G’A<>  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
81 
Notes  from  a  Maryland  Garden 
I  never  appreciated  the  KiefTor  pear  as 
I  have  this  Winter.  We  had  quite  a  lot 
of  fine  large  specimens  stored  in  a  dark 
and  cold  store  room,  where  they  mel¬ 
lowed  nicely,  and  we  have  found  them 
ver\  pleasant  eating  raw  and  baked.  It 
has  become  common  here  and  in  Dela¬ 
ware  to  plant.  Kiell’ers  in  rows  along  the 
roadside,  and  along  the  railroads,  where 
they  are  less  liable  to  blight  than  in  cul¬ 
tivated  orchards,  and  the  crop  is  made 
so  cheaply  that  they  can  be  sold  at  a 
very  low  price  with  some  profit  to  the 
grower.  Then,  too,  they  are  safe  along 
the  roads,  for  no  one  will  ever  attempt 
to  eat  a  green  Kieffer  more  than  once. 
In  my  backyard  I  have  a  little  lawn 
of  really  better  grass  than  in  the  front 
biwn  abutting  on  the  street.  In  that  sod 
I  planted,  live  years  ago.  a  peach  tree. 
That  tree  has  grown  luxuriantly,  has 
made  as  much  wood  as  the  cultivated 
trees.  I’ or  several  seasons  all  cultivated 
trees  all  around  have  made  great  crops 
of  fruit,  while  that  tree  in  five  years  has 
made  nothing  but  wood  buds  and  has 
never  produced  a  peach.  We  generally 
assume  that  when  a  peach  tree  makes 
plenty  of  new  wood  it  is  certain  to  make 
fruit.  Now  there  is  no  lack  of  young 
wood  on  this  tree,  lint  it  all  seems  to 
make  wood  and  not.  fruit  buds.  It  is  an 
oddity  among  peaches,  for  it  is  a  nursery- 
grown  tree  of  the  famous  Oldmixon.  We 
all  know  that  the  best  practice  for  the 
peach  is  to  keep  the  trees  well  culti¬ 
vated  in  order  to  have  the  best  growth 
of  the  fruiting  wood,  but  when  the  tree 
makes  plenty  of  wood  and  yet  grows 
top  fast  to  make  fruit  buds,  one  Could 
hardly  charge  it  to  the  sod  in  which  it 
stands.  I  am  still  watching  and  prun¬ 
ing  I  hat  tree. 
Few  realize  how  easy  it  is  to  get  a 
crop  of  radishes  in  a  frame  in  the  Fall 
even  in  the  North.  I  was  interested  in  a 
statement  made  in  a  recent  paper  by 
Prof.  Watts  of  the  Pennsylvania  State 
College  that  he  has  been  eating  fine  rad¬ 
ishes  from  a  frame  with  nothing  over 
it  lot  the  usual  sashes,  and  that  the 
mulshes  taken  from  frosted  ground  were 
jest  as  good  as  any  grown  in  a  green- 
Imits-'.  Down  here,  with  the  double-glazed 
sashes  wo  ran  grow  radishes  in  the 
frames  till  Winter.  As  I  have  before 
said  I  sow  them  in  alternate  six-inch 
i'i.ws  with  early  beets,  and  when  the  rad¬ 
ishes  come  out  the  beets  have  the  room, 
and  are  hardened  off  in  March  and  the 
frame  moved  elsewhere  to  harden  my  to¬ 
mato  plants, 
I  have  a  frame  now  that  is  nearly 
cleared  of  the  Grand  Rapids  lettuce  in 
which  I  shall  sow  these  seeds  in  a  few 
days,  and  expert  to  have  the  radishes 
ready  late  in  January,  but  northward  the 
frame  could  he  sown  to  radishes  in  late 
October  and  the  crop  come  off  early  in 
I  tecember. 
A  frame  is  now  being  planted  with  the 
New  York  and  Wonderful  lettuce  from 
plants  still  growing  in  the  open  ground. 
The  seed  were  sent  me  by  a  grower  in 
Oregon  as  a  specially  fine  strain  of  the 
New  York.  I  have  never  used  this  va¬ 
riety  in  a  frame,  and  have  always  con¬ 
sidered  it  better  suited  to  the  outside 
crop  in  Spring,  as  it  stands  heat  better 
than  the  Dig  Boston.  It  is  an  immense 
heading  lettuce,  and  probably  the  plants 
imw  set  will  not  head  till  Spring,  but  the 
experiment  is  worth  trying,  and  I  hope  to 
carry  through  many  of  the  plants  outside 
for  setting  in  the  Spring. 
A  snow  would  probably  help  these,  for 
while  we  have  heard  of  heavy  snow  as 
far  south  as  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia, 
we  have  none  here  lint  did  have  a  long- 
needed  rain  when  it  was  snowing  up 
there.  But  for  the  fact  that  snow  would 
be  a  protection  to  some  things  we  would 
be  very  well  satisfied  to  have  none,  for 
st  ow  is  a  great  nuisance  here,  since  it 
at  orn-e  turns  to  slush,  and  makes  some 
additional  expense  in  cleaning  the  side¬ 
walks. 
We  are  now  eating  some  of  the  old 
Winesap  apples.  These  are  not  large, 
but  are  fairly  good.  But  one  gets  an 
idea  of  the  great  reserve  force  in  Na¬ 
ture  when  we  reflect  that  from  seed  of 
this  apple  was  grown  the  large  and  ex¬ 
cellent  Stayman.  In  the  “‘Apples  of 
New  York”  it  is  stated  that  the  Stay- 
man  is  not  suited  to  New  York  condi¬ 
tions.  and  this  is  doubtless  true,  for  it 
does  vary  in  different  localities.  We 
have  had  the  Stayman  this  Fall  from  the 
mountains  of  West  Virginia.  These  are 
far  higher  colored  than  our  Peninsula- 
grown  Stayman.  but  tire  inclined  to  be 
dry  and  mealy,  while  the  Stayman  grown 
here  is  very  brittle  and  juicy.  The  Al¬ 
mighty  doubtless  could  have  made  a  bet¬ 
tor  apple  than  the  Stayman,  but  doubt¬ 
less  lie  never  did  make  one  better  than 
a  Delaware  Stayman. 
Winter  has  so  far  touched  us  lightly. 
Bright  sunny  days  and  frosty  nights 
have  been  the  rule,  and  not  enough  cold 
to  hurt  the  lettuce  plants  in  the  seed  bed 
outside.  Last  Spring  a  manufacturer  of 
plant  protectors  sent  me  a  number  of 
these,  wooden  frames  covered  with  cot¬ 
ton  cloth.  I  have  now  set  these  over  a 
goodly  part  of  the  lettuce  plants  to  make 
sure  of  having  them  for  setting  in  Spring. 
They  are  the  New  York,  or  Wonderful, 
a  good  variety  for  Spring  setting,  as  they 
stand  heat  far  better  than  the  Big  Bos¬ 
ton.  Lettuce  plants  of  good  strong 
growth  set  in  the  late  Fall  in  open  fur¬ 
rows  running  east  and  west  usually  win¬ 
ter  well  here  set  between  the  early  cab¬ 
bage  plants,  but  I  have  thousands  still 
in  the  seed  bed  from  Fall  sowing,  and 
it  is  these  that  I  am  trying  to  protect. 
A  three-sash  frame  filled  with  parsley 
collapsed  from  decay,  and  today  I  have 
put  a  new  frame  in  its  place.  These 
three-sash,  portable  frames  are  the  han¬ 
diest  things  one  can  have  in  the  garden. 
January  is  really  the  beginning  of  Spring 
in  the  frames,  and  I  am  now  sowing  rad¬ 
ishes  and  beets  in  the  frame  from  which 
we  have  cleaned  up  the  Grand  Rapids 
lettuce.  In  other  frames  the  Big  Boston 
is  now  ready  for  use,  and  one  of  these 
will  be  cleaned  out  in  late  January  and 
will  be  sown  to  seed  of  the  Prizetakcr 
onion  to  make  plants  for  Spring  setting. 
By  the  time  I  need  frame  room  for  the 
tomato  plants  in  late  March  the  frame 
now  sown  to  radishes  and  beets  will  he 
cleared  of  tin*  radishes,  and  the  beets 
will  1k*  hardened  off  and  the  frame  moved 
to  another  spot  to  set  the  tomato  plants, 
thus  giving  me  three  uses  for  the  sashes 
during  the  season. 
In  February  the  geraniums,  then  in 
four-inch  pots,  will  be  moved  out  of  the 
greenhouse  to  give  room  for  tomatoes, 
and  will  be  placed  in  a  frame  under  the 
double-glazed  sashes.  I  did  this  last 
Winter  with  perfect  success.  In  fact 
they  grew  so  strong  in  the  frame  that 
they  were  in  the  way  of  the  sashes  before 
it  would  do  to  set  them  out.  I  do  not 
try  to  winter  over  any  stock  plants  of 
Colons,  but  every  Summer  set  some 
plants  where  I  can  allow  them  to  seed, 
and  then  save  seed  from  these,  and  by 
sowing  them  early  in  March  I  can  se¬ 
lect  such  plants  as  I  want  for  bedding 
and  generally  get  fine  colored  sorts. 
The  red  Vernon  Begonia,  which  blooms 
all  the  time  and  turns  its  foliage  a  rich 
bronze  color  when  bedded  out.  I  treat  in 
the  same  way.  It  seeds  abundantly,  and 
the  dust-like  seed  scattered  on  the  sur¬ 
face  of  a  flat  give  me  a  great  abundance 
of  plants,  and  better  ones  than  from  cut¬ 
tings.  For  low  clipped  beds  with  Alter- 
nantheras  this  Begonia  is  very  attractive, 
and  always  covered  with  bloom.  I  asso¬ 
ciate  them  with  lines  of  the  white-bloom¬ 
ing  Begonia  of  the  same  class,  which 
maintains  the  green  color  of  its  leaves 
outside,  and  blooms  just  as  freely  as  the 
red  one.  Then  with  a  single  plant  pf  the 
King  Humbert  (’anna  as  a  centre  to  the 
circular  bed  it  is  made  very  attractive. 
W.  F.  MAS  SKY. 
Plant  Lice  on  Celery 
If  F.  II.  T..  page  14<13,  will  scatter 
some  tobacco  stems  in  or  about  the  cel¬ 
ery  and  moisten  them,  he  will  be  rid  of 
lice.  I  grow  witloof  in  my  cellar  where 
m.v  heater  is,  an  ideal  place  for  lice,  and 
they  infest  the  plants  unless  I  use  the 
stems.  1  grow  the  witloof  in  half  (kero¬ 
sene)  barrel  tubs,  covering  lightly  with 
stems  and  let  the  witloof  come  tip 
through  it  and  have  no  lie,*. 
Long  Island.  E.  s.  miller. 
Newcomer  :  “Can  you  tell  me,  please, 
where  I  can  find  good  board  in  this 
town?”  City  Dweller:  “Only  in  the  lum¬ 
ber  yard,  I  rear,” — Judge. 
This  II lust  rates 
What  Happens  When 
You  Start  A  Cold  Motor 
V  lien  you  ‘“light  the  gas”  under 
your  cold  spark  plugs  the  effect  is 
much  the  same  as  if  you  poured  boil¬ 
ing  w^ter  on  a  spark  plug  half  buried 
in  a  cake  of  ice. 
Unless  the  materials  are  exactly 
conditioned — * 
Unless  the  parts  are  "accurately 
tooled  and  fitted — ■ 
Unless  the  contact  points  are 
properly  cushioned  where  the  strains 
come — something  is  bound  to  break. 
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These  extremes^ are  practical  only  because  their  cost  is  distributed  over  such  an 
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d  his  season  our  output  is  doubled  compared  with  last. 
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