504 



HORTICULTURE 



October 8, 1910 



OUR SENSATIONAL NEW 

 , OSTRICH PLUME CELOSIA , 



j "Pride of Castle Gould" • 



I in grand shape at our greenhouses, in 7 and 8 in. pots — 2 to 3 ft. tall. Price J2.50 and $3 00 each. 



! Julius Roehrs Co., Rutherford, N. J. 

 * 1 t 



THE UP-TO-DATE AT SUNNY- 

 BROOK. 



Sunnybrook lies on the banks of the 

 Delaware on the Jersey side 17 miles 

 S. S. W. from Philadelphia. A trip by 

 auto there and back is a pleasant day's 

 outing allowing half the time for crop 

 inspection. Mr. Burpee's New Jersey 

 farm "Sunnybrook" is located a few 

 miles from Swedesboro and your cor- 

 respondent had the golden opportunity 

 offered recently of being one of a party 

 in the inspection trip, Mr. Burpee and 

 another eminent seedsman (Robert 

 Buist), both having Interests in the 

 neighborhood, having combined forces 

 on the Buist auto. The purpose of the 

 trip v;as that of inspecting the experi- 

 mental grounds and finding out by per- 

 sonal inspection how true everything 

 was to type — not only the Burpee 

 stocks but that of every other prom- 

 inent seed grower. You should have 

 seen them cutting open the musk mel- 

 ons — two hundred different plots and 

 sampling and re-sampling each, and 

 going back over them again and again. 

 Is it true to shape? Is it the right 

 color? Is it big enough? Is it early 

 enough? Has it the flavor? Is it per- 

 fect in every way? These were the' 

 questions. 



Sunnybrook is a fine little farm of 

 SS acres, 6 miles or less from the Dela- 

 ware river opposite Wilmington, Dela- 

 ware—the greatest tomato, sweet po- 

 tato, and melon stretch in this part of 

 the world, both for trucking and seed 

 farming. Thirty carloads of tomatoes 

 Is an ordinary shipment from Swedes- 

 boro in the season: and Pedriktown, a 

 little nearer the river, ships probably 

 as much or more daily by barge — be- 

 sides sweets and all the other staples. 

 A most inspiring, busy, halcyon scene 

 indeed, to the onlooker. 



When we got to Sunnybrook there 

 was the finest kind of welcome from 

 the resident manager, Mr. Frazier, and 

 family. Everybody felt at home in- 

 stantly, and went at the experimental 

 grounds without delay. Theie were 

 some five hundred plots of cantaloupes, 

 water melons and squashes. "Two 

 hours or more under the tuteleage of 

 George W. Kerr were spent, sampling 

 everyone that was in season as to size, 

 marking truth to type, and taking a 

 little sliver out of each for flavor. 



Some day we may tell you about the 

 relative merits of Jenny Lind, Rocky 

 Ford, Emerald Gem, and the rest. But 

 for the present, all we want to im- 

 press on you is the extraordinary pains 



that Burpee is taking in keeping up 

 these experimental grounds at great 

 expense, for the sole purpose that the 

 American people may have the very 

 highest quality of everything next year 

 and in the years to come. One thing is 

 certain — the American people owe Bur- 

 pee the greatest debt of gratitude for 

 luscious melons. He introduced most 

 of the good ones — the Netted Gem (or 

 Rocky Ford, as it is now more com- 

 monly known) ; the Emerald Gem, the 

 Kleckley Sweets and hosts of the other 

 leaders all along the line. 



The season has been a little too wet 

 in Jersey for good seed setting in pep- 

 pers and similar plants, but the crops 

 of Black Beauty egg plant and other 

 similar items excited the admiration of 

 everybody. The Chinese Giant pepper 

 occupied a large area and seemed to be 

 doing well. This has now become a 

 standard variety and is much esteemed. 

 There is a good early one that will be 

 heard from by-and-by, called the Nea- 

 politan Early which originated among 

 the Italian immigrants down around 

 the Vineland settlements. The Ruby 

 King looms up still as a prime favor- 

 ite, of course, and there is a new one 

 called New Upright that Mr. Earl 

 thinks the thickest walled of all and 

 a winner. Make a note of Dwarf 

 Giant tomato; this to all intents and 

 purposes is a dwarf compact sport 

 from the celebrated Ponderosa. Looks 

 to be a valuable acquisition. 



We examined two hundred and 

 forty tests of water melons; two hun- 

 dred of musk melons; one hundred and 

 fifty of squashes and pumpkins. We 

 came on a test of musk melon that 

 when cut open did not show true to 

 color. Talk about an explosion. More 

 cutting open; then another patch ex- 

 amined and the first opinion discard- 



ed; then a heated discussion; then the 

 whole thing left in abeyance for a 

 week until developments develop. This 

 does not look as if the great seedsmen 

 of America were indifferent to the in- 

 terests of our people and unconscion- 

 able robbers as some seem to think. 

 To us it was an inspiring afternoon, 

 and we girded up our loins and said 

 they are benefactors, and pioneers, and 

 teachers, and all 'round good fellows, 

 full of enthusiasm and big-hearted- 

 ness. 



We were too early to test the water 

 melons in this part of the country. 

 The three great propositions from all 

 accounts today seem to be Kleckley 

 Sweets, Halbert Honey and Tom Wat- 

 son. More anon on this subject. As 

 for the musk melons, they were just 

 about right. Our old friend Jenny 

 Lind, heretofore unexcelled for flavor, 

 loses on size and they don't want it. 

 Burpee has one that he calls the New 

 Spicy, which is twice the size of Jenny 

 and equally as early, and even better 

 in flavor, if that be possible. 



While thus engaged, a Chicago seeds- 

 man drove up, adding one more to the 

 group of experts. His principal point 

 of attack was Osage Gem versus Bur- 

 rell's Gem. The resultant discussion 

 seemed to wind up in a compromise, 

 which was, "both the same"; but "Bur- 

 rell's" has the popular fancy — like 

 Rocky Ford over its real name Burpee 

 Netted Gem. 



We will tell you later about the 

 Giant Limas, pods nearly a foot long; 

 the Dwarf Prolific tomato, the Dwarf 

 White Dolichos, and a whole lot of 

 other things, including the way they 

 bring poor land from nothing to fertil- 

 ity by cow pea-ing and soy-beaning 

 and crimson-clovering, 



G. C. WATSON. 



'ijfow m£ MmiAvs: 



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