SIO 
for il)t J)ovm0. 
HINTS ON GROWING VEGETABLES. 
Spring has come once more and the Cousins 
will soon he busy with their gardens. We 
should be careful *o procure good seed for the 
beet varieties or else our labor will be likely to 
be iu vain, I have had a garden as large as I 
could care for ever since I have been old 
enough to work out of doors, and so have had 
a chance to learn of the best varieties, modes 
of culture, etc. 
About the first things we sow in tue Spring 
are peas. Bliss's American Wonder, for early, 
is excelled by uone. 1 think Uncle Mark will 
agree with me in saying this. Champion of 
England most have its place in every garden 
for later use. 
Of lettuce, Hanson and Curled India are the 
standard sorts for out-door culture here, but 
I think these have their equal in the Stone- 
head Golden Yellow, a new variety sent out 
a few years ago by J. J. H. Gregory. It forms 
large heads which are quite solid and crisp. 
For very early cabbage we sow a few Early 
York; for medium, the Danish Drum-head, 
Fottler’s Brunswick or Henderson's Early 
Bummer, and for late, Flat Dutch and Amer¬ 
ican Savoy. For cauliflower, the Early 
Dwarf Erfurt is probably as good as any, 
though some of the newer kinds are promis¬ 
ing. 1 would advise the Cousins not to pay 
fancy prices for the so called Early Snowball, 
as they will find it identical with the afore¬ 
named variety. 
In the tomato line we thiuk the Acme and 
Hathaway’B Excelsior are surpassed by none, 
Livingston’s Perfection produced fruit of two 
distinct solors and shapes with me the past 
season. The Paragon is much inclined to rot. 
For cucumbers for table use we plant the 
Improved White Bpined. .Boston Pickling 
and Long Green are good for pickles; and for 
corn, the Dolly Dutton, Early Minnesota, 
Crosby, and Early Concord are all good. The 
first is rather small, but is desirable for extra 
early. 
Among beans, the Golden Wax, an improve¬ 
ment on the old Black Wax, is probably the 
best snap bean. Horticultural or Speckled 
Cranberry and Dreer’s Improved Lima are 
good pole beans. Don’t give the latter too 
long poles. When the vines reach the top of 
the poles which should not be over six or sev¬ 
en feet high, piuoh them off and yon will 
have the advantage of having your beans 
within reach. For musk melons, the Bay 
View cannot be excelled, although Chistiana, 
Hackensack and Surprise are good. We use 
Vick's Early, Ice Cream, Excelsior or Black 
Spanish Watermelons. For early beets we 
sow the Egyptian, and for Fall and Winter 
use Hatch’s Improved. This we think the 
best strain of blood turnip-beet. 
in the above list I have given those varie¬ 
ties which I have grown myself and which 
have proved satisfactory iu our locality. But 
even with the best seed and care in planting, 
we cannot expact success unless we nght the 
weeds and insects. Will. 
Chittenden Co., Vt. 
NOTES BY UNCLE MARK. 
I roust urge the members of the Club to lie 
a little more prompt iu assembling, or in other 
words, iu sending in their letters on the sub¬ 
ject to be discussed. 1 have received four or 
five which were too late for the last discus¬ 
sion, so you see if the cousins wish to have 
their remarks appear, they must be on time. 
The next subject is on the cultivation of 
vegetables, and I waDt to ask those who in¬ 
tend to take part, to write at once. I think 
it is a good plan to go right to work at the 
subject as soon as the announcement appears. 
I wish the Cousins would all do as well as 
Will does this week in uis article on “ Hin ts on 
Raising Garden Vegetables.” It is the result 
of nis experience, and that is what we want. 
Much benefit, in belonging to tne Horticul¬ 
tural Club, is to be derived from the practice 
of telling others, through the Rural, what 
you have learned in cultivating flowers, vege¬ 
tables and fruits, and If you can relate your 
experience in a nicely written letter it is so 
much to your advantage. One of these days 
the young people will find themselves in the 
positions vacated by those who filled them 
long and well, and they will have to carry 
forward their work. This is true of farmers 
as well professional men, so farmer’s boys and 
girls rnuBt be wide-awake and begin early to 
learn to do their work on the farm and in the 
garden. More than that, the young writers 
who now belong to the Club, and others will, 
in a few years, be writers for the Rural s 
practical departm ;nts, and the better they do 
their writing now, the better they can do it 
then. 
Will every boy in the large Rural family 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
read carefully the article on “Getting a Living 
by One’s Wits,” in another column ? It is good 
reading for the young as well as the old. 
The watermelon seeds will be sent to the 
members of the Club soon. Where convenient 
they may be planted in moderate hot-beds 
from the first to the middle of April, then 
they may be transplanted about the first of 
May. The seeds cannot be sown in the open 
ground much before that time. Keep a sup¬ 
ply of bone-flour on hand for the “striped 
bug.” Ashes or lime sifted over the young 
plants when the dew is on are good preven¬ 
tives of insects. 
Newton R. Marvin, the winner of the 
“Vineyard” prize writesas follows;—“I receiv¬ 
ed the prize History all right, and felt well 
paid for all time and labor 1 spent in getting 
words from the word “ Vineyard.” The His¬ 
tory is better than 1 expected it would be and 
in return I make my bow to Uncle Mark, 
and say ‘ thank you.’ I did not expect to be 
the lucky winner, but tried my best.” 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark; —It is a long time since 
I applied for admission to the Horticultural 
Club, but could not summon enough courage 
to write a letter for your columns, and though 
I write now, I don’t expect my letter will 
reach the proof-reader. But to the point. I 
live on a farm and am expected to perform all 
the duties of a farmer’s daughter. Whether 
I do them all or not 1 can’t say; but I know 
that I go to the pasture twice a day to exer¬ 
cise my lungs by yelling: “ Sook, Ca Book, 
Ca Book! till 1 succeed in gathering the cows 
around me. Then, after I milk them, I salt 
them and give them some little “ treat,” to 
make them remember me kindly. I often 
w ork outside besides gardening and attending 
my flowers, especially in the vineyard. But 
last year we got very little for our work at 
anything. Father sowed 17 bushels of wheat 
and cut none. He had about 30 acres of corn 
that appeared very promising at the begin¬ 
ning of the drought, but we did not harvest 30 
bushels of corn. Oats were a very fair crop 
and potatoes were excellent. What we trust 
to most for a crop,is fruit. Our vineyard has 
produced as high as 500 gallons of wine per 
acre, but last year we hadn’t 50 gallons per 
acre. I have a few vines of my own that I 
raised from seed; if they ever prove of value 
of course l’il let my cousins and uncle know 
about them. Your niece, 
J. F. McD. 
Uncle Mark: —Will you please add to your 
Horticultural Club the name of one who has 
wished for some time to be numbered among 
the Cousins. I read the Rural with interest, 
and believe it is doing far more to benefit 
farmers’ sons and daughters than any other 
paper I know of, especially in its present 
mode of conducting the Horticultural Club, 
and I hope we will all be wise enough to 
appreciate its efforts for us, and ambitious 
enough to profit by its instructions. As peo¬ 
ple seem generally to cling to the ways they 
are accustomed to, and are taught in child¬ 
hood, whether good or bad, I presume the 
Rural thinks the surest and quickest way to 
make thrifty, wide-awake fanners is to begin 
instructing them while children. The Winter 
has been mild, and open here; flowers in con¬ 
stant bloom in the open ground. Fall sown 
wheat is looking unusually well, my sister and 
I dearly love flowers, and we have a good 
many box plants. With many good wishes, 
your niece, Florence L. Brown. 
Linn County, Oregon. 
Uncle Mark and Cousins;— What is that 
noise I hear i Oh, now I know! It is Uncle 
Mark muttering to himself, “ And here comes 
another of those troublesome letters. 1 might 
as well throw it into the waste-paper basket at 
once; but as I promised to read all of the let¬ 
ters, I suppose I must. Oh, dear I” Where 
have all of the cousins gone i I hope they are 
not discouraged so soon. Is it because their 
letters do not appear in print, or because they 
think their letters have to keep company with 
Uncle Mark’s old clothes in the rag-bag I One 
question and I will close: If I should send a 
short puzzle would it be printed, or is there no 
room for me ? I will not sign my real name, 
or the people of Boonville will say, “There! 
if she has not written to a stranger. She had 
better have spent her lime iu something more 
useful—mending her dress, for instance.” 
Oneida, Co., N. Y. UNO. 
[1 should like to see the puzzle, surely.— u.m.] 
Uncle Mark; —I’ve been thinking that I 
ought to be numbered among the nieces of the 
Rural, lor I’ve always lived in the Rural 
family, ns pa has taken the Rural fid years 
and has bouud every volume. 11 is very nice 
to look tne Rural library over. I like flow 
ers and plauts, and we have quite a good 
many of them, too. The pink seed we got 
lastj year^ made us a lot of plants and many 
very pretty flowers. I like to hear from the 
cousins in the far West, South, East and 
North. We like to hear what others have and 
what they do. I am the only little girl ma 
has, and I, too, have plenty to do. My school 
studies tone the most of my time; I help water 
the plants; have my music lessons to learn, 
and, last but not least, Milton (my little 
brother) and I have lots of time for play. I 
would like to writ* more, and may some fu 
ture time. Y our niece, E mma Cornelius. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —Many thanks for 
those nice seeds sent to us last year, which we 
prized very much. They came up well and 
grew finely. 1 liked the celery very much and 
shall always raise celery after this. I found 
in August that my pots containing the seed of 
Japan Red Bud were overshadowed by a huge 
pie-plant leaf. As we we: e having abundant 
rains I had not watered and watched them 
closely. After I had removed the leaf and 
watered them thoroughly, they came up, 
every seed, in about two weeks, but an insect 
which plowed the ground like a mole, in 
ridges, ate them all off, soon after they were 
out of the ground. 1 felt very sorry, for they 
had such pretty heart-shaped leaves. 
Meeker Co., Minn. Nellie Baldwin. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I should like very 
much to join your Club if there is room for 
one more little girL We are taking the 
Rural again this year, and mamma thinks 
she will not do without it again; she thinks 
the communications bring us so near to the 
people wbo write them. We are especially 
interested in Professor Cook’s articles, as my 
oldest brother is a graduate of the Agricul¬ 
tural College, at Lansing, Mich. We just es¬ 
caped the terrible fire of September 4, 1881. 
It passed in all its fury about half a mile 
from my home. I would like to write more 
about it, but fear it would make too long a 
letter. I sincerely hope to be adopted into 
your family as your niece. 
Sanilac Co., Mich. Mamie B. C. Jenney. 
Dear Uncle Mark; —I am twelve years 
old. We live on a farm in Monroe County, 
Ohio. Pa has 300 sheep; we stable allot our 
stock in Winter weather. I can do all the 
feeding when pa has other work to do, I 
have three fine sheep of my own, one pure 
blood ewe, and some splendid chickens, the 
best I ever saw. Pa has been a subscriber 
to the Rural ever since 1806, and we have 
them all stowed in a box. Sometimes we take 
them out and read them. We think that we 
could not do without the Rural New-York¬ 
er. The seeds that we got last Spring did 
real well considering the drouth. The pinks, 
the asparagus, the oats and the Elephant 
potato were praised by all. 
Monroe Co., Ohio. Willie Greenbank. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I would like to be¬ 
come a member of the Horticultural Club. I 
have to help in the garden, so I think I can 
become a member. Mamma and I raised two 
bushel of sweet potatoes this Summer, the 
first we ever tried to raise. We set the plants 
and hoed the weeds oat of them and dug 
them. I helped papa to husk corn every day 
for twenty days, I can husk half as much as 
papa can. I go to school this Winter and 
have to walk miles. I am eleven yearn old. 
I have a little brother and sister, their names 
are Hattie and Jay. Ethan E. Sabin. 
Mills Co., Iowa. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I am six years old 
and live in the country, eight miles from the 
town of Prescott. The White Elephant Po¬ 
tato you sent pa did well; he grew half a 
bushel from it. I am going to school next 
Summer. I had a lesson every day at home 
this Winter. Pa has 13 cows aud we send 
their milk to the cheese factory. He has an 
imported bull named Sir Walter that weighs 
1,710 pounds. The seeds you sent me last 
year grew very nicely; maiiy thanks. 
Ontario, Canada. Clin ton Keeler. 
—--- 
New Members of the Club for the Week 
Ending March 18. 
Hattie M. Lubbock, Edna M. Aldrich, How¬ 
ard Post, Edwin Johnson, Jr., Edith C. 
Loucks, Eva Temple, Kate Singer, Carrie 
Singer, Laura Singer, Julia Steppe, Lena 
Bteppe, Sadie Wright, Annie M, Hull, Louis 
Hall, Dilbort Ilart, Wm. Jackson, Jr., Jonas 
Williams, S. A. Wess, Carrie Grifllib, Cbaun- 
cey Halioek, Ltbbie Munro, Hugh Muuro, 
Martin E. Uerould, Edith M. Cairns (send ad 
dress), Angus M Smith, Walter G. Smith, 
Lydia Frank, Edward A. Preston, Luella 
Hinkley, Kenie Chard. Freddie Chard, L. K. 
Dowell, Lottie Hunt, Lyman B. Ashley, 
Lorena A. Smith, Flora M. Parson, Nellie 
Fuller, Nellie Salisbury, Carrie B. Barnes, L. 
L. Belding, Willie Sheldon, Marshall Sluin- 
mins, Ella Slummins, Ray Godfrey. 
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