HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



207 



SEE 



draw their supplies. I am indebted for much 

 information on this subject to Mr. William Meg- 

 gat, seed-grower, of Hartford, Conn., who has 

 given this subject special study for the past 

 twenty years. 



Asparagus is grown in New Jersey, on Long 

 Island, and in other portions of New York, and 

 probably other parts of the Northern and Mid- 

 dle States. 



Beets are grown in Central New York, Penn- 

 sylvania, and Connecticut. The Mangel and 

 Sugar Beets are as yet mostly imported. 



Beans (Bush) are mostly grown in New York 

 State, though Michigan, Wisconsin, and Penn- 

 sylvania are beginning to grow considerable 

 quantities. 



Beans (Pole) are grown in Connecticut, New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, 

 and States further south. 



The Cabbage, one of our most important crops, 

 gives its best development near the sea-coasfe. 

 That grown on rich soils inland is never so sat- 

 isfactory. Hence our market gardeners and 

 farmers in the vicinity of New York, from ex- 

 perience dearly bought, prefer their Cabbage 

 seed for an early crop to be always grown on 

 the easterly side of Long Island, on the Atlan- 

 tic coast, to that from any other source. There 

 is considerable grown in Pennsylvania, New 

 Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, but 

 such has never come to be held in any favor by 

 our market gardeners in the vicinity of New 

 York, who, perhaps, are as critical in such mat- 

 ters as anywhere in the world. But little Cab- 

 bage seed is now imported, though it is sold 

 much cheaper in Europe than here ; but the 

 crop is too important to risk any consideration 

 of price, for we find that what are grown as the 

 favorite varieties in Europe are not to be com- 

 pared, for our purpose, with those we have our- 

 selves originated here. 



Cauliflower seed is all imported from Europe. 

 AH attempts that we have made to grow the seed 

 here have proved nearly abortive. It requires a 

 cool and rather moist climate, and even under 

 the best conditions seeds sparingly, few vari- 

 eties being imported at less than $6 per pound, 

 and some of the famous early kinds, such as 

 "Snowball," costing nearly $100 per pound to 

 import. 



Celery is another important crop of which the 

 seed is raised almost exclusively here; at least 

 that in use among commercial gardeners, many 

 of them growing a few pounds for their own use 

 annually at five times the cost they could buy 

 imported seed for; the danger being so great of 

 getting a spurious sort that they prefer doing so 

 rather than run the risk. Now, however, as the 

 varieties best suited for our climate become 

 known, it is largely grown by our regular seed- 

 growers in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecti- 

 cut, and New Jersey. 



Gicum'iers are now grown entirely here, except 

 a few of the fancy sorts. The best seed is grown 

 on the maiden soil of the prairies; and though 

 still grown to some extent in Pennsylvania, 

 Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, Illi- 

 nois and Michigan will, in all probability, event- 

 ually be the section used to grow all species of 

 the so-called "vine" family of vegetables. 



The Carrot is grown almost exclusively in the 

 States of New York, Rhode Island, Massachu- 

 setts, and Connecticut. 



The Bjij-plaitt, as yet, is mainly grown in 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Mary- 



SEE 



land, but, being a plant of tropical origin, the 

 seeds, no doubt, would be better matured if 

 grown further south. 



The Endive is all imported from Germany and 

 France. 



The Leek is partly grown here in the Eastern 

 and Middle States, though some is also im- 

 ported. The American grown is found to have 

 the greater vitality. 



Lettuce, when grown in the Atlantic States, 

 matures best in the vicinity of our large lakes, 

 in New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illi- 

 nois. California, however, is better fitted for 

 seeding Lettuce than any of the Atlantic States, 

 and large quantities are already being grown 

 there. Quantities are yet imported, but in this 

 case, as in the case of Cabbage and Celery, mar- 

 ket gardeners rarely risk imported Lettuce until 

 first proving the variety to be correct. 



Melon (Nutmeg) is grown the same as the Cu- 

 cumber. 



Melon (Water) is grown the same as the Cu- 

 cumber, though rather more of it is grown in 

 States farther south. 



Okra is of tropical origin, and the seed is best 

 grown in the Southern States. 



Onion is one of the most important of all our 

 vegetable crops grown from seed, and as it rap- 

 idly loses its vitality, being of little value the 

 second year, it is now almost entirely grown 

 here. The seed from which to grow Onions of 

 a marketable size is raised mainly in Connecti- 

 cut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Michi- 

 gan ; while that raised from which to grow Onion 

 sets is mostly grown in Pennsylvania and New 

 Jersey. California has begun to grow Onion 

 seeds to some extent, but as the quality of the 

 seed greatly determines the weight of crop, 

 confidence is not yet fully established in, the 

 eeed grown there. 



Parsley is nearly all imported, as the plant is 

 not quite hardy enough to stand our northern 

 winters, while the hot summers of our South- 

 ern States is against its irat iring there. 



The Parsnip is grown m .inly in Pennsylva- 

 nia, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. 

 Pease, a most important crop, are mainly 

 grown in Canada and in New York State, on 

 the immediate line of Lake Ontario. Large 

 quantities are yet imported from Britain, but 

 the great bulk used are grown as stated above. 



Pepper is grown mainly in New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania, and New York, but may be grown al- 

 most anywhere. 



Radish is nearly all imported, or should be; 

 for when grown in this climate, like Oats, it de- 

 generates very fast. 



Salsify can be grown anywhere where Let- 

 tuce is grown, but as there is no danger of 

 mixing varieties, it is cheaper to import it from 

 France. 



Spinach is nearly all imported from England, 

 France, or Germany, as it cannot be so profita- 

 bly grown here, for the same reason that we 

 cannot profitably grow Parsley, mainly because 

 our winters in the North are often such as to 

 kill off the plants, while in the Southern sec- 

 tion the summers are too hot for maturing the 

 seed. 



Tobacco is grown in Virginia, Connecticut, 

 and Kentucky, in the United States, and in 

 Cuba and other tropical latitudes. It is some- 

 times believed to be a peculiarity of Tobacco 

 that location changes the character of the varie- 

 ty. This we are inclined to doubt, and believe 



