A Year's Work in the Vegetable Garden 



than the green and white, they will be useful in the event of a 

 scorching summer. Lettuces require a deep free soil with plenty of 

 manure. 



Melon. Raise a few seeds singly in pots, in readiness for put- 

 ting under frames on hot-beds next month. Re-pot the plants, and 

 repeat the process if the beds are not ready, for Melons must not be 

 starved, especially in the early stage of growth. Some growers make 

 up the beds in March, and sow upon them when the heat becomes 

 steady, but the practice is somewhat precarious. In a cold, late 

 spring the heat may not last a sufficient time to carry the plants 

 safely into warm weather. Hence it is more reliable to raise them 

 now in a warm house, and make the bed at the beginning of April. 



Onion. Sow the main crop in drills nine inches apart, and 

 tread or beat the ground firm. This crop requires a rich soil in 

 a thoroughly clean and mellow condition, and it makes a capital 

 finish to the seed-bed to give it a good coat of charred rubbish or 

 smother ash before sowing the seed. 



Parsnip. Sow main crop in shallow drills eighteen inches apart 

 in good soil deeply dug. The seed should be lightly covered, and 

 new seed is indispensable. 



Pea. Sow the finest sorts of the Marrowfat class. Take care 

 to put them on the best seed-bed that can be made, and allow suffi- 

 cient room between the taller sorts for a few rows of Cabbage, 

 Broccoli, or Potatoes. A crowded quarter of Peas is never satis- 

 factory ; the rows smother each other, and the shaded parts of the 

 haulm produce next to nothing. 



Potatoes for main crops should now be got in, and the planting 

 be finished by the end of the month or beginning of April. 



Scorzonera to be treated much the same as Salsify. See note 

 on the latter under April. 



Sea Kale to be sown in well-prepared beds ; or plantations may 

 be made of the smaller roots of the thickness of a lead pencil, and 

 about four inches in length. Plant them top end uppermost, and deep 

 enough to be just covered. 



Sorrel is greatly valued in many households, and the finest 

 quality can easily be grown from seed. Sow in shallow drills drawn 

 on light soil, six or eight inches apart, and when quite small thin to 

 a distance of three or four inches between the plants. No gathering 

 from the crop must be expected in the year of sowing, and it is 

 scarcely necessary to add that weeds must not be permitted to 

 smother the plantation. 



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