July 14, 1906 



HORTICULTURE. 



31 



relation with one. which while easily 

 seen, is of itself of but little import- 

 ance and does not affect the value of 

 the plant for our uses. For instance, 

 a purple blossom on a plant of extra 

 early pea is of itself of no importance, 

 but is a certain indication of a ten- 

 dency toward inferior flavor in the 

 green pea. On this account, accurate 

 and detailed descriptions of varieties 

 are of importance; where can we get 

 them? The reply comes at once "from 

 seedsmen's catalogues," but can we? 

 and ought we to expect to do so? 

 Their catalogues are published and dis- 

 tributed at great expense and are is- 

 sued primarily for the sake of selling 

 the seed they offer. They answer the 

 purpose for which they are designed in 

 proportion as they secure orders for 

 seeds. Will this be measured by the ac- 

 curacy and completeness of their de- 

 scriptions? Whatever your answer may 

 be, the answer given by the catalogues 

 themselves is no. Looking through 

 the 1906 catalogues of 125 seedsmen 

 who list Davis Wax Bean, we find 

 that 77 speak of its good quality, 82 

 speak of the beauty of its pods. 9G 

 speak of its vigor and productiveness 

 of vine, 30 call it scringless and only 

 7 admit that it is stringy or not of 

 best quality. Now this bean has been 

 in cultivation long enough so that 

 everybody knows of its character and 

 value but I ask if a description which 

 fails to mention the distinctly stringy 

 character of its beautiful pod can be 

 called complete? This is not an ex- 

 ception but a typical case, very rarely 

 is any quality which could be con- 

 sidered is a defect mentioned, while 

 those which are valuable are spoken 

 of in exaggerated terms of praise. If 

 we cannot obtain full descriptions 

 from the catalogues, where should we 

 look for them? It seems to me that 

 it is the duty of any one offering seed 

 of what is claimed as a new sort, to 

 furnish a full and complete descrip- 

 tion of the varied characteristics, not 

 only of the usable product, but of the 

 plant. He can make whatever claims 

 he chooses as to its desirable quali- 

 ties, but seedsmen and gardeners 

 should not accept any new sort as 

 such, unless it is accompanied with a 

 description which will enable them to 

 identify it. Often what are simply 

 superior stocks of some old sort are 

 offered under a new name; if this is 

 done, the claim for a name should be 

 accompanied with a statement of in 

 just what respect the strain differs 

 from that of common use. It seems to 

 me that this Association can do much 

 to secure such action by its members 

 and that by doing so it would do 

 much to bring about uniform condi- 

 tions. But what of old sorts? It 

 seems to me that here there is a field 

 in which the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and our State 

 Experiment Stations can work to 

 great advantage, not so much through 

 the trials aimed simply at determining 

 which sort will give them the largest 

 crop, is of the best quality and the 

 most desirable, for this is often largely 

 determined by varying cultural and 

 commercial conditions, but at for- 

 mulating complete and accurate des- 

 criptions of the exact character of the 

 different varieties, which if accepted 

 and used by seedsmen and growers 

 would result in great uniformity and 

 consequent value in the seed-stocks 



in commerce. If our seedsmen could 

 but unite as to the exact type each of 

 the varieties now in cultivation 

 should be and our seed growers use 

 only seed from plants of that exact 

 type for stock seed and continue to 

 do so for five generations, the better- 

 ment of conditions for both seedsmen 

 and growers and of the quality of the 

 vegetables in our markets would be 

 greater than has come from the de- 

 velopment of new varieties by hybri- 

 ilizalion or selection for the past 

 twenty-five years It is not so much 

 new and better sorts that we need as 

 better and truer stocks of those we 

 now have and these can only come 

 through more exact definition of pre- 

 cisely what a plant of any given 

 variety should be. 



VEGETABLES FOR EXHIBITION. 



(Ktaa Juno i;Hh, 19U6, before the Morris 



Co. Gardeners' Society by Jobn 



Heeremaus.) 



The culture of vegetables at all 

 times a most interesting study, be- 

 comes very much more so when the 

 objective is the exhibition table. As 

 exhibitions at which vegetables figure 

 at all prominently are held principally 

 in the fall I shall confine these few 

 remarks mainly to those varieties that 

 are in season at that time of the year. 

 Now we will say the exhibitor wishes 

 to take a collection of twelve varieties 

 which I consider is ample to test any 

 person's skill. The following I would 

 consider a good selection for a dozen 

 varieties: Celery, leeks, onions, pota- 

 toes, carrots, beets, cauliflower, par- 

 suips, turnips, tomatoes, brussels 

 sprouts, lettuce, or. should string 

 beans, peas, sweet corn, or egg plant 

 be available they would give a larger 

 selection. 



Now whatever varieties are chosen 

 they should be good types of their 

 respective sorts and not included in 

 the collection because, say it happened 

 to be a poor dish of peas out of season 

 to the exclusion of a good dish of 

 turnips and so on. Personally I do not 

 care much for the squash family as 

 exhibition vegetables. They represent 

 no extra amount of skill in their culti- 

 vation. Anyone can grow squash if 

 they have a manure heap. The same 

 applies to some other varieties that 

 do not represent much skill. The 

 different sorts of spinach, including 

 Swiss chard, which I do not suppose 

 one person in a dozen would eat if any- 

 thing else were available, also the 

 oyster plant (salsify) and Jerusalem 

 artichokes, do not figure very high as 

 exhibition vegetables. You will notice 

 I have placed celery at the head of 

 my list of twelve varieties. There is 

 no vegetable that, to my mind, calls 

 for more skillful cultivation than first- 

 class celery. It should be large, with- 

 out being pithy, or hollow, have a 

 good sized heart, be well bleached and 

 free from rust and blemishes. A good 

 time to sow seed for the produce to be 

 in good shape late in October is in 

 earlv May. I prefer to sow in boxes 

 and place in a greenhouse in gentle- 

 heat. When ready prick out into cold 

 frames or anywhere in four or five 

 inches of soil on a hard bottom where 

 water is handy, as they require lots of 

 it. The plants will be ready for the 

 open ground by the middle of .Tune and 

 no opportunity of a showery day or so 

 should be lost in getting them out. If 



the weather is at all dry, water must 

 be given in abundance if good results 

 are expected. 



Large onions and leeks are a 

 very strong couple of exhibition 

 vegetables and the culture is prac- 

 tically identical except that the 

 leeks require earthing up to blanch 

 them. Onions and leeks cannot be 

 too large for show purposes and to 

 produce large roots very early sowing 

 is indispensible. February is none 

 too soon to sow in heat in a green- 

 house. They must be pricked off into 

 boxes when large enough to handle and 

 kept growing on, gradually hardening 

 off and planted out in very rich soil 

 in the garden in May. These plants 

 are very gross feeders and must have 

 very high cultivation to bring them to 

 a high state of perfection. 



Potatoes for exhibition should be of 

 medium size, clear in the skin and 

 have shallow eyes. Very large speci- 

 mens are more than likely to be hollow 

 in the middle. Carrots and parsnips 

 must be large and have very clean 

 skins and uniform tapering roots. 

 Beet roots and turnips should be of 

 medium size inclining to small rather 

 than large, as big specimens of these 

 are useless unless it is for cattle feed- 

 ing. 



Cauliflower (a splendid vegetable 

 but very difficult to get good in this 

 section of the country), should be of 

 medium size with very close and clean 

 white heads. Tomatoes must be of 

 medium size and very round, not cor- 

 rugated, and should be ripened on the 

 plant. Brussels sprouts, a very tell- 

 ing vegetable when good, should be 

 large and solid, not open and ragged. 

 Lettuce also must be large and very 

 solid. Needless to remark, the whole 

 collection should be presented on the 

 exhibition table as fresh as possible 

 and no pains should be spared to keep 

 them so, for if wilted or stale in any 

 way, it would go strongly against 

 them. 



Now as to manner of staging. The 

 collection should be made as artistic 

 as possible, not merely a dish of each 

 kind placed on a bare table in straight 

 lines. This method does not appeal to 

 me at all. Instead a background 

 should be formed of the larger kinds 

 and the smaller grouped in front of 

 them; no receptacles such as dishes, 

 etc., are necessary at all. The whole 

 group should be nicely trimmed off 

 with fresh parsley and it is surprising, 

 with the exercise of a little ingenuity 

 in arrangement, what a beautiful effect 

 can be produced even with a collection 

 of vegetables. 



In conclusion I would strongly urge 

 on young gardeners to give more at- 

 tention to vegetable culture than now 

 perhaps prevails. Gardeners are more 

 equally matched as regards equipment 

 in this line than in the culture of 

 flowers and fruits under glass. No 

 costly greenhouses are necessary to 

 produce in summer and autumn at any 

 rate the most of the species. Good 

 soil and some fertilizer and doing the 

 work that is to be done, at the right 

 time — that is the main point that 

 leads to success. A gardener that can- 

 not produce good vegetables will find 

 himself in a hole with his employer 

 sooner or later as the majority of them 

 like something good to eat as well as 

 something pretty to admire in the way 

 of plants and flowers. 



