No. 4.] MARKET GARDENING. 91 



air, and when they have three or four true leaves, set them 

 in a bed about two hundred to the sash. 



Tomatoes, egg-plant and peppers may be sown from the 

 first of March to the first of April, and need more heat than 

 the lettuce and cabbage ; and the earlier planted, providing 

 they are well cared for, the stronger the plant. I am plant- 

 ing my tomatoes later every year, and am usually better 

 satisfied with those planted after March 20 than earlier. 



While we usually keep most of our plants of this class in 

 the beds until after the middle of May, it is not necessary to 

 have the glass over them so long, as it is better to have 

 them uncovered during the day, and the shutters are all 

 right to cover them at night. 



Gardeners usually want to get most of their glass over 

 cucumbers, as the weather becomes warm ; and to do this, 

 beds are planted in March and April with beets, carrots, 

 radishes and plants that do not need glass as the days be- 

 come warmer, and after they get well started, the sash are 

 taken oft* and the beds covered, cold nights, with shutters. 

 The cucumber beds are set up the same as the bed for winter, 

 without the fence ; but it is not necessary to be quite so 

 particular, as the weather is mild now. 



After the planks are set, before the ends are put in, 

 plough through the centre, throwing the loam against the 

 plank ; then throw out a trench about eighteen inches wide 

 and some two and a half feet deep, — that is, from the glass. 

 Throw the best of the loam against the plank, in the bed, 

 and the poorer on the outside to bank it with. Put twelve 

 or fifteen inches of hot manure in this trench, and cover with 

 about six inches of loam, then rake the bed down so that the 

 loam vfiW come nearly to the top of the planks, and some 

 ten or twelve inches below in the centre. This gives room 

 to set quite large plants, and they can nearly fill the bed be- 

 fore they strike the glass much. By setting two or more 

 runs near together, it is easier to water than where they 

 are scattered ; they should l)e four to six feet apart with 

 me. I have heard of places Avhere cucumber vines grew ten 

 feet or longer, and under such conditions the beds would 

 have to be farther apart. When the vines fill the sash, if 

 the weather is warm enough, take the sash oft" and then take 



