208 UNION COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



my first and earliest prodacts are the most remunerative. I 

 therefore resort to artificial means to hasten the maturity of 

 ray productions. In my efforts to catcli that worm I build my 

 hot-bed flues, and in the hot-beds raise tomatoes, nutmeg melons, 

 cucumber and squash plants, and transplant them into the 

 field, so as to have the fruits thereof some ten days or two 

 weeks in advance of open air culture. 



MELON, CUCUMBER AND SQUASH 



seeds are first planted in quite small boxes, four by four 

 inches by three and a half inches deep, and one-sixteenth of 

 an inch in thickness, and placed in hot-bed about the tenth of 

 April. Care is taken to keep the plants from those seeds 

 sufficiently protected from sudden changes in the weather, and 

 I keep them growing in a warm, congenial atmosphere, until the 

 rough leaf of the melon plant is as large as a silver dollar, 

 when they are ready for the field. The melon plant being 

 more sensitive to change than the others greater care is neces- 

 sary to avoid disturbing the rootlets in process of transplanting. 

 Afe these boxes are only one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, 

 generally made of poplar timber and, having been imbedded 

 in earth in the hot-bed nearly a month, are partly decayed, and 

 as it is of little consequence whether the bottom of the box is 

 removed when transplanting, only the sides of the box should 

 be removed. Tiiese boxes should each contain two or three 

 strong, healthy plants (which are enough for one hill), to be 

 planted in the checks of rows laid off five feet square, supplied 

 with the fertilizer and treated as described for the tomato. 

 What is said of the melon plant, will apply to the squash and 

 cucumber. I have in tlii3 short description marketed the 

 lettuce crop and have the tomato, melon, squash and cucumber 

 plants all in the field. Now comes the battle with the enemies 

 of plant life, and especially with the yellow-striped melon bugs. 

 They generally make their appearance- three or four days after 

 the plants are in the field, find a secure hiding place under- 

 neath the dry top earth around the plant, and on underside of 

 the leaves. The}' are present in such numbers that if not 



