292 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTURAL 



going forward, and not very slowly either. The movement has 

 been similar to the march of a great army through a wilderness. 

 The pioneers went first. They had literally to fight their^ way 

 through. Ignorance had set down square on any advanced ideas 

 of such a sort, and superstition was there to oppose them ; yet 

 they struggled on. After the pioneers came the sappers and 

 miners, and they made roads and bridges, so to speak, preparing 

 the solid road bed over which the great army is now passing. 

 Beit where now is all that wilderness which so fearfully opposed 

 the pioneer? It has been made to blossom like the garden, 

 ignorance and superstition have long since lost their 

 malignant influence, and the grand army is moving steadily 

 onward. We are still wresting the hidden secrets from nature's 

 book, and page after page of its hieroglyphics are being trans- 

 lated every year into plain English, so that he who runs may 

 read ; and horticulture, the grand old God-given attribute of all 

 that is good, and high, and noble, is flourishing through all the 

 land. 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



BY MKS. E. A. BLACKSTONE, LACON. 



It evidently began with our first parents, and has been pre- 

 served through all ages and generations down to the present. 

 Adam began with a wooden plow, while we, in the last few years, 

 have developed into the advantageous Fire-fly. 0£ the merits, 

 profits and advantages of this yearly comfort, it is useless to 

 speak, but the best ways and means of producing the best yearly 

 product, engages the minds of all lovers of esculent food. A 

 somewhat long and varied experience teaches me that well en- 

 riched soil and early planting, with good, clean culture, give 

 the best results. I insist, plant early; with potatoes, very early, 

 the last week in February, if possible; surely as early as the first 

 week in March, or second; a good way (none better) enrich the 

 soil, and plow early in the fall. Mark out and plant early in 

 spring. All potatoes, late and early, should be planted in March. 

 As the best kinds to be used, I should recommend, for winter 

 use, the Snow Flake and White Star; for early use, Early Gem 

 and Early Telephone, the last a new variety propagated from the 

 Snow Flake and Peach Blow. By all means, destroy the potato 

 beetle. The best, cheapest and most convenient recipe I have 

 found is London Purple (one-fourth) and good wood ashes, 

 finely sifted, (three fourths) mixed well, dredged on with boxes 

 of tin holding a quart ; I use baking powder cans. The potato 

 bug and drouth are the two great enemies of the potato grower, 

 so plant early, and you head them off, to a certain extent. 



Onions, radishes, lettuce, peas, and many other vegetables, 

 give the best result when put in as soon as the ground can be 

 gotten in order. "The early bird catches the worm," so the best 



