326 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 1906 



Fig. 4. MiKado, the central specimen, an odd- 

 shaped variety from Japan; and the Cherry type 

 which comes in red, orange and yellow 



Fig. 5. Red Chili, fruits borne singly; and Red 

 Cluater, with bright red, curiously twisted fruits. Two 

 best of this type. Very strong 



Fig. 6. Cayenne, the best pepper for seasoning. 

 Other varieties of this type are purple, yellow and 

 brown; the red is the best Known 



yellow peppers are as good as the bright red 

 ones, but for some reason are not as popular. 



SMALL FRUITED AND ORNAMENTAL PEPPERS 



As a general rule, the smaller a pepper is 

 in size, the hotter and more pungent is the 

 flesh. With us in the Northern states the 

 small fruited varieties are chiefly grown for 

 flavoring, or for using in mixed pickles, and 

 a few varieties have been grown by florists 

 for sale during the early winter, as decorative 

 pot plants. The further south we travel the 

 more general the use of these small, hot 

 peppers becomes, and in Mexico, and other 

 Spanish-American countries they form an 

 ingredient of almost every dish prepared for 

 the table. These very hot peppers have a 

 longer season of growth before ripening 

 their fruits than do our larger varieties and 

 even with very early started plants only a few 

 of the numerous fruits ripen before frost. 



The Birdseye, or Creole pepper (Fig. 8) 

 makes a spreading bush about eighteen inches 

 in height and breadth, with slender branches, 

 and small foliage, bearing hundreds of small 

 round, or slightly elongated fruits, 



The famous tobasco sauce is made from a 

 variety bearing that name (Fig.8). " This 

 variety grows about three feet high, and is 

 immensely productive, but will not ripen in 

 this vicinity. We have however a small 

 dwarf bush variety, called the Coral Gem. 

 which grows only twelve inches high, and 

 sets small slender fruits in great profusion, 

 and ripens early. The Coral Gem makes 

 a beautiful pot plant, and the small, intensely 

 hot fruits are very useful for seasoning. 



Another type of the small, hot peppers is 

 shown in Fig. 5, the best of which are the 

 Red Cluster and Red Chili, the first having 

 clusters of slender bright scarlet fruits, two 

 inches long, and curiously twisted, while on 

 the Red Chili the long slender fruits come 

 singly, and are slightly larger. 



These small, slender peppers and the 

 Coral Gem, are the best types to grow for 



seasoning in this section, as they bear pro- 

 fusely, and ripen before frost. The fruits 

 are so hot or pungent that two or three of the 

 small peppers are sufficient to season and 

 flavor a large pot of soup. To keep them 

 for winter use, the bushes, with the fruit 

 attached, may be cut off in the fall, and 

 hung in a cool room to dry, or the ripe 

 fruits may be gathered, and strung on stout 

 threads, to dry. 



The largest of the peppers for seasoning is 

 the Cayenne shown in Fig. 6 and while the best 

 known variety has bright red fruits, there 

 are others which have fruits of the same size 

 and form, but deep purple, yellow or brown 

 in color. Two varieties from Japan the Cel- 

 estial and Kaleidoscope (Fig. 9) are of com- 

 pact bushy growth, and bear a profusion of 

 fruits an inch to an inch and a half in length, 

 which pass through various shades of cream 

 and yellow before turning to a bright scarlet. 

 These are the varieties which have lately 

 been quite largely grown as pot-plants for 

 early winter sale, the bright green leaves and 

 variously colored fruits being very showy. 

 They are distinct in that the Celestial is 

 quite stiffly erect or bushy in growth, while 

 the Kaleidoscope is more open and spreading, 

 with fruits slightly smaller in size. 



In Fig. 4 the centre specimen shows the odd, 

 flattened shaped variety called the Mikado 

 which originally came from Japan, while 

 the outer specimens are the so-called "Cherry 

 peppers, " measuring from one half to one 

 inch in diameter, and which may be had in 

 different shades of red, orange and yellow, in 

 different varieties. 



HOW TO GROW QUALITY PEPPERS 



Plant in a rich, light, well drained but 

 moist soil in order that they may make a 

 rapid growth. The slightest check is bad. 



To have plants of suitable size for planting 

 out at the proper time, sow the seed in a 

 warm greenhouse or hotbed early in February 

 using a very rich, light compost. Old 

 rotted manure from the bottom of a hotbed, 

 or from the bottom of a manure heap, thor- 

 oughly dried, and sifted through the ordinary 

 ash sieve, either alone, or mixed with one- 

 half its bulk of good fibrous loam, makes 

 the best medium in which to plant the seed, 

 and forward the growth of the young plants. 

 I have found that where rotten manure can 

 be gathered and stored in boxes or barrels 

 under shelter for several months, it makes 

 the best compost for starting young plants. 



Fig. 8. Tabasco, the centre specimen, does not 

 ripen well in the North. It is the hottest variety. 

 Outer fruits Birds-eye or Creole, a very prolific sort 



Fig. 9. Celestial and Kaleidoscope. The fruits 

 turn from cream to yellow and then red— grown by 

 florists as decorative plants 



Fig. 7. Golden Dawn, a yellow variety. This 

 and Golden Queen (larger and later) are as good as 

 the large fruited, red varieties, but not as popular 



Fig. 10. Small red, seedy peppers of this type 

 require a longer season of growth than do the larger 

 meatier sorts and are very pungent 



The spent manure from a mushroom bed 

 is also excellent for this purpose. 



As soon as the young plants are well es- 

 tablished in the seed bed, and show two or 

 three true leaves, they should be transplanted 

 into small flower pots, or hotbeds, freshly 

 filled with rich compost, the plants to stand 

 three to four inches apart each way. If 

 grown in pots, or boxes, they should be 

 again transplanted as they grow or the pots 

 moved farther apart, as crowding the young 

 plants delays fruiting and diminishes the 

 amount produced. 



WAIT FOR WARM WEATHER 



When the weather is warm enough to set 

 the peppers in the open ground (which will 

 not be until the thermometer stands at 

 6o° through the night and all danger of 

 frost is past), the first blossoms should be 

 showing. 



When setting the plants in the open ground, 

 place a shovelful of well rotted manure in the 

 hill where the pepper plant is to stand, to 

 help make a strong, rapid growth in the 

 plant and fruit. A few well fed and well 

 grown plants, ripening smooth large fruits 

 early in the season, will be more profitable 

 than a larger number grown slowly in poor 

 soil, which would give only a small quantity 

 of fruit before being killed by frost in the 

 fall.' 



On light sandy soil, it is customary to plant 

 the peppers in low ground, where the soil is 

 mofe or less peaty in character, and retains 

 moisture; but in heavier, clay loams, plant 

 the p'eppers on elevated, well drained land, 

 or on raised hills or ridges, or the plants will 

 make too large a growth of foliage, and will 

 be correspondingly later in fruiting. 



Picking the large fruited sorts begins as 

 soon as the fruits reach good size, whether 

 they are green, or well colored. For the 

 home garden a dozen or fifteen well-grown 

 plants of one of the large fruited sorts will 

 give an ample supply for the average family. 



