February 19 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
118 
ity that it has been long 1 used as a root cellar, sweet 
potatoes having been kept in it repeatedly for two 
years without losing vitality. The largest of the 
caves is so accessible that heavily-loaded wagons are 
driven into it daily. The entrance, which may be 
said to be in the midst of the town, forms a vast arch, 
90 feet wide and 60 high, in the face of a towering 
cliff, and extends back several hundred feet, over a 
pool of limpid water, 90 feet in diameter and nearly 30 
feet in its deepest parts. The outflow of this fine 
natural reservoir of fresh, cold water, is sufficient to 
run quite a powerful wheel, and the elevation of 
nearly 15 feet above the garden level, insures great 
possibilities in irrigation. 
Beyond the pool of water, the floor of the cave, 
which is composed of a fine, dry clay, gradually rises 
to within three or four feet of the roof. There is, 
naturally free storage room immediately available 
for 100 car-loads of produce, and the capacity can be 
indefinitely increased by cutting a driveway in the 
clay floor after the pool is bridged. The cave has 
been explored for a distance of nearly one-half mile, 
and great chambers, 300 feet across, discovered. At 
the present writing, a fine cx-opof celery is established 
at a point where the temperature averages 54 degrees, 
and is blanching and keeping to perfection. Nearby 
is stored a fine collection of Gladioli, Cannas, Cala- 
diums and other tuberous roots, as well as car-loads 
of potatoes, turnips, radishes, etc., the latter being 
kept fresh by a light covering of oak sawdust. At 
some distance back, where the temperature is uni¬ 
formly near 60 degrees, and air draughts are avoided, 
two experimental mushroom beds have been recently 
established, and are in a promising condition. The 
temperature of this noble cave does not vary with the 
seasons, except immediately at the entrance, and a 
glance at Fig. 42 shows how the Ruskinites utilize its 
cool seclusion during the dreaded fruit-preserving 
period. It is hoped to develop the vast natural ad¬ 
vantages of this xxnique storehouse to a great extent 
in the future. 
As the colonists have had possession of their present 
lands only a short time, the work accomplished has 
been chiefly of a preparatory nature. While the land 
responds readily to improved cultivation, it is evi¬ 
dent that it suffei-s from a lack of humus, which is 
being supplied by means of repeated crops of cow 
peas, which thrive admirably. It is believed that 
most of the necessary nitrogen can be furnished by 
this useful plant, while the potash and lime are avail¬ 
able in the wood ashes and quicklime, incidentally 
produced by the colony. This will leave phosphoric 
acid as the chief element to be purchased. As the 
main object is to produce articles for colony consump- • 
tion, the chief effort for the ixnmediate future, will be 
to get the uplands into good pasture, and the level 
lands in shape for large forage crops. 
A dairy of nearly 20 cows is maintained, which 
must be gi’eatly increased in the near future, and a 
sheep ranch is projected on the 1,000 acres of open 
woodland comprising the former site. Hog-raising 
has been very successful, several hundi-eds of grades 
between the native razorback and improved Berk- 
shires and Poland-Chinas. furnishing many tons of 
excellent pork. An experienced beekeeper is now a 
member of the association, and a start will soon be 
made in his direction. The poultry department is in 
the hands of a competent manager, and is a new, but 
most prominent feature, a fine yard of White P. Rocks 
being the present basis. 
In the department of horticulture, the Association 
has been fortunate in possessing a manager who has 
persisted, during the eai-ly days of disappointment 
and trial, in getting together material from which he 
has developed the nucleus of a possibly valuable tree 
and plant nursei-y. A peach and plum block has just 
been planted, consisting of over 1,000 trees in 208 
varieties, comprising about all the desirable kinds the 
world has produced to date. This will be, by far, the 
most interesting and extensive test ever attempted in 
Tennessee. In grapes, apples, pears and small fruits, 
the trials will be fully as extensive, and much atten¬ 
tion will be paid to producing impx-oved varieties, 
wherever practicable. From 6,000 to 10,000 trees will 
be propagated and planted annually, until the land is 
occupied, selecting, as time goes on, from the varie¬ 
ties found best adapted to the locality. 
Fig. 43 shows Elbei-ta peach trees 18 months from the 
bud, attaining the remarkable growth of 12 feet high. 
It must be admitted, however, that these trees were 
grown on the site of an old straw stack, and were 
entirely too heavy and bulky to handle with comfort. 
All the trees neai'by, on unfertilized soil, reached a 
good planting height of five to six feet, though they 
received scant cultivation, in order to check exuberant 
growth. It is hoped to be as thorough and successful 
in gi-owing roses and ornamental plants—and many 
hundred hybridized seedlings of valuable plants are 
already under way. I trust that the readers of The 
R. N.-Y. will be interested in hearing, from time to 
time, of the results of the experimental as well as the 
practical workings of this department. Trivial as 
these operations appear, as the hopes and plans of this 
humble colony of working-people are. it must be 
remembered that the policy is to keep as free from 
debt as possible, and to develop, by their personal 
labor, all resources that promise to make Ruskin a 
good place to live in. Each member brings in his 
trifle of capital, together with his labor and intelli¬ 
gence. While progi*ess on these lines is necessarily 
slow, it is likely to be safe and sure. A larger and 
more rapid development could, doubtless, be made 
with borrowed capital, but this is prohibited by the 
charter of the Association, and the final result will be 
all the more interesting. 
Not one of these members could reasonably hope to 
carry out, with his unaided capital and energy, a 
fraction of the possibilities of Ruskin in his individual 
department; but, by the power of cooperation, exten¬ 
sive projects become quite practicable. A share of 
Ruskin stock costs 8500 cash, and insures one family 
all the advantages of the Association. It is doubtful 
if a young or middle-aged man, possessing that mod¬ 
erate amount of capital, and having the necessary 
industry and the love of progressive and intensive 
horticulture in his heart, can find a better opportunity 
for investment, if he is satisfied to become a true 
TENNESSEE PEACH TREES 18 MONTHS FROM BUD. Fig. 43. 
cooperator, and work without the incentive of imme¬ 
diate, individual money profits. w. van fleet, m. i>. 
VEGETABLES FOR PHILADELPHIA MARKET. 
WHAT SOME OF THE GROWERS SAY. 
Varieties, Methods and New Ideas. 
Part II. 
“When do you sow lettuce for the earliest cutting ? ’ 
“ Fi-orn October 20 to November 20. The seed is 
sown in rows about eight inches apart dii-ectly in the 
beds, being thinned out when necessaxy. We do not 
expect to do any transplanting, beyond using the 
thinnings for that purpose. If sown carefully, vei-y 
little thinning is needed. The treatment is the same 
in both frames and shanty-houses. We don’t use any 
covering at all. A mild Winter is rather a disadvan¬ 
tage to the salad, because it brings the plants along 
too soon.” 
“What varieties of lettuce do you px-efer for Winter?” 
“ The chief variety around here is the Dutch Butter 
or Speckled Butter. It is very hardy, and makes a 
fine head. Tennis Ball is good, but not so large. 
Champion Spring and Summer is a favorite for an 
outdoor crop. The Dutch Butter is not liked for out¬ 
door use ; the outer leaves take a pinkish tinge which 
interferes with its attractiveness.” 
“ Do you grow any other cx-op in conjunction with 
the lettuce ? ” 
“Yes; popular ci*ops to go with lettuce are cauli¬ 
flower, radishes and beets. The cauliflower is Fall- 
sown, carried over in a frame, and planted between 
the lettuce in February. Beets are sown directly in 
the bed, but when they are grown thus, the lettuce is 
planted 8x12 inches, instead of 8 x 8 ; the beets shade 
more than the cauliflower.” 
“ Do you grow any of the French Cos lettuce ? ” 
“ No; our mai-ket would not take it, the demand 
being entirely for the round heads. The Cos lettuce 
is very tender and succulent, but it is quite as dis¬ 
astrous for a grower to be too progressive for his mar¬ 
ket as to fall behind it. No use supplying a product 
until the market is ready for it. We have an example 
of this in some of the pink celery ; it is delicious in 
flavor, tender, brittle and juicy, but it won’t sell. 
It is immeasurably superior in quality to the self¬ 
blanching kinds, but the consximers want a white 
celery, and they won't look at it.” 
“ Do you leave the sashes on your lettuce houses all 
summer ? ” 
“ No ; they are removed when the last crop is off, 
about May 20. We fertilize entirely with stable 
manure, thinking commei-cial fertilizers too sharp to 
use under glass; the ammonia rises so quickly that 
we fear damage to the young plants. Quite possibly, 
some such material may be used successfully, but it 
would need study and experiment to be sure of the 
results.” 
“ Do you gi’ow any other Winter salad besides 
lettuce ? ” 
“ Endive is quite important. It is sown in August, 
in the open gx-ound, and then transplanted into frames. 
Some of it is blanched, by gathering xxp the leaves 
close together, and some left green, according to the 
trade it is intended for. We have a large German 
trade, and for this it is left green, being boiled like 
spinach, while, for use as a salad, it must be blanched.” 
“ What radishes do you grow ? ” 
“ Our German trade wants a white radish, and this 
is a characteristic demand in Philadelphia, so we grow 
White Box very largely. Of course, this could not 
be recommended where a red radish is wanted. 
Black Spanish is grown for Winter use, the Winter 
radishes being favorites in the German trade. We 
don’t ti*y many novelties; when we find varieties that 
suit our trade, we stick to them.” 
The endive, of which Mr. Farrell speaks, is unknown 
to a great manj people in this country; it is one of 
the most wholesome of salads, with a crisp bitterness 
of flavor like the dandelion, which it much resembles. 
It is largely purchased by French restaurants. It is 
sown in Apx-il for early use, and later for Fall and 
Winter. The plants are flat and spreading, so they 
should be thinned out to one foot apart in the row. 
Sometimes they are blanched by covering with a 
board, instead of gathering up and tying the leaves. 
White Curled is a popular sort, while the Broad-leafed 
Batavian endive is the plant shipped to New York 
from New Orleans during the Winter under the name 
of Esearole. 
Celex-y, as grown around Philadelphia, is a Fall and 
Winter crop; the Summers are too warm for early 
culture, and the Summer celery must come from far¬ 
ther north. The cultux-e does not differ from that 
in other localities, but it is all grown in wide rows, 
giving room for constant cultivation. The system 
of crowding close together, and thus avoiding any 
other blanching, as is done in some localities, is not 
approved here. It is the opinion of the best growers 
that all celery should be artificially blanched, to 
secure the best flavor and tenderest, most succulent 
texture, whether it belongs to the self-blanching type 
or not. One point in celery growing on which special 
stress was laid by George W. Dilks, a vex-y large 
grower, was the transplanting. The long tap-root 
being broken, the plant puts more energy into fibrous 
roots and tops. The celery is sown in March and 
April, and set out from .Ixxne to August. The ground 
is made exceedingly rich with stable manure and 
commercial fertilizer, the amount used of the latter 
being- increased when artificial irrigation is used, but, 
as a rule, the Philadelphia gi-owers use constant culti¬ 
vation rather than irrigation. In September, the celery 
rows are “ handled ” ; that is, a man goes along push¬ 
ing the leaves up together, with a little earth to keep 
them in place, and he is followed by a one-hoi-se eelery- 
hiller. which throws a deep furrow up against the 
plants. It is stored for the Winter in trenches, but 
where circumstances permit it to remain where grown, 
it certainly keeps better than when the i*oots are dis¬ 
turbed. However, a market gardener must have it in 
a situation where it is easily got out at any time. 
Most of the familiar sorts, such as Perfection Heart- 
well. Giant Pascal, White. Plume, and Golden Self¬ 
blanching, are grown about Philadelphia, but there 
seems a preference for dwarf and half-dwarf kinds. 
The most extensive growei-s usually select their own 
seed, gradually woi-king towai-dsa strain that exactly 
suits the requirements of their market. Like the 
growers of other crops, the celery men are quite con¬ 
servative and, when they have a product that exactly 
suits their market, they are not likely to change fox- 
novelties. They find an advantage in growing their 
own seed; they know exactly what it is, and it is 
sure to be suited to their locality and cultural condi¬ 
tions. Mr. Dilks has tested some of the good English 
varieties, but finds nothing better suited to his n^eds 
than his own strain, which'is held in high esteem by 
other gi owers in the locality. E. t. r. 
