i^tWRB 9T GARDENS, ^5 



a crop, a hole may be dug about twelve inches, and filled 

 with strong barn manure to the di pth of about five or six mch- 

 cs, and covered with common sand, on which six or eight seeds 

 may be planted, and thinly covered with a rich earth. The 

 hUls should be about five feet apart, and three or four plants 

 left standing in a hill. If more than this escape the ravages 

 of the insect, they should be pulled out. But it is thought this 

 mode of culture is not necessary when the soil is presented to 

 asoutiiern exposure, and is very fertile ; though it is believed 

 the former may better secure them against the attacks ot the 

 insect. The seeds of the last year only should the sown, be- 

 cause they vegetate quicker than old ones, and accord- 

 ingly best promote the object of the hot b^d, which is to give 

 early fruit. 



Another provision for the want of early and continued heat, 

 gardeners would make choice of those varieties which have 

 the thinnest skins, and least bulk, as such require the least 

 heat, other things being equal. If the branches are long and 

 vigorous, it has been practiced by some, to stretch them care- 

 fully over a level surface, and bury every fourth or fifth joint, 

 that wherever the plant is buried new roots may be formed, 

 for the better nutrition of the stem and the fruit. 



The ripeness of the musk melon is known by its color and its 

 odor, and by the drying of the stem where it attaches itself to 

 the fruit. 



The water melon furnishes neither of these signs, but affords 

 another peculiar to itself, a hollow sound on being struck on the 

 rind, the result of an actual hollowness beginning and increas- 

 ing with its maturity. 



Onion. This is called by botanists the Allium Cepa, and has 

 many varieties distinguished by color, size and taste, and one 

 of them, the canadense, by organization, its fruit growing on 

 its head, and in the place of flowers. Of these varieties, the 

 led is the largest, but most acrid ; the pale red and the yellow, 



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