1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
101 
Two New Bedding Plants. 
The Canada Victor Tomato. 
BY JA3. J. H. GREGORY, MARBLEHEAD, MASS. 
About a year ago I received what I considered 
an extravagant description of a new tomato, 
the exhausting labors of the winter and spring. 
On my return, one of my foremen was very 
emphatic in his praises of one kind of tomato 
that had ripened earlier than any of the twenty- 
eight varieties on my grounds. On going to the 
It is assumed that our readers understand that 
by bedding plants we refer to those used in 
masses to produce effects of color. The plants 
VARIEGATED WOOLLY GRAPHALIUM. 
VARIEGATED COLEUS “CHAMELEON.” 
named Canada Victor, the control of which 
was offered to me for a thousand dollars. As I 
have made it a rule never to introduce a new 
vegetable to the public before trying it in my 
experimental garden, which is specially set 
aside for this purpose, I declined to purchase, 
but suggested that being always on the lookout 
for improved vegetables I shall be happy to 
test it by the side of my other sorts. A package 
of the seed was sent me, and I planted it in the 
cold-frame the same day with my other sorts. 
Just after the plants were set out, I took a short 
excursion to Europe for a breathing spell after 
spot, I found it was the new tomato from 
Canada, and saw at a glance that it was a val¬ 
uable acquisition, it being not only remarkably 
early, but of a large size, very symmetrical in 
shape, solid, ripening thoroughly around the 
stem, and a first-rate cropper. I learned that a 
market-gardener, largely engaged in the busi¬ 
ness, came from a distant city dur¬ 
ing the summer with the special 
purpose of examining my varieties 
of tomatoes as they grew, that he 
might thus be enabled to select the 
best for his own planting. After 
examining with care, and studying 
the characteristics of twenty-eight 
varieties scattered over three square 
miles of ground, he emphatically 
chose the Canada Victor. Expe¬ 
rience has taught, that the man 
who declares he has the earliest of 
all tomatoes, is treading on very 
dangerous ground ; I can personal¬ 
ly affirm that it was the earliest of 
all my varieties last season, and 
the gentleman who sent it writes 
that for three seasons lie has tried 
it with other varieties, and finds 
that it excels all in earliness, by from six to 
ten days. [Mr. G. is right as to the suspicions 
with which statements about early tomatoes are 
received. Much depends upon the treatment of 
the young plants. Mr. G. has had a long experi¬ 
ence and is always careful in his assertions.— Ed.] 
employed are those that continue long in flower, 
or those the foliage of which is sufficiently strik¬ 
ing in color to produce a pleasing effect. The 
bedding system has been practiced in England 
to an extent that foreshadowed the neglect of 
all plants not adapted to this use. This general 
devotion to bedding out has caused a reaction, 
and certain English horticultural writers de¬ 
nounce it altogether. We are, in this country, 
safe in advocating the bedding system with what 
CANADA VICTOR TOMATO. 
are culled “ foliage plants.” The intense heats 
of our summers preclude the general use of 
flowering plants for producing bedding effects, 
and we actually need those with brightly col¬ 
ored foliage. In mid-summer our gardens would 
present a sorry sight were it not that the heat 
which prevents us from having flowers is just 
what is needed for the development of the beau¬ 
tiful leaves of the bedding plants. But even 
among these we must make a choice. While the 
the hurlbutt stripe.— (See next page.) 
