48 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



February, 



which weighed seven pounds. It was thirty-eight 

 inches long and twenty-four inches round. 



Good Pkas. — In a discussion on peas before the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Mr. Ware 

 said : " Among peas, the American Wonder, which 

 originated in Canada, is rightly named. The vines 

 are very small indeed — there are more peas than 

 vines ; it is a sweet, wrinkled variety, and a great 

 acquisition. A succession of green peas is neces- 

 sary to a perfect table, and this can be obtained, as 

 with corn, by planting a succession of varieties. 

 For the earliest, Mr. Ware recommended Dan 

 O'Rourke, or any of its class, then American 

 Wonder." Mr. Atkinson remarked that there is 

 very little difference in the ripening of Carter's First 

 Crop and the American Wonder peas ; the latter 

 is much superior to the former, and he would plant 

 only the latter. After the first planting he would 

 plant only Champion of England. Hon. Marshall 

 P. Wilder had planted ten or fifteen varieties of 

 peas, and found Dan O'Rourke a little the earliest. 

 Breck's Excelsior is a splendid variety — about as 

 early as the Dan O'Rourke. His selection of peas 

 would be the same as Mr. Ware. John B. 

 Moore could not conceive how any one could 

 eat any other than a wrinkled pea. The Ameri- 

 can Wonder is all that has been claimed for it, and 

 so nearly as early as the Dan O'Rourke that it is 

 not worth while to plant the latter. McLean's Ad- 

 vancer is good. Yorkshire Hero is more satisfac- 

 tory than Champion of England ; it is of equally 

 good quality, a better cropper and not so tall. 



The Favorite Tomato. — This is a new West- 

 ern introduction, and dares to place itself in com- 

 parison with Paragon, Acme and other popular fa- 

 vorites. 



The Cabbage Butterfly. — A correspondent 

 of Gardening Illustrated says: "Wash the cab- 

 bages well with strong soot and water, and on the 

 first dry day dust the ground about the cabbages 

 with quicklime, and pick as many of the caterpil- 

 lars off as you can find ; and during the winter 

 gas-lime the land and leave it in ridges to catch 

 the frost, and very few insects will trouble you 

 again. The odors emitted from gas-lime are so 

 pungent that neither moth, butterfly, nor mole will 

 remain on land that is dressed with it." 



Ornamental Vegetables. — Tricolored Cel- 

 eriac. — Sentiment seems to be a necessity of ex- 

 istence. That which we eat and that which we 

 admire, can only center in the same individual 

 with violence to human feelings. Yet there are 



some who can eat without compunction the horse 

 which has been petted, and Prof. E. D. Cope has 

 recently expressed his disgust that " a foolish preju- 

 dice " keeps wretched Arctic explorers from eating 

 one another in order to save a portion of their lives. 



However, sentiment goes on, and real lovers of 

 flovvers will, we suppose, to the world's end, regret 

 that so much flower garden beauty should be ruth- 

 lessly destroyed by a mere white frost. 



Little by little, however, we can introduce flow- 

 ers which after petting and loving for a season, 

 we can turn to and devour, if we follow Prof. 

 Cope's Arctic advice, or the lead of the hippophagi. 

 Cabbages and beets for floral decoration have 

 already been introduced, and now we have a pretty 

 turnip-rooted celery. The Erfurt raiser of it says : 



" Amongst the numerous ornamental-foliaged 

 plants, so important for the picturesque character of 

 modern gardens, the above variety has been ad- 

 mired as one of the most beautiful by many cus- 

 tomers, who visited my establishment. In general, 

 it resembles the old well-known soup celery, but 

 its vigorous leaves of a dark glossy green are richly 

 and most elegantly streaked with a silver-grey hue in 

 the midst of the leaflets and decorated with a 

 broad creamy-white edging. This arrangement of 

 colors fits that variety admirably for effective 

 groups, the beautiful appearance rendering it a 

 striking contrast to other plants, especially in 

 autumn, when the petioles get a violet-red tint, so 

 that the plant grows a true quadricolor. 



" Besides, my Celeriac comes nearly true from 

 seed, giving at least eighty per cent, of variegated 

 plants, and finally it is fit for kitchen-use, particu- 

 larly for the decoration of dishes and fish-plates." 



Improved Cucumbers. — The following extract 

 gives an idea of how these improvements are 

 carefully studied out : 



" I received this new fraine cucumber from a 

 man who is known as one of the most skillful 

 and successful vegetable growers, and therefore 

 can recommend it confidentially as a very supe- 

 rior improvement. I am told that he was not satis- 

 fied with all the introductions of frame cucumbers 

 of the last years, and therefore he busied himself 

 in endeavoring to raise a more profitable variety. 

 He succeeded in a surprising manner by crossing 

 Noa's forcing with Queen of England. It ramifies 

 more than Noa's forcing, and produces twice as 

 much cucumbers, attaining every one a length of 

 two feet and more. The flesh is very firm, ex- 

 tremely delicate, the peel being agreeably green 

 with some clearer stripes. But the greatest value 

 of this new variety is its extraordinary longevity ; 



