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- Author or Editor: Robert F. Becker x
Abstract
To gain a full appreciation of the present, it is often useful to review and consider what transpired in the past. This paper briefly examines one aspect of horticultural history: vegetable gardening in the United States before 1900. The 1st part will concern the home kitchen garden; the 2nd will deal with the development of commercial vegetable growing.
Abstract
The first commercial seedsman in the United States generally is believed to have been David Landreth, who started his business in Philadelphia in 1784. Previous to this time, all garden seed was imported from Europe and sold by general merchants or individuals with an interest in horticulture. An advertisement that appeared in the Boston Gazette in February of 1719 might be cited as an example: “Fresh garden seeds of all sorts, lately imported from London to be sold by Evan Davies, gardener, at his house over against the powder house in Boston”. Nathaniel Bird, a book seller in Newport, R.I., sold garden seed at his shop in 1763.
Abstract
The concentrations of elements in the portions of vegetable plants used for human consumption as well as the yield should be evaluated. Applications of NaCl and KCl to loam soils (Glossoboric Hapludalf, loamy, mixed mesic) have consistently increased the growth of table beet (Beta vulgaris L.) plants and the yield of the enlarged portion of the roots. The concentrations of Na, K, and Cl in the roots were also increased. The objective of this study was to develop a method of predicting the concentration of Na in canned table beet roots. Sodium, K, and Cl from the soils and from preplant soil applications of Na at 0, 250, and 500 kg·ha−1 and KCI at 300 kg·ha−1 were monitored systematically as continua through the soil tests and the chemical analyses of leaf blade and petioles at midseason, in the raw roots at harvest, and in the solid and liquid portions of the canned roots. Sodium from the soils and from increasing the rate of NaCl linearly increased the concentration of Na in all components. The concentrations of Na in the leaf blades and the leaf petioles at midseason were excellent predictors of the content of Na in the canned beet roots. Application of equivalent ionic rates of NaCl and KCI produced the same yields of roots.