1883.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



23 



LIVINGSTON'S FAVORITE TOMATO. 



With Tomatoes, as with Strawberries, the 

 annual introduction of one or more new 

 varieties seems to be an accepted fact, and 

 if these novelties are always as promising as 

 this one, the increase of the number of varie- 

 ties is certainly to be encouraged. Mr. 

 Livingston, who has already introduced the 

 Acme, Paragon, and Perfection, and whose 

 judgment in this respect carries more than 

 ordinary weight, considers the "Favorite" 

 superior to any of bis older seedlings. 



It is claimed to bo the largest perfect- 

 shaped Tomato in cultivation, smoother than 

 Paragon and darker red than Perfection ; to 

 ripen early and evenly, and to hold its size 

 to the end of the season ; to be very prolific, 

 of best flavor, and on account of its firmness 

 promises to become a most valuable market 

 variety for shipping long distances. 



ENGLISH VEGETABLES. 



It may be a surprise to some of our readers 

 who have heard the praises of English Green 

 Peas, Vegetable Marrow 

 and English vegetables 

 in general extolled, and 

 who were made to ima- 

 gine that to enjoy the 

 best things on earth, one 

 must go to Europe, to 

 be informed, by as good 

 authority as the Fall 

 Mall Gazette, that Eng- 

 lish vegetables are far 

 inferior to American. It 

 says : 



" The same causes 

 which give us good 

 meat, deny us in Eng- 

 land the possibility of 

 good fruit and veget- 

 ables. For while the 

 herbage requires copious 

 rain, the fruits, seeds, 

 pods, flowers, buds, and 

 other miscellaneous ob- 

 jects which we class 

 from the culinary point 

 of view as vegetables all 

 require copious sunlight. 

 That is why we have 

 none of them. Our only good vegetables are 

 such as very young Rhubarb, Seakale, As- 

 paragus, and Celery, which are the blanched 

 sprouting shoots of perennial plants. These 

 mostly come in spring-time, and as they are 

 none the worse, or even all the better, for a 

 little wholesome soaking, they manage to 

 survive our climate well enough in the long 

 run. But most other vegetables are more or 

 less fruity in their nature ; and really to taste 

 these one must go to America or Italy — for 

 choice the first. 



"Of thoroughgoing fruity vegetables — 

 such as the Tomato — we in England know 

 nothing. We never have 6un enough to ripen 

 them properly ; and even with all the appli- 

 ances of modern gardeners, they never get 

 thoroughly red and soft throughout in our 

 gardens as they do in the open air under a 

 Canadian or Italian sky. They always have 

 a half-green taste, and are wholly lacking in 

 the true rich Tomato flavor. Indeed, the 

 tinned American specimens, though tasting 

 of the solder, of course, are better savored 

 after all than our poor, starved, sunless 



English things. As to purple Egg-fruit and 

 green Chow-chows, we know them not at all ; 

 while the profusion of rich red-fleshed Water- 

 melons and primrose-skinned Squashes and 

 golden Pumpkins in a Massachusetts market 

 would astonish Covent Garden, and set some 

 nascent Turner to work with all the pig- 

 ments on his palette to try his hand at a new 

 and many-colored subject. These things 

 require the sun to ripen them, and we see 

 his face here as a rule for some two and a 

 half hours weekly, j,s duly registered at 

 Glynde Place, Lewes. 



" Then, again, there are the winter Cher- 

 ries, the Sweet Potatoes, and, best of all 

 earthly vegetables, green Indian Corn eaten 

 off the cob with fresh butter, and likest to 

 nectar of all mortal delicacies. As for pulse 

 generally, our Beans are all stringy ; we 

 have neither the variety nor the tenderness 

 of the American Bean. Our Peas have some 

 good points — for English Peas ; but they are 

 not half so large, or luscious, or melting, as 

 American Peas. They take too long grow- 

 ing, and have got old and hard beforo they 

 are big enough to pick. The delicious crinkly 



LIVINGSTON'S FAVORITE TOMATO. 



eatable-pod Pea would bo impossible here : 

 it would have got tough and sinewy a month 

 before it was ready for cooking. We grow 

 Buckwheat to feed our pheasants, but it 

 never ripens as it ought, and Buckwheat 

 pancakes at breakfast will doubtless be an 

 unknown luxury with us for ever. 



" In the matter of leafy vegetables we can 

 do a little better, but not enough to boast 

 about. Wo are strong in salads ; our climate 

 provides us with plenty of fresh green Let- 

 tuce, and plenty of slugs, too, to hide in its 

 recesses. But our Cauliflowers and Broccoli 

 are not nearly as good as the American ; 

 they are neither so white nor so delicate in 

 flavor. We can grow Cucumbers (under 

 glass), because Cucumbers are eaten green ; 

 but what a miserable farce are our Vegetable 

 MaiTOws ! 



"What is true of vegetables is even more 

 true of fruits. To be sure, our English hot- 

 house Grapes are the best in the world ; but 

 for Strawberries, Raspberries, Currants, 

 Gooseberries, Plums, and Cherries, we must 

 go to America. Our Peaches are a success ; 



our Apples are a national failure ; and our 

 Pears are a standing insult to the human 

 intelligence. But we may at least congratu- 

 late ourselves that with the aid of glass and 

 stoves we can obtain heat and light enough 

 to grow the best Pineapples in the world at 

 the moderate cost of one guinea apiece. In 

 Jamaica they usually sell at two for three- 

 half-pence." 



MANURE TOR THE GARDEN. 



Nothing in gardening is of more impor- 

 tance than manure. In fact, it is the strong 

 moving power of garden operations, and the 

 wide-awake gardener will endeavor to ac- 

 quire it from every source. Stable-manure 

 is the staple article, but is often so high- 

 priced that it must be handled economically, 

 and applied judiciously, to make its pur- 

 chasing profitable. Commercial manures are 

 valuable, but freightage, in addition to first 

 cost, make their purchase not always profit- 

 ble, and, as the gardener's outlay is heavy, 

 and he often meets with losses, it is impor- 

 tant to use economy at every point. 

 Fall and winter are the main time to col- 

 lect manure, and I man- 

 age generally to secure 

 a fine lot of excellent 

 fertilizer. When the 

 ground is dry I sei^d 

 my wagon to the woods, 

 Hnd haul the richest 

 surface - loam to be 

 found. I rake leaves 

 and all with the loam, 

 for the leaves that have 

 lain all winter and sum- 

 mer will readily rot and 

 add value to the man- 

 ure. This I throw in 

 my hen-house, a foot 

 deep, and in about a 

 month another foot is 

 thrown in. If I have 

 fifty fowls I throw in 

 another foot ; but for 

 twenty -five or thirty, 

 two feet is plenty. This 

 loam is raked over once 

 a week, and once every 

 month I have the whole 

 turned and mixed thor- 

 oughly. 



On this loam are thrown all the slops 

 from the cook-room, all the soap-suds from 

 the wash-tub, all the chamber-lye — in fact, 

 everything that will add to its value. If the 

 loam is thoroughly dry when first put in, it 

 will not become too wet, and by raking it 

 over the droppings every week it will keep 

 dry enough not to be injurious to the poul- 

 try. But the fowls themselves keep the drop- 

 pings pretty well covered by wallowing and 

 scratching in the loam. 



At one time, in the fall, I procured coal- 

 soot from a steam-mill ; to six bushels of 

 soot one bushel of common salt was added. 

 In the spring the hen-house was nicely 

 cleaned out, and its contents were thoroughly 

 mixed with this soot, and then covered with 

 boards to keep it dry. This fertilizer was 

 put iu the hills of various vegetables and 

 produced a most astonishing effect. 



It is surprising how much fertilizing mat- 

 ter accumulates about a place during a year, 

 and if it is only saved and used properly it 

 takes the place of more expensive manure. 



Thos. D. Baied. 



