232 



The Garden Magazine, January, 1922 



of both Earliana and June Pink, set into the garden by May 

 30th, will have yielded the bulk of the crop by August 15th. 

 The fruit they yield after that does not measure up in value 

 to crops of Beans, Beets, Cabbage, etc., that the same ground 

 may bear between August 15th and frost. 



Extra Early: Sparks' Earliana, red; June Pink, purple or 

 pink. 



Second Early: Bonny Best, red; Livingston's Globe, Purple 

 or pink. 



Main Crop: Livingston's Stone, red; Trucker's Favorite, 

 purple or pink. 



Late Crop: Livingston's Coreless, red; Ponderosa, purple or 

 pink. 



Beans. Recommendations are confined to the dwarf or 

 Bush varieties because they produce crops within strictly 

 measured time and they do not demand extra attention in fuss- 

 ing with poles or supports. As among the Tomatoes, we are 

 again confronted with a color problem — both green and yellow 

 podded sorts being available. On the question of differences 

 in quality as associated with color, even experts agree to dis- 

 agree and personal preferences — or prejudices— prevail. Here 

 are the one-hundred pointers: 



45-day Maturity: Extra Early Red Valentine, green pod; 

 there is no equally early yellow pod. 



60-day Maturity: Bountiful, flat green pod; Stringless Green- 

 podded, round pods; Live Crop Wax, yellow flat pod; 

 Brittle Wax, yellow round pod. 



75-day Maturity: Refugee Wax, yellow round pod; String- 

 less Refugee Green Pod, semi-round. 



These varieties, with the exceptions of Red Valentine and 

 Refugee Wax, are perfectly stringless at all stages of growth 

 — so why grow stringy beans? By "60-day Maturity" I 

 mean that sixty days after sowing seeds you may gather a 

 fair, first picking of about two quarts of pods from every ten 

 feet of row. 



Corn offers an even wider choice in varieties maturing at 

 different times, but the demand for real quality automatically 

 works for the survival of the fittest. Half the available varie- 

 ties do not deserve a place in the home garden. Personally, out 

 of hundreds of varieties and strains played with, I have settled 

 down to four: 



Peep O' Day for extra early — at a slight sacrifice of quality. 



Golden Bantam for early and midseason; also for repeated 

 planting. 



Seymour's Sweet Orange — to bridge the gap from early 

 planting between Golden Bantam and the following. 



Howling Mob — for late midseason (when many guests have 

 to be taken care of.) 



Were it not for certain limitations in size and that, very early 

 in the season, one is apt to overlook certain deficiencies in 

 quality, I would grow nothing but Golden Bantam. That, 

 however, is a strictly personal attitude. 



Cabbage. An early, a midseason, and a late Cabbage will 

 meet requirements for every home garden. Though I have tried 

 many strains of Early Jersey Wakefield I have yet to see 

 the advantage of gaining 10 days at the expense of losing five 

 pounds of Cabbage. You may cut 5-pound heads of Early 

 Jersey Wakefield 85 days after seeds were sown, but you may 

 cut 1 o-pound heads of Copenhagen Market or Enkhuizen Glory 

 within 95 or 100 days and be the gainer. The difference in 

 quality is negligible. Enkhuizen Glory prefers clay soil. A 

 good second early is Early Summer, while either Premium Flat 

 Dutch or Livehead will prove reliable late standards. 



Lettuce continues to be the biggest problem of the salad 

 gardener. Just why I do not understand, for, given two things, 

 the Lettuce plant is a healthy weed. It must have quantities 

 of easily available plant food and receive liberal cultivation. 

 These two conditions, combined with the proper varieties for 

 the different seasons, all seeds sown the middle of April, solve 

 the problem as follows: 



Black-seeded Simpson, loose leaf, in May. 



Wayahead, butterhead, in June. 



All Seasons, butterhead, in early July. 



Iceberg, crisphead, in late July. 



Wonderful Crisphead, in early August. 



Paris White Cos, when Head Lettuce goes on a strike. 



Beets. Here I am inclined to be quite arbitrary. Grow 

 Crosby's Egyptian for extra early, and Detroit Dark Red (60 

 days) for succession early, midseason, and late. 



Peas. The problem is quite complex. Because the trend in 

 buying during the past decade has largely favored the dwarf 

 kinds for home garden purposes, I am confining selections for 

 present purposes to the dwarfs, although the tall growing Tele- 

 phone type has distinct merits where brush or supports are avail- 

 able. Among dwarfs, Little Marvel continues to lead as the par- 

 agon of quality, productiveness, and dependability. But its 

 season is short. It should be combined with Market Surprise, a 

 wrinkled first early 4-ft variety, and Thomas Laxton, the highest 

 attainment of the early wrinkled 4-ft. kinds. Here is a per- 

 fect succession of delicious dwarf -vined Peas: 



Market Surprise, 50 days, 4 feet. 



Little Marvel, 55 days, 18-24 inches. 



Thomas Laxton, 60 days, 4 feet. 



British Wonder, 70 days, 3 feet. 



Potlach, 80 days, 4 feet. 



And please remember, when sowing Peas: — sow enough! A 

 1 5-ft. row of any of these prolific kinds will not yield more than 

 five quarts of pods at any one picking; that means about two 

 quarts of shelled Peas and these dwindle mysteriously during 

 the process of cooking. 



Squash. Cocozelle Bush for early, and Vegetable Marrow 

 or Hubbard for late, will fill the bill for Squash which, by the 

 way, is in a fair way to greater appreciation as a food carrying 

 great quantities of vitamines. This is particularly true of 

 the early Summer Squash. 



Radishes. I suggest that you do the following: clip to- 

 gether all the variety names of all Early Round, Early Olive- 

 shaped, and Early Long kinds from about a dozen catalogs, put 

 them in a box or bag, shake, and pull out any one. Chances 

 are it will be as satisfactory as any of the other fifty-six. I like 

 them all, but prefer: 



Rapid Red; round, 25 days. 



Scarlet Globe; round, 30 days. 



French Breakfast; olive-shaped, 30 days. 



White Icicle; long white, 35-40 days. 



Cincinnati Market; long red, 45 days. 



White Stuttgart; long midseason, 60 days. 



White Chinese; late oblong, 75 days. 



Black Spanish; round black, for late fall and early winter. 



Seed Ordering Simplified 



EOKING upon each seed as a productive unit with firm 

 limitations, it is not difficult to estimate about how many 

 seeds you'll want to attain certain ends. Among the nine 

 essential vegetables discussed here, Cabbage, Lettuce, Beets, 

 and Radishes stand for one food plant from every seed. Since 

 all the seeds are small, averaging from about 750 seeds in Beets 

 to more than 2,000 seeds in Lettuce per ounce, it may be seen 

 that an ounce of each of these is a great plenty for home garden 

 purposes. As a matter of fact, where three or four varieties are 

 recommended in one class, for perfect crop succession, a ten- 

 cent packet usually contains a liberal enough fraction of one 

 ounce to provide for repeated sowings. The same holds good 

 in even greater measure with Tomatoes and Squash where 

 the yield per plant is greater. 



When it comes to ordering the. bulkier seeds, like Beans, Corn, 

 Peas, the following facts will help in arriving at requirements. 



Beans average i\ ounces per packet, containing about 150 

 Beans. Spaced 4 inches apart in the row, one pound of Bean 



