476 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



So notorious has this become that numbers of new varieties of vegetables have 

 been brought out in which the highest point claimed for them was that their 

 •fine appearance constituted them first-class exhibition sorts. No one is likely 

 to object to vegetables because they are shapely in appearance; but their legiti- 

 mate use is wholly utilitarian. The object in exhibiting them should be to draw 

 attention to varieties that are best for use. To allow a handsome appearance 

 to have any weight in making up for shortcomings in the requisite edible qual- 

 ities is as inconsistent a proceeding as could well be imagined, yet in vegetable 

 competitions it is no unusual occurrence to see this done. 



Horticultural exhibitions have now become so general that nearly every town 

 and village has its show, and I have always held that these competitive displays 

 have an influence in promoting a taste for gardening to an extent that nothing 

 else can. But when a course of procedure creeps in that gives preference to 

 appearance before usefulness in things such as vegetables that there is no ob- 

 ject in encouraging the cultivation of except for their use, then the exhibitions so 

 far become harmful. 



Big soapy sorts of potatoes, fine looking, flavorless peas and other vegetable 

 wonders, if not good to eat, are good for nothing so far as the consumer is con- 

 cerned. 



Green Peas. — The following counsel from Philadelphia Press is excellent: 



Every spring brings the inquiry from some novice how to secure the earliest 

 and best peas. And no wonder, for there is a sharp relish in the first dish of 

 green peas with the roast lamb that even the earlier cutting of asparagus or 

 lettuce or the crisp radishes from the cold frame has not dulled. It was not 

 many years ago when the first green peas were thought to be on schedule time 

 if they were readv to eat on the Fourth of July, but the gardeners' art has 

 now fixed the date a good month earlier. In the first place, never plant a pea 

 for home use that isn't wrinkled. The buckshot varieties may be had a few 

 hours earlier, but they are only fit to sell. Again, the very first planting can 

 be started in the house. Soak them in water and let them sprout and you 

 gain a few days. Do this pretty soon and get your ground ready for one row 

 just as soon as the frost will let you. If the weather comes on freezing cold 

 after your peas are sprouted, lay them away in a cool room and they will take 

 no hurt for a week or even a fortnight, although we have never kept them 

 quite so long. If you don't like to soak them, plant in a box in a thin layer 

 of damp sand, and keep in a moderately warm place. What variety? Well, 

 there may be a better one than Laxton's Alpha, but after many trials we have 

 found none. Drop them thickly in a wide row and do not cover very deeply, 

 not more than an inch, and drop a little horse manure over them, just for a 

 little protection from the freezing of the surface, that may come before they 

 are well up. This is the very earliest planting, and it can not be made too 

 soon after the ground can be worked. 



For the next crop, wait a week or so until the weather is more settled. Then 

 prepare for four rows at once. Plant Alphas in the first, McLean's little gem 

 in the second, Advancer in the third and Champion of England in the last, 

 and if planted on the same day they will come on in succession. A week 

 later you can make another planting of Champion, putting them in deeper, 

 from four to six inches at least, and this will give you peas until the last of 

 July. 



Sayot Cabbages. — A correspondent of the same journal says, that if 



