GARDENING AND TRUCK FARMING. 307 



a space six or eight feet in diameter and thoroughly worked 

 into the soil will be of greater benefit to the vines. A gallon 

 of fine, thoroughly rotted manure is enough for a hill, and it 

 should be partly mixed with the soil. Although I use the 

 term " hill " I do not recommend that it should be elevated 

 much above the level of the field ; an inch or two, so that there 

 is no danger of the hill flooding, is better than a high hill. 

 The earlier you can get thrifty vines started the better, but if 

 for any cause you have no early vines, I would plant any time 

 in June. I usually pick ripe melons in twelve weeks from 

 planting when it is deferred till the weather and land are warm, 

 and often vines planted from the first to the fifteenth of June 

 are ahead of those started a month earlier. 



Phinney's Early, Peerless, Mountain Sweet, Mountain Sprout, 

 and Cuban Queen, are the leading varieties. Of these the 

 Peerless is the finest flavored. It has small, white seeds and 

 a scarlet flesh solid to the center, and very sweet. Phin- 

 ney's Early, small drab seeds, and scarlet flesh of excellent 

 quality. Mountain Sweet, seeds mahogany color and rather 

 large, flesh scarlet, solid and delicious. All three of these var- 

 ieties are superior for family use or a home market, but all 

 have such thin and brittle rind, that they are not suitable for 

 shipping. Mountain Sprout has the qualities for shipping. It 

 is of large size, scarlet flesh, a good keeper, and bears carriage 

 well; seeds drab. Cuban Queen is the largest melon grown. 

 Specimens have been produced that weighed over eighty 

 pounds. The vine is vigorous, requiring wide planting, flesh 

 red and of fine flavor. It bears shipment well. 



Onions and Potatoes. As onions and potatoes are field 

 rather than garden crops, they are treated in the chapter on 

 "Root Crops." 



Parsnips. As far as a market can be had for them there 

 are few crops that will give a better profit than parsnips. They 

 start with a much stronger growth than the carrot, require less 

 hand weeding, and will yield as many bushels to the acre. 

 Another advantage of the crop is, that it can be left in the 

 ground all winter without injury. They will be found a profit- 



