APRIL] THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 343 



States, as by the former method. If any were sown last month, let 

 them be pricked out into a fresh hot-bed the middle of this, at the 

 distance of four or five inches, to gather strength, and prepare them 

 for planting out about the fifteenth or twentieth of May. 



SOWING CUCUMBERS, SQUASHES, MUSK AND WATER-MELONS. 



In the middle States where the ground is light, dry, and warm, 

 you may in the last week of this month sow cucumbers, squashes, 

 water-melons, and early musk-melons in the open ground, agreeably 

 to the directions given next month. If the weather proves favorable, 

 and they are not attacked by frost after being up, they will succeed 

 very well; but if you have hand or bell glasses for their protection, 

 there is no doubt of their success. 



It is generally observed, that cucumbers, squashes, and melons of 

 every kind, may be sown in the open ground as early as Indian corn ; 

 but they are certainly somewhat more tender, and cannot be sown in 

 the middle States with great certainty of success before the eighth of 

 May. 



KIDNEY-BEANS. 



Towards the latter end of this month you may plant a first crop 

 of kidney-beans in the open ground. Select a warm, dry, and 

 favorably situated spot, and having dug and manured it properly, 

 draw drills an inch deep, and two feet or thirty inches asunder ; drop 

 the beans therein two inches apart, and draw the earth equally over 

 them ; do not cover them more than an inch deep, for at this early 

 time they are liable to rot if cold or wet ensue. The kinds proper 

 to be sown now, are the early cream-colored, speckled, yellow, and 

 white dwarfs. 



ENDIVE. 



Those who are fond of endive as a salad, may now sow some of 

 the seed, as directed in June, and blanch it when of sufficient size 

 in the manner prescribed in August. But in the early summer 

 months, lettuce has almost generally superseded the use of it. 



SORREL. 



Sow now a sufficient supply of the broad-leaved garden sorrel, and 

 also of the round-leaved or French sorrel; these, or either of them, 

 may be sown on narrow beds or borders and covered lightly or raked 

 in ; when the plants are up keep them free from weeds, and in June 

 you may transplant them either in rows along the borders, or into 

 three or four feet wide beds, at the distance of nine inches, plant 

 from plant, every way. 



