770 
May  20,  1023 
fht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
New  England  Notes 
Strawberries  That  Have  Made 
Good. — It  is  seldom  that  a  strawberry 
has  leaped  into  popular  favor  so  quickly 
as  Howard  17.  This  strawberry,  which 
was  originated  in  Massachusetts,  has 
proved  remarkably  adaptable  to  con¬ 
ditions  in  most  parts  of  New  England. 
Commercial  growers  are  taking  it  up  in  a 
large  way,  and  are  finding  it  very  satis¬ 
factory.  It  is  a  good  berry  to  ship,  is 
prolific,  and  has  a  color  that  catches  the 
eyes  of  buyers.  Of  course,  I  am  not  im- 
plving  that  it  has  monopolized  the  market 
by  any  means.  The  Marshall  still  com¬ 
mands  the  premium,  especially  as  grown 
in  Marshfield,  Cohasset  and  Hingham. 
The  Abington  holds  its  high  position  in 
many  sections,  while  other  old-time  va¬ 
rieties  continue  to  be  grown  widely. 
St.  Martin,  another  new  variety,  seems 
to  be  proving  more  satisfactory  as  a  fam¬ 
ily  berry  than  as  a  commercial  sort.  It 
is"  a  fine,  handsome  fruit,  and  grows  to 
huge  size. 
Buying  Seeds  Ahead. — Market  gar¬ 
deners  cannot  afford  to  take  any  chances 
in  the  matter  of  seeds.  Their  income 
depends  upon  their  having  a  bountiful 
supply.  For  that  reason  many  of  the 
most  careful  growers  try  to  eliminate  all 
uncertainty  by  purchasing  their  seeds  a 
year ’ ahead.  This  is  something  which 
does  not  occur,  perhaps,  to  the  average 
farmer,  but  it  is  not  at  all  unusual  for 
market  gardeners  in  the  vicinity  of  Bos¬ 
ton  to  spend  two  or  three  hundred  dollars 
for  seed  in  the  Spring,  say  of  this  year, 
which  will  be  planted  next  Spring.  This 
gives  them  a  supply  of  seeds  to  meet  any 
emergency  which  may  arise.  And  even  on 
the  best -managed  market  garden  farms 
there  are  always  some  crops  which  fail  to 
make  good  at’  the  first  planting.  Even 
though  the  bulk  of  the  seeds  may  be  kept 
over,  the  tests  which  are  made  during  the 
Summer  will  show  just  what  may  be  ex¬ 
pected,  and  if  results  are  not  satisfactory 
a  new  lot  of  seeds  can  be  obtained.  Most 
up-to-date  market  gardeners  have  a  well- 
built  seed  closet  in  which  the  seed  can 
be  kept  in  perfect  condition.  At  the  Mar¬ 
ket  Garden  Field  Station  in  Lexington 
parsnip  seed  stored  for  a  year  has  been 
found  to  germinate  65  per  cent,  and 
parsnip  seeds  are  among  the  weakest  of 
anv  vegetable  seeds. 
English  Vegetable  Marrow.— I  often 
wonder  why  the  English  vegetable  mar¬ 
row  is  not  known  more  widely  in  this 
country.  It  would  seem  as  though  the 
thousands  of  English  people  who  were  fa¬ 
miliar  with  this  vegetable  in  their  own 
country  would  grow  it  or  demand  it  here. 
Most  of  the  seedsmen  carry  a  few  varie¬ 
ties,  and  some  of  those  having  English 
connections  a  fairly  long  list.  To  my 
taste  these  vegetable  marrows  are  superior 
to  the  common  Summer  squash.  They 
are  less  watery  and  have  a  splendid  flavor. 
There  are  both  running  and  bush  kinds. 
The  latter  are  probably  the  best  for  the 
home  garden.  Most  of  the  marrows  are 
rather  larger  than  the  Summer  squash, 
and  are  shaped  more  like  an  enormous 
cucumber.  They  keep  reasonably  well, 
and  can  be  made  into  pies  which  rival 
those  made  from  the  festive  pumpkin,  and 
the  rind  makes  very  good  sweet  pickle. 
Kentucky  Wonder  Beans.— I  have 
been  studying  the  different  varieties  of 
garden  beans  in  the  catalogues,  and  have 
Kentucky  1  Yonder  Bean 
been  thinking  back  over  sonic  of  the  kinds 
I  have  grown.  The  list  is  a  long  one, 
but  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any 
varieties  that  will  really  equal,  to  say 
nothing  of  surpassing,  Kentucky  Wonder 
for  a  green  bean  and  Kentucky  Wonder 
Wax  for  a  wax  bean.  No  other  variety 
that  I  have  grown  will  yield  so  heavily, 
or  give  a  bean  with  a  better  flavor  and 
freer  from  strings.  Moreover,  the  Ken¬ 
tucky  beans  are  admirably  adapted;  for 
canning.  Sometimes  we  are  told  that  pole 
beans  should  have  no  place  in  the  very 
small  garden,  but  I  think  this  is  a  mis¬ 
take.  A  hill  of  pole  beans  will  give  a 
larger  crop  than  several  yards  of  bush 
beans,  and  bear  over  a  much  longer  sea¬ 
son.  It  is  much  the  same  as  with  peas. 
The  tall  varieties  which  require  support 
actually  yield  much  more  heavily  than 
the  dwarf  varieties  in  a  given  amount  of 
ground.  I  understand,  by  the  way,-  that 
some  people  are  trying  the  plan  of  plant¬ 
ing  dwarf  and  tall-growing  beans  in  the 
same  rows,  thus  getting  an  extended  sea¬ 
son.  I  have  not  tried  the  plan,  and  am 
rather  curious  to  know  how  it  works  out. 
Planting  Dahlias.  —  From  what  1 
can  learn  more  Dahlias  are  going  to  be 
planted  in  this  country  than  ever  before. 
The  Dahlia  has  certainly  come  to  be  the 
flower  of  the  masses,  rivaled  in  that  re¬ 
spect’  only  by  the  Gladiolus.  With  Glad¬ 
ioli,  however,  there  seems  to  have  been 
almost  a  glut  in  the  past  year  or  two. 
But  this  is  not  true  as  regards  the  Dahlia. 
One  reason  for  the  Dahlia’s  popularity  lies 
in  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  grown, 
and  the  fact  that  it  will  thrive  in  poor 
soil.  It  is  well  to  remember,  though, 
that  very  early  planting  is  not  desirable. 
The  Dahlia  is  at  its  best  in  the  Fall,  and 
nothing  is  gained  by  trying  to  make  it 
bloom  in  midsummer.  There  is  still  a 
tendency  on  the  part  of  amateurs  to  - 
plant  whole  clumps  of  tubers,  noj  realiz¬ 
ing  that  better  results  are  obtained  if 
these  clumps  are  cut  up.  It  is  not  at 
all  difficult  to  make  the  division  if  the 
fact  is  remembered  that  a  small  portion 
of  the  neck  containing  an  eye  must  be 
attached  to  each  tuber  if  it  is  to  grow. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  locate  these  eyes  in 
the  Spring,  especially  as  warm  weather 
usually  starts  growth.  The  division  is 
readily  made  with  a  sharp  knife. 
Growing  Green  Dahlias. — This  year 
there  has  been  a  marked  tendency  to  grow 
Dahlias  from  cuttings.  Dozens  of  small 
greenhouses  have  been  put  up,  in  which 
green  plants  have  been  started.  These 
plants  are  being  sold  widely  in  the  place 
of  tubers,  although  it  has  been  difficult 
to  find  any  satisfactory  means  of  shipping 
them.  It  has  been  the  custom  in  England 
for  years  to  grow  Dahlias  largely  from 
cuttings,  and  that  plan  seems  likely  to 
become  widesphead  in  this  country.  Of 
course,  this  plan  makes  it  possible  for 
the  grower  to  increase  his  stock  rapidly. 
E.  I.  FARRINGTON. 
Favorite  Perennials  from  Seed 
Among  my  earliest  memories  is  the 
recollections,  as  soon  as  snow  was  gone, 
of  looking  to  see  if  “Adam  and  Eve  in  a 
Carriage”  had  come  up  More  often  now 
it  is  called  monkshood,  and  catalogued  as 
aconite.  These  first  plants  to  show  life 
in  the  Spring  were  always  favorites.  The 
Fall  planted  bulbs  for  Spring  flowering 
were  not  common  then,  only  an  occa¬ 
sional  flower  lover  near  us  might  have  a 
small  bunch  of  daffodils.  So  the  Spring 
Jack  and  I  adopted  an  abandoned  farm. 
I  studied  seed  catalogues,  planning  each 
year  to  try  one  or  two  perennials  from 
seed.  I  began  alphabetically  for  want  of 
better  knowledge,  so  my  first  choice  in 
“A”  was  Aquilegia  or  columbine.  I  al¬ 
ready  had  blue  and  light  pink,  so  knew 
the  plants.  (I  am  willing  to  confess  my 
ignorance  in  starting  my  perennial  col¬ 
lection.  It  may  help  some  one  else.) 
The  columbine  starts  readily  from  seed 
and  .Tune  is  usually  considered  the  best 
mouth  in  the  North  to  start  hardy  seed¬ 
lings.  The  ground  is  thoroughly  warm, 
and  the  nights  not  cold  and  the  surplus 
moisture  dried  from  the  soil.  The  ideal 
.place  for  starting  these  seeds  is  one 
shaded  from  the  heat  of  the  mid-day  sun, 
at  the  east  of  a  building  or  north  side 
of  a  board  fence,  in  any  out-of-the-way 
place,  as  these  perennials  seldom  bloom 
the  first  year.  If  obliged  to  plant  in  a 
sunny  place,  cover  with  a  wet  gunny 
sack  at  9  or  10  a.  m.  and  remove  about 
5  p.  m.  Do  not  allow  the  seed  bed  to 
get  dry,  and  to  avoid  washing  out  the 
seeds  I  often  cover  with  a  sack  and 
then  water  from  a  common  sprinkler. 
But  to  return  to  the  columbine ;  these 
are  among  our  hardiest  and  most  at¬ 
tractive  plants,  really  enjoying  a  partial 
shade,  but  try  to  do  their  best  wherever 
they  are.  I  know  of  no  one  class  of  hardy 
plants  that  has  as  many  varieties  as 
these.  In  variety  of  form  I  have  had  the 
long-spurred  like  the  yellow,  A.  chrysan- 
tha  and  its  hybrids,  the  common  spurs 
and  the  spurless  or  Stella  (star)  varieties 
and  single,  semi-double  and  double.  The 
fullest  bloom  one  year  had  seven  rows  of 
trumpets.  As  to  colors,  from  pure  white 
through  all  shades  of  blue,  pink,  scarlet, 
crimson  and  maroon,  or  through  light 
blue  to  dark  blue,  purple  and  almost 
black,  and  the  dainty  Rocky  Mountain 
columbine  bright  dark  blue  with  white 
center. 
The  Chrysantha  is  called  ever-blooming, 
and  is  in  flower  for  a  long  period,  espe¬ 
cially  if  kept  from  forming  seeds,  but  one 
of  my  most  interesting  experiments  was 
allowing  the  Chrysantha  to  ripen  seeds 
and  raising  these  hybrid  seedlings.  They 
were  nearly  all  partly  yellow  of  various 
shades,  with  different  centers.  Pink  and 
cream  was  the  most  common  combination 
and  most  of  these  hybrids  were  ‘‘ever- 
blooming.”  It  is  better  when  the  com¬ 
mon  varieties  are  through  blooming  to 
remove  the  bloom  stalks,  both  to  avoid 
sapping  the  vitality  of  the  plants  and  to 
keep  the  volunteer  seedlings  from  filling 
the  border  t  besides  the  foliage  of  the 
columbine  is  attractive  but  not  when  rag¬ 
ged  with  bloom  stalks. 
The  Beilis,  English  daisy,  double  va¬ 
riety,  was  another  fortunate  choice.  These 
want  a  partially  shaded  spot  all  their 
lives,  and  after  getting  a  bed  or  border 
started,  let  some  of  the  blooms  remain 
for  seed  and  these  volunteers  will  per¬ 
petuate  your  daisy  bed  if  the  old  plants 
die  out.  Each  Spring  I  take  up  these 
daisies,  sometimes  putting  in  new  soil, 
and  fertilizer  is  added  each  year.  These 
plants,  May  10,  are  full  of  buds. 
Who  does  not  love  the  dainty  forget-me- 
not?  But  I  failed  repeatedly  to  get  the 
seeds  to  grow  until  they  were  planted  at 
the  east  end  of  the  house,  partially  shaded 
by  a  plum  tree,  in  June.  The  soil  is  al¬ 
ways  cool  and  moist  all  Summer,  and 
here  they  grow.  Some  seed  is  allowed  to 
ripen  and  the  general  treatment  is  the 
same  as  for  the  Beilis. 
If  one  loves  daisy-like  blooms,  the  hardy 
Coreopsis  and  perennial  Gaillardia  will 
supply  yellow  in  abundance,  the  Gail¬ 
lardia  being  marked  with  maroon  and 
flowers  over  a  long  season. 
I  remarked  before  upon  the  popularity 
of  the  hollyhock  in  our  country  last  sea¬ 
son.  Now  a  plant  to  gain  such  popularity 
must  be  attractive,  free  growing,  and 
relatively  cheap.  The  hollyhocks  answer 
these  requirements  ;  they  are  easily  raised 
from  seed,  and  there  is  a  wide  range  of 
color,  but  yellow  and  “black”  are  not  as 
common,  but  why,  oh.  why  did  not  some 
one  tell  me  in  early  experiments  that  only 
the  single  hollyhocks  were  true  peren¬ 
nials? 
The  last  favorite  I  will  praise  tonight 
is  the  Sweet  William.  Did  your  grand¬ 
mother  call  them  bunch  pinks?  Mine 
did.  Like  all  the  pink  family,  they  grow 
readily  from  seed,  and  I  love  them  best  in 
a  bed  or  long,  long  border.  The  strain  I 
like  best  is  Holborn  Glory  and  it  surely 
is  glorious.  The  marking  of  scarce  two 
plants  will  be  alike.  Then  for  good  meas¬ 
ure  raise  Newport  Pink  and  Scarlet 
Beauty  and  double  mixed,  and  you  have 
a  complete  flower  garden.  It  is  best  to 
remove  these  bloom  stalks  after  flowering 
unless  one  wishes  to  leave  a  few  to  perfect 
seeds. 
After  success  with  these  try  others ;  the 
game  is  fascinating.  This  year  my  “try” 
is  Stokesia.  Trifoma.  more  Sweet  Wil¬ 
liams  and  still  more  hollyhocks. 
MOTHER  BEE. 
’  More  About  Grandmas  Bees 
Some  time  ago  you  printed  a  picture  of 
Grandma’s  bees,  not  a  very  imposing  ar¬ 
ray  to  one  who  keeps  bees  on  a  large 
scale,  since  she  keeps  but  three  hives, 
but  rather  on  a  scale  any  farm  mother 
might  try.  They  have  been  so  interesting 
this  year  I  want  to  tell  the  readers  about 
them. 
They  are  kept  in  what  is  known  as  the 
Jumbo  hive,  which  is  larger  than  the  or¬ 
dinary  hive.  We  consider  it  more  de¬ 
sirable  for  our  purpose,  because  it  gives 
so  much  room  they  are  not  inclined  to 
swarm,  and  the  additional  room  makes 
for  more  young  bees  and  a  larger  force  to 
go  to  work  when  honey  time  comes.  For 
three  years  now  we  have  not  had  a  single 
swarm  to  come  off.  Catching  a  swarm  is 
not  always  a  woman’s  work,  especially  if 
the  bees  “take  to  tall  timber,”  as  they 
seem  to  like  to  do.  We  prefer  to  have 
ours  stay  at  home,  and  if  we  wanted  to 
increase  our  number  of  hives  we  would 
rather  resort  to  some  other  method. 
East  Spring  each  of  the  three  hives 
seemed  to  be  very  strong,  and  very  early 
the  workers  began  to  come  in  with  loads 
of  pollen  from  the  blood-root  and  other 
early  flowers,  proving  to  us  that  the 
queen  had  got  to  work  early,  laying  eggs 
and  producing  young.  By  the  time  the 
locust  was  in  bloom  the  young  bees  were 
ready  for  work,  and  rushed  madly  in  and 
out  nil  day  long.  By  the  middle  of  May 
the  super,  or  upper  box,  which  we  had 
put  on  early,  was  filling  rapidly  with  very 
clear  honey,  although  not  much  of  it  was 
sealed.  The  white  clover  came  into  bloom 
following  the  locust  and  linden  trees,  and 
we  were  able  to  take  about  30  lbs.  of  early 
honey  without  going  into  the  lower  or 
brood  hive.  There  the  queen  holds  forth 
supreme  and  orders  the  space  for  eggs  or 
honey,  according  to  the  season.  June  5 
the  weather  turned  dry  and  continued  so 
throughout  July  and  August,  cutting 
short  the  white  clover  and  the  Summer 
flowers.  But  evidently  the  bees  had 
stored  away  some  honey,  for  they  con¬ 
tinued  to  bring  in  pollen  from  melon,  cu¬ 
cumber  and  squash  blossoms  and  corn 
tassels.  There  must  have  been  honey  for 
the  young  ones  or  they  would  not  have 
added  to  it  pollen.  But  when  we  went 
into  the  upper  hive  in  early  September, 
instead  of  frames  full  of  unsealed  honey 
which  we  left  in  June,  we  found  abso¬ 
lutely  nothing  but  empty  comb.  They 
had  had  to  use  all  they  had  put  there 
earlier  in  order  to  feed  the  young  through 
(he  dry  Summer  months.  It  did  not  look 
like  a  good  Fall  for  honey.  The  brood 
box  was  fairly  heavy,  but  not  full.  We 
decided  we  would  just  have  to  be  saving 
of  the  little  we  had  taken  in  the  Spring 
and  make  it  do  for  the  Winter,  perhaps 
even  feeding  some  of  it  to  the  bees  before 
Spring  if  they  ran  short. 
About  the  middle  of  September  we  had 
several  brief  seasons  of  rain,  and  every¬ 
thing  in  garden  and  field  took  on  a  new 
energy.  The  bees  began  to  work  busily, 
both  with  pollen  from  Fall  flowers,  and 
with  honey.  We  were  glad,  for  we  thought 
they  might  at  least  fill  their  lower  box 
full,  and  so  have  an  abundance  for  Win¬ 
ter.  About  the  middle  of  October  we 
went  into  the  hives  in  order  to  make 
ready  for  Winter.  Grandma  and  I  lift 
the  heavy  ones  by  slipping  two  encircling 
ropes  around  and  under  a  hive,  and 
through  that  a  pole,  thus  swinging  the 
hives  in  a  swing.  Wo  planned  to  do  this 
in  order  to  paint  the  platform  under  them. 
But  first  the  super  must  come  off.  Grand¬ 
ma  undertook  that,  but  had  to  call  for 
help.  If  was  heavier  than  she  had  an¬ 
ticipated.  It  was  heavy  for  two  of  us. 
Tt  was  full.  From  the  three  hives  we 
took  28  frames  full  of  sealed  honey, 
frames  which  had  been  as  empty  as  could 
be  the  first  of  September,  Then  we  un- 
Dividing  Dahlia  Tubers 
dertook  to  lift  the  lower  hives,  wonder¬ 
ing  if  they  had  also  filled  them.  Even 
with  the  swing  arrangement  we  found  it 
more  than  we  could  do  to  lift  one  box 
from  the  platform,  and  so  had  to  be  con¬ 
tented  with  just  shifting  it  from  side  to 
side.  We  think  the  lower  box  alone  must 
have  weighed  well  over  100  lbs.  We  had 
the  honey  extracted  from  the  frames  so 
we  could  use  them  again  next  year,  and 
the  clear  honey  alone  from  the  three  hives 
weighed  85  lbs.  All  this  was  made  be¬ 
tween  the  first  of  September  and  the  mid¬ 
dle  of  October,  besides  what  they  put  in 
the  brood  box.  MRS.  E.  E.  L. 
A  psychiatric  board  was  testing  the 
mentality  of  a  negro  soldier.  “Do  you 
ever  hear  voices  without  being  able  to 
tell  who  is  speaking  or  where  the  sound 
comes  from?”  “Yes,  suh,”  answered  the 
negro.  “And  when  does  this  occur?” 
“When  I’se  talkin’  over  de  telephone.” — 
The  Christian  Evangelist. 
Am  English  Vegetable  Marrow 
