D. M. FERRY & CO’S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, 
~ MUSTARD 
Mustard is not only used 
as a condiment, but the green 
leaves are used as a salad, or cut 
and boiled like spinage. 
The culture should be the same 
as that of cress. 
WHITE ENGLISH. 
The leaves are light green, mild 
and tender when young; seed light 
yellow. Pkt. 5dcts.; Oz. 10cts.; 
2 Oz. 10cts.; 144 Lb. 15cts.; Lb. 
40cts. 
SOUTHERN GIANT CURLED. - 
This mustard is very highly 
esteemed in the South, where the 
seed is sown in the fall, and the 
plants used very early in the spring as a salad. Our stock 
is the true curled leaf. Pkt. 5cts.; Oz. 10cts.; 2 Oz. licts.; 
WA 
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2 
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SouTHERN GIANT CURLED MUSTARD. 
Oz: 15ets.; 2 Oz. 25cts.; 14 Lb. 40cts.; Lb. $1.25. 
. . For other varieties see Flower Seeds, Page 79 . . 
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SA GO. 
fs ti=3 Ue Sow after the ground is 
ye warm, in drills one inch deep, by 
the side of a fence, trellis work, 
or some other support, to climb 
upon. They will thrive in good 
ground in almost any situation, 
but are more productive in a 
light soil. 
ms) eS f NASTURTIUM 
Cultivated both for use and 
ornament. Its beautiful orange 
colored flowers serve as a gar- 
nish for dishes, and the young 
leaves are excellent for salads. 
The green seed pods preserved 
in vinegar, make a pickle greatly 
esteemed by many. _Pkt. 5cts.; 
4 Lb. 20cts.; Lb. 50cts. 
This isan annual from the West Indies, 
cultivated for its young seed pods, which 
are used in soups, or stewed and served 
like asparagus. It is highly esteemed in 
the South for making gumbo soup. The pods when 
young and tender may be sliced in sections and strung on a 
thread and hung up in the shade to cure like dried apples; in 
this condition they can be used for soup at any time. 
CULTURE.—Plant in hills about four feet apart, putting 6 
to 8 seeds ina hill, and after the plants are well started, cut 
out all but two. The dwarf sorts can be planted much closer, 
in hills 2 to 3 feet apart or in drills 2 feet apart, thinning the 
plants to about one foot apart in the row. Gather the pods 
when quite green, and about an inch and a half long. 
WHITE VELVET.—This variety is a great improvement 
on the old White or the Green. The plant is of medium 
height, bearing a large crop of white, smooth, tender pods, 
which retain their tenderness until nearly full size. Pkt. dcts.; 
Oz. 10cts.; 2 Oz. 15cts.; 14 Lb. 20cts.; Lb. 60cts. 
DWARF WHITE.—tThe longest podded variety; two feet 
high, and very productive. Mature pods a foot long, very 
thick and fleshy. Pkt. dcts.; Oz. 10cts.; 2 Oz. licts.; 44 Lb. 
20cts.; Lb. 50cts. 
HOW TO RAISE ONIONS. 
THE SOIL A good crop of onions can be grown on 
* any soil which will produce a full crop of 
corn, unless it be a stiff clay, very light sand or gravel, or 
certain varieties of muck or swamp lands, on which they 
invariably grow necky and cannot be made to ripen down 
well, while other muck soils give immense crops of the finest 
quality. The difference is generally, but not always, due to 
the drainage. Muck land must be sweet and well drained in 
order to raise good onions; ordinary swamp land will not do, 
and even in the best of muck the first crop is apt to be soft 
and necky. We prefer a rich, sandy loam, with a light mix- 
ture of clay. This is much better if it has been cultivated with 
hoed crops, kept clean of weeds and well manured for two 
years previous, because if a sufficient quantity of manure to 
raise an ordinary soil to a proper degree of fertility is applied 
at once, it is likely to make the onions soft. 
There is no crop where a liberal use of 
MANURING. manure is more essential than in this. 
If it is too rank, it is quite sure to make soft onions, with many 
scallions. It should be of the best quality, well fermented 
and shoveled over, at least twice during the previous summer 
to kill weed seeds. Of the commercial manures, we prefer 
fine ground bone to any other, but large crops are raised by 
the use of superphosphates. 
PREP AR ATION Remove all refuse of previous 
* crops in time to complete the work 
before the ground freezes up, and spread the composted 
manure evenly, at the rate of about fifty cart-loads to the acre. 
This should first be cultivated in, and then the ground ploughed 
a moderate depth, taking a narrow furrow, in order to thor- 
oughly mix the manure with the soil. Carefully avoid tramp- 
ing on the ground during the winter. Cultivate or thoroughly 
drag the soil with a heavy harrow as early in the spring as it 
can be worked, and then, in the opposite direction, with a 
light one, after which the entire surface should be raked with 
steel hand rakes. Itis impossible to cultivate the crop eco- 
nomically unless the rows are perfectly straight; to secure 
this, stretch a line along one side, fourteen feet from the edge, 
and make a distinct mark along it; then, having made a 
wooden marker, something like a giant rake with five teeth 
about afoot long and standing fourteen inches apart, make 
four more marks by carefully drawing it with the outside 
tooth in, and the head at right angles tothe perfectly straight 
mark made by the line. Continue to work around this line 
until on the third passage of the marker you reach the side of 
the field where you began; measure fifteen feet two inches 
from the last row, stretch the line again, and mark around in 
the same way. This is better than to stretch a line along one 
side, as it is impossible to prevent the rows gradually becom- 
ing crooked, and by this plan we straighten them after every 
third passage of the marker. 
SOWING THE SEED This should be done as soon 
¢ as the ground can be gotten 
ready, and can be done best by a hand seed drill. This should 
be carefully adjusted to sow the desired quantity of seed and 
about one half inch deep. The quantity needed will vary with 
the soil, the seed used, and the kind of onions desired. Thin 
seeding gives much larger onions than thick. Four or five 
pounds, per acre, is the usual quantity needed to grow large 
onions. We use a drill with a roller attached, but if the drill 
has none, the ground should be well rolled with a hand roller 
immediately after the seed is planted. 
CU LTIV ATION Give the onions the first hoeing, just 
* skimming the ground between the 
rows, as soon as they can be seen the length of the row. Hoe 
again in a few days, this time close up to the plants, after 
which weeding must be continued. This operation requires 
to be carefully and thoroughly done. The weeder must work 
on his knees astride of the row, stirring the earth around the 
plants, in order to destroy any weeds that have just started. 
In ten days or two weeks they will require another hoeing and 
weeding similar to the last, and two weeks later, give them 
still another hoeing and if necessary another weeding. If the 
work has been thoroughly done at the proper time, the crop 
will not require further care until ready to gather. 
GATHERING As soon as the tops die and fall, the 
* bulbs should be gathered into windrows. 
If the weather is fine they will need no attention while curing, 
but if it is not, they will need to be stirred by simply moving 
them slightly along the row. Cut off the tops when perfectly 
dry, about half an inch from the bulb, and then after a few days 
of bright weather the onions will be fit to store for the winter. 
FOR PICKLES or SETS. crea 82 above, and Sow 
the seed very thick in broad drills forty;to sixty pounds per acre. 
KEEPING ONIONS _jcthods of keening’ onions 
THROUGH WINTER. 
is to spread straw to the 
depth of eighteen inches 
upon the barn floor, scaffold, or garret; upon this spread 
the onions six to ten inches deep, and cover with two feet of 
straw. If in good condition, and sufficient depth of covering 
is used, they will keep in fine condition till May. 
A cool, dry cellar of some out-building, barn, or carriage- 
house, will be found excellent for keeping onions, if it has 
windows for ventilation; the cellar of a dwelling house is 
usually too warm. They should be spread on scaffolds, about 
six inches deep, with room enough between the boards for the 
air to circulate. On approach of cold weather close the doors 
and windows, and keep the temperature just above the freez- 
ing point. With proper care they can be kept very near the 
freezing point without actually freezing, and will come out 
nice and sound in the spring. 
