Oic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1009 
The Home Garden 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
The siiddeii advent of an extremely hot 
wave after 25 days of constant rain has 
very rapidly hurried the maturity of the 
cantaloupe crop, and the roads are lively 
with wagons and trucks loaded with 
crates of the melons. If South Jersey 
keeps out 10 days longer our melon grow¬ 
ers will have done fairly well. The torrid 
wave has left us with a drizzling day, and 
the rain was actually needed, notwith¬ 
standing we were wondering only a few 
days ago whether it would ever stop rain¬ 
ing. But with the mercury hovering on 
both sides of the 100 degree mark of the 
thermometer it was not surprising that 
the soil dried out rapidly au the succu¬ 
lent vegetation withered. I have no re¬ 
membrance of a hot wave here of equal 
intensity. Usually in very warm weather 
we have a sea breeze in the evening, but 
during this heat wave even the sea breeze 
failed us and the nights gave one no real 
rest. 
The present change will give us a 
chance to get out the late plants of the 
Drumhead Savoy cabbage which we in¬ 
tend for Winter use. We aim to have our 
late.st cabbages head about the last of 
November in order to keep well. The hot 
wave fini.shed what were left of the Wake¬ 
field cabbages, which had been bursting 
for some time. Late-sown Copenhagen 
Market cabbages which we are trying for 
late Summer and early Fall, are mow just 
beginning to turn in for forming heads, 
and I believe they will answer the pur¬ 
pose very well. 
Potatoes and cabbages have lost the 
plutocratic character they had a month 
or so back. Now there are none so poor 
that they cannot get all they Avant. What 
the city consumers are paying we do not 
know, but there is not even a 35-cent dol¬ 
lar for the man with cabbages and po¬ 
tatoes to sell. 
The late ripening N anticoke blackberry 
is just coming in, and the berries on the 
Atlantic dewberry are still green. It is a 
pity that so fine a blackberry as the Nan- 
ticoke should be unfit for shipping, as it 
gets soft as soon as ripe. Still, it would 
hardly be profitable as a market berry, as 
people in the city are now buying peaches, 
and Avould hardly look at small fruits. 
For home use these late berries come in 
very nicely, though the canes of the Nan- 
ticoke are very fierce and thorny for the 
garden; so fierce, in fact, that it is a seri¬ 
ous matter to get near enough to prune 
out the old canes. With the coming of 
August the preparation for the Fall and 
Winter begins. Spinach must now be 
sown for Fall cutting and lettuce seed for 
the Fall crop outside. For this lettuce 
crop I use the Hanson and the New York 
or Wonderful. Big Boston is apt to run 
to seed in the warm weather. 
I usually make three sowings of spin¬ 
ach, one early in August, another the first 
of September and the third the last of 
Sei)tember, the last two sowings being for 
Winter and Spring use. The last sowing 
will usually get just large enough to 
stand the Winter. Some sow in early 
Spring, but I have found that the Spirng 
sowing Avill run to seed about as quickly 
as that Avhich has been wintered over. 
The Big White Celestial radish comes 
in nicely in the Fall from seed soavii in 
August, and this big radish makes a bet¬ 
ter boiled Amgetable than turnips. The 
old rose-colored Chinese radish is so hardy 
that Avhen there is a heaA'y mulch of ma¬ 
nure betAveen the roAvs Ave can pull them 
in good condition all Winter, and per¬ 
fectly solid. I do not know that the 
noAver Bound Bed Chinese is as hardy. 
Now Ave are fairly into the cleaning up 
of Aveeds and grass and finished crops 
after the AVet and the beat liave kept us 
out of the garden. ^ 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Everbearing Strawberries 
Wbat about everbearing strawberries? 
Can they be set in ground that will be 
ploAved after the hav is cut? When 
should they be set? Is the middle of Oc- 
too late, or will August be better? 
'A ill an applicatioB of lime be beneficial 
and hoAv much? E. L. w. 
Hammondsport, N. Y, 
The Fall-bearing straAvberries are ex¬ 
cellent for home use, but Ave do not ad¬ 
vise them for commercial culture. A sod 
turned over after haying would be about 
the worst place for berries. It Avould be 
well filled with Avhite grubs and the grass 
and weeds Avould work in so as to make 
it impossible to keep such a field clean. 
We should always groAV some hoed crop 
like corn on the sod to fit it for berries. 
Do not use lime on the strawberries. 
October Avill be too late for setting the 
plants. With moist Aveather in August 
you can get a good start Avith the plants 
and carry them safely through Winter, so 
as to get a fair crop next year. 
Verdun—A “^New” Vegetable 
A vegetable advertised under the name 
of “Verdun,” is described in glowing 
terms by a British seedsman as first 
among vegetables for health-giving prop¬ 
erty—“a spinach and asparagus combined. 
A perennial, once soavii is ahvays there.” 
Can you tell me what this new vegetable 
is? R. P. AV. 
Southport, Conn. 
In I'csponse to inquiry. Chief W, A. 
Taylor, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
says that the plant referred to is under¬ 
stood to be one of the Chenopodiums, 
probably Chenopodium Bonus-IIenricus, 
called in England “Good King Henry,” 
It is one of the pigweeds sometimes used 
for greens or as a pot-herb. This partic¬ 
ular species is a perennial and is often 
cut for its succulent Spring shoots and 
leaves and makes an excellent substitute 
for spinach. When given good cultiva¬ 
tion the stems groAv to be quite large and 
are used as a substitute for asparagus. 
An introduction of the plant to this coun¬ 
try was made by the Office of Foreign 
Seed and Plant Introduction in 1915, un¬ 
der the name of Chenopodium Bonus- 
IIenricus. The following description of 
the plant is published in “The Vegetable 
Garden,” by W. Bobinson. 
Native of Europe. Perennial. Stem 
about 2^/2 feet high, smooth, slightly 
channelled; leaves alternate, long-stalked, 
arrow-shaped, undulated, smooth, and 
dark green, frosted or mealy on the un¬ 
der surface, rather thick and fleshy; 
fioAvers small, green, in close, compact 
clusters; seeds black, small, kidney¬ 
shaped. Their germinating power lasts 
for five years. 
This plant, being perennial and ex¬ 
tremely hardy, will groAV and yield abun¬ 
dantly for several years, without any at¬ 
tention except the occasional use of the 
hoe. It is easily raised from seed which 
is best sown in Spring, either where the 
plants are to stand or, preferably, in a 
seed-bed. In the latter case, the seed¬ 
lings are pricked out once before they 
are permanently planted out IG in. apart 
every way. The leaves are eaten like 
spinach, and it has been suggested to use 
the shoots, like asparagus, as a very 
early vegetable, blanched by simply earth¬ 
ing them up. 
An excellent vegetable for England, 
and deserves to be more generally planted. 
It is extensively grown by the Lincoln¬ 
shire farmers, almost every garden hav¬ 
ing its bed, which if placed in a warm 
corner and well manured, yields an abun- 
d.ant supply of delicious shoots a fort¬ 
night before asparagus comes, and for 
some rweeks afterwards. From a south 
border cutting generally commences early 
in April, and continues until the end of 
June. Some .say they like it better than 
asparagus. When properly grown, the 
young shoots {bould be almost as thick as 
the little finger, and in gathering it 
should be cut under the ground some¬ 
thing the same as aspai-agus. In pre¬ 
paring it for use, if the outer skin or 
bark have become tough, strip it off 
from the bottom upAvards, and then wash 
and_ tie it up in bunches like asparagus. 
It is best boiled in ])leuty of water. 
When tender, strain and serve simply, or 
upon toast. Some have melted butter 
AVith it, others oat it simply Avith the 
gravy and meat. In cultivation, the 
Mercury, as it is called also, will groAV 
anyAvhere; but, to have it in the best 
form, good cultivation is necessary. To 
this end you cannot have the ground too 
deep nor too rich ; plant as early in the 
Spring as possible to get an abundant 
yield of .shoots, and to get them as strong 
as possible. In planting, put the roAvs IS 
in. apart, and the plants one foot apart 
in the roAA'. It is Avild in some parts of 
England. 
This plant is also knoAvn in this coun¬ 
try as mercury or “markcry,” being found 
in some old gardens in the Eastern 
States. 
Wormy Raspberries 
IMy raspberries are very wormy. Prob- 
,‘ibly 90% of the berries now ripe, luiA’e 
a small Avliiti.sh Avorm inside. If the 
fruit ripening later is similarly infested 
my crop Avill be a failure. I have grown 
raspberries seA’eral years and never had 
this trouble before. A. N. s. 
No. Stoughton, Mass. 
Your raspberries are infested Avith the 
larva of the American raspberry beetle. 
We have had a rather serious outbreak 
of this insect in the IlAulson River Yal- 
ley this season. The red raspberry crop 
is sometimes severelj' injured locally in 
the Eastern United States and Canad.a 
by this small, slightly hairy, light 
broAvn beetle, about one-seventh inch in 
length. The beetles appear in May and 
begin feeding on the buds and tender 
leaves, and later attack the blossoms 
themselves. When the cluster of blos¬ 
som buds is disclosed, they Avork their 
way in between them and eat holes into 
the buds. They also skeletonize the 
leaves to a considerable extent and feed 
on the stamens and pistils of the blos¬ 
soms, often causing an almost total fail¬ 
ure of the crop. The egg is deposited 
on the green fruit and the young grubs 
are found burroAving through the recep¬ 
tacle or lying upon its surface beneath 
the berry. When full-groAAUi they are 
nearly Avhite in color and about one- 
quarter inch in length. When ahundant 
many of the grubs adhere to the berry 
at picking time, making it necessary to 
handpick carefully the fruit intended for 
table use. Normally they fall to the 
earth and hibernate as pupae under 
trash or in the soil near the surface. 
Experiments have shown that this pest 
can be controlled by a thorough applica¬ 
tion of arsenate of lead, six to eight 
pounds to 100 gallons of water, made as 
the first beetles appear. Thorough shal¬ 
low cultivation of the .soil in the Fall 
would doubtless de.stroy many of the pu¬ 
pae in their hibernating quarters. 
C. E. CROSRY. 
Chinese Cabbage 
How is Chine.se celery cabbage eaten, 
raAV or cooked, and Avhat part is used, 
both the stalks and leaA'os or does it head 
like cabbage? About Avhat time of the 
season is it supposed to mature in this 
section ? J. R. T. 
Lacona, N. Y. 
Chinese cabbage is eaten raw as a salad 
and cooked as. ecns. It is a delic.ate 
cabbage Avith a flavor which suggests that 
of celery in a A’ery pronounced Avay. In 
preparing the Chinese cabbage some of 
the old outside leaA^es are thrown aAvay, 
but all those leaves comprising the main 
cluster are used in their entirety. It 
does not bead exactly like our cabbage, 
but develops more like romaine or cos 
lettuce. For best development the .seed 
should be planted during the Summer, so 
that the crop Avill develop during the Fall. 
That which is planted to develop early 
does not grow .so fine and large. The lit¬ 
tle black flea beetles are particularly fond 
of it early in the season. r. av. d. 
Covering a Steep Bank 
If “K.” Avill plant myrtle, also called 
periwinkle (Vinca minor) on his steep 
bank, it will cover it in deep green Win¬ 
ter and Summer, except in May, when 
it is a blue mass of floAver.s. I am using 
it on a bank at 45 degrees elevation, 100 
by 30 feet, Avith satisfaction, and but 
tAvo inches of micaceous soil on solid 
rock. It requires no cutting or atten¬ 
tion. G. 
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