1870. 



2?EW ENGLAOT) FARMER. 



473 



TRIAL OF VEGETABLES, &c. 



A part of the grounds of the Michigan Ag- 

 ricultural College is used for experiments, 

 where numerous varieties of any vegetables 

 are planted under like circumstances, and cul- 

 tivated in the same manner. This affords 

 students and others an opportunity of compar- 

 ing the growth of different kinds of garden 

 vegetables, «fec., imder like conditions. 



A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer 

 furnishes a statement of this year's experiments 

 from which we condense the following : — 



Onions. — There are eight varieties. The 

 large yellow Danvers. is liked best on account 

 of color. The red Wethersfield yields best. 

 The soil is gravelly, deeply subsoiled, and 

 thoroughly drained, plenty of rich manure 

 ploughed in, and leached ashes on the surface 

 in spring. They yield at the rate of six hun- 

 dred and twenty bushels to the acre. Such 

 culture will produce large crops most cer- 

 tainly, be the season wet or dry. 



Tomatoes. — They are raising forty-one va- 

 rieties this year, a variety of their own origin- 

 ating is preferred. 



Beets. — They have ten varieties. The best 

 early is dark red Egyptian ; best winter is 

 new rough skinned or bark skinned. For 

 market, later, the best is Long Smooth Blood. 



Potatoe'i. — Eighty-one varieties. The early 

 Shaw is the earliest variety that is reliable. 

 Early Goodrich has sometimes rotted a little, 

 and does not always yield well. The early 

 Rose is the first to produce potatoes of good 

 size suitable for market, though the quality is 

 inferior to early Shaw. They are trying seeds 

 of wild species from Mexico and Quito. 



Peas. — Ten or twelve varieties. Best early 

 Terry & Go's Extra early, later, the best are 

 "Little Gem" and "Champion of England.'" 



Sweet Corn. — Ten or twelve varieties. 

 Farmer's Club the tenderest; the Mexican, 

 sweetest. 



Lettuce — Fifteen varieties. For early, the 

 best is Early Curled Simp<on ; for late, Per- 

 sian Curled Crumpled Leaf. Some others 

 grow larger and might suit better for market, 

 but they are tougher and coarser, as the Large 

 India or Giant White Cos. 



Squashes. — Nine varieties. For fall use, 

 Boston Marrow and American Turban ; for 

 winter, Hubbard ; for late winter, Canada 

 Crook Neck, as it keeps well. 



Celery. — Six varieties are raised. For 

 early. Early Wyman ; for late, Seymour's Su- 

 perb White. 



Cabb'/ges. — They have thirty-two varieties. 

 For early. Early Wyman is recommended; 

 for late, premium Flat Dutch and Winning- 

 stadt. The Stone Mason is of good quality, 

 sure to head, and is easily managed. 



Beans. — Thirty-one varieties of string 

 beans. For early string select Bagnolet. 



For shelling early. Royal Dwarf and German 

 Wax : Shelling later. Winter Marrowfat and 

 Red Eyed China. Ten to twelve varieties of 

 pole beans are raised, of which the best are 

 Dutch Case Knife or Giant Wax Podded. 



HAH VESTING AND BALING HOPS. 



Much care is required to prepare the crop 

 for market. The first is clean picking; the 

 next is to have them fresh when they are put 

 in the kiln, as they will heat in sack^, if 

 crowded, in four hours in hot weather. If 

 sacked in the fore part of the day, but one 

 box should be put in a sack, the sack spread 

 its entire length on the ground, and no pres- 

 sure allowed on them. When they are put on 

 the kiln floor they should be spread evenly, 

 and a fire put under them at once, and the 

 heat raised to about 180° Fahrenheit, and re- 

 main there four or five hours, when the hops 

 next the floor will begin to dry ; then the heat 

 should be slowly reduced to about 160°. When 

 dry eno'ugh to turn, which is when the top 

 hops have commenced to get dry, so that they 

 are getting lighter, they should be carefully 

 turned over. 



The sulphur should be used (the first of the 

 season) at the rate of about one and a half 

 pounds to forty boxes ; but during the last of 

 the season the amount should be increased, as 

 then the hops are not as bright. In using sul- 

 phur the steam should be well started on the 

 hops first, so that they are quite damp ; then 

 it shouJd all be burnt at once on the stove in a 

 large dish like a dripping pan, that it may 

 burn quick, so that the fumes may be forced 

 through the hops at once. 



After turning the hops, the heat should be 

 gradually reduced to about 130°, as they will 

 thereby be rendered tough, and no danger of 

 overdrjing or the lupulm being crystalized, 

 which renders it nearly worthless. After 

 being dried so that at least seven-eighths of 

 the stems on the inside of the hops are entire- 

 ly dry, they may be shoved from the kiln to 

 the cooling floor, and from there (when an- 

 other kMn full IS ready) to the store-room. 



In baling, care should be taken that the 

 corners and outside are well packed in the 

 press, that the bale be of good shape, the sew- 

 ing well done, and the selvage edges just 

 drawn together, so that the bale will al'l ^■e of 

 a size. When compltted the name or initials 

 of the grower should always be put on the top 

 or bottom side of the bale, so that when stand- 

 ing up it can always be seen. One thing 

 every hop grower should remember — that his 

 hops are always made or spoiled after they 

 are ready to harvest. — Rural New Yorker. 



Poisox Pipes. — The Boston Journal of 

 Chemisiry cautions the public against She use 

 of galvanized iron pipes, and says instances 

 of severe poisoning have occurred in conse- 

 quence of using them. 



