1 886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



39 



Two Promising Apples. 



The Yellow Transparent. This turns 

 out to be the very earlist Summei' Apple now 

 in oultivation. (hi such a statement one is 

 naturally disposed to corapaie it with that 

 universal favorite, the Early Harvest. By all 

 accounts that have come to us it is not only 

 declared to be decidedly earlier than that early 



A year ago now, at the American Pomologi- 

 cal Society, Professor Budd of Iowa, said of the 

 Salome, " I have been watching it for eighteen 

 years. It is a good keeper and grower. It is 

 fairly haidy — more so than Ben Davis, but not 

 so hardy as Fameuse. Its season in the cen- 

 tral part of Iowa is from January to March. 

 It is of better quality than Ben Davis, but 

 not as large, — not larger than a well- 

 grown Winesap." 



The Salome is an early and good 

 bearer annually, but more abundant 

 on alternate years. A chief peculiar- 

 ity of this variety is the tenacity 

 with which the fruit sticks to the 

 tree; a wind sufficiently strong to 

 strew the ground with most other 

 sorts hardly affects this one. 



FRUIT OF THE YELLOW TRANSPARENT APPLE. 



variety, butsuperior in quality and appearence. 

 It is ripe nearly two weeks earlier than the 

 Red Astrachan, and not far from the same 

 time ahead of the Tetofsky. 



What serves to draw special attention to this 

 variety is the fact that it is of Russian origin, 

 now that there is so much stir about Russian 

 fruits. It was imported from St. Petersburg 

 in 1870, by William Saunders of the Depai't- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington. It is as 

 hardy as the Oldenburg (Duchess of), another 

 valuable Russian sort now well known, and 

 the indications are that it will, like that sort, 

 be adapted to a wide range of our country, 

 and be of especial worth in the Western and 

 Northwestern States. 



The fruit of the Yellow Transparent is of 

 medium size, with a clear white skin, that 

 changes to a beautiful pale .yellow, somewhat 

 sprinkled with light and greenish dots when ■ 

 fully ripe. Flesh white, tender, juicy, sprightly 

 and sub-acid and undoubtedly the best early 

 Apple. As a shipping fruit it is not surpassed 

 among early varieties. 



The tree, besides being of marked hardiness 

 is fairly vigoixius, bears young and produces 

 good crops annually. 



For the engraving we print herewith we are 

 indebted to E. Y. Teas, Dunreith, Ind. 



The Salome. This late-keeping Winter 

 Apple, now attracting so much favorable atten- 

 tion, especially throughtout the West, origin- 

 ated in Illinois some thii-ty years ago. Its 

 chief characteristics are hardiness, vigor of the 

 tree (although of moderate growth, owing to 

 its great liearing proclivities), productiveness, 

 uniformity in producing fine fruit and its good 

 keeping qualities. 



As eai-ly as 1879 the Illinois State Horticul- 

 tural Society reported as follows on this variety : 

 It is entirely hardy, bears large crops of fruit, 

 which is all lai'ge and fair, and of excellent 

 quality, having a peculiai', and to nearly all 

 tastes, agreeable, slightly sub-acid and spicy 

 flavor; color yellow, nearly overspread with 

 red. It keeps as long as it is desirable to keep 

 any Apple, having been kept in a tight barrel, 

 entirely sound, for a whole year. A most val- 

 uable characteristic of this fi-uit is, that it 

 lipens into flue condition in winter, and re- 

 mains fresh, plump and juicy until summer, 

 retaining its flavor till final consumption. Is 

 not this " the coim'ng Apple " for prai rie lauds ? 



Do You Grow Okra? 



Throughout our Southern States in 

 almost every garden may be met a 

 useful and delicious vegetable that is 

 rarely seen elsewhere, if we except 

 some countries yet beyond our South- 

 ern boundary. We refer to the Okra 

 plant and its product. True, in some 

 of the market gardens of the North, 

 and here and there in private gar- 

 dens, this same vegetable ma}' be 

 seen, but aside from this the plant is 

 little known by the mass of Northern 

 people. Across the water, and in 

 England especially, it is not so much 

 as named in the catalogues and books 

 devoted to seeds and vegetables. 



Okra, one variety of which is shown in 

 the engraving herewith, is an Ameiican plant. 

 It is an annual, native to the West Indies and 

 Central America. Although naturally liking 

 warmth, it succeeds wherever the Lima and 

 other pole Beans can be grown. It is, in fact, 

 one of our easiest-raised vegetables. The parts 

 used for food are the large pods, which are 

 shown in the engraving. They ai'e very whole- 

 some, quite nutritious, very mucilaginous and 

 impart an agreeable richness to soups and 

 stews. The tender pods are also simply boiled 

 in water, seasoning with salt, pepper and butter. 

 In the Southern States Okra also enters as 

 one ingredient in a very popular dish called 

 gumbo. This is made by boiling beef, chicken 

 or other meat until it readily parts from the 

 bone. Then it is taken from the water, chopped 

 like mince-meat, and afterwards returned to 

 the pot, adding to it new young Okra pods cut 

 thinly crosswise and simmered for an hour, 

 seasoning it to the taste. So generally is Okra 

 used in making gumbo (not always, however) 

 that the name of this soup is now very widely 

 but incorrectly applied to the vegetable. Even 

 our seedsmen in their catalogues, and some 

 authors fall into this mistake of speaking of 

 " Oki-a or gumbo" in referring to the vegeta- 

 ble, as if the names were synonymous. 



Oki-a, like the Bean, does best in a warm, dry 

 soil. It is a detriment to have this over-rich, 

 the pods on such being neither so pleasant or 

 so early. It should be sown the same time as 

 the Bean, putting the seeds in drills two 

 and a half feet apart for the dwai-f, and a foot 

 fai'ther for the taU sorts. The plants should 

 stand about one foot apart in the row. The 

 dwarf variety is usually prefen-ed to the tall. 

 When the plants are well up, hoe carefully, hill- 

 ing them up somewhat, as is done with Lima 

 Beans. An ounce of seed should be enough 

 to furnish a supply of Okra for one family's use. 

 The pods of Okra are gathered for use when 

 so young and tender that they snap readily in 

 the fingei-s. If they will not break they are 

 past their time of usefulness. The pods can lie 

 preserved for winter use in brine the same as 

 Cucumbers, or by cutting them in thin pieces 

 and drying like fruit. Fresh Okra, Tomatoes 

 and Green Com, in equal parts, seasoned with 

 butter, pepper and salt, and baked for about 

 two hours, is a favorite Southera dish. This 



vegetable should not be cooked in iron uten- 

 sils, as these will turn it black. 



Mention has been made of the mucilaginous 

 properties of Okra. Botanically it belongs to 

 the Mallow family or MalvaceiB, a strong 

 family mark of which throughout is the abun- 

 dance of mucilage in the tissues. To this family 

 belongs the Hollyhock, Abutilon, Althea, Mal- 

 lows, Cotton and some other plants besides 

 Okra. Those who have eaten the fleshy parts 

 of Hollyhock flowers or the green carpel masses 

 of the low Mallow or " Cheeses," which every 

 child in the country well knows, can at once 

 recall the pleasing viscous quality present, and 

 which is so common also to Okra. 



The close relationship between the subject of 

 oursketch and the favorite plants named above 

 should aid in giving it a favorable introduction 

 to those unacquainted with its merits. 



A Righteous Retort. 



The good women of our land do not think 

 of denjang having had a part in promoting 

 the slaughter of birds for millinery purposes, 

 but as before remarked in these columns, it 

 was done through thoughtlessness, some one 

 else being guilty before them. In answer to 

 certain charges on this score the Woiiiiiv's 

 Jnurnal puts the following apt queries in de- 

 fence : "We should like to know; 1. Who 

 shoot the little innocent, singing birds? 2. 

 Who put them on the maj'ket, and tempt the 

 unthinking ladies to buy them? Not one wo- 

 man in a thousand would take the life of a bird 

 for self-adornment. But tastefully prepared 

 and offered for her approval she thoughtlessly 

 buys and wears the beautiful wings and 

 feathers of these little songsters. The demand 

 is created by the supply in this as in many 

 other cases. Let men desist from shooting, 

 and women will desist from buying." 



GeranI urns- Pelargonium s- 



The following from Robinson's Floirer 

 Garden is worth noting: "Our so-called 

 Geraniums are really Pi'lmyoniums. The num- 

 erous species of the genus are all, or neai'ly 

 all, natives of the Southern Hemisphere, or 



PLANT OF DWARF OKRA. 

 have orginated as hybrids or cross-bred varieties 

 produced in this or other European countri&s. 

 The true Geraniums, although allied, are 

 totally distinct. Geraniums being chiefly indi- 

 genous to the northern half of the globe, some 

 of them to England, a number to the United 

 States, and all of them hardij herbaceous 

 plants." To this may be added that the Pelar- 

 goniums are Storks'-bills, while the Geraniums 

 are Cranes'-bills, the latter being well-known 

 in their wild state under this name. As a 

 matter of curiosity it would be interesting to 

 know how and when this mistake of names arose. 



