Part 10

LARGE RED WETHERSFIELD.--A strong grower and produces immense crops of large, fine bulbs. It is rather flat in form, deep purplish red on the outside and a much lighter shade inside. It has a strong flavor, and is very solid, making an excellent keeping and shipping sort.

COPYRIGHTED 1887.

W. ATLEE. BURPEE & CO. PHILA

LARGE RED WETHERSFIELD ONION.]

WHITE GLOBE.--One of the handsomest onions grown, beautiful in shape and color, having a clear, white skin; the flesh is fine grained, of mild flavor, and the bulbs are of good keeping quality.

WHITE SILVERSKIN, OR WHITE PORTUGAL.--This is an old and favorite variety, being very desirable for planting in the family garden; the flavor is the mildest of the American varieties; the small onions are very fine for pickling. I think this variety should be marketed as early as possible, as with me it is not a good keeper.

SILVERSKIN, OR WHITE PORTUGAL ONION.]

ITALIAN VARIETIES OF ONIONS.

GIANT RED ROCCA.--These onions are of large size, handsome appearance and mild, delicate flavor. In this variety we have an onion which attains a weight of from one to two pounds under ordinarily good culture, and of most handsome shape and appearance, the outer skin being always bright red, while the flesh is white, mild and pleasant.

EARLIEST WHITE QUEEN.--This variety does not grow to the large size of the other Italian kinds, more resembling our American Silverskin in size and appearance, but has the great advantage over the latter variety (which takes two seasons to attain the same size), of remarkably quick growth, while the flavor is equally, if not more, delicate. The bulbs are flat, pure white and about two inches in diameter. It is the finest variety for pickling grown. Sown in February, they will produce onions early in the summer, while if sown in July, they will be ready to harvest in the fall, and will then keep in splendid condition throughout the winter.

GIANT RED ROCCA ONION.]

GIANT YELLOW ROCCA.--This variety is similar to the Giant Red Rocca described above, except in color, which is a clear golden yellow. It is this variety which is the real “Spanish Onion,” so generally sold at the fruit stands in the cities.

BURPEE’S MAMMOTH SILVER KING.--This I believe to be the handsomest variety of onion grown, as I think the white-skinned varieties the most attractive. The bulbs are slightly flattened, but are very thick through, averaging five to six inches in diameter, and have been grown to the enormous weight of over four pounds to the single bulb, while two-pound bulbs are frequently produced under fair culture. The skin is a beautiful silvery white; the flesh is even whiter, while the flavor is very mild and pleasant, the Italians eating them as we do apples.

PARSLEY.

This should be grown by every gardener on account of its usefulness, both for seasoning and garnishing. As it seeds in the second season, fresh plantings should be made every spring. The seed, being very slow to germinate, should be soaked in tepid water for twenty-four hours before planting. The best way is to sow in the hotbed or cold frame and transplant to the garden, but it can be sown in drills where wanted and thinned out to the proper distance apart. I always try to have a bed of it near the kitchen door, as it saves much running; if such a bed cannot be conveniently placed, some should be cut and brought in with the other vegetables, as it will keep fresh some days if kept in cold water. In the fall some of the best roots should be taken up and planted in the cold frame, or put in pots and boxes in the sunny windows of the house, for a winter supply. The leaves and tops from trimming the celery are also very fine for flavoring.

The EXTRA CURLED DWARF is so much finer and handsomer than the other kinds that it should be the only one grown.

PARSNIPS.

This is a winter vegetable, needing hard freezing to refine and bring out its best quality; the roots should be left to stand where grown until they can be dug in the spring or through the winter as wanted, though some may be dug and stored in heaps for use when the ground is frozen too solidly to admit of digging them. If there is more than are wanted for table use, there should be no delay in getting them dug and marketed as early in the spring as possible, for when they begin to sprout and grow, they very soon become woody and unfit to eat. A row should be sown in the garden at the same time as the onions, beets, etc., are planted. It is best to sow the seed quite thickly; by thickly I mean one seed every inch or so; when the young plants are about three inches high they should be thinned out to six inches apart in the row, care being taken to leave only one plant in a place, as, if two are left, they will spoil the symmetrical shape of the roots by growing against each other. In planting the seed I always try to run it in between two rows of beets, onions, lettuce, or other early crop, thus working it with the wheel hoe while small, and when the other crops have been taken off there is room to work it with the cultivator, which is run as close to the rows and as deeply as possible, so that the roots may attain the largest size. In digging the roots when the ground is frozen hard and is impenetrable to the spade, I use a long iron post digger with a steel blade.

VARIETIES OF PARSNIPS.

For the last three seasons I have grown the IMPROVED GUERNSEY, and have found it so much superior in size and quality to the Long Smooth, as to be above comparison. The roots are smooth, fine shaped, and free from small roots, while the quality is very superior.

PEAS.

The first planting should be made in the spring, as soon as the ground can be prepared. It is my practice to sow three varieties at the first planting, and two varieties at each subsequent one, kinds being sown which will mature in succession, one being ready to pick about the time the preceding one is past. The same result may be obtained by making plantings of the same sort a week apart. I think my way the easier, and besides, relish the variety. A drill of fifty feet would probably be sufficient for an ordinary family to have in bearing, but as my own family is large and very fond of this vegetable, and insist upon having them upon the table every day in the season when it is possible to grow them, I find a full row across the garden none too many to have in bearing at one time.

For several years past I have given up raising the tall growing peas requiring brush or sticks for their support, as it is not easy to procure sufficient brush for a garden of this size, unless you have a convenient woods upon which to draw, and even then it takes a great deal of labor to get the brush and stick the peas; while it takes more than twice as long to clear the ground for the succeeding crop, and the rows must be planted at a greater distance apart, to admit of cultivation.

The quality of the dwarf kinds is fully as good as of the tall growing ones, and in many kinds the crop borne is fully as prolific; the only strong point that I know of in favor of the brushed peas, is that the pickers do not growl half so much at picking them as they do over the lower growing ones, and that some of the varieties can be had later in the summer, as their height serves to shade the ground between the rows and thus keeps it cool. As for the growls of the picker, the short vines admit of no loafing place, and no true gardener or lover of his craft ever seems to be aware that he has such a thing as a spine (except on his cucumbers) till he tries to straighten up at the end of the day’s work.

For sowing the seed, plow a drill as deeply as possible with the hand plow; sow the seed thickly, say a quart to 200 feet of drill, and cover by plowing the dirt back again; when the hand-plow is not among the assortment of tools, scrape a drill three inches deep and as broad as the blade of the hoe, scatter the seed the whole breadth of the drill, using about one-third more seed than above directed, and then press them into the bottom of the drill with the sole of the boot, covering the fine dirt in afterward with a steel rake; this takes longer to do, but is a much better way to plant them when the time can be spared; the row being broader it gives the plants more room, and the seed being planted more deeply will better withstand the hot weather. For the very earliest planting the seed should only be covered about an inch deep, and more soil can be drawn around them when well started. The successive plantings of peas should be kept up until the middle of June; those planted later than this will mildew, and not fill out the pods, unless in a cool and shady situation. The plantings should be resumed about the first week in August, and three successive plantings, about ten days apart, should be made. The vines and pods of these peas will most likely mildew, but the peas that you will get in the cool days of the fall will be the finest in quality, of the whole season. In selecting the sorts to plant, the wrinkled varieties will be found of better quality than the smooth kinds, the latter requiring to be picked while quite young, as they become hard, while the wrinkled ones remain longer in good condition.

VARIETIES OF PEAS.

BURPEE’S EXTRA EARLY.--This is a remarkably early selection of the well-known Philadelphia Early. It is the first variety to ripen, ripens nearly all its pods at one time, and is very sweet and tender when cooked; the vines grow about two feet in height, but can easily be supported by driving stakes every few feet and confining the vines with twine running from one stake to another.

AMERICAN WONDER.--This little fellow is really a wonder, as it grows only eight to ten inches in height and is literally covered with pods. It is remarkably early, ripening in from thirty-five to forty days, and in succulent sweetness cannot be surpassed.