754 



THEY SAY. 



tion:, among which the Pacific coast — and especially 

 the favored northwest valleys — is foremost, to furnish 

 the increased amount required. There is no danger of 

 overdoing this matter. Only about one man in every 

 ten that has any inclination towards fruit culture will 

 make a success of it — simply because it requires more 

 skill, tact and forethought than they are willing to give 

 — so that to the earnest, industrious man who can 

 " stick " through the first five years while the orchard 

 is starting, give it good culture and not starve it by 

 taking off other crops, it offers an exceptionally bright 

 opening. — Professor E. R. Lake, in Corvallis (Oregon) 

 Gazette. 



Hardiness of Seedling Peaches. — It is a mistake 

 to suppose that all seedlings rre hardy. I have over 

 1,000 seedling peach trees on my place and among 

 them you will find as many tender ones as hardy ones. 

 — K. Ho/lister, before A/lon-Southern Illinois Horticul- 

 tural Society 



How Many Varieties of Cranberries? — I should 

 like to know how many varieties of the common cran- 

 berry are known under specific names. A. D. Make- 

 peace, of Massachusetts, writes me that the " varieties 

 of the cranberry can scarcely be numbered. I know 

 of as many as a hundred, and presume that there are 

 others who know of as many more." — L. H. Bailey. 



Strawberries. — I fruited Sharpless, Cumberland 

 Crescent, Kentucky, Glendale, Manchester, Gandy 

 and Monmouth. The fruit was ready for the table 

 June 6th and the season closed with us June 25th. 

 The earliest berry was the Crescent and the latest 

 the Gandy. Each variety produced only about half 

 a crop, and this in a favorable season, for we had 

 plenty of rain at the right times, and my plants 

 came through the winter in good condition under a 

 light covering of long stable manure. By far the 

 finest berries I produced came from the Gandy plants, 

 which were also much the most thrifty and vigorous 

 growing vines on my grounds. Monmouth, growing 

 right beside the Gandy plants, did no good at all, and 

 most of the plants died. I am not prepared to give the 

 explanation for this. The Gandy is the finest shaped 

 and the firmest strawberry I have ever grown. — G. G. 

 Groff, Le-oisbiirg, Penn. 



Celery Plants. — In Mr. Greiner's celery article last 

 month (p 669) it was stated that the plants in the seed- 

 bed should be 50 to the rod, while 50 to the foot was 

 meant. But Mr. Greiner writes us that 25 to the foot 

 would probably be better in most cases. 



The Ignotum Tomato. — The seeds of the Ignotum 

 tomato germinated finely and in 100 days from plant- 

 ing of seed I had excellent ripe tomatoes, fit for eating 

 uncooked. The time would have been lessened a few 

 days but unfortunately several of the most vigorous 

 plants, already set with fruit, were cut off by the 

 gophers. 



The fruit is large, and fine in form, with firm flesh. 



The women of the household think it the most pleasant 

 flavored of any tomato they have ever used. The 

 growth of vine is strong and vigorous, and so far per- 

 fectly healthy. The fruit, however, decays quickly 

 when permitted to rest upon the ground, and on this 

 account I fear the Ignotum will not be so well adapted 

 to winter growth here as I had hoped, unless trained 

 upon posts or over brush, for both vines and fruit 

 should be kept from the ground. — H. J. Rudisill, Los 

 Angeles, California . 



Cory Corn. — I have tried for three years to grow 

 Cory Corn in the state of Nebraska. I obtained 

 seed first of J. J. H. Gregory, Marblehead, Mass., and 

 planted two acres. It was a failure — no marketable 

 ears. The corn would not fill out, and was terribly 

 smutty. I thought it wanted acclimatization, and so I 

 saved the best of it and tried it the next year. The re- 

 sult was worse than before ; I obtained nothing fit for 

 the table. I began to think I had been imposed upon 

 in the purchase of the seed, and this year to give the 

 thing another trial, I bought of another seedsman, 

 James Vick, and planted the corn in our excellent 

 soil in the best manner ; I fully expected to beat my 

 neighbors, who did not plant Cory. It was care- 

 fully cultivated and now the result a total failure,, 

 worse than before ! There was not one perfect ear in 

 the whole quarter-acre plot. We failed to get one mess 

 for our own table even of half-filled ears of corn I The 

 small cob was there — sometimes — and a few grains o£ 

 corn, but nothing half-way perfect. I am disgusted 

 with Cory, and will never plant it again in the west, 

 unless I have a " change of heart," or see some good 

 reason for so doing. I will take Stowell's Evergreen, or 

 some other variety tried in this section hereafter. This 

 item may save western planters some dollars, and not 

 a few. — O. L. Barber, Beali-ice, Neb. 



Lettuce in Hotbeds is not a difficult crop to raise 

 by the following method : January ist sow half an 

 ounce of seed under one 3x6 sash, putting hot horse 

 manure under it. Protect this sash through cold and 

 snow with mats and shutters, till the plant has four 

 leaves. Then prepare two or more frames to receive 

 the plants. Plants should be taken into a warm place 

 and potted in two-inch pots, one plant in a pot ; 450. 

 pots will then go under one sash. Put two inches of 

 dirt on the manure, and set the pots on it, within three 

 inches of the glass, and at the end of three weeks, or 

 the first week in February, the potted plants will be 

 ready for a final setting in the bed where they are tO' 

 head. For four or five weeks the plants that will oc- 

 cupy 20 sashes have been growing in three, over heating 

 manure twice applied ; whereas, if the plants had been 

 set in the large bed when first planted, the heat would 

 have been nearly spent. Now the half-grown plants, 

 with a nice ball of roots can be set in the fresh 

 earth, over freshly heating manure and they will ma- 

 ture in go days from the time of sowing the seed. The 

 extra labor of potting is balanced by the small amount 



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