OUR WIDE-AWAKE GARDENERS. 



35 



Of new points in vegetable-gardening it is thought 

 that what has been called "the new onion-culture " has 

 made the most stir. At one of the farmers' institutes, 

 last February, in a talk on the matter, A. I, Root ex- 

 hibited some samples of large fine Spanish onions. He 

 says : 



A. I. ROOT ON ONION-GROWING. 



I felt a little afraid my talk had been pretty extrava- 

 gant, and some of my hearers, I was told, criticised me 

 a good deal, saying : 



"Oh, yes. Root can talk, especially when he buys 

 manure from the livery-stables, and puts on more ma- 

 nure to the acre than an acre of our ground is worth ; 

 but what good does such talk do tis ?" 



You may perhaps surmise that some of my hearers 

 were of the class that declare, " Farming doesn't pay." 

 Well, not long ago a man I had seen a few times came 

 into the oiBce and said he had something down stairs for 

 me to look at. On the way down he asked if I remem- 

 bered my talk at Chatham Center in the winter. Then 

 he said he had bought some seed, and had been at work 

 trying the new onion-culture. I felt afraid he had 

 failed, and was going to blame me for my enthusiastic 

 statements of what might be done on a single acre. 

 By this time we reached the place where he had left 

 his basket of onions. They were beauties, and- you 

 ought to have seen his face while he held them up and 

 told me how he did it. He hadn't any greenhouse or 

 hotbed, so he raised the plants in boxes in the kitchen 

 window, and planted them out in ordinary clay soil,, 

 such as farmers use for corn and potatoes. I asked 

 him if he had found a market for them, and he replied : 



"Why, bless your heart, Mr. Root, there isn't any 

 trouble at all about the market. My neighbors right 

 around me will take every onion at one dollar a bushel, 

 and I just wanted to see you and tell you that you 

 wasn't extravagant a bit in telling what a farmer might 

 do if he only had the will to do it. When you want to 

 give us another talk, just remember there is otw man in 

 our neighborhood, any way, that will always be glad to 

 hear you, and one who will believe what you say." 



Another man in the same neighborhood raised a 

 wagon-load in the same way, and brought them to Me- 

 dina and sold them at once for 80 cents a bushel, at a 

 time when ordinary onions were bringing only 30 cents 

 a bushel. 



The above onions were all Spanish King or Prize- 

 taker. A handsomer onion, though not quite so large, is 

 the White Victoria. It has, during the past spring and 

 summer, made a host of friends in our vicinity, and it 

 was really enjoyable to take a lot of these White Vic- 

 torias into almost any crowd and see them stare and 

 wonder at such large, handsome white onions long be- 

 fore anybody thought it was time for them. 



Ohio. A. I. Root. 



A JERSEYMAN BELIEVES IN GOOD SEEDS. 



We have given Henderson's dwarf Lima bean a thor- 

 ough trial, and although told that it does not take very 

 well in market, we consider it a great acquisition to the 



home garden, Buist's Early Morning Star pea has 

 proved best of all as a first early pea, both for market 

 and home use. 



In new methods, we gave a partial trial to the new 

 plan of growing onions by sowing seed early and trans- 

 planting, and were well satisfied with the result. Every 

 year's experience serves to emphasize the necessity of 

 making the soil extremely rich and fine, and keeping it 

 absolutely free from weeds. 



There is, in the seed business, one method which is 

 comparatively new, and which secures one of the first 

 requisites to success in all gardening — thoroug^ibred seeds. 

 I allude to the use of "private stock" seeds, which 

 means seeds grown by the originator of the variety. New 

 varieties, for the most part, result from careful selection 

 and isolation by specialists for a series of years ; and in 

 proportion to the skill brought to bear and the length 

 of time and care given by the originator, we get more 

 or less gain in earliness, productiveness, size and qual- 

 ity, or in some one or more of these points ; but as soon 

 as a variety comes into general use, and others raise 

 seed with only ordinary care, most new varieties rap- 

 idly run down and deteriorate, and we are obliged to 

 have recourse to fresh novelties. If these were always 

 just what they are represented to be, and always 

 adapted to our special needs, it would not be so bad, 

 but unfortunately this is not the case ; hence the great 

 advantage of "private stock" seeds, which may reason- 

 ably be expected to retain all the good points with 

 which they started out, and sometimes gain more. Of 

 course such seeds cost more, but I believe they are far 

 cheaper in the end. 



If one wished to procure a suit of clothes, he would 

 not go to a dealer in stoves or tinware, neither would 

 he go to a dry-goods store for choice fruits and vege- 

 tables. Then, why in this business should we trust to 

 "Tom, Dick and Harry" to look after it ? The man 

 who gives his whole time and attention to securing and 

 taking care of seeds, or these in connection with garden 

 requisites of all kinds, most assuredly can and will doit 

 better than those whose attention is engrossed by other 

 business. The only wise way, then, is to buy of such 

 a seedsman ; and if there is none near you, from whom 

 to purchase seeds over the counter, you can get them 

 through the mail by taking care to order only from a 

 trustworthy firm, with a reputation to sustain. 



Ne7i.i Jersey. Wm. F. Bassett. 



ON BEANS AND TOMATOES, 



Every year brings new varieties of all kinds of vege- 

 tables before the public. Some deserve popular atten- 

 tion, others are worthy of culture in particular localities 

 and on soils only suitable for their individual require- 

 ments. Too many kinds are sent out before they have 

 been properly tested in different localities and on differ- 

 ent soils. 



In my market-garden I try all the most popular new 

 varieties yearly sent out. My soil is a rather heavy 

 loam, much enriched with well-rotted barn-yard manure ; 



