
method is less desirable than the other, because the seeds are placed in
the poorest and coldest soil, and the hole is very likely to fill with
water in the early days of spring.
An excellent type of forcing-hill is made by the use of the hand-box, as
shown in Fig. 192. This is a rectangular box, without top or bottom, and
a pane of glass is slipped into a groove at the top. It is really a
miniature coldframe. The earth is banked up slightly about the box, in
order to hold it against winds and to prevent the water from running
into it. If these boxes are made of good lumber and painted, they will
last for many years. Any size of glass may be used which is desired, but
a ten-by-twelve pane is as good as any for general purposes.
After the plants are thoroughly established in these forcing-hills, and
the weather is settled, the protection is wholly removed, and the plants
grow normally in the open.
[Illustration: Fig. 193. Glass forcing-hill.]
A very good temporary protection may be given to tender plants by using
four panes of glass, as explained in Fig. 193, the two inner panes being
held together at the top by a block of wood through which four nails are
driven. Plants are more likely to burn in these glass frames than in the
hand-boxes, and such frames are not so well adapted to the protection of
plants in very early spring; but they are often useful for
special purposes.
In all forcing-hills, as in coldframes and hotbeds, it is exceedingly
important that the plants receive plenty of air on bright days. Plants
that are kept too close become weak or "drawn", and lose the ability to
withstand changes of weather when the protection is removed. Even though
the wind is cold and raw, the plants inside the frames ordinarily will
not suffer if the glass is taken off when the sun is shining.
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