D. M. FERRY & CO’S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 
31 
ICE CREAM.—Medium size, with scarlet flesh, and very 
sweet; a good variety for main crop. 
CITRON.—Grows uniformly round and smooth, striped 
and marbled with light green. Flesh white and solid; seeds 
red. It should be borne in mind that this variety is not used 
for eating in the raw state, but for preserves, pickles, ete. 
‘ 
MUSHROOM. 
Agaricus campestris. 
The Mushroom is an edible fungus, of a white color, chang- 
ing to brown when old. The gills are loose, of a pinkish-red, 
changing to liver color. It 
produces no seed, but instead, 
a white, fibrous substance in 
broken threads, called spawn, 
which is preserved in horse 
manure, being pressed in the 
form of bricks. Thus prepar- 
ed it will retain its vitality for 
years. 
CuLTURE.—Mushrooms can 
be grown in the cellar, in 
sheds, or in hot beds in open 
air, on shelves, or out-of-the 
way places. Fermenting horse 
manure at a temperature of 
about 70 degrees, mixed with 
an equal weight of fresh sod 
loam, is made into beds the 
size required, eight inches 
: deep. See to it that the bed 
is packed very solidly and evenly. In this bed plant the 
broken pieces of spawn six inches apart, covering the whole 
with two inches of light soil, and protect from cold and rain. 
One brick will plant eight to ten square feet of bed. The 
mushrooms will appear in about six weeks. Water sparingly 
and with lukewarm water. 
MUSTARD. 
French, Moutard. German, Sen/. 
Mustard is not only used as a condiment, but the green 
leaves are used as a salad, or cut and boiled like spinage. 
CuLTURE.—Should be the same as that of Cress. 
Mushroom. 
GOLDEN.—A very superior sort, having broad leaves of 
a rich lemon color, which they retain after cooking. In flavor 
it is superior to the old sorts and is also fully equal to them 
in hardiness. 
apoie 
SouTtHern Giant Curtep. 
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. The seed is brown and pro- 
duces plants which grow about two feet high and form enor- 
mous bunches. 
WHITE ENGLISH.—The leaves are light green, mild 
and tender when young; seed light yellow. 
NASTURTIUM. 
French, Capucine. German, Kapuziner Kress. 
CuLturE.—Sow after the ground is warm, in drills one inch 
deep, by the side of a fence, trellis work, or some other sup- 
port, to climb upon. They will thrive in good ground in 
almost any situation, but are more productive in a light soil. 
TALL MIXED.—Cultivated both for use and ornament. 
Its beautiful. orange colored flowers serve as a garnish for 
dishes, and the young leaves are excellent for salads. The 
flower buds, scarcely formed, and the green seed pods pre- 
served in vinegar, make a pickle greatly esteemed by many. 
For other varieties see Flower Seeds. 
OKRA. 
French, Gombo. .German, Ocher. 
“his is an annual from the West Indies, cultivated for its 
green seed pods, which are used in soups or stewed and served 
like asparagus. It is highly es- 
teemed in the South for making 
gumbo soup. The pods when 
young and tender should 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.—Sow the seed thinly 
in dry, warm soil, in shallow 
drills two feet apart. After the 
plants are up, thin them out to 
nine inches apart; hoe frequent- 
ly and draw a little earth to the 
stems-as they continue to grow. 
Gather the pods when quite 
green, and about an inch anda 
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 re- 
tain their tenderness until nearly full size. 
DWARF WHITE.—The longest podded variety. Two 
feet high, very productive; mature pods a foot long, very 
thick and fleshy. 
Wuite Ve tver. 
ONION. 
French, Ognon. German, Zwiebeln. 
The onion not only contains considerable nutriment and has 
valuable medicinal properties, but is most useful in counter- 
acting the bad effects of sedentary life. The disagreeable 
odor it imparts to the breath may be avoided in great meas- 
ure by thorough cooking, or by eating a few leaves of parsley 
HOW TO RAISE ONIONS. 
This is a question we are asked many times every year, and 
which we will try to answer from our experience in raising 
many thousands of bushels. 
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. We prefer a rich, sandy loam, with a light 
mixture 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 ap- 
plied at once, it is likely to make the onions soft. Large and 
fine crops of onions are often raised on black muck lands, 
but they must be ‘‘sweet”? and well drained. Ordinary 
swamp land will not do, and even on the best of muck the 
first crop is apt to be soft and ‘‘necky.” 
Manure.—There is no crop where a liberal use of manure 
is more essential than in this. Even on the deep, black muck 
onion lands of the Western Reserve, manure is essential toa 
good crop, and not only is the quantity but the quality of the 
manure used of the greatest importance. If it is too rank it 
is quite sure to make soft onions, with many scallions. it 
should be well fermented and shoveled over at least twice 
during the previous summer to kill weed seeds. Of the com- 
mercial manures, we prefer fine ground bone to any other, 
but large crops are raised by the use of superphosphates. If 
these manures are used, one-half should be applied when the 
crop is sown, and the rest just before they begin to form 
bottoms. 
Preparation.—In time to complete the work before the 
ground freezes up, remove all refuse of previous crops, 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 more thoroughly to mix the manure with the 
soil. Carefully avoid tramping on the ground during the 
winter, and as early in the spring as it can be worked, culti- 
vate or thoroughly drag it with a heavy harrow, and then in 
the opposite direction with a light one, after which the entire 
surface should be raked with steel hand rakes. It is impossi- 
ble to cultivate the crop economically 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 a foot 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 to the perfectly straight mark made by the line. Con- 
tinue 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 much 
better than to stretch a line along one side, as it is impossible 
