THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN. 69 



always improve if he can. Of course, I do not mean to say that 

 every gardener need be a Burbank, but I do mean to say that there 

 are many opportunities lost by gardeners not having an eye to the 

 improving of particular strains of whatsoever they may be growing. 



Let us suppose that the gardener has at his command sufficient 

 glass for the early starting of many kinds of vegetables. It is now 

 high time to make a start, and the seeds of the earliest varieties of 

 lettuce, cauliflower, cabl)age, etc. should already be in the flats to 

 be pricked out a little later and continued growing till planted out, 

 either in hotbeds, frames, or in the open ground, as the case may be. 

 If the gardener has a limited amount of glass it will always repay 

 him to save sufficient for the growing of a limited quantity of the 

 early vegetables. The most particular attention should be given 

 to the seasons of planting of seeds, so that a succession of crops will 

 always be in order, and, by starting under glass about the middle 

 of February, many vegetables may be had much earlier than if 

 left till later. 



As I have already said the first to start with at this season is let- 

 tuce, of such easy forcing varieties as White-Seeded Tennis Ball, 

 Belmont, or Arlington Hothouse. The first may be planted in 

 frames, and successive crops planted for outdoors. For summer 

 planting no better varieties will be found than Salamander, Deacon, 

 or New York. The Cos and Romaine lettuce are too seldom 

 grown, and will be found invaluable for summer use, although to 

 blanch them and have them crisp they are better by tying up. 



Cauliflower should be early started under glass. Early Dwarf 

 Erfurt will be found the best, if a good strain is secured. Later 

 varieties of merit are Giltedge and Snowball. Of early cabbages, 

 Jersey Wakefield will be found as satisfactory as any for the home 

 garden. It should be the endeavor to secure small-sized and 

 shapely varieties, rather than the large, coarse-growing kinds we 

 too often see on our exhibition tables. 



Brussels sprouts are a vegetable of the Brassica family that 

 require a long season to grow, and, perhaps, for this reason, are too 

 seldom seen; for fall and winter use, however, they will be found 

 one of the most useful of vegetables. They are better to be started 

 under glass, in early March. While I am at this family of plants 

 I wish to say a few words about kohlrabi which is a splendid sum- 

 mer vegetable, the white varieties being the best. 



