l62 



WHAT VARIETIES ARE PLANTED. 



have been evenly distributed. They probably yielded as 

 as well as they ever will in field-cultivation. The quality 

 IS not nearly as good as that of the pole sorts. The 

 canner who raised them found the cost of shelling them 

 too great for his purposes. Lazy Wife pole-bean was 

 slow to germinate, and slower at climbing the poles. 

 The yield was small, and as a shell-bean we found it 

 rather strong. Another pole-bean, a large and coarse- 

 looking sort, sometimes called Champion or State Lima, 

 but no true Lima, was also tried and found nice, even 

 after the pods had become dry on the poles. I shall not 

 experiment with any pole-beans except Limas next year. 

 Burpee New Bush Lima must have a trial. 



Tomatoes. — Ignotum was the largest, earliest and 

 most productive I had last year ; and I had Favorite, 

 Beauty and Stone. From one year's trial I think Atlantic 

 Prize and Early Ruby utterly worthless. They behave 

 alike, if they are not identical ; and what is the use of 

 small, early, sickly sorts when one has a greenhouse to 

 give the better sorts an early start ? A moderate 

 crop of large smooth tomatoes, grown on plants started 

 in January and twice transplanted into pots and cans 

 before they were finally planted outdoors, have 

 sometimes averaged a dollar a bushel. There are some 

 uncertainties attending this method of culture, and 

 the hotbed folks sometimes "get there" in time to 

 spoil the market. Our superheated September brought 

 the main crop forward in a heap, and made it a drug 

 and loss in some cases. 



Stone is a solid tomato, and though started later than 

 the other large sorts, it was made to give fruit quite as 

 early. After the plants had made a fair growth, they 

 were pinched vigorously to limit the number of fruits, 

 but I could not see that the main crop was hastened. 

 The darker color of Beauty makes it a favorite with 

 canners. 



Raspberries. — Tyler and Souhegan, the earliest and 

 best blackcaps, have been driven out of the gardens 

 hereabouts by a trouble I have no name for. The 

 oldest plantings seem to outlive the younger. I am 

 trying the Palmer. The canners will not have the 

 later, larger and healthier Ohio ; it is too red in the 

 bottle. I set some Marlboro when it was a novelty, 

 and, though the first public verdict was against it, I 

 have added to my patch from time to time, and am not 

 sorry. It is early, of good size, and bright-looking. 

 It needs the constant stimulus of stable-manure. It is 

 not even quite hardy, and I think best to cover it in 

 winter. I am alone in my choice in this. Cuthbert is 

 more popular, for it is more vigorous and seems to 

 require less manure. 



Blackberries. — I can never speak knowingly of some 

 blackberries r.s long as my garden is in a valley where 

 ithe winter temperature always goes below zero, and 

 sometimes to 30° to 34° below, killing our petted things 

 in sheltered spots, and either killing or injuring almost 

 (everything in the open. Lawton, Kittatinny, Stone 

 H'ardy, Western Triumph and Erie have been tried and 

 -found wanting. Snyder, Ancient Briton and Taylor 



Prolific are the most reliable, taken in their order. There 

 have been years when Ancient Briton seemed to be the 

 hardiest, largest, most prolific and best-fJavored of all. 

 It is always preferred as a dessert fruit ; but clean cul- 

 tivation and special manuring do not enable me to keep 

 it in the front rank for profit. It is later than Snyder, 

 and if drouth does not arrest development, as it often 

 does, the crop has to go to a sated market and compete 

 with the wild berries. Taylor Prolific is a gocd berry, 

 and I have seen it justifying its name, but not when 

 growing in solid rows as do my Snyders. I think it 

 might do better if kept in distinct hills, well apart, and 

 if no intermediate suckers are allowed to grow. Snyder 

 is my sourest and surest berry. If well-developed and 

 four days' ripe, it is good eating ; but a man with 200 

 crates does not want four days' ripening on his hands 

 any one day. 



I keep my briar-patches clean with plow, hoe and 

 cultivator. A neighbor of mine who writes very freely, 

 and sometimes inspiringly, has told his readers more 

 than once that the blackberry now can be left pretty 

 much to itself. I shall want to go home when my briars 

 get into that state! 



Currants. — Last year was a splendid one for this 

 fruit. Fay Prolific was, for once, really delicious. 

 It has been planted extensively here for the canners. 

 It can be picked for three-fourths of a cent a pound — 

 one cent is the common price. Black currants sell for 

 double as much in the cities as red currants at the can- 

 neries. Lee's Prolific is a better yielder and later than 

 Black Naples. 



MusKMELONS. — 'There is no money here," you say. 

 Well, I have raised this delicacy for six years, limiting 

 myself to from 6 to 100 hills a year, and I have not 

 dared to plant on the best soil for melons either. I have 

 tried Christiana, Early and Improved, Perfection, Prin- 

 cess, Surprise, Prolific, Nutmeg, Skillman Netted 

 Gem, Emerald Gem and Golden Gem, and thought each 

 about the best in the world. I have also tried Early 

 Hackensack, Old Hackensack, Montreal, Champion 

 Market, Stairn Favorite, Vick Early Nutmeg, Pine- 

 apple, Ward Nectar, Bird Cantaloupe, Osage, Miller 

 Cream, Baltimore and Banana, and not thought them 

 ' ' the best in the world. " Some pest destroyed my vines 

 of winter pineapple last year before they were two feet 

 long. We test a good many of the doubtful looking, 

 specimens, and eat all of the ideally perfect ones, and 

 save the seeds, too. 



I am reluctant to commit myself to the idea that 

 Emerald Gem is delicious beyond compare, it is so small 

 and so difficult to make grow like some other good sorts. 

 I am sure that one can't afford to grow it for any austere 

 and luxury-shunning market. Does it pay to raise Per- 

 fection and Princess melons at two and a half cents a 

 pound wholesale? I scarcely care to answer. 



Grapes. — There is no more attractive reading than 

 what our enthusiastic experimenters have to say about 

 their long lists of grapes. In 1855 there were some 

 Isabellas in these gardens, a few Clintons and one Con- 



