B14 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 12 
with increased vigor, health and hardiness of the vine; 
or a Delaware grape, of larger size, borne upon a 
strong, hardy and vigorous vine, with heavy, healthy 
and mildew-resisting foliage ; or a Concord or Worden, 
with firmer berries and finer flavor, possessing better 
shipping qualities. If these, or similar improvements, 
could be made and demonstrated, their value would 
at once be recognized by every grape grower in the 
land. 
“ It is, perhaps, not desirable to follow the suc¬ 
cessive steps that led to the accomplishment of one of 
these contemplated improvements further than to say 
that, after about 20 years working in this direction, 
always with a definite object in mind, and a pre¬ 
determined combination to produce the desired result, 
I achieved the greatest success in my life, in a really 
improved Concord that satisfied my most exacting re¬ 
quirements, after the most careful observation and 
rigid tests for the past 12 years; a variety having 
every good point of the Concord without any of its 
faults or weaknesses. Far more healthy and vigorous 
in growth, larger in bunch and berry, finer in flavor 
and quality, firmer in its consistence for handling and 
shipping, earlier in ripening and later in keeping 
cither on or off the vine. From the first year of its 
seedling growth to the present time, it has positively 
developed no fault, has never shown a mildewed leaf 
or rotten grape, and has never been sprayed with 
Bordeaux or any other mixture. That it will always 
remain so, even in its native home, or always be free 
from faults in other localities, I dare not say, any 
more than I could declare that a healthy and vigorous 
man who says he has ‘never been sick in his life’ 
would always remain so. I think, however, that all 
who have grown many kinds of grape vines know that 
there is a great difference in varieties as to their 
tendency to rot in their fruit, and their 
liability to mildew or blight in their foliage, 
and from its record to this time, I have much 
confidence that this grape will prove and 
remain at least as healthy and successful in 
all grape-growing localities as any of our 
standard native varieties, for during several 
of the years of its existence in the same local¬ 
ity, and under the same conditions, other 
kinds have nearly all rotted and been affected 
with mildew in its immediate vicinity, while 
it remained exempt.” 
In the year 1662, the Royal Society recommended its 
general cultivation as an edible food, but it was still 
half a century later that they were grown to any ex¬ 
tent in England. 
In 1725, they were introduced into Scotland, where 
they were cultivated with much success, first in gar¬ 
dens, and afterwards, about 1760, when they became 
more plentiful, in the open fields. Except in Ger¬ 
many, where it seems to have been quickly appreci¬ 
ated, its introduction to the continent of Europe was 
slow, owiDg to the marked prejudice against it, and 
it is related that, during a famine in Italy, a ship-load 
sent there was allowed to waste, as the mere name of 
potato as food carried with it such dread that they 
preferred to bear the horrors of starvation rather than 
eat the potatoes. 
The Gardeners’ Association of Ireland recognize 
the year 1897 as a tercentenary of the introduction of 
the potato into Ireland, and they will celebrate it in 
an appropriate way. One of the most interesting 
things about this celebration will be a collection of 
varieties of potatoes. Sir Walter Raleigh knew noth¬ 
ing of varieties. The chances are that the tubers he 
took to Ireland were very poor specimens. Since his 
time, and particularly during the past 50 years, the 
potato has been wonderfully improved in every way, 
and it will be an exceedingly interesting thing at 
this Irish celebration to compare varieties from all 
over the world and see how the climate and culture 
of Russia, Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Ger¬ 
many, Africa and Iceland have modified and changed 
this plastic vegetable so that it meets the require¬ 
ments of almost every known soil and climate. 
America will, of course, be represented by hundreds 
of varieties, but to Mr. Carman’s new seedling will 
be accorded the honor of bearing the great Sir Walter 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
A FAMOUS navigator; a remarkable potato 
The world owes much to Sir Walter Ra¬ 
leigh. He will always remain a striking 
figure in history. He was one of the great 
characters who had to do with the discovery 
of a new continent on which were to be 
worked out the highest ideals of freedom and 
helpful civilization. It may be a prosaic way 
of looking at such matters, but we believe 
that America has made the world better 
chiefly because her soil has provided abun¬ 
dant supplies of strong and healthful food 
for the millions of the old world. In the 
potato and Indian corn, America furnished two won¬ 
derful plants which have not only provided food, but 
given the material for dozens of manufacturing oper¬ 
ations. America has kept the Indian corn plant at 
home, but the potato she gave freely to the old world, 
and it is one of her greatest gifts. 
Sir Walter Raleigh enjoys the distinction of being 
the first to introduce the so-called Irish potato into 
Ireland from America. It is supposed that he took 
some tubers with him to Ireland on his return from 
Virginia in 1586, but 1597 is the earliest date of 
which there is any record of its cultivation. It is, 
however, doubtful whether he was aware of the value 
of the tuber, for it is said that he gave his gardener 
the potatoes as a fine fruit from America, and ordered 
them to be carefully planted in his garden. In August, 
the plants flowered, and in September, produced the 
fruit; but the berries were so different from what 
the gardener expected, that in an ill-humor, he car¬ 
ried the potato balls to his master and said, “ Is this 
the fine fruit from America you praised so highly ? ” 
Sir Walter was or pretended to be ignorant of the 
matter, and instructed the gardener, since that was 
the case, to dig up the weed and throw it away. The 
gardener, however, soon returned with a fine lot of 
potatoes. 
The name, Irish potato, has, no doubt, been given 
because they were used for food in Ireland long be¬ 
fore they were even known or cultivated in England. 
From Ireland, the potato made its way into England, 
some say by the accidental shipwreck of a vessel on 
the coast of Lancashire, at a place even now famous 
for the production of this vegetable in the greatest 
perfection. It was, however, nearly half a century 
later before it received any attention in London, and 
£ven then was considered a mere article of luxury. 
THE SIR WALTER RALEIGH POTATO. Fig. 266. 
Raleigh’s name. A picture of a fair specimen of this 
potato is shown at Fig. 266. It represents the pro¬ 
duct of three centuries of potato improvement, and 
we are confident that its future behavior in the hands 
of skillful growers will be such as to prove it worthy 
of the name it bears. Mr. Carman has already given 
the history of this potato. A tuber of the old R. N.-Y. 
No. 2 was sent across the ocean to Belgium. There 
the vines produced seeds. These seeds were sent 
back to America and from them was grown the plant 
that produced the Sir Walter Raleigh. It seems 
fitting, therefore, that this potato should now cross 
the sea as the leading American representative at this 
Irish potato convention. 
VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS. 
The cultivation of vegetables under glass is now an 
increasing business in the neighborhood of our large 
cities, and a system of intensive culture, with labor- 
saving devices, is necessary, in competition with the 
open-air products of the South. The three styles of 
glass gardening used by vegetable growers are cold 
frames, hotbeds, and forcing houses. The first of 
these, the cold frame, is cheap and easily managed, 
and many a farmer will find it valuable either for the 
benefit of his own table, or for the home market. The 
construction, in a commercial place, is extremely sim¬ 
ple, merely a long bed, six feet wide, inclosed on 
either side by inch boards. The ends are, of course, 
inclosed, but there are no cross-bars, so after remov¬ 
ing the ends, the entire length may be cultivated by 
horse power. For covering, six-foot sashes are merely 
laid across the frames. Alleys four feet wide are left 
between the frames ; these are also planted, no waste 
space being permitted. The soil of the frames is very 
rich and well drained, and it is recommended that the 
top earth at least, to the depth of two or three inches, 
be removed and replaced each season. 
Fig. 269 (taken from Dreer’s book) shows how these 
“boxes” look while “ at rest”—that is, while the 
glass is off during the summer. The alley, four feet 
wide, is planted with radishes, while the boxes them¬ 
selves contain a summer crop of celery. The picture 
shows how easily these boxes may be worked by 
horse power. As fast as one crop comes out, another 
is started. 
Some of the cold frame rotations, practiced by 
Philadelphia market gardeners, are thus given in 
Dreer’s Vegetables Under Glass, a very useful little 
manual recently published : 
Spinach, sown about September 15, cut at Christ¬ 
mas ; radishes, sown in February, pulled in April ; 
bush beans, sown in April. 
Corn salad, sown about September 15, cut in April 
and May, followed by beans. 
Lettuce, sown about September 15, cut in April and 
May, followed by beans. 
Spinach, sown about September 15, cut at Christ¬ 
mas ; lettuce (plants from the seed bed or seed), in 
February, followed by beans. Beets are frequently 
sown in February. 
Of winter market garden crops, the following may be 
grown without heat: Spinach, spring cabbage plants, 
corn salad, endive, onions, daisy, pansy, violet. With 
heat: Tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, beans, melon, 
mushroom, potato. Grown both ways : Lettuce, rad¬ 
ish, parsley, beets, water cress, carrots, rhubarb, 
asparagus, mint. 
The culture of potatoes under glass may seem odd 
to some of our readers, but it is no new thing in Eng¬ 
land, where a kidney potato of early maturity is 
used. We are informed, in the little manual we have 
quoted above, that during the present year, 
a Pennsylvania market gardener succeeded 
in growing ordinary potatoes under glass in 
time to compete with the new potatoes from 
the South. These tubers from indoors were 
sold for the same price per half peck as he 
afterwards obtained per bushel for those 
grown out of doors. 
At Fig. 268, is shown a picture of a simple 
forcing house made by placing the movable 
sashes on a frame. This picture was taken 
in summer, and shows the construction of 
such a house. Such a house marks a step 
above the cold frame and hotbed, for it pro¬ 
vides shelter, and permits the introduction 
of inside heat by means of steam or hot 
water. In this house, the glass roof can 
be wholly removed. The peak or highest 
part of the roof is about six feet above the 
surface of the middle bed, while the perma¬ 
nent glass sides are two feet high. The beds 
are made directly upon the ground separated 
by sunken walks. 
Another curious illustration found in 
Dreer’s book is shown at Fig. 267. This 
represents a scheme for irrigation in opera¬ 
tion at Belmont, Mass. There is an elevated 
two-inch central pipe running the length 
of the field and held up by iron posts made of pipe. 
At points about 18 feet apart, cross pipes reach out 
with a revolving sprinkler at the end of each. A 
water pressure of 25 pounds to the square inch is 
used, and 60 sprinklers are run at one time. Of 
course this is used on very rich ground where large 
crops of fresh vegetables are expected. It would not 
be practicable for farm culture, buL for gardening, it 
is the best imitation of a genuine rain one is likely to 
find. _ 
Some Useful Flowers. —As a catch crop, gladiolus 
is grown in carnation houses, coming into bloom in 
early spring. It does not materially shade the carna¬ 
tions, blooming at a time when the sunlight is grow¬ 
ing stronger. A favorite variety for this use is The 
Bride, a form of Gladiolus Colvillei, white stained 
with faint pink. Light colored varieties are prefer¬ 
red for the cut flower trade. Sweet peas are grown 
in the same way, blooming much in advance of those 
outside. 
The yellow flax (Linum trigynum) forms a very use¬ 
ful plant for window or small conservatory, owing to 
its abundance of successional bloom. The flowers do 
not last long, but they are so freely produced that 
the plant is a mass of golden-yellow bloom through 
the flowering period. The only enemy likely to 
trouble this flax is the red spider, which may be kept 
in subjection by careful spraying. After flowering, 
it should be cut back quite severely, and planted out¬ 
side in May, being taken up in September. After 
taking indoors, it should be watered freely and kept 
in the shade for two or three days. It is easily 
propagated from cuttings. While outside, the longest 
and most straggling shoots may be nipped off, so 
that a symmetrical shape is maintained. 
