The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-07

trouble on my grounds. If I anticipated any danger from that source would plant palmetto and no other. as if ls TO ported more nearly exempt from the at. taeks of this disease than any other variety
 May King, catalogued for the first time in 1905 by some of our seedsmen seans to be really good solid heading and long-standing lettuce. and in this season or frequent rains deliciously tender. I have made another sowing of 1t for late use irving 1t against the very best of our older sorts.
 Literature On Cucumbers-A reader asks what books or business can rec ommend on the subject of cucumber growing. know of no book or speeial treatise on cucumbers All the modern books on general gardening, however, give more or less detailed Information on cucumber culture, and believe the Cornell University Experiment Station. at Ithaca, N, r., some years ago issued a bulletin treating on the forceing of melons and cucumbers under glass There may also have been issued a bull letin on the pickle industry in this state ten or more years ago by the state sta tion at Geneva.
 Canning Fruits Raw-A lady reader asks about canning strawberries raw. have to record one success and one fall- ure. The strawberries were simply washed, then mixed with sugar. pound for pound. mashed and put in cans and the latter sealed air tight. Currants were treated in similar way. The first year we tride this the strawberries and cur rants were simply delicious when the cans were opened in winter. We had some strawberry shortcake in every way as good as that made with fresh ber- ries. When we tried this method of can ming again on a larger scale, however, we did not have the same luck The su- gared berries and currants had begun to ferment, and while not spoiled for use, were only passable. We will try this plan once more with currants this year. Gooseberries and rhubarb. on the other hand, put in cans with cold water only, and sealed air tight. kept in good cond- ton until used in winter or early spring.
 Hairy Vetch (winter vetch) as an or chard cover crop on my place is simply great immense, wonderful have hard ly adjectives strong enough to describe its magnificent growth The spears of rye with which 1t was planted held it up, with tips six to seven feet above the ground, until the weight of the mass of. verdure bent the already filled heads of rye under and out of sight, leaving a perfect sea of violet-blue bloom the whole combination being strong enough to hold an ordinary scythe (with snath) three feet or more high above the ground. No vetch had ever been grown on that particular spot that l know of nor with in hundred rods of it, neither has the soil been inoculated with the specific vetch bacteria, yet the roots are a per fect mass of nodules, and I must con- clude that in this particular case artificial inoculation would have no more visible results than the emptying of a bucket of water into Lake Erie.
 Manure for Eggplant.-A Florida reader says he has a lot of muck composed with stable manure, and wants to know what to put with it to make 0 good fertilizer for eggplants. With plenty of stable manure I usually feel pretty sure of a big crop of eggplants. which can stand quite heavy applications and thrive on them. A compost of muck and stable manure is also most excellent, and we can get along very we'll without other additions If we have plenty of the com post. If, however the proportion of muck is very large, as this contains little or no mineral plant food 1t might be well
 
 place some potash in the muriate or sul- phate form. and some superphosphate (eissolved phosphate rocl) with 1t. 1t is usually claimed that wood ashes should not be mixed with stable manure, as having a tendency to liberate and drive off the ammonia, but the muck in the combination will fix the ammonia and prevent the loss. Wood ashes can even be mixed with hen manure without loss of ammonia if the mixture is applied to the soil and worked well into it soon after being mixed.
 Troubles of Small Seedlings.-A reader says his celery plants all died down while very small. He sowed the seed In box outdoors, covered the box over with glass during the night, and left the glass on them also during cold days. They came | up all right. but broke over at the sur | face of the soil when making the fourth | leaf. This is a very common trouble of seedlings, and is liable to happen to all | such seedlings especially those of cab | bage and similar plants, also tomatoes started under glass that have to endure many and sudden changes of temperature | or are standing In soil that Is kept con- | tlnually wet and in high heat. l have less | trouble from that source in soils of only moderate richness. and especially of a | sandy character, if kept in a more nearly V | Celery plants, however. can naturally stand quite free applications of water. In | sowing the seed usually cover them with | clear river sand, or a mixture of this with | finely sifted coal ashes and fine dry muck | or leaf mold if 1 have it. Bedding my | onion seed (when sown under glass; in l clear, sharp river sand usually keeps the | seedlings free from damping-off disease | sprinkling of flowers of sulphur mixed | in with the sand, or hot sand that has | been mixed with a little sulphur, sifted | over the surface of the ground when the seedlings have come up will also serve to prevent loss by this disease.
 Sowing Prizetaker Onions.-S. H., a reader in Falconer, N. Y., asks me whether he could SOW Prizetaker onion seed in August, store the plants in a cellar that does not freeze, and reset them In spring, or whether if left out in the ground during winter they would live to make onions that year. In this matter we are still standing before unsolved problems. l did sow some Prizetaker seed last year along in August, and every plant stood the winter all right and gave me some good green, or bunch, onions in May of this year II left after proper thinning some of these plants would prob | ably have made fairly good bulbs. while another portion I imagine. would have gone to seed. A similar lot sown the year before, however had mostly winter kill ed, and the remnant made bulbs of mod crate size or produced seed. I believe that we shall find a way to grow the plants in the fall, and either leave them in the | ground ovar xyipter ar lcaGn thano for