10 THE AMERICAN BO'JAXIST 



of the European artichoke {Cyiiara Scolynius) he has devel- 

 oped the flower heads so that the\- are more than twenty-four 

 inches in circumference when open. The artichoke is one of 

 our few perennial vegetables, so gardeners can propagate from 

 suckers and production can be increased by individual plants 

 if the grower finds it desirable. 



In asparagus we have a perennial vegetable which does 

 not produce its best seed until after it is four years old. Pro- 

 fessor Watts outlined a simple plan of selecting the most pro- 

 lific plants, then the best berries on these plants, and also how 

 to float off light inferior seed in the water test. Select one- 

 year plants that look like smooth needles and bear in mind 

 that male plants are more prolific than female. Experiment> 

 at the Ohio Station show a gain of the male over the female 

 plants of 76% for the first period of cutting. The New Jer- 

 sey Experiment Station has just issued a bulletin on "Aspara- 

 gus Culture in New Jersey." It would be well for any grower 

 to use varieties recommended in tliis bulletin if he does not 

 wish to start his own plantation. 



George Perry writes in the January 191^) Market Grow- 

 ers Journal, "There has been a great improvement in beans 

 during the last fifty years. Still, the seedsmen list and sell. 

 {because they are called for,) the sorts that were the best to 

 be had fifty years ago. At that time the Long "W-liow was the 

 onlv string bean known, and. though tough and stringy, it is 

 yet found in every catalog in the land. With the advent of the 

 Stringless Green Pod. that variety in turn took the lead. In 

 the shell beans there has been no such advance, as the Horti- 

 cultural still holds the leading place. Bailey & Gilbert say. 

 "Perhaps there are no plants more tractable in the hands of 

 the plant-breeder than the garden beans." They tell of two 

 seedsmen who wanted certain kinds of new beans and went to 

 plant breeders to get them, just as one would order a piece of 



