m\n 2 
U4 
Pumpkins. —Connecticut Field makes pie 
which is good enough for me. 
Beets.— Eclipse for an early “bottoms” 
very rapidly, and is of good quality. Sow 
thickly, and thin out for “greens.” For the 
main crop and winter use, the Bassano can¬ 
not be beaten. 
Cucumbers.— I like Tailby’s Hybrid better 
for the table than any other variety I have 
tried. It is very productive, solid, and fine- 
flavored. For pickles I gi’ow Green Prolific 
on account of its prolificacy, and good keep¬ 
ing qualities, although an occasional customer 
complains that it is “too chunked.” 
Egg Plants.—I never grew any but once 
when I planted New York Improved Purple, 
and had nearly as many different kinds as 1 
bad plants. I wouldn’t take the trouble of 
keeping the beetles off the plants for all the 
satisfaction I could get by eating the fruit. 
Potatoes. —The Early Maine is about as 
early as any, and is of good quality. Beauty 
of Hebron is a fine potato for a general crop. 
It is of good quality in the fall, and keeps 
solid and good through the winter and spring. 
The New Queen under very unfavorable con¬ 
ditions, did so well last season that I shall try 
it again. 
Radish. —The Scarlet Turnip White Tip is 
a very nice early sort, crisp and tender. It 
can be raised very early in a cool hot-bed. 
Long Scarlet for later, is a most excellent 
variety. The Shepherd was a complete fail¬ 
ure with me, while a neighbor called it the 
best radish be ever ate. Radishes must grow 
quickly to be tender. 
Turnip. —Yellow Swede is the only variety 
I would grow for my own use. For best 
quality, sow rather late, so as to insure rapid 
growth. The roots will be better if only 
of medium size. Those who want a quicker¬ 
growing variety, and also one which may be 
sown later, will find Purple Top Strap-Leaf or 
Purple Top Globe very good varieties, though 
they are rather watery when cooked. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
A FARMER'S GARDEN. 
A good garden is little appreciated by the 
average farmer, yet nothing on the farm is 
so valuable in all respects in proportion to 
the labor and expense as a well selected, well 
kept garden. Profit, pleasure and health 
may be realized and promoted by it. After the 
location has been determined, drainage be¬ 
comes a matter ol tne nrst importance. if 
natural drainage is offered by the lay of 
the land, nothing more will be needed; but if 
thi6 is not the case, tile drainage should be 
employed. This would be the most perfect 
and would secure the best possible results. 
Aside from making the ground dry, it will 
have the effect of making it ready for use 
probably two weeks earlier than if it were not 
drained. This of itself would constitute a 
very great advantage. The very first thing 
that ought to be done after the ground has 
thawed out, is to sow or plant those garden 
vegetables that are not easily affected by 
frost or freezing, such as beets, lettuce, peas, 
radishes, cabbage, onions and spinach, and as 
early as possible all the other vegetables 
should be put in, such as sweet corn, beans, 
tomatoes, turnips and others suited to garden 
culture. Every garden should have a bed of 
asparagus. Nothing is more valuable, palat¬ 
able and healthful, coming, as it does, the 
first thing in the early spring at a time when 
the system and the appetite demand and 
crave something of the kind, w hich is a 
departure from the winter living. A bed of 
rhubarb also is a godsend and both of these 
should always be found in such abundance as 
to supply the requirements of the family. 
Yet how seldom are these “ luxuries ” found 
in the farmer’s garden, and how insignificant 
is the outlay necessary to obtain plenty of 
them! When once possessed, they prove a 
permanent blessing, and this is an additional 
reason in favor of at once deciding to obtain 
them. It is important to secure the best seeds 
of the very best varieties of every thing for 
the garden. An inferior article is dear as a 
gift as compared with the best at its just 
value. Very great advances have been made 
in recent years in the improvement of all 
garden vegetables and fruits. When the best 
seeds of the best varieties are obtained, it is 
a good plan to plant a portion of each kind 
for the production of seed, giving wider dis¬ 
tances to these than to the seeds for the 
ordinary crop. In this way the seeds are im¬ 
proved. Successive plantings should be made 
at intervals of sufficient length to have a sup¬ 
ply continually. Especially should this be 
done with the leading and most desirable 
kinds. Fruits of all kinds suited to garden 
culture should belong to the farmer’s garden. 
Enlightenment, civilization, refinement and 
a first-class fruit and vegetable garden go 
hand in hand. 
After growing the seed in the best mauuer 
—giving extra space, care and attention to 
the plants that are intended for seed-bearing 
—it should be properly cared for. Get a sack 
of sufficient size to hold all the papers of 
seeds, and when it has been filled hang it up 
in a safe and dry place. Get as many small 
paper sacks as may be needed—these can bs 
had at the grocery-store—save the seeds 
when fully mature, and dry them carefully in 
the shade, and pack them in small paper 
sacks, marking on the sack the kind of seed 
and the time of saving it. This mode of 
caring for the seeds will be comparatively in¬ 
expensive, and will pieserve them in good 
condition. If the best seeds of the best kinds 
are obtained at first, and proper care in grow¬ 
ing them is given, and home-grown seeds are 
carefully saved, the quality and yield of the 
crops will improve each season, for the law 
of improvement requires us to choose the best 
kinds and give them the best care and culture. 
Our enterprising seedsmen are constantly 
bringing out new and desirable varieties of 
vegetables, and it is the best economy to ob¬ 
tain seeds of the new kinds, and not only pre¬ 
serve but increase their good qualities, by 
careful growing. It is important that the 
seeds should be on hand in good time for 
early planting. One week’s enjoyment of 
fresh vegetables and fruits, as early as it is 
possible to have them, is worth as much as 
two weeks’ enjoyment of them in the middle 
of the season. It is therefore of the first im¬ 
portance to plant early. 
The garden should be well plowed in the 
fall, so that no time will be lost in the spring, 
yet it would be well to give a shallow plow¬ 
ing in the spring also,and a thorough prepara¬ 
tion for the seed by several harrowings un¬ 
til the soil is made perfectly fine. No part of 
the work is more important thau this. It 
facilitates planting and enables the roots 
to take hold, and gives the plants a good send- 
off, which is essential to the most perfect 
growth. The plowing in the fall should be 
deep and the furrows narrow, leaving a 
portion of the bottom soil at the top, and a 
portion of the top soil falling below. In this 
way the soil may be deepened and made rich, 
making it much more valuable for the pro¬ 
duction of all garden vegetables and fruits. 
By breaking up the top soil deep and keeping 
the surface fine and mellow,the best conditions 
will be secured for the attraction to the surface 
of plant food and moisture from great depths 
in the earth, and for obtaining a supply of 
plant food from the air,which is a reservoir of 
fertility. Thorough culture of the garden is 
of great importance. Frequent culture will 
insure moisture in times of drought, and is 
valuable at all times for supplying mellow¬ 
ness and moisture to the soil for the use of 
plants. One of the reasons why many farm¬ 
ers pay little or no attention to having a 
garden is the fact that so many attempt the 
cultivation of more land than can be well 
tilled; the consequence is that they are com¬ 
pelled to give all their time to ordinary farm 
work, and have no time to make a garden. 
The ecomony of this course may well be 
doubted. The better way would be to attempt 
no more than can be done in the best manner, 
and in determining this question, one should 
allow the garden to come into the account. 
Scott Co., Iowa. B. S. TEAGARDEN. 
FROM O. H. ALEXANDER. 
Peppers. —Taking all things into considera¬ 
tion, I prefer the Bell or Bull-Nose variety. It 
is a large,early sort,of mild flavor. It is the best 
for pickling. The new Celestial kind is also 
good for pickling. Peppers need rich soil. 
They succeed nicely on fine clay loam. 
Squashes —I prefer the Sibley for quality, 
though in Vermont this kind is not so produc¬ 
tive as the Hubbard. 
Tomatoes. —I prefer for this section for 
early, Laxton’s Early. The vines are com¬ 
pletely loaded with fruit, and 1 am confident 
that whoever wishes an early tomato will be 
much pleased with this. The quality is rather 
inferior to that of our American tomatoes. I 
value it for Vermont, because it is early. T 
find Livingston’s Beauty and Autocrat fine 
varieties for our climate; so is the Optimus. 
Beans. —The new Golden-Eyed Wax is the 
best and most prolific variety of bush beaus 
that I ever raised. I raised this year 1 % 
bushel from 1% quart without any extra care 
or cultivation,and without manure of any kind; 
soil a clay loam. I would advise all growers 
to try it next season. The pods grow uniform¬ 
ly handsome without a spot, and keep ex¬ 
tremely well after they have been picked. All 
who prefer a wax bean will find this variety a 
gem. Ward well’s comes next. Golden Wax 
and Black Wax are good old varieties, but 
they are not prolific and it is quite expensive 
to raise them. 
Peas. —Having tested 80 varieties this last 
season, I consider the Telephone the best for 
bush. For dwarf early varieties Cable, Gem, 
Early Prize, Maud S., Early Hartford, Alex- 
andor’s New Dwarf, and Rural New-Yorker 
are all good. For intermediate I prefer the 
Dwarf Champion, Stratagem and Burpee’s 
Quantity. The latter variety is my wife’s 
favorite. I consider all of those I have men¬ 
tioned the cream of the field. 1 will also add 
Satisfaction (Sutton's ) 
Pole Beans. —Draer’s Golden Cluster Wax 
pole, a new variety, I am well pleased with. I 
find it very prolific, and the quality cannot be 
surpassed. I am confident all who test this 
variety will be much pleased with it. The 
Jersey Extra Early is earlier than the Golden 
Cluster, but it is not so prolific or so profit¬ 
able. 
Cucumbers.— Rand’s Improved White 
Spine is the finest that I know' of. It is the 
best for the table and the most perfect in 
form and is very prolific. For pickling, I 
would grow the Green Mountain. 
Cabbage.— Gregory’s All Seasons cabbage 
gives the best satisfaction. The Montreal 
Market is also a favorite in this section wher¬ 
ever it has been tested. The plants are sure 
to head. I would like the former better if 
the heads would harden up a little better. 
The latter is a new variety not yet known to 
many. It gives good satisfaction wherever 
tested. 
Beets. —Jewell and Eclipse are my favor¬ 
ites. They are early; the tops are small; the 
roots red, smooth and globe-shaped, and mucn 
larger than the Egyptian. They are superior 
to any I have tested. 
Lettuce.— Hanson’s Improved gives me 
the best satisfaction. It is large, solid, sweet, 
crisp and tender. 
Potatoes. —For this locality and almost all 
others, I consider the Charles Downing, Puri¬ 
tan, Garfield, Polaris and Albino the best for 
early varieties. For intermediate, Delaware, 
Green Mountain, Alexander’s Prolific, Rural 
New-Yorker No. 2. and Ben. Harrison are 
my choice. 
Chittenden Co., Vt. 
from a. c. bates. 
After 30 years of cultivation and observa¬ 
tion, I would recommend the following as the 
best vegetables for our locality. The main 
difficulty in the growing of vegetables as well 
as fruits is the desire to grow too many va¬ 
rieties. Next season I shall grow only those 
mentioned below, except that perhaps I may 
test a few of the advertised novelties in the 
way of fruits and vegetables. 
Rhubarb.—L innaeus. 
Squash.—H ubbard. 
Tomato. —Mikado, Early Hybrid, and 
Golden Queen. 
Peas. —Alaska, Laxton’s Alpha, American 
Champion. 
Beans. —Bush: Valentine Improved, Ger¬ 
man Wax; pole: California Wax, Refugee. 
Sweet Corn.— Farquhar’s First Crop, 
Squantum, Stow r ell’s Evergreen. 
Cabbage.— Wakefield, Henderson’s Sum¬ 
mer, Henderson’s Succession, Fottler’s Bruns¬ 
wick. 
Beets.— Egyptian Blood, Lentz. 
Carrots. —Hollow Horn. 
Cucumbers— Early Russian, Nichol’s 
Medium Green. 
Egg Plant.— Early Pekin. 
Onions.— Yellow Danvers, Red Wethers¬ 
field. 
Potatoes.— Pearl of Savoy, Puritan, White 
Star. 
Turnip.— Purple Top Strap-Leaf. 
Field Corn.—L earning. 
Mangold.— Golden Tankard. 
SHORT AND FRESH. 
There are some catalogues, profusely illus¬ 
trated with highly colored pictures of vegeta¬ 
bles and flowers accompanied by glowing des¬ 
criptions of monster specimens which can 
easily be duplicated, so it is stated, by an in¬ 
vestment in the seeds offered for sale. Such 
publications are apt to be the cause of much 
disappointment to those unversed in the cul¬ 
ture of crops. Now, too, that seeds can more 
easily thau ever, owing to the reduction of 
postage by one half, be procured direct from 
the growers, there is no need for resort to the 
irresponsible grocery store. 
Don’t fail to get Heuderson’s Bush Lima, 
says W F. Massey in Orchard and Garden. 
He saw little bushes loaded with pods grow¬ 
ing last summer, when the old climbing sort 
had not started to bloom. It is the vegetable 
novelty of the decade. 
Scarlet Nonpareil, among eight differ¬ 
ent kinds of rhubarb, proved with Prof. 
Goff the earliest and most productive. Ho 
speaks a good word for the Dwarf Champion 
tomato. At the Rural Grounds it was among 
the best. Henderson’s Early Snowball is his 
favorite cauliflower. For early celery he still 
adheres to the White Plume. The Early 
Dwarf Purple is decidedly the earliest and 
most productive variety of egg-plant he has 
grown. 
Try the Viroflay spinach. 
“ Corn Roots should never be disturbed by 
cultivation; but if they are to fce wounded at 
all, let it be done when the plants are small,’’ 
says Mr. Coleman. 
Matthew Crawford says, on another 
page, that when the Hubbard squash was in¬ 
troduced he ate of it so freely that his skin 
was colored almost to an orange hue. 
Mr. Crawford pronounces the Voluuteer 
the best tomato. The Spanish King onion 
yielded with him last season at the rate of 
over 1,200 bushels to the acre. The variety is 
not well fixed. He calls the Mrs. Foraker the 
most beautiful potato ever introduced. 
The stump-rooted kinds of carrots are best 
because easiest to dig, handle and store. 
Mr. Grundy says that the best bred aud 
most wonderfully named corn on earth will 
rapidly deteriorate when grown on poor 
soil or only half cultivated. 
There are few better peas for second early 
than Advancer. 
Gregory’s All-Seasons cabbage is a fane 
variety... 
Dr. Hoskins, of Vermont, finds the most 
profit in growing Pearl of Savoy for early, 
Polaris for second, and Pecan for long-keeping 
and spring sales. The last does not know how 
to sprout until placed in Ihe ground. It needs 
a rich soil. 
Mr. Wysor, of Virginia says that the Ital¬ 
ian onions are not worth growing. They be¬ 
gin to grow again almost as soon as matured. 
Mr. Wysor condemns the Brazilian flour 
corn. 
Yellow Danvers, Large Red Wethersfield 
and Southport White Globe are Mr. Falconer's 
choice of onions, because he wauts red, white 
and yellow-skinned, aud does not know three 
better kinds. 
Midsummer, Quantity and Blue Beauty 
peas are praised by those who have tried 
them—the R. N.-Y. among the number. 
Ruby King is the largest pepper. 
The R. N.-Y. prefers Monarch rhubarb 
for size and tenderness though rather late.... 
Victoria rhubarb suits the venerable 
Jonathan Talcott rather better than any other 
kind . 
The Purple-Top Strap-Leaf turnip is a quit k 
grower, of good quality and is first-rate food 
for stock. See Mr. Smith’s remarks. 
Mr. Smith commenced gardening in Green 
Bay, Wis., on less than one acre and without 
means. But he has increased his business un¬ 
til he now cultivates a splendid garden of 40 
acres and all of it under a very high state of 
cultivation... 
H. M. Engle & Son say that Crosby’s is 
the earliest good sweet corn that will produce 
sizable ears. 
Mr. J. M. Smith of Green Bay, R'ts., left 
a portion of his Lima beans without p>oles, 
cutting back the vines once. When he gath¬ 
ered. the crop, he found the finest and best 
beans on this portion of the plot . 
Try Potter’s Excelsior sweet corn. 
Half-Long Stump is Mr. Smith’s favorite 
variety of carrot. It is also the favorite of 
many others who have tried the different 
kinds side by side. 
He considers the White Spine the best of 
all cucumbers. 
Mrs. & Gov. Foraker are among the new 
potatoes. These potatoes originated with 
John Nagle, Plymouth, Richland county, O. 
several years ago. 
The Osage muskmelou, we learn, is largely 
grown about TerreHaute, Ind. It has been 
quoted in daily market reports of Chicago for 
two years past and has brought nearly twice 
as much as other melons. J. C. Vaughan of 
Chicago, Johnson & Stokes and W. A. Burpee 
& Co., of Philadelphia, Pa., catalogue it. 
Mr. Burpee thinks it is the same as Miller’s 
Cream. He says it is a late variety. 
W. Atlek Burpee & Co. (Philadelphia, 
Pa.) control the stock of seed of two new 
onions, the Red aud White Victoria. They 
are alike except iu color. The onions are said 
to weigh from 2 % to pounds each, the 
quality “ mikl and sweet.” They are further 
said to be good keeping varieties. 
Burpee’s Uoldou Beauty corn seems to the 
li. N. Y. worthy of trial. It is a yellow dent 
