40 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



September, 1917 



Chinese Cabbage. — The one difficulty in 

 the growing of pe-tsai or Chinese cabbage is 

 found in its exasperating tendency to go to 

 seed before making heads of edible size. Often- 

 times the only way to obtain a good crop is to 



Chinese cabbage, pe-tsai, is a useful summer salad 



sow the seed as late as early July. Fortun- 

 ately this vegetable makes rapid growth, but 

 it is desirable for the table in midsummer, 

 when lettuce is not at its best. It has been 

 my experience that there is wide variation in 

 the different strains of Chinese cabbage. That 

 which I planted last year early in the spring 

 gave a summer crop that bothered me but 

 little by seeding. This year's seed from an- 

 other source was very much less satisfactory. 

 I believe that the way to have pe-tsai when we 

 want it is to save seed from chosen plants 

 which head up well and early and to continue 

 the process of selection until a good strain is 

 obtained. This is an excellent vegetable and 

 rapidly growing in popularity among people 

 who are fond of salad plants. Eaten with 

 sugar like lettuce it is delicious. Some 



New hybrid Tree Peony, La Lorraine, which has flowers of 

 rich yellow, maroon red at centre 



of the greenhouse men are considering the 

 commercial growing of Chinese cabbage under 

 glass in winter, and last season one of the 

 fancy grocery stores in Boston was selling it 

 until well into the winter. — E. I. Farrington, 

 Mass. 



Canning Kohl-Rabi. — My experiences in 

 canning kohl-rabi may be of some value 

 now that the cry is "can all you can." I found 

 kohl-rabi a very welcome change from the 

 commoner vegetables during the winter. As 

 an experiment I tried a few cans, using only 

 small "roots," about two and one half inches in 

 diameter. They matured to this size in about 

 eight weeks. If left too long they become 

 hard and stringy. One advantage in growing 

 them for canning is that they may be planted 

 closer because they are picked before they begin 

 to crowd. I plant the seed in drills one foot 

 apart and about four inches apart in the rows. 

 In canning I generally quarter the kohl-rabi, 

 but some of the smallest I put in whole. I place 

 them in a muslin bag in boiling water. After 

 ten minutes I dash them into cold water in 

 order to shrink them. Even the small shrink- 

 age which they undergo helps to make the cans 

 full when the process is finished. Then I fill 

 the cans or jars, packing in the pieces as 

 solidly as possible. A teaspoonful of salt is 

 put on top and hot water poured over it until 

 the can is full, up to half an inch of the top. 

 This both dissolves the salt and distributes it 

 evenly throughout the can or jar. Then the 

 cover is soldered on in the case of the can or the 

 cover of the .jar is laid on. The small centre 

 hole of the tin can cap is left open, and the 

 jar tops are only fastened lightly if at all. The 

 cans are placed in the boiler with the water up 

 to an inch of the top on the outside of the jars 

 or cans and they are boiled for two hours. 

 They are then taken out and the small centre 

 hole is sealed and the cans are put back. If 

 working with jars it is best to keep them in the 

 water while clamping down the tight clamp, as 

 a draft of air might crack the glass. The cans 

 -md jars are now totally immersed and boiled 

 for two hours more. Then let them cool 

 standing in the boiler as the water cools. I 

 have also canned kohl-rabi and carrots to- 

 gether and found that the peculiar combi- 

 nation of cabbage and turnip taste in the 

 kohl-rabi makes a pleasing addition to the car- 

 rot flavor. — Curtis Fisher Day, Somerville, 

 Mass. 



A Yellow Tree Peony. — The accompanying 

 illustration shows the yellow Tree Peony, La 

 Lorraine, raised by Lemoine from P. lutea 

 and P. Moutan, and of which a few plants 

 are being grown by two or three prominent 

 Peony growers of America. It was shown in 

 splendid form at the recent exhibition at Phila- 

 delphia by Mr. Farr; Mr. Havemeyer has dis- 

 played it before the Horticultural Society of 

 New York. The color is rich creamy yellow, 

 with maroon red blotch at the base. Stems 

 strong and woody. Foliage like the ordinary 

 Tree Peony with purple on the midrib and pe- 

 tiole. It flowered for the first time in 1 904, and 

 has received numerous awards since — Paris, 

 1909, Ghent 1913, London 1913. The plant is 

 apparently hardy. Our photograph was made 

 at Rochester, N. Y., in June last. — L. B. 



A Broomstick Scratcher. — The days of 

 backache are here! The first fine ecstasy 

 of beginning our gardens is over, and now the 

 weeds crop up and the soil bakes and cracks. 

 Any woman who isn't accustomed to using the 

 ordinary garden tools finds them heavy and 



cumbersome, and she is hunting for something 

 lighter to break up the crust of the hard baked 

 soil. The only thing on the market seems to 

 be a little short handled cast iron scratcher 

 that you have to get down on your hands and 

 knees to use — a back breaking process. 



There is, however, a very efficient little 

 scratcher that any one with a little mechanical 

 ability can make out of an old broomstick and 

 a few feet of wire that will do more to lighten 

 the drudgery of caring for a garden than any- 

 thing else I know of. Mr. Harold Hume, of 

 Glen St. Mary's, Florida, was the first one so 

 far as I know to make one of these broomstick 

 scratchers. In the light soil of Florida his 

 little "Chinese garden" as he called it (that 

 supplied all his vegetables), was cared for en- 

 tirely with a little tool of this character. After 

 seeing Mr. Hume's tool, Mr. Fairchild went to 

 work and made a lot of them for our own use 

 and for our friends, and we couldn't get along 

 without them now. The teeth of this little cul- 

 tivator are made of pieces of heavy wire bent 







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The "broomstick scratcher," easily made, is an effective 

 lightweight tool 



like the teeth of a rake, but there are only 

 three of them and they are much longer and 

 farther apart so that one can scratch all around 

 and even over little plants. The teeth are held 

 together either with some solder or else by 

 twisting a finer piece of wire around them. 

 This makes a tool much like the hand culti- 

 vator to be had at any store, only it is larger 

 and much lighter in weight. The whole is then 

 attached to the handle of an outworn broom. 

 The completed tool is so light and so 

 effective that it really is a pleasure to use it. 

 It won't take out big weeds, those you will still 

 have to pull out by hand, but if you use this 

 little cultivator often enough the weeds won't 

 have much chance to grow. The ground 

 won't bake hard either if it is often stirred and 

 the moisture will be kept in the soil. 



When you have made one of these broom- 

 stick scratchers, as we call them, and have 

 found out what a real help it is, make a few 



