May June 



with this end in view four to six specimens of any large variety will 

 be sufficient for one plant to bring to perfection. 



Turnip to be sown for succession. It is well now to keep to the 

 small white early sorts. 



Vegetable Marrow. In cottage gardens luxuriant vines may 

 every year be seen trailing over the sides of heaps of decayed turf or 

 manure. All forward vegetables are prized, and Marrows are no ex- 

 ception to the rule. An early supply from the open ground is most 

 readily insured by raising strong plants in pots and putting them on 

 rich warm beds as early as the season and district will permit. Late 

 frosts must be guarded against by some kind of protection, and slugs 

 must be deterred from eating up the plants. 



JUNE 



To some extent the crops will now take care of themselves, and we 

 may consider the chief anxieties and activities of the season over. 

 Our notes, therefore, will now be more brief. We do not counsel 

 the cultivator to ' rest and be thankful.' It is better for him to work, 

 but he must be thankful all the same, if he would be happy in his 

 healthy and entertaining employment. Watering and weeding are 

 the principal labours of this month, and both must be pursued with 

 diligence. Where systematic irrigation with sewage can be carried on 

 the most wonderful results may be expected ; but ordinary watering, 

 where every drop has to be dipped and carried, is often injurious 

 rather than beneficial, for the simple reason that it is only half done. 

 In such cases it is advisable to withhold water as long as possible, 

 and then to give it in abundance, watering only a small plot every 

 day in order to saturate the ground, and taking a week or more 

 to go over a piece which would be done in a day by mere surface 

 dribblings. 



Asparagus should be in full supply, and may be cut until the 

 middle or end of the month. When cutting should cease depends 

 on the district. In the South of England the i4th is about the 

 proper time to make the last cut ; north of the Trent, the 2oth may 

 be soon enough ; and further north, cutting may be continued into 

 July. The point to be borne in mind is that the plant must be 

 allowed time to grow freely without any further check, in order to 

 store up energy for making robust shoots next year. It is a good 

 plan to insert stakes, such as are used for Peas, in Asparagus beds, 



177 N 



