We are sharing Dr. William P. Jacobs Garden journals for March 1868 and 1869 with you this month.
Record of Garden Successes and Failures
March 1868
Mar. 2. I rode up today to my Hitch place, & with Downs Byrd, rode around & over it. The fence is abt. 2 ¼ miles long or about 2500 panels. The place is grown up in pines, with some Oaks. I rented about 12 acres of New Ground to Mr. Byrd, on condition that he would clean it up & repair the whole line of fence. He is also to give me 1/6th of the cotton, ¼ of the corn, & 1/3 of the cane. I received 12 lbs of New Brunswick oats from Ed. J. Evans & Co. which I let Mr. Phinney have on condition that he give me half of all that he makes. 3 loads wood hauled yesterday.
March 3. Rented out my M’Clintock place to D.L. Compton for 1/5 cotton, ¼ corn, & cane. He to furnish manure and finish clearing New ground. Cut ditch along the lower side of Truck-patch. Dispatched Ripley up to Downs Byrd’s to try & get him to sow my oats. He agreed to sow my oats on condition that I furnish him with 200 lbs. of Superphosphate for the Cotton, which I did. The old white hen came off her nest with 2 chickens!
March 5. This evening I finished my ditches around Lucerne patch. The Lucerne is just coming up. So the first peas, sowed Feb. 17. I hired Ripley to work 120 hours for me for $5.00. He ploughed up a patch for me with Brimly’s Shovel on which we had spread broadcast 1 load cow-manure, 20 lbs guano, 25 lbs. Superphosphate. It was about 1/12 of an acre. On this we sowed about 1 lb or a little over of Clover seed. At night – selected seeds to plant tomorrow. For several days the ground has been frozen each morning, peach buds beginning to swell. Onion sets growing nicely.
March 6. Got to work early this morning in the Garden, & planted the following vegetables:
1. Dwarf Blue Imperial Pea
2. Ext. Early Danl. C. Rourke Pea
3.4.5. Sugar Parsnip
6. Student Parsnip [NOTE: This is a type of parsnip, Pastinaca sativa]
7.Short Horn Carrot
8.9.10.11. Salsify
12. Extra Early Beet
13. Early Blood Turnip Beet
14. Early Sugar Beet
15.16. Adams Ex. Early Corn
17. White Butter & Royal Cabbage Lettuce
18. Green Curled Kale
19. Brussels Sprouts.
We next sowed three beds
1. Early York Cabbage (never came up)
2. White Naples Radish
3. Early Walcheren Cauliflower (never came up)
All of these drills & beds were highly manured with Superphosphate & Horse Stable manure. 1 load of wood hauled.
March 10. Noticed the first peach bloom. Lucerne coming up finely. Onions growing well.
March 11. This evening spaded up the fence corners. In two of them sowed Hungarian grass, with a top dressing of Superphosphate. In the third a row or two of Large Scotch leeks. I also sowed as an experiment Hungarian Millet broadcast over my Clover, without raking in. Drilled one row of Six weeks bean in the Garden.
March 13. Silver skin onions just coming up. Strawberry bed covered with pine straw, last fall, dead as a herring. Set hen, yesterday, on 12 eggs.
March 16. Last planting of English Peas & Lettuce up. Clover coming up thickly. A few of my strawberries still living. I removed the straw which I think has killed them from the bed today. My Davison’s Thornless Black Cap Raspberries are alive & beginning to put out blooms. Peach trees out in bloom pretty well.
March 18. Set out my strawberries received yesterday from E.J. Evans & Co. They made only one row, of which the seven plants nearest the walk are Perpetual Pine, the other 12, Napoleon III. I notice the Raspberries of my own cutting are growing finely. I set out 2 Fig scions. Clover up beautifully. Lucern doing poorly.
March 19. Planted 3 rows of Peas this morning. 1. Dwarf Blue Imperial. 2. Ex. Early David O’Rourke. 3. Eugenie. … I grafted & set out 2 Hammond apples. Sold one of my pigs for $1.25 – to be paid in work. 1 load wood hauled.
March 21. Very cool this morning. The strawberries I got from Evans & Co. the other day are living. Salsify, Carrots, Brussels Sprouts, Lettuce, Corn all up. The rabbits are ruining my English Peas. This morning I manured & drilled in a row of White Spine Cucumbers (Morling’s Seed) (Margin note: never came up – too cold). Also drilled seeds of
1. Fejee I. Tomato Morling
2. Large Smooth Red Tomato Morling
3. Keyes Early Prolific Tomato Evans
4. Extra Early Tomato Evans
5. Tilden Tomato Evans
6. Maupay’s Superior Tomato Evans
7. Foard Tomato Evans
8. Large Purple Eggplant Morling (Note: never came up)
9. Large Sweet Pepper Evans
10. Bull Nose Pepper Evans
11. White Solid Celery Morling
12. Celeriac Evans
13. Globe Artichoke Morling
I also spaded up & sowed in radishes for my two fences corners. I next laid off 8 corn rows the full length of my patch manured it throughout with superphosphate. In the middle half, I also manured with horse & cow stable manure & garden soil. Then planted in yellow corn. I planted thick, but it was highly manured.
March 23. Did some little work in the way of planting Carrots and Beets for the cow – also a little Pop-corn, a row of Six weeks Beans & one of Early Sugar Corn.
March 24. Sawed off the limbs above all my living grafts.
March 1869
Mar. 7. Hired Bill for a week. He is spading up the Garden and clearing up Rubbish. George broke up a half acre in grave yard and we sowed it in oats.
Mar. 13. I was busy today in my Garden & sowed:
1.2. Large Marrow Peas
3. Eugenie Peas
4.5. Adams Ex. Early Corn
6.7. Sugar Sweet Corn.
8. Lettuces, White Butter & Hammersmith
9. Turnip Radish.
10. Large Scotch Leek.
11-14. Short Horn Carrot
15-16. Student Parsnip
17. Raphanus Candatus
I also set out two peach trees & 1 apple tree.
Mar. 15. Today I sowed some Red Dutch and Winningstadt Cabbages that I had in a box in my garden. They are set out with a few Pixie Cabbage in first 3 rows above my I. Potatoes. Prepared my Sweet Potato bed. My potatoes were keeping splendidly.
Mar. 17. I received today and set out:
2 EnglishWalnuts.
1 Downing’s Evr. Bearing Mulberry.
2 Soft-shell Almonds
2 Hard-shell Almonds
8 Napoleon III Strawberry
50 Triomphe de Gaud Strawberry
3 Fastolf Raspberries
4 Amer. Imp. Bl. Cap. Raspberries
3 Red Dutch Currants
3 White Dutch Currants
3 Downing seedling Gooseberry
3 Houghtons Seedling Gooseberry
I also made a bed for giant Asparagus by digging 2 feet deep, taking out all the clay, & filling in with manure & woods earth. Then set the roots in three rows 2 inches apart, rows 18 inches apart. Set out 60 Asparagus plants. They got badly frozen before setting.
Presbyterian College
503 South Broad Street
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