440 
f HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MAR 3 
be bothered with top onions as a crop, and of 
recent years potato onions in this neighbor¬ 
hood have become more or less diseased. This 
is a pity as they were a safe crop to have, al¬ 
though one of very poor quality. 
Peas.— Improved Daniel O’Rouke (it is the 
same as First of All, Extra Early, Earliest of 
All and lots of other synonyms; is my choice 
for the first four or five days’ peas, and Alpha 
for the next fortnight. McLean’s Advancer 
comes in eight days or thereabouts after Alpha 
which is useless iu hot weather, but Advancer 
continues throughout the pea season. Cham¬ 
pion of England from the 20ih of June till the 
middle of July cannot be excelled for quanti¬ 
ty or quality, only it must have brush. 
Stratagem and Bliss’s Abundance are splendid 
peas. Blue Beauty, Midsummer and Quan¬ 
tity, new peas of last year, gave me much 
satisfaction, but require further testing. 
Pepper. —Give me Red Cayenne for pick 
ling and Ruby King as a large pepper, as it is 
the largest pepper, and 1 find this is the sort 
most called for. 
Radishes. —Among turnip-rooted radishes 
French Breakfast is good at all times, so is 
Scarlet Turnip. Among long-rooted radishes 
Wood’s Early Frame is very fine, succulent 
and early; but for midsummer work Beckert’s 
Chartier may be better, as it lasts longer. A 
word here about radishes:—They are more 
appreciated in cold than in hot weather; a 
radish with a white, gray, purple or black 
skin is not appreciated; red skin is the only 
sort we want in radishes; furthermore, mild¬ 
ness is a very poor quality in a radish. The 
best radish should have a bright-red skin and 
be extremely tender and juicy and at the 
same time pungent. Violet-skinned Olive- 
Shaped was the best radish so far as quality 
was concerned in about twenty kinds in my 
trial grounds last year, but the color of its 
skin will “kill” it. Scarlet Chinese is the 
best variety for storing in winter; but stored 
radishes of any kind are pretty poor vegeta¬ 
bles. 
Rhubarb. —Monarch is to be preferred for 
size and quality, and Victoria for its beautiful 
red color. We usually raise rhubarb from 
seed and keep what comes; for the seedlings 
are not always the same as the parents. 
There is a current idea that St. Martin’s, 
Monarch and some others are new varieties, 
but this is not so; although but recently dis¬ 
seminated here, they have been grown in 
Europe for many years. 
Spinach. —Viroflay, which is a largo form 
of the Round-seeded, is my choice. The mar¬ 
ket gardeners around here grow a good deal 
of the Savory-leaved, but with me it does 
not yield as much spinach as does the Viro¬ 
flay. For hard winter weather take the 
Prickly-seeded; for hot, dry summer weather, 
the New Zealand, and sow it in fall and cover 
over the seeds (which will not germinate till 
the following spring) with a mulching; or de¬ 
lay sowing till June and scald the seeds before 
sowing them. 
Squash. —Bush Summer Crook-Neck for 
early; Pine-Apple for late summer; Boston 
Marrow for fall and early winter, and Hub¬ 
bard for general winter use, can hardly be 
excelled. Cheese pumpkins make fairly good 
pies. The selection of squashes is a matter of 
taste. If less weight were given to squashes 
and more recognition to other garden vege¬ 
tables by our horticultural and agricultural 
societies, it might be better for us all. 
Tomatoes. —Trophy, Perfection and Acme 
or selections of them. Burpee’s Glen Cove, a 
careful and long-continued selection from 
Trophy by Scudder & Townsend, is one of 
the finest tomatoes I have ever grown. The 
Volunteer is the best form of Perfection, and 
Favorite appears to be a good selection of 
Acme. At least this is how they have ap¬ 
peared in my trial ground. I am very well 
pleased with the Lorillard as a winter-forcing 
variety, on account of its round, even form, 
firm textuie, and bright-red color. It is a 
selection by Mr. John G. Gardner of Jobs- 
town, N. J., and a couple of months ago 1 saw 
with him there hundreds of plants in every 
stage, and bearing heavy crops of truit ripe 
and ripening, and greenhouse after green¬ 
house filled with them. 
Turnips. —Red-Top Strap-Leaf is a capital 
flat turnip; Purple-Top White Globe is, all 
things considered, the best of all the soft tur¬ 
nips. Milan and Munich turnips have re¬ 
cently had a good deal of reputation because 
of their earliness, but they are among the 
very poorest of turnips, hot and bitter. Im¬ 
proved American is a very good Ruta-baga. 
Queens Co., Long Island, N. Y. 
PROM J. M. SMITH. 
The following embodies my experience with 
the different varieties of vegetables grown by 
myself during a term of about 30 years : 
Peppers.— After having tried a number of 
varieties of this plant, I have settled upon 
the Bell or Bull-Nose as the best, all things 
considered. It is large, mild in flavor, and 
certainly as productive as any that I have 
tried. I have occasionally had a fine growth 
of plants and plenty of bloom and not a 
siDgle fully developed pepper during the en¬ 
tire season, and very few poor, small speci¬ 
mens unfit for market. I am unable to give 
any reasons for these failures, and I have never 
seen in any book or paper any explanation 
that threw any light on the subject. 
Rhubarb. —I prefer the Linnaeus. It is 
very early, a good yielder, and of much bet¬ 
ter quality than the very large variety known 
to us as the Cohoon, which has a much larger 
stalk and leaf, but it is later, very coarse, 
and exceedingly tart. Its redeeming quality 
is that, owing to its very large leaves and 
stems, it is much less expensive to gather and 
pack than the Linnaeus, though I doubt if 
it yields more weight during the season than 
the Linraeus, as it has a much smaller number 
of stems arid leaves. 
Squashes. —For first early I prefer the 
White Bush Scallop; then a few of the Boston 
Marrow for early fall, and the Hubbard for 
the main crop. The Hubbard has become 
such a favorite with us in the Northwest that 
notbiDg but something remarkable in its line 
could displace it. It is a strong grower, very 
productive, and of good quality, and a good 
winter keeper. 
Tomatoes —The new varieties of tomatoes, 
like the new varieties of strawberries, come 
and go like the summer clouds. I have tried 
many of the new varieties within the last 25 
years; but am now growing the Acme and 
Trophy almost exclusively. If compelled to 
choose any single variety, I would take the 
Acme in preference to any other that I have 
ever grown. It is a good bearer, and is a few 
days earlier than the Trophy. It is a little 
more showy in the basket, and about equal in 
quality. With me the early-ripening sorts 
have not rotted quite so badly as the Trophy, 
though both have rotted badly for the last 
two years. I know of no method of protection 
against the disease that causes rot. Perhaps 
when we are sure of the cause, we may find a 
remedy. 
Peas. —For my first early, I order the Ex¬ 
tra-Early Daniel O’Rourke. I have more 
than once ordered a number of tie so-called 
earliest varieties of different growers, and 
planted them, side by side at the same time, 
on the same kind of soil, and treated them 
precisely alike in every way, and they have 
grown and matured so entirely alike that 
they might all have been taken for the same 
variety. Even when tested on the table, they 
seemed the same, and I am by no means sure 
that they were not, each seedsman having 
given them a name to suit himself. Hence I 
order Daniel O’Rourke, as I have so far al¬ 
ways obtained them true to name, which is 
more than I can say of some of the other so- 
called new varieties. For second early, and 
for late varieties I prefer Bliss’s American 
Wonder. The Daniel O’Rourke may be sown 
as soon as the ground is in good condition in 
the spring, as the plants will not be damaged 
by slight freezing weather after the seed has 
been sown. The Wonder is rather tender in 
getting started, and if sown too early may 
rot in the ground, or be so damaged that it 
will not mature a large crop. Hence the seed 
should not be sown until freezing weather is 
entirely over. When fairly started, the vines 
are with me good bearers, and the peas are of 
excellent quality. The Champion of England 
is a very fine late variety, but the vine grows 
quite tall, and will not do its best without 
support, which increases the expense of grow¬ 
ing so much that I have nearly discarded it, 
and prefer a second sowing of the Wonder for 
a late crop, as it is nearly as good as the 
Champion, and is a low-growing variety. Mc¬ 
Lean's Advancer and a number of others are 
very good, but too many varieties I do not 
consider desirable. 
Beans. —I prefer the Golden Wax to any of 
the bush varieties that I have grown. Wax 
beans are fairly early, and much finer in ap¬ 
pearance than any of the green varieties that 
I have tested, and also of good quality, so 
good that it is useless for me to offer the 
green varieties in our market, as my custom¬ 
ers will not buy them. The Limas are un¬ 
doubtedly the best of all pole beaDS, though 
we sometimes have a season too cool for them 
to do their best in our latitude. In 1888 we 
had such a season; 1 left a portion of mine 
without poles, cutting back the vines once, 
and when we came to gather the crop, we 
found the finest and best beans on this por¬ 
tion of the plot. I intend to experiment still 
further and see if the result will be the same. 
Sweet Corn. —The Cory is the earliest 
sweet corn I have tried, that has a moderate¬ 
ly fair-sized ear. It is not first-class in qual¬ 
ity; hence I only grow a small piece of it to 
last until the Early Minnesota is ready for 
-■ — ■ ■ , ~ - . 
market, and of this I grow only enough to 
last until the Crosby is fit for use. The last- 
named is my standard, being better, 1 think, 
than the Evergreen, producing a larger num- 
ber of good marketable ears to the acre than 
any Evergreen that I have tried. 
Cauliflower.— The Snowball does better 
with me than any of the old varieties. Like 
others of its kind, it requires a very rich, 
moist soil to enable it to do its best. 
Celery. —The White Plume has become 
very popular, and I am growing it to some 
exient. It is very quick-growing, very 
showy upon the table, and will sell with less 
bleaching than the other kinds; but it is, in 
my opinion, very indifferent in quality, and a 
very poor winter keeper. Hence I grow it 
only for fall use. The Golden Dwarf is my 
standard of excellence. It may be set as late 
as August 5, and still it will make a fine crop. 
I grow it entirely as a second crop: the past 
season after early potatoes. 
Cabbage. —Jersey Wakefield is my stand¬ 
ard for first early, Newark Flat Dutch, and 
Henderson’s Summer for second, and also for 
late fall varieties. The o d Premium Flat 
Dutch does w T ell, but requires nearly the 
whole season to mature, and I cannot afford 
to give it the entire season on such high- 
priced land. Hence I do not grow it largely. 
1 can turn under my strawbeiries after the 
fruit is gathered, and rely upon a good yield 
of Newark Flat Dutch, while under the same 
circumstances the Premium Flat Dutch 
would be likely to fail entirely to mature. I 
consider it safe to set the former as late as 
July 15. 
Lettuce.— I use the Boston Market almost 
exclusively for hot-beds, as being the most 
desirable of all that I have tried for that 
purpose. It is a quick grower, and forms a 
nice head of excellent quality; but not quite 
large enough for out-door summer use. For 
this purpose the Curled Simpson has been my 
standard for years, though the Black-Seeded 
Simpson is an excellent variety. Neituer of 
these is, strictly speaking, a header, though 
both form large masses of leaves of excellent 
quality. The Boston Curled is very showy, 
but not equal, in my opinion, to the Simpson; 
hence I grow the latter almost exclusively. 
Brussels-Sprouts, Borecole and Cele- 
riac are used very little here, and I have 
grown them to no extent. They require 
about the same soil, care and culture as cab¬ 
bage and celery. 
Carrot. —For first early I grow the Early 
Scarlet Horn, as it is a very pretty root, and 
nice for bunching; but I use it for no other 
purpose. For the main crop the Half-Long 
Stump-Rooted is my favorite. It is a quick 
grower, has a small top, and the seed may be 
sown more thickly than that of either the 
Long Orange or the White Belgian. It does 
not grow quite so large as either of the others; 
but the greater number that will grow upon an 
acre, will, I think, make the yield equal to that 
of any other variety. It is excellent for the 
table, and also as feed for stock. 
Cucumbers —The Early Frame is the earli¬ 
est of the really valuable varieties for the 
table, and is also largely grown for pickles. 
The Early Russian is about one week earlier 
than the last-named, but is so worthless after 
the first two or three pickings, that I have 
discarded it entirely. For the main crop for 
the table I consider the White Spine the best 
of all. It is of good size, smooth and firm, 
and will, if properly cared for, keep in good 
condition for a number of days after picking. 
For several years I have grown very few of 
any other variety. 
Egg Plants. —I have tried several kinds, 
but have succeeded best with the New York 
Improved. Egg plants are not largely grown 
here, the demand being very small. They re¬ 
quire very rich land and thorough culti¬ 
vation, and, in addition, hot summer weather 
to enable them to do their best. Their worst 
enemy here is the Colorado potato beetle. 
Onions. —There has been, I think, a very 
foolish effort for a few years past to boom 
some of the large, coarse and rough-growing 
varieties of onions. For sets for first early 
spring onions, I grow a variety of shallots 
which 1 plant in late summer or early fall, to 
get them well started before cold weather and 
they remain in the ground with little or no 
damage from cold. They come on very early 
and are used until we can get better ones from 
sets of the Yellow Danvers or some of the 
other black-seeded varieties, though the last- 
named is my standard. For the main crop, I 
use the Early Red Globe for early, and the 
Globe Danvers for the bulk of my crop, with 
also a small quantity of the Red Wethers¬ 
field, as some prefer it. With us in the North¬ 
west, the Yellow Danvers is the most popular 
variety, usually selliug for a few cents more 
per bushel than any other sort. It is useless 
to try to grow a large crop of onions upon 
poor land; neither will it do to neglect them 
when very young. I know of no plant more 
impatient of a little neglect when young than 
the onion, as it rarely recovers from any se¬ 
rious check to its continual growth. 
Garlics and Leeks —'Tnese are not 
grown to any extent here, and I rarely have 
any calls for them. They require good land 
and thorough cultivation. 
Beets. —I use the Early Egyptian for my 
first early, and the Early Blood Turnip for 
second early and for the main crop, both 
being good growers, of good quality, good 
keepers, smooth, and of good size, though not 
too large. They will grow to be of fair size 
for table use and of excellent quality if sown 
as late as June 15, if the land is in good con¬ 
dition, and they are well cared for, and they 
are much preferred, with us, to any of the long 
varieties. 
Potatoes. —For first early I have found 
nothing equal to the Early Ohio. It is with us 
a quick grower, of large size, fair in quality,, 
and when plauted and cultivated according 
to its requirements, it yields largely. It has 
a straight,bushy top, and generally there are 
few potatoes to a stalk. I plant in drills 30 
inches apart, with the potatoes cut to one or 
two eyes each, and one piece in a place,, 
about 10 or 12 inches apart in the rows. 
The land is rich and they are kept well and 
thoroughly cultivated. The result is uniform¬ 
ly large crops. I am not satisfied with less, 
than 250 busbe's per acre, and with a favor 
able season there should be more than that. 
For second early, and late crop, I prefer 
the Beauty of Hebron to any other that I 
have tried. It the land is very rich, it would 
not be safe to plant “ seed ” as closely as 
directed for the Early Ohio. Make the rows, 
a few inches farth°r apart, and they will 
yield large crops of choice potatoes. 1 do not. 
think it best to plant potatoes two years in. 
succession upon the same grouud. I have 
heard it stated that there are some varieties 
that are bug-proof, but 1 have never seen any 
such. 
Radishes —I raise a few of the French 
Breakfast for very early, and sometimes for 
particular customers during the season; but 
for the main crop I rely on the Long Scarlet 
Short-Top. It is a quick grower, showy and 
attractive in appearance, and of good quality, 
and gives better satisfaction in our markets 
than any other that 1 have tried. For winter 
radish, I grow the Chinese Rose, but the de¬ 
mand for any variety ot winter radish is 
small. Radishes prefer a light,sandy soil fair¬ 
ly fertilized, though they will do fairly well 
on a thinner soil than any other of our garden 
crops; but the proper fertilizer brings them 
on much more quickly. 
Spinach —This is not grown largely here. 
I prefer the Rouud-Leaf variety. Aspara¬ 
gus is generally used, and, as a rule, is much 
preferred by our customers as an early dish 
in the time of greens. 
Turnips. —I have of late years grown the 
Purple-Top Strap Leaf almost exclusively, as 
it ia a quick grower, of good quality, making 
nice feed for stock, being also good for the 
table. It is grown mostly as a second crop, 
and may be sown as late as August 15 with 
good results, if the necessary conditions are 
complied with, viz., good soil in good condi¬ 
tion, good seed sown in drills 14 to 16 inches 
apart, and then good cultivation after the 
plants come up; the roots are cheaply grown, 
and with me they are almost a sure crop. 
Okra. —This plant is so little used here that 
I have never grown it to any great extent. 
Ground that would grow beans and peas 
would grow okra with reasonable care. 
conclusion. 
During an experience and a constant study 
of about 30 years, I have learned a few things 
that I think lam sure of: First, growing 
either fruits or vegetables in such a manner 
as to make a success of either or both, is 
no business for a lazy man. Second, the 
business is no better for an ignorant man 
than for a lazy one. Third, it is not a business 
that one can successfully take up as a tem¬ 
porary thing, to be dropped again when there 
is an apparent prospect of something that 
may prove a little better for the time being. 
Fourth, no man, however extensive his read¬ 
ing may have been, is at all safe iu attempt¬ 
ing the business on a large scale, unless he has 
had some considerable personal experience in 
growing the articles with which he hopes to 
attain success. Fifth, the difference in price 
between a first-rate article nicely prepared 
for market, and a fairly good article only 
half prepared, constitutes success on one hand, 
and failure on the other. Sixth, success on 
poor land is impossible. Finally, a man with 
good soil, well cultivated, having intelligence 
and ceaseless industry, and an almost tireless 
energy aud perseverance, and a growing mar¬ 
ket within his reach, will be as certain to 
reach success in this business, as in any 
that he could follow. 
Brown Co., VVls. 
