EVERY WOMAN HER OWN FLOWER GARDENER. 123 



labor to grow the most choice kinds, I propose to give a selection of the 

 varieties which are the best for home culture. 



The seedsmen's catalogues present us with numerous varieties, which 

 appear quite bewildering, but I have long cared for home vegetables, and 

 have learned what are the most desirable for my table. 



In buying your seeds, do not depend upon those purchased from 

 peddlers' carts, or from country stores; they are not so certain to be pure 

 and fresh. Seeds from selected stocks are f*r superior to those gathered 

 at hap-hazard from fields and gardens. So be sure, and provide yourself 

 with a catalogue from a reliable source, and send thither for all you may 

 desire. 



Asparagus heads the list of early vegetables; it is almost the first 

 green thing to show itself in the spring. Conover's Colossal is very 

 superior to the common kinds ; it will frequently send up from twenty 

 to twenty-five stalks, as large as a man's thumb, from one plant. But it 

 requires high culture, and much room to do this. The plants should 

 be set three to four feet apart each way, and be thoroughly manured, 

 and salted in November. Early in March and April, the soil should be 

 stirred up with a three-pronged iron hand-fork. Thus treated, you can 

 grow Asparagus as fine as any seen in Fulton market, New York. 



Bus7i Beans. 



The Newington Wonder and the Refugee have been my dependence ; 

 but last season I tried the Dwarf Wax a waxen -ye How, stringless pod, 

 and consider it far ahead of any other kind for table use. It makes a 

 delicious dish nearly equal to green peas. Among Pole Beans, the 

 Lima is not surpassed by any other kind; but in northern New England 

 the summers are too short to grow it in perfection, so I substitute the 

 Dutch Case-knife, which is hardy and productive. Butter Beans are 

 also very good, making the best succotash of any kind of Bean. 



Giant Wax Beans will keep up the supply of string beans until frost 

 comes ; their waxy yellow, succulent pods, if stripped up in small bits, 

 and boiled two hours, will provide a most excellent dish for the table, 

 for many weeks. 



Beets. 



Early Flat Bassano has been the earliest variety grown; but the Dark 

 Red Egyptian Beet has proved to be ten days earlier than any other. 

 Its color is of the deepest red, and its flavor delicious. 



