BOSTON: CROSBY AND NICHOLS, 117, WASHINGTON STREET. 1863. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, BY FEARING BURR, JR., In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. BOSTON: PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 5, WATER STREET...

Though embracing all the directions necessary for the successful management of a Vegetable Garden, the present volume is offered to the public as a manual or guide to assist in the selection of varieties, rather than as a treatise on cultivation. Through the standard works of American authors, as well as by means of the numerous agricultural and horticultural periodicals of our time, all information of importance relative to the various methods of propagation and culture, now in general practice

In the preparation of this work, I have received the cheerful co-operation of many esteemed personal friends, to whom I would here express my grateful acknowledgments. For many valuable suggestions with regard to the culture and general management of the Potato, as well as for much important information respecting nearly all of our American varieties of this vegetable, I am indebted to J. F. C. Hyde , Esq., of Newton, Mass.; whose long experience in the production of seedlings, as well as in the

Big. —Plants of Boston and Vicinity. By Jacob Bigelow, M.D. Boston, 1840. Bon. Jard. —Le Bon Jardinier pour l'Année 1859. Par A. Boiteau et M. Vilmorin . Corb. —The American Gardener. By William Corbett . Concord, Boston, and New York, 1842. Cot. Gard. —The Cottage Gardener. By George W. Johnson and Robert Hogg . Weekly. London. Count. Gent. —The Country Gentleman. By Luther Tucker and Son . Weekly. Albany, N.Y. De Cand. —The Candolle's Systema Naturale. By Prof. De Candolle . 2 vols. 8vo. Paris

The Common Beet, sometimes termed the Red Beet, is a half-hardy biennial plant; and is cultivated for its large, succulent, sweet, and tender roots. These attain their full size during the first year, but will not survive the winter in the open ground. The seed is produced the second year; after the ripening of which, the plant perishes. When fully developed, the beet-plant rises about four feet in height, with an angular, channelled stem; long, slender branches; and large, oblong, smooth, thick

The Cive is a hardy, bulbous-rooted, perennial plant, indigenous to France and Great Britain. The leaves, which are produced in tufts, are seven or eight inches in length, erect and cylindrical, or awl-shaped. The bulbs are white, oval, and of small size; usually measuring about half an inch in diameter. The flower-stalk rises to the height of the leaves, and produces, at its extremity, a globular group of purplish, barren flowers. Propagation and Culture. —As the plant seldom, if ever, produces

The Artichoke is a hardy perennial. The stem is from four to five feet in height, with numerous branches; the leaves are of remarkable size, frequently measuring three feet, and sometimes nearly four feet in length, pinnatifid, or deeply cut on the borders, and more or less invested with an ash-colored down; the mid-ribs are large, fleshy, and deeply grooved, or furrowed; the flowers are large, terminal, and consist of numerous blue florets, enclosed by fleshy-pointed scales; the seeds (eight hu

The Cucumber is a tender, annual plant; and is a native of the East Indies, or of tropical origin. It has an angular, creeping stem; large, somewhat heart-shaped, leaves; and axillary staminate or pistillate flowers. The fruit is cylindrical, generally elongated, often somewhat angular, smooth, or with scattering black or white spines; the flesh is white or greenish-white, and is divided at the centre of the fruit into three parts, in each of which the seeds are produced in great abundance. Thes

The term "Borecole," or "Kale," is applied to a class of plants, of the Cabbage family, which form neither heads as the common cabbage, nor eatable flowers like the broccoli and cauliflower. Some of the varieties attain a height of six or seven feet; but while a few are compact and symmetrical in their manner of growth, and of good quality for table use, many are "ill-colored, coarse, rambling-growing, and comparatively unpalatable and indigestible." Most of the kinds are either annuals or bienn

A hardy, annual plant, introduced from China; stem three feet in height, much branched, and generally stained with red; leaves variegated with green and red, long, and sharply pointed; the leaf-stems and nerves are red; the flowers, which are produced in axillary spikes, are greenish, and without beauty; the seeds are small, black, smooth, and shining,—twenty-three thousand are contained in an ounce, and they retain their power of germination four or five years. Soil and Cultivation. —Any good g

A hardy, biennial plant, with foliage somewhat resembling that of Celery. Stem three to four feet high, much branched; radical leaves pale-green, compound,—those of the stem similar in form, but of smaller size. The branches of the plant terminate in large umbels, or spherical bunches of yellowish flowers; which are succeeded by roundish fruits, each of which contains two crescent-shaped seeds. Sowing and Culture. —It thrives best in light, deep loam; and is raised from seed sown annually. Make

Angelica is a native of Hungary and Germany, and is also indigenous to Great Britain. It is a hardy, biennial plant, with a cylindrical, hollow, herbaceous stem four or five feet high. The radical leaves are from two to three feet long, compound, or divided in threes, purplish-red at the base; flowers small, pale-yellow, in large, terminal, spherical umbels; the seeds are of a yellowish color, oblong, flattened on one side, convex on the opposite, ribbed, thin, and membraneous on the borders, an

The Common Garden-bean of the United States is identical with the French or Kidney Bean of England and France, and is quite distinct from the English or Garden Bean of French and English catalogues. The American Garden-bean is a tender, annual plant from the East Indies, with a dwarfish or climbing stem and trifoliate leaves. The flowers are variable in color, and produced in loose clusters; the seeds are produced in long, flattened, or cylindrical, bivalved pods, and vary, in a remarkable degre

This plant is said to have been introduced into this country from Africa by the negroes. It is cultivated in the south of Europe, and in Egypt is grown to a considerable extent for forage and culinary purposes. It is a hardy annual, with an erect, four-sided stem from two to four feet high, and opposite, lobed, or entire leaves; the flowers terminate the stalk in loose spikes, and are of a dingy-white color; the seeds are oval, flattened, and produced in an oblong, pointed capsule. Propagation a

Although many experiments have been made in the culture of different species of edible Fungi, "only one has yet been generally introduced into the garden, though there can be no doubt the whole would finally submit to and probably be improved by cultivation. Many of them are natives of this country, abounding in our woods and pastures; and may be gathered wild, and freely enjoyed by those who have not the means of raising them artificially. In Poland and Russia, there are about thirty sorts of e

A hardy annual plant from Central or Tropical America. Stem angular, very much branched, but not erect,—in good soils, attaining a length or height of more than three feet; leaves large, triangular; flowers solitary, yellow, spotted or marked with purple, and about half an inch in diameter; fruit rounded or obtuse-heart-shaped, half an inch in diameter, yellow, and semi-transparent at maturity, enclosed in a peculiar thin, membranous, inflated, angular calyx, or covering, which is of a pale-gree