54 
March, 1890. 
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Horliou ll lire and Hie Practical Farmer, 
Last spring we took occasion to recom- 
mend the use of the cheap galvanized wire 
netting in h<une gardens as an economical 
substitute for the unsightly and often hard- 
to-get pea brush and bean pole«. In the 
February 1st number of the Practical Far- 
mer. a part of our article is quoted with the 
remark : “This and some more rubbish of 
the same character appeared recently in an 
Eastern monthly. We did not wonder at 
it. What we did wonder at. however, is to 
see this trash copied by our respected neigh- 
bor. the Weekly Press. The average gar- 
dener is not a millionaire, and until he is in 
a fair way to become one he will have to be 
satisfied with poles.” 
The fun of all this lies in the fact that 
just after the publication of what this wise 
editor calls ‘‘rubbish” and “trash” the 
seedsman who controls the Practical Farmer 
earnestly solicited the writer of the “ rub- 
bish" to become one of his stated contribu- 
tors. His invitation was declined, hence 
the grapes are sour and the results of thirty 
years' practical experience in horticulture 
are called “trash” by some fellow whose 
knowledge of the art was probably gained 
in a newspaper office. 
Some time ago this Practical Farmer, 
which has such a discriminating knowledge 
of trash, published an article giving its 
readers directi ns for propagating plants 
from cuttings, and gravely told them to 
split the end of the cutting and insert a 
grain of wheat or some small grain to fur- 
nish the cutting with roots until it could 
make them for itself. Now if this “East- 
ern monthly " or any ether horticultural or 
agricultural paper we know of has ever 
printed worse trash ana rubbish than that I 
have failed to find it. If such stuff had 
been found in an almanac of 100 years ago, 
it would probably have been reprinted as a 
specimen of garden superstitions, but print- 
ed in a paper of the present day it only 
shows the extreme ignorance of those in 
control. 
Now in regard to the galvanized wire 
netting. The netting neces-ary for a row 
of peas, beans or tomatoes 150 feet long can 
be had for $2.00. If cared for it will last 
ten years. Now if any village or town gar- 
dener can have pea brush cut and hauled 
from the country for as little money, he 
must live in a very brushy country. 
The writer is far from being a millionaire, 
but he uses the wire netting as a matter of 
economy, and his knowledge of the gar- 
dener's art was learned in the garden and 
not in a newspaper office. — W. F. Massey. 
The garden must be made rich and put in 
proper condition before planting. 
Itlaroli Topics. 
These notes are written early in February 
and down here in North Carolina our early 
peas are six inches high, and it is hard to 
realize that people north of us will not be 
able to plant until March and many not 
until April. We have on trial this year 
about thirl y sorts of early peas. Our con- 
clusions in regard to them will be given in 
a future number. 
EARLY PEAS. 
So far. for family use, we find the Alpha 
the earliest good pea. It is closely followed 
by the Champion Gem. The little Extra 
Early Pea. which market gardeners use so 
largely, is not the pea for private gardens. 
The qualities which commend it to the mar- 
ket gardeners are its earliness and its giving 
its whole crop at one or two pickings. For 
the family garden this is a disadvantage, 
as we want a pea which lasts longer in use 
and of higher quality. As a main crop pea 
we tried last year a comparatively new 
one called Horsford's Market Garden Pea. 
We were very much pleased with it. It is 
a large and handsome pea and the most 
prolific bearer we ever knew. It also has 
the good quality for the home garden of 
remaining long in pod, which is against it 
as a market garden pea. At the risk of 
again offending the wiseacres of the Prac- 
tical Farmer we repeat our recommendation 
of last spring to banish the unsightly pea 
brush from the home garden and use the 
galvanized wire netting for peas, beans and 
tomatoes, as a matter not only of neatness 
but economy. This netting can be bought 
in various widths and costs half a cent or 
less per square foot. The editor cf the 
Practical Farmer, not being a millionaire, 
will probably pay twice as much to get pea 
brush hauled for his garden, if he has one. 
SOME GOOD ONIONS. 
Lose no time in getting onion seed sown. 
The Italian onions, by making it possible to 
grow good onions from seed, are fast driv- 
ing the use of onion sets out. In North 
Carolina we sew seed of the Italian onions 
in February, if not sown in the Autumn. 
Those sown in October are best for early 
bunching, but the February sowing gives 
fine ripe onions in early Summer. In the 
latitude of Philadelphia these onion seeds 
should be sown in March. As to varieties 
the little Queen is liked everywhere, not- 
withstanding its small size. Here w e grow 
two crops of them on the same land in one 
season. For pick'ing purposes they have 
no superior. The white Italian Tripoli is a 
larger and better market sr rt and the Mffm- 
moth Pompeii is very fine with us. Giant 
Rocea we can do nothing with, and con- 
sider it worthless. To those who still prefer 
to grow onion sets, and wish to raise their 
own sets, I would say that onion seed raised 
in New Jersey is much better for this pur- 
pose than the Eastern seed. The New r Jer- 
sey seed wall produce a round, solid and 
good keeping set, while the New England 
seed makes a long, slim and unsightly set, 
and a bad keeper. In growing sets we 
always prefer to sow the seeds very thickly 
in bands rather than rows, making the 
bands about six inches broad, with room 
enough between for horse culture if on a 
large scale. 
POTATOES AND TOMATOES. 
Early potatoes should go into the ground 
as early as the soil can be gotten into proper 
condition. We have quit the use of farm- 
yard and stable manure in growing Irish 
potatoes, as cleaner crops can always be 
grown on soil plowed in Fall with concen- 
trated fertilizer in the furrows. Stable ma- 
nure gives them a tendency to scab badly. 
Early Ohio is the favorite with our North 
Carolina truck growers, and the varieties 
offered are now so numerous that all can be 
suited. We have now 21 varieties in our 
test garden, about which we will report 
hereafter. Tomato plants should now be 
coming on under glass. It always pays to 
transplant them two or three times before 
putting them in the open ground. We 
start them in boxes in the greenhouse, and 
as soon as large enough to handle trans- 
plant into other boxes and then into cold 
frames, putting them in the open ground in 
this latitude April 1st. and in latitude of 
Philadelphia a month or six weeks later. 
As a rule the earliest tomatoes are not of 
the best quality and the best ones are not 
early, so we endeavor to start a few of the 
earliest and a few good ones at the same 
time, so as to have them succeed each 
other. Here, too, we are making extensive 
tests, and this year have coming on 40 
varieties of tomatoes. Probably we will 
find that half a dozen real varieties are 
about all there are. So far as mere earli- 
ness is concerned, I do not think the Hath- 
away Excelsior has been surpassed. The 
Dwarf Champion has more good qualities 
as a shipping tomato than any I know, but 
its quality is not the best for home use. 
For a canning crop the Queen is highly 
esteemed by the Maryland growers, and 
Gen. Grant is still largely used. Mikado is 
about the earliest of the large tomatoes, but 
it is too rough and unsightly for home use 
or profitable marketing. By careful selec- 
tion through a series of years this variety 
might be greatly improved. 
THE EARLY KITCHEN GARDEN. 
It is always wise for the gardener to take 
some little risks in order to get things early. 
If frost defeats your efforts you are only a 
few seeds out and still have as good a 
chance as your neighbors. So we always 
sow a few beets and snap beans and plant a 
little corn before danger of frost is gone, 
and usually manage to bring them through. 
If the beet seeds germinate and get their 
seed leaves well developed without frost 
they will then endure quite a sharp fro-t 
uninjured. Mohawk beans, too, can be sown 
much earlier than others, and we have had 
them endure quite a white frost. In this 
latitude we have known them to come 
through when planted last of February, 
and in warm land about Philadelphia they 
might escape sown last of March or 1st of 
April. The best early beet yet, in my esti- 
