Fresh vegetables. Nothing quite equals the taste sen- 
sation, the appealing goodness, of corn on the cob popped 
into a steaming pan the minute after it is picked from your 
own garden—or carrots the size of your finger, discarded by 
the commercial grower at thinning time, but saved from your 
carrot patch, cooked to perfection and drowned in butter— 
or your own green peas, picked at the fleeting moment of 
perfection and prepared according to your favorite recipe—- 
or any of the hundreds of other vegetables described in this 
catalog, freshly picked, cooked and served. Your own gar- 
den planning, your own labor, your own bountiful crops— 
all combine to give you and your family a real treat at every 
meal time, summer and winter. 
Fresh flowers. A vegetable garden is an ideal spot in 
which to grow flowers for bouquet and corsage purposes, 
thus leaving intact the border or flower bed that was planned 
—and planted—for its entire overall contribution to the beau- 
ty of your home. Flowers suitable for a variety of purposes 
are listed in this catalog (see index), and complete cultural 
directions are given so that your home will be the beauty 
spot of the neighborhood. 
Fresh approach to today’s high prices. Canning 
and freezing the vegetables from your own garden will give 
you a delicious, healthful way to keep the food section 
of your budget in line. A few dollars for the proper tools, 
a few cents for fertilizer (an investment well repaid in the 
form of higher yields, more nutritious crops), and a few cents 
for seed (remember: the best seed costs no more than in- 
ferior quality seed, and Keystone seed is the best) is all the 
capital you'll need to get started on the most rewarding en- 
terprise of your life—health, recreation, and contentment for 
the whole family—and the more it becomes a family under- 
taking, the greater will be the return on the investment. 
Home preservation of vegetables. 
To make the fullest, most economical utilization of the gar- 
den, surplus vegetables may be canned or frozen by the 
gardener. Better still, the garden should be planned to yield 
a certain surplus just for this purpose. The pleasure of eating 
the products of your own labor can thus be enhanced, and 
extended throughout the winter months. 
Canning has long been the standard method of home preser- 
vation of foods. Even today, canning is still the best method 
for certain fruits and vegetables. Directions for successful 
home canning are beyond the scope of this gardening guide, 
but are given in detail in cook books, pamphlets put out by 
glass jar companies, etc. 
Home freezing has more recently come into the spotlight, and 
offers many well-known advantages. 
The accepted method of preparing vegetables for freezing, 
following washing and cutting into proper sizes, is blanching. 
This is an easy but important step, as it stops enzyme action 
within the plant tissue; otherwise such action often continues 
even under cold conditions to alter the flavor, color or con- 
sistency of frozen fruits or vegetables. 
Following is a brief guide to the vegetable varieties best 
adapted for home freezing, and a note on the blanching time 
for each one. 
ES 
Incidentally, U. S. D. A. statistics indicate that people 
who have their own gardens at home are, relatively 
speaking, larger purchasers of fresh produce at the 
market than non-gardeners—seems they are more ap- 
preciative of the extra value, both in money and flavor, 
of fresh vegetables. 
THE WHOLE YEAR ROUND 
FREEZING SUGGESTIONS* 
Vegetable and varieties 
Asparagus: Mary Washington 
Beans: Commodore Improved, Full 
Measure, Giant Stringless, Semi- 
nole, Tendergreen, Topcrop, 
Wade, Puregold Wax, Blue Lake, 
Kentucky Wonder pole 
Beans, Lima: Allgreen, Fordhook 
242, Henderson’s Bush 
Beans, Edible Soy: Bansei 
Beets, Detroit Dark Red 
Broccoli: All green sprouting va- 
rieties 
Cauliflower: Snowball, others 
Sweet corn, on cob: Corneli’s Gold 
Blanching Period 
Small stalks 2 mins 
Large stalks 4 mins 
Small Serre 5 -ceto a ea 2 mins. 
Large ...c8 3 mins 
Smaller cee ceraacissces 2 mins 
Larges. scare. eco cine 3 mins 
2 to 3 mins. 
Cook until soft, remove skins. 
3 to 4 mins. 
3 to 4 mins. 
3 to 5 mins. 
Rush, Prosperity, Golden Cross, 
KVF 50-15 
Sweet corn, cut: Same varieties as 3 mins. 
on cob 
Okra: Emerald, Clemson Spineless 4 mins. 
Peas: Alderman, Freezonian, Glac- 2 mins. 
ier, Laxton’s Progress, Thomas 
Laxton 
Peas, Southern or Table: Dixielee, 2 mins, 
Purple Hull 49, Texas Cream 
Rhubarb: Victoria 1 min. 
Spinach: New Zealand and _ all 2 mins. 
Savoy types 
Swiss Chard: All varieties 2 mins, 
*For a very complete source of information on food freezing, 
write the Kansas State Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhat- 
tan, Kansas, for a copy of Circular 249, March, 1949, entitled 
“Preserving Foods by Freezing.” 
It goes without saying that vegetables to be used for home pre- 
servation should be ripe and in sound condition; this is especially 
true for freezing—blemished, immature or over mature products 
will lose appearance and flavor much more quickly in storage 
than sound, ripe fruits or vegetables. 
