THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
season, the acre is yielding all the peas, beets, onions and 
potatoes that are required for the family. By the time 
the strawberries fail the raspberries invite us to their por¬ 
tion of the acre and gratify our appetites for, at least, 
three weeks longer. In the meantime, string-beans, sum¬ 
mer squashes, cucumbers, early cabbage and cauliflowers 
invite our attention ; and while they are still luxuries, the 
blackberries will be ready for use. And with these will be 
a beautiful supply of green-corn, early tomatoes, and in 
rapid succession melons in variety, egg-plant, and, in fact, 
all other vegetables that will relieve the monotony of the 
too common diet of the farmer—his favorite pork and 
cabbage. All these luxuries will be rapidly followed by 
delicious grapes for dessert; and upon the approach of 
ifrost, the most delicate of all garden vegetables, the celery, 
will be ready for use ; and of this, if properly cared for, 
there will be sufficient to last until spring. 
Nor is this all. The acre will afford a surplus of all the 
small fruits, which can be dried or canned for winter use. 
A keg of cucumber pickles can be put up, and all the 
tomatoes that will be required until the next season’s crop 
is ready can be canned or preserved. The root-cellar can 
be well filled with cabbage, turnips, parsnips, carrots and 
salsify, and a dry room, away from frost, may be filled 
with squashes for winter use. 
This is not theory, but a common practice of one who 
has not got the acre, but who accomplishes all these results 
•upon less than an acre of garden. Farmers, try the ex¬ 
periment and see if this acre does not yield a larger income 
than any five acres of the farm that are devoted to regular 
farming. 
Radishes. 
I T is the opinion of a great many persons that the Rad¬ 
ish is a tough, indigestible vegetable, quite unfit for 
human food, but if they only could be induced to try a 
few when properly grown, I am quite certain they would 
•change their opinion ; for, instead of being pungent and 
tough, they are crisp and tender as well as cooling and 
refreshing, and, coming as they do so early in the season, 
form a very welcome addition to our limited supply of 
early vegetables, and render it very desirahle for amateur 
cultivators to obtain a supply as early in the season as 
possible. 
Whether grown for an early or late crop, radishes re¬ 
quire a moderately enriched sandy loam, as a heavy or 
77 
clayey soil not only retards their maturity, but renders 
the crop inferior in appearance and quality; so, if at all 
possible, all such soils should be avoided. But it is not 
my intention to write an essay on the cultivation of rad¬ 
ishes, I merely wish to tell the readers of the Cabinet 
how easily an early crop can be obtained, even by those 
who possess but a little skill or experience in the cultiva¬ 
tion of vegetables. Let a gentle hotbed be prepared as 
early as possible, in any warm sheltered situation, being 
careful to have the bed some two feet wider than the 
frame and bank the frame up on all sides, in order to pre¬ 
vent the loss of heat during cold wintry nights. 
Into this frame place about five or six inches of rich 
loamy soil and press it down thoroughly but neatly, and 
then mark it out in drills four inches apart and a quarter 
of an inch in depth. In these drills the seeds can be 
carefully sown, covered and watered. The water used 
for this purpose should be slightly warmed, and it should 
be applied through a fine rose. Now place on the sashes 
and keep close for a few days until the young plants 
make their appearance, when air should be freely given 
during the middle of the day, and just as soon as the 
young plants have obtained their first rough leaves they 
should be thinned out so that they stand an inch apart. 
On all favorable occasions the glass should be wholly 
removed during the middle of the day, and as good a 
rule as any is to remove the glass only when the sun is 
shining directly on the frame, unless the weather is ex¬ 
ceptionally mild and pleasant, but air must be freely 
given at all times. 
Water should be given thoroughly, whenever neces¬ 
sary, as on this, as well as an abundant supply of air to 
prevent the plants from becoming drawn, depends the 
entire success of the crop. Where a succession is de¬ 
sirable or necessary another frame can be prepared about 
ten days later, and this repetition can be continued un¬ 
til cold weather is over, when they can be sown in a 
cold frame similarly prepared, or in the open air after 
the ioth of April. 
During the night as well as during severe cold weather 
the sashes should be protected, by covering them with 
mats or wooden shutters, and, if necessary, with straw 
or salt hay. For forcing, the French Breakfast, Woods 
Early Frame, or Early Round Dark Red, are the vari¬ 
eties mostly used, and one cannot go astray in choosing 
any of these varieties. Chas. E. Parnell. 
DO PLANTS VARY WHEN PROPAGATED BY CUTTINGS ? 
T HE question of the variation of plants when propa¬ 
gated by cuttings is ably discussed by Peter Hender¬ 
son in a recent article to the Philadelphia Press. To the 
assertion in a previous paper “ that seed potatoes taken 
from the most productive hills gave a larger yield of tubers 
than that taken from the least productive,” Mr. Henderson 
replies: “ I am inclined to believe that further experi¬ 
ments will show that this increased productiveness will 
not continue to hold, because the reason for the greater or 
less yield was probably only an accident of circumstances, 
specially favorable conditions of the set made to form the 
hill, or by being highly fertilized, or some such cause that 
gave it this temporary advantage; and that the chances 
are all against any permanent improvement being made 
by such selections. 
The potato is said to have been introduced into Europe 
in 1584. If the original tubers had had the highest culti¬ 
vation that the skill of man could give, it is exceedingly 
