474 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKEB. 
for i\)c Bouttg. 
SAVING VEGETABLE SEEDS. 
. fc- K X T Spring 
seems a* long 
time in Uic fn- 
garden and 
flower seeds. In 
jjT looking through 
the catalogues 
^ ^ ou wiI ^ 8ee 
J ' & ]W r^y*- - ^ V many varieties 
k ^ offered, that 
^ you would buy 
if you had money enough, but you cannot do 
without old favorites, and when they have 
been ordered you find your money gone, and 
some of the rare and odd things you wanted, 
must still wait until you can afford them. 
Let me suggest that by saving seeds of the 
vegetables you grow this year, you can afford 
some of the new varieties uext year. To save 
seeds that will not only grow but that will 
produce fine plants, It. is necessary to kuow 
which to gather, when to gather, and how to 
cure them. Before the seeds begin to ripen, 
have -some safe place ready to store them, 
after they are cured. A box or drawer can 
be devoted to the small seeds, or paper bags 
can be bought to hold them. Remember when 
you put them away, that rats and mice are 
active foragers and will carry off your seeds 
if t hey get a chance. 
You will find it interesting to watch the 
se<vis mature, as well as profitable to save 
them. Some of our vegetables do not make 
seed until the second year; these arc called 
biennials; those ripening seed the first year 
arc unuuals. The first to ripen in the Spring 
are lettuce, pea, and radish; thin out in the 
lettucorow all but a few plants, and allow 
them to grow seed; you will know when it is 
ripe by the downy, tufted seeds beginning to 
fly a way. Cut the tops and spread them on a 
paper or sheet in thesuu; when they are dry 
the seed will scatter and can be easily cleaned. 
One word of warning! do not spread the 
tops on auything of any value, as the milk 
from the stems leaves a stain that will not 
wash out, Tlie peas for seed should lie saved 
from plants reserved for the purpose; If peas 
are picked for the table, and those that are 
left saved for seed, the variety will soon “run 
out;” that, is, it will soon produce only small 
and poor plants. 
Il-idish seed, if left too long on the plant, 
will scatter, as the pods open when the seed is 
ripe; it should be cut wlr.h long stems when 
the first pod* ripen, and the sap in those stems 
will ripen the seed, and when dry it can be 
separated from tlie pods very easily. Beaus 
and corn, like peas, should be saved from 
plants reserved for seed; the corn should be 
carefully dried in the sun or hung in it dry 
place Sweet corn is longer in drying than 
field corn, and needs more care. Melon, 
squash, pepper, and pumpkin seeds need only 
to be selected from good specimens of each 
variety, washed and dried, and they are ready 
to put away. 
Tomato and cucumber seeds need to go 
through a special process to secure clean, dry 
seed. The cucumber vines intended to grow 
seed, should have all the first cucumbers 
picked, for the vines will still be growing, and 
if the first cucumbers were left to ripen, there 
would be only' a few, and the vine, being 
small, would exhaust its strength ripening 
those few. Let the vine grow until there are 
a dozen or more cucumbers on it; then do not 
pick any more from it, but let them ripen. 
When they are a bright yellow, gather them; 
cut them open and scrape the seed into a jar 
of some sort, and let it stand until it sours, 
then the sewls will separate easily from the 
pulp and can be washed and dried. 
Tomato seeds teed the same process; the 
seeds will settle to the bottom, and after the 
sour juice is poured off, they can be washed 
very clean. If not spread thin in drying, the 
seed will turn black; this will not injure its 
vitality, but it will look much nicer if clean 
anil bright when dry. 
If you want to save seeds of biennials an¬ 
other year, select the roots when matured and 
put i hem where they will keep until next 
Spring. Turnips, beets, cabbages, and pars¬ 
nips belong to this class: they lay up food 
during the first season’s growth, and tlie sec¬ 
ond year spend it in making seed. If you pull 
up a turnip after it has made sted, instead of 
a white, hard root, yon will find a shrunken, 
black turnip, with only the coarse fibres left; 
the food has all gone up the stem into the 
seeds. When we eat roots of biennials we are 
eating what was intended to feed the seeds; 
we step in and rob the plant before it is 
through with the store it has garnered. 
In saving vegetable seeds you will learn 
many thing* incidentally. Tt is worth much 
to any one to see the ripening of seeds with 
his own eyes; to notice the curious workshops 
Nature erects every year in which to fashion 
them. 
I will tell you something about gathering 
flower seeds another time; but if some varie¬ 
ties are ripe, you need not wait, but begin 
saving them now, keeping each variety care¬ 
fully by itself. The Cousins in California, 
Florida, and other Western and Southern 
States, will perhaps have varieties of vegeta¬ 
bles we do not have here; If you do, write us 
what they are, and how you save the seeds. 
Wo can learn much if we share with each 
other the things peculiar to our own localities. 
CNCLK MARK. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— We have so many 
good letter* about out-door work, a letter 
ahout in-door work will make a variety, and 
I think lean write the best about house-work. 
My mother is a splendid housekeeper, and I 
want to lie one just as good as she is. 1 take 
care of my own room; it is not a very big one, 
but I like it because it is miue: it has a rag- 
carpet on the floor; brown and green are the 
principal colors in it. 1 sewed ten pounds of 
the rags for the carpet. I have a broom and 
dust pan all my own, and I sweep my room 
every other day, and on Saturdays 1 sweep 
the walls to get any cob-webs there may lie 
there. I have an ohl blue china pitcher that 
has its no.->e broken, and I keep it full of 
flowers in my room. I like to fill it with 
clover or elder blossoms und such things, be 
cause we have not many fine flowers. 1 made 
some bread this week, and it was good; but 
mamma told me just how to make it, and when 
to put itin the oven. She says it takes longer 
to learn just when to do the different things 
that have to be done to it than it does to learn 
just how to do them. I can make corn bread 
all by myself; but I forget to put salt in it 
sometimes aud than 1 get laughed at, but my 
mother says 1 will learn to put everything in 
every time, when I have more practice. Iam 
12 years old. I have two brothers younger 
than I; Sam i* ten and Johnnie is six. Sum 
wipes the dishes for me sometimes, when I 
wash them. He likes to wipe the big platter 
hotter than auy other dish. We don’t either 
of us like to wipe the glasses very well; some 
times 1 rinse them in cold water aud let them 
dry, 8aru has a garden, and I help him hoe 
it because ho helps me with the dishes. He 
planted u melon vine for me aud one for him¬ 
self; mine is a Peerless Watermelon and his 
is a Hackensack Muskmelon; they are both 
growing finely. 
But 1 have written enough for the first time, 
Uncle Mark. 1 will write again some time, 
and maybe 8aui will write, too, and tell you 
about his garden. 
Your loving niece, stblla march. 
Miami, Co., Ohio. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I received the seeds 
you sent me. Thank you very much for 
them. I sowed them and they have come up. 
My Sweet William you sent me the seed of 
last year, is in blossom. It is very pretty. 
Papa, mamma, and I weut to the Indian 
Reservation several weeks ago. It is seven 
miles from hero. Clark’s History of Onon¬ 
daga says: “By a treaty made in 17S8. the 
Onondaga Indians ceded to the State of New 
York all of their lands except a tract about 
ten miles square, the consideration being sev¬ 
enteen hundred dollars aud an annuity of five 
hundred dollars yearly. By subsequent 
treaties this Reservation was farther reduced 
to its present limits, three and-one-half miles 
long, by two miles wide, and the annuity 
was increased to one thousand dollars. - ’ The 
houses are scattered about on the hills away 
from the road. In one place it looked as if 
there hud been a house. There were two 
chairs, a table, a cupboard, a pail, and a tub, 
standingon the ground, aud part of t he wash¬ 
ing was lying out on the grass The Indian’s 
castle is not a very haudsome building. It 
has two doors and several wiudows, but no 
ornaments. Some of the Indians were play¬ 
ing ball, and some were playing croquet, aud 
others were lying on the gruss; they wear a 
good deal of red. 
I think Etta Dickson’s letter in the Rural 
of June 21st, is very interesting. 
1 Imve three little rabbits: their names are 
Snowball, Blossom, und Dewdrop; they are 
white with pink eyes. 1 think I shall keep 
them all, and their father aud mother too; it 
takes a good deal to feed them, they are fond 
of corn aud wheat, aud will eat. it now when 
they can have green food. We have had ex¬ 
amination at school; I passed; my average 
was 95; we will have a long vacation now'. 
We have 150 chickens aud live ducks. I like 
ducks better than chickens. The ducks will 
answer when I call them. One of them is 
white; the rest are dark-colored. We have 
no place for them to swim, but we give them 
a pan of water. They seem to grow well. 
Upon what subjects do you want us to write, 
to interest and instruct the Cousins? 
Your Diece, carrie a. ritter. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
[Read the letters each week, aud T think you 
can tell what subjects are most interesting 
and instructive. W rite about things you have 
seen yourself, and things that interest you 
most, on the farm, in the garden, or in the 
house. UNCLE MARK.] 
Dear Uncle Mark:— In response to the 
request for letters in the last Rural, I am 
going to try and write a letter to the Horti¬ 
cultural Club. Before I came to Florida last 
Winter, I thought, as I suppose many others 
still think, that this State was a sort of Fairy¬ 
land, where oranges could be had almost for 
the picking; that the wood* were filled w ith 
wonderful flowers, aud that, alligators were 
dangerously numerous. 
Florida i* a very, very beautiful place; but 
a great part of it i* wild at present. Thou¬ 
sands are coming here from the North and 
starting groves of oranges, peaches and pears. 
Lttwtey, where we live, is a town about seven 
years old; It was started by a number of pub- 
lie-spirited men, whose groves and improve¬ 
ment* are tlie admiration of all who see them. 
Many new varieties of fruit are being success 
fully grown here, among which are the Cuth 
bert Raspberry and LeConte Fear. 
The land for the first year or two is termed 
“sour,” and whatever is planted flourishes 
nicely for a while, deceiving the gardener into 
the belief th.it ho is soon to reap a rich har¬ 
vest for hi* toil; then, straugely, the plants 
wither and die, passing through a grand age 
and an age of decay, like ancient Hellas. But 
if a person Iierseveres in Florida, he will be 
richly reworded; for this charming and equa¬ 
ble climate is fitted for the cultivation of al¬ 
most all plants. There are above 40,000 orange 
treea now cultivated in this vicinity, and the 
groves are a beautiful sight. 
We have an experienced nurseryman here, 
who is perfecting his plans to supply roses for 
Jacksonville during the winter season. He 
procures his most beautiful blossoms from an 
imported stock called Marietta. The other 
day I saw a deep rod and a creamy-white rose 
blooming on the same stem. 1 am delighted 
with the cultivated flowers here, especially 
the Cape Jessamine bushes: when they are in 
bloom they look as if tilled with white pop¬ 
corn. 
I tell the boys and girls here, who never saw 
snow, how the boys and girls “up North” slide 
down hill in Winter. 
People troubled with their lungs or with 
rheumatism, should come to Florida. I know 
of some who, judging from their looks, were 
almost in their grave* when they caiue. who 
made Florida their home, and went out into 
the sun trimming their groves and working 
their gardens; aud now they uro so different, 
we can hardly realize they are the same 
persons. On our place we Imve oranges, lem¬ 
ons, tigs, pears, peaches, grapes, bananas, 
Japanese Persimmon, grape fruit, mulberry 
aud American Persimmon trees. 
My letter seems long, and if it is tiresome. 
Uncle Mark, please tell me. Hoping all the 
Cousins have written, as 1 have, in answer to 
the “Wanted,” I will close. 1 hope the Cous¬ 
ins in the Saudwioh Islands will write again. 
Bradford Co., Fla. franc, m rrooks. 
[Your letter is a good one, Franc; you have 
told us some thiugs that 1 thing are new to 
most of us. Can you write a description of 
the grape fruit? We do not see it, often in the 
North; tell us how large the trees are, how 
the fruit is used, and anything of interest con¬ 
cerning it that you kuow or can learn. 
uncle mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark:— This is my first letter 
to your Club, aud I hope it will be accepted. 
Pa tukes the Rural New-Yorker. The corn 
you sent, Pa planted on the Kith of April, aud 
it had a silk on the lfitb of June. The gardeL 
peas did not bear a single pea, because it was 
so dry. Tlie flower seed we planted in a little 
box, aud a great many of them came up, but 
we do not know what all of them are. The 
oats, rye, aud wheat we did not plant, because 
it was too late in the seasou when we received 
them; we will plaut them uext Fall. Pa lias 
a variety of corn that is better for this climate 
than the coru you sent us. I want to send 
you a few grains next Spring to be tested in 
your climate. victor cox. 
Beaufort Co., N. C. 
Harry Wright asks to become a member 
of the Horticultural Club. We welcome you, 
Harry. Write a longer letter next time, and 
I will print it. __ 
Wilber Saxton writes a letter that I en¬ 
joy ed, but it is very short. Write me a longer 
pne, Wilber, for publication. PNCLE mark, 
31 nc publication's, 
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