6o 



GARDENING. 



Not 



warrant. While lettuces, especially young 

 plants will stand a good deal of' frost, 

 hard frost is quite injurious to heading 

 plants, therefore be on the safe side and 

 don't let frost get at your lettuces. Pro- 

 tect the frames by banking earth, ashes, 

 leaves or manure around them, and using 

 mats, shutters, sedge or other covering 

 over the sashes. 



Mushrooms.— Before the beds come 

 into bearing the house, if need be, may be 

 kept a little warmer than at bearing 

 time, say 65°, bearing 55° to 60°. If pos- 

 sible, by covering the beds with hay or 

 straw keep them from drying out too 

 (juickly, and if they are inclined to be drj^ 

 sprinkle the covering rather than the bed, 

 should the bed be dry, however, give it a 

 watering. Never spawn a bed till its 

 heat is on the decline, and at least under 

 95°. It is safe for beginners not to put 

 the loam coating over the beds till about 

 a week after they have been spawned. 

 Avoid draughts in your mushroom cellar. 

 Absolute darkness is not at all necessary 

 to the growth of mushrooms, but when 

 artificially considered, a steady tempera- 

 ture is. While six weeks is the set time 

 from spawning till bearing time, there is 

 nothing certain about it, indeed at this 

 time of year it often is two months before 

 a mushroom comes in sight. Continue to 

 collect fresh horse manure for new beds. 

 If you are an old hand at the business ex- 

 periment with difierent manures, etc., to 

 your heart's content, but if a beginner 

 stick severely to fresh horse manure. It 

 doesn't matter if there is a good deal of 

 straw in it providing the straw got well 

 wetted in the stable, but we have no use 

 for dry straw. In preparing the manure 

 have it equally moist but not wet, let it 

 get warm but never fire fanged or burned 

 and to save it from this it will have to be 

 turned frequently, say every second day 

 or every day; ind'eed before frosty weathe'r 

 we often turn it twice a day. 



Parsley. — We keep a supply in frames 

 over winter. Most people lift a lot of 

 old roots and plant them closely in boxes 

 of earth placing these in a light part of 

 the cellar. By laying a few fir spruce or 

 pine branches over the outside parsley, 

 we can pick from it till Christmas. 



Spi.\ach — From sowings early in Sep- 

 tember we have lots of good spinach out- 

 doors, the leaf maggots have been very 

 bad on the crop though. Bj' the time 

 hard frost sets in we will have plenty 

 spinach in frames. In severe weather the 

 frames should be well covered for hard 

 frost will hurt the crop. The outdoor 

 crop which is to remain in the ground till 

 next spring, we cover with a thin mulch- 

 ing of sedge about the same time as when 

 we do our strawberry beds. 



Squashes.— It is all' very well to pile up 

 the squashes in the shed or elsevv'here 

 where they will be dry and away from 

 frost, before this, but 'now we want to 

 keep them warm if we wish to save them 

 through the winter. The market garden- 

 ers who have regular squash houses main- 

 tain a temijerature of 60° in them. 



Salsifv, scorzonera and parsnips are 

 all pretty hardy, and keep well in the 

 ground over wi'nter. We lift say two- 

 thirds of them now, leaving the balance 

 in the giound till the first thaw of spring 

 when we lift them lor use. I'rtservc them 

 like carrots. 



TuRNH'S of all kinds should be pulled 

 now, topped and stored as wc would car- 

 rots. 



size but for shape, coloring and 

 it is a typical one. A year ago as for 

 twenty year's back Iputoutplantsof the 

 X. Y. Round Purple. I noticed one of the 

 plants bore fruit of a distinctly different 

 color and was much more prolific. Time 

 proved them to be much earlier also, so 

 much so that I decided to get seed of it if 

 possible. It ripened nicely and this year's 

 crop is from that seed. I have all the 

 while thought that the parent plant was 

 a sport from the N. Y. Round Purple. My 

 object in sending sample is to get yom- 

 opinion in the interest of the lovers of the 

 fruit. If you think it worth propagating 

 I would be glad to send you seed or to 

 any practical gardener you may suggest. 

 My experience with the' egg plant is it is 

 very fickle, some plants bearing well, 

 others none. I re member a fewj'ears ago 

 I had a row of eight fine plants and only 

 harvested one solitary fruit. Now these 

 are different. I have a patch of 20 and 

 almost everj' bloom seems to set fruit. 

 The plant which grew the sample sent 

 has already furnished nine of edible size. 

 There are many with two on a stem and 

 I saw one with three on a stem. How's 

 that? I think it is such a greatbcnefit to 

 he able to raise fresh seed every year. 

 Fresh seed as 3'ou know makes vigorous 

 plants and its impress is not lost until 

 frost nips them in the fall. Until last year, 

 I never could ripen the fruit sufficiently to 

 grow. I have one now (September'l2| 

 fully ripe, as 3'ellow as an orange. 



Geo. D. Ford. 

 Branch Co., Michigan, September 12. 



The fruit came by mail and reached us 

 in perfect condition. It was of longish 

 shape, and the color of its skin was pur- 

 ple marbled and suffused near the end 

 with a paler or whitish color. Next 

 night we had it for supper, and it was ex- 

 cellent. Mr. T. McCarthy of Providence, 

 and vice-president of the Society of Ameri- 

 can Cemetery Superintendents,"on his way 

 home from 1 heir convention at Philadel- 

 phia, staid with us that night, and he too 

 ate of it and declared "Why, it's splendid. 

 Yes, I will take a littlemore, if you please. 

 Do you know, it's the first egg plant I 

 ever ate? It just puts me in mind of a 

 Rhode Island clambake." 



Its distinct color isnoadvantageexcept 

 in novelty, but its prolific nature andear- 

 liness in fruiting are decided advantages. 

 We grow lots of egg plants, year after 

 year, but we never had one bear a cluster 

 of three fruits. We shall be dehghted to 

 have a pinch of seed for trial next year. 



By the way, comparatively few people 

 eat egg plant, and this is to be regretted 

 for it is a most palatable vegetable. We 

 are very fond of it and often have it both 

 stuffed, and fried in thin slices. When well 

 cooked it is fine. 



EGO PLANT. 



1 send by to-day's mail for your inspec- 

 tion a sample egg plant fruit. For eco- 

 nomic reasons the one sent is about half 



OREENflOUSE TOIHflTOES. 



In connection with the subject of green- 

 house tomatoes for an extra early crop, 

 I would advise W. G. B. to try Dwarf 

 Champion. The stocky character of this 

 variety is so well marked, that I cannot 

 believe, that had he selected it originally, 

 and given it only ordinary attention he 

 would not have had the trouble he men- 

 tions of his plants running to vine. The 

 merits of this variety should, I think be 

 more widely known. I like it so well that 

 I have grown it almost exclusively for 

 several years in my private garden for 

 which use I think in all respects it is un- 

 surpassed. Started in hotbeds at the 

 usual time I have found it very early, if 

 not the earliest. A friend of mine was 

 very successful this year in obtaining an 

 extra early crop from plants started 



earlier in his hothouse. The only fault 

 came later in the season, when the fi-uit 

 developed a tendency to crack, and for 

 this reason did not stand shipping to 

 market as well as he could wish. [For 

 private use the Dwarf Champion is all 

 right, but its purplish color kills it in the 

 New York market. The smooth, round, 

 firm, bright Lorillard alwavs takes pre- 

 cedence.— Ed.] ' H. R. V. 

 Philadelphia. 



KEEPING AND FREPflRING «EN MANURE. 



Kindly let me know the proper way to 

 keep hen manure till ready for use. I have 

 been scattering about equal bulk of sandy 

 loam over it and keeping under shelter, 

 but some say the heap should be moist. 

 How would equal bulk of kainit (about 

 \\','o potash), acid phosphate (14%), and 

 hen manure and loam, all thoroughly 

 mixed, answer as a fertilizer for early 

 potatoes and melons? Inquirer, 



Goldsboro, N. C. 



A good way to keep poultrj' manure is to 

 mix it with equal parts of damp loam or 

 muck and to sprinkle over the mass a lit- 

 tle land plaster or kainit. About six 

 weeks before needed for use an excellent 

 concentrated compost may be made thus; 



Poultry manure 1 part. 



Cotton seed or dissolved bone meal, 1 

 part, 



Dissolved S. C. rock (acid phosphate) 1 

 part, 



Kainit, 1 part. 



Spread the materials in the order named 

 in layers three to four inches thick and 

 buildthe heap about five feet high. Mois- 

 ten the cotton seed or bone meal with 

 water or liquid manure, or if convenient, 

 the cotton seed may be soaked for two 

 or three days before introducing into the 

 compost. Cover with rich loam or land 

 plaster and allow the completed compost 

 to stand for a month, when the heap 

 should be thrown over and the materials 

 thoroughly mixed. It is now ready for 

 use and mav be applied to early market 

 crops at the rate of from 1000 to 2000 

 pojnds to the acre. Build in a place 

 sheltered from storms and keep the mass 

 damp by the application of water or 

 liquid manures. Frank W. SKMn-RS. 



GLflRK'S 



fliitomalic 

 spRfty 



PUMP. 



Pumps from pall or 

 carried afield. Constant agita- 

 tion. Mne Bpray and one-q 

 ter material only requli 



^'lclceIed 



age. Cannot clog. No foot 

 fastenlog required, tl: 

 3 that. HEAD: 



Cornell University 



Poiitiac Novelty Works, 



I'KNTIAI', llltll. 



JAPAN PLUMS, 



STANDARD PEARS, 



and APPLE TREES, 



D expires, tre 



