Harvest of Freedom: The History of Kitchen Gardens In America

The Vegetables of New York, Volume 1, part 3, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 1928-37, Albany, NY

"Indian corn" wrote the English horticulturalist Edward Bunyard in 1937, was "unusual in England, but most usual in America….The principle of the lathe is adopted in eating them".

Tomatoes may be this country's favorite fresh vegetable, but to countless Americans, the meaning of summer can be found in hot, buttered corn-on-the-cob. The variety shown here, "Ne Plus Ultra" is one of the parents of "Country Gentleman", an old favorite introduced in 1891 by Peter Henderson and still grown for its sweet, tender kernels. Although "Ne Plus Ultra" is no longer commercially available, its odd, irregular kernal pattern lives on in its offspring.

The Vegetables of New York was planned as a three volume series. Each volume was to be made up of four or five parts, each part devoted to one particular vegetable grown in New York State. Only the first four parts-peas, beans, corn and cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, cantaloupes, cucumbers) -were published.