HANDLING GARDEN-CROPS FOR PROFIT. 



483 



therefore it receives no favor after the Emery, Livingston 

 Perfection and Dwarf Champion, all of which are 

 smooth varieties, come to market. 



The demand of the market for celery varieties has 

 undergone quite a change in the last two years. It was 

 thought at one time that no variety would satisfy the 

 trade like the Boston Market, and in fact even now it 

 brings the highest price, for it is a very superior eating 

 variety, but the blight of late years has compelled pro- 

 ducers to experiment with other varieties, and they have 

 now about settled upon the Paris Golden for an early 

 variety, leaving the late market to be still supplied with 

 Boston Market. The latter variety is less liable to blight 

 when allowed to perfect its growth in the late or cool 

 parts of the season. Celery is offered for sale in long, 

 or what are called barrel-boxes. A box holds three dozen 

 bunches. If individual plants are not large enough to 

 count as bunches, additional plants are added, the roots 

 being joined by driving a nail through the thick part. 

 Paris Golden celery can be marketed so early that it has 

 driven the Kalamazoo celery from our market. 



The variety of sweet melon which has for many years 

 been most popular is the Arlington Nutmeg, a green- 

 fleshed variety. This sort has of late years spotted so 

 badly that many of our leading gardeners have ceased to 

 grow it. Only on new soils can it be grown with any 

 degree of profit. The Emerald Gem, a new variety less 

 liable to spot, is now being grown in limited quantities. 

 It is a luscious variety with salmon-colored flesh, but is 

 not yet well known to the trade. It will some time be a 

 leading variety in this market. Melons are exposed for 

 sale in both bushel and barrel-boxes, the former being 

 most popular, as they contain a quantity best suited for a 

 retailer's single purchase. ' ' Eighteen to the bushel-box " 

 gives some idea of the popular size for melons in this 

 market. 



Asparagus is done up in bunches of one pound each, 

 and exposed for sale in bushel-boxes. The less white 

 found in a bunch, and the larger the individual sprouts, 

 the better is the price that can be obtained for them. 

 Many find it profitable to make two sorts of bunches, 

 putting the smaller and whiter stalks in separate bundles, 

 thereby obtaining enough more for the best to return a 

 better price for the gross lot. 



The leading variety of lettuce is the White-seeded 

 Tennisball grown under glass, and Black-seeded Tennis- 

 ball from the open ground. Lettuce is exposed for sale 

 in both bushel and barrel-boxes, 1 dozen heads filling 

 the former and 4 dozen the latter. If this number does 

 not completely fill the box, the trade knows that the 

 lettuce is "light weight" and will not pay the top price. 

 This rule applies when the supply is ample for the trade; 

 when the article is short they do not question the size or 

 weight so much, taking quite inferior stock at even better 

 prices than in times of plenty. At certain seasons lettuce 

 is shipped to the New York market in large quantities. 

 But for this outlet, lettuce-growing houses would not have 

 multiplied so extensively in this vicinity during the last 

 five years. 



The only variety of cucumber recognized, whether in 

 glass or field-culture, is the White Spine. It is sold in 

 bushel-boxes, and should be of such size that go will 

 evenly fill the box. Cucumbers are sold by count, and if 

 the number is short, the trade knows that there are over- 

 grown, seedy ones in the bottom. If the number is more 

 than go, they are too small to please retail customers. 

 Therefore, a box containing go cucumbers brings the top 

 price if they are straight and true in shape. 



The first native cabbage in market is Jersey Wakefield. 

 Within a week it is superseded by Henderson, which 

 is the leading sort for about three weeks, it then being 

 crowded out by Fottler Brunswick, which, with Stone- 

 mason, has the call for a late and winter sort. It is sur- 

 prising to see the amount of outside leaves the trade will 

 take when the first summer varieties come to market. 

 They would not be tolerated six weeks later, at which 

 time cabbage is sold by the barrel, and brought to 

 market in bulk in hay-riggings. 



Dandelion is sold in bushel-boxes, and is crowded into 

 them until they contain 18 pounds. The variety most 

 popular is the French Thick-leaved. This, however, has 

 been Americanized until the leaves are fimbriated quite 

 deeply. Seed of many good strains is now privately pro- 

 duced by judicious selection, and disposed of to neigh- 

 bors at a high price — five to eight dollars a pound. 



Danvers Yellow Onion is the only dry onion that meets 

 with any favor whatever. The White Portugal is the 

 popular bunch-onion. The bunches are exposed for sale 

 in barrel-boxes, and, of course, the larger the bulbs and 

 the brighter green the tops, the higher the price. There 

 is, however, a yellow sort raised in the vicinity of Phila- 

 delphia that produces, when full-grown and dry, a 

 cracker-shaped onion. This is now being used to a large 

 extend for producing early dry onions. When these 

 come to market the white bunch-onion is seen no more 

 until another year. Onion-plants are this year being 

 raised under glass and transplanted to the field to get 

 early dried onions ; but for earliness this would not equal 

 the planting of sets. — E. P. Kirby, Arlington, Mass 



HOW AN EXPERT HANDLES PEARS AND PLUMS. 



Too little care is exercised by the mass of fruit-grow- 

 ers in picking, handling and packing fruits for market, in 

 which points the question of profit or loss upon the 

 crop is often involved. A very large percentage of pear 

 and plum-crops is sold on our city markets at very un- 

 satisfactory prices, because of total neglect of proper 

 care in these three points. Much has been written on 

 this subject, yet every year the mistake is repeated. 



A few years since, an acquaintance had an especially 

 fine lot of Bartlett pears, which were allowed to remain 

 upon the trees for ten days after I had shipped my crop, 

 which sold at from $4 to $5 per keg, because the fruit 

 was firm and in fine condition when received. The same 

 commission-house had both consignments and my neigh- 

 bors' sold for little more than enough to pay the freight. 

 The shipper was dissatisfied and denounced the commis- 

 sion-house, though the fault was simply his own neglect. 



