DESECRATION OF A GREAT PARK 



2891 



other trial. After last season's fruiting I made a clean 

 sweep of Jessie, Longfellow, Miner, Monarch of the 

 West, Sharpless, Stayman No. i and Lady Rusk, the 

 last being the least promising of any, hardly giving a per- 

 fect berry. Neither is Cumberland Triumph a success 

 here. I wasted much labor trying to grow that celebrated 

 variety. It is a fine plant and has lovely berries but few 

 of them, and these few are sure to blister in our hot sun, 

 —A. B. Crosby, Labette county, tCansas. 



HOW I DISPOSED OF MY BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 



For several years the produce of our large market- 

 garden has been delivered directly to customers. We do 

 not live near a large city, but supply customers in two 

 manufacturing towns near by, and a novelty, or in fact 

 anything our patrons are not accustomed to, must be in- 

 troduced by degrees. Two years ago I tried brussels 

 sprouts. I raised plants of the half-dwarf Paris Market, 

 and it was a magnificent crop, but I could not sell it, as I had 

 some other new varieties of vegetables, and I was liable 

 to have the whole crop on my hands. So I set my wits 

 to work to find a way of utilizing the sprouts. I looked 

 over the late garden to see if I had ingredients enough 

 for mixed pickles, and I had more varieties than those 

 sold from pickle factories. The recipe for the dressing 

 was obtained from the nearest factory, and then I began 

 gathering the pickles, namely, two quarts each of string- 

 beans, small cucumbers, brussels sprouts, ground-cher- 

 ries and small onions ; some green radish-pods, peppers 

 and cauliflowers. These filled a large pail, and I de- 

 livered them to the customers with a copy of the dressing 

 recipe laid on top of the dry pickling materials. This 

 plan worked like a charm, and orders kept coming in long 

 after the brussels sprouts were gone. 



The next year I tried another scheme. I raised all the 

 materials, prepared them according to directions, put 

 them up in pint and quart glass cans and gallon jars (for 

 hotels, etc.), and delivered them already prepared. 

 Pickles put up in this way are very superior, and they 

 found a ready sale, both in the dry state and prepared 

 ready for the table. The demand far exceeded the sup- 

 ply. Too much cannot be said in favor of the brussels 



sprouts. I found them easy of culture. I sowed the' 

 seed April i, in a warm room, and when they put out 

 the third leaf I transplanted them in boxes, and from 

 these into the garden, in deep, sandy loam, made rich 

 with stable manure, and gave the same culture as for 

 cabbage. — Mrs. J. Gaillard, Pennsylvania. 



BLACKBERRY AND STRAWBERRY P.VTCH. 



Have the ground in productive condition for ordinary 

 farm crops, and especially well drained, for the blackberry 

 is as sensitive to water as any other fruit. Prepare the 

 ground early and thoroughly. For Early Harvest I mark 

 off the ground in rows feet apart ; for Taylor, An- 

 cient Briton, Kittatinny and Snyder, 4 feet apart. We 

 use a spade in planting, and have a boy to help. The 

 blackberry root-cuttings are prepared as for propagation 

 in nursery-rows. Now we plant the patch in strawberries, 

 and after that plant the blackberry root-cuttings, drop- 

 ping one cutting at each place where a blackberry-plant 

 is wanted, in each alternate row already planted in 

 strawberries. I am not particular as to the distance 

 apart in the rows — 2 to 3 feet — but am careful to get in 

 enough cuttings to secure a good stand of plants, 



I give the patch good and thorough cultivation, and 

 grow the strawberries on the matted-row system. When 

 good blackberry-roots were used, I always had a good 

 stand of plants The advantage in planting this way is 

 to avoid transplanting, which puts the plants back one 

 year. At the same time the land is in continual use. The 

 strawberries will amply pay for all labor of planting, cul- 

 tivating, etc. , until the blackberry-plants are large enough 

 to occupy the ground. The strawberries are mulched in 

 the fall, and the mulching is left on the ground for the 

 blackberries. This is quite an advantage to the growth 

 of blackberries. Last season we harvested from nine 

 rows of Early Harvest 125 feet long, two years old from 

 root-cuttings, 500 quarts of fine berries, besides a second 

 crop of strawberries, which was also a good half crop, as 

 we had only one-half the original rows to pick from. 

 The plants in the rows of blackberries had, of course, 

 been destroyed in cultivation, and the blackberries 

 needed the ground. — S, H, H, DeKolb county, Indiana. 



DESECRATION OF A GREAT PARK. 



lENTRAL PARK, New York city, is 

 world-famous as one of the finest 

 pieces of landscape-art in existence. 

 It is the one great playground of the 

 largest city in the western hemisphere. 

 As a creation of natural beauty, by 

 man's skill joined to nature's forces 

 in a place where only rocks and deso- 

 lation existed before, it is scarcely par- 

 alleled in the world to-day. With this one work, sur- 

 passingly fine as it is, great New York is far behind each 

 and all of the next dozen large towns of America ; though 

 she will be well in the lead when her new park-system 

 is complete. But worse yet— O, the shame of it ! — 



worse yet. her alleged city fathers (?) have lent their aid 

 to the horse-racing fraternity, who are leagued together 

 to spoil the people's one recreation-ground by building 

 in it a race-track ! And, of course, at the same people's 

 expense. That's the way in which "improvements" for 

 the benefit of our dear gamblers, stock-jobbers and horse- 

 racing brothers are usually created in the lordly Gotham 

 town, a city where are huddled together most of Amer- 

 ica's 50 to 100 great millionaires and a million or two of 

 the " people." First we chop off the people's grass and 

 trees for a race-track, and then take the money out of the 

 people's pocket to pay the choppers and diggers, with, 

 perchance, a little bonus added for the political bosses in 

 payment for the privilege! We cannot find words hot 



