190 AGRICULTURE 



deep and made very rich with well-rotted manure. A 

 quicker crop is secured by buying the roots instead of 

 growing them. Onions are among the hardiest of vegeta- 

 bles. Onion sets are placed in the ground in the fall, or 

 in January or February. Some varieties of onions grow 

 well from seeds planted in the fall or late winter, the 

 young plants being afterwards transplanted. Garden peas 

 are planted three or four inches deep, usually in January, 

 February, and March. 



Tender vegetables. Among the plants easily killed by 

 frost are beans, tomatoes, eggplants, squash, and all the 

 other members of the gourd or melon family. These 

 cannot safely show above ground until danger of frost is 

 past ; so they are usually planted about the same time as 

 the earliest cotton. Tomatoes are generally started under 

 glass and transplanted as soon as the danger of frost is past. 



Vegetables that suffer from hot weather. Peas and 

 lettuce do not thrive during hot weather. Cabbages and 

 turnips are usually ruined by the harlequin cabbage-bug 

 and by other insects after midsummer ; they should, there- 

 fore, be grown either as very early crops or in the fall. 



EXERCISE. Write the names of all plants the leaves of which you 

 know to be cooked for "greens." During what months can each one 

 be used ? Make a list of all the vegetables you have ever seen growing 

 in your home garden. What vegetables besides these have you seen 

 growing elsewhere? If you have never grown any plants that were 

 really your own, ask at home if you may not have one row in the garden 

 for yourself. Among the plants that can be most quickly grown in it 

 Xre radishes, turnips, lettuce, and in warm weather, bunch snap beans. 



NOTE TO THE TEACHER. Let the pupils examine and compare all 

 obtainable garden seeds, as to size, color, germination, etc. Write to 

 the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., for Farmers' Bulletin 



