1874.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
103 
our own growers give us a variety which will 
give us a dozen pickings instead of two, and 
will not go off in a fit o£ mildew with the first 
hot days. The catalogue descriptions must be 
a great puzzle to the novice ; we read in one of 
"McLean's Little Gem," emphasized by italics, 
that it is " The very best early dwarf wrinkled pea 
grown.'" And directly below is "McLean's 
Blue Peter," of which we read : " A decided 
improvement upon ' Little Gem,' and that is 
saying a great -deal." Better than the best 
should be good enough for any one. I have 
not a word to say against " Blue Peter," for I 
have found it a tip-top variety, but wish only 
to show the perplexities that beset the novice. 
Fortunately there are but few new ones this 
year, among which are: "McLean's Best of 
All" (until he gets one better), "Nelson's Van- 
guard " and " Sutton's Jersey Hero," each of 
which, a^ a matter of course, embodies all the 
good qualities belonging to any pea ; at least so 
say the English descriptions. In the way of 
Tomatoes I have seen but few new ones in 
the catalogues. " Belle de Denville," from 
France, and " Extra Dwarf Red," both by 
Briggs Bro., and "Alliance" by Vick, are all 
that I have thus far come across. As a matter 
of duty I shall have to try these, though I place 
but little reliance upon one person's experience 
in one year. From my last year's trial only I 
should be warranted in writing down " Canada 
Victor," " Hathaway's Excelsior," and others 
as failures, but I know that they are not, for 
the "Excelsior" has given satisfaction both at 
home and abroad, and a grower who lives 
about three miles in a straight line from me, 
thinks that the " Canada Victor " is the finest 
tomato grown. He sold a number of single 
specimens for seed at a dollar each — while I 
would not have given that sum for my whole 
crop of a dozen plants. Why the difference? 
He has a stiff rocky soil, on a high hill, while I 
live in a valley, on a light soil, without a stone 
handy to throw at a strange cat. Then again 
my friend has no end of glass, while I being 
cramped for sash room, did not get my plants 
forward early, and when I did set them out, it 
was on the edge of a dry spell which continued 
so long as to make them forget all about grow- 
ing. The " Trophy," which I have grown since 
it first came out, has each year been perfect, 
while the neighbor referred to says he can not 
thoroughly ripen it. Our standard varieties 
are so good that it will be difficult for any new 
comers to excel them : the same may be said of 
Lettuce, to which our climate is not very 
favorable. I stick up my stake at the Hanson, 
introduced a year or two ago by our lamented 
Dreer. Unless a new variety can surpass that, 
it is of no use. " Satisfaction " (Vick), " Green, 
Fat Cabbage" (Bliss), and " Kingsholm Cots" 
(Dreer) are the principal new sorts. Get the 
seed in the hot-bed early this month, and put 
out the plants, first properly hardened, as soon 
as the soil can be worked. 
Leek. — There may be a difference in leeks, 
but so far as I have seen it is mostly in the 
labels on the seed bag. A new one called 
"Extra Large Carentan" claims to be bigger, 
better, and all that, than any other. 
Squash. — It seems a great piece of presump- 
tion for a new squash to come from anywhere 
except Marblehead. This time it is French, 
and called " Round-warted Marrow," described 
as of medium size, fine quality, a good keeper, 
and more than all, it is " warted all over." 
Cucumbers. — "Wc have the Russian Netted 
and Swan Neck from Briggs Bro. and Hender- 
son & Co. Several new frame sorts are offered. 
Melons. — The only new ones I have noticed 
are Prescott (Dreer) and Green Climbing (Briggs 
Bro), which last is said to be cultivated on trel- 
lises and poles, and a " most excellent novelty." 
Beans. — Gregory offers the " Marblehead 
Champion," which is a pole bean and of re- 
markable earliness. He says " as early or ear- 
lier than the earliest bush varieties." Gregory 
"knows beans." Crosman Bros., Rochester, 
have the " White Advancer," for which earli- 
ness and great productiveness are claimed. 
These are about all the important novelties, 
and it is to be distinctly understood that what- 
ever is said of them is on the authority of the 
catalogues. Later, I hope to speak from per- 
sonal knowledge. 
A New Trick of the Robin. 
It is well known that most wild creatures 
have a strong preference for particular kinds 
of food, and will seldom try experiments 
with new sorts so long as they can find the 
food they are accustomed to. Trout which feed 
upon flies will hardly look at anything else 
while the season lasts. Rabbits that have been 
accustomed to sweet apples around their favor- 
ite haunts will follow that bait into almost any 
trap laid for them. Robins while rearing their 
young in the nests live almost exclusively upon 
grubs and worms, the old birds devouring with 
disgusting greediness what the nestlings imper- 
fectly digest. While the cherries last, their 
favorite haunt is the cherry-tree, and nothing 
but shot can dislodge them. When the cur- 
rants begin to redden they perch upon the 
neighboring fence, and little else than currants 
can be found in their crops. In some places 
they are accused of eating peas in the pod, and 
by the sea-shore discarded fish-nets are thrown 
over the pea-brush to keep off the intruders. 
All kinds of small fruit suffer in their turn, 
and if left to follow their own instincts, the 
fruits in small gardens will generally be cleaned 
out by the robins. For the first time the past 
season we noticed the robins pecking away at 
the Flemish Beauty pears. This was the only 
kind assailed in a fruit yard of a dozen or more 
varieties. They usually commenced operations 
upon the blushing cheek, just as it began to 
ripen. Have these birds an esthetic nature, 
and do they admire beauty of color ? They 
followed the pears as the} 7 dropped upon the 
ground, and rivaled the chickens in scooping 
out the luscious pulp with their beaks. Did 
they learn this trick of the chickens, and are 
they susceptible of education ? Have they a 
nicer taste than the chickens to discern the 
better flavor of the Flemish Beauty and to 
leave Buffums and Bartletts untouched ? 
Raising Tomato Plants. 
J. n. r. oot, itocKFor. d, ill. 3 
There are few crops in which the gardener 
so much desires to secure earliness as the 
tomato. But poor success does he have with 
the sickly, slender plants so generally offered 
for sale, which recover so slowly from trans- 
planting as to fruit but little earlier than plants 
raised in the open ground. Consequently they 
meet with little demand. But offer on the 
same stands stocky, tree-like plants, well hard- 
ened and already in bud, which can beset in the 
garden without a day's hinderance of growth, 
and nearly every owner of a garden who sees 
buys of them, though the price be ten times 
that of the frailer sort. Such plants are best 
secured by the following treatment : 
Late in February we make our first sowing, 
and repeat it every week or ten days to keep 
up a succession and to provide against acci- 
dents. For this purpose use light boxes filled 
nearly full of compost which can be easily 
lifted in and out. The cheapest are second- 
hand boxes from grocery stores, which can be 
split after the cover is nailed on and made into 
two. At this season of the year the bed must 
be a deep one, with abundance of heat, and the 
plants will then put in an early appearance, 
and should remain in the same boxes until 
they touch each other between the rows if the 
rows are an inch apart. They are then trans- 
planted into other boxes an inch apart each 
way. Cases in which oysters in the can have 
been shipped, split into two, are cheap and very 
convenient, and thirteen usually fit neatly into 
a frame 12 x 5A. Here they are allowed to te- 
main until they again touch aud crowd. 
For their next receptacle we provide quart 
oyster cans cut into two. This makes of each 
can two neat, stout tin boxes three inches deep, 
two wide, and three long, and these are conve- 
nient for so many uses in plant growing that it 
may be worth while to describe how they are 
easiest cut and fitted for use. To hold them 
while being cut, make and screw to the work- 
bench a stout frame or box just large enough 
to hold a can on its broadside, together with a 
wedge to tighten it. Saw-cuts directly oppo- 
site each other should be made in the box. 
Placing a short stiff-backed saw in these cuts, 
a few quick strokes answer to cut the can in 
two. Of course, the saw dulls quickly, but cuts 
well even if dull, and can be quickly touched 
up with a file and kept sharp enough. Fitting 
each half-can over a piece of hard wood of the 
right size, two or three quick strokes serve to 
make holes an inch square in the bottoms if 
they have not already been made. The jagged 
edges are then hammered smooth, and a pine 
chip covering the entire bottom, and yet not 
fitting tightly, is put in. This serves a double 
purpose: it secures drainage, without which a 
plant will not flourish, and also serves as a 
means to remove the plant undisturbed from 
the can when wanted. 
Into these half cans filled with rich compost 
the plants are then removed with as much dirt 
as can be easily lifted with them. If the cans 
are then allowed to stand a few minutes in an 
inch of water, and the bed for a day or two is 
protected with lath screens, the plant scarcely 
stops growth, and soon fills the can with a per- 
fect mass of roots. 
When ready for sale they are placed for a 
couple of days several inches apart on boards 
in some place where the air circulates freely, 
and are thus hardened. 
In these cans, if occasionally watered, they 
receive no injury if exposed for sale on the 
stands for days together. Carried into the 
garden they can be set out undisturbed, and 
without injury to the can, by giving a steady 
pressure against the chip from below, by which 
the plant, roots, and soil altogether are taken 
out undisturbed. One hardly realizes how 
nicely this is done until he has tried it. 
To accommodate parties buying largely, and 
wishing to get them cheaper, and also for use 
in my own market garden, they are transplant- 
ed into boxes holding from one to six dozen 
each when given the same space as in cans. To 
secure extra fine plants for early market pur- 
poses the plants are given another transplanting 
