. How to make the garden pay [microform]. Gardening. CHAPTER XXL NOVELTIES, AND WHY WE TEST THEM. " At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old.** iAN'S mind was not intended to rest content with any thing short of perfection—hence his ardent and never-ceasing desire to better all his surroundings and conditions. Not idle curiosity merely, but the almost divine longing to do away with imperfections wherever we find them, is what makes us take such an interest in promising novelties, and look so kindly upon every effort toward the improvement of fruits and vegetables, and w
. How to make the garden pay [microform]. Gardening. CHAPTER XXL NOVELTIES, AND WHY WE TEST THEM. " At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old.** iAN'S mind was not intended to rest content with any thing short of perfection—hence his ardent and never-ceasing desire to better all his surroundings and conditions. Not idle curiosity merely, but the almost divine longing to do away with imperfections wherever we find them, is what makes us take such an interest in promising novelties, and look so kindly upon every effort toward the improvement of fruits and vegetables, and what renders the " testing of new things " so attractive and charming. It is true that the great majority of novelties introduced with high claims of superior merits develop such shortcomings, after thorough test, that they are quickly thrown aside again, and soon forgotten. But the acquisition of a single worthy new thing often pays a royal compensation for all the disappointments caused by a large number of novelties that prove without value. I will cite as one instance, that of the " Prizetaker " onion, introduced by Mr. Wm. Henry Maule, of Philadelphia, in 1888. The little package of seed I got then enabled me to raise about one-half bushel or more of the most beautiful bulbs that it had ever been my pleasure to see growing, and the satisfaction I got out of their possession, and out of the opportunities to show the growing crop to visitors, would have made up very largely for many failures. 1 think I would not have missed the chance of growing the Prizetaker in 1888, and of planting more largely in 1889, for a number of times the cost of all the novelties I planted that season. It was a similar thing with the Emerald Gem Melon, Dwarf Champion Tomato, etc. Some of these novelties mark more or less decided steps in advance. Let us look back upon the tomato varieties of 30 or even 25 years ago—small, poor, seedy, irregular, late. Then came novelty upon
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgardening, bookyear18
