76 



• GARDENING, 



Nov. 15 



the Western New York pears. Our soil is 

 a rich sandy loam. We had the Hough- 

 ton gooseberry and Dutch currant, but 

 never had but one or two crops from 

 them before the hail killed them. The 

 seasons here are too hot and dry forthese 

 fruits. They have to be shaded, mulching 

 does no good. 



Crab apples do better than other apples. 

 Ben Davis, Willow Twig, and Jonathan 

 are among the varieties mostly grown. 

 The wild plum found along the streams 

 are mostly cultivated, tame plums do not 

 fruit w-ell. The sour cherry does best of 

 an3'- fruit. 



In strawbeiTies Crescent, Wilson and 

 Sha.pless are mostly cultivated. We 

 tried Snyder and Kittatinny blackberries, 

 but they get killed down every winter. 

 Concord grape does the best of any. 



The gfrim and temble destroyer, hail, 

 left not a shrub or vine. Portulacca is 

 about the only plant that thrives in this 

 dry sandy soil without constant water- 

 ing. 



In 1889 I had a gorgeous bed of gera- 

 niums, one mass of bloom, and single 

 plants would fill a bushel basket. 



In vegetables, we have a few kinds left 

 from the drouth and hot winds, having 

 made gardens three times to have it de- 

 stroyed. The Crystal White wax bean and 

 Red Kidney have withstood the drouth 

 wonderfully. The Arlington beet (Raw- 

 son's) we find the best of several varieties 

 tried. Cool and Crisp cucumbers and 

 White Perfection have excited our won- 

 der, as the vines have wilted but little ic 

 the heat (from 96° to 110=) and they were 

 full of blossoms and fruiting well, al- 

 though they had received no water, but 

 we kept the weeds down and a fine soil 

 about them— shallow cultivation— while 

 our neighbors who practice deep cultiva- 

 tion and watered frequently have lost all 

 theirs. The American Wonder pea stands 

 first for earliness, abundance and resisting 

 drouth of any we have tried. The Polaris 

 potato keeps its reputation for all that 

 makes a first-class potato, but it was 

 smaller than usual this season owing to 

 lack of moisture. 



Mrs. Fred. C. Joilnson. 



Hastings, Xeb. 



EflRty flOTBED LETTUCE. 



\ leaf from my note book may interest 

 "Ignoramus," "(see page 54) as having 

 made preparations for a hotbed, we all 

 know he is anxious to get in operation as 

 soon as possible. 



The third week in January this vear, I 

 sowed lettuce seed (Boston Market and 

 Belmont Forcing) in a small hotbed in a 

 very sheltered location. Kept well covered 

 at night and in stormy weather. March 

 12 I set out the plants in a larger bed in 

 a much more exposed situation and used 

 the same care in covering and banked 

 heavily around thebed with fresh manure. 

 About the third week in April we com- 

 menced using some of the finest lettuce I 

 had ever eaten. The Belmont Forcing 

 came on a little later than the Boston 

 Market, which prolonged mv crop vei-s' 

 satisfactorilv. ' H. R. V 



Philadelphia. 



The White Egg Plant.— Noticing in 

 Gardening, page 44, that E. R. finds the 

 large white egg plant poor and discarded 

 it because of its quality I send you a 

 sample of the true New White which orig- 

 inated here in Georgia, and which I find 

 superior in all eating qualities to any 

 other. I regret it is so late that the eggs 

 are too old to eat, and also to show their 

 beautiful white color, but thev serve to 

 show that thev are not small, with me 



they run above the average of the New 

 York purple. E. R. must have been served 

 like me, had some of the old white seed 

 put on him'. Its fruits are small, about 

 the size of a goose's egg, and used only 

 for ornament. I dug mine all up when 

 I found what the\' were. As it is now so 

 late and most of my crop of egg plants 

 has been gathered for seed these I send 

 are not as fine as those that have been 

 harvested. A. W. Smith. 



Americus, Ga., Oct. 19. 



Miscellaneous. 



THE BEER FlflNT. 



Mr. F. H. of Davenport, Iowa, writing 

 to us a little while ago about "the Cali- 

 fornia beer plant," says: "About thirty 

 years ago my mother had a few seeds 

 sent here to herfrom San Francisco. They 

 came on a piece of paper, and when dry 

 looked a good deal like tomato seed, when 

 wet they looked more like fish spawn. We 

 took a few of these seeds and put them in 

 sweetened water in the morning and at 

 noon the drink was readj' for use. This 

 made a very delightful drink for summer, 

 but was not intoxicating. The seeds mid- 

 tiply verj- rapidly when let stand for anj' 

 length of time." 



Knowing that this coxdd be no kind of 

 garden plant, but believing it to be a spe- 

 cies of ferment, we submitted the case to 

 the Agriculttiral Department at Washing- 

 ton. Prof. Galloway kindl_v replies: 



United States Department op Agri- 

 culture, Division of Vegetable 

 Pathology. 

 Washington, D. C, April 13, 1894. 

 Mr. Wm. Falconer, Editor of Gardening, 

 Glen Cove, N. Y. 



Dear S/'r;— Yours of April 4, to Mr. L. 

 0. Howard, relative to the "beer plant," 

 has been handed to me for reply. It is 

 probable that the substance referred to is 

 similar to the "mother" of vinegar, as 

 you suggest. Prof. Marshall Ward, of 

 London, has published quite a compre- 

 hensive paper upon the "ginger beer 

 plant" in the Transactions of the Royal 

 Society of London. This "plant" is a 

 combination of yeast and one or more 

 microscopic organisms, which when 

 united and added to a sugary solution 

 will cause fermentation. The ferment is 

 used in conjunction with ginger and pro- 

 duces the celebrated "ginger beer." 



It is possible, however, that the speci- 

 mens your correspondent has descrined 

 are not the same as the ginger beer plant. 

 There is another ferment of a similar 

 character which has been used for a great 

 many j^ears by the mountaineers of the 

 Caucasus region, and which is known as 

 "Kephir." This substance is in the form 

 of small brown grains, and when placed 

 in milk causes it to ferment. If left long 

 ecough the drink becomes very intoxicat- 

 ing, but if the fermentation is allowed to 

 go on for only a short time it gives rise to 

 a verv' refreshing drink. 



For a long time this Kephir was not 

 known from any otherlocality, but about 

 three years ago Mr. Chas. L. Mix pub- 

 lished a paper in the Proceedings of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 

 in which he described a form of it occur- 

 ring in this coimtry. The material ex- 

 amined by him came from New Jersey and 

 Ontario, and he describes it as being in 

 the form of small granules, of a dirty 

 brown color, and showirig on their sur- 

 faces many lobes or fissures, and remind- 

 ing one of dirty gum arable. The Ontario 

 specimens were sent by Mr.Dcarness, under 



the name of "California bees' beer," with 

 a note saying that the houscKcepers in 

 Ontario keep a self-sealing jar "half filled 

 or more with sweetened water. The fer- 

 mented product is drawn and drunk for a 

 tonic." 



Tliis substance is stated to be a ferment 

 composed of a yeast and causing the pro- 

 duction of alcohol, and it has been mainly 

 used in fermenting milk. Inasmuch as it 

 acts, like all yeasts, in the presence of 

 sugar, there is every rtason for thinking 

 it will act also in sweetened water. It is 

 perhaps this substance that your corres- 

 pondent has in mind. If so we would be 

 glad to have him send us some specimens 

 of it. 



Mr. Mix also says that in Germany and 

 Russia Kephir has become a celebrated 

 drink, being used by persons of weak 

 digestion, dyspeptics and children. As 

 the milk is partly peptonized by the fer- 

 ment it is more easilj' digested. 



Very truly, B. T. Galloway. 

 Chief of Division. 



FREFflRINO BOIHE FERTILIZERS. 



Rajah, Hastings, Michigan, asks: 1. 

 "Will bone meal ground from dr3- bones 

 and mixed with hard wood ashes make a 

 complete fertilizer for a vegetable garden, 

 and if not, what should be added to it? 



2. "Will coarse bone decomposed under 

 the following treatment make a complete 

 fertilizer? Put in a barrel or pot one layer 

 of hard wood ashes, one laj-erof bone and 

 one layer of unslacked lime until the barrel 

 is full, then soak with wEtcr. 



3. "How much bone meal can be used 

 in a garden of one -fifth of an acre? 



4. "How can the fleshings from hides 

 in a tannery be best utilized as a fertilizer 

 in a garden?" 



1. \'es, mix the bone meal and wood 

 ashes in about equal parts by weight in 

 a water-tight tank or barrel; add all the 

 water the mixture will absorb and cover 

 the top with land plaster or loam. Let 

 stand two or three weeks and keep wet. 



2. We would not use caustic lime as a 

 reducing agent for "coarse bone." In the 

 box or barrel spread a layer of ashes, 

 then one of bone, cover with ashes and 

 give a light coat of land plaster followed 

 hy two or three inches of peat, muck, 

 loam or charcoal waste. Add all the 

 water the mass will readily absorb and 

 continue the la\'ers until the vessel is 

 nearly filled. Then cover with 6 to 8 

 inches of peat or other absorbent Keep 

 well supplied with moisture. After a 

 month or six weeks shovel over the mate- 

 rials, mix with stable manure or rich 

 compost and use upon the land. Unless 

 one has a pit in the ground lined with 

 wood or cement we do not advise the use 

 of caustic lime for the reduction of bone. 



3. From 200 to 400 pounds or even 

 more bone meal may be used on the plot. 



4. We would compost with peat or 

 loam, stable manure and unleachcd wood 

 ashes. Frank W. Sempers. 



The Golden Alstromeria {A. auran- 

 tiaca), What an elegant cut flower its 

 blossoms are! A bouquet started two 

 weeks ago and supplemented with un- 

 folded buds as they came along on the 

 plant, is vet (October 14) in splendid 

 sl,n,.o. " W. C. E. 



STARK 



vuli.rr, SAFEARRIVALguar- 

 lu^.■n.,■. •.,.x.\.>iioverHALF. 



