70 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



It will be found best to start tomatoes early under glass, in order 

 to have good-sized plants to set out-of-doors about the end of May. 

 Many persons plant these out too early in the season : they become 

 stunted, and do not fruit so early as they might otherwise. The 

 variety is legion, and such varieties of English origin as Comet, 

 Sterling Castle, Rochford, and Best-of-all have recently proved 

 great favorites for the home table. 



A few years ago much interest was taken in some of Greiner's 

 books, one especially on the cultivation of the onion. There was 

 little new about the method of cultivation, however, as it had been 

 practiced, more or less, by European gardeners for ages. The 

 method is to sow the seeds under glass and transplant the small 

 onion plants in the open ground when the weather will permit, 

 about the latter part of April. I believe the gardener will find this 

 the best method, too. The most practical varieties are Early 

 Queen, Southport, White Globe, Globe Dan vers, and Prize-taker. 

 Early crops of radishes may be started under glass; Scarlet Coni- 

 cal, Non Plus Ultra, and French Breakfast are all excellent sorts. 



As spring opens one of the first of the vegetables to receive atten- 

 tion is the asparagus bed. If a winter covering has been put on 

 the coarse material should be removed and the finer manure forked 

 in. Asparagus may best be grown in rows about three to four feet 

 apart, the plants having been set about eighteen inches asunder. 



As soon as the ground is opened it will be time to get in the first 

 crop of peas. And, by the way, this is one of the hardest vegetables 

 to select and grow a succession of for the home garden. I believe 

 there is no other vegetable that will show the selection of quality 

 quicker than peas. Nott's Excelsior and American Wonder are 

 both good dwarf sorts, and the latter, though not much of a cropper, 

 will be found to possess that delicious quality sought after so often. 

 Later varieties of merit are Advancer, Abundance, Everbearing, 

 Stratagem, and Champion of England. 



Beets are a vegetable that a continuous succession of crops needs 

 to be sown in order to have them tender for table use. My selec- 

 tion of varieties would be Crosby's Egyj)tian, Arlington Favorite, 

 and Edmands' Blood Turnip. Swiss Chard is a species too seldom 

 grown. A row of this vegetable will be found indispensable in 

 summer, when the leaves may be cooked for greens or the stalks and 

 midribs stewed like asparagus. 



