804 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



The Sharpless sells well in market bringing 

 about double prices at retail. But I don't like 

 its ugly, shapeless form, its pasty flesh and in- 

 sipid flavor. 



A CRAPE FOR CALIFORNIA. 



BY B., NEWBURG, N. Y. 



Newburg is likely to add one to the list of 

 grapes for the California vineyards. The " Wel- 

 come," previously noticed here as a promising 

 grape for the greenhouse in the Middle and 

 Eastern States, has been sent out beyond the 

 " Rockies," and thus a correspondent writes of it 

 from San Saba, July 18 : 



" Every shoot was killed in April, and only the 

 stump of two years' growth, about half an inch 

 in diameter and four inches long, was left. Now 

 one shoot is over twenty feet long, another fifteen 

 feet, and a layer has shot up five fine vines. 

 Only one vine in my collection of twenty varie 

 ties shows more vigorous growth. Eight clusters 

 were allowed to ripen, and my neighbors pro- 

 nounce them the best they ever saw. Not a 

 berry fell or cracked." 



This is, indeed, high praise, and I hope to hear 

 of still further success. 



HOW TO CROW EARLY CABBAGE. 



BY AUGUST D. MYLIUS, DETROIT, MICH. 



I sow the seeds of the kinds I wish to grow in 

 February or first of March, in small shallow 

 boxes in forcing pit, hot bed, or if these are not 

 to be had, a sunny window of the house wilj 

 do. The boxes I use are eighteen by twenty, 

 four inches, three inches deep ; made of one-half 

 inch boards. The kinds of early cabbage I 

 generally raise are Early Jersey, Wakefield (best 

 if pure), Early Winningstadt, Early Summer 

 and Fotler's Early Drumhead. The first two 

 for early; the others for second early. I only 

 treat the first two as above stated ; the second 

 early I sow in common hot-beds 1st to the 15th 

 of March. After the seeds sown in boxes (say 

 15th of February) are up and about three inches 

 high, it is necessary to transplant them in other 

 boxes, like those they were sown in, about one 

 and ahalf to two inches apart every way; or, if 

 any wish to have them in small pots (two and 

 a-half inch), put one plant in each pot, and pots 

 close together in boxes, treating the same as if 

 planted in boxes. Pots are better than boxes 

 and I use them largely. About one week or ten 



days before planting in garden, they must be 

 hardened off" by exposing gradually, night and 

 day, in open air. I set out my plants from 

 15th of April to 1st of May. The plants which 

 are in boxes are taken in the boxes to the part 

 of the garden where the ground is ready to 

 plant. Take a garden reel, stretch out straight, 

 take plants out of boxes with care so that the 

 soil will stay on the roots. Plant Wakefield 

 twenty inches in rows and Early Summer the 

 same; the other kinds twenty- four inches. The 

 rows should be thirty inches apart, so that a 

 cultivator can be used. Early radish, lettuce, 

 spinach, etc., can be sown between the cabbage 

 rows, and be out before the cabbage will need 

 all the room. After cabbage, celery can be 

 grown on the same ground. In this way other 

 vegetable plants can be raised to advantage. In 

 fact, I have raised all the following with great 

 success : Early cauliflower, early lettuce, early 

 kohl-rabi, early Savoy, early celery, early beets, 

 early tomatoes, early cucumbers and early 

 squashes. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Fruit Growing and Gardening in Florida. — 

 The Florida Disjpatch notes the names and of- 

 ficers of twenty-four Horticultural and Fruit 

 Growers' Societies which exist within the State. 



Strawberries in Ohio. — The following list of 

 varieties exhibited the past season by Mr. G. E. 

 Davis, of Edinburg, Ohio, shows how many old 

 varieties are yet regarded as worth planting : 

 Monarch, Cinderella, Champion, Forest Rose, 

 Miners, Windsor Chief, Seth Boyden, Photo, 

 Sterling, Cumb. Triumph, Sharpless, Peak's Em- 

 peror, Capt. Jack, Kentucky, Marshall McMa- 

 hon, Crescent, Burr's New Pine, Lennig's White 

 Charles Downing, Duchess, Jucunda, Golden De- 

 fiance, Crystal City, Metcalf's Early, Glendale, 

 Wilson, Green Prolific, Triumph De Grand and 

 Alpine, a new variety, resembles the Wilson, but 

 said to be very much more productive. 



The Grape Crop in the Lake Regions. — Ac- 

 cording to appearances, this has been an un- 

 usually favorable season for the grape in the 

 Lake regions. 



Apple Crop of Michigan. — The crop is re. 

 ported to be from one-half to three-fourths of an 

 avei'age crop. The impression is that the crop 

 of the whole United States will be less than usual. 



