238 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



«uflScient quantity for the table without a green-house or even a hot-bed. A frame 

 should be set, in autumn, in some sheltered, sunny position, [t should be well 

 banked up, and covered with sash to retain the heat that is in the soil. If no other 

 seed-bed is available, a flower-pot may be set in the plant- window of the house, 

 and the seedling started in it. They should be transplanted to the frame when 

 their fourth leaf is starting. 



At the garden, during February and March, a frame of this kind gave better 

 results than did the green-house. The green-fly, or Aphis, that indoors necessi- 

 tates frequent fumigation, was avoided, and the plants were even more crisp and 

 tender. The principal difficulty was the check the young plants received in being 

 moved from the green-house, where the seeds were started, to the cold frame, and 

 this was largely avoided by placing the box of seedlings in the frame during the 

 •day and back in the green-house at night for the first week, to gradually accustom 

 them to the change. 



Of course, by converting this frame into a hot-bed, such plants can be grown 

 at any time, even during the shortest days in winter, when the influence of the sun 

 is not strong enough to properly warm up the cold frame. Some of the best varie- 

 ties of lettuce are Gen. Grant and Denver Market. In a hot-bed, where rapid 

 growth is insured, the Butter lettuce is as good as any we have tried. Moist, heavy 

 soil is the best. 



Egg-plant is a vegetable that sometimes does not give so good results as 

 might be desired, largely, I think, for two reasons • its liability to insect ravages, 

 and the fact that it requires a high temperature. The flea-beetles, and other insect 

 enemies that skeletonize the leaves, may be gotten rid of by dusting the plant with 

 white hellebore. The plants should be started in the hot-bed, and not transplanted 

 to the open ground until warm weather is well advanced. 



Kohl-Rabi would be more generally grown if its good qualities were rightly 

 appreciated. It is best early in the season, as, like all the cabbage group, it likes 

 cool weather. We plant the first crop of it in hot-beds in March, *set the plants in 

 the garden early, and cultivate just as we do early cabbage. Frosts must be quite 

 severe to injure it. The thickened stems should be used while tender, before they 

 reach full size . 



Of the tomato I will say but little, as everyone recognizes its importance. It 

 is a mistake to suppose that the mammoth fruits that often find preference in the 

 market are necessarily the best. On the table, the compact fruit of medium size 

 is much more satisfactory in every respect. The Early Ruby is one of the best 

 very early sorts, and for main crop the Dwarf Champion can hardly be excelled. 

 The past season we secured very good results by pinching off" all lateral branches 

 as they appeared, and training the main stem to a stake. This method admits 

 much closer planting, and brings the fruit up off" the ground, where it gets the sun 

 and is less liable to decay. When time for frosts arrives, the remaining green 

 fruit may be, for the most part, ripened by pulling up the plants and placing them 

 in a basement or almost any warm place. In this way ripe fruit may be had until 

 the last of November. 



Parsley may be had for garnishing meats during the winter by taking up the 

 roots in autumn and setting them in pots or boxes in the light of the cellar window. 

 Grown in this way, the leaves have a half-bleached, silver-tipped appearance that 

 adds to their attractiveness. 



I have passed, unmentioned, a great many of the most useful garden vege- 

 tables, simply because they are almost always grown, and their culture is too well 

 known to be dwelt upon. 



