276 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



A Large Watermelon. — A Texas paper re- 

 cords a watermelon on exhibition weighing 60 

 pounds. 



Market Gardening. — An "English Garden- 

 er," La Fayette, Ind., writes : "On page 162, June 

 number, Mr. Henderson, in speaking of the pro- 

 gress of this country and in England, states 

 things that are not facts. It may be simple to 

 take notice of such small things, but in justice to 

 myself and country I may say a word. A florist 

 in this country cannot know everything about 

 gardening in England. Mr. H. said, that in 1872, 

 John Bull had not found out how to plow and 

 pulverize. I will say that John knew how to 

 plow and pulverize before Columbus discovered 

 America, better than Americans do now. There 

 are many reasons why market gardeners in Eng- 

 land do not plow. Their ground in spring is 

 too wet and cold. Sometimes the ground is 

 very stony, which throws the plow out; and 

 then they do not want to get on the ground 

 with heavy horses in wet weather to tighten the 

 bottom when labor is so cheap. Men only get 

 $3.50 per acre, and dig an acre in five days thir- 

 teen inches deep, and they do not spade it. It 

 is done with a spud, a three-forked spud. I 

 would laugh to see one of your so-called plows 

 in a market garden over the Rhine ; it would do 

 no more good than turning in three or four hogs. 

 Another article or two on firming the soil and 

 splitting the barks of trees. Mr. Henderson has 

 not long found that out. He has been longer 

 finding that out than the Irishman was the 

 red spider, whom he had twelve years in his em- 

 ploy. Any child might know that seeds and 

 plants want something more than wind and wa- 

 ter to live on. Mr. Henderson has done good 

 service in many ways ; but he might remember 

 that there may be many good reasons for prac- 

 tices in other countries, though to him they 

 may seem absurd in this. Excuse my intrusion. 

 It is my first attempt at writing for a magazine, 

 but I really think I know something about mar- 

 ket gardening, and finding my views differ from 

 Mr. Henderson's, I make bold to express my 

 dissent." 



The English Sparrow.— F. L., Cincinnati, 0., 

 writes : "Will you please answer in the Garden- 

 er's Monthly, briefly, whether the English spar 

 row is graminivorous or insectivorous ? So much 

 is said in the papers on either side that one knows 

 not what to believe." [Briefly— both.— Ed. G. M.] 



The Kreigh Raspberry. — K. writes: "I send 

 you by express, prepaid, a box of my new seedling 

 Raspberry, of which, perhaps, you will remem- 

 ber Mr. F. Merceron saying something about at 

 Bethlehem last winter. What I claim for it is 

 fiiir size, nearly as large as Herstine, productive- 

 ness, hardiness, excellent quality and firmness ; 

 of some of these qualities you will be able to 

 judge for yourself. It has been perfectly hardy 

 the past two winters, while the Herstine along- 

 side of it has frozen to .the ground. If it should 

 still continue to prove hardy, I think it will 

 be a great acquisition, if for no other reason, as 

 all the other large and good varieties that I 

 know anything about, winter-kill with us. The 

 Turner is hardy, but not so large nor productive 

 as this. 



Strawberry crop very short on account of the 

 drought and frost." 



[The relative value of a new seedling Rasp- 

 berry, in this period of numerous new varieties, 

 cannot be told by a box of fruit in an editor's 

 office ; we can only say that the fruit sent were 

 fair, average fruit in every respect. In weight 

 eight of them made half an ounce. — Ed. G. M.] 



The Schumaker Peach. — C. & B., Erie, Pa., 

 writes: "We send you three specimens, the best 

 we can get, at this late date. They began ripen- 

 ing July 12th, this year, ten days before the Alex- 

 ander. The tree was loaded with about two 

 bushels, and has borne every year. Tell us all you 

 can of our seedling. This is not much of a 

 Peach section, but we feel that we have a Peach 

 that combines quality, earliness, (best specimens 

 this year 9 inches around) free from rot, hang on 

 tree and prolific bearer. No Peach in our mar- 

 ket, from Baltimore to Cincinnati, that compares 

 with the Schumaker." 



[The specimens impressed us much more favor- 

 ably than many samples we receive for opinion. 

 They came early in July, measured 7 inches 

 in circumference, were deep red all over, with 

 an occasional purplish stripe ; flesh, white and 

 remarkably sweet and juicy. It is a sub cling 

 stone, as so many early ones are. A peculiarity 

 is the remarkably small stone for so large a 

 Peach, and which will make it just the thing for 

 some who poke "natural stones " on the public 

 at double ordinary prices, " for you know a 

 seedling Peach has always a small stone." This 

 had the stone two-thirds of an inch long by half 

 an inch wide. — Ed. G. M.] 



