198 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Unuaey, 1918 



duce at least a few heads, for fall and early 

 winter. 



Carrots. — Again size and shape determine 

 season of maturity and value of crop for 

 different purposes. French Forcing and 

 Gold Ball are of the small round type, but 

 very early. Oxheart is the largest of the 

 short blunt type. Chantenay is the most 

 popular half long, while Danvers is the 

 heaviest cropper of the half long type. Im- 

 proved Long Orange is the longest, but also 

 latest, and by far the best keeping winter 

 type. 



Cauliflower. — In the average home 

 garden, one variety of cauliflower will be 

 sufficient. For general purposes, the best 

 for early and late, is the short stemmed early 

 type (Early Snowball, Best Early). For a 

 longer season, Dry Weather planted at the 

 same time will come along after the varieties 

 mentioned. 



Celery. — Though there are a number of 

 quite distinct types of celery two of these will 

 cover the needs of the average garden. For 

 early, use one of the standard so-called "self 

 blanching" types (Golden Self Blanching, 

 White Plume). To follow this for late fall 

 and winter, either the dwarf growing winter 

 sorts, such as Easy Blanching or Columbia, 

 or Giant Pascal, of the late tall -type, will 

 prove useful. 



Cucumbers. — Any improved variety of 

 the White Spine type, such as Klondike, 

 Davis Perfect, from one planting made in 

 May and another in June should give plenty 

 of "cukes," large and small, until frost. If a 

 special quantity of small pickles is wanted, 

 one of the small fruiting varieties, like Boston 

 Pickling or Everbearing may be used in ad- 

 dition to the above. 



Lettuce. — All catalogues recognize three 

 distinct types, namely, the loose-leaf sorts, 

 that do not form heads, the head lettuce and 

 the Cos varieties. The gardener who never 

 grew lettuce before, should pin his faith 

 to the loose-leaf sorts because they are less 

 exacting in their cultural requirements than 

 the head lettuces. Both Black Seeded 

 Simpson and Prizehead form large bunches 

 of attractively curled leaves, where each plant 

 is given a foot of space in the row, to permit 

 of proper development. 



However, for real quality in lettuce we 

 have to look to the heading type of lettuce, 

 in which we find, as two divisions, the 

 Butterhead and the Crisphead. The former 

 is the most widely grown, the latter the 

 more reliable to grow during the summer 

 months. Among the Butterhead type, May 

 King is, perhaps, the best known early, 

 California Cream Butter the choice as a 

 second early, and All Seasons the most heat 

 resisting. 



"Crispheads" are so-called because of the 

 extreme brittleness of the leaves which have 

 very prominent midribs. These curve so 

 strongly to the centre that frequently the 

 head will rot or burst open on the side 

 before allowing the seed stalk to appear. 

 This type is the most valuable for mid- 

 summer, and Iceberg is the best known sort 

 for all sections. 



Though inclined to become bitter and 

 tough during the summer rrlonths, the value 

 of the Cos type as a means of securing a con- 

 stant supply of lettuce is just beginning to be 

 appreciated. Express or Eclipse Cos is a 

 small but very early variety, while Paris 

 White Cos is a later but very much larger sort. 



Melons. — -Don't make the mistake of 

 trying a dozen varieties, especially if you are 

 just beginning. One each of the green- 

 fleshed and the salmon-fleshed types, which 

 will ripen fairly early, should be enough for a 

 start. Rocky Ford — green-fleshed; and Emer- 

 ald Gem, or Hoodoo — salmon-fleshed, are two 

 reliable sorts. A new type of melon is Hender- 

 son's Bush which can be planted as close as 

 three feet apart each way, making the culti- 

 vation of this crop possible where otherwise 

 it could not be thought of, for lack of space. 



Corn. — The yellow type of sweet corn, 

 has increased so greatly in popularity during 

 the last few years that it bids fair to push 

 the white type into second place for home 

 garden use. Of the early yellow corns, 

 Golden Bantam is the original and still by 

 far the most popular. Second early and main 

 crop yellow corns are Sweet Orange, Golden 

 Cream, Goldenrod, and Golden Giant. Of 

 the white type, White Cob Cory, Metro- 

 politan, Early Minnesota, are reliable first 

 earlies. The second early are Howling Mob, 

 Aristocrat, Cosmopolitan. In the late type 

 of white corn, two sub-divisions are recognized 

 in sorts with straight rows and others with 

 kernels arranged in very irregular fashion. 

 The most popular of the last type is Country 

 Gentleman, while the straight rowed type is 

 represented by the "Evergreens," of which 

 Stowell's is the main stand-by in all sections. 



Onions. — Three types serve all purposes in 

 the average home garden. A mild, extra early 

 is White Queen. White Portugal is later, 

 but also a better keeper and grows larger. 

 The Yellow Danvers type is perhaps the 

 best all-round. The red type, of which South- 

 port Red Globe and Red Wethersfield are 

 the best known, is the latest to ripen, and 

 the product keeps particularly well. In 

 addition to the seeds sown, for earliest 

 results, "sets" of white, yellow or red onions 

 may be set out as soon as some of the ground 

 may be worked in the spring. 



Peas. — The first thing to decide about 

 your peas is whether you are going to brush 

 them or not. The dwarf sorts are the easier 

 to grow and require less room, but do not 

 yield as heavily nor for as long a season as 

 the tall sorts. With the increased difficulty 

 of getting brush or wire, the dwarf sorts are 

 gaining in popularity. The smooth-seeded type 

 of which Extra Early and Alaska are the best 

 known, is the hardiest. But plant only 

 enough of these for the first pickings, as the 

 wrinkled peas, though they cannot be planted 

 quite so early, will mature almost as quickly 

 and will be found superior of flavor, besides 

 being easier to shell. The dwarf early wrin- 

 kled type (Little Marvel, Thomas Laxton 

 and Sutton's Excelsior), may be followed by 

 the medium or late dwarf (Dwarf Champion, 

 Carter's Daisy, British Wonder). Or these 

 early wrinkled may be followed by the 

 second early and late tall growing type, of 

 which such sorts as Alderman, Telephone or 

 Unrivalled give general satisfaction. Order 

 enough seeds to be able to plant again in 

 August, using an early variety for a fall crop. 



Peppers. — Two types, an extra early (Nea- 

 politan, Sweet Upright), and a medium main 

 crop (Ruby King and Ruby Giant), will serve 

 all requirements. The large, very late peppers 

 (Chinese Giant) require a very long season 

 to mature a good percentage of the fruits. 



Radish. — There are three general types 



which may be classed as spring, summer and 

 winter. For spring use the small, round, rapid 

 growing sorts, like Scarlet Globe or Rapid 

 Red, are the most widely grown. Crimson 

 Giant Globe, is a large.r growing sort of this 

 type. Among the long type of early radishes, 

 Long Scarlet Short Top and Icicle lead all 

 others in general usefulness. Icicle especially 

 is stamped by popular approval to be the best 

 all-round, general purpose white long radish 

 for the home garden everywhere. 



The summer type of radish grows much 

 larger, but requires also a longer growing 

 period to reach good size. Chartier or 

 Shepherd may be considered the connecting 

 link between the early long red sorts and the 

 summer sorts. Of these, White Stuttgart is 

 a popular, large, top-shaped sort of dependable 

 qualities. 



Among winter radishes, the European and 

 Asiatic types compete for popular favor. 

 Round, Half Long and Long Black Spanish 

 have by far the finest flesh and keep all 

 winter. White Chinese and China Rose 

 grow very much larger, have more brittle 

 flesh, are milder but do not keep so well. 

 The winter type of radish should not be sown 

 until July, for winter use. 



Spinach. — Either Long Season or Victoria 

 mature quickly and go to seed quickly 

 during warm weather. New Zealand 

 "spinach" is an entirely different plant, but 

 furnishes "greens" similar to spinach through- 

 out the season. Chard is really a type of 

 beet, but deserves attention as the most 

 continuously yielding of any "greens." The 

 midribs of the leaves may be cooked like 

 asparagus and are delicious. The savoy- 

 leaved variety Lucullus is the best. 



Squash. — The bush summer type (Scal- 

 loped Bush and Summer Crookneck), matures 

 very early. Then there is the small, medium 

 early, short-vined type with fruits good for 

 either summer or winter use. Good sorts 

 are Fordhook, Delicata. The best known of 

 the large vined, late maturing, winter squashes 

 are Hubbard, Delicious and Boston Marrow. 

 The "vegetable marrow" type is distinct 

 from any of the foregoing, and is not nearly 

 so well known in this country as it should be. 



Tomatoes. — Two distinct types of these 

 deserve consideration: The dwarf, forming 

 compact bushes, about three feet tall, and the 

 tall or standard tomatoes, branching freely 

 and recognizing no limit in growing tall 

 where given a chance to climb and being tied 

 to supports. The dwarf type is particularly 

 useful for small gardens, since it will yield 

 fair crops, planted as close as two feet apart 

 each way. However, the average size of the 

 fruit of such popular standards as Dwarf 

 Champion (purple) and Dwarf Stone (scarlet), 

 cannot compare with average fruits of stand- 

 ard or tall sorts. The exception to this is 

 Dwarf Giant which may almost be considered 

 a Dwarf Ponderosa. It bears fruits of really 

 remarkable size in immense quantities. 



The color of fruit divides the tall or standard 

 tomatoes into two classes. Among the bright 

 red sorts, Sparks' Earliana, Chalk's Early 

 Jewel and Stone outclass all others in popu- 

 larity. They mature in the order named. 

 Among the purple fruited kinds, we find 

 June Pink, Globe, Trucker's Favorite and 

 Ponderosa to occupy the same relative 

 positions. The purple-fruited types are of 

 milder flavor than the bright red ones. 

 Then, there is the yellow type of tomato 



