The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1868-06-04
Garden Vegetables--Their Varieties and
Ou1tnre

Hinsdale, Esq, before the Kenosha Hortlcul-
tural Society, on Monday evening, June LIST, |
and its publication in the TELEGRAPH request |
ed by vote of the Society. Want of room pre-
cludes the publication of the essay entire in |
our paper; we have therefore taken the liber- |
ty of emitting some portions, trusting that it |
will be satisfactory to the essayist and the |
Society ED. TEL
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 1T is with some
embarrassment that l proceed to discharge
the duty assigned me, of addressing you this ,
evening. The pressing calls upon my time
and attention, leave me little leisure for
study and less for that concentration OF
thought which is requisite TO do justice to d
subject OF so much Importance. / could wish
too, for yonr sakes, that the treatment of ii
had been cOnfided to some one of larger cx-
perience, and more practical knowledge. Born
in the city of New York, and for nearly forty
years dweller in the midst of its brick walls
and stony payements, my only experience in
raising vegetables, was in raising toem from
the huckster's stall into my market basket
my principal knowledge of their value was
confined to the amonnt of current coin requi-
site to obtain the quantity necessary for the
| daily supply of the table. As most Of you are
doubtless aware, the size of house lots in the
| great commercial metropolis is lily adapted
! TO the cultivation of the soil on any very eX-
| tended scale-the average being some thing
| less than twenty feet square, Unoccupied by
buildings of some kind. The house in which
| | lived for the last few years before coming
west, was situated on one of the main t 1or-
oughfares and rejoiced in having attached to
| il spacious garden spot about 20 by 25 feet.
| This large enclosure contained magnificent
grass plat of by II fest, cistern some 10
| feet in diameter, and the balance Of the sur
| face was covered with broad flag stones four
inches in thickness. Having early imbbed
taste for the cultivation OF flowers, l deter
mined to make the most OF this extensive gar
den. Necessity says the proverb, lis the
mother of invention" Passing by Il shoe store
| saw on the sidewalk number OF long mar
row boxes, which had once contained shoes,
and which were marked ''for sale cheap"
Here then, was my opportunity. Purchasing
a small dray load, L sent them home, placed
them in rows upon the flag-stones-sent eight
miles for soil to fill them, planted my shrubs
al d flowers, and behold my garden. 1t may
surprise you when | Inform you that in that
same garden l raised % varieties of roses and
30 varieties Of the dahlia, besides other plants
too numerous to mention.
But you VIII say, what has that to do with
your subject. | only mention it to show that
| | had no room to raise vegetables and, conse-
quently, that up to the time of leaving the
city, remained in blessed ignorance of their
culture. On arriving in Wisconsin and set
Ting in Southport, my ardent dreams of a
garden were at last to be realized. A piece
Of ground was suitably prepared, and having
been told that a new soil was good for beets,
| planted largely Of the white sugar beet-the
sugar being an attractive part of the name.
| Carefully were they tended, and when the
time to harvest them arrived, behold wagon
load OF coarse, fbrons over grown roofs, fit
only for cattle, and averaging over ten pounds
each i'll weight SO mnch for notkn owing
what to plant.
Our worthy Secretary has on a former occa
sion led you through the pleasant paths of
Horticulture, and in an essay of so much abil-
lily as to have been extensively copied in the
newspapers OF all parts of our State, has
pointed out their uses, and the pure pleasures
TO be derived from their cultivation. AT a
later period, our Vice President has told you
of our insect enemies, whose name is legion,
and whose ravageS call for ceaselesS war
fare-while to me belongs the duty of calling
your attention to The humber, but yet more
! use u products of the garden, too often over
looked in an exhibition, in the midst of their
more gaudiiy dressed neighbors, which, like
the epauletted and be-feathered officers, in n
military procession, attract all the gaze of
the multitude, unmndful of the rank and file
in dusty blouse and battered shoOn, without
whose StalWart arms and heroic hearts no act
of daring would ever have been accomplished.
That the cultivation of vegetables was the
earliest employment of the human race, is
very clear from the teachings of Revelation.
When the Creator placed man in the Garden
of Eden, He surrounded him with every
growth of the soil that was good for food, or
transgreSsion the ground was cursed for his
sake he was driven forth to earn his bread by
the labor of his hands, in filling the soil for
his daily food What particular varieties of
vegetables were raised by Father Adam his
tory does not inform us-but reasoning from
analogy, we may fairly infer that all the
kinds adapted to that soil and climate were
known to him. Solomon tells us that there
is nothing new under the sun, "and il the dis
coveries of modern explorers have unearthed
arts and manufactures among the tombs Of
buried ages, which before had been deemed
OF modern origin, is 1t not fair to suppose that
articles of food forming at this day so large a
part of the sustenqnce of man all over the
world, were also known to primeval times.
And as those arts and sciences were long bur
led in the ruins of the dark ages, so the pro
auctions of the earth, in the lapse of centu-
ries, in the midst of barbarism, and amongst
nations devoted to savage warfare, became
ACKNOWLEDGMENT to their original types
from which modern skill and culture have
again redeemed them. 1t is an established
fact that out of 1aOh5ng nothing can come
and without an original, in wild or native
state, no cultivated fruit or vegetable can be
produced-a while the Garden of Eden may
have contained all the varieties of vegetables
known to the present age and Others too, now
unknown, the curse which was passed upon
the earth may have dwarfed and stunted and
degenerat ed them, so that long ages of toll
and care were needed to restore them to their
prsline vigor and nourishing qualities. Take
any one of our highly esteemed vegetable
trace it back to its origin, and what do YOU
find? An almost worthless product, needing
years of careful culture to ma Ike it fiji for use
The potato which, next to the cereals, forms
the most important article of food for the mil
ITO is OF our race, was originally a bitter, ac-
rid root, at which well-bred pig would turn
up his nose the asparagus, wild worthless
weed, on the sea-shore celery, a pungent &C
rid, worthless product of the same maritime
region, and yet, who knows but that Mother
| Eve fed her spouse on the choicest peach
blows, or meshanocks, and garnished his table
with Seymoar'S Superb, Or Coles Crystal
White! But few vegetables are mentioned in
the Sacred Scriptures. Abraham and the pa
rial chs were fond of entils in their pottare:
Moses and the children of Israel loved the
leeks and onions of Egypt, while Solomon
speaks OF Il garden of cucumbers'
Modern horticulture has enlarged the list of
garden vegetables to an almost inconvenient
extent, and yet every year adds more TO the
already swollen number, and it is By no
means ali easy task to name these which are
| best adapted to our particular soil and eli
mate. Much must be left to every mans in
dividual eXpeTience-re peatcd tgiaie will set
tie every disputed point-and II failure some
times occurs with high-sounding n0utfS. they
should only stimulate to increased eifurts
But to become acquainted with the varieties.
Que must study the Horticultural Magazines
and the advertising catalogues of the day.
| | have often thought that our agricultursts
as class are sadly deficient in this respect,
and that they deprive themselves and their
families of health and comfort. as we'll as en-
ljoyment, by giving so little attention to the
products OF the garden. If every farmer
would devote portion of his land and his la
Dor TO his garden, many farmers wife and
boys would rejoice in the change from The ev-
erlasting pork and potatoes, to the enjoyment
of more extended culinary list.
| But must have done. As you have doubt
less discovered, l have not given you much
practical detail, either in the way Of varieties
or culture, but as l have before remarked, the
| field is too vast to be encompassed in a single
evening. Let discussion. free and colloquial,
bring out such facts as are desired.
| One remark | will venture to make, and
that is that thorough culture, whatever be its
Inature, is the great essential point. Whatev-
er You do, do it well. Deep digging, plenti-
ful manurng, frequent stirring OF the soil, un.