J 14 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
F vrunty fi, 
Ruralisms 
Marvelous Vegetable "Novelties.”— 
Reputable seedsmen and nurserymen 
are more guarded than ever in offer¬ 
ing new varieties, but the crop of hor¬ 
ticultural fakes in the newspapers does 
not greatly abate. The exploitation of 
hybridization and the theoretical possi¬ 
bilities of plant-breeding generally by 
magazine and press writers is probably 
responsible for part of this exaggera¬ 
tion, but doubtless well-meaning igno¬ 
rance is also to be credited to its full 
share. A Boston paper prints the fol¬ 
lowing account of a wonderful "cross 
between the cucumber and the orange,” 
said to have been produced by a local 
gardener named Hill: 
The now fruit is fine-grained, delicious in 
taste and of a perfect yellow color. It 
was produced by crossing the blossom of a 
cucumber and an orange. 
"I uad an orange and a cucumber one 
day and without thought mixed together 
some of the pulp of the two.” says Mr. 
Hill. “The product was mostly cucumber, 
but the orange gave it a delectable flavor. 
“Then I began my experiments. The tirst 
year the product of my cucumber vine 
changed slightly in color. The second year 
they took on the almost round shape of 
the orange. It was a navel plant with 
which I was conducting my experiments, 
and the navel showed perfectly the third 
year, at which time the cucumber took the 
perfect round shape; the spines, or little 
prickles, dropped off and the cucumber had 
the unmistakable orange flavor. 
“I picked the cucumber orange 10 
weeks after planting. From a single vine 
I had five perfect ones. The cucumber 
orange is of goodly size, even larger than 
an orange. On the inside of it nearest the 
skin, it. is mostly orange and has the little 
cells similar to that fruit. The centre of 
the orange-cucumber is the same as that of 
a cucumber, but the seeds are not like an 
orange nor a cucumber. 
"My cucumber-orange has a sweet taste 
not unlike that of a fully ripe orange. The 
ordinary cucumber matures in about eight 
weeks; it took my cucumber orange from 
10 to 12 weeks to grow fully.” 
There is a sparingly grown form of 
muskmelon occasionally catalogued un¬ 
der the names of vegetable orange, 
garden lemon, orange melon and man¬ 
go melon, as a pickling or preserving 
variety, that appears fully to answer 
the description of the above marvel. 
It is known to botanists as Cucumis 
Melo, var. Chito. It is a rather weak 
growing plant with small cucumber¬ 
like leaves, bearing yellow, smooth 
fruits the size of a large orange, and 
generally of similar shape, though on 
some plants they are formed like a 
lemon. The flesh is pale yellow, solid, 
cucumber-like, with none of the muski¬ 
ness associated with the melon, but 
occasionally fragrant and almost sweet 
when ripe. It is not edible in the nat¬ 
ural state, but is useful for melon pre¬ 
serves or "mangoes,” as they are often 
called. We think Mr. Hill, if he exists, 
has woven his very entertaining yarn 
concerning the mixing of the “pulp” 
of the navel orange and cucumber 
about one of these little-known “vege¬ 
table orange” plants. 
Tillow Wonder Tomato. —A con¬ 
temporary publishes a photograph of 
the “Tillow Wonder” tomato, a New 
Jersey production, claimed to be a 
blend of the tomato and watermelon! 
The vine grows 18 feet tall when 
trained to a trellis or building, and the 
large fruits have the distinct flavor of 
the watermelon. The picture shows a 
large, rather roughly ribbed tomato. 
This is likely an old form of the ordi¬ 
nary tomato, Lycopersicum esculentum, 
quite common in southern gardens, that 
grows anywhere from eight to 20 feet< 
long in rich soil, and produces large, 
rough, red tomatoes, with a musky- 
sweet flavor, almost free from acidity. 
There is no “watermelon” in it, and 
it cannot get in by any known horticul¬ 
tural procedure. This strong-growing 
variety has repeatedly been grown on 
the Rural Grounds from seeds fur¬ 
nished by southern correspondents. The 
tomatoes appear to have little value for 
market on account of their softness. 
Novelties of Possible Value.— 
Among the novelties of the year of 
possible value offered by certain dealers 
the “Wonderberry” and Garton’s “Re¬ 
generated” Swedish oats stand out 
conspicuously. The Wonderberry is 
advertised as Luther Burbank’s great¬ 
est “creation” and the “greatest boon 
to the family garden ever known.” 
Some of the claims follow: 
Fruit blue-black like an enormous rich 
blueberry in looks and taste. Unsurpassed 
for eating raw, cooked, canned or preserved 
in any form. The greatest garden fruit 
ever introduced and equally valuable in 
hot. dry, cold or wet climates. Easiest 
plant in the world to grow succeeding any¬ 
where and yielding great masses of rich 
fruit all Summer and Fall—and all Winter 
in pots. 
We have not had opportunity to 
^grow the Wonderberry, as it is now 
first being offered as an exclusive nov¬ 
elty, but we recognize in this glowing 
description our old friend the weedy 
black nightshade or “stubbleberry” pf 
the Dakotas, Solanum nigrum, which 
has also been* freely advertised by mail 
order florists as the garden huckle¬ 
berry. The leaves and berries, formerly 
thought to be poisonous, are occasion¬ 
ally eaten when cooked, the former 
prepared in the manner of spinach and 
the latter in the form of pies and pre¬ 
serves. For these purposes the berries 
may be useful for pioneer cultivation 
in localities where no other fruits are 
grown, but from our trials we are in¬ 
clined to rate the stubbleberry far be¬ 
low the wild elderberry as a pie fruit. 
It is necessary to stew it a long time, 
add much sugar as well as lemon or 
currant juice for flavoring, and the 
result is barely palatable. The plant 
grows readily in almost any soil, when 
started early like the tomato, and gen¬ 
erally yields a profuse crop of blackish 
berries, ripening just before frost; but 
few are likely to bother with them if 
other fruits are procurable. We should 
rate the “garden huckleberry” as here¬ 
tofore distributed as regards horticul¬ 
tural and culinary value about with the 
wild ground cherry, strawberry or husk 
tomato, Physalis pubescens, the pre¬ 
served fruits of which are liked by a 
few individuals. It is claimed, how¬ 
ever, that Mr. Burbank, by crossing 
and selection of the best forms of the 
black nightshade, has developed a really 
useful garden fruit, and that the Won¬ 
derberry is worthy of trial. The spe¬ 
cies Solanum includes some of our 
most valuable vegetables, such as the 
common potato, the tomato and the 
eggplant, as well as many poisonous 
or useless weeds. Doubtless in time it 
may be induced to yield a palatable 
fruit. If Mr. Burbank has brought 
this about he deserves the appreciation 
of the horticultural world. 
Regenerated Oats. —The Garton 
Brothers, John and Robert, of War¬ 
rington, England, have long been 
known as successful breeders of grass 
plants and cereals. Their experiments, 
begun in 1880, have produced such 
remarkable results that at one time, we 
understand, the purchase of their ac¬ 
cumulated material was contemplated 
by our National Department of Agri¬ 
culture, but the Gartons preferred to 
develop it in their own country. The 
usual methods of cross-pollenization 
and selection were used, but from all 
accounts the work was carried on with 
greater thoroughness than is usual in 
private experimental research. The 
“regenerated” Swedish select oat, one 
of their products now offered in this 
country, is claimed to yield from 25 to 
40 per cent more than ordinary kinds 
under the same cultural conditions. 
The grain is said to be thinner- 
skinned, yet heavier, and the straw 
stronger than that of any other va¬ 
riety, as the result of long and careful 
breeding within the species. Reports 
of trials made last year in most of the 
oat-growing States appear to bear out 
these assertions. The present scarcity 
of good oats and their relatively high 
price make their culture rather allur¬ 
ing, but it will be well to hesitate be¬ 
fore investing to any considerable ex-> 
tent in high-priced seeds, no matter 
how well recommended. The oat is a 
difficult and treacherous cereal to grow 
in many parts of the country, and ex¬ 
tensive losses may follow. The Garton 
oat, however, appears well worth trial 
where oats may be expected to succeed. 
w. v. F. 
“For the Land’s Sake use Bowker’s 
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