KITCHEN GARDEN. 187 



er, not to wound the joint from which it proceeds. 

 The effect of this pinching will be the production of 

 side shoots, which in their turn must also be pinched 

 off, leaving only two eyes on each, destined to be- 

 come future runners, and so to be conducted that 

 they will not shade or crowd each other. 



The sowing, of which we have here spoken, can- 

 not be safely made in our climate till the 10th of 

 May. For the fall and pickling crops, you must 

 sow the first or second week of July. The treat- 

 ment of these is in all respects like that prescribed 

 for the first crop in the open air, excepting that the 

 pinching part of it is altogether omitted, as at this 

 season the vigorous vegetation (which this opera- 

 tion is intended to correct) is much diminished. 



It now remains to say a few words with regard to 

 early cucumbers. To obtain these we must have 

 recourse to artificial heat ; and with the less reluc- 

 tance, as, of all plants, the cucumber is that with 

 which it best agrees. To this end, therefore, scoop 

 out as many large turnips as you propose to have 

 hills ; fill these with good garden mould ; sow in each 

 three or four seeds, and plunge them into a hotbed 

 (as described in the article Asparagus). When the 

 runners show themselves, spare them, or pinch 

 them, or bury them, as you may think best, and on 

 the 10th of May transfer them to the beds where 

 they are to stand*. The advantage of the scooped 

 turnip as a seedbed over pots or vases, will now 

 appear, for, instead of the ordinary difficulty of sep- 

 arating the mass of earth and the plant from the pot 

 which contained them, and without injury to either, 

 we reinter both pot and plant, and even find in the 

 one an additional nutriment for the other. The sub- 

 sequent treatment does not differ at all from that of 

 plants sown and cultivated in the open air. 



A debate has long existed on the preference to be 

 given to old or to new seeds, and which, like many 

 others, appears to be interminable. The Abbe Ro- 

 15 



