396 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 449. 



rior walls. The seeds are useless for food, and the fewer and 

 smaller they are the better. But we can have no pulp without 

 seeds, and it is the pulp, not the partition-walls or flesh, which 

 gives quality to the fruit. If each seed was in a cavity by 

 itself and surrounded by pulp this would be the most favorable 

 structure for the highest quality. Tomatoes in which the 

 interior is broken up into many cells are desirable rather than 

 because of the thick partition-walls or flesh. Again, it is 

 usually the case that the thicker and more solid the pulp the 

 better the flavor. Thin pulp is always acid and harsh in flavor. 



The interior, then, of the ideal tomato should be made up 

 of a great many cells separated by thin — not thick and fleshy — 

 partition walls, and filled with thick pulp surrounding small 

 seeds, only the outer walls being thick. There should be no 

 core or hard centre, and, above all, the flavor should be a rich, 

 mild, fruit-like acid or subacid ; there is a great difference in 

 varieties in this most important quality. Usually the skin is 

 removed before the fruit is used, and this can be most easily 

 done from a perfectly smooth, globular fruit. But a somewhat 

 flattened globe or an oval-shaped fruit is far more attractive, 

 and, if perfectly smooth, it is practically as easily prepared for 

 use. The stem of a tomato is set in a basin, and the deeper 

 this is the greater the likelihood of the fruit having the objec- 

 tionable hard centre or core, so that in the perfect tomato it 

 should be as shallow as possible. As to color, depth and bril- 

 liancy, evenness ot distribution both on the surface and 

 through the pulp and flesh, and its permanency in cooking, 

 are important characteristics. The color, whether purple, deep 

 red or yellow-red, is of itself a matter of taste. I have never 

 seen a purple tomato in which the flavor was first-class, it 

 always having a sharp, harsh, metallic-like acid taste far infe- 

 rior to the rich fruit-like acid of the red sorts. For this reason 

 I think the ideal tomato will be a red one. 



A tomato is always at its best as to quality when it is fully 

 ripened on the plant. It may look as well, or even better, if 

 picked before fully ripe and ripened off the vine, but such 

 fruit lacks in quality. To have the best canned tomatoes, fully 

 ripe fruit should be sealed up in the cans within three hours 

 of gathering. There is no fruit in which the highest flavor is 

 more quickly lost, and if housekeepers will try the experiment 

 of putting up perfectly ripe and fresh fruit of a fine-llavored 

 variety, they will appreciate the advantage over partially ripe 

 fruit which has been off the vines tor days. 



Detroit, Michigan. Will. W. Tracy. 



The Mills Grape. 



AMONG the one hundred and sixty-seven varieties of Grapes 

 in the Station vineyard here, none is more interesting 

 than the one named Mills, and said to have been produced by 

 crossing Muscat Hamburg and Creveling. As Creveling, 

 though of uncertain origin, undoubtedly contains some Vin- 

 ifera blood, this would make Mills more than half Vinifera, 

 which its characters amply attest. It is distinctly tender in this 

 climate and needs winter protection when the weather is at all 

 severe; besides which it is an easy prey to black-rot and mil- 

 dew, unless protected from them by spraying. With these 

 precautions, however, the vine is a moderately strong grower 

 and the foliage quite handsome. 



But the most peculiar characteristics of the variety are found 

 in the fruit. The bunches are large, compact and quite heavily 

 shouldered; berry large, slightly oval, jet-black and covered 

 with a thick bloom ; flesh very meaty but juicy, with a sprightly 

 flavor, and the skin so thick and tough that the bunches may 

 be roughly handled without injury. Indeed, the skin is so 

 tough that it is quite difficult to bite through it, and the berries 

 adhere to the peduncle with corresponding tenacity. The 

 seeds are large, with elongated beaks, and the chalaza near the 

 end, as is characteristic of Vinifera hybrids. While it ripens 

 soon after Concord, its season is much longer, and it will 

 remain on the vine in the fall, protected only by a common 

 manilla sack, until freezing weather, and is then at its best. 



Although it will probably never take rank as a market sort, 

 its peculiar characters, delightful flavor and keeping qualities 

 should recommend it for amateur collections. 



Manhattan Agricultural Exp. Station, Kansas. F. C. Sears. 



Rose Gardens for America. 



I HAVE read Mr. Watson's description of Mr. Robinson's 

 garden of Tea Roses and I agree with the editorial note 

 that no single plant can take the place of a Rose in furnishing 

 flowers continuously all summer long. To the question 

 whether we can have a Rose garden like this in America I 

 answer yes, and no. 



America is a large country, and south of the Ohio and in the 

 Pacific states there are thousands of localities where bedding 

 Roses luxuriate, but in our northern and central states it is 

 not every garden, by any means, that will grow Roses, though 

 a little thought as to situation, protection and soil will often 

 show the enthusiastic rosarian a "rose-pocket" which would 

 have escaped the eve of the ordinary flower grower. Good 

 drainage under a Rose bed is an absolute necessity ; the soil 

 should be a rich clay; and in our hot, dry summers a good 

 mulch, preferably of old strawy manure, must be supplied if 

 we would have growth and bloom ; without the mulch and a 

 free application of water, our Rose-plants will simply stand 

 still and wait for cooler weather. 



Our north-central stales this year have enjoyed a summer 

 long to be remembered ; rain has fallen every few days, and 

 it has been a delight to watch the smiling response of the flow- 

 ers. Those who were fortunate enough to have planted Roses 

 this season have been bountifully rewarded with rapid growth 

 and an abundance of bloom, and the strong, stocky growths 

 assure us of continuous bloom till frost. 



Now, can we keep these bushes over for another year, and 

 are they preferable to young, fresh plants ? They are decidedly 

 to be preferred to young stock, and good bedding varieties can 

 be protected with proper care. The most perfect protection 

 that I have ever seen used is a stiip of sod set on edge in cir- 

 cular-wall shape about the plant, leaving an enclosure about 

 one foot in diameter ; turn the grassy side out and fill in the 

 enclosure about the stems with loose soil. This wili not injure 

 the stems, as straw, leaves and other coverings are apt to do 

 if the winter proves a wet one. Prune away the dead wood in 

 the spring and you have a strong, stocky bush ready to begin 

 work. 



The hybrid Teas having a preponderance of Tea blood are 

 the American Rose growers' surest (riends, for in them we 

 have strength and hardiness combined with perfect freedom 

 in bloom ; this will keep our matchless La France and its near 

 relatives, Augustine Guinoisseau (white), Duchess of Albany 

 (red), Madame Veysset (striped), all of which are now becom- 

 ing numerous, quite at the head of the list of outdoor Roses. 

 Our experience with Belle Siebrecht and Kaiserin Augusta 

 Victoria marks them as close followers, while Grace Darling, 

 one of the finest Roses extant and showing little trace of hybrid 

 blood, will charm every beholder. We would complete the 

 list with pure Teas, as follows: Papa Gontier, F.toile de Lyon, 

 Marie Van Houtte, Madame Joseph Schwartz, Maman Cochet, 

 Comtesse de Labarthe, Madame Welche and Mrs. Pierpont 

 Morgan, the last abundantly worthy of a trial in the garden ; 

 anil all the while we are grieving tor a score of other rarest 

 beauties which any "list of twelve best bedders " must 

 naturally exclude. 



Chicago, ill. E. J. Hill. 



Rattlesnake Plantains. 



■\A7"ATK[N'S GLEN is a beautiful and somewhat famous 

 * * gorge situated at the head of Seneca Lake, New York. 

 The flora in the dark and moist places is for the most part, of 

 course, limited to a few species of Ferns and Mosses, which 

 grow luxuriantly. After a time the eye tires of the sameness, 

 and one longs for a bit of color to liven the sombre green. 

 On a recent visit to the Glen, after I had become tired with the 

 continuous climbing, I was delighted to see a tiny spray of 

 delicate white flowers in the midst of a bed of Moss which 

 grew on a ledge of rock at my side. A glance showed that it 

 belonged to the Orchid family, and I carefully lifted my 

 treasure, packed it in moss in the lunch-basket and carried it 

 home. The next morning it was transferred, together with the 

 moss in which it grew, to a small pot. Though this was over 

 three weeks ago, the scape still retains its flowers nearly as 

 fresh as when it was first found, and the buds at the end have 

 matured. Evidently the plant is as much at home as it was in 

 its natural state. 



The little plant is one of the Rattlesnake Plantains, Goodyera 

 repens, the smallest species of the three which grow wild in 

 this region. The few small leaves cluster at the base of the 

 plant and the scape arises from the centre of the cluster. The 

 largest of the leaves of this specimen are not more than an 

 inch and a half long by three-fourths of an inch broad ; the 

 upper surface is beautifully reticulated with white, and this, 

 no doubt, gave rise to the snaky part of the common name, 

 while the shape of the leaves at once suggests a miniature 

 plantain. The bracted scape is about six inches long, bend- 

 ing slightly in a graceful curve, on one side of which the flow- 

 ers are loosely arranged. The flowers are pure white, tiny 

 almost to insignificance, yet beautiful in their simplicity. G. 

 pubescens is considerably larger in all its parts, with leaves 



