1874.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
T 23 
quite failed this year after two seasons of most 
satisfactory performance. 
Delaware. —I am surprised that this should 
do so well upon my light soil. It is one of the 
varieties that will bear feeding, and when the 
vine gets age it bears abundantly. It is the 
favorite with most persons, on account of its 
intense sweetness. 
Essex (Rogers’ 21).—An exceedingly rampant 
coarse vine, with large brownish berries in 
loose bunches ; quality inferior. With me not 
worth the room it occupies. 
Eumelan. —I set out some 15 or 20 vines of 
this when it first came out. Perhaps one half 
of these are scarcely larger than they w r ere at 
the end of the first season ; some of the others 
have done fairly, while five or six are magnifi¬ 
cent vines bearing all that a vine ought to bear; 
and this happens with vines which were ap¬ 
parently alike when planted, and with those 
that are side by side in the same row. Mr. 
Meisner, of the great grape growing establish¬ 
ment of Isidor Bush, Son & Meisner, Bush- 
burg, Mo., was here a few days ago, and in 
discussing varieties, I asked about the Eume¬ 
lan in Mo. He gave it high praise in every re¬ 
spect, except in the one just mentioned—the 
uncertainty attending the growth of the vines. 
My laggards will come out this fall, and I will 
see if there is anything the matter at the roots. 
As to the fruit itself, I do not think too much 
can be said in its praise. The bunches are 
well shouldered, with a fine bloom, and as to 
quality, but few American grapes can equal it. 
When these and Black Hamburgs are upon the 
table at the same time, I taste of the Hamburgs 
and eat the Eumelan. If it were not for the 
uncertainty above mentioned, I should advise 
every one to plant the Eumelan. It mildews, 
and so do almost all good grapes, but I do not 
fail of a crop. 
Hine. —A little known variety, -which as to 
its fruit, might be readily mistaken for the 
Delaware. The bunch is looser, the berry a 
trifle larger, and to my taste a better flavor. 
Iona. —Too uncertain to commend, but fruit 
of the first class when you get it. 
Ires. —This is absolutely worthless with me. 
Tines out five years, and not a berry but has 
cracked, mildewed, rotted, or done something 
unpleasant. Yet, westward it is certain be¬ 
yond all others. 
Lindley, (Rogers’ 9.)—Very sweet and fair 
quality, but fruit drops badly. 
Martha. —This bears well enough, but that 
persons who have ever tasted a good grape, can 
eat this, is quite beyond my comprehension. 
Salem. —Rather uncertain. Large and sweet. 
Does worse with me than on better soil. 
Senasqua. —Late in ripening, but of the high¬ 
est quality to those who appreciate life and 
brilliancy in a grape. 
Walter. —Does nothing with me, vine four 
years old, and not a decent bunch yet. 
Wilder, (Rogers’ 4.)—What I have said of 
Barry, will apply to this ; it is a week or more 
later than the Barry, and a larger bunch. This 
year some of the berries have dropped, but as 
they did not do so in former years, I attribute 
it to the long drouth. This is a wonderfully 
showy and attractive grape, of better quality 
than the Concord, and every way to be com¬ 
mended for beauty, productiveness, and vigor. 
If I were intending to raise grapes for market, 
I should make a trial of this and Barry, 
Dreer's Improved Lima Beans. 
Lima beans are a rather troublesome vegeta¬ 
ble to prepare for the table, on account of the 
difficulty of shelling them ; their pods do not 
open so readily as those of other varieties, 
and the operation requires strength of thumb 
nails as well as patience. In the ordinary Lima 
there is a great waste of pod; the beans are 
set wide apart, and the pod is often so con¬ 
stricted that the halves touch between the 
beans. A large pod will frequently have but 
two, or at most, three beans, but this can be 
improved by selecting for seed, only those pods 
which have four (or more if possible) beans in 
them. The Lima is a distinct species (Phaseolus 
lunatus) from the common bush and pole beans, 
(P. vulgaris), and shows very little disposition 
to depart from its natural condition, or as the 
gardeners phrase is, it will not “ break ” readily' 
into varieties. Some years ago one of our 
Western friends made many experiments, with 
a view to producing a low growing or bush 
Lima, but when we last heard, he had not 
succeeded in overcoming the disposition to go 
to the top of a tall pole. A few years ago Mr. 
Henry A. Dreer showed us some Limas which 
he considered a great improvement upon the 
ordinary kind, and this year we received from 
his son a basketful of the same beans for trial. 
We learned that this variety is the result of a 
careful selection carried on for some 20 years. 
In these beans the pods are not only full, with 
no spaces between, but are as full as they 
can stick, the seeds so crowding one another, 
that the ends of the central beans are square; 
the bean is also much thicker that the ordinary; 
the two engravings of both kinds given on 
the next page, do not exaggerate the dif¬ 
ference in this respect. A vino of this kind 
hearing the same number of pods as one of the 
ordinary kind, would, we should judge, yield 
nearly if not twice as much in shelled beans. 
It is stated that this variety is much more pro¬ 
ductive than the ordinary, yielding many more 
pods to the pole. The pod being so completely 
filled, the shelling becomes an easy matter, and 
the beans when cooked are much superior to 
the ordinary ones, as the amount of skins is 
much smaller in proportion to the enclosed 
nutriment. We regard the improving of this 
bean as one of the most important of the 
recent contributions to horticulture. We take 
quite as much, if not more, interest in a new 
variety, or the improvement of an old variety, 
of garden vegetables, as we do in those among 
fruits and flowers. And he who makes three 
Lima beans grow where there were only two 
before, is entitled to quite as much credit as 
one who produces a coleus with a new stripe in 
its leaf, or a strawberry a trifle larger than any 
other, and horticultural societies should offer 
equally large premiums for improvements in 
the one class, as in the others. 
Buying and Planting Bulbs. —Whatever 
other spring flowers we may have, bulbs are 
essential, and the garden would hardly seem 
complete without its array of Hyacinths, Nar¬ 
cissuses, and all the rest of the bulbs, which 
unite beauty, brilliancy and fragrance, as do 
no other plants. October is the best month for 
planting bulbs, as they then have time to form 
roots before cold weather sets in ; still we have 
had very satisfactory results from planting in 
November, and have known them to be put in 
as late as January, by taking advantage of an 
open spell.—We would much rather take the 
risk of late planting than be without their flow¬ 
ers in spring, and those who have neglected or 
omitted to provide a stock of bulbs can yet do 
so, even at this late day. There are some 
who give special attention to these plants, and 
they are always on the lookout for novelties; 
such persons need no advice from us. But to 
the majority, especially those of moderate 
means, a hyacinth is just as welcome without 
a name as with, provided it be of good form 
and pleasing color. Unless one cares for the 
named varieties, much more satisfaction may 
be had for the same money by leaving the se¬ 
lection to the dealer, merely indicating the col¬ 
ors desired, and their proportion. We have 
had very good results from the assorted bulbs 
which are sold at much lower rates than the 
named ones. By sending to a dealer for his 
catalogue, the price can be readily ascertained. 
Another advantage in getting catalogues is, 
that they give all necessary directions for cul¬ 
tivation, and besides being a price-list, the cat¬ 
alogue of the present day is a clever little hand¬ 
book of culture. We do not know how a few 
dollars can be more satisfactorily invested for 
the garden than in bulbs. 
■ - — - — ®«—-- —-. 
Hydrangea Paniculata Grandiplora.— 
The Horticulturist a few months ago made the 
announcement that this is a meritorious shrub, 
and apparent]}' thinks it has made a new dis¬ 
covery. In its elation it says: “It is now 
about six years since its first introduction into 
this country, and yet only within two years 
has it been brought forward with much no¬ 
tice ; nor do we remember ever seeing it illus¬ 
trated in the ‘ high art ’ pictorial agricultural 
journals.” We do not know if the Horticul¬ 
turist classifies the Agriculturist among the 
‘“high art’ pictorial agricultural journals” or 
not, but this Journal “illustrated” this Hy¬ 
drangea in April, 1868, from a living specimen. 
We admit that the art of “ Pictorial Agricul¬ 
tural Journals” is not quite so “ high ” as that 
of the Horticulturist, as we never knew one of 
them to publish an illustration of the Crystal 
Palace at Sydenham, and try to make people 
think it was a view of Kew Gardens. 
Great Yield op Rhubarb or Pie Plant. 
—A truck farmer near Providence, R. I., sold 
in that market the last spring and summer nine 
tons of Myatt’s Linnaeus Rhubarb from a 
quarter of an acre of land. Owing to very 
sharp competition he only received twenty-five 
dollars a ton for it, or one cent and a quarter a 
pound. This is $225 worth of truck from a 
quarter of an acre, or $900 per acre. If it had 
not been for competition, and the rhubarb had 
been sold at former season’s prices, he would 
have received at the rate of $1,800 an acre for 
this crop. This is by no means an unparalleled 
return for such farming. It is a result of a 
very liberal use of manure and labor, and of 
adapting crops to the wants of the market. A 
farmer uses fifty dollars’ worth of manure and 
thinks he is very extravagant. A market gar¬ 
dener uses two hundred dollars’ worth on rich 
land, and regrets that he had not put on more. 
How to Grow Cauliflower. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
There is perhaps no vegetable we cultivate 
that is so uncertain of giving satisfactory re¬ 
sults as cauliflower, particularly if grown for an 
early crop. It is often rather amusing to see 
how the failure to obtain a crop astonishes our 
