The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-01-07
EnrIineSs and Quality

a 30 IOSttneT.. Sllll lot OIL 1OlES
seem toSthink It does When the
average person undertakes to make
a garden or plant anything, they gem
orally insist on earliness as a prime
necessity in making selection of
varieties. If it is a peach or apple
tree. they ask for the earliest and
expect or demand the best quality
20 be combined with extreme earl-
ness. 1t is the same in buying vege-
table and flower seed. Everything
must be the best and at the same
time the earliest.
In rare exceptions the best quail
ity may be- combined with earliness,
but as general rule the most de-
sirable varieties. that is the best
quality, in either fruit. flowers or
vegetables, is to be found outside of
the earliest maturing sorts. The me-
dunn early or so-calleda late sorts
is where you find the best quality,
and for this very reason much dis
appointment is met with by the anna
teur who is prone to place extreme
earliness above all other considera-
tons Seedsmen and nurserymen in
their catalogs take advantage of this
weakness innate in the general pub
lie, and thus foster lot of really
undesirable varieties of fruits. vege-
tables and flowers upon the planter.
Keep this in mind when you go to
make selections for spring planting.
Bunk and BOmbast
At this season of the year the
mails are all cluttered up with the
usual crop OF seed. nursery and plant
cataIogs. You can see illustrations
of two-mule teams hauling one ear
of corn and it's all they can do to
pull it. In another place you will
see farmers using ladders to gather
some particular brand of seed corn.
now offered for the first time. or.
perhaps, advertising a variety that
averages seven big ears to one stalk.
In another catalog there is asn
strawberry illustrated in colors, nat
uraI size. as big as full -grown
basketball. Another shows water
melon with the marked weight of
$50 pounds. While yet another shows
bushel basket overlooking with
a dozen tomatoes. 1t is a remark
able fact that the houses who cir
culate millions of such extravaganza
catalogs are the ones who do the
largest mail order business. There
are some notable exceptions but in
the main, the truthful or conserya-
tive catalog. will get you nowhere in
the mail order game. 1t would seem
to be a fact that the public does en-
joy being fooled. Much of the ex-
travagance is, of course, discounted
but the purchaser believes there is
enough merit left to justify his be-
ing taken in.
Questions and Answers
Q. In setting out cabbage now,
would you think it necessary to give
any protection? J. E. r. T. D. 1.
A. If you set out the outdoor
grown or so-called FROST proof plants
there is no necessity for protection.
They want to be grown as cold as
they will stand. Such plants will
stand as much as Is to 20 above zero
without serious injury.
Q. Is now the time to SOW seed of
the Brussels sprouts and how do
you manage them? S. o.. r. f. d. l.
A. YOU mays sow Brussels sprouts
nos in the some way as you would
cabbage to produce plants for reset
ting as soon as large enough. They
are set out and cultivated the same
as cabbage.
@. / planted sweet peas two weeks
ago, fortified them with bone meal
and covered about 6 inches deep.
They are not up yet Do you think
they will come up and would you
advise me to knock off some of the
covering? j. A. b., Atlanta, Ga.
A. Don't be alarmed but let
them alone. Sweet peas will come
through inches OF soil very soon
unless specially hard conditions OBJ
tain. 1t is really in their favor to
have them come through rather
slowly Many planted very early are
already toe high for their own good.
Drain your trenches so the water
won't stand over the ground for any
considerable time
Q. Is the ornamental vine called
bitter sweet an evergreen? Miss r.
A. Eunonymus vegetus. or ever
green bittersweet is one of the finest
evergreen climbers 1t does not
change it's beautiful green color at
any season of the year and during
fall and winter Is literally loaded
with bright red berries. This plant
is particularly desirable for covering
stumps. dead trees or any unsightly
object.
@. / see a fruit advertised called
a cherry plum. Do you know if it
does well in this section and how
long does 1t come into bearing? A.
N. Syiacauga. Ala.
A. There is fruit called the
Compass cherry plum that is a cross
between the sand cherry and miner
plum. Fruit about an inch in diameA
: ter and when ripe is dark rich
red. 1t is very desirable in this sec
tion for jeliies and preserving. II
is very quick to bear and often two
years old begins to produce.
O. What variety of tomato sells