September, 1891. 
159 
/ 6W C GPl RDEN \ 
^ A- ^ - X A^yy^V WVVVYv' ■ / /v^w v^g 
any time. Care must be taken not to keep 
the sashes over it in day time, except in 
snow storms, or it will get a tender growth 
that will be easily damaged. Always use 
smooth seeded spinach for fall sowing. We 
use the Norfolk Savoy Leaf. 
A full crop of winter kale should be sown 
at once. We prefer to sow this crop broad- 
cast, but at the North where it may need 
winter protection it should be sown in rows 
and mulched with straw or forest leaves. 
The Dwarf German is generally sown, but 
the Dwarf Scotch Curled is much finer but 
more tender. 
RADISHES. 
Chinese Rose-colored may still be sown 
and in the South the last sowing should be 
made late in the month to remain where 
sown until used. 
ONIONS. 
Late in the month sow a general crop of 
onion seed in beds to be transplanted early 
in the spring. In this latitude and south- 
ward the Italian varieties of the larger 
growing sorts, such as Giant Rocca and 
Pompeii should be used. The Giant Rocca 
will not do well here sown in spring, but 
sown any time up to the middle of October 
and transplanted in spring will make very 
large onions. The transplanting should be 
done in February or early in March. Queen 
onions grow so quickly that they had better 
be sown here in February and not trans- 
planted. 
TOMATOES. 
A succession crop of tomatoes should 
now be sown for forcing purposes to be 
once transplanted and left out as late as is 
safe, before being transferred to pots. We 
always force tomatoes in pots or boxes. 
The admirable article from the Cornell Bul- 
letin last month will give all necessary in- 
formation :is to treatment under glass. 
Don’t use plants from cuttings, the seedlings 
are much better. We fully .agree with Prof. 
Bailey as to the Lorillard and Volunteer be- 
ing among the best for forcing and have 
found the Peach tomato one of the most 
certain and productive. There are great 
possibilities for improvement in this variety. 
— W. F. Massey. 
Cabbage and Cauliflowers for Spring 
Heading. 
From the latitude of Philadelphia north- 
ward cabbage seed for wintering over in 
frames for spring planting, should be sown 
from the middle to the last of the month. 
In North Carolina October will be better. 
Cauliflower seed should be sown a little 
earlier. Cauliflower seed of the Snowball 
variety sown in North Carolina the middle 
of September, and set in frames, six to each 
sash, and only protected by the glass on se- 
vere nights, can be headed finely in March. 
For heading out doors in later spring, we 
prefer to sow cabbage and cauliflower seed 
in frames bere in January and transplant 
in February. The fall-sown plants trans- 
planted to the open ground here in Decem- 
ber will give the earliest crop, but the dan- 
ger is that in mild winters many of them 
will run to seed without heading. To guard 
against this sow seed at intervals from the 
first to last of October so as to be sure of 
having plants not overgrown for setting. 
North of Virginia the early cabbages will 
always be better and earlier when raised in 
hot beds in winter, than if sown in the fall 
and wintered over in frames. At the pro- 
per season we will detail the best method 
for our northern friends. To get cabbage 
here ready to cut in March and April the 
fall-sown plants are no doubt best, but for 
a succeeding and better crop the plants 
raised from seed sown in January under 
glass will be found superior. — W. F. M. 
Winter Cabbage in the South. 
Having plants now ready as recommend- 
ed last month, plants of Late Flat Dutch 
cabbage set now in moist ground of a fer- 
tile character, and well manured, will make 
fine heads anywhere south of Virginia. 
Rapid but shallow cultivation is needed for 
this crop and dressings of nitrate of soda at 
intervals will help them to outgrow the 
green caterpillars. If the caterpillars be- 
come very numerous on cabbage, get some 
pure and fresh Pyrethrum powder and 
sprinkle the plants several times. If not 
fresh it is worthless. The California article 
sold under the name of Buhach is the best. 
It is not poisonous to human beings or ver- 
tebrate animals. — W. F. M. 
Gathering Grapes. 
HE principal work of 
this month is to gather 
the grapes and either 
sell them or make them 
into wine. For the first 
purpose they should be 
packed nicely and snug- 
ly in five or ten pound 
boxes made for that purpose. They should 
be fully ripe before cut from the vines as 
they never ripen after picked or packed. 
They should be packed with care so as not 
to destroy the bloom and the stems should 
be cut short so as to be packed without 
showing them. Those intended for wine 
should be left on the vines untd fully ripe 
as a general rule but there are some excep- 
tions to it, for when the leaves drop, as they 
sometimes do with the Delaware and others, 
the berries never fully ripen however long 
they remain on the vines. In such cases 
they should be gathered and may be made 
into good wine. — J. Stayman. 
Varieties of Native Grapes. 
In the United States we have several dis- 
tinct native species, from one or other of 
which have been originated all the varieties 
now in cultivation. The only classification 
of these which has been presented looking 
to the arrangement of varieties under the 
species from which they have been produ- 
ced will be found at page 81 of the Report 
of the Department of Agriculture for the 
year 1869. An attempt was there made to 
draw attention to the most valuable pecu- 
liarities of the different species, peculiarities 
which are more or less inherited by the 
varieties which have originated from them, 
as also the climates to which they seem best 
adapted. Since then some attention has 
been given to the significance and impor- 
tance of the points embraced in that classifi- 
cation, but the subject is still unrecognized 
by the majority of those engaged in grape 
culture. 
The idea that our native grapes would be 
more rapidly improved by securing hybrid 
kinds between them and the foreign species 
has long been entertained; and, although it 
has constantly been argued by some that no 
good result could be obtained, yet of late 
years much attention has been directed to 
this mode of improvement, and, as was to 
be expected, varieties of very superior mer- 
it have been produced, many of them equal 
to the best of the foreign varieties, in flavor 
as well as in appearance, but no variety so 
produced has yet proved able to maintain 
itself as worthy of general cultivation; in 
fact, they are altogether unreliable except 
under conditions where even foreign grapes 
can be raised with a good degree of success. 
This is much to be regretted, but it is never- 
theless the truth that nothing of value and 
reliability has by this means been added to 
our list of hardy grapes, and a ll experience, 
so far, in this direction only tends to prove 
the wisdom of the advice given many years 
ago that the line of improvement should be 
confined to hybridizing our native species 
with each other, and by selection ultimately 
procure varieties of reputed merit both for 
table use and for the manufacture of wines. 
But this improvement can not be systemat- 
ically pursued unless accompanied by a 
very distinct and clear understanding of 
the respective merits of American species. 
Until quite recently varieties of the fox 
grape ( Fi'fis labrusea) have mostly been pro- 
duced, and these have been recommended 
and cultivated both for wine and table use, 
and but little attention has been given to 
the improvement of other species, notwith- 
standing that the summer grape ( Vitis cesti- 
valis) and its varieties have vastly superior 
merits as wine grapes. No better evidence 
of this fact need be desired than the esti- 
mate given to these wines in foreign coun- 
tries. Most of the American wines which 
have been specially recognized at foreign 
expositions have been the products of this 
class of grapes. But the ultimate value of 
these grapes will not be realized until vine- 
yards of them are established in localities 
where they can be ripened. They require 
a longer warm season than suffices for vari- 
eties of the labrusea family; consequently 
they are not successfully grown in localities 
where the improved fox grapes are most 
largely cultivated, and for that reason the 
summer grapes are but little known, and in 
the localities where they may be produced 
in perfection the culture of wine grapes has 
not yet become an established industry. 
