1898 - A. T. Cook Is At It Again with the "Vegetable Peach"

Ah, he is at it again - this time teasing buyers with a plant that sounds too good to be true!

And what is a Vegetable Peach, you may ask.  I did anyway.  And found at first NOTHING.

Then the Settler's Guide and Farmer's Handbook  from Western Australia's Department of Agriculture in  1897 came to the rescue!

I'm not telling what it is until further down the post.  Cook wasn't giving any clues to the true nature of the plant either.  

What do you think it is?

(By the way, the brownie fad seems to have invaded even Cook's ads!)

It is a melon!  Nowadays it is called a Vine Peach and is available from many sources. 

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds says the following:    

The fruit are the size of a peach, with a yellow rind and bland white flesh. This variety was very popular in Victorian times for making sweet pickles, pies and preserves. They were developed in China and introduced into America in the 1880's. In the Orient this type of melon is pickled.

Here is what the Western Australia's Department of Agriculture wrote:

Mango Melon, Or Egyptian Prolific Vegetable Peach.— Cultivation.—Cultivate in a similar manner as that recommended for rock melon. Grows like a rock melon, branching out in dozens of vines in every direction full of fruit and blossoms, commencing early and lasting on till frost if watered in dry weather; suitable for all climates. Fried in batter, green, a substitute for egg plant. It is also said to be superior to vegetable marrows, cooked in a similar style if used before being too ripe. When ripe and yellow makes beautiful, white, transparent preserves and sweetmeats, equalling the celebrated California fruits and Japanese pie melon; they are just like an orange when ripe. The late fruit makes excellent pickles. Young green ginger makes the best flavouring, and it does not colour the preserves.

Mango Melon, Or Vegetable Peach Jam.—To every pound of vegetable peaches allow three-quarters of a pound of the best white sugar, and one pound of good, young, green ginger to every 8 lbs. of fruit. Mode : Cut up the fruit, taking care to scoop out all the pips (using a spoon is best); weigh, and put into a china basin with the quantity of sugar sprinkled on, and allow it to stand twenty-four hours; choose young ginger, wash carefully, and scrape off all the outside skin; then boil in an enamel pan for several hours in clean water; boil till you can stick a fork in ; then take out and cut up as finely as possible; this is imperative or it will spoil your jam ; mix all together, and boil gently. It takes a long time to cook, as the melon must be quite clear, and a thin skin must come over the jam. This is ascertained by occasionally taking out a small spoonful and putting on a saucer to cool. Always cover the jars with strong paper while hot. About six ounces of preserved ginger, cut very small, improves it, but darkens it. 

1827 - Receipts and Big Feet! - A Few More Bits About G. Thorburn & Sons, Seedsmen

In poking around the Hyde Hall site I found two seed receipts of Grant Thorburn and Sons that are wonderful to read.  What insight into what an 1827 gardener would want for a well funded estate!!
(Hyde Hall looks to be a lovely place to visit if you are going near Cooperstown, NY.)


In the "you learn something new every day" category, I didn't know that "do" is the same as writing " for ditto.  When my eye first caught it under the "White Solid Celery" it read, to me, "Red Do Da", which I found fascinating for the moment it took the clues to process.  Oh well.



The following year a few more items were needed.



Now, about those feet...

"Museum Of Foreign Literature, Ac, for January -, E. Litteix, Philad.—This periodical, than which none affords more, or more varied reading, appears in an enlarged form, and henceforth will be under the direction, as to the selections, of the editor of that capital and cheap work, Waldie's Library.  

There is a good plate in this number of our old friend Grant Thorburn, which, if not very like as to the fact, is unmistakeable as to the feet.   The literary contents are of the best of all the foreign magazines."

Here is the illustration I originally posted January 2014 in the post about Grant Thorburn,

Wiser to Marry than Hire a Housekeeper,

with the comment,  "Do you find the feet oddly big?".  

I had assumed an artist had a bad day!

1911 - "Prepare To Be Delighted" - A. T. Cook's "Coffee" Berry

You have to hand it to him...A. T. Cook was a salesman to his bones.  





















He was selling soybeans to be grown as the replacement for coffee.  After roasting, grinding and brewing the resulting beverage was praised in his ad below.  



Postum was concocted around this time.  If you haven't ever drunk it I can tell you it isn't too bad...but like coffee it ain't!!!!!  

Cook was cashing in on this craze for healthful coffee substitutes.  Early Postum (I think) was also brewed from the toasted and ground wheat berries, but later versions were instant Postum.  That is the one available now.

Someone in an old article from this time talks about wheat coffee (Postum) as wheat soup. :-)  A real coffee lover I'm guessing!

I had to look up the word Iamatological!  Never saw it before...but it is an obsolete noun meaning the science of remedies.

New Domestic Coffee Berry. 

The best coffee substitute ever discovered— many  pronouncing it as good as the genuine, and is superseding in a great measure store coffee as its merits become known. It is the 
poor man's friend.    It is the hardiest, easiest raised and most productive of any plant I 
ever saw. While growing it is a perfect sight to behold; fruits from the ground up, and on 
the limbs in every direction, the pods touching each other.
In the south two crops of coffee can be raised in a season by planting the first crop early. 

Many claim that by mixing a few grains of store coffee with the Domestic, combining
 the flavors, they obtain a more delicious and aromatic beverage than the imported 
article. 

1905 -Seedsman A. T. Cook's Cheer Cards - Last Installment

This is too cute for words...and good advice to boot!  

I promise these cards of A. T. Cook's will be the last I post, then back to seeds and plants!
Here at least is a seed card.

The next one has an interesting phrase - "Hope On".

1905 - Be Nice - General Advice from Seedsman A. T. Cook

A. T. Cook and John Hulbert continued with Cheer Cards designed to share "inspiring, exalting, and helpful thoughts designed to cheer the heart, dispel gloom, and encourage all...".

Can't knock it!  I think we might need some more Cheer Cards in this century.  I like the Feed the Birds card and the "little guideposts on the footpath to peace" card.  

Did I give you a link to a catalog yet?  Here is one.

1905 - A. T. Cook, Seedsman and Temperance Man

A. T. Cook was very clear in how he thought folks should behave. 

 He used his seed catalog to point the way and published many postcards that illustrated his views. 

 This last one was on the last page of an A. T. Cook seed catalog from 1905, sharing the space with an onion.

1896 - A. T. Cook's Cinnamon Vine

This turned out to be more interesting than I thought!!  This vine is handsome, huge and covered with weird little potato like tubers (although I don't know if both male and female plants have them).  Go to the Apios Institute page to see some great photos from several people and their comments.  The large tuber was found by one person at an Asian food store.  

A beautiful and rapid climber possessing the rare quality of emitting from its flowers the delightful odor of cinnamon, and very appropriately called the "Cinnamon Vine." 

The plants are grown from bulbs or roots and are very nice for window ornaments, or out-door culture. They are perfectly hardy; the stem dying down every autumn, but growing again in the spring so rapidly as to completely cover any trellis or arbor very early in the season.  The vines often run 25 feet or more, and when trained over and about a door or window make an ornament much admired: while its many clusters of delicate white flowers sends out an amount of fragrance that is truly wonderful. 

It is easy to cultivate, has no insect enemies, and is not affected by drouth because it roots so deeply.  The tubers are called "Chinese Yams;" (the botanical name being Dioscorea Batatas); they increase in size from year to year, are often two feet long at two or three years of age, and run straight down in deep soil;— flesh whiter than superfine flour and equally as good for table use as the very best potatoes. 

When first introduced the roots sold for $10.00 each. I have now grown this vine for 7 years; and have sent out many to every section of the country, and the only verdict is,—

"One of the most desirable climbers in cultivation." 

J. P. RUNG, Tyrone, Pa., says:—"The vine has grown about eighteen feet, and was very full ol bloom, with a delicious odor, scenting the air for a long distance. The foliage is very much admired." 

J. WILSON. Mechanicsvllle, Pa. Nov. 27th. 1889, writes:—"We think the Cinnamon Vine is one -of the most desirable house plants for winter: it blooms as freely in the house as out doors, and they can be trained over and around a window, and will fill a room with a delightful fragrance in the cold and dreary winter months." 

JAS. E. BADJER; Jr., St. Joseph, Mo., says:—The Cinnamon Vine is a success. From one stem a dozen branches have started, ranging from twelve to twenty feet each, and blooming profusely; very fragrant. 

PRICES OF THE CINNAMON VINE :  Having grown an enormous stock of the finest roots I can this year reduce my former low rates— one-half.   Now is the time to order them. I will mail 5 nice roots or tubers for 25 cents; 12 for 50 cents ; 25 for $1.00; 100 for $2.50, (no order filled for less than 5 roots.)   I pack carefully in boxes, and guarantee safe arrival.