HOUSE & GARDEN 
4 Z 
pods and vines off the ground, makes pick¬ 
ing easier, and the vines will be found to 
be generally thriftier and more prolific, 
especially on brush, than if permitted to 
spread over the ground. In the home gar¬ 
den, particularly where economy of space 
and tidiness are the object, brushing of 
peas is the thing to do. 
The Best Early Radishes 
Radishes are without question the most 
widely grown extra early spring crop and 
among them we find extra early sorts of 
different shapes as well as colors. The lit¬ 
tle early round or “button” radishes are 
without question the earliest of all, and the 
seed breeders, in their striving after extra 
early sorts, have truly scored wonderful 
results. Among the little white turnip¬ 
shaped sorts, Hailstone carries the palm for 
perfecting table size 
(24" in diameter) 
roots in from eigh¬ 
teen to twenty days 
from date of sowing 
seeds. Rapid Red, 
a perfectly round, 
red sort, will do the 
same thing and both 
it and Hailstone are 
so thorough¬ 
bred that you can 
almost with certain¬ 
ty count on “pull¬ 
ing” radishes on 
May 5th, if you 
sowed seeds on 
April 15th. In 
watching these two 
sorts for roots of 
eatable size, don’t be 
governed by the 
small tops in judg¬ 
ing the readiness of 
the roots. I have 
frequently pulled 
The olive- 
shaped French 
Breakfast rad¬ 
ish matures 
among the first 
of the early sorts 
roots Yz' to 24" in 
diameter that would 
show only four 
small leaves besides 
the pair of seedling leaves. This char¬ 
acteristic makes these two sorts par¬ 
ticularly valuable for use in green¬ 
houses, hotbeds and coldframes. 
Looking around for further early 
sorts among the small radishes we find 
Rosy Gem and French Breakfast easi¬ 
ly the most beautiful of all radishes. 
Rosy Gem is the most perfect type of 
Scarlet Turnip White Tip, while 
French Breakfast is its olive-shaped com¬ 
panion. These are the two sorts that make 
such a show on the market table, and for 
which as high as five cents for a bunch of 
six are charged at fancy fruit stands and 
grocery stores. Both these sorts generally 
require from a week to ten days longer than 
Hailstone and Rapid Red and they should 
be planted at the same time as these for a 
succession of crops. By the time all of these 
four sorts are either used or past their 
prime, White Icicle will be ready, and in 
this white sort we have the acme of per¬ 
fection in long radishes for early use in the 
home garden. One never grows tired of 
Icicle. It is always handsome, always crisp 
and of mild, delicate flavor until long over¬ 
grown. 
In striving after extra early radishes with 
all of the above varieties, I have found that 
it pays to pick out the largest, plumpest 
seeds and drop them one inch apart in the 
row. The sorting of the seeds is easily ac¬ 
complished by sifting them through a tin 
pan in which small holes have been punched 
with an awl. Make the holes just large 
enough to permit the smallest seeds to go 
through. This will leave the plumpest seeds 
of even size in the pan. Or, if you con¬ 
sider this too much trouble, sow your seeds 
All - seasons or 
Triumph spin¬ 
ach is among 
the best of the 
early sorts 
Sixty days after planting a good strain of Prolific 
Extra Early peas seventy-five per cent of the 
crop will be ready, the balance maturing a few 
days later 
thinly into the row and, in a week or ten 
days, when the seedlings are 2" or 3" tall, 
thin them out to stand 1" apart in the row. 
Stir the soil between the roots as you go 
along. It will stimulate their growth more 
than any fertilizer. 
Butter-Head and Loose-Leaf Lettuce 
Among lettuces we find two distinct 
types, both of which offer extra early sorts. 
There are the loose-leaf sorts, which are 
generally grown in greenhouses throughout 
the country, and the head lettuces which, in 
turn, are divided into butter-head and crisp- 
head sorts. Since crisp-head lettuces are 
principally late and summer sorts, we need 
consider only butter-head and loose-leaf in 
connection with the earliest crops. 
Early Curled Simpson is the first loose- 
leaf sort ready for the table. If you are 
satisfied to pick it and prepare it when only 
6" tall, you may enjoy lettuce from this sort 
in twenty to thirty days from date of sow¬ 
ing the seed, depending on the growing con¬ 
ditions of soil and weather. But the real 
lettuce connoisseur will never be satisfied 
with those “greens” which hardly carry 
lettuce flavor and require an endless amount 
of picking and cleaning in preparation for 
the table. Better let your plants develop 
until they reach characteristic shape and 
size, and then you will have something 
worth while. 
In our garden we thin out the lettuce 
seedlings as soon as they get 2" or 3" tall, 
to stand 3" to 4" apart in the row. As soon 
as the little plants begin to crowd each 
other, every other one is removed, until 
finally they stand 
10" or more apart in 
the row. Grown by 
this method, Early 
Curled Simpson will 
produce handsome 
plants, 9" to 12" in 
diameter, the first 
week in June from 
seeds sown the mid¬ 
dle of April. Black 
Seeded Simpson fol¬ 
lows about a week 
later, but will stand 
more heat and con¬ 
sequently last long¬ 
er before going to 
seed. 
But to find the 
real lettuce flavor 
that you read about, 
to get that rich “but¬ 
tery” quality entire¬ 
ly free of bitterness, 
you have to culti¬ 
vate the acquain¬ 
tance of butter-head 
lettuces. True, it 
takes a little more 
trouble to grow them 
to perfection. But when you get them, 
every head has wrapped within its 
folds a quality that will make you for¬ 
get that little trouble it took to produce 
it. We are fortunate in finding among 
butter-head lettuces hardy sorts which, 
in earliness, rival Early Curled Simp¬ 
son. There is May King, Naumburgef 
or Tenderheart, and Wayahead, all 
three of which differ in texture of foli¬ 
age and firmness of head, but very little in 
flavor. Wayahead will produce solid, hand¬ 
some heads the middle of May from plants 
that were started in the house in March and 
set out the middle of April. But to accom¬ 
plish this, you must have a soil full of 
humus, a reasonable amount of warm grow¬ 
ing weather, and the young plants must 
have been hardened prior to setting them 
into the garden so that the growth will not 
be checked seriously in transplanting. 
A few days after Wayahead, May King 
will become ready. Its heads are perhaps 
slightly smaller and not quite as firm. But 
May King is invaluable for first sowing 
outdoors, since it will stand more unfavor¬ 
able April and May weather than any other 
butter-head sort without detriment to or 
loss of plants. Naumburger will be ready 
in another ten days or so, and it is well 
worth waiting for. 
Seven to ten 
pods of excel¬ 
lent peas ma¬ 
ture on every 
18" vine of 
Little Marvel 
