1886 . 
grows Lotliuoo for m-.d. Tlio markot gar 
tendoi, sucoulont leaves. ITc wauls ii i ’ 
“oabbago.-> These two ohSs ^ 111:: 
rloally opposed to each other. 
The way a seed grower raises l.ettuce is 
to get some “stock seed” and sow it in rows 
two (cot apart early in tlie sjn'hig. 'I'liiu out" 
tlie plants and p«l| out any “rogues” lie 
may see and let tlie crop go to seed, 
K the strain of Lottiico is up to tlie aver¬ 
age ho will got a (air crop of seed. Tf it is 
1’°°'’ ybild o( 
seed. If tlie strain apiiroxiniates anytliiiig 
Ike that Lettuce onglit to be, he will stand a 
good chanoe of getting no seed at all! 
Suppose a seed grower sliould try to raise 
Cabbage seed in the same way! Tlie way 
good Cabbage seed is grown is to select Cab¬ 
bage plants grown this year; winter tlieni 
over and set tlieni out for seed next spring. 
But suppose wo should sow sonic Early 
■Jersey AVakeficld Cabbage .seed early in the 
spring, as we do the Lettuce, and let it run 
up to seed. Only a few plants it may be 
would produce seed, but by saving tills seed 
and sowing it again tlie next spring we 
should very soon get a strain of Jersey 
Wakefield that would be a wonderfully prof¬ 
itable Cabbage/or the seed (jro wer! 
The gardener does not want Cabbage that 
will go to seed the first year, and lie has ob- 
tainedliis wish. He can get Lettuce that will 
not go to seed the first year, if he will take 
the necessarjf pains. 
I am trying to winter over some Deacon 
Lettuce sown last spring in liopes of getting 
seed fi'om them next year. In other words 
I propose to treat them as we do Cabbage, 
and see if we cannot make a biennial of it. 
But this is a plan I h.ave not yet tried. An¬ 
other plan that gives good results is to sow 
the seed in a hot-bed and set out the plants 
early in the spring and then leave the best 
heads to bear seed. Or the seed may be 
sown in autumn, the plants wintered in cold- 
frames and the best heads set out for seed. 
We shall never have good Lettuce till we 
stop talking about varieties. The variety 
has little or notliiug to do with it. It is a 
question of skill and perseverance in select- 
lug good heads to raise seed fiom. 
' The fact mentioned by your correspondent 
“Elm” of the N. Y. Experiment Station th.at 
he had tested.160 varieties of Lettuce wliich 
are sold under 700 difiej-ent names, does not 
show necessarily, a disposition on Oie part 
'of seedsmen to introduce an old variety un¬ 
der a new name. A little c.are m selection 
may hive a head of Lettuce so mauydesii- 
abll cmalities that it seems like a new and 
g^itlTi.^in-oved v.ariety. And in tins way, 
Lugh^noldsort itgetsa ~ 
• Tf seedsmen would say, -laei 
S™ seed 
ed gardeners would b 
try it than they ^"’^^^.‘tj^j^igtrueof Onions, 
•was offered them. An „ eg parsnips. 
Cabbages, CauMowers^ C. 
Turnips, plants, not for 
The.gardener eased roots, 
seed, but for grown for 
-bulbs, buds, leaves, etc. Ci^P = ^ 
the seed, such as Peas, * 
are improved little by habbis. 
look-to new varieties. J 
^ ^B RICAN garden. 
395 
the HAM’S HOHN SUGAH PEA. 
Eatable-podded, or Sugar, or Butter Peas 
lave so far not been extensively cultivated 
the United States, while in France and 
Lermany they are as highly prized as shell 
I eas. They may be grown and used exact¬ 
ly like otliei- Peas, but they have that addi¬ 
tional advantage that their green pods are 
so tender and sweet, that they may be cooked 
and oaten the same as String Beans. There 
arc several varieties of this class of Peas of- 
feied by secdinen, but none has proved as 
desirable with us as the Ram’s Horn, or 
Southern Alammoth Sal.ad Pea. This vari¬ 
ety of Edible-pod Pea has been grown in the 
neigliborhood of the writer from a time 
“the memory of man runneth not to the con¬ 
trary,” and can be ti-uly said to be accli¬ 
mated to the Southei-n States, as its intro¬ 
duction iiere must have been with the very 
oldest colonial settlers. It has been super- 
Pea and pod are fully developed; they are 
then as brittle as German Snap-Beans, and 
are prepared in a similar manner for the ta¬ 
ble. The peculiarity of this Pea is its hull. 
Wlien ripe for harvest the pod contracts to 
the Pea, assumes a transpareney and is al¬ 
most as thin as tissue paper. As grown 
here, this Pea measures one inch broad and 
five inches long, usually carrying six Peas. 
The objection to all other varieties of run¬ 
ning Peas is the expense of brushing or stick¬ 
ing, but wherever Cotton is grown this trou¬ 
ble and expense may be obviated by using 
the old Cotton stalks after the crop is gath¬ 
ered ; planting the Peas on either side, they 
will climb and cling to the stalks for sup¬ 
port. w. B. Jones. 
Georgia. 
the RAM'S HORN SUOAR PEA. 
seded in cat.alogues by the introduction of 
other varieties and is rarely found save m 
private families where it has been kept, like 
an heir-loom, from generation to generation. 
As far back as 1739 Mens, de laQumtiuge, 
a noted French scientist, in liis “Instructions 
Suit .and Vegeti^le « 
to this Edible-pod Pea spe.aks of it as the 
‘‘White, without Parchment, La'W'Ided 
or Ram’s Horn Pea.” The origin of the 
Pea is unknown, but .all 
^mention it as being the o ^t " 
hpet “The pods are l.arge, bioad, meaty 
Ld’crooked,” which gives ^ 
o?“Bam’s Horn;” vigorous, very ti 11 and 
clim.ated yields a ^ ^yeeks 
and ^"^“"^^g^gj’ofnorthernp^ 
longer than seea^^ „„„,„vino- is when the 
Ifiie proper ttoe for gathering 
MINT. 
The principal value of Alint consists in the 
oil which is distilled from its leaves. Large 
quantities are raised in Wayne County, H. 
Y., in Michigan, and in Alississippi, the an¬ 
nual product of Peppei-mint-oU amounting 
to about forty-five tons. Yet as a garden 
herb for flavoring sauces, and other culinary 
purposes it occupies a not unimportant place. 
In its wild state it is found along water 
coui'ses, old stone walls and other damp 
places, yet it will grow and thrive in any 
good, deep garden soU. If the roots are 
transplanted in spring—although they may 
be taken up at almost any time, if kept 
moist—they will furnish cuttings all the sea¬ 
son. Plantations should be renewed every 
third year. Cuttings grown in the green¬ 
house at a temperature of 75° to 80° wiU, 
in fi'om six to eight weeks, furnish abun¬ 
dant growth for cutting, and if near a 
large city market there is always a ready, 
though limited, demand for Mint. For home 
use, a few roots in a rockeiy- near the house, 
or in a mixed border, will suppl}' aU the 
needs of a good-sized family. 
W. H. Bull. 
FEESH SPEOHTS. 
Seeds shoiddbe kept diy and cool. 
Leek maybe stored in trenches, by placing 
the plants upright, the roots close together, 
simikar to the mode of trenching Celery. 
Spinach for nduter use should be lightly 
covered with straw or leaves to protect its 
leaves from injury by frost. 
Ho soil in the world is naturally rich 
enough to grow garden crops to an advan- 
tao-e and profit; so says Joseph Harris. 
Modern gardening, s.ays P. T. Quinn, is 
simply .another term for improved methods of 
farming, and success either in the kitchen 
or market-garden, depends upon cfirrying 
out these questions. 
Cucumber from old seed fruit better, and 
Melon plants are shorter-jointed and flower 
.at the third or fourth joint, when from fresh 
seed they would not give a flower until the 
tenth joint. This improvement of such 
seeds by age, C. M. Hovey says, can be ex¬ 
plained on scientific principles: when fresh 
tliey are fleshy and contain pabulum which 
(rives vigor to the young plant, but with 
ao-e they get rid of -the surplus food. 
