SOME OF THE COMMON VEGETABLES 177 



well manured. The plants should be set four to six feet apart, 

 with a shovelful of well rotted manure mixed with the soil of 

 each hill. When the vines have grown several feet the ends 

 may be pinched off. This will cause the young melons to 

 develop better. Those varieties are best which have the rind 

 finely netted. The melons are not ripe until they part from 

 the stem easily. 



Watermelons are raised much like muskmelons. The 

 hills should be about eight feet apart and the vines are usually 

 not pinched back. They need good warm soil. The grower 

 tells a ripe melon by thumping it with his finger. One has to 

 have much practice before he can tell a ripe watermelon 

 without ''plugging" it. 



Cucumbers require a loam soil with considerable moisture. 

 The plants should stand in hills about five or six feet apart. 

 About three plants may be allowed to a hill. It is well to plant 

 more seeds than one expects to mature into plants. Some 

 plants will be puny and should be pulled out, and the insects 

 will destroy others. This is also true of the melons, squashes, 

 and pumpkins. Early plants can be started in hot-beds and 

 cold-frames. 



Cucumbers are used in two ways; namely, for slicing and 

 for pickles. When used for slicing they are allowed to grow 

 full size, but are picked while still green. For pickles they 

 are picked at various sizes, according to the desire of the 

 grower or customer, usually from two to three inches in 

 length. No cucumbers should be allowed to go to seed or the 

 vine will stop bearing. When the green cucumbers are kept 

 picked off, the vines continue bearing until killed by the frost. 

 Seed is obtained by letting some of the choicest cucumbers 

 ripen on the vine. 



