466 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



earth to get warmed, raking the earth thoroughly before transplanting the 

 melon plants, turning them out of the pots, putting one pot containing four 

 stout plants in the center of each sash. When they make a growth of three 

 or four leaves nip off the top so that they will send out side shoots for fruit. We 

 need to be careful to give them air every sunny day, and closing the sashes at 

 night. About the beginning of July when the vines have filled their frames 

 and melons are formed the size of one's fist, then it is time to remove the 

 frames and glass, beginning gradually to harden the plants. Towards the 

 ripening season it > s a good plan to put shingles or small pieces of boards 

 under each melon to keep them from being infested with worms or from decay- 

 ing if the ground is wet after rain. For late melons a few seeds could be sown 

 in the center of each sash instead of plants transplanted from another frame. 



Khubarb Culture. — Edgar Saunders in Prairie Farmer tells how to grow 

 rhubarb for market: For market garden culture, the practice is, to manure 

 a piece of land very heavily; 100 tons to an acre for those who can get it is not 

 too much. The manure is thoroughly mixed with the soil to the depth of 18 

 inches by a subsoil plow. This may seem a very expensive process, but once 

 planted, a rhubarb bed will stand for years and require nothing more than an 

 occasional top dressing of manure, which may be applied in spring or autumn. 

 The plants in such land will require to be three feet apart each way, and will 

 take about 500 plants for an acre. When a bed has become worn out, or if 

 there is too great a supply in the market, a part may be advantageously forced 

 for winter use. This may be done in any place where a temperature of from 

 45 degrees to 60 degrees can be maintained, whether in a shed-room, or under 

 the green-house shelves. No particular light is necessary for the process. 

 Another plan is, two or three weeks before spring opens, to cover the crowns of 

 the plants by inverted barrels, filling in between with leaves, manure, or any 

 fermenting substance. This will give a very early cutting. We know of some 

 large growers, who force a portion each year, in commonly constructed green- 

 houses, beginning say, in February. They thus extend their market from that 

 time until July, when small fruits drive rhubarb out of the market. To do 

 this, it is necessary to make a new plantation every year, of as many stools as 

 are designed for forcing, so that the same sized plantation is always in existence, 

 the oldest being annually forced. The variety called Linnaeus is the earliest, 

 very fine in flavor, and not quite so acid as the Victoria, but the latter is most- 

 ly used by the market men. Very good results are obtained by raising from 

 seed where plants can not readily be obtained, but as the seed may not produce 

 all equally good, it is best to depend upon plants. 



Growing Pickles. — W. D. Philbrick, of Massachusetts, knows how to grow 



pickles on a large scale, and how to work them up. He tells in short his 



method: 



Pickles grow well upon almost any land in good heart; they like a freshly 

 plowed sod and laud that is a little moist or damp, but not wet. Fresh horse 

 manure suits them as well as any dressing, but it must be well mixed with the 

 soil. The seed may be put in from June 30 to July 4, in rows five or six feet 

 apart. Those planted at the earlier date usually bear the heavier crop, but it 

 is not always convenient to get them in early. They are frequently grown as a 

 second crop, after peas or early cut grass, and are a very handy crop for break- 



