GARDENING 



179 



Beets, turnips, and similar root crops may be covered 

 with dry dirt in a cellar box. This will keep them from dry- 

 ing too much. 



Tomato vines may be pulled up before heavy frost and 

 suspended from the ceiling in a cellar or cool room. As the 

 green tomatoes ripen they may be wrapped in paper and 

 kept several weeks. Hubbard squashes, pumpkins and 

 watermelons need to be handled without bruising and kept 

 in a dry, cold cellar. By storing vegetables for late fall and 



Fig. 100. — Harvest in the spring-time, from the school garden. 



Education.) 



(Agricultural 



winter use, and starting a hot-bed for late winter and early 

 spring use, we can supplement the summer garden and have 

 vegetables for home use all the year. 



Exercise. — Frost and Rainfall. — Write to the Weather 

 Bureau, at Washington, and get the summary of the weather 

 record for your section. Find the dates when the late spring 

 frosts and the early fall frosts occur. Look up, also, the 

 annual rainfall and see how many inches of this rain falls 

 in the summer months. It is good practice for the members 

 of the class to keep records of frosts in fall and spring. The 

 time of planting garden vegetables may be governed by 

 these records. 



