GARDENING OVER A WINTER FIRE. 271 



set out in May. The first week in April I also 

 have hills for melons, cucumbers, etc., formed 

 about four feet apart, by mixing a shovel or 

 two of light well-rotted manure with the soil and 

 rounding it up for the sun to warm and dry out. 

 The seed for the hills is not planted till from 

 fifth to the tenth of May, but the ground between 

 the hills can be sown thickly with radishes, and 

 long before the melon or other vines want the 

 space, they are out of the way. The earliest, 

 and those grown in cold frames, will bring five 

 cents per bunch ; but when they fall below two 

 cents, they do not pay, sold in small quantities. 



March brings many and varied labors in the 

 garden. Grape-vines should be trimmed if they 

 were not last fall, and the pruning-knife should be 

 busy generally. Tools, seeds, plants, trees, 

 should be ready, or ordered, so that when good 

 weather fairly opens, not a moment need be lost. 



When we shall get to work in the open ground 



