62 FRENCH MARKET-GARDENING 



may be dispensed with, and the plants will continue 

 to develop and ripen their fruits without having to 

 undergo the usual check to the roots caused by moving. 

 The plants, of course, should be staked, and during 

 the season all the side shoots (" laterals ") from the 

 main stems should be pinched out when they appear. 

 Only four trusses of flowers should be allowed to 

 set their fruits. The tops should be cut off about 

 two leaves beyond the upper truss of flowers. The 

 leaves, however, should not be cut off or mutilated 

 in any way, except when they turn yellow at the base 

 of the plant. 



3. Early Potatoes. Where these are valued it ought 

 not to be difficult to secure a good crop early in 

 the year, with the aid of cloches and frames, and 

 warm manure, the operations being much the same as 

 described for Tomatoes except, of course, that tubers 

 instead of seeds are being dealt with. 



4. Marrows. These are an important crop when 

 the fruits can be secured early in the season. The 

 Bush Marrows, as well as the creeping kinds, might 

 be very easily established early in the year in the 

 following way : About February, or early in March, 

 dig out a few spadefuls of soil where each plant is to 

 grow. The hole thus made should be filled with a 

 layer about a foot thick of hot manure, and covered 

 with about 6 in. of nice, rich, gritty mould. When 

 the rank heat, if any, has subsided and the temperature 

 is about 70 to 75 Fahr., two or three Marrow seeds 

 should be sown about 2 in. deep in the centre of 

 each little bed, and after being watered in, should be 

 covered with a cloche. As many little hot-beds as are 

 required can be made in this way, allowing enough 



