316 
The Garden Magazine, July, 1923 
“follow-up” crop, each individual gardener must decide for 
himself. 
Big Returns in Beans, Corn, and Salad 
W HAT vegetables promise the greatest returns from July 
sowings? First, and preeminently so, Bush Beans are the 
most important food factor in the midsummer garden. Of 
about io perfectly stringless varieties available. Bountiful (flat) 
and Stringless Green Pod (round) among the green Beans 
bear remarkable crops within 6o days; the wax or yellow-podded 
companions to these are Sure Crop Wax (flat) and Brittle Wax 
(round). Where a long season is assured and a growing period 
of 85 days is certain, let the gardener sow some Keeney’s String¬ 
less Refugee which bears amazing crops of medium-sized pods 
and bears them all at once. For this reason this particular var¬ 
iety is highly valued for canning purposes. 
Up to the middle of July we can safely plant (on Long Island) 
Golden Bantam Sweet Corn. After that, it is safer to select 
Early Malakoff, Peep O’ Day, or any other of the so-called 
60-day varieties. With any Corn planting done during July, 
the “ making” of the crop depends largely on the prompt sprout¬ 
ing of the seeds. Therefore when soil and season are dry I have 
found it not only pays to irrigate immediately after sowing, 
but also to soak the seeds 24 hours before planting. 
The Salad problem beginning with July, is a peculiar one and 
not yet solved in entirely satisfactory fashion. It is too early to 
sow early Head Lettuces, and almost too late to sow the strong- 
ribbed Crispheads. One little fellow, with homely brownish- 
green outside foliage, however, holds a heart of gold— 
Mignonette. The 6-inch heads are as solid as they can be, and I 
have known them to stand late August heat for a week without 
“shooting” seed stalks—but shade should be provided during 
the afternoon! Livingston’s Crisp-as-Ice and Paris White Cos 
are two other good kinds with which to experiment. Late in the 
month sow All Heart, Wayahead, and Black Seeded Big Boston, 
for the fall crops. Incidentally, have you ever tried Lettuce 
mixed with Endive, as a boiled dish, like Spinach? 
Useful members of the “Leafy” Group 
G ET plants from a seed store or florist of these Cabbages: 
Copenhagen Market, Surehead, or any strain of Late 
Flat Dutch and Danish Ballhead. The two last are excellent 
winter keepers. Copenhagen Market holds the record of pro¬ 
viding io-pound heads within 100 days from date of sowing. 
It is perfectly practical to sow seeds of Copenhagen Market 
during the first week in July and get a crop, because the grown 
plant is quite hardy; but of course, it’s easier to set out plants 
at this tinjjf. 
The so-called Chinese Cabbage (in reality a Mustard) is best 
sown after August 1st. It cannot endure July heat and it has 
failed to form heads, even late in the fall, when the young plants 
were subjected to a prolonged period of heat during July.- In¬ 
cidentally, Pe-Tsai and Wong Bok are two distinct varieties 
—not two names for the same thing as some catalogues lead the 
reader to believe! 
Brussels Sprouts is another vegetable for late planting (end of 
July). It is even more partial to cool and moist weather than 
most of its cousins in the Cabbage family and in a majority of 
cases, failure to properly set the rosettes may be attributed to 
too early planting! Long island Improved is, perhaps, superior 
to most imported strains for the greater part of the country. 
Three more members of the “leafy” group of vegetables for 
July planting are Celery, Endive, and Kale. Plants of Celery 
must be secured—there is not time to sow seed now! Bear in 
mind that the earliest kinds to be ready are rather poor keepers. 
You may have either White Plume or Golden Plume or Golden 
Self Blanching by October 15th, from plants set out by July 20th 
—but they wont keep much longer than Thanksgiving, regardless 
of how well they are cultivated and stored. On the other hand, 
Winter Queen, Evan’s Triumph, Giant Pascal, and Fordhook 
require more hilling and longer blanching, but will last until 
Christmas and beyond, with proper protection or storage. 
Of all the Kales, Siberian is the hardiest, remaining in fit con¬ 
dition all winter, right out in the garden, anywhere in the New 
York latitude. 
Green Curled Endive is easily blanched and is less apt to rot 
at the edges than most other sorts. Sowing may be clear up to 
middle of August with the assurance of delightful greens or 
salads till the end of October, and of course, Spinach may again 
be had during the fall. King of Denmark is a new variety that 
stands a lot more uncongenial weather than most sorts. 
The Root Crops for Midwinter 
I N THE depth of winter reliance must perforce be put largely 
on Beets, Carrots, Kohlrabi, and Turnips. All of these do 
better during the fall than during any other season and, being 
easily grown, harvested, and stored are real winter “staples.” 
There is just one detail in their cultivation deserving of par¬ 
ticular attention and that is “thinning out” the seedlings. 
When still young thin out to stand 3 to 4 inches apart in the row. 
The time devoted to this will be more than repaid bv the product 
finally gathered. 
For use early in the season sow Carrot Chantenay or Model; 
but Danvers Half Long is a larger growing, better keeping sort 
for winter use. Be careful when harvesting Carrots and do not 
store any bruised, worm-eaten, split or otherwise injured speci¬ 
mens. Decay thus started often causes a loss of 50 percent, of 
the crop in winter storage. 
While the long, late maturing type of Beet has always been 
considered best for winter storage, 1 have found Eclipse and 
Detroit Red to be just as useful, with the advantage of holding 
less fibre. Black Red Ball is a well flavored, deeply colored sort 
particularly suitable for winter use because of its firmness. 
White Vienna Kohlrabi continues to serve as a food more 
palatable than the stronger flavored Turnips. Of late the 
growers have striven to curb the tendency in this vegetable to 
produce big tops at the expense of the eatable part. As a 
result, quite a number of short-leaved strains are now available, 
which have the additional advantage of reaching table size a 
week to 10 days earlier than the old type. 
The particularly rich color of the mashed product has made 
Gold Ball one of the favorite Turnips for winter use. Yet it is 
rather partial to rich, heavy loams. Gardeners who have just 
fair average soil to work with will do better to pin their faith to 
Purple-top White Globe and Purple-top Strap Leaf. It is 
amazing what crops of American Purple-top Rutabagas (also 
called Swedish Turnips) may be gathered from even a poor piece 
of ground, and this particular type of late Turnip is now recog¬ 
nized as the best of all for winter storage. It may be stored 
like Potatoes and keeps as well. Being a ranker grower than 
Turnips, however, the plants should be thinned out to stand 6 
to 8 inches apart in the row, instead of 4 inches as for the smaller 
Turnips. 
-o- 
TzAKE ff{OTE, CfARDEN NEIGHBOURS, IN VILLAQE, TOWN zAND f/ 7 T 
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has been accomplished in some one place as a result of the stimulus of National Garden Week. This may be an account of a community 
activity, some individual effort, a public planting, a personal garden, etc. Manuscripts to be submitted anytime up to October first, igiy 
