their seed packages with the date of the year 
they were grown, (not the year they are ustd) 
also their vitality as good for-years. Va¬ 
rious tables are published annually in every 
seed catalogue, but the most important one is 
left out, viz., The Vitality of Seeds. I, for one, 
know the importance of those two items, for the 
Market Gardener and others. Last season 
there came to me no less than seventeen differ¬ 
ent persons to ask about cucumbers, suuashes 
and melons. Last week, a neighbor informed 
me, that at the Grainge Meeting, held at Farm¬ 
ington, this county, the Proffessors from the 
Agricultural College made this an important 
point in their speech. I give below a partial 
list. Would you be kind enough to furnish me 
the balance in Seed-Time and Harvest? 
Good tor one year—Onions and Parsnips. 
For two years—Egg Plant, Carrot, Peas, 
Beans, Thyme, Pepper, Rhubarb, Salsify and 
Sage. 
For three years—Asparagus. Parsley, Spin¬ 
ach, Lettuce and Radish. 
For four years—Cauliflower, Cabbage, Celery 
and Turnip. 
From five to ten years—Cucnmber, Squash, 
Pumpkin, Melon and Tomato, and all except the 
cucumber is better after the the third year, as 
they fruit better and run less to vines. 
Please let this call out your opinion of it. 
Yours Respectfully, Henry Lock. 
To Beginners in Gardening. 
From several years of experience in garden- 
dening, 1 find it almost folly to try to raise 
choice vegetables until the ground has become 
rich and the whole structure mellow and live. 
But for a poor man who has a little land near a 
small country town where they are not so exact 
as to quality, I know from my own experience 
he can take quite poor land and manage to 
make money at gardening. Having begun gar¬ 
dening on perhaps as poor soil as ever was cul¬ 
tivated, and under the most adverse circumstan¬ 
ces too, for I was not able to walk a step my¬ 
self, and my work and marketing was done by 
two boys 7 and 10 years old. By their labor 
and my brain work we have gradually brought 
up our soil uutil now we can grow a beet, rad¬ 
ish or cabbage that will please the most fastidi¬ 
ous eye or palate. I wish to offer a few hints to 
those who are Jjmited in means, and whose land 
is poor, yet who wish to try th- ir hand at gar¬ 
den ing. 
It is seldom you find a village with 800 or 
1000 inhabitants but that you will find a mar¬ 
ket for beans, beets, radishes, tomatoes and 
melons, and in those you will find earliness the 
most valued qualities. Take what manure you 
have got and can get, pile it in a heap to rot. 
Keep it moist and well covered with sod or soil 
so that you hold all escaping gasses; do not 
suffer it to get dry. When needed, turn it a 
day or two before using and it will become dry 
enough to become fine. As soon as your ground 
will work tolerably well, break it deep and 
work it mellow; mark off' rows with a shovel 
plow three feet apart, and fill in the furrows all 
the manure you can spare. Rake over a little 
soil and drop two beet seeds every four inches, 
and sow radishes between. After the plants 
come up throw ashes over them. If you have 
any hen manure scatter a little of that over also. 
Prepare bean ground in the same way as for 
beets and radishes, and plant them every two 
inches apart in the rows. Have plenty of seed 
and plant your beans early risking the frost; in 
about seven or eight days after your first plant¬ 
ing, plant more, so if the first are cut down by 
frost you will have some coming on. Prepare 
the ground well for tomatoes and melons, and 
put in the hill and work in the soil all the ma¬ 
nure you can afford. Remember, unless the 
seed is planted early it is vain to hope for an 
early crop. As earliness is success, you should 
plant the earliest varieties you can get. Seed 
from a more northern climate aids in eaaliness. 
To aid in selections I will give what I find in 
my experience to be the earliest and best. The 
T ue Egyptian Beet is unexcelled for earliness. 
It is handsomely shaped, of very dark red color 
and exceedingly sweet, tender, and of delicious 
quality. 
Melons: I have found none so safe or so early 
for market as the Ice Cream; green skin; red 
flesh; sweet, and very delicious; white seed. 
Gipsy, is a large and vigorous grower, fine 
for market, good quality but many smaller sized 
ones; will rot at blossom end. 
Bay View Musk Melon is a most desirable 
melon, green flesh, rich and of exquisite flavor. 
It is not the same as Casaba, as some growers 
claim. 
For early market the Early Dark Scarlet Tur¬ 
nip Radish is certainly in the lead. Short Top 
Long Scarlet should follow for a succe-sion. 
Tomato: Perfection is splendid and will bear 
until frost. Thomas D. Baird. 
-—-- 
A Southern bank president says the rats 
ate up the $30,000 he is accused of stealing. 
