1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



105 



Self-blanching for profit. It is such a fine 

 grower of an even size, and such an ex- 

 quisitely fine nutty fiavor. It is also the 

 best keeper we have for winter use. The 

 Golden Heart is luy next choice. Hender- 

 son's White Plume is the lazy man's Celery, 

 easy to blanch but of poor quality, and so 

 easily damaged in handling, and a poor 

 keeper, and for early use has a bad habit of 

 going to seed so soon. Some of the pink 

 varieties are fine growers and good keepers, 

 but somehow we can't teach the people to 

 eat it, yet some that you can get to try it 

 will have no other. I believe that the time 

 is coming when pink Celery will be very 

 popular in market. 



Xow a word in regard to nitrate of soda 

 in making vegetables tender and brittle. I 

 have been using it for a number of years on 

 Radishes, Turnips, Lettuce and other quick- 

 growing crops, and I find it makes a won- 

 derful improvement on all such crops. As 

 I raise a great many early Radishes, and all 

 my customers claim that they are much 

 more tender and brittle, and never pithy like 

 they get from other gardeners about here. 

 There are no others that use it about here, 

 they all think it is tooe.xpensive, but I think 

 that's just where they make their mistake. 

 It's the quickest acting fertilizer made, and 

 if you happen to get too much on there are 

 no bad results. It don't burn your crop up, 

 nor injures your soil in any way. If you 

 have a little bed of Strawberries, suppose 

 that you try some about the time they are 

 in bloom, or a little before, and don't for- 

 get to tell U.S the result. 



What I know about Beans. 



E. P. POWELL. ONEIDA CO., S. Y. 



[Concluded from page 80.] 



So far very few of the sorts have been 

 named. One, however, goes as the Golden 

 Meal, a meJium-sized pod very prolific, 

 golden white, half runner, and one that 

 combines in itself all good qualities: that 

 is, it is superior as a Bean, which is white, 

 large, plump, oily; superb for string, as the 

 pod is rich golden, fat, very prolific, giving 

 Beans in all stages until frozen. It is as 

 early to mature as it is late to bear on. I 

 have selected five or six of this class of vari- 

 eties, but the " Golden Ideal " is ahead. 



Mast Sorts on Haxd. About fifty sorts 

 are held permanently or for trial, or because 

 they represent broken-up heredity and are 

 capable of developing in all sorts of ways. 

 Only when the color is dark or the pod 

 defective do I like to throw away a new 

 freak, because it is not an end, only a begin- 

 ning. It stands for all sorts of possible new 

 things. The chief trouble is to aflford room 

 for so many sorts to develop. I consider 

 that those now well proved and worth 

 special propagation do not exceed twenty. 



My own preference for table is so strongly 

 for rich fat Golden String Beans that I am 

 giving these sorts special attention. A pod 

 as large as a man's finger and solid, without 

 string, and richly sweet is for me the best of 

 vegetables, if cooked delicately in milk and 

 cream. These sorts I am now able to have 

 in good supply until frost. It is probably as 

 well to rely on bush Beans for early use and 

 market, and yet there is great range of sea- 

 son in my pole Beans. A few sorts will 

 probably not be of great value as far north 

 as here, but will be invaluable in the more 

 Southern States. Friends have sent me 

 Beans from China and South America, but 

 none have proved valuable as crosses. 



This year, for the first time, I took some 

 pains to let my evolution or survival of the 

 fittest be known to experts. I invited Hon. 

 Daniel Batchelor, whose connection with 

 State Agricultural matters brings him into 

 well-known prominence, to visit my fields. 

 He expressed not only delight, but amaze- 

 ment, and urged me to make them known 



to seedsmen and the public. I thereupon 

 sent a basket to the Rural New Yorker, to 

 Popular Gardf.nixg, and to several of the 

 leiuling horticulturists. All have responded 

 in delighted terms. The characteristics 

 mentioned at once by Mr. Batchelor were 

 " size and qtiantity." '• It is," he said, "not 

 only the enormous size of the pods, but the 

 enormous quantity of Beans. Why sir, the 

 sight is worth going a hundred miles to see. 

 It is the greatest thing in horticulture I have 

 seen in many a year " 



The Results. The best established stock 

 will soon be placed in the hand of one of our 

 best firms, and offered to the public. No 

 lies will be told, nor any puffing of valueless 

 sorts because of their novelty. I have ruth- 

 lessly thrown away several hundred sorts 

 which had novel features, but were not truly 

 of improved value. I desire by what are 

 sent out to give rust-proof sorts, that will 

 be equally^ good for home culture and for 

 market gardeners. I should like, by this 

 account, to stimulate others to efforts at 

 cross breeding and selection. There are the 

 germs of very fine things in every man's 

 hands, but they are seldom developed. I 

 remember that one of our ablest horticul- 

 turists used to say the saddest thing to 

 him was that, notwithstanding the many 

 improvements in fruit, the most of nature's 

 propositions in that direction, were stupidly 

 neglected. It was an accident that saved 

 for us the Seckel Pear. Each one of us 

 should have constantly on hand some sort 

 of experiment, an effort at improvement. 

 The mere pleasure of the attempt is'sufficient 

 recompense, but there is almost a certainty 

 of practical advance. There is not a vege- 

 table or fruit that cannot be improved. We 

 have several fruits that are now worthless; 

 that one hundred years from now will be 

 developed into the richest of human possess- 

 sions. The Pawpaw.Persimmon, Quince and 

 others are yet in their incipient barbarous 

 stages. Who will give us the fruits of these 

 sorts that may be? Think of the Peas that 

 were our best fifty years ago. The Dahlias, 

 in our flower lawns, show what may come 

 in less than a century from two very plain 

 varieties. The Potato has had its day of 

 improvement, and the Beet is as good 

 as we need. Peas have been marvelously 

 advanced, now give a hand to the Bean. 



I might add, had I room, some very start- 

 ling lessons in heredity, evolution, and 

 biological science in general, which I have 

 learned of this Bean culture, but must not 

 do more than to say that it confirms the great 

 lesson that there are two great laws operat- 

 ing in nature, one of heredity to produce 

 like, one of cross breeding or change of 

 environment to produce change of form and 

 character. Our work is to manage these 

 two laws or tendencies: to break up a fixed 

 habit when it is not a good one, and to 

 establish a good habit when possible. 



I am confident that whatever else I do not 

 know in horticulture — alas, a great deal — I 

 do know of Beans. 



Early Tomatoes for Family Use. 



ROBERT L. DEAN, GREEN CO., OHIO. 



Nearly every family can have a few extra 

 early plants for Tomatoes before the general 

 crop is ripe. Select a dozen or so of small 

 flower pots, fill them with rich earth mixed 

 with a small quantity of sand. Make a box 

 that will hold these pots snugly, and project 

 slightly above them. Fill the crevices be- 

 tween the pots with sand and keep this 

 moist. Plant a few seeds in each pot and 

 place the box in a warm window. When 

 there are bright warm days set the box with 

 a pane of glass over it in a sunny position. 



It will be necessary to watch that it does 

 not become too warm under the glass, and 

 the heat can be regulated by raising one end 

 of the glass. The plants wUl make substan- 



tial growth, and should be thinned to one 

 in each pot. This method will be satisfactory • 

 when but few plants are needed. As the 

 plants become of considerable size, larger 

 pots may be necessary. When the ground 

 becomes warm the hills should be prepared 

 with rich earth into which the contents of 

 the pots are placed. The seed should be 

 sown in February. 



Ohio State Horticultural Society. 



(Cvmlensed report of ttcrnty-third Annual meeting held 

 at Columbus, December 11 to 13th, 1&S9. (Concluded 

 from page y7.) 



Strawberry Discussions, The majority 

 favored picking but two crops. Clean out 

 the bed thoroughly as soon as through pick- 

 ing the first crop. Strawberries although 

 not exhaustive to the soil require a great 

 amount of available tertility to meet the 

 great demand during the very short time 

 occupied in growing the fruit. Bubach, 

 Warfield and Haverland seemed to be the 

 favorites among the comparatively new 

 varieties, while Prad, Miami, Viola, Cloud 

 and Eureka were recommended for trial. 



James Edgerton of Barnesville had found 

 Crescent his most profitable variety. Bu- 

 bach was superseding the Sharpless in his 

 vicinity which had long been considered the 

 home of the Sharpless. 



Currants. W. N. Farnsworth preferred 

 the Victoria. He says, plant SxS on rich 

 moist, but not wetland, cultivate thorough- 

 ly, prune carefully and harvest abundantly. 

 1(53 bushes yielded 2.5J.2 bushels, some of the 

 bushes produced twelve to fourteen quarts 

 each. Apply helebore by dusting on when 

 the worms are few and concentrated. If 

 plenty and scattered, he sprays with heli- 

 bore and water. Currants were very low 

 in some markets the past season. 



Aprico;s and Pears, The Russian Apricot 

 was thought to be no improvement on the 

 common European, inasmuch as both bloom 

 so early in spring that the blossoms were 

 liable to be killed by frost. 



Mr. Ohmer had found Pear culture profit- 

 able. Would not plant many varieties, but 

 recommended Bartlett, Kieffer, and Law- 

 rence as standards, and Duchess D'Angou- 

 leme as dwarf. It was as important to ripen 

 and market properly as to grow success- 

 fully. The Fitzwater Pear was thought to 

 be nearly or quite the same as Lawrence. 



Apples. The discussion on Apple orch- 

 ards seemed to indicate that cultivation in 

 some hoed crop was desirable for two or 

 three years, after which thin soils might be 

 seeded and pastured with sheep or weeded 

 and mulched, while deeper, richer soils 

 could either be managed this may or worked 

 in the regular rotation of field crops mulch- 

 ing always that the trees make a satisfactory 

 growth. Stark and Grimes' Golden were 

 proving satisfactory. 



Other Tree Fruits. Early Richmond, May 

 Duke, Large Montmorency and Dyehouse, 

 were recommended for sour Cherries, and 

 Gov. Wood, Black Tartarian, etc., among 

 sweet ones. 



European Plums were preferable to 

 native sorts. Peaches were proving very 

 profitable on Calamby Island, and the 

 general impression prevailed that prospects 

 were better than heretofore for the general 

 culture of them. 



The Champion Quince was pronounced 

 too late for Ohio. 



R. A. Kent says the Worden and Concord 

 are the leading varieties of Grapes in the 

 Cleveland Grape regions. Niagara was 

 also doing well. 



L. B. Pierce presented an illustrated 

 article showing the desirability of Ever- 

 green screens and windbreaks in adding to 

 the appearance and comfort of the home. 

 Adjourned to meet ;at the Experiment 

 Station at Columbus, June 9th, 1890. 



